By Jim Davis on March 10, 2010

Brendan Desjardins, who is backstopping the Arkansas Razorbacks at this week’s D3 National Tournament, is the antithesis of Clemson’s Dave Werner, Catholic’s Kevin Pecca, Kennesaw State ’s Jerry Holden and the other Top Guns of the South. While they try to bury the puck in the net, Desjardins does everything in his power to keep it out.

He’s doing a very good job of it, too. During the regular season he was No. 1 in goals against average (2.33) among D3 goalies with at least 1,000 minutes of playing time and fifth in wins (14, many of them against D2 teams). And he has five shutouts this season.

Even in the Razorback’s 7-1 loss to Colorado today Desjardins played well. Two of the goals against came on power plays and two caromed off players into the net. “Our goaltender stood on his head,” said Arkansas coach Rick Desjardins, who also is Brendan’s dad. “We had 20 shots on us in the first period and only trailed 1-0.”

Brendan’s strong play this season came after a shaky start for the Arkansas junior, who is on the Dean’s List. It had been two years since he last played organized hockey, with a junior team in Dallas.

“He was a bit rusty,” says Rick, a goaltender himself in the past. “Four of our five losses were in December or earlier. If he played then the way he did later, we would’ve probably won those games . . . The goals he gave up in our last four games [prior to nationals] were all good goals, and three of the four were on the power play.”

An aggressive goaltender who challenges shooters, Brendan is also a classic butterfly netminder. At 6-1 he gives the shooter very little net to shoot at. “He has excellent fundamentals,” says Rick, referring to Brendan’s ability to square up to the shooter, cut down angles and control rebounds.

“A lot of goalies are good athletes, or do one thing or another well. He is a balanced goalie; no weaknesses. He’s very difficult to score against on penalty shots or breakaways.”

Rick says Brendan works with a handful of young goalies in the Dallas area and is an instructor at hockey schools and camps, which helps him identify areas in his own game to work on.

On Dec. 12, Brendan proved he was all the way back from his hiatus from the rink when the Razorbacks faced Missouri State ’s top D2 team on the road. Arkansas won 4-3 and Brendan stopped 44 of 47 shots. “There were 1,500 people in the stands and he was the best player on the ice,” says dad.

“It’s nice to be going into nationals now. He’s on top of his game, and that’s good for our team.”

Read more at HockeyYall.com.

By Jim Davis on March 10, 2010

The Arkansas Razorbacks are expecting a significantly greater effort and performance from themselves tomorrow than they managed today in falling behind 5-0 after two periods on their way to a 7-1 loss to Colorado at the D3 National Tournament in Estero, Fla.

Arkansas, the No. 3 seed in Pool C, will face No. 1 seed Hope College of Michigan at 11 a.m. Colorado, the No. 2 seed, will meet No. 4 seed Fredonia State at 8:30 a.m.

“We have 15 freshmen on this team and they were deer in the headlights for two periods,” said Arkansas coach Rick Desjardins afterwards. “You can’t take anything away from Colorado, but we played teams as good as them [during the regular season and in the D3 South Regional Tournament and the SECHC Playoffs]. If we had played our game it would have been a one-goal game.”

It was for 20 minutes. The Buffaloes fired 20 shots at Arkansas’ netminder, Brendan Desjardins, in the first period and scored once. The Razorbacks thought they had the equalizer late in the period, but the goal was waived off as a kicked-in goal.

“In the second period we came out with two really good shifts before they got a shot on net, but then they scored a flukey one,” said Desjardins.

Down 5-0 late in the third period, the Razorbacks pressed to spoil a Colorado shutout and take something positive into tomorrow’s game with Hope. They succeeded with just 11 seconds to go. “That’s what we remember. The last 11 seconds is what we’re going to focus on,” said Desjardins.

The coach singled out leading scorer Brad McMahon for being the lone Razorback who played with the speed and intensity of the Buffaloes and praised his fourth line – B.J. Kellagher, Jacob Larison and Austin Morehead — for playing its best game of the season. “Now the other three lines have to step up tomorrow,” said Desjardins.

