Happy St. Patrick's Day: Unofficial 2018-19 NESCAC All-Irish Team

O'Connor family crest (source)

With Trinity's tough 2-1 loss to UNE last Saturday in the NCAA Opening Round, we were left with no 'CAC team in the NCAA DIII MIH Quarterfinals for the first time since 2014. So to fill the void, let's resurrect a dumb gag from that time period... NESCAC All-Irish (last names) team. 

To celebrate a routine Catholic holiday turned de facto Irish Heritage Day in America, as well as it being awards season in college hockey, we again present the NESCAC men's hockey All-Irish (last names) Team for the 2018-19 season. For information on the Irish origin of these players' last names, whether their individual lineages are actually Irish or not, check out House of Names.

Our apologies to those players that are of Irish heritage but don't have Irish last names or a player's inclusion if he is not in fact of Irish origin but has a last name that could be Irish. Selection is based on a complex algorithm balancing performance in the 2018-19 season with Irish-ness of name. 

Three shillelagh wielding sophomores lead the way in an underclassmen heavy class. In net, Mike Cullen, whose family surname is derived from the gaelic word for holly, almost netminded the Mammoths into the NCAA tournament with shutouts in both the NESCAC quarterfinals and semis before losing to Trinity in OT in the finals.  He's joined in the back by fellow sophomore Jack McCool - whose surname origins lie in the northern parts of the isle- who matched his freshman point total (8) in assists alone this year (7-8-15).  Rounding out the back line is Liam Feeney, a smooth skating blueliner from Trinity who has been a Joe Concannon semifinalist in back-to-back seasons. Besides being the name of one of  the best teachers in pop-culture history, the last name Feeney has its origins in gaelic references to warriors or soldiers. 

Up front, Nick O'Connor, fellow Concannon semifinalist and lone senior on this squad, led the NESCAC in power play scoring (4-5-9) and earned a spot not just on our prestigious team, but also on the conference's First Team All-NESCAC. The Colby Captain also represents our only instance of the O-apostrophe at the beginning of a last name, a gaelic signifier meaning "descendant of". Don't know who the original Connor was but at least one of his descendants can puck. 

Middlebury hopes to build a foundation that will lead them back to the glory of yesteryear from the nadir of missing the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. They took a step forward this season into the playoffs thanks in part to sophomore Michael Fahie, whose surname means foundation and whose family motto means hope, the Panthers leading goal scorer (10-11-21). 

Wesleyan junior Walker Harris rounds out the frontline. Harris hails  from Boulder, Colorado, farther from the emerald isle than any other selection. (The other four are all from Massachusetts with the exception of Ontario native Cullen. )His last name, Harris, also is less solidly Irish than others on the team as it is originally more English than Irish. But the First Team All-NESCAC forward's output (19-12-31) makes him a solid choice for the team.  

This should go without saying, but these honors are completely unofficial and the conference has absolutely nothing to do with them. 

2018-19 NESCAC All-Irish (Last Name) Team

Nick O'Connor*     Colby  F ('19)

Walker Harris*      Wesleyan F ('20)
Michael Fahie          Middlebury (F, '21)
Jack McCool            Williams (D, '21)
Liam Feeney             Trinity (D, '20)
Mike Cullen             Amherst (G, '21)

*Indicates player was selected to 2018-19 First Team All-NESCAC

With the offseason here and spring break coming for those still in school, it is time to take it easy. Here's Irish band Kila with Tog E go Bog E (Irish for Take it Easy).

Lpfan2004 catches up with former NESCACers in impromtu interview

The NESCAC is a great conference that provides many opportunities for former students and athletes. I recently had the chance to catch up with former Hamilton netminder Zach Arnold ('15) and former Williams captain Brian McNamara ('15) at a Columbia Law School graduation party. Here are some of the questions I asked them.

Q-How has being a NESCAC student-athlete affected your life?

ZA: I think the biggest impact that being a student-athlete had on my life was that you have a true appreciation for time-management. When you go to college, being a college student in general, it’s a full-time job, you have a tremendous amount of schoolwork. You’re also asked to be a college hockey player, which in itself is a full-time job as well. So in reality you’re asked to do two things that take up a tremendous amount of your time, and I think learning to juggle the two of them, is the best experience I had being a hockey player at hamilton.

