Providence College’s Schneider Arena. Photo: stadiumsusa.com
Last Updated on Thursday, 06 December 2012 12:42
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
This chronicle of our trip East was interrupted by the death of my mom. After a week home in St. Paul with my family, my wife, MaryBeth, and I returned to Hartford.
Sunday, Nov. 18 – We arrive at the Hartford airport and head an hour north to Amherst, Mass., and Mullin Arena on the campus of the University of Massachusetts. We will see a Hockey East showdown of sister schools UMass hosting UMass-Lowell.
Mullin Arena is a spacious arena, arguably a bit too large for most college games. I don’t know the seating capacity but it looks like it holds 10,000. On a Sunday night, it seems more like a minor pro game with no school band playing to add a collegiate flavor.
This night I am as proud as can be as the game will include five of my former players, and some of my favorite competitors and leaders I have coached. Conor Allen, a Chicago native, will guard the blue line for UMass and Lowell has four former Stampede players.
What makes this night especially rewarding is that Lowell will designate four captains, two C’s and two A’s, and three of the four are my former players. Chad Ruhwedel (San Diego) wears a C, Josh Holmstrom (Colorado Springs) and Zach Kamrass (Atlanta) are both wearing A’s. I could not have been happier to see the leadership skills these boys have brought to their college teams.
This night, everything goes Lowell’s way and they win 8-2. I get a chance to see all the boys after the game.
Monday, Nov. 19 – Next door is one of the finest college institutions in America, Amherst University. My former coaching colleague Andy Jones is an alum.
I was fortunate to be able to spend time with Greg DiNardo. Greg heads their leadership program and I get to learn more about what they do to nurture leadership. I applaud this great school for taking leadership seriously. They know that their fine students will graduate in positions that leadership skills will be extremely important.
I also get to spend some time with long-time Amherst hockey coach Jack Arena. It is immediately apparent why he has so much success there. It is a day/afternoon well spent.
Tuesday, Nov. 20 – We again head to a new hockey arena, well at least one we have never been to before. Providence College, in Providence R.I., is another Hockey East power and one of its oldest members. Our son’s Quinnipiac will be the visitors tonight. Quinnipiac is riding a four-game winning streak and no doubt will be tested this night.
The arena is clad in black and white, the school colors. This is a perfect size rink for most colleges and junior teams. I believe it holds just a little over 3,000. I feel like we are in the perfect rink.
This Tuesday night, with not a lot of hockey going on in the area, the game is loaded with NHL scouts. By loaded, I would estimate there could be as many as 30 in the arena.
Providence has a fine, but young team, and Quinnipiac has the best team maybe in their history. Providence played a bit like a young but talented team. Their energy and overall play was great early. This night our son, Eric, played extremely well. Shots were 9-1 Providence at one point, but Quinnipiac scored two power-play goals in the second and you could see the young Providence team’s energy sag a bit. By end of the night it had been a good college game with Quinnipiac winning 2-0 and moving on to a five-game winning streak.
Saturday, Nov. 24 – The ECAC is looking good. Yale goes to Denver and Colorado College and wins two. Cornell a couple weeks back wins two vs. Colorado College and on this Saturday night, they beat Michigan 5-1 at Madison Square Garden. We are focused in on Quinnipiac who is playing at UMass. Another entertaining game ends in a 2-2 tie. Quinnipiac now has a six-game unbeaten streak and next week gets back to conference play at Union, a Frozen Four participant last year and again this year a top 10 nationally ranked team.
As a follow-up to the article I wrote earlier in the year about Minnesota and what over time has appeared to be a lack of development of our goaltenders, I had said then and it appears that it might be true – that our current group of goaltenders might be as good a group as we have seen for some time. Mike Lee was drafted and is off beginning his pro career. Zane Gothberg is beginning a career at North Dakota and I think in time will be very good. What is really impressive is looking at the NCAA national statistics and we see three Minnesotans in the top five in goals-against average – Brady Hjelle (International Falls/Ohio State), Adam Wilcox (South St. Paul/Minnesota) and Eric Hartzell (White Bear Lake/Quinnipiac).
Friday, Nov. 30 – It is again the weekend and here we go again. Tonight we visit Union College for my very first time ever. Big game tonight as Quinnipiac, who is rated 16th in the nation and undefeated thus far at 4-0 in the ECAC, is visiting a very good Union team, 3-1 in the ECAC and rated No. 8 nationally.
