Three Stars (Week 19)

Scott Diebold

I just want to say that in the final weekend of regular season play there were a lot of tremendous individual performances with a lot on the line. That's what made this week's Three Stars a tough one for me.


First Star(s): Scott Diebold & Bryce Merriam (RPI)

While RPI did not have much to play for this weekend besides playoff seeding, they played one of their best weekend's of hockey this season. The Engineers traveled to Colgate and Cornell (two teams with a lot to play for) and beat them both. While I did not attend these games, it's pretty safe to say that they could have won either of these games without some stellar goaltending. On Friday night, freshman Scott Diebold made 49 saves in a 4-2 win over the Raiders. The Buffalo, New York native also held Austin Smith to just one assist, and allowed one goal on nine of Colgate's power-play opportunities. This was definitely Diebold's best performance of the year, picking up his second career win, his first since November 25 at RIT.

Bryce Merriam

The following night, Coach Appert went with junior Bryce Merriam at Lynah Rink, with the Big Red playing with the Cleary Cup on the line. While the Bethel Park, Pennsylvania native made only 15 saves, he held the Cornell power-play scoreless on their six attempts, making eight saves during that span. His solid performance allowed the Engineers to comeback and beat Cornell in overtime, spoiling the Big Red's chance to capture the Cleary Cup. If Dieblod and Merriam can build off this momentum, RPI could be a very dangerous team in the playoffs.

Daniel Carr

Second Star: Daniel Carr (Union)
After Friday's lost at Cornell, the Dutchmen needed to win at Colgate on Austin Smith's senior night, and for rival RPI to beat Cornell. Union needed big games from their big guns to have any hope at the Cleary Cup. Luckily, sniper Daniel Carr showed up and put in one of the best performances of his career with a hat trick and assist in the 5-3 win over the Raiders. Carr opened up the scoring with a shorthanded goal about five minutes into the game. He then scored an unassisted even strength goal to give the Dutchmen a 3-2 lead in the second period. Carr completed his hat trick a little over a minute into the final period with a power-play tally, which ended up being the game-winner. He also assisted on Josh Jooris' empty netter, which sealed the victory. So, Carr kind of scored a hat trick, within a hat trick, within a hat trick, scoring three goals, in three periods, while at even strength, shorthanded, and on the power-play.  The Sherwood Park, Alberta native has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past three games, and is just one power-play tally behind for a tie for the nation's lead.

Raphael Girard

Third Star(s): Raphael Girard & David Valek (Harvard)
The Crimson needed two wins at home this weekend to secure a first round bye in the playoffs. Luckily for them, goaltender Raphael Girard and forward David Valek surprisingly led them to victories over both North Country teams. Girard won both games for the weekend for his second and third victories of the season and his career. The sophomore netminder has mainly backed up freshman Steve Michalek this season, but Coach Donato has given Girard the starting job for now with a lot on the line, and it paid off. On Friday night, he made 31 saves in a 4-1 win over St. Lawrence, and then made 27 saves in a 3-2 win over Clarkson.

Valek, a junior, had the best weekend of the season at the perfect time with two goals in each victory. The four goals gives the Croatia native six goals on the season and nine for his career. Against the Saints, he scored Harvard's first goal of the game 7:15 into the first to tie the game at one. It must have felt good to score for Valek, since it was his first goal since November 22 vs. New Hampshire. But, it must have felt even better to give his team an insurance goal in the third period to go up 3-1.  The following night, the Crimson were down a goal heading into the third period. But, Valek's two goals (one where Girard picked up an assist) in the final frame allowed Harvard to comeback and beat Clarkson.

David Valek

Honorable Mention:
Matt Peca (Quinnipiac): picked up an assist on each of Quinnipiac's six goals over the weekend. It's a tremendous feat, but he didn't crack the Three Stars because all of the assists were secondary assists, and there were many other worthy candidates.
Kellen Jones (QU): 2g,2a vs. Brown; 1a vs. Yale
Brian O'Neill (Yale): 1g,3a vs. Princeton
Jesse Root (Yale) 2a vs. Princeton; 2g vs. Quinnipiac
Jeremy Welsh (Union): 2g vs. Cornell; 2a vs. Colgate
Patrick Cullen (RPI): 1g (GWG),1a vs. Cornell
Matt Tinordi (RPI): 1g,1a vs. Cornell
Austin Smith (Colgate): 2a vs. RPI; 1g, 1a vs. Union
Brandon McNally (Dartmouth): 2g vs. Clarkson; 1g vs. SLU

Three Stars (Week 14)

Bryce Merriam

First Star: Bryce Merriam (RPI)
The Engineers have had a very tough time winning games this season, currently sitting in last place in the league. There haven't been many positives this year, but there is a big bright spot, and that's the fact that Bryce Merriam is a legitimate starting goaltender. Last year Merriam was known as "Allen York's backup," but with York gone to the NHL, Merriam has stepped up tremendously to fill his skates. While he has only won five games in 17 starts this season, Merriam has posted a very solid 2.40 GAA and .916 save percentage (both sixth in the ECAC).