“The boys have watched some of the other games and seen that there are 16 good teams here. Whoever shows up will do well.”

Read more at HockeyYall.com.

Go to woopig.net’s message board, and check it out. I’ll wait here. If you are perusing the site anywhere near the time of this writing, hockey threads and posts are all over “Razorback Discussion”. And that makes me happy. Woopig has raised money for the team, money it badly needs, as the athletes are footing the bill for everything. Also, the multiple threads have helped bring attention to the club program, and their quest for a national championship. All the way around, the focus on the Ice Hogs at woopig has been a positive. For woopig. And that hockey team. And Razorback fans in general. But the story isn’t always told on one level – in fact, in the real world, it rarely is.

What I’m about to say is presented as a hypothetical, because I don’t want to open any cans of worms. It is purely for demonstration purposes, so please don’t allow your mind to wander too far away.

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume the most dire warnings related to man-made global warming are true. You don’t have to really believe it, but let’s stipulate it just for a practice in hypotheticals. I’m the kind of guy, I hate any temperature below 75 degrees or so. Hate it. I prefer the climate of Kuwait to the climate of Colorado. So, I am ecstatic at this time of the year, when temps start going back up. The first day the temperature crosses 80 is a holy day of the year for me. I’ve been told the Earth has warmed by 1.7 degrees or so in the last few years. Me? I’m down with an extra 1.7. Hell, make it 6.7. I would love it if every day was just a little bit warmer. The problem is, if you’re stipulating that the worst-case scenarios are true, there is a bigger concern than my own comfort. While I am very happy for the days that are a little bit warmer, the bigger picture is that those good days are warnings of catastrophes to come. The story isn’t always told on one level.

Go back and look at the message board again. Notice that people aren’t nearly as enthusiastic to talk about basketball as they are hockey. What conversation DOES center around basketball seems to fall mostly into one of two camps – the “Fire Pel Now” camp, and the “I just don’t care anymore” camp. There is a rising sea of discontent, and it threatens to drown a once-proud program – not waterlog it, or drench it, but drown it. As in “dead”. When club hockey becomes the emotional outlet for Razorback fans in the last days before the SEC basketball tourney, no matter how good that may be for those young men on skates, it is a dangerous warning sign for what was once the pride of the Natural State.

A few days ago, the basketball team played a game against Ole Miss. At stake was a .500 record in conference, a first-round bye in the aforementioned tournament for a weary team, and, perhaps, the long-term fate of the head coach. And no one really seemed to care – at least not until AFTER the team had collapsed in the last few moments, a perfect metaphor for the last 2 years of Razorback basketball. The concern is just not there. Actually, I don’t think that’s entirely true. The deluge of letters following the loss to Ole Miss shows that the people DO still care. Perhaps it is only hope that is no longer there. Perhaps it is easier to follow a team without the expectations. A team without the history, and the prestige, and the resources. After a decade that has left the fan truly convinced that the powers-that-be no longer care about matching the expectations to the history, prestige, and resources, who can blame him for no longer holding on to the hope that excellence will some day return? Maybe it’s easier at this point to just cheer for the kids who are playing for the love of the game.

I’m not a “little Ol Arkansas” guy. I don’t believe that this state is so small, poor, rural, and/or geographically remote that it cannot put forth contenders in the major sports. I do believe that these goals are impossible if the state is not together. There are those who would tell you that the examples of the message-boards don’t really tell us all that much – that message boarders aren’t the best representation of the average fan. And I agree with the sentiment somewhat, though not for the boilerplate reasoning behind it. Message boards are a pretty accurate cross-section of the society they draw from, in my experience. I have met several fellow message boarders, and the range of occupations, personalities, politics, etc. has been every bit as diverse as anything you will find at Razorback Stadium on a Saturday in the Fall. I count among my message board “friends” a principal, several attorneys, several vets and current military members, salesmen, tech guys, Arkansas media members, Razorback lettermen from various sports (including the 3 big ones: baseball, basketball and football), hell, even mayors and ghost hunters. Where message board posters diverge is in their dedication to the program. This may rankle some, but the most diehard fans this University has are people like the ones you see posting on woopig. And they don’t care about basketball anymore. They would rather watch hockey, a game many of them freely admit they know little to nothing about. If we’ve lost them, where do we think the casual fan is by this point?

