Nolan Zajac, David Carle follow family history to Frozen Four

David Carle’s businesslike approach is such that he resists savoring the anecdotal garnish he and his team helped to create so far in 2015-16.

The third-year Denver Pioneers assistant coach is bound for his first Frozen Four at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. That means his first involvement in a game at the home of his brother, minute-munching NHL rearguard Matt Carle’s, longtime employer. Not to mention, the home of the team that made him an honorary pick after a heart condition abruptly cut off his playing endeavors prior to the 2008 NHL Draft.

As long as there is another game to prepare for, those tidbits take the trunk in his vehicle.

“It could be in Seattle, for all I care,” Carle said in a phone interview with Along the Boards.

“If it was played in Philadelphia or Chicago, it would be just as special,” he added matter-of-factly. “The venue and the connection, it just happened to be a coincidence.”

But he had enough charity to humor the human-interest hankerings of his inquisitor by allowing, “Does it make for a better storyline? Yes.”

Carle simply wants to do his part to pen the tale that the Denver faithful has yearned for over the past decade. When the Pioneers meet North Dakota next Thursday evening, it will be their first Frozen Four faceoff since the elder Carle was a collegian 11 years ago.

“We both pride ourselves on trying to get to Frozen Fours and put banners up in our buildings,” said the younger Carle of the participating programs. “When we play each other, it’s never going to be a meaningless game, and this is going to be another great chapter.”

One that will not avoid evoking a previous chapter, even if the bulk of the acknowledgment is left to the audience and detached narrators.

Surname symmetry

Facing none other than North Dakota, the 2004-05 Pioneers defended their national title with a 4-1 victory in that year’s championship bout. In doing that, they matched UND’s second-best all-time count of seven national titles. Only Michigan boasts more banners, with nine to its credit.

But neither program has been back to the title game since. North Dakota has ventured to six more semifinals, including three with the help of brothers Travis and Darcy Zajac. But the artist formerly known as the Fighting Sioux last played on an April Saturday when Denver repressed Travis Zajac and company.

The youngest of the four Zajac brothers, Nolan, seeks to prolong that futility for the newly christened Fighting Hawks. The senior blueliner was 12 years old when his oldest sibling supplied UND’s only goal in its 2005 shortcoming.

He is now nearly twice that age as he pilots the Denver defense back to the national semifinals. For him, this comes after three previous NCAA regionals yielded a 1-3 record and no Promised Land passports.

“It just shows how hard it is to get to the Frozen Four,” he told ATB.

A reality that one might not think would strike the mind of a Zajac so easily. The aforementioned Travis brought UND back to college hockey’s closing weekend as a sophomore in 2005-06, leading the team with 29 assists on the year.

The first-line center tallied a goal and two assists in the eventual 6-5 semifinal loss to Boston College. He would subsequently forego the second half of his NCAA eligibility, signing with the New Jersey Devils that offseason.

The BC Eagles would likewise terminate Darcy’s freshman and sophomore campaigns in a 2007 and 2008 NCAA semifinal rematch. UND did not return to that platform until year after Darcy graduated.

In 2012, Kelly Zajac partook in a landmark phase of the Union Dutchmen’s rise to prominence. The starting center led his team with 34 assists in his senior campaign, which culminated in Union’s first Frozen Four experience. His college career would end with a 3-1 semifinal loss to Ferris State.

The youngest Zajac was apt to note that Union on that foundation en route to the 2014 championship, albeit two years too late for his brother.

“All of my brothers have made it to the Frozen Four,” Nolan said. “Hopefully, I’ll be the one to bring it all the way home. They could never finish it off. I kind of want to learn from those a little bit.”

Of his Denver team, particularly himself and his fellow seniors, he added, “We’re hoping that we don’t need to take that step where we have to lose to know how to win.”

Papa Pioneer

The Zajacs’ father, Tom, had a delectable Denver career in his own right. Per the Internet Hockey Database, he turned in back-to-back 33-point campaigns as a junior and senior.

But in terms of group glory, the future patriarch of the Zajac hockey factory ran into a bout of ill fortune. When he enrolled in 1973, the Pioneers were coming off a loss to Wisconsin in the preceding NCAA championship. They had just been to three consecutive national semifinals and five in the previous six years.

However, they would not reach that stage again until 1986, then went another 18 years before finally winning the title in 2004. That undoubtedly emboldens Nolan’s energy when he speaks of the team’s collective desire to achieve fulfillment for the university’s alumni.

“He’s pretty pumped right now to watch these games,” he said of his father, who will be in attendance next week. “I know my brothers are happy for me, too. I’m not sure who exactly they’re going to be rooting for, but I think they’re just looking forward to some good games.”

Unfinished business

As a specialist in defensive tutelage, Carle has worked closely with Zajac since returning to his alma mater at midseason in 2013-14. It is therefore easy to believe the former when he insists that the latter set family pride aside in this past weekend’s West Regional.

“Our players don’t think about stuff like that,” Carle said. “We were focused on our process because our whole team has the same desire.

“Ultimately, we wanted to get back to the Frozen Four.”

Carle also maintained that the two have not reminisced on the last time their bloodlines were simultaneously represented at that stage. Although, in terms of opposing North Dakota yet again, he offered, “I guess when you look at it, it’s fairly fitting.”

But even while taking a mental breather to delve into his dense family history when pressed, the youngest Zajac kept his head on a swivel, tilting toward the present and immediate future. He reaffirmed his status as a determined Denver senior at the climax of his career.

“It’s awesome to get there,” he said. “But we still have a long way to go.”

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

Jennifer Kranz vs. Meredith Roth: Longtime friends, first-time faceoff

(Photos by Paul Swenson Photography, courtesy of Shattuck-St. Mary's)

Jennifer Kranz knows what she and her student-skaters at the College of Saint Benedict shall confront this coming weekend. She had a hand in making it happen, after all. 

The fifth-year coach at the St. Joseph, Minn., women’s college’s Division III hockey program has known her St. Norbert counterpart, Meredith Roth, since their playing days in the travel ranks. Two years her elder, she has since set a tagalong trail through Division I play, youth coaching and Division I assistant coaching.

“I have always looked up to her,” Roth stated in an e-mail to Along the Boards. “She has always been a great role model and sounding board for me in my development as a young person. Our friendship throughout the years has been impactful on me and some of the decisions I have made in my coaching career.”

That includes her latest decision to fill the vacancy with the St. Norbert Green Knights this past August. The most natural difference from past moves is that Friday’s faceoff at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud, Minn., will be their first venture as opposing head coaches.