Just a couple of years back, Union came to my alma mater Minnesota and swept the Gophers. They made it all the way to the NCAA Final Four last year. Sam Coatta is a sophomore at Union. Sam is a Minnetonka graduate and a two-year player and captain with our Sioux Falls teams. I look forward to watching him play.
Union was established in 1795. 1795! The history of these schools out East is amazing and walking the Union campus, one can see and feel the history. The rink itself has more of a high school feel to it, and I mean that in a very complimentary way. This rink seats fewer than most college rinks and has a look more like “bleachers” on each side. It is intimate and allows the fans to be right on top of the game. It is a very fun venue.
Union’s coach, Rick Bennet, is in my opinion one of the better coaches in the college game. I say that based upon the intelligence I have seen in his Union team as far as attacking with the puck. They are smart and creative.
This night is arguably one of the bigger games in the history of Quinnipiac. They have started fast before but really in their Division I history, they have most often faltered. This night, they face a top 10 team on the road, a team they will need to beat if they wish to contend for the ECAC title.
The first period saw several grade A scoring chances by both teams, but both goalies stood tall. Union’s Troy Grosenick (Brookfield, Wis,/Cedar Rapids-USHL) and Eric both had great periods, turning away their opposition. In period two, Quinnipiac took over and won going away, 4-0.
I had a chance to visit with Coatta after the game. I am so very happy for him, to be at such a great school and contributing to a fine hockey program, though this night I am OK for him to be on the losing end.
Saturday, Dec. 1 – After an emotional and big game win against Union, the challenge would be for Quinnipiac to regroup and not take lightly last-place RPI. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a fine engineering school just a short 30-minute drive from Union. Located in Troy, N.Y., their arena and atmosphere are pretty special. This arena looks and feels more the collegiate atmosphere I am accustomed to. The arena holds a little over 5,000, decked in their home color of red. A band is stationed high towards the opposing team’s end zone.
RPI has twice won the NCAA championship, once way back in the 1950s with the most recent being in 1985, the last year that their NHL Hall of Famer Adam Oates was at RPI. They have fielded pretty good teams the past couple of years but have lost a couple key starters and are struggling thus far this season.
Another very good first period ensues with Quinnipiac taking a 1-0 lead. Quinnipiac looks tired in the second which is what I was worried about after such an emotional and important game the night before. RPI dominates the second period, outshooting Quinnipiac 12-5 and tying the score setting up a classic third period.
The third was played pretty tight to the vest with each goalie making a couple big saves. Then with just over nine minutes to play, Quinnipiac takes two penalties and will need to kill a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes. The nightmare scenario of not being able to finish the weekend off against a last-place team is ready to play out. But 40 seconds into the PK,
Quinnipiac D-man Zach Davies deflects a RPI pass and Michael Peca, a native of Ontario and NHL draft of the Tampa Bay Lightning, won a race to the puck and scored on the breakaway. A 3-on-5 goal…what a change of events!
MaryBeth cheers loudly and in our only display of poor sportsmanship we have seen this year, RPI fans in the area actually “cuss” at my bride, encouraging her in not so nice terms to find somewhere else and somebody other than Quinnipiac to cheer for. She whistled in celebration louder!
Quinnipiac added an empty net goal to win 3-1. On this night with the team struggling, I really felt like Eric had his A-game going when his team needed him the most. With the weekend sweep of Union and RPI, Quinnipiac is on an eight-game unbeaten streak that has included six straight road games, Quinnipiac is 6-0 in the ECAC and is showing they belong in consideration of a top 10 nationally ranked team.
MaryBeth’s sister, Michelle, was able to join us for the weekend, adding immensely to our enjoyment of the weekend. Also, on Saturday night, Eric said his entire house of college roommates were “dressed” and competed in the game, which was the only second time that happened this year. He was really happy about that.
I was happy to see his one roommate, Reese Rohlheiser from Edmonton, play a great role in the game. A senior like Eric, he hadn’t played the past couple of games. To see his smile after the game and say simply, “That was the most fun I‘ve had playing hockey in a while,” was gratifying. Competing with your friends and being on a run like Quinnipiac is on now, well, it doesn’t get any better.
Next weekend, it is home and home with Princeton University and my first visit to the campus of Princeton and the arena named after their great player Hobey Baker.
