State of the UML Hockey Program
A talk with UML Coach Blaise MacDonald
February 14, 2002
With the NCAA Ice Hockey Tournament just over a month away, the UMass Lowell River Hawks are still fighting for a shot at being invited to the Hockey version of the "Big Dance." The River Hawks are one of the surprises this year in college hockey, but most likely still need 3 or 4 wins of their last 6 games, as well as a decent showing in the Hockey East Tournament to have a chance.
Coach Blaise MacDonald has quickly helped turn around a program that had been floundering over the past five years (76-94-11) into a nationally ranked team (currently 12th in the country). The River Hawks turn around this year encompassed an ending of a 15 game losing streak to BC, an incredible 7 shutouts, and a climb in the rankings at one point to as high as #3. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they hit a slump in late January, losing five in a row, while scoring just one goal in four of those games. Lowell also lost a trio of players to the Olympics for a few games, as seniors Laurent Meunier and Yorick Treille and freshmen Baptiste Amar (who only has one year of eligibility left after this year) represented their home country, France, in Salt Lake City.
MacDonald, not surprisingly, seems happy with how this year has gone so far. "We've had a tremendous year, we've had a lot of guys step up, have career years for themselves." Junior Ed McGrane is definitely one of those, as he's finally making a name for himself, leading Hockey East in goals scored, and sophomore Anders Strome has notched 12 goals this year, after only scoring once his freshman year. Of course senior netminder Cam McCormick would have to be at the top of this list, with a 1.54 GAA and a 93.2% save rate and an amazing 6 shutouts on the year. Sophomore defenseman Darryl Green and Jerramie Domish have also surpassed their previous season's output and have helped to solidify a blue line that was supposed to be a trouble spot without early departure Ron Hainsey.
On the other hand, Lowell has suffered not only the aforementioned loss of players to the Olympics, but injuries to various players, including both goaltenders. The goaltending situation got so bad that the team had to run a tryout on campus trying to find a backup keeper since NCAA rules require each team to have a dressed backup on the bench. Lowell has also been without one of its top scorers, Laurent Meunier for over a month due to a shoulder injury. MacDonald went on to state that when you look at the stat sheet there's potential for Lowell to improve its game. Treille has just one league goal in 13 games, junior Mark Concannon has one in 18 games (and only 3 in total), Meunier has only played in 8 of 18 league games. Taking all that into account, MacDonald said "I think we're in great shape, we've played well, our power play is third in Hockey East, we're limiting opponents shots." MacDonald continued, "I'm happy where we're at. We now need to bring it together down the stretch run."
One question that most Lowell fans either ask themselves or have to endure from others is will this sucess continue? MacDonald has benefited from an extremely veteran squad which includes 10 seniors and 6 juniors, but what happens though when those seniors graduate? With at least 11 spots opening up (freshman Brian Boike is no longer on the team), the Hawks have a lot of roster space available, and will get much younger next year. Lowell has three players that are currently on campus but had to sit out this year, and one returning to the school after a year in Juniors. Chris Davidson (6'0", 163, Hudson, Quebec) will return to the Hawks as a sophomore, having played for the Hawks two years ago. He is currently playing for Compuware in the NAHL, and leads the league in GAA and save percentage. Forward Jeremy Garrison (6'2", 195, Wallingford, CT) is a transfer from Quinnipiac College, who should have two years of eligibility remaining. Another person with two years remaining will be ex-BC player Jeremy Wilson (5'10", 186, Shrewsbury, MA). Wilson played in juniors for a year, and then had to sit out this year as a transfer. Finally, goaltender David Rathjen (5'9", 191, Okanagan Falls, BC) also sat out this year as he played Major Juniors. He will not be eligible to play the first few games of the 2002/2003 season either.
Adding onto those four, the River Hawks hauled in their biggest ever early signee class, receiving 6 National Letters of Intent (NLI's) in the early signing period. They also currently have two more players who have verballed to Lowell, but the University can't name those players until they sign NLI's. MacDonald is hoping to sign five more players during the April signing period, including 2 defensemen, 2 forwards and a keeper.
Surprisingly for a state school, the UMass Lowell roster only has 6 Massachusetts raised players (not counting walk-on 3rd string keeper Matt Carroll), of whom 3 are seniors. The expectation of Lowell fans is to see more of the team coming from Massachusetts, and MacDonald has begun working on that, having three commitments from in-state kids: Brian Bova, Mark Pandolfo and Danny O'Brien.
Bova (6'1", 190, North Andover, MA) is a senior at Northfield Mount Herman and is described by MacDonald as a "big power forward type of player." Bova is currently putting up good numbers at NMH, having 49 points in his first 26 games, but "will take some time to adjust to the speed of Hockey East." Lowell has a second player from North Andover in Mark Pandolfo (5'11", 186). Pandolfo, who has one brother playing in the NHL and another at BU, is at Lawrence Academy currently, but is playing for the Jr. Warriors in the EJHL. Pandolfo has only played in 18 games (10-8-18) as he joined the team after the soccer season ended at Lawrence Academy. MacDonald says Pandolfo is a great athlete who "only decided last year that he wanted to concentrate fully on hockey, so I think his development is going to really take off when he gets to the college level." MacDonald seems upbeat when talking about Pandolfo, describing him as "very talented, and with great on-ice awareness." The third of the local commitments is Danny O'Brien (5'9", 175) from South Boston who is playing for Cedar Rapids in the USHL. "A real Lowell type of player, who works really hard and has a good base line of skill and talent," according to MacDonald, who then compared O'Brien to Stephen Slonina, the current junior forward of the River Hawks.
Left wing Andrew Martin (5'11", 180, Brampton, Ontario) also signed an NLI in the early period. Martin, an 83 birthdate, has put up good numbers for the Bramalea Blues in the OPJHL with a 24-23-47 line in 34 games. Martin is described as having a "very good skill level, good speed" and having the potential to be a first/second line forward by his sophomore year. Continuing on MacDonald said Morten Ask (6'1", 174, Norway) is a "big, strapping, powerful forward with real good skills." Ask, who currently plays for Valeranga IF Oslo (6-6-12 in 25 games) still has to clear a couple of hurdles to be eligible next year. Matt Collar is the final NLI signee, a 5'11", 175 defenseman from Plano, Texas. Collar was playing for the Danville Wings of the NAHL, but separated his shoulder and is out for the year now. MacDonald compared Collar to Josh Allison, as he has "great feet and can really skate."
With what has taken place for the River Hawks this year, and with the recruits coming in for next, Lowell fans can't help but smile at the upturn the program has taken. With MacDonald leading this program, it's a comforting feeling that the UMass Lowell men's hockey team will be making noise in both Hockey East and NCAA play for years to come.
Copyright Monty Rodrigues