Category: Recap

‘Dores Sweep MSU Bulldogs, Improve to 11-3-1

Vanderbilt Hockey landed back in the “W” column this past weekend with two wins against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 6-5 on Friday (1/28) and 7-4 on Saturday (1/29). Playing in front of capacity crowds both nights (85 fans strong!), the Commodores overcame a season’s worth of penalties in one weekend to improve to 11-3-1 on the year.

Said coach Thomas Bernstein, “Particularly with the game Saturday night, I’ve never been prouder of a team in my life, as a player, coach, or fan. With the slew of injuries and other circumstances we endured in the days leading up to, and through, the weekend, it was just awesome to be able to notch a couple of W’s.”

A Chaotic Start to Friday

Friday’s contest, a scrambled mess of disorganization, frustration, and injury, got started on just such a trajectory even before the game’s opening face-off when Vanderbilt’s scheduled game manager who operates the scoreboard and maintains the score-sheet canceled due to illness.  Enter Jack “The Bunny” Delehey, a freshman winger who tore his meniscus playing basketball hours earlier, to fill the position.

“I didn’t even realize people played basketball in Massachusetts,” said a frustrated Bernstein, “especially a short prep school kid like Jack. I just can’t believe we lost him to what I think we all can agree is a far inferior winter sport.”

Delehey, who it should be noted did not even have to attend the game let alone man the scoreboard, was instantly under the gun as his greenness proved to be a sore point for all parties involved, in particular Mississippi State’s coach.  From not learning how to post penalty times until the second period to not keeping a record of the times penalties were logged on the score-sheet throughout the entire game, Delehey’s performance left the Bulldogs fairly miffed.

When asked in the post-game press conference if the vitriolic response to his score-keeping bothered him, Delehey explained, “Look, what more can I do.  I’m enrolled in Clock Management 105, a freshman-level class in the college of Arts & Sciences.  When I signed up, I fully expected to learn this and other valuable skills.  Turns out ‘clock management’ refers to how a person should observe, process, and react to situations in the final moments of games – football, basketball, baseball, and, you guessed it, hockey.”

“I’ve already emailed my professor to add clock management, literally speaking, to the syllabus.  We’ll see what happens.”

Penalty Minutes > Total Game Minutes … Almost

Friday’s game was wrought with penalties, 52 minutes combined between the two teams.  The highlight (or low-light depending on your perspective) was a sustained 3-on-3 session that lasted for more than a minute.

“It looked like a drill, not a real game” said senior Matt Maggiore. “We’re about old time hockey. Toe Blake, Dit Clapper, Eddie Shore, that’s more our style … not that mess.”

The third period closed with yet more drama, this time a result of the rink informing the ‘Dores that their ice time would end promptly at 12:30am.  Said goalie Brenden Oliver, “We would have never been in that situation had there not been all of the penalties.” In order to ensure the completion of the game, the referees thankfully agreed to speed up stoppages between whistles, a move that was again not well received by the visiting club.

Amidst the melee, the Commodores were able to rev up the offense with early goals from sophomore Kyle McCann, junior Matt Kaminsky, and senior Nathan Tardiff.  Senior Anderson Funk also scored, his second of the season, sending the Vandy bench into a veritable frenzy. From that point forward, the team elevated its play to another level. (Post hoc ergo propter hoc or legitimate causal nexus? Stephen “The Beast” Mozur maintains that it was “definitely the latter.”)

McCann and Kaminsky each added a second en route to the 6-5 win.

Starting with a Whimper, Ending with a Bang

Saturday’s game got off to a rocky start for the Commodores when the Bulldogs stuffed in a rebound a scant 10 seconds into the contest. “We were in a daze in that first period,” said freshman Alan Leeser. “We didn’t act like the game had started until well into the second.”

Indeed, the evening looked like it would be a long one for Vanderbilt, especially after the Mississippi State club fired home its fourth goal of the night 1:20 into the second period to take a two goal lead. Then came the turning point of the game, a scrum in front of the net that resulted in freshman Mike “Southie” Nisbet, Zach “The Killer” Abelman, and McCann getting game misconducts along with three of the MSU players. Like flipping a switch, the ‘Dores turned on the afterburners from then on, locking down the defense and firing up the forecheck. The first line lead the way with goals from senior Peter Dignard and sophomore Chris Sperandio, his second of the contest, plus two from Kaminsky.  Evan “Pennies” Sclafani also tallied for Vanderbilt en route to the 7-4 win.

Slashes Claim ‘Dores for the Game, Likely the Season

The weekend was not entirely positive for the Vanderbilt club.  Two of the defensive stalwarts for the Commodores, Tardiff and graduate student Ben Loss, went down with injuries that will likely end their seasons and, sadly, VU careers.  Tardiff suffered a separated shoulder on a questionable hit late in Friday’s game which was followed immediately by a Marty McSorley-esque two-handed chop to his lower back. In a similar vein, Loss took a vicious slash to his hand that resulted in a broken thumb.

