Category: Recap

Rookies Shine In Inaugural Games At The Ford Ice Center

The Vanderbilt Ice Hockey team ushered in a new era in its history this past weekend when it kicked off its 2014/15 campaign at the Ford Ice Center, the program’s brand new, state-of-the-art home arena located just outside of Nashville in Antioch, Tennessee. The club’s opponent, SECHC East rival South Carolina, proved every bit as tough as their reputation heading into the weekend as the two clubs split the series one game a piece. The Commodores fell 4-2 on Friday, only to bounce back with a resounding 7-3 win on Sunday morning.

Discipline a Factor in the Opener

Friday’s opener had all the buzz of a late season battle prior to the contest. Twitter and Facebook were lit up about the game, the highlight being a tweet from ESPN anchor and renowned hockey fan John Buccigross.

For the Vanderbilt players, the excitement was driven in large part by the unveiling of the club’s brand new locker room. With 21 locker stalls surrounding three sides of the room and jerseys from years past hung from the rafters, the new space made a huge impression on the boys – both for the growth that it signified and also for the connection it maintained with the club’s alumni and history.

The game itself lived up to expectations as the Gamecocks jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the fourth shift of the game. A defensive zone breakdown left South Carolina’s leading scorer Eric Patterson alone in the slot to hammer home the game’s first goal.

Vanderbilt would respond with some tremendously physical (and, at least in the early phase, clean) play. The club would draw a series of penalties and ultimately net the equalizing goal, a top shelf laser from the stick of defenseman Zach Satin at 12:16 in the second period. The sophomore’s goal was assisted by rookie transfer Bobby Mallon and sophomore Nick Honkala.

The game would devolve from there with a litany of penalties and undisciplined play from both teams. Despite a stout penalty kill performance throughout the night, the ‘Dores would yield a man-down goal to start the third.

South Carolina added an even strength goal at 9:32 in the final stanza to go up by two goals, seemingly icing the game … that is, until rookie transfer Ryan “Superstar” Doppelheuer cut the lead to 3-2 with 1:12 left in the contest.

Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, South Carolina would fire in an empty-netter from long distance to seal the win for the squad from Columbia. Final score, 4-2 Gamecocks.

Rebounding with Purpose

Vanderbilt entered Sunday’s tilt with a sour taste in its mouth. Had they played more five-on-five hockey, which was an opportunity fully within the team’s own control, the result may have been different.

Sunday would follow a more favorable script.

Leading off the scoring was senior Anthony Bilotta, assisted by Doppelheuer and last year’s “Murph” award winner as the club’s most valuable player John Longman. Patterson knotted the score at 1-1 at 13:13 of the period, only to see Doppelheuer score a pair and Longman notch his first of the season. It was 4-1 after 1.

Firing into the second period, it was all Bilotta, Doppelheuer, and Longman as all three tallied another to extend the lead to 7-1. The team was also aided by the play of junior Matt Neurohr and sophomore Tucker Rhodes who logged valuable minutes applying a ruthlessly effective forecheck as well as killing penalties.

The final score, 7-3, proved to the club that if it could stay disciplined and simply worry about playing hockey, it could beat a quality opponent like South Carolina. Given the team’s schedule in 2014/15, a brutal slog through many of the South region’s most challenging opponents, that confidence will come in handy.

Locking Down the Net

One particularly bright spot throughout the weekend was the play in net of rookie transfer Ryan Kellenberger, a nominee for the ACHA South region’s Player of the Week honors.

Kellenberger allowed just 3 goals in each of the two games while making 33 saves and 28 saves on Friday and Sunday, respectively. 3 of his 6 goals allowed were power play goals.

The club counted on Kellenberger to help set the tone for both the weekend and season and boy did he deliver. Both performances were exceptional, and were it not for Friday’s penalties and undisciplined play, he may have swept the weekend. Not surprisingly, Kellenberger received the game puck following Sunday’s win.

In the Driver’s Seat

Despite Friday’s loss, the Commodores still control their own destiny in the SECHC East division if they can win out versus Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. Of course, winning six straight in the division will be no small feat as Florida is returning the majority of its 2013/14 roster which went deep into Regionals while Georgia and Tennessee are both well on their way to building the foundations for success this season. If the Commodores can battle and win all six, they’ll own the tiebreaker with South Carolina based on goals scored and goal differential and subsequently avoid perennial West powers Arkansas, Alabama, and Ole Miss in the first round of February’s SECHC tournament.

