Albertus Magnus travels in style

Anyone who’s made the harrowing drive from New Haven to New York’s North Country knows it’s a timeconsuming affair, especially given the unpredictable January weather in the Adirondack Mountains.

So when a wealthy donor offered to fly the entire Albertus Magnus hockey team to their game at SUNY Canton, coach Kyle Wallack seized the opportunity. It wasn’t a difficult sell. The school, after ensuring proper steps were taken to make the journey NCAA compliant, would save roughly $4,000 in bus and hotel fees.

And so last Friday morning the Falcons boarded two private jets at Tweed New Haven airport — a 13-seater and a 12-seater — turning a dismal six-hour bus ride into a 47-minute luxury excursion.

An 11 a.m. departure arrived in Ogdensburg just before noon. There was a 20-minute drive to Canton and a pre-game lunch in town. After the 4 p.m. game they packed up their gear, returned to the airport and were back in New Haven at 8.

“It was an NHL-level experience for our studentathletes,” Wallack said. “Who knows if they’ll ever be able to do something like that again? I told the boys in not so many words if you can’t get ready to play this game today, get out of my locker room.”

The Falcons were up to the task, skating away with a 4-1 victory over a team that had embarrassed them 9-0 a month earlier. Canton was ranked sixth in the power rankings before the game; the loss may have cost it a shot at the NCAA tournament.

Wallack, a longtime Division I assistant charged with creating the start-up at Albertus, knows the spoils of big-time college hockey rarely make their way to Division III. Media coverage is sparse, crowds are almost always thin and promoters aren’t lining up to pitch games at Madison Square Garden.

Even recruiting can be depressing, with fringe players exhausting every Division I avenue before accepting their ultimate fate at the non-scholarship level. So while a private jet might be a stroke of luck, it’s a perfect gift to a group of kids fighting to establish a foothold as a first-year program.

“It’s what we needed to do to give the kids a great experience,” Wallack said. “We want them to enjoy it, but also to respect what was done for them that day.

I’m not sure it’s ever been done before at the Division III level. And we went home with a win so it makes it all the more worthwhile.”

CT ICE SUCCESS

The inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival, by most accounts, was a success. Promotion and production value of the SNY broadcast, with its pre-game, halftime and postgame shows, was outstanding.

Ticket sales and atmosphere were better than anticipated. The crowd was announced at 5,724 on Saturday (capacity at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena: 8,412) and 4,631 on Sunday.

Sacred Heart, playing in its home arena, had the best turnout and turned the event into its coming out party. Not only did it prove itself as the best team in the state this season, and perhaps its only NCAA tournament representative, but as one on the rise with a new on-campus rink in the works.

Knocking off Quinnipiac and Yale, convincingly on successive nights, is no small task for any opponent. The Pioneers are big, fast and smart; a legitimate NCAA tournament candidate capable of beating anyone on a given night. They could pose problems even as the 16th overall seed.

BRACKETOLOGY

Here’s a look at how the NCAA field of 16 would look if the season ended today. Quinnipiac’s loss to Sacred Heart knocked it from 15th in the PairWise Rankings to 19th, and the Bobcats have little margin for error over the next month to secure an at-large bid.

The Pioneers were also knocked out of the top spot in Atlantic Hockey, as American International moved into a first-place tie and holds a game in hand.

Allentown (Pa.) Regional: 1. North Dakota vs. 16. AIC; 6. Penn State (host school) vs. 11. Arizona State.

Loveland (Colo.) Regional: 4. Denver (host school) vs. 13. Northeastern; 5. Boston College vs. 12 Minnesota-Duluth.

Albany Regional: 2. Cornell vs. 15. Northern Michigan; 8. Clarkson vs. 9. Providence.

Worcester Regional: 3. Minnesota State vs. 14. New Hampshire; 7. UMass vs. 10. Ohio State.