The song of the canary is a beautiful thing. The focus on and support for the hockey team has been a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, Razorback basketball has been poisoned with discontent and apathy, and I’m afraid Mr. Long is mistaking the last desperate cries of the canary for attention with that of a creature expressing its passion for life. I wish nothing but the best for the hockey team, and hope that the support continues well on into the future. This doesn’t mean we can ignore the dangerous message that lies beneath. The mine that is Razorback Basketball is on the verge of closing. It’s time to excise the poison, and allow the air to clear.

Form letters to fan outrage is not the answer. The answer is in the outrage. It’s a funny thing, passion. You either do what you can to harness it, or you become its prey. It’s time for Jeff Long to decide whether he will be made great by the moment, or if he will allow it seal his own tomb.

http://www.breastfedmoonshine.com/home/2010/03/10/canaries-on-ice/

By Brandon Marcello
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Ever seen a pig on ice?

It may sound awkward and provide a strange image, but the Arkansas ice hockey team looks just fine on the rink.

The University of Arkansas club hockey team, comprised of 25 students, will attempt to make school history today in Germain Arena in Fort Meyers, Fla.

It’s the site of the club’s first ever appearance in the national championship tournament, set aside for 16 of the best teams in the nation.

The Arkansas athletic department has been supportive, but is limited in its capacity to provide anything more than a verbal showing of support to the hockey club.

“There’s not a whole lot we can do,” Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long explained.

An online fundraiser on Woopig.net began March 4, and on the eve of Arkansas’ first game in the national championships Wednesday, contributors at the site had raised $1,599, said Steve Jackson, owner and operator of Woopig.net.

“The bottom line is, pretty much anybody that has a Razorback on their jersey is going to be somebody we want to support,” said Steve Jackson, owner and operator of Woopig.net “… If they’ve got Razorback on their jersey, we’re going to check it out and we do what we can to help them, even if it’s only exposure.”

The message board Woopig.net, known for its members’ sharp wit and unfiltered takes on sports, has several topics discussing the team and its national championship hopes. The interest in the team — and the sport, for that matter — on the boards began with the Olympics, Steve Jackson said. From there, interest grew and the recognition for the team couldn’t be overlooked.

“People need to know about it,” Jackson said. “Sure it’s a club sport and all, but people still need to know about it. … We’ve got a Razorback team that is competing for a national championship.”

Read Brandon’s entire article HERE.

DONATE TODAY to the Razorback hockey club by visiting their website at RazorbackHockey.com. Or, you can also donate HERE.

Arkansas vs Colorado game thread here.

Saturday, March 6, turned out to be a gorgeous day for a fantastic rugby match between Heart of America DII college champs University of Arkansas and Great Plains champs Creighton University.

Played in Fayetteville, Ark., the match kicked off with both teams champing at the bit.

Collin Jackson

Creighton made a hard drive down the pitch and with a penalty against Arkansas, they were able to make the kick for a 3-0 lead. Arkansas responded with a strong push back and was able to capitalize on a penalty – flyhalf Charles Ajarrista doing the honors.

Both teams continued to battle for field position, and it seemed like the game would hinge on who could commit the fewest penalties in their end.

Then Arkansas broke through. Ajarrista gathered a kick to touch and took a quick lineout to himself. Creighton were caught napping and the flyhalf tok the ball all the way in. Ajarrista’s conversion gave Arkansas a 10-3 lead.

He added two more penalties to make it 16-3 at halftime.

At the beginning the second half, Creighton made a sterling opening drive that resulted in their first try of the game to close to gap to 16-10. But Ajarrista kept the scoreboard ticking over with another penalty. 19-10 Arkansas.