“Obviously, I know the hallmarks of the way she thinks the game should be played and what she expects of her players,” Kranz offered this week in a phone interview with ATB. “It’ll be interesting to see the differences (between her and predecessor Rob Morgan), the way her coaching style works with the personnel that she inherited.”

In a way, the two-game nonconference series will be a business-oriented catch-up affair. Nearly a decade has elapsed since the last time these two Midwesterners were both living and working in their native region, let alone for the same program.

But Roth’s offseason move was conducive to the first-of-its-kind reunion, and she knew it.

“When you are making a career change, there is a lot that goes on from a personal standpoint, as well as professional,” she said. “You are looking for things that are familiar to you or that will create excitement in your new role. This matchup was certainly one of them.”

Between Kranz and Roth, familiarity dates back to when women’s hockey was raring to join the Olympics and yet to be an NCAA-sanctioned sport.

Chasing challenges

Hailing from the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisc., Kranz first crossed paths with Roth when the Iowa native joined the Wisconsin Challengers. A precursor to the Madison Capitols, the Challengers attracted collegiate athletic candidates to form national championship contenders. Their 19-and-under team had been to two USA Hockey title games, winning the crown in 1995.

Kranz maxed her eligibility with the local travel program, captaining the 1997-98 installment before enrolling at Providence College. At the time of her arrival, the Friars were at a proud peak in their history. They had just seen seven of their alums and incumbent players help the icebreaking U.S. Olympic team win the first-ever women’s gold medal in Nagano.

Roth, meanwhile, would break off to join a then-evolving elite prep program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn.

Both schools would have a turn hosting a renewed alliance between the two former Challengers. When Roth had her turn exploring college options, Kranz hosted her first formal visit to the PC campus. By the 2000-01 season, women’s hockey’s first under NCAA auspices, they were both on the Friars blue line.

Their second and final campaign as teammates culminated in an ECAC playoff title, the last Providence would compete for. Roth proceeded to step up as an upperclassman keying a run to the inaugural and second Women’s Hockey East championships.

By that time, SSM had formed a go-to pipeline to Providence. Other Faribault-formed Friars riding along on Kranz’s last hurrah included Kelli Halcisak, Ashley Payton and Rush Zimmerman. When that voyage was over, multifold employment at the Episcopal prep school 50 miles south of the Twin Cities opened as an option.

Alhough she said other acquaintances with SSM ties influenced her choice, Kranz admits the smattering of teammates played a convincing role.

“I had known about the school from playing against them and having teammates there,” she said. “In talking to my former teammates at that time that had gone to Shattuck, they let me know what a great place it was, and to know what kind of people they had become, it was a no-brainer.”

Sharpening with the Sabres

In addition to serving in administrative capacities, Kranz assumed coaching duties for the SSM Sabres girls’ varsity squad in 2002-03. The team functioned as a farm system for the perennially Nationals-bound, 19-and-under “prep” team.

Down the hall from her hockey office, the status quo was already the goal. In that particular season, future NHL talents Sidney Crosby, Jack Johnson and Drew Stafford were carrying the torch passed along by the likes of Zach Parise and Patrick Eaves. They would deliver the boys’ program’s third national crown in five years.

The girls’ program’s efforts to emulate that dynasty and become its own standard-bearer would soon reach its zenith. And the two friends who once followed their appetite to the established Challengers program would co-lead the culmination.

While Roth was seeking her next path upon graduation from Providence in the summer of 2004, an in-house regime shuffle brought Gordie Stafford (Drew’s father) to the helm of the SSM U-19ers. He would elevate Kranz to the assistant position, and the reclassified “junior prep” team needed a new director.

“The position opened up kind of late,” Roth recalled. “(Kranz) was the one who tipped me off about it, and also gave my name to the Shattuck powers that be.”

And so began the sequel. This time, they had their own dressing rooms and schedules to attend to. But as far as they and the rest of their colleagues were concerned, Kranz and Roth were again teammates of sorts on SSM’s collective coaching staff.

To amplify the bond, the two girls’ squads would take joint bus trips to weekend tournaments and showcases. And with the bench bosses of six boys’ bantam and midget teams, the coaches convened every Tuesday to feed off one another for the common cause.

“We could talk about anything,” Kranz said. “To be able to have that opportunity to sit down with coaches who had coached and played at different levels, that was a big deal.”

So was the revolution those meetings amounted to. Roth’s second season on the job saw the farm team undergo another classification change. They were now a 16-and-under squad eligible to represent the Minnkota District at USA Hockey’s 2006 national tournament.

It was there that Kranz, Stafford and their players successfully defended their title from the previous season. Future household names in Jocelyne Lamoureux, Monique Lamoureux and Brianna Decker had helped to finish what the likes of Roth, Halcisak, Payton and Zimmerman had started.

“It has been really great to see the girls’ program evolve firsthand,” said Roth, who had played in SSM’s first national tournament in 2000. “To think coming that close was exciting, to experiencing where the program is currently, it is really neat to think about how much the program has grown.

“Knowing that the players I had the opportunity to skate with, and a few prior to my time there, helped shape the program to where it is now, it is really special.”

The U-19 Sabres have since logged a fourth eventual U.S. Olympian in Amanda Kessel as another one of their alums. They have hung up a total of five national championship banners, three-peating in 2007 with the help of the Lamoureux twins, Decker and Kessel. The younger squad has claimed four of the last six titles in its age group, including each of the last three.

But neither Kranz nor Roth could stick around for any of that. New challenges came calling in the summer of 2006, a testament to SSM’s propensity for precipitously honing hockey talent and tutors alike. 

Both were bound for Division I coaching cabinets. Roth returned to Providence, where she would spend seven nonconsecutive years as one of Bob Deraney’s assistants. She sandwiched those stints around two years on Doug Derraugh’s staff at Cornell, reaching the 2011 Frozen Four. Kranz would work in Jeff Geisen’s administration at St. Cloud State for five seasons before the Blazers enlisted her in 2011.

“It really formed my coaching philosophy,” Kranz said of her experience with the Sabres. “It was a gift that I don’t take for granted at all. With the caliber of players that we had, they may have taught me more than I taught them.

“We were fortunate to have a great group. With the players that they were on the ice and the people that they were off the ice, it was no surprise that we had so much success. It did a lot to help me learn how far this game can take somebody.”

New settings, old habits

The Green Knights enter this weekend’s action on a six-game winning streak. At 8-4-0 overall, their .667 winning percentage matches that of their final record in Morgan’s valedictory season. And they have firmly guarded their third-place slot in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings.