There will be no rest for the weary as the Commodores will immediately dive back into SECHC East division play versus Florida this weekend. The clubs will face-off at The ICE in Cumming, Georgia, a neutral site that accommodates the travel demands for both teams.

If you’re in the area, please drop in Saturday night at 10pm ET and Sunday morning at 11am ET as it should be another pair of hotly contested battles.

Thanks to all who came out to cheer on the club on Friday and Sunday. The crowds were beyond engaged which was awesome to see. Please keep the support coming, have a GREAT week ahead of next weekend’s games, and, of course … ANCHOR DOWN!

With One Game Left To Play, Recapping 2013/14

The Vanderbilt Commodores 2013-2014 regular season ended last month at the SEC Tournament in Pelham, Alabama, leaving the club with an 8-14-1 record and a 6th place overall finish in the SEC. The Commodores have one final exhibition game, the I-40 Faceoff against the University of Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena at 1:00pm on Sunday March 30th. We’ll preview the game in a separate article later in the week, so check back on Thursday and Friday for more information on that.

Kicking Things Off On the Road

The 2014 portion of the Commodores’ campaign started with two weekends as diverse as possible. The team braved snowstorms and lack of official team meal provider Chick-fil-a – seriously, get in touch, we can replace the V-star with a chicken – on a trip to Cincinnati to play Xavier University. (Writer’s note: No, Matthew Neurohr, it is not spelled Cinci-“natty.”)

Ranked 13th in the ACHA North Region, Xavier turned out to be a tough starting opponent for the Dores, peppering Riley Macdonald with 99 shots on the weekend. Despite excellent performances by Macdonald in his first two starts of an injury hampered season, the Commodores didn’t play well enough defensively to reward their goaltender and fell to Xavier 6-3 and 11-4.

The weekend was sweetened considerably by the hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick who not only graciously opened their home to the team for a home cooked breakfast before the second game, but also hosted four players the night before. The cherry on top of the sundae was the opportunity to scour Doug Kirkpatrick’s home for pictures of his childhood and the entire team would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick for that especially.

The First Of Two In-State Battles

The next weekend, the Commodores played Memphis in Nashville, and the games were, well, different. Often times resembling a cage match rather than a hockey game, the outmanned (10 skaters at the start, 7 at the end of the weekend) and outclassed (too many penalty minutes to count) Tigers played a distinct brand of ‘hockey’. The weekend was marred by ejections, misconduct penalties on the Memphis goalie, and a general manner of conduct that led perpetually calm and soft spoken Coach Bernstein, never one to embarrass anyone, to instruct his team to “bury [these guys]” between periods of the second game after a particularly distasteful sequence of events.

That said, two incredibly significant events occurred in the midst of the 14-1 and 16-5 shellackings. First, Garden State defensemen Michael Hite and Andrew Dellapina combined for a whopping 1 goal and no assists on the weekend, despite the 30 goals scored by the Commodores.

Secondly, and much more importantly, Marc Balistrere, a 42-year-old graduate student and member of the United States Army 160th Airborne Regiment (a special operations helicopter support unit), made his Vanderbilt Hockey debut during the second game against Memphis. Amidst the light-hearted attitude the team takes towards most things, including this article, we were honored to have Marc join the team and thrilled that he nearly completed a Gordie Howe-like hat trick in the game (i.e., one goal and one penalty). We would like to thank him for his service to our country.

High Stakes Hockey In East Tennessee

After those two non-conference weekends, the team traveled to Knoxville for the final regular season games of the year, a massive in-state, conference showdown between Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Walk out of Knoxville with a point and clinch the 3-seed out of the East in the SEC Tournament. If any competitive benefit came from playing Memphis it was that the team was prepared for the physical style the Ice Vols played.

With no lost love between the rivals and huge post-season implications, both teams were aggressive from the start. Among the flying bodies and chirps, Vanderbilt jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, extended it to 5-2 in the second, and locked down defensively in the third period in front of Andrew Keen. The Dores, led by 3 points from Freshman Zach “Silky” Satin, won the game 6-2 and guaranteed themselves the 3rd seed out of the East in the SEC tournament and a first round matchup with the University of Alabama.