BM-It has been a game-changer for my life, it let me meet a ton of different people that are still some of my best friends today, and it also taught me a lot of things about life that I still use pretty much everyday. It is honestly the competition, the learning how to deal with a lot of different things in life, it’s managing school and hockey, it’s changed everything and really shaped the way I live.

Q-What was your career highlight as a college hockey player?

ZA-This is an easy question. My career highlight was definitely my first collegiate start, which came about halfway through my junior year. I got the start in the Utica Auditorium, playing Utica college. There’s a lot of great things that go into it. Our career series between us and Utica was I think tied all-time. They were ranked in the top 10 in the nation. They always have a full sell-out crowd of about 4,000 people. So, it was a really special game, it was my first game in college, and we played them to a 4-4 tie if I remember correctly. It was really just a special night, one of my favorite games I’ve ever played in. I’ll remember it forever.

BM-My career highlight was when we got to play at Fenway Park against Trinity, an outdoor game, we won that game coming from behind. That was one of the more special moments that I had.

Q-Who was your favorite teammate to play with in the NESCAC?

ZA-I think my favorite teammate to play with is probably Joe Rausch, who was in my class at Hamilton. We had a lot of time together, and our careers at Hamilton didn’t start out very easily. We didn’t get a lot of playing time our freshman and sophomore years. When we were upperclassmen, we ultimately stepped up and got a lot of playing time together. I think the biggest thing I learned from Joe is his resiliency, which helped me out as well, because we both had a difficult start to our careers. We didn’t let that negative experience bring us down, and ultimately we overcame those challenges and had successful careers. We ultimately enjoyed our college hockey experience a lot together and that’s what means the most to us.

BM-My favorite teammate was probably Sean Dougherty, who I grew up playing with even before going to high school. He was our goalie and the reason I liked playing with him so much was that as a defensemen, he would pretty much be yelling at me the entire time, which was really more comical than anything. (I asked him about James McNamara, his younger brother who he played two years with, and he said jokingly, “Certainly not, James was one of my least favorite)

Q-What do you think of Clinton winning Kraft Hockeyville?

ZA-I think it’s first of all great for the town of Clinton and a tremendous honor for them. I think it’s well deserved because Clinton really is a world-class hockey town. It has been participating in hockey for over 100 years, they just had the anniversary of 100 years of hockey in Clinton. There’s just not enough good things you can say about how good of a hockey community it is, so I’m just glad they’re going to get the arena fixed up. It’s going to help give back to the community, and ultimately they deserve it. So it’s awesome, I think they made the right choice.

BM-I think it should have been Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Q-Do you have any advice for future NESCAC hockey players?

ZA-I think the main piece of advice I could give them is to try to enjoy it because you work so hard for that for your entire life, and ultimately it goes by so quickly. The four years will go by so quickly, so try and soak up every moment of it, enjoy it, and work as hard as you can, because if you’re very lucky, you’re playing at a high level of hockey, and if you’re very good you’ll have an opportunity to play beyond the NESCAC as well.

BM-I would suggest going to Williams College over Hamilton for sure, but the other advice I would give them is to enjoy all four years and just enjoy playing competitive hockey which is something I miss everyday.

Q-Do you have anything else to say for the fans at Hockey in the `Cac?

ZA-Nothing except “Go Hamilton Continentals!”

BM-Hockey in the `Cac has been something that I followed ever since I was a player, and just enjoy it.

Alright, that’s it folks. Thank you to Zach and Brian for doing the interview and thank you guys for reading. I’m LPfan2004, and I’ll see you next time.

NESCAC in the Pros

Periodically we give an update on former NESCAC players plying their trade in the pro ranks. LPfan2004 gives you a run down on the NESCAC players in the various leagues across the globe this season.

The NESCAC is a great conference that always offers many surprises, such as its sixth seed making the DIII Frozen Four in Lake Placid last month. It also can produce some decent pro players, so I am back with an update of NESCACers in the pros.