Facing more of an uphill trek in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Blazers can benefit from a rigorous close to their interleague slate. Of their nonconference opponents for 2015-16, only the 10-2-0 Wisconsin-River Falls team (on tap for next Wednesday) boasts a better record than St. Norbert.

Knowing her upcoming counterpart as well as she does, Kranz would likely see no harm in Roth’s spirit leaving a residual contagion in her ice house. “She thinks the game really well, she’s really passionate about it, and someone like that is really, really great for our sport,” said the Saint Benedict skipper.

Across the center-ice glass, Roth continues to reap rewards by emulating Kranz’s career path. Though maybe not a requirement, the presence of her longtime trendsetter can be another motivational booster.

Roth hesitated to proclaim any chalk-talk advantages in preparing her pupils to solve a personal and professional acquaintance. But she is more prepared than normal, if such a state is possible, to raise awareness of the bullseye her team brandishes.

“I think the only benefit I have in knowing Coach Kranz personally for this weekend of games is I know that the matchup will be very enjoyable,” she offered with a tone of unmistakable gusto. “I also know our team will get quality games out of her team, and push us to learn and grow.

“Once the game starts, it is about our athletes and the opportunity they have to compete, learn and grow from the experience. Should be an exciting weekend of hockey.”

One that is no fewer than six years in the making. During their simultaneous tenures as Division I assistants, Kranz and Roth’s teams locked twigs only once. The SCSU Huskies drew a 4-4 knot with the PC Friars in a Jan. 2, 2010 game at St. Cloud’s National Hockey Center.

Neither party recalls the more vivid details of that game, or even whether other team-related obligations kept either of them from being on site. Regardless, the upcoming series is a milestone on its own, as both coaches will call the topmost shots from the contesting benches.

And, as Roth will be swift to remind anyone, it lights the lamp on a career-building hat trick, with one of the assists on each play going to her friend-turned-temporary-foe. College player, youth coach and now college coach.

“Any time you have the chance to line up against a friend on the other bench, it always makes it fun,” she said. “When I was thinking about the coaching opportunity here at SNC, I discussed it with Coach Kranz. She went through a similar transition, from being a Division I assistant to being a Division III head coach. I value her insight a lot.”

She may want to hold off, though, on seeking tips for taking C-cuts around clichés. But their acquaintance has been long enough for Kranz to know what phrases fit Roth’s track record and her viewpoint of it.

“It’s been a joy watching her not only grow up, but to see her — ‘blossom’ is such a cheesey word — but really blossom as a coach,” Kranz said. “It’s absolutely time for her to spread her wings and be a head coach. There’s no doubt in my mind she’s going to be a success.”

“I hope she doesn’t excel too much this weekend,” she added with a laugh, “But she’s like a littler sister to me and a really good friend, so I’m excited for her.”

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

2015 NHL Draft: ASU recruit Joey Daccord on a Devil of a rise

(Photo courtesy of Cushing Athletics)

Even a goaltender can score on the rebound once in a while. Joey Daccord would know.

A second-time prospect for the NHL Entry Draft later this month, Daccord turned a midseason setback into a spark for a fireworks finale at Cushing Academy this past winter.

On Dec. 20, Cushing engaged Culver Academy in the Lawrence/Groton Tournament championship, the final game before Christmas break. The senior goaltender would take a rare albatross in a 3-0 falter, as the Penguins spilled their bid for holiday hardware in a rare opposing shutout.

On the other side of the respite, however, three straight wins at the post-New Year’s Watkins Tournament produced a Cushing-Culver rematch. Same matchup, same spontaneous buildup, same chance to claim some weekend bragging rights.

That was when the backstop approached his bench boss with a vow.

“Joey basically said, ‘Coach, I am not losing to the same team twice,’” Cushing coach Rob Gagnon told Along the Boards. “And that game, nobody was beating him.”

Indeed, Daccord proceeded to backstop the Cushing Penguins to a 4-1 triumph for the title. After the buzzer, he collected tournament MVP accolades on the heels of two shutouts and three goals against over four games in three days.

“That (championship) game also had several NHL and college scouts (in attendance),” Gagnon added. “I think that was a defining moment for him and our season. I think what he was able to do is show all the scouts that Joey Daccord can win a big game.”

Within two-and-a-half weeks of that Jan. 3 sparkler, Daccord emerged a still-unflattering No. 29 among North American netminders in Central Scouting’s midterm rankings. But with the help of a 15-2-2 tear post-Watkins, complete with only four three-goal games for Cushing’s adversaries, he skyrocketed to No. 10 on the final leaderboard in March.

While other aspirants had similar surges, none of the higher-end goaltenders matched that 19-spot pole-vault. Only United States League stopper and Miami University commitment Ryan Larkin came remotely close, escalating from No. 20 to sixth.

As it relates to Daccord’s year-to-year ripening, the late perk-up marks a four-space improvement from his No. 14 finish on the CSS’ final ranking for 2014.

“I was hoping that I would just stay on the list. I didn’t think I would be on it at all, actually,” Daccord told ATB. “There are some pretty big-time names on that list, so it’s cool to just be on there.

“I think it just kind of showed the kind of year I had at Cushing.”

For what it’s worth, only a 1-0 playoff falter at the hands of Dexter in the New England Tournament quarterfinals brought an end to that ride. Translation: Daccord only lost games with hardware on the line in 2014-15 when his skating mates could not beat his counterpart.

“I think, in my humble opinion as a hockey coach, everybody was waiting to see Joey Daccord dominate,” Gagnon said. “Everybody knows he’s good. Of course, he’s been trained by his dad. He’s one of the best.” 

Brian Daccord, a Merrimack College alum and former Boston Bruins goaltending coach, founded the Stop It Goaltending program in 1999. He still oversees the SIG staff, which consists largely of Division I team staffers and offers a comprehensive variety of development services for the position.

The younger Daccord is swift to acknowledge the blessing of his father’s tutelage.

“He’s been a huge part of my life,” Daccord told ATB. “I’m pretty fortunate to have such a big-time name guy so close to me all the time. There’s someone there as a resource 24/7.” 

He is equally appreciative of the expert network that comes in the form of his father’s colleagues. “They show me different aspects of goaltending that vary slightly depending on their taste and their style,” he said. “That whole group gives me a different perspective, and I constantly evolve my game.”

Perhaps just as critically, within a week of the CSS midterm rankings release, Daccord laid out his long-term path. He committed to the fledgling Arizona State University program, whose full-time varsity status will take effect when he enrolls for the 2016-17 season. In the interim, he will log a little more seasoning with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.

