Coaching Carousel Continues

The coaching carousel has been going around and around in Division I men's college hockey since the national title game in Philadelphia over a month ago.

Scott Owens resigned at Colorado College, to be replaced by former Elmira skater and Chicago Blackhawks assistant coach Mike Haviland.Owens led the Tigers to 324 wins and seven NCAA Tournament berths in his 15-year-tenure in Colorado Springs. Haviland, who helped Chicago to its 2010 Stanley Cup championship, was head coach at Hershey (AHL) last season, and had previously won two ECHL titles as a head coach.

Jim Roque was let go at Lake Superior State after nine seasons and replaced by former Michigan State forward Damon Whitten, who has coached at MSU, Wayne State, Alaska Anchorage and Michigan Tech in his career. It's the first time Whitten will be a head coach at the college level, with a Lakers club that hasn't made the NCAAs since 1996

Bob Prier resigned after three seasons at Princeton, although whether that was under duress or not hasn't been revealed—I hope it wasn't the case that he was forced out. Prier had succeeded Guy Gadowsky, who moved on to Penn State in 2011. His own replacement will be the first major hiring for new Princeton athletic director Mollie Marcoux, a Princeton hockey alumnae and a three-time MVP for the Tigers.

Lastly, Paul Pearl resigned after 19 seasons at the helm of his alma mater, Holy Cross, to take the associate position at Harvard. Pearl paced the Crusaders to 297 wins and two NCAA berths in his time, including an overtime upset of Minnesota in 2006. He will replace former Harvard assistant Albie O'Connell, who went back to Boston University where he captained the Terriers as an undergraduate.

Just over four months until the 2014-15 NCAA campaign begins—and the chance for more change behind the benches of Division I programs before the first puck drops.

Crash Kreider He's Not

From Easy Kreider to Crash Kreider? Don't think so.

Concerning Saturday's collision in Montreal between New York Rangers foward Chris Kreider and Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, I don't see how Kreider could have stopped in time to avoid contact with Price. The Rangers won, 7-2, scoring two goals late in the second period on Price, who finished the period, and then three more on backup Petr Budaj in the third stanza in a 7-2 romp in Game 1 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final.

Kreider, who is 6'3" and 220 pounds before he even puts on his equipment, had the puck and was going hard to the net at full speed in a 2-0 game, with two opponents whacking away at him. It all happened fast, and he could just as easily have wrecked himself in the ensuing collision.

Habs coach Michel Therrien said on Monday that Kreider's play was "reckless". If Price was so badly hurt, or the Canadiens had concerns about his knee, then why did he last the rest of the period? Now he's said to be out the rest of the series. It's gamesmanship on the part of Montreal's head coach, but that's as much a part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as winning faceoffs and scoring goals.

Kreider has been accused of running into NHL goalies before, as seen here, including the Price play. The sequence with Fleury was questionable, but with the others, why would Kreider slide if he really wanted to take them out? Why not stay upright and barrel them over at full speed, rather than risk getting cut with a skate or slamming a knee into a goal post? The second coming of Matt Cooke, Kreider isn't. Plus, he's even coming off of surgery on a broken hand.

“I think I’m a clean player,” said Kreider, who catalyzed the Rangers' rebound from the brink of elimination in the last round with a power-play goal at Pittsburgh in Game 5. “I don’t go out with the intent to hurt any player. Ever. I’m going to continue to try and score goals.”

He did on Saturday, racing in and beating Price stick-side to give New York a 3-1 lead at the time. And I'm not defending Kreider because we both went to Boston College, albeit him going more than 20 years after me. Brooks Orpik also attended BC, and he's thrown more than a few questionable hits in his time in the NHL that have injured opposing players.

Then there's this semi-late hit on Derick Brassard by Montreal's Mike Weaver, who is not a dirty player, either, early on in Game 1. No word from the Canadiens on that one, even though Brassard left the ice and never returned to action.

Canadiens forward and former Ranger player Brandon Prust said that Kreider did what he did "accidentally on purpose". The same Prust who has 90 points and 843 penalty minutes in 369 career NHL regular-season games, plus 14 more minutes on Saturday for hacking away at Kreider in the third period, including a slash to the hand and a spear (of sort) to the groin. Nice.

The Canadiens should be worrying how to handle the Rangers' speed after that debacle on Saturday afternoon. Expect Montreal to tighten things up tonight in Game 2, hopefully with less fireworks.

U.S., Canada Win at Worlds

Brock Nelson (North Dakota) scored a goal, Craig Smith (Wisconsin) tallied an assist, and Tim Thomas (Vermont) made 22 saves as the United States outlasted Finland, 3-1, on Sunday in preliminary-round play at the 2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk, Belarus. Both Thomas and the Americans improved to 4-2-0 in the tournament.

