St. Michael's Day 2015

On Sept. 29th, I always talk about the University programs that honor the namesake. In the past, I've kept up on a couple of programs, but since the Majors have dissolved into the Steelheads, here's the continuation of the tradition. St. Michael's University Purple Knights of Colchester, Vermont.

The Men's team have new third jerseys, they're that mustard gold color that has been controversial with another NHL team. And they've taken the Purple Knight's logo off of the jersey and just had a purple stripe across the chest. The player number on the front is smaller and less visible - almost the direct opposite of the purpose. While it's not the worst jersey in the world, it's the one with the least amount of imagination.

First off, the Men's team has taken some serious strides within their conference. They're now accomplishing things in the NE-10 post season by reaching the championship game back in February. And to top it all off it was hosted in Cairns Arena! They unfortunately came up short again, falling to St. Anselm, but hopefully the program can take this as a success and build around it for this upcoming season. It could hopefully also take hold with any new recruits out of high school.

The Men's Purple Knights finished the year at 9-16-2. AJ Pieprzak was named Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year and also gained the respect of his hometown Barrie, ONT fans. Their goal production is 74g and 122a for 196pts.

As for the Women, they've been on a decline since the rest of the season. They lost to #1 Franklin Pierce in the ECAC Open Tournament, that they hosted! They were even routed on senior day to those rival St. Anselm girls. Their goal production is unfortunately inadequate with their last season totals 38g and 59a for 97 team points. 26 GP (5-20-1 .212). But when their opponents for the season score 188 team points for the season, it casts a harsh warning light as to where they need to improve for next season.

Some of the significant accomplishments this calendar year since the last Sept. post was how much the school can impress with their academic achievements. The Men's team have a press release on their website stating that they've accomplished a school record of 11 players earning all-academic EACA East honors, while 5 of them have gotten on that list multiple times.

The St. Michael's Men's team begins their 2015-16 season at University of New England on Nov. 16th while the Women's Lady Purple Knights start their season at home against SUNY Potsdam on October 30th.

St. Michael's Day 2014

St. Michael's College in Colchester, VT

We no longer have St Michael's Majors to cheer for since their move to Mississauga and renamed the Steelheads. So, we begin again another year in the annual tradition of updating hockey fans of the St. Michael's College on this particular day. In future years, I would like to update this annual tradition and include other schools or other teams honoring St. Michael, but for now, I have only the Men's and Women's respective organizations to introduce to my readers.

St. Michael's College is a catholic liberal arts university in Vermont. According to their website, 25% of the student body are active varsity athletes while another 40% are in recreational programs. But, appropriate that according to 2,000 enrolled students according to their facebook page, that must mean it's a campus full of jocks. The sports team mascot is a Purple Knight (as seen in the upper left). They play their home games in Cairns Arena in Burlington, TV.

I've critiqued their jerseys before, and I'm still waiting to see if I could ever add one to my hockey sweater collection.

Men's Program

Courtesy: Saint Michael's College

The men's program is coming off of a great season last year by comparative standards. They found themselves competing for the New England 10 championship against University of New Hampshire, but fell short to lose 4-1. They "shocked the world" defeating the number 1 overall seeded team Stonehill to get there. That is something to be proud of considering they went 7-17-3 overall in the season. From the news website they went down to the wire only being down by a goal (2-1) with under a minute to play.

They are going to have to do something about their defense. Overall, they've been outscored on by their opponents with a 74-105 margin.

But as determined as they are on the ice to win, they have been developing great students as well off the ice. Back in March, they announced that 7 players achieved All-academic honors in the ECAC.

Their first game of the 2014-15 season is a rematch of last year's season finale to be played on on All Saint's Day Nov. 1st against Southern New Hampshire at home. Good luck, guys!

Women's Program

The women's team is struggling these past couple of years. Their final record last year was 3-19-4. Disappointing doesn't begin to describe that.One of the telling reasons is that they went
34-86 in goals for and goals against respectively. That's almost 40% more being scored on than scoring goals themselves and the biggest loss was 0-9 at Norwich on November 8th 2013.