With Creighton making valiant push after push against the Arkansas try line, Arkansas’ stout defense and some lucky penalties on Creighton allowed them to hold off the hammering.  With fifteen minutes left in the half, Ajarrista scored yet another try and conversion for Arkansas.  Creighton made one final drive, but a turnover afforded Arkansas the ball and allowed wing Collin Jackson to chase down a chip kick and bring home one final try for Arkansas. That sealed it, 31-10 in a game that was far closer than the score indicates.

http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/men-dii-college/arkansas-wins-battle-of-conference-champs.aspx

Coach Rick Desjardins and his staff at Arkansas hope a strategic decision they made well before the start of the season will continue to pay off this week at the D3 National Tournament in Estero , Fla.

Desjardins and Co. scheduled 16 games with D2 teams in order to prepare their Razorbacks for the quality of competition they would face in the postseason. It’s worked so far. Arkansas won twice at the South Regional to qualify for nationals and won twice again to capture the SECHC title at the end of February.

At the home rink of Florida Gulf Coast , the top-ranked team in the South Region most of the season, the Razorbacks probably will be tested as they have not been this season. They’re in a pool with Hope College of Michigan, the No. 1 seed in that pool; Colorado, No. 2; and Fredonia State, No. 3. Each team plays the other three to determine which one advances to the semifinals.

The Razorbacks open up against Colorado Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Buffaloes were 15-8-1 during the regular season, including two wins and three losses against four other teams at nationals. “From the tape we’ve seen, they’re a solid forechecking team that likes an up-tempo game,” says Desjardins. “They’re a lot like us, five or six scorers deep.

“Hope is like that, too. They probably have 2-1/2 to three scoring lines. Most likely, the goalies will be the difference again.”

Desjardins thinks the Razorbacks just might sneak up on Colorado and the rest of the nationals field. “I think we may be a surprise to some people,” he says. “We might be a bit of an enigma to them. Some might say we’re lucky and not in as tough of a region. Hopefully, they’ll underestimate us and we’ll catch them off guard.”

The 10-day gap between the SECHC tournament and the beginning of the D3 National Tournament has enabled the Razorbacks to get completely healthy. They’ve continued their weekly schedule of two or three practices. “I believe they’ve got one solid week of hockey left in them,” he said.

So do their followers, who have grown in number and enthusiasm as the Razorbacks marched to a 25-6-0 record. When they practiced Sunday in Little Rock prior to boarding a bus for the 20-hour trip to south Florida, several hundred fans were at the rink to give them a heartfelt “Woo pig Sooie” send-off.

Read more about Razorback Hockey at HockeyYall.com

YOUR Arkansas Razorback Hockey team is heading to the ACHA National Hockey Championship in Fort Myers, Florida this Sunday, March 7. On the way, they’ll be stopping in Little Rock.

Here’s your chance chance to come see the team everyone is talking about, and send them off to Nationals with a show of support they deserve.

The team will leave Fayetteville by bus Sunday at 3:00 pm sharp, and will put in a 1.25 hour practice in Little Rock, and then continue driving all Sunday night to Fort Myers.

Sunday’s Little Rock practice will be held at Arkansas Skatium, located at 1311 South Bowman Road (intersection of Kanis and Bowman). The team will be on the ice from 6:00 p.m. until 7:15 p.m., so plan on getting there before then.

Woopig.net encourages any and all fans, alumni, etc. to come out. Come show your support, learn about the team, and let them know you care. [[Show as slideshow]] ]]> http://woopig.net/index.php/2010/03/razorback-hockey-practice-pep-rally-sunday-march-7-at-skatium-in-little-rock/feed/ 5 http://woopig.net/index.php/2010/03/hogs-vs-cal/ http://woopig.net/index.php/2010/03/hogs-vs-cal/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:05:20 +0000 ElvisHog http://woopig.net/?p=1967

This will be the Hogs 1st ever trip to Berkeley, CA. Hell, it’ll be the 1st time any SEC team has traveled to play a series in Berkeley. The series record is tied 2-2. Cal defeated the Razorbacks 7-1 in the 1980 NCAA Midwest Regional in Tulsa, Okla.   We took 2 of 3 from them @ Baum Stadium last year.  

