ECU Hockey wins BRHC regular season, rolls over VT

ECU club hockey team continues to roll this season, as they now sit at 10-2 in conference play, 17-5-1 overall. The highlight of their year so far was beating VT in Blacksburg in front of approx 6,000 people

the Pirates are hosting the BRHC Championship at Bladez On Ice in Greenville starting Feb. 2oth.

ECU Hockey rolls over UVA, ODU

From the ECU Hockey homepage:

ECU Wins Back to Back Wins - Dominates 2 Virginia Teams

10/11/08

GREENVILLE, NC - Friday night as part of the “Think Pink” breast cancer awareness night, the ECU Ice Hockey Club defeated the University of Virginia Cavaliers, 9-1. The Pirate lines looked sharp with exceptional passing, puck control and were disciplined spending very little time in the penalty box.

The team in conjunction with Zeta Tau Alpha raised several hundred dollars for breast cancer research as a part of the teams continued commitment to community involvement.

Saturday afternoon, the Pirates played Old Dominion University. Still wearing pink ribbons as they will for the month of October, the Pirates started the first period slowly, spending an abnormal amount of time in the penalty box. The end of the first period had the Pirates down 1-2. However, during the second period, the Pirates minimized penalties, scored 6 unanswered goals and assumed the lead. ECU never looked back and controlled the game until the end with an 8-5 win."

The Pirate hockey team at least provided some good spirits to counter-balance the suddenly flailing ECU football team as they lost to UVA 35-20 on Saturday.

Quick hitters

Scott Walker didn't want the trainers in the recovery room to get too lonely, so he hit the IR today after hand surgery. Out 6 weeks, but he can still inflict fear upon opposing teams from the press box if necessary.


With Walks out, Dan LaCouture got signed to the club today. Hey - is it just me - or are we seeing a Jon Favreau seperated at birth thing going on here with Danny boy?:

Dear Jimmy Rutherford: Plze 2 not sign Brendan Shanahan. With all due respect to his career, there is no shortage of damaged goods around here already.

From Puck Daddy via Japer's Rink.. proof that God has forsaken the Sabres fans:



ECU hosting UVA this weekend in Greenville and raising money in the name of Hockey Fights Cancer. The game is Friday night at Bladez On Ice followed by Saturday's football game with the Pirates vs. the Cavs.

4 days until Carolina vs. Florida opening night. Tailgating arrangements are already well underway.

COI Season preview: The Citadel Bulldogs Hockey team

What follows is the first of what I hope to see several more of here, a team interview with the college teams. Other squads have any interweb access and want their own post here? Send some hellos to CarolinaOnIce@gmail.com.

Things should be pretty clear for the BRHC's coming season after the Annual Fall Meeting this coming weekend in Williamsburg, VA. Earlier this summer the Colonial Collegiate Hockey League ponied up with the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference. Essentially, the new BRHC is this frickin' big:

and stretches nearly the entire Southeast which should be a good thing for members of NC and SC's teams (East Carolina who is back after an independent season, ASU, The Citadel, UNC-W, UNC-Charlotte and NCSU's Division III team) as they play in broader areas and more rinks with the chance to bring in futher alumni support. They're gonna need the gas money, folks.

And because every single college kid has a Facebook account apparently, be sure to join the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference Group to keep up to date around the league this coming year.

Here's a few questions with the very clean-shaven men from the Citadel team:

Alex GRIMES

(Title: Captain. Position: Forward. Year: Senior. Company: Golf)

COI: Your biggest game of the season this year will be...

It depends on how the season goes. Most likely it will be a playoff game.

COI: Optimism = good. What does the future hold for Bulldogs hockey?

We have high hopes for the team. Our coach is dedicated to bringing in good quality players, and ensuring that the Citadel becomes one of the best teams in the South. The team has been around since 2001, and I expect it to be around for a lot longer.

Justin MENOR

(Title: Team President. Position: Forward. Year: Junior. Company: Alpha)

I went to the Citadel to become a better person and a better leader/team player. I started playing hockey when I was 10 and wanted to play rather than watching hockey games.

COI: Has the team ever done anything with the fellow Charleston team the SC Stingrays of the ECHL?

No.

COI: You should try contacting the team management at their home page.


Alexander WINTON

(Title: Assistant Captain. Position: Forward. Year: Sophomore. Company: Papa)

COI: What have been the highest and lowest points in your career as a Bulldog?

Highest: Going to the Naval Academy with 8 players and still gaining a lot of respect. Lowest: Losing 6 games in a row.

COI: Very cool and ouch. What do you think the future holds for Bulldogs hockey?

