Campus Watch

LEWISTON -- College Hockey America hosts its final conference tournament at Dwyer Arena this weekend with semifinal action already under way. In the first semifinal, Alabama-Huntsville defeated Robert Morris, 1-0, to earn a spot in Saturday's championship game.

Niagara face eighth-ranked Bemidji State in the second semifinal, set to start in about 10 minutes.

The last CHA tournament in Dwyer was 2008 when Niagara defeated Bemidji in the title game, 3-2.

Check back for updates throughout the game.

First period: With 33.4 seconds left in the period, Ryan Olidis scored to give Niagara a 2-1 lead at the first break. Chris Noonan is playing solid in goal for Niagara, making some solid saves on a smooth, moving Beavers' offense.

Second period: Bemidji tied the game, 2-2, on a sloppy play by goalie Chris Noonan, but a power play tally from Tyler Gotto and a short-handed goal by Bryan Haczyke gives Niagara a 4-2 advantage at the break.

Third period: It was a wild west goal fest but Niagara held on for a 5-4 win earning a spot in the CHA title game against Huntsville at 8 p.m. Saturday.

-- Amy Moritz
www.twitter.com/amymoritz

Grand Island's Mark Zarbo is fighting for ice time with Rensselaer Polytechic Institute this season.

He had been a healthy scratch through the Engineers' first 11 hockey games until he finally got the call to play against Niagara on Wednesday night in an arena roughly 10 minutes away from his hometown.

Zarbo, who transfered to the Troy-based school from Bentley in Waltham, Mass. after the 2006-07 season, had no goals or assists in RPI's 4-1 loss to Niagara, but he wasn't on for any goals either. That's always a good thing when a player is trying to earn a regular lineup spot.

Zarbo, a 6-foot, 190-pounder, is the ultimate stay-at-home defenseman with three goals and 12 points in 67 career games … including two goals and five points for the Engineers.

"You can't let it get to you," said Zarbo, who played in 32 games with RPI last year. "You've just got to keep working. You just got to have fun. As long as you're having fun it never becomes a job or anything like that and eventually I'll get my chance.

"Obviously this was an opportunity I've been waiting for. It was awesome to be able to play in my (old) home rink. (Dwyer Arena) is actually the rink I grew up playing in so I was real excited for this game. ... It was fun, a lot of fun."

Other notes from Wednesday night's win in which Niagara experienced the thrill of victory for the first time in 11 starts:

-- A week ago freshmen Brent Vandenberg and Giancarlo Iuorio were among candidates auditioning in practice for ice time on NU's second power-play unit.

They had starring roles in the win as Niagara had three power-play goals on six chances after entering the game 4 for 37. They had the momentum-changing tallies late in the second period after RPI had tied the game at 1-1 earlier in the period and both goals were proof that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Vandenberg scored on the rebound after a pair of Iuorio shots were stopped, while Iuorio outmuscled a RPI defenseman 1:23 later to get his stick on a backdoor feed from Vandenberg for the not-so-easy looking tap-in goal.

-- In the search to find out when the last time Niagara junior goalie Adam Avramenko earned a win, The Buffalo News stumbled upon an inconsistency.

It appears Avramenko's last win before Wednesday came March 8, 2008 at Wayne State. That's according to archives at U.S. College Hockey Online (uscho.com), but the Niagara archives for that season credit Juliano Pagliero with that win in which both goalies played. The team's final stats for that season have Avramenko with five wins even though the archived box scores from the March 7, 2008 loss at Wayne had him with a 4-4 record. He had been 4-2 as of Jan. 11, 2008 win over Robert Morris.

So we're deducing that March 8, 2008 was the last time Avramenko earned a win before Wednesday's 19-save effort.

Regardless of how long he went in between wins, the Purple Eagles won't experience any success on the ice unless Avramenko plays with consistency. They have way too much talent up front and on defense to be 1-8-2 a week before Thanksgiving. That record speaks to a lack of consistent goaltending, which is why coach Dave Burkholder, a former goalie, has been tough on his junior netminder.

"I let him have it in the paper after one game. I let him have it in front of the team Saturday against Robert Morris. For him to respond like this ... he played great," Burkholder said. "Everything looked so easy for him (Wednesday night). ... This will help his confidence."

Burkholder has been known to be tough on goalies but also knows when to use a gentle approach to help their psyches.

"I skated by him quietly Monday … I didn't even tell (assistant coach) Greg (Gardner) this … and said, 'Hey buddy, look you're going Wednesday. Let's prepare well and have two good days.' I could just see in his face that it was like a relief I was coming back with him."

---Miguel Rodriguez

After decades of steady growth in the number of teams and student-athletes, colleges and universities are slashing millions of dollars from their sports budgets. Colleges have dismissed athletic staff, reduced hours for pools and practice courts, and increased equipment and facility fees. Some have also cut the size of their travel squads, eliminated trips requiring air travel and done away with housing teams in hotels the night before home games, while others are eliminated entire programs.

