Category Archives: Carter Camper
>Camper An All-American
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Miami sophomore forward Carter Camper has been named to the 2008-2009 Reebok/ACHA Division I All-American squad. Selected as a member of the West Second Team, Camper scored 42 points this season for the RedHawks, with 20 goals and 22 assists.
The Rocky River, Ohio native now has 83 points thus far in his Miami career and is well on his way to joining the 100-point club, with two years of eligibility remaining.
>Late Night…er…Early Morning Update
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The 3 finalists for the CCHA individual awards have been announced and two RedHawks, Carter Camper and Kevin Roeder have been nominated. Camper was nominated for the CCHA Player of the Year Award, along with UAF goaltender Chad Johnson and Notre Dame goaltender Jordan Pearce. Some tough company there. Camper was also nominated for the Defensive Forward of the Year, joined by U of M’s Tim Miller, and Notre Dame’s Erik Condra.
Roeder was nominated for the Best Defensive Defernseman honor. Also in that group is U of M junior Chris Summers and Notre Dame junor Kyle Lawson.
The winners will be annoucned on Thursday, March 19th during the CCHA Awards Banquet at the Fox Theater in Detroit.
– Paula C. Weston is back with her predictions and insight into this weekend’s quarterfinal matchups. She predicts a RedHawk win…on Sunday:
Last weekend, the Wildcats decimated the Michigan State Spartans to advance to the second round of the CCHA playoffs, beating MSU by a collective score of 13-5. The series gave several players a chance to shine, especially senior Nick Sirota and sophomores Mark Olver and Gregor Hanson, each of whom netted two goals in the weekend. They face a team that is 21-31 all-time in CCHA playoff action and 4-2 in the past three seasons in the first round in which they’ve played. The Wildcats took three points from Miami in Steve Cady Arena just three weeks ago, beating the RedHawks 2-1 Feb. 20 before tying 1-1 the next night (when Miami earned the shootout “win” point). In those two games, NMU’s Brian Stewart made 89 saves, allowed two goals, and earned a .978 save percentage for the weekend. Miami is 6-4-1 against Northern dating back to 2005-06, including a 5-2 CCHA semifinal win March 17, 2006. NMU 3-2, Miami 4-2, Miami 4-2
This weekend’s games will be televised on ONN, with Dave Allen and Kevin Ackley handling the broadcast duties. This is your last and final chance to see your Miami seniors take the ice at Cady Arena.
Go RedHawks!
>More Awards, News, and Other Ramblings…
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Sophomore forward Carter Camper has been named to the CCHA-All Conference squad. Camper, on the first team, is the only Miami representative to be named. Others receiving votes from Miami were Pat Cannone, Justin Mercier, Kevin Roeder, and Chris Wideman. In his second season with the RedHawks, Camper has 19 goals and 19 assists, for a career total of 79 points and is most assuredly on his way to the 100-point club, with two years of eligibility remaining.
– The latest edition of Inside the CCHA features this a preview of this weekend’s quarterfinal matchups. Among their guests this week…none other than former RedHawk captain and current Nashville Predator, Ryan Jones! Click Here to Listen.
-Here are some game notes with stats and previews for this weekend’s series against Northern Michigan. MURedHawks.com will also feature a live game day blog, beginning on Friday.
“CHECKING” NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Northern Michigan comes into the second round of the tournament fresh off a weekend sweep of Michigan State (5-3, 8-2). The Wildcats are unbeaten in their last six games and since the calendar turned to 2009 Northern Michigan holds one of the best records in the nation at 13-3-2. No team in the CCHA has won more games in the New Year and only No. 1 ranked Boston University has more wins nationally (16). Northern Michigan has also played one of the toughest ’09 schedules as they have had six road games against ranked opponents. The Wildcats are led by a trio of young scores in Gregor Hanson, Mark Olver and Erik Gustafsson. All three have 30 points or more and hold a +14 or better (on the season). Of the three only Olver was able to record a point on the Wildcats last trip to Oxford.