Ben Scrivens (Cornell) made 22 stops as Canada outlasted Sweden, 3-2, in overtime Sunday. Canada is now 5-1 and in first place in Group A. The U.S. will now face Germany on Tuesday, while Canada will take on Norway that same day to conclude pool play. Both North American squads have clinched quarterfinal berths.

Canadiens to Meet Rangers in Eastern Final

What looked to be an all black-and-gold NHL Eastern Conference final a week ago has turned red, white and blue - or bleu, blanc et rouge, if you're north of the border.

One night after the New York Rangers completed their comeback from a 3-1 series deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 2-1 win in Steeltown, the Montreal Canadiens completed their own comeback from a 3-2 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with a 3-1 victory in Beantown.

Max Pacioretty (Michigan) notched the game-winning goal in the second period as the Habs took a 2-0 lead en route to their Game 7 triumph over the East's No. 1 seed. Torey Krug (Michigan State) assisted on Boston's lone goal as Montreal defeated the Bruins for the sixth time in nine all-time Game 7 meetings.

Brian Boyle (Boston College) scored the game-opening goal in the Rangers win on Tuesday night, assisted by Dominic Moore (Harvard). Martin St. Louis (Vermont) and Derek Stepan (Wisconsin) then set up Brad Richard's game- and series-winning goal in the second period to break a 1-1 tie. New York allowed Pittsburgh just three goals in the final three games.

The Rangers-Canadiens series will begin on Friday in Montreal. It has been 20 years since the Rangers made the Stanley Cup Final and won hockey's biggest prize, one year after the Habs did the same in 1993 when Montreal won 10 overtime contests that spring.

Out west, Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) kept the Los Angeles Kings alive by making 21 saves in a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 last night in Inglewood, Cal. Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame) scored the Ducks' only goal, assisted by Nick Bonino (Boston University), after Anaheim fell behind, 2-0.

Game 7 will be contested in Anaheim on Friday night. The winner will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, who ousted the Minnesota Wild in six games after a 2-1 overtime win in Minnesota on Tuesday.

U.S. Routed by Russia in World Championship Play

Team captain and Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader (Michigan State) scored the only goal for the United States in Monday's 6-1 loss to Russia in a preliminary round game in the 2014 IIHF World Championship at Minsk Arena in Belarus. The U.S. fell to 2-1 in the tournament, having earlier defeated host Belarus and Switzerland.

Former Spartan teammate Jeff Petry assisted on Abdelkader's goal, which came after Russia had built a 3-0 second-period lead. Florida Panthers netminder Tim Thomas (Vermont) took the loss with 10 saves on 15 shots, and was relieved just over halfway through the contest by David Leggio (Clarkson), who stopped seven of eight attempts.

The Americans return to action against Latvia on Thursday.

Kreider Sparks Rangers to Stay Alive in Pittsburgh

 

Chris Kreider (Boston College) made his 2014 Stanley Cup Playoff road debut a memorable one.

He hustled to get a loose puck back to the left point early Friday night in Pittsburgh, diving to the ice to beat Penguins forward and former BC teammate Brian Gibbons. He then followed up a rebound by Ryan McDonagh (Wisconsin) on that same play with his first goal of the postseason, sparking the New York Rangers to a 1-0 lead en route to a 5-1 win in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Consol Energy Arena.

Kreider, who also had an assist, and now has seven goals in 28 career NHL playoff games, is coming off of surgery on a broken left hand. That injury caused him to miss 23 games before he finally skated in Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Manhattan in Game 4. His goal on Friday also broke the Rangers’ 0-for-36 drought on the power play this postseason that extended back to Game 2 of New York’s first-round, seven-game series victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Rangers forward Martin St. Louis (Vermont) was in the lineup for New York one day after the passing of his mother in Canada. He skated 16 minutes, had one shot on goal,  and was named the contest's third star.

Pittsburgh now leads the best-of-seven series with the Rangers, three games to two. Game 6 is slated for Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden.

Quick Stakes Kings to 2-0 Series Lead

Jonathan Quick looks a lot better lately, doesn't he?

The former UMass netminder surrendered 16 goals in his first three Stanley Cup Playoff games this spring, all losses to the San Jose Sharks. Since then he's posted six straight wins and given up just eight goals in that span.

The Kings rebounded against San Jose to become just the fourth team in NHL history to win a best-of-seven series after trailing, three games to none. Quick allowed just five goals in the final four meetings with the Sharks, including just two scores in the last two contests.

He made 36 saves last night in Anaheim as the Kings claimed a 3-1 victory and took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with the Ducks, which now shifts to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4. The winner will face the victor in the Minnesota-Chicago series. Quick made 33 stops in a  3-2 overtime triumph at Anaheim in Game 1 on Saturday.

Quick, who prepped at Avon Old Farms (Conn.) and won 53 games there before enrolling at UMass, led the Kings to their first Stanley Cup title in 2012, as he finished 16-4 that year and also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the top player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.