Due to questionable scheduling by Tennessee, the second of the two matchups was not until 10:30 the following night. Nevertheless, the team abided by its 1:00am curfew and rose at 6:00am for a captain’s workout behind the hotel. Demonstrating Vanderbilt students’ unique ability to seamlessly blend work and play, a number of players spent the day on their laptops, conducting interviews for summer jobs and solving organic chemistry problem sets.

After a meal of Italian food that rivaled Anthony Billotta’s, courtesy of Phoebe Wilkinson (Jack Gibbons’ mom), the Commodores were fueled and ready to attempt the sweep of Tennessee once again. Despite a slightly different and undermanned roster, the Commodores battled for 60 minutes, erasing multiple Volunteer leads. Then, late in the third period, the penalty bug bit again and Nick Honkala got tied up on the ice with a Tennessee player and was whistled for a 5-minute major kneeing penalty that looked different depending on your angle of the play. After a strong kill for most of the 5 minute penalty, a shot slipped through a screen and goaltender Riley Macdonald had no shot at the puck. Despite numerous excellent chances with an empty net, Vanderbilt couldn’t find the equalizer and fell 5-4.

Uphill Odds At The SEC

Swallowing a tough loss to a rival, the team prepared to face the 5th ranked team in the ACHA South and perennial powerhouse, the Alabama Frozen Tide at the SEC Tournament. A good week of practice had the Commodores fired up entering the playoff weekend. Merely an hour from the Tuscaloosa campus, packed with a bus full of Alabama sorority girls (Vandy Tri Delt where you at?) and a couple hundred other Alabama fans, the “neutral site” game had a decidedly pro-Alabama feel. After a lovely rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by an Alabama student (and girlfriend of Vanderbilt coach Jon Holston) the Frozen Tide wasted no time jumping all over the Commodores. A rough first period ended 4-1 but the team was anything but disheartened in the locker room and came out blazing in the second, quickly cutting the lead to two goals. Despite a strong effort by all four lines, the Commodores got no closer the rest of the game and fell 7-2.

The following morning, the team recovered with some more homemade cooking as the parents of Mrs. Bernstein (Mrs. Coach to the team) welcomed the boys and refueled them for their matchup with Ole Miss. As far as a 5th place game matchup goes, Mississippi, the 6th ranked team in the ACHA South and eventually National Tournament bound  (yeah, the SEC is stacked) is just about the toughest opponent you could hope not to face. Down goaltender Andrew Keen (possible concussion) plus forwards John Longman and Daniel Hogue, the Dores knew they had a tough task facing an Ole Miss team angry about being denied a chance to compete for the championship by South Carolina the round before. Despite valiant play by goalie Bo Korpman and the rest of the team, the Commodores fell 9-2.

Season Honors For The Dores

Despite the losses, the weekend wasn’t a total wash. Vanderbilt tied for the lead for SECHC All-Academic honors, once again demonstrating its virtually incomparable commitment to academic performance by placing 18 players on the list. (Initially it appeared Vanderbilt had actually lost the race to South Carolina by one, which would have been the first time Vanderbilt did not lead the league academically in years. However, upon further review, one of the 19 players on USC recognized for the honor actually had below a 3.2 – i.e, the cut-off for the distinction.) Additionally, senior Anthony Bilotta was named a 2nd team All-SEC defensemen and Bo Korpman (Air Force ROTC) and Marc Balistrere (US Army) were awarded with military appreciation awards.

Vanderbilt Hockey would like to thank all our fans who attended our games and bought merchandise this year and a special thank you to all the parents, especially those who traveled to see the team play in person.

Remember that the I-40 Faceoff will be Sunday, 3/30, at Bridgestone Arena at 1pm. Mark your calendars and be sure to drop in, it’s going to be a great day of hockey in Nashville!

ANCHOR DOWN!

Freshman Andrew Dellapina Recaps Georgia Tech, Previews Georgia

It’s no secret that the Vanderbilt Commodores ice hockey club hasn’t gotten off to the greatest start, with a 1-6-1 record through the first half of the semester. With one final game before fall break, the club was looking for something to build on with a stretch of SECHC games fast approaching.

