Projo Sports Blog

By MARK DIVVER
Assistant Sports Editor

Mac Bennett has had a lot on his plate in the past few weeks.

In late August he drove 22 hours from Narragansett to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he will play for the RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League.

Bennett took a few days to settle in with his host family -- "I totally lucked out. I've got a great family'' -- and start skating with his new teammates.

In the first week of September, the 18-year-old Canadiens draft pick flew to Montreal for the team's rookie camp. In addition to skating with the rookies, Bennett tested himself on the ice with Montreal stars such as Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.

Bennett said in a phone interview Wednesday that while he has a lot to learn, he didn't look out of place against bigger, stronger, older players.

"(Team officials) said that I'm on the right path. I just need to put on some pounds,'' said the 5'11'' 171-pound defenseman. "The good news was that I was able to keep up. Cause if you can't skate, you can't play.''

Bennett, who paid his own way to Montreal to preserve his NCAA eligibility -- he'll enroll at Michigan next fall -- now is back in Iowa preparing for the USHL season.

Hundreds of miles from home, Bennett in some ways is living the life of a typical high school senior.

Up at 7 a.m. to shower and eat breakfast.

In school by 8. Classes in economics, government I, government II and trigonometry until 12:45.

Then home for a short nap before heading down to the rink for practice or to lift weights -- or both.

Afterward, Bennett has dinner either with his teammates or with his host family.
He's in bed by 9:30 or 10 p.m.

The off-ice routine will somewhat change once the season starts on Oct. 2. There will be weekend road trips as far away as Youngstown, Ohio, a 13-hour bus ride. And Bennett will have more time to himself after he finishes high school in November.

Fellow Michigan recruit Derek Deblois of Narragansett, Bennett's friend and teammate at Hotchkiss in the Connecticut prep school ranks last season, is also with Cedar Rapids.

While admitting to "a little bit'' of homesickness, Bennett said "it's nice to have buddies who are in the same situation. You kind of just forget about it.''


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Left winger Austin Mayer, who would have been a junior at Providence College this season, has transferred to Colgate.

A Providence resident, Mayer will sit out this season under NCAA rules, but will have two seasons of eligibility remaining starting in 2010-11.

Mayer, 21, had 4-9-13 stats in 46 career games at PC.

After starting his high school career at St. George's, Mayer led Moses Brown in scoring and helped the Quakers to the Met B state championship in 2004. Mayer played for the Walpole Stars and New Hampshire Monarchs of the Eastern Junior Hockey League before enrolling at PC.

Mayer is the fifth underclassman to leave the PC team since January.

Former La Salle captain Shawn Tingley of North Kingstown transferred to the University of Rhode Island.

Joe Lavin transferred to Notre Dame, while Bryce Aneloski went back to Cedar Rapids, where he is a teammate of Bennett and Deblois.

Nick Tommasiello of Cranston is still attending PC, but is no longer with the team.

Coach Tim Army has brought in an 11-player freshmen class.


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New Brown coach Brendan Whittet hasn't been on the job long, but he's already reeled in his first recruit.

Jake Goldberg, a senior at the Berkshire School, will arrive on the Brown campus in the fall of 2010.

A 6-foot, 190-pound forward, Goldberg is a scorer, a commodity that the Bears have been lacking in the past few seasons. He had 27-28-55 totals in 33 games for Berkshire last winter.

Goldberg, 18, is a native of Langhorne, Pa.


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Jerry Keefe and Mark White have been hired as Whittet's assistants.

Keefe was head coach at Division III Westfield State for the past two years. A Providence College graduate, Keefe scored 98 points in 102 career games for the Friars from 1996 to 2000. He played several seasons of minor league hockey before going into coaching.

An assistant at Bentley College for the past four seasons, White was a defenseman at the University of New Hampshire from 1997 to 2001. He, too, played minor-league hockey before turning to coaching.


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As has happened often over the past few years, some of the best high school players in Rhode Island have moved on to prep school. Noel Acciari of Hendricken is at the Kent School in Connecticut. Shane Dunphy of Mount St. Charles is at Pomfret in Connecticut. Both were Journal first team all-staters last season as juniors. Tim Coffey, a junior at Mount last season, is at Tabor Academy in Massachusetts. Brian Miller, a junior at La Salle last season, is at Pomfret. First team all-stater Derek Army, a Moses Brown grad, is doing a post-grad year at The Gunnery in Connecticut.

 Tags  Brown University Derek Deblois Mac Bennett Providence College

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