None of the schools in the Big 4 are talking about cutting programs, but the college sports landscape could widen between the haves with television and sponsorship deals, and the have-nots that rely mostly on alumni and their universities for financing.

---Rodney McKissic

College sports fans: You can cheer and rant as loud as you like, but don't use social websites like Facebook and MySpace to woo recruits to your beloved school. According to the NCAA, that's a violation and an attempt to influence the college choice of a recruit.

So watch your back, the NCAA is watching.

---Rodney McKissic

LEWISTON -- Bring out the cliches about big games and do-or-die time. The two-game set between Niagara and Bemidji State which begins tonight (7 p.m.) and Friday (7 p.m.) will likely determine the regular season champ in College Hockey America.

Bemidji is in first with 19 points and Niagara trails by two, although the Purple Eagles have two games at hand over the Beavers.

On the Bemidji State roster is defenseman Chris Peluso, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2004. The 5-for-10 junior has 11 points in 26 games for the Beavers this year.

--- Amy Moritz

It became official this week that Niagara men's hockey will move to Atlantic Hockey for the 2010-11 season. The move comes as Niagara's current conference, College Hockey America, dropped to just four teams with its automatic bid into the NCAA tournament surviving on a year-by-year NCAA approval basis.

For many, this signals that Niagara no longer takes hockey seriously since a move to Atlantic Hockey reduces the number of scholarships from 17 to 12. While taking away opportunities for student-athletes, it also could severely affect the ability of Niagara to be competitive on a national scale.

While the Purple Eagles have flirted with national rankings, they have become a nationally recongnizable program in college hockey circles and have secured at-large bids to the NCAA tourney.

The fear among many is that this move will wreck the national presence that the program has worked hard to build over the past decade of existence.

What does this mean for the future of Niagara hockey? Can they still remain nationally viable in a conference perceived as weak?

-- Amy Moritz 

Last season, the RIT-Canisius hockey series got a bit nasty, what with one game featuring 251 penalty minutes between the two teams -- ranking third in NCAA history.

While intense and physical, tonight's game at Buffalo State Ice Arena has been relatively clean with no major penalties and just a few incidents of minor "jawing after the whistle."

At least, so far.

After two periods, RIT leads, 4-1.

--- Amy Moritz

The NCAA released new graduation success rates Tuesday based on the incoming classes of 1998-2001, and UB didn't fares well when compared to other MAC football programs, graduating 61 percent of its players in the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate and 50 percent when measured by the federal rate --- the GSR doesn't penalize schools for transfers who leave in good academic standing.

Here's a story from the NCAA with more details. Here are the numbers for football graduations rates for the MAC based on incoming classes of 1998-2001. UB came into the league in 1999:

GSR
Miami 83
Ohio 81
Kent State 78
Bowling Green 75
Northern Illinois 73
Ball State 72
Central Michigan 70
Toledo 63
UB 61
Akron 61
Western Michigan 58
Eastern Michigan 52
Temple 49

Federal rates
Ohio 70
Kent State 69
Ball State 68
Miami 68
Central Michigan 64
Northern Illinois 63
Akron 61
Bowling Green 56
Toledo 52
Western Michigan 51
UB 50
Temple 47
Eastern Michigan 45

The federal rates are lower for every school as they count players who transfer as players who didn't graduate as opposed to the GSR, which rewards schools if those players were in good academic standing when they left. The national GSR rate for Division I-A schools is 67 percent, while the federal rate is 56 and UB is behind with both. The 1998-2001 period encompasses the end of the Craig Cirbus and the beginning of the Jim Hofher coaching eras.

---Here are the rates for the Big 4 schools and Syracuse in men's basketball with Niagara leading the way in both GSR and Federal:

GSR
Niagara 100
St. Bonaventure 80
UB 75
Canisius 69
Syracuse 50

Federal
Niagara 90
Canisius 52
St. Bonaventure 50
UB 44
Syracuse 42

---Rodney McKissic

The Niagara women's hockey team will be down an assistant coach as the Purple Eagles begin to prepare for the upcoming season, now only 17 days away.

Allison Coomey, who was one of the original players for the Niagara program and served as an assistant coach on Monteagle Ridge for four years, has taken a similar position with Boston University.

Coomey joins Katie Lachapelle, who also took an assistant coaching spot with BU. Lachapelle was an assistant coach at Niagara for three seasons, including Coomey's senior year when the Purple Eagles advanced to the Women's Frozen Four (2002).

Niagara opens the season at home against defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth on Friday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in Dwyer Arena.

--- Amy Moritz

Niagara hockey coach Dave Burkholder's run to the NCAA tournament this season earned him two more years at Monteagle Ridge.

Burkholder received a two-year extension to his contract. With two years remaining on his current deal, that puts him at the helm of the Purple Eagles for four more years.

Over his seven seasons as Niagara's head coach, Burkholder has a 128-107-22 overall record and a 76-46-17 mark in College Hockey America along with two trips to the NCAA tournament.

--- Amy Moritz