AHL

While Jon Landry did not play in the AHL or in any other professional hockey league for the first full season since graduating from Bowdoin in 2006, Evan Buitenhuis signed an ATO (amateur tryout contract) with the Toronto Marlies during Hamilton's Spring Break. While he did not play in a game before being cut on April 9th, Boots has taken some good first steps as he attempts to follow in Guy Hebert’s footsteps and become the first NESCAC NHL player in over 15 years.

ECHL

We had a couple CACers play in the ECHL this year. Evan Neugold, the former Middlebury Panther, got called up from his SPHL team, the Knoxville Ice Bears and was loaned out to the Adirondack Thunder and South Carolina Sting Rays. In 27 games, he tallied two goals and two assists, with 10 minutes in the penalty box and a positive one plus/minus. The other ECHL player was Jack Burton, the former Colby Mule, who played 65 games for the Indy Fuel this season. In those games, he had 3 goals, 8 assists, 67 penalty minutes,and a negative 11 plus/minus. The Fuel just lost their first round playoff series, with Burton having an assist in Game 2.

As noted in the News and Notes on Friday, Trinity's Tyler Whitney also got to play one game in the ECHL with the aforementioned Sting Rays on an ATO. 

Alum Jack Burton (@jack_burto) picks up the start tonight for the @IndyFuel #fuelify #findyournextgear #promules #colbyhockey #muletrain pic.twitter.com/uRK0DKnI3J

— Colby Hockey (@ColbyHockey) April 19, 2018

SPHL

As I said, Evan Neugold is on the Knoxville Ice Bears. He had 21 points in 18 regular season games, and currently has a goal and an assist in three playoff appearances. Mason Pulde, the former Tufts netminder who didn’t make the Middlebury Panthers before transferring to Tufts, also made a SPHL roster this year; he plays for the Peoria Rivermen after starting off the season in the FHL for the Watertown Wolves. He played very well in his ten regular season appearances, earning SPHL Player of the Month honors for March/April. Currently, the Rivermen and Ice Bears are clashing in the SPHL semifinals, reuniting two former NESCAC foes.  

International

Surprisingly, international leagues held most of the NESCAC pros this past season. Louis Belisle, another Middlebury product who formerly played in the ECHL and SPHL, played in the French top division for Nice. In 44 games, he had nine goals and 23 assists, totaling 22 minutes in the box with a positive one plus/minus.

Bowdoin alum Kyle Hardy ('11) also started playing in the French top division after leaving Brunwick. He then went to Switzerland and England, but found himself back in France. He now has a home at Grenoble, where he totaled 47points in 44 regular season games last year as the captain. Earlier this month, The New England Hockey Journal chronicled his pro journey .

There were at least four other NESCACers who played internationally this year. Colin Downey (Bowdoin) played in the French second division for Tours. Ryan Cole (Trinity) played in the Norwegian top division for Konsvinger. Kenny Matheson (Hamilton) played in the German fourth division for EHC Zweibrucken and EC Pfaffenhoffen. Finally, Sean Kavanagh (Tufts) also laced up his skates in the German fourth division, for EV Fussen, where he had 12 points in nine regular season games.

This former @GoUBears defenseman is thriving in France. https://t.co/MavJf9bg60

— NE Hockey Journal (@NEHockeyJournal) April 9, 2018

As always, thank you for reading Hockey in the `Cac. Sorry for being gone  for a while. If we missed any players, let us know in the comment section below. I’m LPfan2004, and I’ll see you next time.

Offseason News and Notes 4/20/18

It's the offseason, but that doesn't mean there aren't things NESCAC hockey related that are going on. We have plenty to catch you up on below.

Individual Accolades
Perhaps one day hibernating New York City talk radio royalty Mike Francesa and Boston sports fanatic Bill Simmons will argue over DIII men' s hockey awards in the same manner they debate Lebron James vs James Harden for MVP  ,but for now the boys from the NESCAC will just  have to settle for mentions from ye humble blog boy. We can also hope that Simmons' Ringer.com will stop completely ignoring the fourth North American major pro sporting league, but I digress.

