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... some interesting story lines with a couple of local connections.
Late this afternoon, Cornell will take on Clarkson at the Herb Brooks Area in Lake Placid. Neither team has a Pairwise ranking that would entitle them to an at large bid in the NCAA tournament. Which means that the winner today will receive an automatic bid as the ECAC's tournament champion, and the other team will end their season.
On the Cornell side, Coach Mike Shafer is about to retire after 30 years as Cornell HC with 552 wins and a 0.632 winning percentage to date. Exactly when that happens may be determined tonight. Or maybe not. Shafer is Cornell Class of 1986 and he is being replaced by another Cornell alum, Casey Jones, Class of 1990 who resigned as Head Coach of Clarkson last summer. His previous position prior to Clarkson was as an assistant at Ohio State where he was credited for recruiting Ryan Kessler.
When Casey Jones was hired at Clarkson 14 years ago, the AD invited students and alumni to submit questions which Casey would attempt to answer at the first press conference. I submitted a question regarding recruiting in the BCHL, but I was in Vancouver at the time and could not listen to the live stream. But after it concluded (I guess) they realized they had not replied to my question, and I got a call on my cell which turned out to be Casey. He apologized for not addressing my question and proceeded to give me his take on recruiting in the BCHL. That is the kind of guy Casey was. And the whole exchange had this bizarre feel to it as I was standing at the window of my hotel room on the 15th floor in downtown Vancouver watching this wild celebration below as the Canucks had just beaten the Bruins in the third game of the Stanley Cup finals.
On the Clarkson side, the new Coach is Jean Francois Houle, (JF), Clarkson Class of 1997. He played on the same team at Clarkson as local hero Chris Clark of South Windsor, a very physical player that my kids had encountered in a few spring league games at Enfield Twin Rinks during his high school years. Also, it should be noted, JF's Dad was Rejean Houle, who back in the day, was the GM of the Montreal Canadians. Rejean Houle was the guy who drafted our local hero from Bolton, Ron Hainsey in the first round, 13th overall. Ron enjoyed a lengthy NHL career, finally winning the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh.
Just thought you would like to know.
Late this afternoon, Cornell will take on Clarkson at the Herb Brooks Area in Lake Placid. Neither team has a Pairwise ranking that would entitle them to an at large bid in the NCAA tournament. Which means that the winner today will receive an automatic bid as the ECAC's tournament champion, and the other team will end their season.
On the Cornell side, Coach Mike Shafer is about to retire after 30 years as Cornell HC with 552 wins and a 0.632 winning percentage to date. Exactly when that happens may be determined tonight. Or maybe not. Shafer is Cornell Class of 1986 and he is being replaced by another Cornell alum, Casey Jones, Class of 1990 who resigned as Head Coach of Clarkson last summer. His previous position prior to Clarkson was as an assistant at Ohio State where he was credited for recruiting Ryan Kessler.
When Casey Jones was hired at Clarkson 14 years ago, the AD invited students and alumni to submit questions which Casey would attempt to answer at the first press conference. I submitted a question regarding recruiting in the BCHL, but I was in Vancouver at the time and could not listen to the live stream. But after it concluded (I guess) they realized they had not replied to my question, and I got a call on my cell which turned out to be Casey. He apologized for not addressing my question and proceeded to give me his take on recruiting in the BCHL. That is the kind of guy Casey was. And the whole exchange had this bizarre feel to it as I was standing at the window of my hotel room on the 15th floor in downtown Vancouver watching this wild celebration below as the Canucks had just beaten the Bruins in the third game of the Stanley Cup finals.
On the Clarkson side, the new Coach is Jean Francois Houle, (JF), Clarkson Class of 1997. He played on the same team at Clarkson as local hero Chris Clark of South Windsor, a very physical player that my kids had encountered in a few spring league games at Enfield Twin Rinks during his high school years. Also, it should be noted, JF's Dad was Rejean Houle, who back in the day, was the GM of the Montreal Canadians. Rejean Houle was the guy who drafted our local hero from Bolton, Ron Hainsey in the first round, 13th overall. Ron enjoyed a lengthy NHL career, finally winning the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh.
Just thought you would like to know.
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