More decisive, more dominant

Though in the running for the draft as early as his junior year, Daccord was hardly in a hurry to pierce his place on the NHL radar. With that said, the notion of a blank box on the checklist proved an ideal booster shot against senioritis in 2014-15.

“It’s funny,” Gagnon said. “Coming into the season, we weren’t disappointed that he didn’t get drafted. I think the fact that he did not — quote, unquote — already have a college commitment was the reason.

“What I talked to Joey about was using all of that as fuel for the fire, and coming back to Cushing would be a good thing because he was being recruited to go to Saint John up in the ‘Q’ (Quebec Major Junior League) and also the USHL.”

Before, and even after, rounding out his profile on the ice, Daccord used his last Cushing campaign to amplify his intangibles repertoire. He held a captaincy or co-captaincy in varsity soccer, hockey and tennis alike.

A stalwart defender on the pitch, he even preceded his clutch shutdown of Culver by setting up the game-clinching goal at the Northeast Soccer Jamboree on Sept. 21.

Gagnon, an assistant coach for the Penguins’ top soccer squad, bore witness to both performances. He also saw plenty of what the average viewer did not see in the young goalie’s growth in practices, workouts and team functions.

“People are also looking for great human beings and character kids,” Gagnon said, adding that Daccord “was up for every major award at Cushing.”

As it happened, by the end of the fall athletics season, he would garner his own soccer team’s top defensive player award. He then joined teammate and fellow NHL draft prospect Dave Cotton on the first USA Today High School All-USA team.

“Everybody knows he’s technically sound as a goalie,” Gagnon said. “I think everybody just wanted to see him play like an athlete, versus a technical goalie.

“We only lost two games (in 2015), so I think it’s safe to say he did that.”

There was also the aforementioned matter of solidifying his foreseeable future plans, which could hold equal sway on his second stab at entering an NHL franchise’s pipeline.

Fertile grounds in the desert

As early as February of 2014, the likes of Central Scouting spokesman Al Jensen was stylistically likening Daccord to retired 19-year pro Curtis Joseph (per nhl.com’s Mike G. Morreale).

Such early attention of such magnitude came, in part, due to the magnetic pull of the time-honored talent factory that is Cushing. In a fair plug for his program, Gagnon pointed to Daccord’s decision to max out his scholastic eligibility as one factor in ripening his reputation over the year-plus since Jensen’s first impression.

“By playing in prep school,” the coach explained, “it gives you a better opportunity to dominate, versus the USHL or major junior.”

With that said, the Stampede and the Sun Devils each promise to yield their own unique, critical stages in Daccord’s development. Daccord announced his commitment to Arizona State roughly 10 weeks after that school unveiled its plan to upgrade from the club level to the NCAA. 

At the time of each party’s declaration, ASU was coming off its first national title. It would finish its final ACHA season at 33-3-1.

The determination to start testing that hallmark against varsity programs was part of what intrigued the Massachusetts lifer on his visit to Tempe. Another key was the captivating atmosphere of other facilities, such as Sun Devil Stadium, which houses the athletic department’s hall of fame.

Golf’s Phil Mickelson, baseball’s Barry Bonds basketball’s Byron Scott and football’s Jake Plummer and the late Pat Tillman represent a handful of the household names in that hall.

“It shows their dedication to sports,” Daccord said. “It appealed to me.”

While the same glamor may not burgeon for the hockey program by the time Daccord leaves his tracks, he foresees no shortage of healthful rigor and self-starting among his future ASU allies. The crossing of each party’s path, he says, “gives me a great chance to come in and compete for playing time right away.”

“An awful lot of shots”

While Daccord will embark on his first hockey-only sports year in the USHL next season, ASU will bridge its way to varsity status with a mixed ACHA, Division III and Division I schedule. He is implicitly in line to then claim the Sun Devils’ starting job in advance of a baptismal fire stoked by as many as 34 Division I contests in 2016-17.

“They haven’t picked a starting goalie for their first real year as a Division I team,” Gagnon acknowledged. “Of course, he has to prove it and beat out the other goalies, but Joey’s on a full scholarship. I’m pretty sure he’s going to get the first opportunity.”

But, if all goes according to plan, “he’s going to see an awful lot of shots those first couple of years,” the Cushing coach predicted.

By that logic, Daccord will go from a proven big-gamer to a battle-tested, leaned-on X-factor. Will that trajectory suffice to bump up his draft status just a little more?

If so, then he can secure one of ASU hockey’s first milestones three-plus months before their first Division I contest and 15-odd months before his own debut. He could finish what incoming forward Jordan Masters, now 21 and therefore overage, started in 2011-12 and become the first Sun Devil to attain NHL auspices. (Masters was passed over despite a solid showing in the 2012 USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.)

“Just getting drafted in general would be an absolute honor,” Daccord said. “Now that I got Phase One complete with my commitment, Phase Two would be kind of set in motion, a childhood dream fulfilled.”

From a Cushing standpoint, Gagnon echoed that sentiment. “It would be an honor. Those guys out there are really good. At the end of the day, we here are Cushing are proud of our kids that are going to Division III schools, let alone Division I schools.

“It’s hard to play college hockey these days, so we’re going to be honored to have Joey hopefully be the first guy drafted in that program, and also honored to have their goalie on their first team.”

A new result in a new year on the same basic stage? That would be nothing new on Daccord’s track record. Friends and foes from Cushing and Culver alike can attest.

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

Olympian Brianne Jenner keeping competitive torch at Cornell

Inject a quiz whiz with Brianne Jenner’s compete level, and the go-getter could sop up six figures on Jeopardy!, then crave conquest in a tri-county trivia tournament. Give Jenner’s fire to a fisherwoman, and she can catch an urban legend before pursuing the same salmon supper she has caught for the past three neighborhood cookouts.

That is the extent of Jenner’s insatiability. Coming off a gold medal in her first Olympic endeavor with Team Canada, the belated Cornell women’s hockey senior is fixated on unfinished business in the NCAA realm.

“Last year was a big year,” she offered in a phone interview with Along the Boards this week. “It was an accomplishment of my dream in many ways. But a month after that was over, I was excited to get back to Cornell.

“Athletes are competitive people, and always focused on the next challenge.”

Scale and scope of press coverage aside, no challenge is too grand or too minor, too stale or too novel for Jenner.

The Oakville, Ont., native is barely 11 months removed from cutting into Team USA’s 2-0 lead with 3:26 to spare in regulation, sparking Canada’s comeback in the Sochi Games title tilt. Marie-Philip Poulin, herself a belated senior at Boston University this year, proceeded to force overtime and score the sudden-death decider for the 3-2 victory.