“It’s a rough sport, totally understand that, but those plays were completely unnecessary,” said coach Bernstein. “I think we can all stand to remind ourselves that this is the regular season of a club sport and not the NHL playoffs, that players on both sides need their legs healthy to hoof it around campus, backs strong to carry backpacks, and hands in tact to type papers.”

Vandy can now add Tardiff and Loss to an already long list of injuries that includes Delehey (torn meniscus), junior Jack McCallum (dislocated kneecap), freshman Kyle Stachowiak (mononucleosis), and Sclafani (collarbone contusion).

“We made do on Saturday night, delivering our most inspired effort of the season, and we’ll continue to overcome adversity in the remainder of our games over the next two weeks,” said Bernstein. “These guys are a team and that’s what teams do. I’m proud to be a part of the group.”

Rematch Against the Cardinals

This weekend Vandy will host the University of Louisville Cardinals for a two game set at Centennial Sportsplex.  The games follow last December’s thrilling weekend pair on the road that saw the Commodores eek out a 7-6 OT win and barely notch a 4-4 tie against the ACHA DII club. If those games are any indication of what is to follow this Friday and Saturday, count on an exciting weekend of hockey action in Nashville.

Game times for both are 10:15pm.  Hope to see you at the rink!

Pair of Losses Spoils Gatlin Family Reunion

The Commodores failed to notch a win in two contests in Southaven, Mississippi, this weekend versus the Ole Miss Rebels, losing 4-1 on Friday and 9-5 on Saturday. This despite graduate student Ben Gatlin’s family being in attendance to offer its support.

Said Ichabod Gatlin, purveyor of fine artisan cheeses and backscratchers hailing from the greater Wausau region of Wisconsin, “I thought I traveled 1,000 miles to see the #14 ranked team in the southeast play some hockey.  All I saw was a bunch of kids and my nephew  … well, playing hockey.”

Ben’s cousin Naomi, she of Milan, Italy, agreed.

“Ho partecipato non riesco a credere nel gioco. Era terribile.”

We think she agreed, anyway.

Beaten and Battered

Friday’s game was a hard fought battle that remained tight well into the third period when a pair of injuries took the wind out of the Commodores’ sails. The first came when junior Jack McCallum, in his first game of the season following a semester abroad, went down with a knee-to-knee hit.

“Definitely one of the uglier injuries I’ve seen since joining the [Ole Miss] team,” said the Rebels’ trainer Chad Ray who thankfully was on hand to offer immediate support. After initially fearing the worst, McCallum was diagnosed with a more benign but nevertheless serious dislocation of his left knee cap.  His season, not even a game old, was subsequently finished.

“When it happened, I was thinking it was an ACL,” McCallum explained, “but when they stinted it the knee cap popped back into place and the pain went from a 10 to a 2. Could’ve been a lot worse I guess.”

Following shortly after Jack’s injury, freshman Evan Sclafani got crunched on a play in the neutral zone and came off with what his coach suspected may have been a broken collarbone.

Brenden Oliver and injured 'Dore Evan Sclafani

“Evan is 155 pounds soaking wet, so when he gets checked by one of the bruisers on the other side you’ve got to hold your breath.”

Thankfully, as with McCallum, Sclafani received a better than expected diagnosis, a deep contusion bruise to his collarbone rather than a break.  He will be week to week heading into the final five games of the season.

The game’s result was sealed soon thereafter following a 2-on-1 goal, then an empty netter.

Baptist Desoto Hospital, NOT the Model of Efficiency

At around 5:15am in exam room #24 of Southaven’s Baptist Desoto Hospital, it occurred to coach Bernstein that he should have asked junior goalie Brenden Oliver to head back to the hotel hours before.  Saturday’s starting goalie ended up getting less than four hours of sleep before facing a relentless attack that fired 85 shots on net (or so the 9-year-old keeping score would have you believe).

“It was more like 65,” said Oliver, “which is still insane.”

Seriously ... 85 Shots!

Before the Vandy club ran out of gas in the latter half of the third period, the game followed a similar track to the previous night, closely contested and well played. Vanderbilt was led by junior center and club vice president Matt Kaminsky who, like McCallum, was playing in his first games of the season following semester abroad in the fall.  Kaminsky notched two goals, both of the bag-o-ugly ilk, plus provided some terrific play on the back check.

Ultimately, the guys just could not match their short bench against a well conditioned Ole Miss squad for the full 60 minutes.  Moving forward into the remainder of the schedule, the boys from Nash-vegas will look forward to employing additional reinforcements for games against Mississippi State, Louisville, and Georgia Tech.