Only a week removed from a last second heartbreaker to Indiana, the players and coaches both knew they were so close to a victory. That feeling only grew as the game began.

Georgia Tech played a very similar style to the Commodores. While most teams that Vanderbilt has faced off against so far have played a grind-it-out, hard-hitting style, GT was a skilled, opportunistic squad that generated its offense on one-off chances.

After a two goal lead evaporated by the end of the second period, the team was rattled. But the words spoken in the locker room seemed to focus the team around one goal: play simple hockey.

“Each individual player was trying to do too much,” noted Captain Anthony Bilotta. “I think we just needed to settle down and play a simpler game. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the game and think we have to try to make plays that aren’t there.”

As the team came out onto the ice for the third period, it was obvious the players had bought into the gameplan. The team came out flying, with countless scoring chances that simply wouldn’t go in. Finally, halfway through the period, freshman defenseman Andrew Dellapina intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and took it over the blue line. He made a move around one Georgia Tech player before getting knocked off of the puck by another. Sophomore transfer Bandar Alsaif locked on to the loose puck and fired a slapshot that beat the goalie glove side for a go-ahead goal.

“I saw an opportunity and jumped at it,” said Dellapina, who recorded his fifth assist of the season on the play. “I was able to get around one guy, but the second one flattened me. I looked up just in time to see Bandar wind up and unload an absolute bomb.”

Unfortunately, the bad luck that seems to have plagued the team reared its ugly head, with Georgia Tech capitalizing on a loose puck after a scramble in the corner to tie the game up with only 5 minutes left. The two teams continued to trade chances in the final five minutes as well as the ensuing overtime, but this game would require a shootout to determine the winner.

After an initial three rounds which couldn’t decide the game, Vanderbilt goaltender Bo Korpman, who stopped a whopping 42 shots during the game, was the victim of more bad luck as he stumbled backward in the middle of Georgia Tech’s shootout attempt, which gave the shooter an easy tap in for a goal. Bilotta was called upon to answer Georgia Tech’s goal, but his shot, which to most people in the building appeared to cross the goal line, was waved off by the official.

“It was pretty incredible,” said Coach Jon Holston after the game. “Everyone on the bench was in disbelief. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was a goal, but it was just the latest in a string of unlucky events.”

Although the ending took the air out of the team, everyone acknowledged that the final 25 minutes of hockey were some of the strongest the team had played all year. The plan was to enjoy fall break and come back ready to improve.

In the week and a half between the GT game and the next practice, some players relaxed. Others, like Junior Doug Kirkpatrick, kept the energy up. “I ran about 175 miles over fall break,” recalled Kirkpatrick, who always leads the rest of the team in the pre-game lap by at least 20 yards. “If I can’t go to sleep at 2 in the morning, I run a few miles. If I get a Computer Science problem wrong, I run a few miles. Pretty much the solution to any problem is to run a few miles.”

When the team returned to practice on Wednesday night, there was a new surprise waiting for them. Club President Jack Delehey, who skated in full equipment on Wednesday for the first time since his knee surgery, was waiting in the locker room with brand new equipment bags for each player. The bags featured each player’s name and number on one side, with the Vanderbilt logo and “Vanderbilt Hockey” on the other.

“The bags are fresh,” commented Tucker Rhodes, who was proclaimed by Coach Thomas Bernstein to be the team’s best passer on Wednesday night. “Everybody knows that 90% of hockey is looking good, so it’s nice to see that we’re stepping our game up.”

The aforementioned determination by Coach Bernstein was a result of passing being the focus of this week’s practice. He stood up in the stands, meticulously marking down each pass made by each player and whether or not it was caught by the recipient.

“Passing can open up our game in so many different ways,” said Coach Bernstein of the importance of connecting on a higher percentage of passing plays. “If we can make smarter passes in games and keep possession for longer, we’ll tire other teams out much more quickly and spend more time in the opposing team’s zone.”

The Commodores will look to put that theory to the test on Sunday as they take on the University of Georgia at 10:25 AM at A-Game Sportsplex in Franklin. With 8 games left in the first semester, 4 of which are League matchups.