The Wildcats earned a win and a tie (shootout loss) on its trip to Steve Cady Arena on Feb. 20-21. The RedHawks outshot the Wildcats 91-27 on the weekend including holding Northern Michigan to seven shots on goal on Feb. 21. It was the first time in school history Miami held an opponent under 10 shots in a game. Miami holds a record of 14-29-3 in the all-time series with the RedHawks leading 9-8-2 in games played in Oxford.
THE REDHAWK RUNDOWN
– Carter Camper picked up an assist in the Feb. 27 game against Ohio State and ended his second regular season with the RedHawks having never been held pointless in a CCHA series in which he has played in both games. Camper has kept the streak going with goals in seven of his last eight CCHA series.
– Miami holds an all-time record of 21-31 in the CCHA tournament and a 16-8 record in Oxford. Miami has won six of its last 10 CCHA tournament games and been in the CCHA title game in two of the past three seasons.
– The RedHawks lead the nation in the penalty kill with a 91.1-percent (185/203) success rate. No other team in nation is better than 90 percent.
– Connor Knap and Chris Wideman were both named to the CCHA all-rookie team this week becoming the first pair of RedHawks named to the first team since Matt Christie and Marty Guerin in 2003-04.
– Miami has not lost a CCHA second-round home series since being swept by Lake Superior State University in 2007. The sweep by the Lakers is also the last time Miami has been swept in a home series.
– Justin Mercier became the first player in Miami history with 100 wins and 100 points when he scored an empty-net goal against Ohio State on Feb. 28. It was the second time the senior had found the net in the game and the first multi-goal game of the season for the Erie, Pa. native.
– Brian Kaufman has scored three goals in his last two games including his first multi-goal game of the season against Ohio State Feb. 28.
– Bill Loupee comes into the CCHA playoff having played 99 career games for the Red and White.
REDHAWK SPECIAL TEAMS
The RedHawk special teams units are currently rated the best in the CCHA. Miami leads the conference and the nation on the penalty kill with a unit that is successful on 91.1 percent (185/203) of power plays by opposing teams. The RedHawks also have a solid power-play unit that is currently ranked second in the CCHA with a 19.5-percent (41/210) success rate. Miami has two of the top three power-play point-scorers in the CCHA this season in Carter Camper and Pat Cannone. Camper is tied for first in the conference with 22 points (11-11-22) with the man advantage and Cannone is tied for second with 21 (5-16-21). This season, Miami is 12-6-4 when it scores on the power play, 9-6-2 when it is perfect on the penalty kill and 7-3-2 when it does both in the same game.
IN THE RANKINGS
Miami is currently ranked eighth in the USCHO and CBS College Sports Division I men’s hockey poll. The RedHawks have moved up and down in the Top 10 this season but have been ranked within the nation’s Top 10 for 46 consecutive weeks. During this run, the RedHawks have been ranked as the nation’s No. 1 team for ten weeks. Miami has also been ranked in the Top 10 for 81 of the last 89 weeks and has been ranked No. 1 11 times. This season, Miami has played 10 games against ranked opponents and holds an overall record of 6-3-1, boasting two shutouts (Notre Dame – Oct. 24, Michigan – Nov. 21), both by freshman Cody Reichard.
– Staying with the Quest for the Mason Cup, INCH has published their version of the CCHA Tournament preview. Here’s their take on the “Keys to the Game”:
Season Series: Northern Michigan leads 1-0-1, Miami won the shootout
Wildcats Fact: Northern Michigan has as much success as anyone at Steve Cady Arena this year, taking three points on the weekend while goaltender Brian Stewart made 89 saves in the two games.
Redhawks Fact: With this weekend’s games, Miami has hosted a home playoff series in each of the three seasons the new rink has been open – the RedHawks are 1-1 in the two previous series, losing to Lake Superior two years ago and knocking off Bowling Green last year.