Celebrity in the House

On hand for Saturday’s game was former Ole Miss football great and current New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.  Yeah, we were as surprised as you are.  Here’s the pic ( … kind of blurry and a bad angle but you can’t mistake the signature “flow” and trucker hat):

Eli Manning in the Stands

Not surprisingly, our New England-heavy roster was not as enthusiastic about the Super Bowl XVII MVP’s presence at Saturday’s contest as the rest of the fans and players.

“Wow.”

One word, “Wow,” captured what was by all accounts one of the most exciting weekends of the season for the Vanderbilt Commodores Hockey Club.  Following a pair of hard fought, evenly matched games against the University of Louisville Cardinals – a 7-6 OT win on Friday and a 4-4 tie on Saturday – the boys from Nashville were left bruised, battered, and ready for a break from both the classroom and the ice rink.

“All I want to do is go home right now and watch a movie,” said freshman David Crowe during the return trip to campus Saturday evening.  “I’m done.”

Late Night Thrills

The weekend started with a midnight clash against the ACHA DII Cardinals hockey club, a young but talented group that, per their coach, has struggled to stay healthy amidst a down year record-wise.  Heading into the meeting, the Commodores were not sure what to expect as Louisville had yet to play any of the teams on VU’s schedule.

“Looking at their record, we were perhaps more confident than we should have been,” said coach Thomas Bernstein.  “We found out pretty quickly that we were in for a battle.”

Friday and Saturday followed similar scripts.  Vanderbilt would score to go ahead, sometimes by two.  Louisville would claw back, often netting equalizers within seconds of going down on the scoreboard.

The physical play was non-stop from midnight Friday to the last whistle Saturday, headlined by the dominating style of junior defenseman Nathan Tardiff.  Tardiff was a veritable tank on the ice, destroying opponents on defense and barreling through people on offense.  It got to the point where the Cardinals actively chose to tone down their otherwise aggressive style of play in the interest of game strategy.

“Nathan would drop them and they’d turn the puck over, or they’d try to hit him and they’d bounce right off of his shoulders,” described Bernstein.  “The guy was just unbelievable, it was like watching Scott Stevens circa the 1995 Devils out there.”

The other thread that remained constant throughout the weekend was the play of Louisville’s goaltender.  The netminder stopped nearly everything, and when he did not the post and crossbar took care of the rest.  The Commodores hit 8 posts and a crossbar over the two games.

“We just couldn’t couldn’t get the puck to find the right spots,” said freshmen winger Jack Delehey.  “That guy was unbelievable in net plus we just didn’t have any luck.  Pretty frustrating.”

Zauderer The Killerer

Delehey wasn’t entirely correct with his assessment of the club’s luck when, after skating to a 6-6 tie in regulation on Friday night, freshman Jordan Zauderer pinched in from the left point, circled around the net, and wrapped in a sudden death winner with 23.6 seconds left in the extra session.  The scene that followed was equal parts joy and relief as the Commodores launched out of the bench to meet the night’s hero, thankful to avoid a shootout.

Zauderer followed that performance with a different type of dagger on Saturday, this time in the form of a mammoth hip check in front of the Commodores bench.  Midway through the third period, Zauderer sized up one of the bigger guys on Louisville and went in for the defensive stop.  Next thing the team knew, the 140135-lb. freshman had put the Cardinal player completely in the Vanderbilt bench, back first.

“I looked down and thought he was dead,” said Bernstein.  Thankfully, the player’s ego was more injured than his body and everyone skated away unharmed.

A Tie?

Unfortunately and fortunately for the ‘Dores, Saturday’s game ended in a 4-4 tie after regulation which, according to ACHA rules, should never happen. It turns out that the rink moved the game’s 6pm start time to 5:30pm (to accommodate a free skate) and failed to inform either team so there was no time for the requisite shootout.  The word “fortunately” is used because a shootout would have inevitably tilted the game in favor of Louisville and its brick wall of a goaltender.

Said sophomore goalie Mackie Anderson, who performed admirably in net following a three month game layoff, “Honestly, I’m not sure we would have pulled out the W.”

The Weekend Scoresheet

The weekend’s scoring leaders included senior Matt Maggiore who, with 2 goals and an assist, played his most inspired hockey of the season.  The Bunny contributed 3 goals and 2 assists while junior Scotty McLaughlin contributed a goal and 3 assists.  Six others, including sophomore Chris Sperandio, freshman Kyle Stachowiak, junior Tom Trepanier, Tardiff, and Zauderer, each scored a goal.

With that, the book is now closed on a great semester which saw the Commodores hold onto the final spot in the ACHA Men’s DIII South Top 15 Rankings.  Thanks to all for your support of the club and please be sure to join us back in Nashville next semester as we round out the season with seven straight home games.