An ever expanding team and schedule...and the Citadel's greatest all-star of all time (me) pretty much dominating Grimes in life.

Marc EMOND

(Title: Assistant Captain. Position: Goalie. Year: Senior. Company: Palmetto Battery)

I ended up going to the Citadel because I was looking for a military school and it came down to Norwich and the Citadel. The Citadel was 15 minutes from the beach in the city while Norwich was in the middle of the woods with nothing around it. It was an easy choice. I started playing hockey when I was about 3 years old at public skating. My dad would bribe me with pizza to skate from one end of the ice to the other.

COI: Mmmm. Pizzzaaaa (stops to wipe drool for a sec). So VMI is the chief rivalry with both schools being military colleges?

We played them last year and it was a rough couple of games. It was really cool though because even though we both were at each others throats on the ice, after the game we were all pretty chill.

COI: How active are the coaches, staff and current players in recruiting?

Our coach has been awesome in terms of recruiting. We have two things against us, we are playing a northern sport in a southern state and also we are a military school so there are only a certain number of people who would even consider coming here. Our coach has been able to overcome these obstacles and still be able to draw in players.

COI: The team website is quite sharp and is regularly updated. What else do you do / what are you doing for promotion? How do Charleston area residents and Citadel students find out about the games?

We use such things as Facebook and word of mouth.

COI: We're a bit late to the whole Facebook party. A little off-topic here but still of interest…can you explain the Citadel tradition of weddings? (I had an old friend tell me something about the exit of the bride and groom under the crossed swords and the smacking of her behind by the best man with his blade...)

It’s about welcoming her to the Citadel family.

COI: Okay then! Good luck to the Bulldogs on the coming season.

More team features to come, ya'll.

ECU Hockey schedule released

Wuffie's McLovin Dance continues today as the ECU Ice Hockey page has the release of their schedule for the 2008-2009 season.

Dates to circle on your calendar and plan for the drive to G-Vegas:

The November homestand at Bladez On Ice starting on the 7th against the Division II Duke Blue Devils with the following weekend having VT's Division II team Fri. night the 14th and U of R on the following Saturday the 15th.

That game against the Richmond Spiders will be a re-match of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference 2006 Championship where the Pirates came up just short of winning their conference in the 1st year of existence.

Unfortunately, the ECU boys don't have App State or NC State on the schedule at this point. ASU is in the other division of the newly re-aligned BRHC but don't rule out the possibility of a Pirates/Wolfpack tilt as they scheduled a game midway through this past season. For all of you who are in the Raleigh area - the closest that ECU will come to us is at the Triangle Sports Plex in Hillsborough vs. Duke on October 25th.

Blue Ridge Hockey Conference gets a massive makeover

Major announcement out of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference as they merged with the Colonial Collegiate Hockey Conference today. Three different divisions are formed now based on how each team has developed over the last few seasons. Alignment is now such:

and they're looking for a few more apparently. Everything you'll need to know about these happenings: BRHC/CCHC Announce Expansion Plan.

In other news, sadly, the coach of the Georgia Tech hockey team passed away yesterday in Atlanta. Full details via their site.

Wolfpack out for revenge on Pirates

(Becka)

Friday, February 1st, at the RecZone will pit the NCSU Wolfpack in a rematch against the East Carolina Pirates. ECU beat the pack in a tough matchup back in October, 6-4. NC State coach Steve Glick provides his thoughts on the game:

It's always great to have a game where so many players from each side grew up together. It adds a personal touch. You aren't just playing to win the game, your playing for bragging rights. Many of ECU's fans and family live in the Triangle and you can be sure that there will be a lot of purple in the stands on February 1st.

ECU plays at Bladez on Ice in Greenville, which was not designed for hockey, thus it is not "regulation size".

I don't consider ECU's rink to be an advantage for either team. Both teams have to play on it and it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to make sure their respective teams are ready for any conditions. With that said, I'm not sure games should be played on a rink that small whenever possible because it takes away from the creativity and speed that make hockey great. One of amazing things about college hockey is how talented so many of these kids are. You don't get the fighting and dirty play that plagues many leagues and the ACHA should do everything it can to ensure our level of play stays that way.

Coach Glick insists that his squad will have their game faces on:

ECU is a very talented team and a lot of teams are fooled by the fact that they play division III. They could be extremely competitive in the ACCHL. I personally take responsibility for the outcome in October. I did not have my team ready to play and it showed early on in that game. When you play from behind, you have to take more chances and end up in the box more often. We won't make that mistake again.

Game starts at 9:00, be there.

Isles, Dubie smoke the Canes

and their favorite movie is "Get Shorty". So many things to be upset about after a game like that. Despite out shooting the Islanders 47-31, someone forgot to tell the point players that they're supposed to, you know, protect against shorthanded breakaways.