When they aren't doing well on the ice, at least they are doing well in the classroom. St. Michael's College lead the ECAC East in All-Academic with 12 players. Which makes it 2 years in a row.

Courtesy: Saint Michael's College

But one of the better signs of a developing hockey program is not only the academic achievements, but also how well regarded the alumni are of it. Back in April, the Lady Purple Knights held a reunion game with 20 players returning to play. I think that takes a real commitment to the 6 seniors who also played in the game.

Their first game of the new season starts on "All Hallows Eve" October 31st 2014 at home against the University of New England. Good luck, ladies.

St. Michael's Holiday 2012

http://www.mississauga.com/sports/article/1361600--move-over-majors-here-come-the-steelheadsThis year, 2012 starts a whole new set of updated changes for the September 29th blog post. It started as an inspired post to continue the special Catholic day honoring the legend of my own namesake. So, every year on this day, I spend some time to reflect on how to become a better person. But that's enough about me.

There are two university schools in North America that share the Archangel Michael's name that have a rich tradition of intercollegiate hockey programs. One in Toronto and another in Vermont. Only one problem. When I started this yearly blog custom, The Toronto St. Michael's Majors of the OHL morphed their identity along with their new owners.

One half of this blog's team recap capsule has now come to and end with the sad report that the St. Michael's Majors hockey program as it existed last year in the OHL is no longer. Earlier in the year, I missed the story that the Majors program had again been sold to Landmark Sport Group and were to be renamed. However, the naming rights went back to St. Michael College School in Toronto. I don't know if they will choose to rebuild a new program in a new athletic conference. But moving forward, I will certainly honor the team's long tradition of developing many players for the professional ranks.

COHF would like to wish the new Mississauga OHL team good luck going ahead into this season.

SMC Logo

St. Michael's College program is a Div-II team in the Northeast-10 conference. They have both men's and women's teams. They don't win very often, but they continue to be awesome representatives of the university.

The men's team is looking to fill the continuity gap with the resignation of last year's head coach. Alumni Chris Davidson had hung on to the program for 5 years as head coach while placing 16 total years with the hockey program. That news came in July and it took a month to find Damian DiGiulian in August as a suitable replacement.
It seems like every year that I use the cliche of "nowhere to go but up". The men's Purple Knights team will have to do better than the 6-18-2 of last year's record. While examining their season last year, they did string a few wins together at the end of January of 2012. However, the last few games they lost by a large goals against margin.

The women's team last year didn't have much of anything to be proud of either. A 3-22-1 record is what happens when the team gives up 113 goals (4.34 GAA) all season long. Amazingly, that is the same number of goals against that the men tallied. But as long as they keep up their GPA's, then perhaps their futures after graduation will be be a lot better. Perhaps what they need is an infusion of Div I instruction as the Lady Purple Knights have hired former University of Vermont captain Chelsea Rapin as assistant coach.

Good luck this season, St. Michael's College. I will be praying for you.

St. Michael's Holiday 2011

It's the one very special spiritual day of the year when I take some personal time to reflect and honor the moniker that has been passed down from my forefathers. So, every year on this COHF blog, I dedicate a little something special to highlight a couple of developmental organizations. I hope these young players represent the kind of sportsmanship and class that the team name invokes.

First up is the Catholic Liberal Arts university near Burlington, Vermont named Saint Michael's College. It's got a Men's and Women's hockey team currently situated in the Northeast-10 Conference. You can follow them on their athletic dept. twitter and the athletic dept. facebook page.

The Men's Purple Knight's team finished last season with an overall record of 11-15-1 and showing some signs of improvement.The real notable part of last season was their efforts to "Think Pink" for cancer awareness last February 4th. In a double header event, the mens and womens teams played host at the Cairns Arena while fans were encourage to attend the "pink zone". But looking ahead to this season, they are also hosting a Holiday Classic event during the last days in December. Even though the program struggles, they did post a great 5-0 record in conference match-ups.