Things kicked off with the conference honors back at the end of February when hockey was still to be played. Conn College swept the NESCAC conference honors for the first time in program history (Connor Rodericks - Player of the Year, Jim Ward - Coach of the Year, Paul Capozzi  - Rookie of The Year ) after their all-time best finish of second in the NESCAC regular season. All First Team members made the team for the first time with the exception of Trinity's Anthony Sabitsky, who made his second straight appearance on the first team and third All-NESCAC selection overall. Future Frozen Four bound Colby landed blueliner Michael Decker on the 2nd team and no school had more than two players selected across the two teams.

First Team All-NESCAC Position Name Institution Class Hometown F Jason Brochu Hamilton Jr. Saint-Bruno, Quebec F Dylan Holze Wesleyan Sr. Lynbrook, N.Y. F Anthony Sabitsky Trinity Sr. Sicklerville, N.J. D Liam Feeney Trinity So. Foxboro, Mass. D Phil Johansson Amherst Jr. Saint-Zotique, Quebec G Connor Rodericks Connecticut College So. Buzzards Bay, Mass. Second Team All-NESCAC Position Name Institution Class Hometown F David Italiano Williams Jr. Toronto, Ontario F Thomas Lindstrom Amherst Sr. Brooklyn Park, Minn. F Jacob Moreau Connecticut College So. Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec D Michael Decker Colby Sr. Algonquin, Ill. D Chad Malinowski Wesleyan Jr. Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. G Evan Buitenhuis Hamilton Sr. Burlington, Ontario

From NESCAC official release, here

Next up were the American College Hockey Association (ACHA) awards at the D-III Frozen Four in Lake Placid, NY. Colby's Blaise MacDonald, who led the Mules from the sixth seed in the NESCAC tournament to the final four teams in the DIII nation, earned the Ed Jeremiah Award for best coach at the DII level. The last NESCAC coach to earn the honor was Amherst's Jack Arena, who earned the award in 2015. On the ACHA All-American teams, a pair of NESCAC goalies made the cut. Rodericks earned a 2nd Team All-East spot and Evan Buitenhuis earned a 3rd Team All-East selection. 

The New England Hockey Writers Association closed things out in early April with the DII/DIII All-Stars. Rodericks again was honored along with Colby's Sean Lawrence, whose incredible goaltending in postseason play led the Mules to Lake Placid. Trinity sophomore Liam Feeney was the only NESCAC skater selected as he made the blueliner All-Star corp.  MacDonald won Co-Coach of the year with Salve Regina's Zech Klenn, who led the Seahawks to their first ever title game in his first season behind the bench. 

Of note, Bowdoin's Camil Blanchet did not win, but he was a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, which was announced at the D1 Frozen Four in St. Paul, MN last week. 

The NESCAC was snubbed with no selections on All-USCHO teams. 

Kraft Hockeyville
Each year since 2006, Kraft has hosted a contest to name a city or town Hockeyville, with a rink from the winning municipality earning money for an upgrade and the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game. Since 2014, the contest has been split up into separate American and Canadian contests.

This season's American iteration included two NESCAC hometowns among the four finalists, Middlebury, Vermont and Clinton, New York, home to Hamilton and the historic Clinton Arena. Each year the Continentals play one of their home games at Clinton Arena and this past season the game - a tie between Hamilton and Conn College - was part of the Hamilton/Clinton celebration of 100 years of hockey in the central NY village.

Hamilton College hit the social media campaign trail hard for Clinton Arena in the digital contest voted for by the general public. Proponents for the former home of the Clinton Comets included the school's official accounts, the hockey team's accounts, former Cont Guy Hebert and  hockey historian /TV commentator Stan Fischler, who has no official connection to the town or school, but appreciates Clinton's hockey connection to vanquishing Hitler.

When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman opened the envelope on live TV last Saturday during an intermission of an NHL playoff game, he not only wasn't booed, but he earned the admiration of Oneida County when he announced Clinton, NY had been named Kraft Hockeyville USA 2018. Members of the Hamilton team were on site along with local residents for the viewing party (video below from the AHL's Utica Comet's twitter feed. The nearby AHL Team was all-in for Clinton as well).

Clinton Arena will get $150,000 for upgrades and will host a yet to be determined NHL preseason game for next season.