From your friends at VU Hockey, take care and please have a merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday season, a happy new year in 2011!

* Photos from the weekend are posted on the Photos page.

Late Flurry Clinches Sweep In Georgia

Prior to the VU Hockey Club’s Friday night faceoff against Emory this past weekend, freshman Jordan Zauderer asked coach Thomas Bernstein for a prediction.  A tradition dating back to his days playing high school hockey back in Pittsford, NY, Jordan was adamant that Bernstein take a position.

“Of course I’m going to say we’re going to win,” he responded in a tone that suggested equal parts caution and confidence.  “5 – 3, we pull out a close one.”

If only he had doubled down.

In its second road trip of the 2010-11 season, the Commodores notched two 5 – 3 victories, one Friday versus the Emory Eagles and another Saturday versus the University of Georgia Bulldogs.  It was exactly the way the Chilled Commodores were hoping to punctuate their season at the halfway point – i.e., with two strong performances en route to securing a record of eight wins versus a single loss on the year.

Friday Night Alright For A The Jack Attack

Jack Delehey (a.k.a., the “Energizer Bunny” as dubbed by freshman Mike Nisbet) notched a hat trick, the first of his young Vanderbilt hockey career, on assists from Evan “Pennies” Sclafani, Kyle McCann, and Tom Trepanier to power VU in its Friday win versus the Eagles.  Combined with his work on the penalty kill and back-check, Delehey was a one-man wrecking crew that Emory had no answers for.

“Jack has the spirit of 1,000 Christmases inside of him,” noted Sclafani, a freshman who made his debut on the defensive line to rave reviews from scouts and fans in attendance, following Delehey’s third goal of the game.  Given the context of the comment, one can only assume that that is a good thing.

Rounding out the scoring was Sclafani and Alan Leeser, another freshman who offered valuable minutes at left wing on the first line.

A Late Game Explosion

In what was by far the most exciting contest of the season thus far, Saturday’s game versus Georgia witnessed a seesaw battle that remained tight well into the third period.

Continuing his heroics from Friday, Delehey opened scoring in the first period with a beautiful off-angle, top-shelf slapper.  Then, following two goals by Georgia that left VU down 2 – 1, sophomore transfer sensation Kyle McCann rifled in an equalizer to knot the game at two apiece.

At that point it was clear the game was on track for an exciting finish, one way or the other.  A 2 – 2 tie.  On the road.  An SECHC conference rival in the Bulldogs.  Media in attendance ( … thanks to Jim Davis from HockeyY’all.com for stopping by).  The moment was enormous … and then it got bigger.

Georgia goal.  3 – 2. 8:54 remaining.

It was the first time in the 2010-11 season that the ‘Dores had faced any degree of late-game urgency.  Coach Bernstein wondered how they would respond given the uncharted territory.  “Following that goal, I just asked everybody, ‘Isn’t this great?’  A tight hockey game on a Saturday night on the road … I was having a blast and wanted to remind them that this was why we all signed up for the club.”

The ‘Dores went out and definitely had a bunch of fun, pouring on three goals in the final nine minutes, two by senior captain Peter Dignard and one by Trepanier, to secure the win.

“Boy, that was awesome,” said junior goalie Brenden Oliver who had another terrific game in net.  “We definitely wanted this one … just a great team effort.”

The Story Beyond The Stats

Lost on Saturday’s score sheet were two items of note.  The first was the impact that junior Nathan Tardiff and graduate student Ben Loss had on the game.  Both defensemen, Tardiff and Loss elevated the ‘Dore’s physical play while anchoring a stout attack in front of Oliver in net.  Along with Dignard, their decision to make the trip on Saturday contributed largely to the game’s positive outcome.

The other item of note was a near-miss-that-really-wasn’t-near off the stick of one Thomas Trepanier.  In the closing minutes of the second period, Kyle McCann made a furious rush up ice, slashing and toe-dragging his way towards the net.  After finally getting knocked off the puck, McCann made a brilliant pass in front to Trep which left the junior alone with the puck and the net.  No goalie, no defensemen … just one man and a surefire goal.

“All I could see was net,” said Loss who was skating up ice from the other end of the rink.  “Never seen a more wide open chance in my life.”

You can guess the rest based on the scoring recap.  Wide right.  Shame.  Audible laughter from the bench.  Jokes between periods.  Nightmares following the game.

Asked for comment, Trep simply said, “Ugh.”

The Good Times Roll On In December

Looking ahead, the club will be back on the ice (and the road) versus Louisville on December 3rd and 4th.  For more information, please reach out via the contact form on this website.  In the meantime, on behalf of the entire club – players, parents, and “staff” included – we thank everyone for your continued support of the team this year and look forward to a fun and entertaining second half of the season.  Hope to see everyone at the rink!