“We’ve got six more league games to play,” advised Alternate Captain Jack Gibbons, “and there’s no reason to believe we can’t win all of them.”

Added freshman John Longman, who leads the team with 11 points in 8 games, “We’re on the verge of turning this thing around. We’ve just got to stay focused and play our game and these losses will turn into wins.”

Team Dinner, Maple Syrup Meatballs Fail To Produce Wins In Home Opener

When a young hockey team enters a new season, sometimes it takes a while for the group to find the right recipe for success against more seasoned, veteran-laden competition. For the 2013/14 Vanderbilt Commodores ice hockey club, that perfect recipe remains elusive through the first two weekends of the year.

One thing is for certain, though, the recipe does not include maple syrup.

“It’s A Secret Ingredient!”

Senior Captain and Team Chef Anthony Bilotta posing shirtless with his world famous pasta and maple syrup meatballs

Prior to the club’s home opener in Franklin, Tenn, versus Ole Miss, the “Frozen Commies” (link) convened for a pre-game dinner at senior Anthony Bilotta’s apartment. Bilotta, who prior to Friday’s game was named team captain for the 2013/14 campaign, was kind enough to both host and cook.

“I was excited to kick off the season the right way, with pasta and meatballs like we used to do in high school,” explained Bilotta.

A native of Leominster, Mass, he channeled his Italian-meets-New-England roots to pop a little extra carbo-loading into an already rich meal.

“I used an entire bottle of Aunt Jemima in the meatball mix,” said Bilotta, channeling the self-confidence of a young Chef Mario Batali. “It gives it that little extra pizzazz that keeps you guessing.”

The reviews were all appreciative … and mixed. “I’m a spontaneous guy, I like to keep myself guessing as much as the next guy,” said freshman John Longman, “just not when it comes to meatballs. When it comes to Italian food, give me a little spaghetti, some Rao’s sauce, a plain jane meatball, parmesan cheese, and I’m good to go.”

The dinner also included a few heated rounds of MarioKart, the perfect way to get the competitive blood flowing for a big hockey game.

Carbo-loading and MarioKart, a pre-game ritual made in Heaven

Out-Classed (on the Scoreboard)

The on-ice portion of the weekend proved challenging for Vanderbilt. Facing an Ole Miss team that made the ACHA DIII National Tournament last year, the club knew it was in for another battle similar to the one it faced just seven days prior against South Carolina.

Vanderbilt started strong on Friday by finishing the first period knotted at 1 on a goal by freshman Steve Wei. The second period followed a similar script though the momentum seemed to be tilted in an unfavorable direction for the home team. The problem? Stopping Ole Miss on the power play.

Said Coach Holston about the trouble, “We just weren’t adjusting to their power play. They’d work the puck around and inevitably we’d have one of our guys trying to mark two of theirs in front of the net. The math just doesn’t work there, you can’t win those battles when that happens.”

Despite goals from Longman, Bilotta, Matt Neurohr (his first in a Vanderbilt sweater), Zak Karlinski, and Zach Satin, the Commodores yielded five power play goals and an empty netter in a 9-6 loss.

Given time to reflect on the game (and game film), the Commodores mounted a more formidable defense in Saturday’s tilt but the result was the same in the win/loss column – Ole Miss 5, Vanderbilt 2.

“It’s a learning experience,” said junior Greg Kirk who, along with senior Jack Delehey and sophomore Jack Gibbons, was named alternate captain for 2013/14. “We played a tough, classy game against a seasoned group. We’ll figure out how to fix a few things and with some more practice, some more chemistry, we’ll be in good shape for the long haul this season.”

Next Up … Parents’ Weekend!

The Commodores will be back on the ice Friday (9/27) at 8:30pm and Saturday (9/28) at 3:00pm at the A-Game Sportsplex in Franklin, Tenn, as they look to get back in the win column against Indiana University. It will be the first time Vanderbilt plays the Hoosiers who will be making their 2013/14 season debut in Nashville. Tickets are free of charge and standing room will be available so stop by the Sportsplex for some awesome hockey action (or if you can’t make it stay tuned to Twitter for game updates and analysis). #ANCHORDOWN!