With that, Jenner punctuated her arrival on the international platform by pitching in to preserve her country’s Olympic dynasty with a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Fast-forward to the present. With less than a full month to spare in the regular season, she is helping the Big Red dig out of an initial pothole as they defend another ECAC Hockey crown.

Dating back to 2009-10, the year before Jenner arrived, Cornell has been to five straight conference title tilts. It has won four of those, with the exception of 2012, when a 30-5-0 overall finish more than warranted at at-large bid to the exclusive, eight-team NCAA tournament.

But after starting this season at 3-6-0, the Big Red will need a near-perfect finish down the stretch to avoid an unfamiliar reliance on the automatic bid that comes with the league playoff pennant.

In a way, Jenner’s momentary deletion from Cornell’s roster may now be yielding pivotal benefits on that front.

Had she whiffed on a spot for Canada’s pre-Olympic centralization tour, the Big Red would likely be looking at a two-member senior class in 2014-15. In addition, they may have had a maximum allotment of 16 skaters instead of 17 — still one fewer than the conventional game-day quorum.

Instead, she is allying with Emily Fulton and Jillian Saulnier to pilot the offense and impart the intangibles to five juniors and nine underclass skaters. She and Saulnier most recently tallied four points apiece to steamroll Union, 8-2, Friday afternoon, improving the Big Red to 8-1-3 since Thanksgiving.

“We’re a much younger team now, so it took us a while to understand what kind of hockey we needed to play,” Jenner said of the preceding slump.

She added, “It has been a challenge this year. We had a really tough schedule early on. Obviously, that’s not any excuse, but it kind of forced us to face some adversity and reflect on our game. We’ve been working really hard and we’re really confident in the team we’ve become.

“We have all the bits and pieces here, and it’s going to be up to us.”

Now 11-7-3 overall, and with eight regular-season games still to come, Cornell cannot afford to stop kicking ice chips over its acrid autumn. As of Friday evening, its sits at No. 10 on the PairWise leaderboard.

At the start of this weekend’s action, four other ECAC tenants alone — Quinnipiac, Harvard, Clarkson and St. Lawrence — were ahead of the Big Red in the national qualifier projection. Yet they are still higher than any to-be-determined College Hockey America program that has its name on an automatic bid.

A clean sweep through the homestretch could fortify the Big Red’s position. Although, beyond a Feb. 6 visit to Quinnipiac and a Feb. 13 home date with Harvard, there are not many opportunities to bulk up on big-game loot.

Regardless, whether it is Canada or Cornell, the pride factor is all the same for Jenner, who has also won gold at the 2010 Four Nations Cup and 2012 World Championship.

“I think there is some parallel. We’ve built a really sound program here,” she said of the Big Red. “This year, we are a bit more of an underdog, but we’re okay with that as well.”

A veteran of two Frozen Fours, but no national championship games, Jenner has no time to worry about her team’s billing. Just like the discrepancies in prestige between tournaments, that cannot alter her appetite for a fulfilling finish to a given campaign.

For her senior season in Ithaca, that entails a timely surge en route to an ECAC championship three-peat, followed by the program’s last unchecked breakthrough. This year’s Frozen Four happens to be at Minnesota’s Ridder Arena, where Cornell lost a 3-2 triple-overtime marathon to Minnesota-Duluth in the 2010 title game, its last game before Jenner enrolled.

“It’s hard to compare to the Olympics, because that’s something everyone works toward their whole life,” she admits. “But a lot of really elite hockey players strive for an NCAA championship, and I’m capable of that.”

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

Boston College women’s hockey procures Honeybaked flavor

(Photo courtesy of BC Athletics)

Collecting quotes from Megan Keller and Tori Sullivan can be akin to watching actors rotate a shared role in a stage production. Either that, or performers in successive adaptations of the same story, with only negligible dialogue discrepancies and mutual justice to each other’s character portrayals.

They two freshmen are living the same essential tale as Detroit Honeybaked-turned-Boston College women’s hockey prodigies, and recount the joint journey through analogous articulation.

“After my first time visiting BC, I was 14 years old,” Keller, the defender from Farmington Hills, Mich., told Along the Boards via e-mail. “I remember right when I got home telling my parents, ‘This is the place I want to go.’”

“I first visited BC when I was 14 years old,” Sullivan, the forward from West Bloomfield, Mich., wrote in her own e-mail to ATB. “After the visit, I remember saying to myself that this is, without a doubt, the place where I want to be.”

It did not hurt their decision to have a pair of former Honeybaked allies preceding them as Eagles recruits. Forwards Andie Anastos and Haley McLean, now sophomores at Chestnut Hill, shared action with Keller and Sullivan for the southeast Michigan travel program in multiple age groups.

“Coming into BC, I felt like I already knew the team through Andie and Haley,” said Keller. “And the team in general is one of the nicest groups I have ever met. That alone made it easy to adjust.

“We are together every day, and you’d think it would be easy to get sick of each other, but it’s not. I love being around our team and the whole BC community. It is truly something special to be a part of."

The facility of the transition has doubtlessly helped all four players coalesce into a near-perfect composition of 23 players. The Eagles enter Thanksgiving weekend the decisive top-ranked team in the country, brandishing a 14-0-1 overall record and seamless 9-0-0 transcript in Hockey East play. Results-wise, it is the uncontested best start in the modern BC women’s program’s 21 seasons of operation.

Each of the second-time allies, though appreciative of one another’s company, have punctuated their team-wide compatibility in every environment. Although Anastos and McLean are second-year roommates in their dorm, and Keller and Sullivan share common campus digs as well, they graciously accept assigned arrangements on road trips.

And whether they are grooming their game at Conte Forum, entertaining their own boosters or invading another barn, they have meshed with previously unfamiliar linemates and defensive partners. Anastos, Sullivan and McLean have generally spread the depth on BC’s second, third and fourth forward units, respectively. Keller is making steady strides as a depth defender, likely to reach the top tier in due time.

All, however, have established an indispensable niche, and reaffirm their common roots through a common drive.

“They’re all really hard workers,” Eagles head coach Katie King Crowley told ATB in a phone chat this week. “They come in ready to go every day, and they like to have fun. All four of them are great hockey players, and have developed their own style, but they all contribute. We’re fortunate to have them.”

Stacked with incentive

With the successive enrollment of Anastos and McLean, then Keller and Sullivan, the all-time Honeybaked-BC pipeline has quickly quintupled. Until last fall, the institutions’ connections were strictly confined to a certain 2011 Eagles graduate by the name of Kelli Stack.