Wade Dubielewicz = NY Isles backup goalie, 5' 10", maybe 140 lbs. soaking wet. He didn't have to be fantastic tonight, but he plays like a confident 2nd string goaltender. Hey, the Canes could use one of them!

This team is fortunate to have so few games end in shootouts recently. Ward-O doesn't do one-on-ones. Could we get the fat Cam back? My CanesCast (more on that later) compadres asked me the other night what my thoughts were on Carolina's goalie situation. I responded by saying it wouldn't much matter who is in goal right now because of this NHL worst team defense. Shaky at best tonight.

Speaking of bad D, Frankie K? If I had to nominate someone to receive the Arturs Irbe treatment, myself and several peers outside section 208 are behind me in sending you to lovely Florida.

Plenty of spare time to let this one sting. Oi vay.

__________________________________

Congrats to the ECU Hockey team in their 3-2 shootout win over NC State last night on College Night. Awesomeness.

(Becka)

College Hockey Fires Back Up This Weekend

The local boys are getting their gear out of storage from holiday break and nose-diving in to their January schedules. On tap for this coming weekend:

The RecZone - Raleigh

Friday the 11th at 6:00 Duke hosts Va Tech.

The NCSU Wolfpack hosts a weekend double header facing VT Saturday night, followed by a 1:30 matinee matchup with the Blue Devils.

--------------------------------------------------

The UNC Tarheels will head down to Clemson for a Friday night matchup against the Tigers.

UNC Charlotte will host the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks Saturday at their home rink, Extreme Ice.

The East Carolina U. Pirates, still on a tear from this Fall's schedule, are traveling to sweet Georgia to take on power-house teams Georgia & Georgia Tech. This will be a good test for the still young ECU team.

Are you heading to any games this weekend? As always, photos/videos are welcomed.

Good luck! Support your local teams!

The Bag Skate For Monday, December 10th

Sweatin' To The Oldies: On Sunday, Hurricanes played Detroit (the two oldest teams by average age) a 1/2 hour after their previous MTL beatdown, end up losing a game, 5-2, that was more competitive than expected. They will sleep like babies today. (Canes Country)

Erik Cole is back on the scoresheets and he's baaaaaad. (Lord Stanley's Blog)

Must-read: Sherry of Scarlett Ice translates the recently struggling Senators play through the sock-puppet medium. (Scarlett Ice)

East Coast Eagles are now the junior affiliate of the NCSU Wolfpack Hockey team. (ACCHL)

Appalachian State ends a frustrating 2007 with a big win over NC State. (App State Mountaineers)

Charlotte Checkers have an in-house blogger now on their official site, and she ain't half-bad! (Charlotte Checkers)

The SPHL Champion Fayetteville Fireantz (with an intimidating website intro), are .500 at home but undefeated in regulation on the road. (Fayetteville Fireantz)

East Carolina Pirates have their media guide available for download. (ECU Ice Hockey)

The Acid Queen sounds off on her love of Detroit Red Wings fans. (Sweet Tea, Barbecue & Bodychecks)

Stephen A. Smith mouths off on blogs, makes us all stupider for having listened to him. (ThePensBlog)

NHL.com's been following the undrafted rookie Hurricanes prospect, Jerome Samson, up in Albany. (NHL.com)

X-Hurricane Bates Battaglia waved by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Good luck, Bates. See you downtown. (CasonBlog)

Canes Fall On "Walk Around The RBC With Your Figurine Box" Night

OK look, the Hurricanes didn't get embarrassed tonight. They played alright but it was just one of those nights that the puck hits the net -- just not the one with goalposts around it (the big one that blocks your view and saves your dome-piece).

The 1st goal should have been blown dead before it got behind Ward-O.

The 2nd goal was completely Cam's fault. He thought he had it but he pooped out a rebound and got caught trying to play it while a Flyer had an open net on the other side.

3rd goal was a top-shelf beauty and a collective groan from the home crowd (which was a large one).

1/2 way through the 3rd, the Canes finally had a crisp-passing possession and Stiller capitalized with a goal that made it somewhat interesting, but to no avail.

-------

During the 1st intermission, to coincide with "College Night", the Duke and East Carolina club hockey teams faced off in a shootout. This made my effin night. ECU won 2-1 on 4 shots.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! E.C.! You look so good to me! Hey! Hey! Hey! E.C. You look so good to me!"