The womens team finished a little low as well at 6-19-2, but still managed to put together an impressive season that showed more victories than the one before that. Some of the stand-out headlines from last season has then-junior forward Madelena Santore score a hat trick in the last game of the season. Congratulations to her. They also will host a Holiday Classic tournament the last few days of 2011.

The next team that is kept in mind today is the OHL's Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. Formerly of the St. Michael's College in Toronto. They are a major junior level team owned by Eugene Melnyk and play in the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

They are coming off a successful Memorial Cup host year having hosted and participated in the yearly tournament. They came up short, losing to the Q's St. John's SeaDogs in the final game, but the experience of the event earned them national recognition. Many of the team's players are back and

The St. Michael's Majors also got to wear a new classic styled jersey uniform at the Memorial Cup last season. Fans of the team are sure to track them down to pay big bucks for the game used ones. But for the 2011-12 season, they've designed a new sweater for the third jersey. I like them both, but it's obvious which pro team they want to look exactly like.

They also to honor a few more legendary players by retiring numbers of Dick Duff (12), Ted Lindsay (5), and Red Kelly (3) at the Memorial Cup Weekend back in May of 2011. I'm hoping that since there have been a number of legendary players to come out of the school, they will hang a few more alums in the Hershey Centre rafters.

The Majors will be facing their OHL rival IceDogs on Sept. 29th in the Jack Gatecliff Arena.

St. Mike's Day of 2010

Each year when this date rolls around, I try to spend a little time blogging about two certain schools with not only important hockey programs, but bearing the special name in dedication to my patron saint.

Mississauga St. Michael's Majors are beaming with excitement that the upcoming CHL Memorial Cup will be held inside the Hershey Arena in Mississauga. That means the Majors get an automatic berth into the Memorial tournament as the host city. But they also have had a lot more to be excited about from last season. They were able to get all the way to the conference finals in the OHL playoffs dispatching teams Peterborough Petes (4-0) and Ottawa 67's (4-3) before running out of gas against the Barrie Colts (1-4). Things are certainly turning around for the franchise as they continue to develop young talent for the professional ranks. Their home opener begins Oct. 7th against the defending CHL champions Windsor Spitfires at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

The University of St. Michael's in Vermont has both a mens and womens team playing in the NE-10 conference along many of the New England schools. Their season doesn't start until later on in the fall, but recently they have announced the hiring of assistant coaches for the men's and women's teams. I hope that they can find a way to turn the corner on the program while lingering down at the bottom of the league. The men's and women's teams went (7-17-3) and (3-20-2) respectively during the 2009-2010 hockey season. You can check out the Men's and Women's team pages on the links provided.

St. Mike's Day of 2009

Each year when this date rolls around, I try to spend a little time blogging about two certain schools with not only important hockey programs, but bearing the special name in dedication to my patron saint.

The St. Michael's Majors of the OHL have already begun their 2009-10 season. Their last victory was on the 26th against Sarnia 9-2. St. Mike's is looking to build this season on the successful season they had last year taking the OHL quarterfinals before losing in the semis. I was able to see these players in Erie last season and I strongly encourage other fans to take in a game this year. But if you can't make it, check out the official merchandise page.

St. Michael's College in Vermont is another school where both men and women pursue both academic and athletic success. Earlier this month, the Purple Knights Men's Ice hockey team announced that one of their alumni had just signed a professional player contract in the SPHL. I am glad that they are able to develop players that reach beyond the Division II level. The men's team is looking once again to equal their last efforts of back-to-back Northeast-10 Conference Tournament titles.

The Women's Ice hockey team succeeds in building great students with the academic credentials to lead others to do the same. Recently, one of their assistant coaches moved on to RPI and are now looking for an assistant coach for this upcoming season. Do you know anybody that could join them?