How NMU Wins: The Wildcats need to ride all of the momentum that they’ve built throughout the second half, spreading the puck around evenly as five players enter the weekend with four-game point streaks.
How Miami Wins: The RedHawks are fortunate to have some experienced and hungry players looking for an elusive first CCHA playoff championship for the program. They will, however, go only as far as Connor Knapp and Cody Reichard take them.
– MURedHawks.com has posted this morning’s online chat with seniors Kevin Roeder and Brian Kaufman here. I’m sure the boys liked the questions received from a few “fans,” namely Ryan in Nashville and Jeff in Ontario!
– Finally today, news that the Bowling Green hockey program may be in jeopardy due to the school’s 10 million budget shortfall. You can read the article, courtesy of College Hockey News, at this link.
>Zatkoff News, PWR, Camper & More
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– Carter Camper has been named the RBC Player of the Month for December. The sophomore led the RedHawks to a 4-0-0 record in December and tallied four goals, and six assists, finishing with a +7 rating.
– Hockey’s Future has published the AHL prospects update for the Los Angeles Kings organization and both Alec Martinez and Jeff Zatkoff are included.
Here’s what HF has to say about Martinez:
Martinez is the more mobile defenseman of the group, but has been slow to adjust to the AHL. One of the better offensive-minded defensemen in college hockey last season, Martinez needs work on aspects of his offensive game to retain his reputation. If he can begin to find the back of the net with a little more regularity, the Monarchs might be set offensively from their blueline with the combination of Martinez and Voynov.
And Zatkoff:
Accompanying the promotion of Quick to Los Angeles was the promotion of Jeff Zatkoff to Manchester from Ontario of the ECHL. Zatkoff was enjoying an all-star season for Ontario as a rookie goaltender, placing third in the league in save percentage. Now acting as the backup netminder for the Monarchs, he is still at least a year away from earning a consistent opportunity in the AHL as it would be difficult to imagine that the Kings would sit Bernier for any extended period of time absent a complete collapse in his game.
– Speaking of Zats, he earned his first AHL victory on Wednesday night, with a 3-2 win over the Providence Bruins. Zatkoff made 29 saves for the Monarchs, who improved to 17-16-0-5 with the win.
– And finally, the always popular PairWise Rankings and Ratings Percentage Index have been released over at US College Hockey Online. The Redhawks are currently 7th, with a PWR of 18 and and an RPI of .5574, good enough for a 10th place ranking. I’ll explain PWR and RPI more in-depth as we get closer to the NCAA tournament selection in March.
>Zatkoff Gets the Call & More
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– The Manchester Monarchs have announced that they have called up goaltender Jeff Zatkoff from Ontario of the ECHL. This is due to Jonathan Quick’s call up to Los Angeles, under emergency conditions.
– The RedHawks has moved up to number two in the latest USCHO Division I poll. Other CCHA notables are Michigan (12), Nebraska-Omaha (16) and Alaska (18).
– Still no official word tonight on Nino Musitelli’s reported shoulder injury. He hasn’t been placed on the IR as of yet.
– The New Jersey Devils have taken defenseman Andy Greene off of the injured reserve list, after recovering from a broken hand. Greene may return tonight, against Toronto, or tomorrow night, when the Devils take on the Sabres.
– After a six point weekend against RPI, sophomore forward Carter Camper has been named as one of the CCHA Players’ of the Week.
>What a First Half!
>Wow…what a conclusion to the first half to the season, with a 7-1 win over RPI today. I think the question of “is this a rebuilding year or a reloading year” has most certainly been answered, given our play thus far. I for one would have never thought we’d be one point out of first place in the CCHA, with a 12-3-3 record and four consecutive weekend sweeps going into the New Year. What a nice surprise that is!
