Blueliner Turned Goalie Helps LSU Sweep Ole Miss

     Amid all the outstanding individual performanes on southern ice last weekend, one stands out. While getting beat for four goals in back-to-back games -- even in victory -- is hardly anything to brag about, when you're a defenseman pressed into service in the crease, it's gonna be memorable and noteworthy.
     It's also going to earn you Player of the Week honors in the South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference. Actually, Rusty Ware has been Louisiana State's fill-in goalie since the beginning of the season due to the suspension for academic reasons of the Tigers' normal starter. Not only did Ware backstop LSU to 5-4 and 6-5 wins at Mississippi last weekend, he had to stand tall in overtime in both games and through a shootout in one. Furthermore, LSU was shorthanded heading into overtime on Friday night and weathered being two men short in OT the next night.
     Sophomore Kriss Lans of North Carolina State is the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League's Player of the Week after notching a goal and two assists in the Wolfpack's 6-2 victory over North Carolina. The three points boosted Lans' league-leading total to 15.
     The Blue Ridge Hockey Conference's Player of the Week is Dallas Woods of Virginia Commonwealth. The leading scorer in the BRHC with 26 points in six games, Woods had five goals and three assists in two weekend wins. He scored the winning goal in VCU's 6-5 win over James Madison with three minutes to go in the game and the Rams shorthanded.
     The Player of the Week for the independent teams is Rick Merlo of South Florida, who scored seven goals and set up four others in his team's 12-0 and 12-2 wins over Florida Tech.
     The other nominees were the SECHC's P. J. Tatum, Vanderbilt, and Patrick Schnurr, Mississippi; the BRHC's Matt Levey, William & Mary, and Michael Potolicchio, George Washington; and Jerry Holden of independent Kennesaw State.