The Razorback rotation against Cal is expected to feature Mike Bolsinger, Drew Smyly and Brett Eibner. Both teams sport a 6-1 record coming into this weekend. Cal started out their season opening series outscoring Southern Utah 46-0. Cal followed up that performance by getting blanked by UC Davis 8-0. The Bears went 3-0 in the ever so prestigeous CS Bakersfield Tournament against such notable powerhouses Central Michigan, St. Mary’s, and CS Bakersfield.

Cal will be led by the impressive starting pitching rotation of sophomore right-hander Erik Johnson (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 Ks in 13 innings), freshman left-hander Justin Jones (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 19 Ks in 14 innings) and sophomore right-hander Dixon Anderson (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 15 Ks in 14 innings). The trio has combined for a 6-0 record with 48 strikeouts in 41.0 innings and a 0.44 ERA this season.

Offensively, the Bears have been led by the hitting prowess of sophomore catcher Chadd Krist, who is leading the Pac-10 with a .577 average (15-for-26) with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 10 RBI. Cal also features sophomore left fielder Danny Oh, batting .452 with three doubles and a team-high 11 RBI, returning junior All-Pac-10 first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha and junior second baseman Brian Guinn. Last season, Canha led the team with a .366 average, 12 home runs and 43 RBI, while Guinn, hitting .364 this year, is a .321 career hitter. Also bolstering the Bears is the play is sophomore shortstop Marcus Semien (.500) and freshmen starters Tony Renda (3B .407), Devin Rodriguez (DH .381), Jimmy Bosco (RF .375) and Darrel Matthews (CF .333). Overall, Cal is leading the Pac-10 in both team ERA (1.60) and team batting average (.404).

Cal’s projected starting line-up:

No.   Pos.        Player           2010 stats
6   2B   Brian Guinn, Jr. .364, 4 RBI, 0 HR
19   LF   Danny Oh, So. .452, 11 RBI, 0 HR
14   3B   Tony Renda, Fr. .407, 2 RBI, 0 HR
5   1B   Mark Canha, Jr. .318, 8 RBI, 0 HR
27   C   Chadd Krist, So. .577, 10 RBI, 3 HR
33   DH   Devin Rodriguez, Fr. .381, 7 RBI, 1 HR
25   RF   Jimmy Bosco, Fr. .375, 3 RBI, 0 HR
15   SS   Marcus Semien, So. .500, 2 RBI, 0 HR
2   CF   Darrel Matthews, Fr. .333, 6 RBI, 0 HR

Game 1 Thread here.
Game 2 Thread here.

Game 1 Recap from Cal’s official site:

BERKELEY, CALIF. – The California baseball team kept No. 17 ranked Arkansas (7-1) at bay for most of the afternoon before giving up five runs in the eighth inning to fall to the Razorbacks, 7-3, Friday at Evans Diamond. The Golden Bears (6-2) had owned a 3-2 lead after seven innings behind freshman right fielder Jimmy Bosco’s first collegiate homer in the second inning, and unearned runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Cal freshman left-hander Justin Jones had limited Arkansas, a 2009 College World Series participant, to only two runs through seven innings before yielding four consecutive hits to begin the eighth inning. The Razorbacks’ Zack Cox gave his squad a 4-3 lead with a two-run single up the middle off Jones (2-1, 7.0 innings, eight hits, six runs, three walks, three strikeouts). James McCann then put the contest away when he followed Cox’s hit with a three-run homer off Bear senior right-handerDaniel Wolford.

The winning pitcher for Arkansas was senior right-hander Mike Bolsinger (2-0, 7.0 innings, six hits, three runs, one earned run, no walks, six strikeouts). Freshman closer DJ Baxendale earned his third save of the season by pitching the final 1.2 innings (no hits, no runs).