Stack, a two-time silver medalist with the U.S. Olympic team, helped the Honeybaked 19-and-under team to an appearance in the 2006 USA Hockey national tournament. Afterwards, she wasted little time lending a face to the alumnae of her last travel program, let alone relevance to the women’s wing of the Kelley Rink at Conte Forum.

Stack bookended a five-year stretch with a piloting role in BC’s first two Women’s Frozen Four appearances (2007 and 2011). She thrice garnered the Hockey East player of the year award, only falling short as a sophomore.

After a year’s leave for a 2010 Olympic excursion, she finished rewriting the program record book with career totals of 98 goals, 111 assists and 209 points, and led the Eagles to their still-only WHEA postseason pennant.

No wonder Crowley and company took another look at southeast Michigan when reloading in the wake of Stack’s graduation, right?

“Obviously, we’re trying to find the best fits for our program,” Crowley said. “I feel like those kids — coming through that program after Stack really fit that mold —they got on our radar, and we wanted to continue to watch them play.”

No later than the end of May 2013, Crowley and longtime top assistant Courtney Kennedy had seen enough to extend offers to some of Stack’s successors.

For Anastos and McLean, the faith was mutual. They formally signed on to join what was then a three-time reigning national semifinalist a full two years after Stack snagged her degree.

“Being recruited by BC was a rather short process for me,” Anastos, Keller’s fellow Farmington Hills resident, recalled. “I just remember going on a visit to the school and being like, ‘Yes I want to go here. This is the place for me.’ I just really liked the coaches, and obviously knew they had a strong program, with great players like Stack that have gone through the program.”

With Keller and Sullivan, the pattern reran itself in the latest recruiting cycle. “While it’s safe to say I was pretty set on going to BC, knowing that Kelli Stack came here before me and had success only ensured my decision,” said Keller.

Granted, the locally bred Alex Carpenter has filled the unofficial void as BC’s resident prolific, otherworldly, Olympic-seasoned talent. But Stack’s successors in the pipeline from suburban Detroit to the outskirts of Boston have squandered no time upholding the program’s celestial status as asked.

Anastos, in particular, made instant ripples when the radar opened to her in 2013-14. While Carpenter spent the season on Team USA’s trek to Sochi, Anastos led the Eagles with 21 assists and placed second on the team with 14 goals and 35 assists. She would join current junior teammate Haley Skarupa (2013) and Stack (2007) as the latest BC player to claim the WHEA’s top rookie laurel.

“Andie obviously had a great year last year,” Crowley said. “She really came on when we needed some help. She certainly came on strong for us, and has continued to do that this year. I think a lot of kids really enjoy playing with her, really want to be on her line, because she’ll set people up.”

Of Anastos’ classmate and campus roommate, the skipper offered, “Haley is feisty, and I think that’s something she continues from her Honeybaked days. She has really done a good job for us this year. She’s a kid who will shoot from anywhere, puts pressure on the other team with our forecheck and with the way she can skate.”

Crowley was courteously cautious when she underscored the common threads between the two rookies and Stack. Keller and Sullivan have ample time to burgeon, but each bring enticing skill sets and backgrounds bearing shades of the decorated Honeybaked pioneer.

Both saw action on U.S. 18-and-under national team last season, claiming silver at the World Championships. Entering this weekend, Sullivan is second among Hockey East freshmen with eight goals and 13 points.

“Tori has a little bit of a different style than we have,” Crowley said. “She sees the ice really well, and is kind of similar to a stack in that she slows down the game a bit when she has the puck and makes a really nice play.”

She added, “Keller has obviously been able to play with the national team a bit, and is a good, solid defender. She’s a big, strong kid who sees the ice really well.”

Twice in a lifetime?

While Stack spent her senior year leading BC to its most ornate season so far, the four future Eagles back in Michigan were fast-tracking to their top pre-collegiate memory together.

Anastos’ hat trick spelled the difference in Honeybaked’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago Mission in the 2011 16-and-under USA Hockey national championship game. It was the first title of its kind in any age group for the program.

Anastos and McLean also teamed up on a Michigan District title run at the 14-and-under level in 2009 and in the 19-and-under group in 2012. Sullivan went to additional national dances in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

But none of the four won another title before graduating the elite youth ranks. The passage of time and the change of scenery have more than honed their hunger to stir a sequel on NCAA ice.

“Winning the national championship back on 16-U was definitely the highlight of my hockey career,” said McLean, “especially because I was able to share the moment with Andie, Meg and Tor, who I have always been very close with.

“Knowing we have a shot at it again is awesome especially because it is something — I think — every college athlete dreams of. Winning a championship with your best friends is something special that we would remember for a lifetime.”

McLean’s word choice in that last sentence would have one believe she has yet to savor national glory with Anastos, Keller or Sullivan. Perhaps that is proof of the fresh-sheet mentality she and the other three are harboring.

They have already played a role in bringing home one elite program’s first national crown. Now all four are fastidiously bent on remaking their own triumphant narrative with new costumes, a new setting, a new supporting cast and new challenges.

They will have a maximum of three chances to deliver their dream as a group at Chestnut Hill. Not that they are showing any unnecessary patience. Even now, in the young months of their working reunion, they are forming an infectious, impactful nucleus for the rest of the roster.

“The four of them are together all the time,” said Crowley. “They were friends before they were teammates, and they’ve been through a lot of different things together.

“I think it only helps your team. They’re a great group that everybody wants to be around, so it’s something that as a coach, you know those four kids are good leaders — even though they’re young — and they’re good people as well as good hockey players.”

“We try to recruit good people and good players, and to get that combination, we’ve been very fortunate with these kids.”

 

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

Clarkson’s Shannon MacAulay leading champs through challenges

The reality of offseason overhaul reached a cracking point by the final buzzer Oct. 18 at Cheel Arena. The Clarkson University women’s hockey team had just endured a two-game sweep via the visiting Boston University, dropping to 3-3-0 on the year.

Up to that point, the menace’s insistent knocking had gone unanswered, and was even muffled at times. The defending national champions had claimed a respectable split with local rival St. Lawrence and blanked Providence for a full 120 minutes.

In turn, they were kicking ice chips over the fact that they had lost four of their top five scorers, one key defender, minute-munching goaltender Erica Howe and one of their co-coaches. Ditto their season-long limit of 16 skaters, even with perfect health up and down the depth chart.

But through their first encounter with a fellow 2014 NCAA tournament participant, they brooked a little more damage to the door. Reality raided, impelling junior captain Shannon MacAulay to evoke her beyond-her-years intangibles for the first time.

“After BU, it was just a bit of a wakeup call for us and a learning curve,” MacAulay told Along the Boards via e-mail. “We knew we had to be better, and it wasn’t going to be easy.