The moment @ClintonArena was named @HockeyvilleUSA!! pic.twitter.com/8KUhPtsI10

— x - Utica Comets (@UticaComets) April 14, 2018

Spring Break 
Some students spend their spring break studying, others catch up on school work, still others have spring team activities and finally a very small minority of NESCAC senior hockey players get to head to the ECHL, SPHL and AHL on Amateur Tryout (ATO) contracts in pro hockey.

It was a small class this spring with only three signings and only one player actually getting ice time. Trinity senior and 100 point club member Tyler Whitney kicked it off in March when he signed an ATO with the ECHL's South Carolina Sting Rays, who employ his older brother, Steven Whitney. The younger Whitney got to play one game before being released.

That's better than Middlebury goalie Stephen Klein, who was signed for one day with the ECHL's Colorado Eagles, before being cut only 24 hours without even dressing. Go figure.

2016-17 NCAA DIII player of the year Evan Buitenhuis got a golden opportunity with an ATO with the Toronto Malple Leafs AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Buitenhuis dressed for a few games before eventual AHL goalie of the Year Garrett Sparks returned to the Marlies from a short stint with the big club. The former Continental remained on the roster several more weeks but would not dress again before being cut last week in the final week of the regular season.

LPfan2004 will have an update on other NESCAC alums in the pros, including international players, later this weekend.

Have to admit I hadn’t heard of Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis before his first #Toronto #Marlies game.

Based on the reactions to my photos of him, however, the man is surrounded by insane love! Good on him.#sportsphotography #MarliesLive @TheAHL pic.twitter.com/VaVL2FDS3p

— Randall C Willis (@createdbyrcw) March 21, 2018

A New Arena
Stick to Sports?

No thank you, says graduating Amherst senior Johnny Arena, who announced his candidacy as a Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts House of Representatives 2nd Franklin Seat at the end of last month. The 23 year old, who served as Director of Hockey Operations for his father Jack Arena's Amherst men's hockey team, will take on incumbent Sussanah Whipps Lee this fall.

For more info on Arena's candidacy, see The Greenfield Recorder's article on his announcement here. 


Humboldt Strong
You are likely aware of the horrific tragedy that befell a Canadian Junior A hockey team, the Humboldt Broncos, and by extension the entire hockey tournament, two Fridays ago on April 7th. The Saskatchawan team was headed to Nipiwan for game 5 of a SJHL playoff series when their bus collided with a semi-truck, leaving sixteen dead and thirteen injured.

NESCAC teams don't tend to recruit that far west in Canada, but they do recruit Canadian Junior A players that have a similar experience on buses as the SJHL. Even if they didn't play juniors, NESCAC players know the experience of bonding on long bus rides while in the NESCAC, traveling from points as far west as Clinton, NY all the way up to Waterville, ME.  The bus ride was a theme of Colby's Frozen Four run with the team on the road for the final six weeks of the season from the end of the regular season up to the national semifinals in Lake Placid, NY.

The Berkshire Eagle's Howard Herman spoke to Canadian members of the Williams team (here) about the horrific event and NESCAC players and coaches have been active online in the social media campaigns to support Humboldt, including the #sticksoutforhumboldt (Colby coach Blaise MacDonald's and Trinity coach Matt Greason's tweets below as examples) and the #JerseysForHumboldt (Amherst and Colby team photos below).

No words pic.twitter.com/r7HerahM9l

— mattgreason (@mattgreason14) April 10, 2018

Sticks out in Cumberland Maine #humboldtbroncos @HumboldtBroncos #putyourstickout. 🏒 pic.twitter.com/P65CO1tc5l

— Blaise MacDonald (@MacDBlaise) April 11, 2018

Colby is #Humboldtstrong. Thanks to @ColbyHockey and @ColbyWIH for organizing this event on Miller steps. pic.twitter.com/94hAn5aS68

— Colby College (@ColbyCollege) April 12, 2018

Wherever you are, fellas, you’re in our hearts, and part of our family. #JerseysForHumboldt #HumboldtStrong pic.twitter.com/kVsX87CfhS

— Amherst Hockey (@AmherstHockey) April 12, 2018