College Hockey Overload

App State: It's been a tough season so far for those Mountaineer boys. The Clemson Tigers welcomed them to South Cackalack with a Shalacking double header. Clemson won both games by a combined margin of 24-3. Up next for ASU, they head "right near da beach, boi!" to face the UNC-W Seahawks, a team they have never lost to.

Duke Blue Devils: On a tear!

The Blue Devil's beat ACCHL foe NC State 4-1 on Friday to move to 4-0 in the league.

The Blue Devils' came away with two victories in their Home and Home with the Liberty Flames . On Friday, the team traveled to LaHaye Ice Center and won 4-3. Playing at home on Saturday, the Devils edged the Flames 6-4.

The Blue Devils' travelled to north to play two ACCHL opponents in Virginia and Virginia Tech. After beating UVA 6-1 on Friday, Duke outlasted Virginia Tech 3-2 Saturday night.

The Duke Blue Devils' opened up their season with a 6-0 win over Appalachian State and a 8-0 win over rival UNC.

UNC Tarheels: Despite losing to rivals NCSU & Duke, they were able to handle App State this year in OT, 5-4.

East Carolina: Since dropping one their 1st game this year to GW in the Charlotte Shootout, the Pirates are off and rolling once again and have not lost since. Despite the ECU Football team being outlasted by the Pack, the hockey team was able to hold up their end of "Rivalry Weekend?" by beating State (DII) 6-4.

ECU is wiping the floor with their competition this year. The beat UNCW handily last weekend. They now turn to their most anticipated game of the season with NCSU coming into town Friday night as part of Rivalry Weekend in Greenville.

UNC lost two games in 3 tough days. 8-0 to Duke last Friday, and 8-2 vs. VT on Sunday.

Added to Carolinas Hockey Links -- Central Carolina Hockey

Sorry for lack of posts, but I still don't have a computer yet (see the whole "fire thing")

To keep you entertained and knowledgeable for the upcoming Pens game on Friday, check out:
The Pens Blog - very funny stuff!

Upcoming Games

Canes & Sens -- can the Canes slow the Sens undefeated role?

Weekend of October 12th & 13th

Duke vs. UNC @ Triangle Sportsplex 10:15 -- Where's Dicky V when you need him?

NCSU @ Gulf Coast FLA - Quite a roadtrip for self-sufficient student athletes!

UNC-W @ ECU - Budding rivalry - can the Seahawks rally as underdogs? (double header, Fri & Sat)

Pirates Lay A Juicy 64 Shots On Goal In Charlotte Shootout

Via ECU Student Newspaper:
ECU club hockey team finds revenge, success at Charlotte Shootout - Sports


Via GT's Hockey site:

"The third game saw highs and lows for the Jackets. ECU was kept in check for most of the 1st period. After defenseman B.J. Stapleton left the game due to an injury last in period one, ECU scored to take a 1-0 lead after one. They scored
3 more goals in the 2nd period, but the defense re-grouped to keep the high
scoring ECU team in check in period three. Maxx Lucas faced 64 shots in the game
versus 21 for the Jackets."

In the end, GW ended up beating ECU. :(

Charlotte Shootout in Pineville This Weekend

From the App State website:

By App Hockey Press CHARLOTTE -- Southern hockey has seen it's fair share of
advancements in recent years, and when the number 3 Georgia Tech, 7 East
Carolina, 9 George Washington and 11 App State meet this weekend in the first
ever "Charlotte Shootout", our region will see one more. The
tournament is designed to bring teams from the southern region that
traditionally do not play each other together for one exciting weekend of
hockey. Teams will have merchandise available to purchase for
the fans and ticket prices are $10 for an all weekend pass to the 6 games to be
played. App State will have order forms for jersey's on hand,
they take approximately 3 weeks to have made and shipped. The
only team App State has played coming into the tournament is former BRHC
opponent East Carolina, who in the past two seasons App has a 1-3-1 record
against. The last being a 5-2 win in the BRHC conference
semifinals. The teams are hoping that the initial success of
the tournament will allow them to expand it to other teams in the future to
further the exposure of college hockey to hockey fans in the south who's options
are limited. The Schedule is as follows:
Fri, Oct 55:30 –
7:30pm#3 Georgia Tech vs. #11 Appalachian St10:15pm – 12:15am#8 East Carolina
vs. #9 George Washington
Sat, Oct 65:45 - 7:45pmGT vs. GW10:15pm – 12:15amApp
St vs. ECU
Sun, Oct 78:30 – 10:30amApp St vs GW10:45am – 12:45pmGT vs.
ECU

Watch out for the ECU vs. App match-up - this has become one heated rivalry over the years - with ASU knocking the highly favored Pirates out of the BRHC Tournament last year.