“We definitely have come together more as a team since that weekend, and have had more energy all around. We worked hard to get better in practice, and have since realized how good we can be if we are all bringing that work ethic.”

The scoreboard does not object. The Golden Knights have since redressed their room by reeling off five consecutive victories. They have run up a 25-3 scoring differential in that span, never allowing more than one goal in a single venture.

The turnaround began six nights after the 5-2 falter before BU. None other than MacAulay broke the ice 21 seconds into regulation, added two assists as part of a four-goal first period, then completed her playmaker hat trick to finalize a 9-0 drubbing of Syracuse.

She proceeded to charge up another three-assist outing, a three-goal performance, a goal-assist variety pack and a power-play equalizer in a come-from-behind, 2-1 triumph over Yale.

With 14 points, MacAulay has had a hand in 56 percent of the scoring in Clarkson’s last five games. Her cumulative 9-9-18 scoring log through 11 games overall ties her for second in the nation with Minnesota’s Hannah Brandt.

“It was definitely with the help of my teammates,” she insisted. “Like I said, I think our team has come together quite a bit, and because of that, it has allowed me to be successful.

“For me now, it’s just a matter of focusing on continuing to play this way and keeping my game simple.”

Exactly the exemplary representation the Knights were keen on tapping into as far back as last March.

Advanced preparation

Clarkson crumbled a geographic barrier at the 2014 Frozen Four, becoming the first program other than Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth or Wisconsin to win a national title in the sport’s 14-history under NCAA auspices.

Based on the 2013-14 Golden Knights’ makeup, there was all but a now-or-never feel to the run.

Four prolific producers in Jamie Lee Rattray, Brittany Styner, Carly Mercer and Vanessa Gagnon all took their last hurrah with the 5-4 title victory over the two-time champion Gophers. So, too, did a solid depth striker in Shelby Nisbet, along with Howe in net and Vanessa Plante on defense.

On top of that, co-coach Shannon Desrosiers stepped down for maternity leave after six seasons of split duties with husband Matt.

Too much forethought was a nonexistent notion in the search to replenish that leadership. In the afterglow of the championship, six months before reconvening, Matt Desrosiers queried his returnees on captaincy candidates for 2014-15.

“Shannon’s name repeatedly came up in conversations with her teammates as someone the players felt would be a strong leader and captain,” he recalled in a message to ATB.

The Knights would return four seniors and four juniors this autumn, including a world-class two-way talent in Erin Ambrose. But with the dense smattering of seniors the year prior, none had donned a letter of leadership in their collegiate careers.

Translation: Anything was possible, and MacAulay accepted that.

“I knew, coming into this year, that I had a good chance at taking on a leadership role,” she said. “I had prepared myself for that.

“It was still obviously a pleasant surprise getting the “C,” and I am honored to have received this as a junior.”

That honor came with an obligation to accelerate her output and foster an infectious attack habit. Of the two juniors and one senior on Clarkson’s offensive corps, MacAulay was the career production leader with 40 points in 77 games at the start of this season.

With only three full forward lines, a viable title defense will inevitably require every returnee’s maturity to translate to Gagnon-, Mercer- and Styner-esque numbers.

Roughly one-third of the way through the 34-game regular season, MacAulay is already two points away from swelling her career total by 50 percent. Her two linemates since the start of the current five-game winning streak, sophomores Genevieve Bannon and Cayley Mercer, have matching 7-9-16 transcripts for second on the team.

Other than senior Christine Lambert, the rest of the offense has yet to break double digits under the 2014-15 point heading. But Lambert, who had centered MacAulay’s line until after the BU series, has a precedent for leading by example on her new unit.

The Knights have replenished their success by spreading their seasoning, which starts at the top of the line chart.

“(MacAulay) has the respect of the players and coaching staff, as she brings a good effort every day and sets a good example for everyone to follow,” said Desrosiers. “She has shown the ability to communicate well with both her teammates and the coaching staff, which is a very important quality to have as a captain.

“Her teammates respect her and look to her for help and guidance, which is exactly what you want from your captain.”

Embracing the target

Unlike Desrosiers, MacAulay tends to speak to her leadership qualities through a plural narration. When she is not imparting inspiration or mediating advice, she serves as a prototypical voice box for Clarkson’s collective cause.

Sporting the “defending champions” label compounds the trial of maxing out the talent on a permanently short bench. But MacAulay wants to oversee an operation that sports the collective confidence of surplus skaters and the thirst of a program bereft of banners.

“We are a team that makes it tough for other teams to play against,” she said. “We need to make sure we’re playing this way no matter who it is we play in our league. Every game will be a battle, and to stay on top in our league, you have to come out ready to give a good battle.”

For every Knight eyeing MacAulay’s example, there promises to be a formidable adversary eyeing the same statement the Terriers issued in the mid-October nonconference set.

No fewer than four other ECAC programs have a contender’s composition. Not unlike the three-time Hockey East champions, they want to usurp the task of keeping the NCAA trophy on their side of the Great Lakes.

Come March 8, there will only be eight openings for that privilege across the nation.

If everything lives up to preseason logic, Cornell, Harvard, Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence will all vie for the ECAC title and/or an at-large national tournament bid. They will combine to confront Clarkson seven more times on the remaining league schedule.

“Facing some top teams like Harvard will be huge games for us,” MacAulay allowed. “We will need to want those two points more than they do.”

The Crimson, this year’s preseason coaches’ favorite, will bookend rest of the slate by visiting Potsdam this Friday and hosting the regular-season finale Feb. 21.

In the former game, they will try to hatch the “L” column goose-egg in the Knights’ 3-0-0 ECAC record. By the latter meeting, the difference between dependence on the automatic bid that comes with the conference crown and an at-large cushion could be at stake.

But in one more testament to MacAulay’s captaincy credentials, she zeroed back in on Clarkson’s control panel.

“Overall, we have handled the first month very well, considering we had quite a bit of work to do in the preseason to prepare,” she said. “We’re in a pretty decent spot right now in the standings, and we’re hoping we can just get better every weekend.”

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards

Healthy Hunter Fejes on a resurgent path with Colorado College

Brandon Parker, a would-be power-play point patroller for Alabama-Huntsville, could only recover the errant pass for two seconds. He had hungry company on his tail as he tried to pilot a routine regroup by pivoting back from the red line in neutral territory.

Hunter Fejes, one of the front corners of Colorado College’s penalty-killing box, closed in on Parker along the center-ice wall to dislodge the puck. From there, he raised an upper hand that neither Parker nor another impromptu backchecker could reach.