This weekend was definitely Merriam's best of his career, winning both games, and leading the Engineers to their first weekend sweep of the season. On Friday he stopped 36 shots in a 3-0 win at Brown, and then followed that outstanding performance up with 45 stops in a 3-1 at Yale. RPI was the only team to pick up four points this weekend, which Merriam had a big part of.

Nick Tremblay

Second Star: Nick Trembaly (Clarkson)
In any rivalry game, you need your big guns to step up, and that's exactly what Tremblay did when St. Lawrence came to Cheel on Saturday night. In Clarkson's 4-3 win over the Saints, Tremblay had his hand in all four goals. He had the primary assist on Louke Oakley's goal to opening up the scoring, and then once again had the primary assist on James Howden's goal to tie the game at two in the second period. With the Golden Knight's down one goal going into the third period, Tremblay stepped up to give his team the victory. He scored on the power-play about six minutes into the final frame to tie the game, and then assisted on Patrick Marsh's game-winner about five minutes later. In 24 games this season, Tremblay has posted 11 goals and 12 assists, which are most on the team (along with fellow senior Louke Oakley).

Marshall Everson

Third Star: Marshall Everson (Harvard)
While the Crimson did win a game this weekend, tying both Colgate and Cornell 2-2, Everson had a great weekend. He had his hand in all four of Harvard's goals, with a goal and assist in each matchup. Against the Raiders, he scored a power-play goal with 29 seconds left in the first period to tie the game at one, and then had the primary assist on Peter Starrett's goal in the second period. The following night in front of a hostile crowd at Lynah Rink, Everson once again scored a power-play goal late in the first period to tie the game at one. He then assisted on Alex Killorn's game-tying goal midway through the third period. The junior is currently second on his team with seven goals.

Honorable Mention:
Marty O'Grady (RPI): 1g vs. Brown; 2g vs. Yale
Wayne Simpson (Union): 2g vs. Yale
Eric Nelley (Dartmouth): 1g, 2a vs. Cornell; 1a vs. Colgate
Doug Jones (Dartmouth): 1g vs. Cornell; 1g, 2a vs. Colgate
Alex Killron (Harvard): 2a vs. Colgate; 1g vs. Cornell
Brock Higgs (RPI): 3a vs. Brown
Massimo Lamacchia (Brown): 1g, 2a vs. Union

Three Stars (Week 1)

Here is another weekly segment I will be doing. After the weekend's games I will be picking my Three Stars of the weekend. I will be keeping standings for this as well. The First Star will receive 3 points, the Second Star will get 2 points, and the Third Star will get 1 point. At the end of the season, we will see who I picked as the Top 3 Stars of the 2011-12 season.

So here are my picks for this week:

First Star: Wayne Simpson (Union)
In the Dutchmen's 8-1 blowout of Army, the junior forward scored a hat trick and added an assist. It was the first hat trick of his career. He scored Union's fourth goal in the second period, and the final two goals in the third period. While it has only been one weekend (and one game for Wayne), he currently leads the nation with 4.00 points per game (not that it means anything). This was the second season in a row that a Union player scored a hat trick in the season opener (Josh Jooris did it last year in his first collegiate game).

Second Star: Austin Smith (Colgate)
The senior forward was extremely instrumental in helping the Raiders capture the the Mutual of Omaha Stampede championship trophy. In the first game against Robert Morris, Smith picked up an assist in the 3-1 victory. But, his major contribution of the weekend came in the championship game where the Raiders beat #14 Nebraska-Omaha for the championship. He gave his team a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal 1:46 into the game, and then assisted on Joe Wilson's game-winning goal in the second period. The tournament championship was Colagte's first since the 2006 UConn Classic, and the Raiders' first win over a WCHA team since 1998 (Minnesota-Duluth).

Third Star: Bryce Merriam (RPI)
The junior goaltender put in a great performance in his first start of the year. In the Engineers' 4-1 bounce-back win over Mineesota-Mankato on Saturday night, Merriam made 31 saves for his first win of the season. He has been nursing a knee injury over the past week, so it was really nice to see him play well in his first start. He currently leads all ECAC goaltenders with a .969 save percentage (once again, that means nothing). On opening night, freshman Scott Diebold started for RPI and allowed just one goal  on 20 shots in a 1-0 loss. It was a very good weekend for the RPI goaltenders in their first action since Allen York left early.