Monday, March 5, 2012

Three Stars (First Round)

Antoine Laganiere
First Star: Antoine Laganiere (Yale)
Laganiere might be the most underrated player in the league. The junior power forward from Quebec is quietly having a breakout season, while being overshadowed by teammates like Brian O'Neill, Andrew Miller, and Kenny Agostino. In his first two seasons in New Haven, Laganiere accumulated 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points. This season, he has netted 17 goals (tied for 5th in the league) and added 13 helpers for 30 points. Talk about an increase in production. He had a huge weekend in the First Round of the playoffs with five goals over the three game series with Princeton, scoring in every way possible. On Friday night, he sealed Yale's 4-2 victory with an empty net goal late in regulation. The following evening, he tied the score at three with six minutes left in the game on a power-play goal in the Bulldogs' overtime loss. Laganiere left his best performance of the weekend for the decisive Game Three, scoring a hat trick in Yale's 7-3 triumph. He scored a shorthanded goal early in the first period to give his team a 2-0 lead, and then scored an even strength tally in the second frame to give Yale a big 4-1 lead. Princeton got on the board later in the period to cut the lead to two, but Laganiere completed the hat trick with a power-play goal about a minute later. The Bulldogs hope he can continue this scoring touch (eight goals in past six games) at Harvard this upcoming weekend.

Andrew Calof
Second Star: Andrew Calof (Princeton)
The Tigers had their season come to an end this weekend at the hands of the Yale Bulldogs, but Princeton's top gun did his best to give the Tigers a fighting chance. Over the three game series, Calof had his hand in half of Princeton's goals. After being held pointless in Game One, the sophomore forward broke out in the next two games. In Game Two, he scored a power-play goal late in the second period to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately for Princeton, they could not hold on to the lead as the game was tied 4-4 heading into overtime. The extra period did not last for long, as Calof sent the game to Game Three in just 33 seconds with the game-winning goal. On Sunday night, the Nepean, Ontario native did tallied a point in each period. He scored a goal late in the first period, netted a power-play tally late in the second, and assisted on Michael Sdao's goal early in the third period. Despite this effort, the Tigers lost 7-3. Calof scored a career-high 17 goals this season, and finished the season as Princeton's leading scorer for the second year in a row.

Jody O'Neill
Third Star: Jody O'Neill (Dartmouth)
The Big Green's "other" senior netminder has a had a pretty interesting season. He was basically an after thought considering his classmate James Mello was the unanimous pick for First Team All-ECAC. Mello had a great 2010-11 campaign, while O'Neill played in just five games. As projected, Coach Gaudet had Mello as his "go to" guy in the first half of the season. O'Neill just played twice in 2011, starting both games in the North Country, earning a split. Entering 2012, Gaudet decided that maybe Mello wasn't going to get out of his funk, and O'Neill could be the answer. For the most part, he was correct. The Nepean, Ontario native has put up his best numbers in a Big Green uniform this season. In 11 games, he's gone 4-4-2 with a 2.24 GAA and .929 save percentage, definitely outperforming Mello. He's won three of his past four decisions, including his two wins over St. Lawrence this weekend. O'Neill was the only netminder to lead his team to a sweep, and did an excellent job in net each night. He made 30 saves in Dartmouth's 6-3 win over the Saints on Friday, and followed that up with a stellar 38 save performance in a 4-1 victory to advance to the ECAC Quarterfinals at Cornell. It will be interesting who Gaudet goes with this weekend in Ithaca, considering all three Dartmouth netminders have split time for the majority of the season (sophomore Cab Morris has played in six games).

Honorable Mention:
Marc Hagel (Princeton): 2a; 2a; 0
Brian O'Neill (Yale): 1g; 2a; 1g,1a
Matt Peca (QU): 0; 1g,2a; 1a
Kellen Jones (QU): 0; 3a; 1g
Mike Bergin (RPI): 2a; 0; 1g
Ryan Haggerty (RPI): 2a; 0; 1g
Joel Malchuk (RPI): 1g; 0; 1g
Nick Bailen (RPI): 2g; 0; 2a
Bryce Merriam (RPI): 16 saves (1ga); 40 saves (4ga); 23 saves (1ga)
Nick Tremblay (Clarkson): 1g; 1g; 1a
Matt Linblad (Dartmouth): 1g; 1g,1a
Eric Neiley (Dartmouth): 1g; 2a
Doug Jones (Dartmouth): 1g; 1g
Nick Walsh (Dartmouth): 1g,1a; 1g
Mike Keenan (Dartmouth): 3a; 0
Greg Carey(SLU): 1g; 1g

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