Fejes finished the singlehanded turnover by swooping to the Chargers porch from the left lane and depositing a backhanded icebreaker. Though it was only the 8:59 mark of his team’s second engagement of the season, the feat impelled him to employ his best Alexander Ovechkin impression.

There was no shortage of carbonated catharsis fueling Fejes’ leap at the glass along the lower boards of the attacking zone. For the junior forward and Arizona (nee Phoenix) Coyotes prospect, that Oct. 11 goal was his first since the 2013 WCHA Final Five.

That’s right. His eighth goal and 14th (and final) point in a promising rookie season had come on March 21 of the previous calendar year. The interim had packed two Memorial Days, two Independence Days, two Coyotes development camps, two Labor Days, a conference change for the Tigers in 2013 and a coaching change for the program in 2014.

“That was a big relief,” Fejes confessed to Along the Boards in a phone interview this week. “I don’t think I could have been any more excited. You could probably tell by the celebration I had there.

“Everyone enjoys doing that, so to get one after not scoring one for such a long time was great.”

Fejes has since polished a power-play conversion as the Tigers’ only tally in a 3-1 loss to mighty North Dakota on Oct. 17. He nearly had another goal that night, though UND’s celestial stopper Zane McIntyre had an answer.

He most recently assisted on both strikes in a 6-2 road loss to New Hampshire eight nights later. With that, he has taken six games to quadruple his junior output from his sophomore struggles, which yielded one solitary assist in 26 outings.

“It’s really satisfying,” he said. “You can never be complacent with where you’re at. Last year, obviously, I struggled offensively, so I made sure to come into this year with a clear mindset, help this team, turn this bus around.”

“My linemates,” he added. “I can’t do it without them. They’re giving me everything I need.”

What he needed at the dawn of 2014-15, though, was a fresh sheet and a clear head. Whatever he would do with that would advance his drive to breathe easier and skate more smoothly, both figuratively and literally.

“The best possible thing I did”

A foundation for regular top-six action was in place for Fejes on the heels of his 14-point freshman campaign. On the heels of a barely sub-.500 campaign, the Tigers were graduating four prolific seniors from their strike force — most notably Rylan Schwartz, he of 100 career assists.

As the program’s fourth-most productive returning forward, Fejes figured to assume no small share of the rebuilding lift. In alignment with logic, he was certain he would be up to that task.

Instead, he found himself slogging through an unforeseen, individual rebuilding project after taking a one-two slash from illness and injury.

“I came into the season very healthy, thought I was in good shape,” he recalled. “And then in the early part of the season, I ended up getting bronchitis, and that kind of set me back. I wasn’t able to compete the way I could compete.”

So much so that he brooked a 20-game pointless skid that spanned the season opener through Jan. 17. He returned to the lower half of the depth chart whilst failing to land more than two shots on goal in any of his first nine ventures.

Fejes finally splashed his drought in the point column Jan. 24 amidst an uplifting 4-1 win over NCHC rival Miami. His homeward-bound feed to Charlie Taft spotted the Tigers a 3-0 advantage at 15:45 of the first period, emboldening their path to the end of a 10-game winless streak.

But it would not be long before belated hope began to recede, at least for 2013-14.

Unable to ignore the agonizing aftermath of what he recounted as a “slew foot” incident that thrust him awkwardly into the boards, he made one appearance in a span of nine games due to a high-ankle sprain.

“I kind of just ended up trying to fight through things, but that was a hard one to fight through,” he said. “I lost all the strength on my ankle. I felt like I was re-tweaking it when I tried to fight through it. People have always told me that it’s better to break your ankle than to get a high ankle sprain.

“There was finally a point there when I said to myself, ‘This isn’t getting any better, I’m not helping the team the way I should.’”

Forcing his appetite for action aside, he approached then-head coach Scott Owens to deliver the same declaration. He boldly confessed his belief that it would serve the Tigers better for him to withdraw for a while.

“Obviously, it was tough for me to do that, because I consider myself a competitor and always want to be out there,” he said. “But at that point, it was the best possible thing I did.”

Upon scrapping his first comeback attempt after briefly skating in a Feb. 14 bout with Western Michigan, Fejes sat out another five games until the March 8 regular-season finale. He joined the third line that night, then spent two of three NCHC quarterfinal bouts accepting grunt work assignments on the fourth troika.

Scratched from the lineup altogether for the rubber match, in which North Dakota ended CC’s abysmal 7-24-6 ride, Fejes had mixed feelings about the ensuing seven-month wait for another shot.

“I believe it was very hard for me to go off into the offseason like that, especially after the season I had,” he said. “You wish you could have more success. But it was probably the best scenario that happened because I was able to recover, make sure to get healthy, reflect on why things didn’t go why I wanted them to and just focus my mindset on next year.

“Confidence was a huge thing. It’s the biggest thing to hockey, and maintaining that is the hardest thing. So I believe it was for the best.”

Intangible reformation

The temptation to tag Fejes with the “new-and-improved” label is tough to turn away from

He is roughly a full year removed from the respiratory residue and more than a half-year beyond the swelling over his skate. He is seeing those long-awaited top-six minutes, and using them to charge up a team-leading 29 shots at the opposing cage.

Fejes does not deny he has upgraded some aspects of his game, but he prefers to point to unseen forces. Contemplation and mental rehearsal, he holds, keyed his brewing bounce-back season this autumn.

“I believe I have the skill set and all that stuff,” he said. “But I think the biggest part was the battle side of it. I focus on my effort and attitude.

“I figured if I could improve in those areas, then I would be good.”

More than his triumphant return to his freshman form, the two added years of adversity-induced appreciation make Fejes an indispensable cog for Colorado in the inaugural year of the Mike Haviland era. Whereas the wounded Fejes, by his own admission, was best out of the equation, the recovered version is bringing exemplary commitment to a still-struggling program.

Since finishing their sweep of the Chargers with the help of Fejes’ liberating shortie, the Tigers have lost four straight. As October gives way to November, a rare weekend free of game action comes at a welcome point after three consecutive opposing runaways of four- or five-goal margins.

With his proven capabilities at even strength and on both sides of the special teams’ spectrum, Fejes figures to join the nucleus in CC’s search for stability. Moreover, the Tigers will likely lean on him as a learned upperclassman who knows how to weather on- and off-ice hardship.

“If things aren’t going the way we want, if I’m not getting as many shifts as I want, I can’t let any of that creep into my mind,” he said. “Once I do that, it’s going to be detrimental.

“Like I said, I’m just focusing on what I can control, just making sure I compete and work hard every single day.”

This article originally appeared on Along the Boards