Bolsinger’s errors almost cost him the game. After Bosco’s home run in the second inning, the Razorbacks came back with a run in the fourth inning on Andy Wilkin’s solo home run to left field. Arkansas then took a 2-1 lead with a run in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Collin Kuhn. However, Cal ended up taking back the lead by scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Bolsinger threw wildly on a pick-off attempt, and an unearned run in the sixth inning when he threw wildly on a ball hit by Danny Oh. Oh later scored from third base on Mark Canha’s RBI ground out to give the Bears a 3-2 advantage.

Game 2 Recap from ArkansasRazorbacks.com

BERKELEY, Calif. - Tim Carver hit two home runs-the first long shots of his career-and  drove in four to help the No. 15 University of Arkansas baseball team to a 9-5 win over California Saturday afternoon at Evans Diamond. The victory runs the Razorbacks’ winning streak to seven games, the club’s longest since the 2006 season. Zack Cox was 3-for-4 with two RBI and Drew Smyly worked five innings with seven strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season.

While Carver collected his first home runs, Andy Wilkins hit the 32nd of his Razorback career, a solo shot in the fifth inning. With his home run, Wilkins ties Troy Eklund (1986-89) for 10th place on Arkansas’ all-time home run list.

Read the rest here.

Ratliffe is generally considered to be the #1 JUCO prospect in the country and he’s coming to Arkansas for his first official visit.  At 6′9″-240 pounds, he would definitely fill the physical void left by the departing Michael Washington.  His current list of offers are Arkansas, Alabama, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina.  Those are programs that we can compete with for his services.

Some of the bigger programs are interested but haven’t extended an offer.  One really big thing we have going for us is he has said that as an incoming junior, he doesn’t have time to sit on the bench and he’s going to go somewhere that he can play immediately.   As a high profile recruit, he will get the chance to do that.

Ratliffe is currently averaging 27 points and 12 rebounds a game. He’s not just another player that dominates underneath the boards.  “He’s extremely effective around the basket. Really strong and really skilled,” said Central Florida Community College Tim Ryan, noting that Ratliffe can also step outside and hit the three at a 40 percent clip.

Ratliffe is a good friend of and a former teammate of Marshawn Powell.  Seeing what Powell has done this year as a true freshman should drive home the point that he has a great shot at a significant amount of playing time. Think about two of them on the floor at the same time.

So if you’re going to the Ole Miss game on Saturday, make a sign with his name on it and show him some love.  The Hogs could really use him.

This past weekend, the Razorback hockey team traveled to Pelham, AL to play in the SEC Conference Championship. With a first-round bye, the number one seeded Razorbacks faced the third seeded Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday evening. After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the Hogs answered five unanswered goals over the next two periods to advance to the championship game.

With the SEC title on the line, Arkansas faced the second seeded Florida Gators at Sunday afternoon. Although the Hogs struck first, they found themselves trailing 2-1 after two periods of play. Led by Brad McMahon’s natural hat-trick, the Hogs again answered five unanswered goals. The 6-2 championship victory solidified the Razorbacks’ first ever SEC title.

The Hogs travel to Fort Myers, FL next week to compete in the ACHA National Championship, where they open up against the University of Colorado on Wednesday March 10th, Hope University on March 11th, and Fredonia State on Friday. The Winner of that Pool will advance to the Semi Finals on Sunday Morning and the Semi Finals winners will play for the National Championship on Saturday Evening.

ACHA Nationals Schedule
Fort Myers, Florida

Wednesday, March 10 – 10:00 AM (CT)
Colorado Buffaloes vs. Arkansas Razorbacks

Thursday, March 11 – 10:00 AM (CT)
Hope Flying Dutchmen vs. Arkansas Razorbacks

Friday, March 12 – 7:15 AM (CT)
Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Fredonia State Blue Devils

Saturday, March 13
Semi-Finals & Championship Games

Live Videocasting
All games during the 2010 ACHA Division 3 National Championships will be videocast live on the internet courtesy of FastHockey.com Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to the tournament.