Local Boys Fire Up This Weekend

This weekend at the SportsPlex in Hillsborough - App State is in town to take on the Tarheels and Blue Devils in a weekend double header.

Link: "House Of Blues" - ASU Site

Also - if you're East bound and down - load it up and truck it to Greenville for the Purple/Gold ECU Scrimmage or head down to the Dub to see UNC-Wilmington in their Teal/White Game.

Yeehaw!

Its Alive! The College Kids Are Back!

Many of the NC/SC teams have remarkably been updating their websites with new rosters and schedules. Use the links provided under "Carolinas Hockey Links" over there -------> and see for yourself.

Pete from UNC-W (who along with the ECU guys, is the best at keeping in touch w/ C.O.I.) sent me this e-mail today:

"...some info on our coaching staff since I'm still working with our website guy to fix the link...

Head Coach- Camaron VandeVeer-

Played at NCAA d3 Lebanon Valley College for 4 years. Assistant head coach in 2007

Assistant Head Coach- Greg Kutchma-

Played at NCAA d3 Lebanon Valley College for 4 years, served as captain. Was an assistant coach with the UMASS-Boston NCAA D3 program for one year. Played professional hockey for Flint Generals for one year. Currently also the head coach of the Wilmington Ice Hawks junior program.

Assistant Head Coach- Brian Hapeman-

Played at Mercyhurst College for 4 years. Played ECHL for 2 years. 2nd year with UNCW

Assistant Coach- Craig Newkirk

Plays locally within adult league. registered EMT. level 2 ref. 3rd year with UNCW.

... we have some serious talent from junior programs in Raleigh and MD. Also got two very good guys from Mass."

I always enjoy hearing from the club hockey level! As far as I know, there are no other blogs out there who are dedicated to covering the Carolinas club hockey scene. CarolinaOnIce (at) gmail.com is the address if you ever want any updates and free press.

Be on the look out in the coming months for some A/V delight from the local college clubs.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

College football is kicking off the regular season this weekend all over the country. At the very least, we get some decent sports entertainment other than golf, baseball or tennis (or all-Vick-all-the-time).

The one game that I am looking forward to the most is East Carolina U @ Virginia Tech. This is the site of ESPN's College Gameday and it is great exposure for the Pirates to have worldwide eyes on them. Someone else who was looking forward to it was Rob Kass, the projected starter at QB for ECU. He had a liiiiittle too much fun getting his party on last weekend as he was arrested for DUI with a .19 blood alcohol content in Greenville.

You're getting ready to play the biggest game of your life. Everyone is watching because it is VT's 1st major sporting event since the April tragedy. A big WTF? to him. Brett Clay or Patrick Pinkney will get the start in his place and I hope they smoke him out of the water. Granted, the Pirates will probably lose this game, but what a better way to teach him a lesson?

Brian Bailey of Bonesville.net:

"The start of game week at East Carolina is a time I always look forward to — unless an off the field activity dominates the conversation. East Carolina quarterback Rob Kass’s arrest on a DWI charge from early Saturday morning put a real damper on the excitement surrounding the opener...
It’s hard to believe that any student-athlete would work that hard all spring and summer, and then get into a situation like this one."


On a lighter note - the Queen City Bastard of Southern Fried Football (who will also be in Blacksburg this weekend) had the best quote about it today:

"ECU? I thought their mascot was the Pirate, not Captain Morgan"

ECU Pirates vs. NCSU Wolfpack Match-Up Set

I received this e-mail today from Brent Falcon of the ECU Club Hockey Team:

ECU has confirmed the scheduling of a regular season game with NC State. The game will be played in Greenville on October 19 at 9:30pm. It has been scheduled as part of a "Rivalry Weekend" which will include the ECU vs. NC State football game the following day (Oct. 20) in Greenville. Hopefully posting in on COI will get some publicity behind the game that is sure to draw a huge crowd. It will undoubtedly be the biggest home game in our short history, our biggest crowd so far was 675 for our match-up against UNC-Chapel Hill in our first ever season. This game is surely going to surpass that number and hopefully we can get some media to cover it as the
entire weekend is going to be one big ECU/NC State match-up.

Here's why they are smart to schedule the hockey game the night before the NCSU/ECU game. If they tried to do it Saturday after the game, you would have a bunch of drunk football fans who have been tailgating all day stumble in there (if they were to make it it all). Doing it Friday night gives the ECU squad a lot of exposure to potential alumni contributions. I'll put it to you this way. When I called over a month ago to try and book a hotel room the weekend of the ECU/UNC football game, every place was already booked solid. The town will be packed to the brim with football fans.

Is there a possibility of getting UNC on the schedule the Friday before the UNC/ECU football game this year?