So now, without further ado, here are my first half awards, complete with cheesy names:
Gary DeLonge Most Valuable Player Award: Carter Camper, SO, 11 goals, 15 assists
Top Newcomer Award: Chris Wideman, D, 0 goals, 15 assists, +8 rating
Bobby Marshall Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Roeder, 1 goal, 1 assist, + 6 rating
SDS Pizza Most Improved Player: Gary Steffes, JR, 6 goals, 5 assists, + 13 rating
Rich Shulmistra Goaltender of the Year Award: Connor Knapp, FR, 7-1-1, 1.77 GAA
So, there you have it. Our ‘Hawks are off until 2009, where they’ll meet the Clarkson Golden Knights, along with Army or Ohio State at the Ohio Hockey Classic, in Columbus. In the new year, the RedHawks get right back into it with a weekend series at Michigan, followed by a Michigan State homestand and then a trip out west to Omaha to take on the Mavericks. Another thing to keep in mind: The end of season home and home with Ohio State may indeed have meaning this year, as the Buckeyes, led by the stellar play of Dustin Carlson, are lurking in 6th place in the CCHA with a record of 11-6-1. I certainly didn’t see John Markell getting 11 wins out of that team the entire season. It’s sure to be a great matchup, come late February.
The CCHA standings have also been updated on the top left corner of this page. As you’re aware, there are some major surprises this season in the league. Here are my top three:
1. Michigan State (4-11-3)
– The Spartans were picked to be near the top of the CCHA, led by veteran goaltender and team captain, Jeff Lerg. This young MSU squad is 0-9-1 in their last 10 games. Next up for the Spartans, the Great Lakes Invitational on December 26.
2. Northern Michigan (3-10-3)
– The Wildcats have also been struggling as of late, going just 1-7-2 in their last 10 (not counting an exhibition win over the USNDTP this weekend). Projected fourth in the preseason coaches’ poll, Walt Kyle’s ‘Cats have quickly fallen out of CCHA title contention and will most assuredly go on the road for the first round of the playoffs.
3. Ohio State (11-6-1)
– One of the hottest teams in the country now…imagine that, the Buckeyes! OSU has strung together a 9-1 record in their last 10 with a solid weekend sweep in November over a very good Nebraska-Omaha squad. In the new year, conference play for the ‘Bucks has tight matchups at Bowling Green, at Ferris State, home with Western Michigan, and a long trip to Alaska. OSU is certainly a team to watch and very well could make it’s way into a top 4 finish.
Who would you hand out awards to, based on first-half play?
>RedHawks Honored and Carter Camper…for Hobey?
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– After a sweep of Notre Dame this weekend, our RedHawks are getting some well deserved praise. College Hockey News has picked Miami as the Team of the Week.
Though it’s still early, Miami has proven a lot already — getting a close loss and tie at hostile Vermont, then going into Notre Dame this past weekend and sweeping. It was a complete weekend, with key scoring; strong defensive play from the vets, newcomers and forwards; and solid goaltending from the young goaltenders. As a result, Miami is the CHN Team of the Week.
The article also offers a nice perspective from Andy Miele. I encourage you to read the rest of it, at this link.
–Carter Camper is also drawing some attention, especially from USCHO columnist Elliot Olshansky, who mentions Camper’s name with…the Hobey Baker Award? Take a look:
Carter Camper was a big hit last season with the likes of Dave Starman, Matt McConnell and Adam Zucker from CBS College Sports, who took turns touting the Rocky River, Ohio native on their Hobey Watch ballots. Of course, broadcasters have more than one reason to like Camper, as “Carter Camper” does tend to roll off the tongue a fair bit easier than, say, “Matti Kaaltiainen,” but when a guy is coming off a 41-point freshman season in which he was also a +21 for his team, you have to imagine a shot at the Hobey isn’t out of the question. Meanwhile, fellow RedHawk center Pat Cannone turned heads with a six-point effort against Ohio State in the second game of the season – the first such game at Miami in 21 years – and when a player can put up six points in one night, it’s certainly worth taking a look.
To read the rest of Olshansky’s column, as well as the rest of the article about Carter Camper (what I posted is only a short excerpt), click here.
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