October
20,
2004
Up
In The Clouds
By
Jess Myers
Remember the
old scenes of steamer trunks covered with stickers featuring the
names of vacation destinations on them? For a fun way to add some
humor early in the season, St. Cloud State might want to cover
their hockey bags with those stickers over the next few months.
Being a Husky is a great way to see the world.
The team has
already been to a tournament in New Hampshire and will head to
Colorado for a pair of games with Denver this weekend. Before
the clock strikes midnight on New Years’ Eve, the Huskies
will have covered more states than a last-minute presidential
campaign entourage, playing games in New Jersey, Connecticut,
North Dakota and Florida.
 |
| Dave
Ianazzo and his St. Cloud State teammates play 12 of their
first 20 games on the road. |
While some
coaches like road trips early in the season, thinking that being
together in confined spaces (such as airplanes and hotels) helps
the team bond, Huskies coach Craig Dahl takes his team to a getaway
camp in September and feels they’ve already done all of
the bonding they need to do. With 10 freshmen (and just four seniors)
on his roster, Dahl is more concerned about getting experience
for his greenest players in October and November.
“Our
schedule has us taking plane trips three of our first four weekends,
which means it’s essentially seven days away from home,”
said Huskies coach Craig Dahl. “It’s tough because
you can only take 22 guys on the road, and you can’t get
guys experience while they’re sitting at home.”
Some
of those rookies might have to wait until early 2005 to get that
much-coveted playing time. The schedule-makers have apparently
determined that there’s no place like central Minnesota
to spend January and have the Huskies playing six of their eight
games that month in the National Hockey Center.
SEEN
AND HEARD IN THE WCHA
No
Wake For The Seawolves – After his team’s
upset of Minnesota to win the Nye Frontier Classic last weekend,
Alaska Anchorage coach John Hill may have wanted to quote Mark
Twain, when the famous writer said, “Reports of my death
have been greatly exaggerated.”
Widely picked to finish last in the league (including by INCH),
the Seawolves freshmen showed some spark and gave fans at Sullivan
Arena some hope for the future. In Friday's 3-3 tie with Canisius
(the Seawolves won the shootout to advance to the tournament's
title game), rookie Merit Waldrop had two goals and an assist.
One night later, rookie Shea Hamilton scored twice and freshman
goalie Nathan Lawson had 36 saves in the 3-2 win against the Gophers.
For their efforts, Lawson was named the WCHA's defensive player
of the week, and Hamilton was named the league's rookie of the
week.
Hill, who
is one of the more even-keeled coaches in the league, is keeping
things in perspective as he readies his team to face archrival
Alaska-Fairbanks this weekend.
“It’s early in the year, but I’m happy with
the way it went,” he said. “We think that when we’re
healthy, we’re not going to be as bad as people expect.
But one weekend doesn’t make a season.”
Still, the Seawolves have clearly come a long way since 2002-03,
when one win made a season.
Lake Superior Lovefest – Under
their new scheduling system, the WCHA has declared Minnesota Duluth
and Michigan Tech arch-rivals, meaning that they always play each
other four times per year (two in each team’s building).
While the meetings with Minnesota will always be the “big
game” for Duluthians and the annual home-and-home with CCHA
foe Northern Michigan gets the blood of Tech fans pumping like
no other series, there are some similarities that make MTU and
UMD good rivals.
They’re
both on Lake Superior, they both have canine mascots, they play
each other in additional sports, they’ve been facing off
on the hockey rink for more than 50 years and they each had Mike
Sertich at the helm for a time. The Huskies still hold a commanding
lead in the all-time series and have beaten UMD six times since
Scott Sandelin took over the UMD program five years ago, but last
weekend’s series in Houghton showed some signs that this
rivalry might be becoming more lopsided, and somewhat more bitter.
By all
accounts, the end result was what should be expected when a Frozen
Four team meets a team trying to get out of the WCHA cellar. The
Bulldogs won 5-4 and 6-3, getting four goals from Evan Schwabe
and holding Tech’s best player, Chris Conner, to just a
pair of assists. The sweep gave UMD five consecutive wins versus
Tech, and eight win in their last 10 meetings.
In Houghton,
an entertaining student fan group known as Mitch’s Misfits
(named in honor of longtime MacInnes Student Ice Arena announcer
Mitch Lake) has emerged and is working hard to have fun and make
the home of the Huskies a more intimidating place to play. Last
weekend they were countered by a good-sized contingent from the
UMD Penalty Box, which may have crossed a line late in the Saturday
night game.
With
the Bulldogs pulling away late in the contest, the audio broadcast
and UMD’s first-ever Internet video broadcast both caught
sound of the Bulldog fans
serenading the Huskies with a chant of “Who’s your
Daddy?”
|
Great Weekend Getaway |
 |
|
Minnesota
at North Dakota
(Fri.-Sat.)
After this weekend, there will be six NCAA champion
banners hanging from the rafters in Denver. But they’ve
already got seven in Grand Forks and the Sioux Nation is
perpetually convinced that number eight is just around the
corner. Sioux fans are a passionate bunch, and that’s
doubly true when the folks from the other side of the Red
River of the North come to visit. North Dakota won its last
two games with Minnesota in Grand Forks, but the Gophers
still have a winning record (3-2-0) in the new Engelstad
Arena. The visitors will likely need a big weekend from
a high-scoring Grand Forks native (sophomore Ryan Potulny)
if they hope to stay with the Sioux speedsters.
While
You’re There: Ever wonder what WCHA rivalries look
like on Astroturf? You can find out at 1 p.m. on Saturday
when MSU, Mankato’s football team visits Grand Forks
for a date with the Fighting Sioux. Currently ranked sixth
in the nation in Division II, the Sioux have football facilities
nearly as nice as their palatial hockey rink. Opened in
2001, the Alerus Center seats 13,500 and provides indoor
comfort from the chilly prairie winds. Tickets can be found
at 877-91-SIOUX.
|
|
Stick
Salute |
|
 To
the folks who designed the new MSU, Mankato logo.
Sure, the kids loved that cartoonish “Stomper”
thing that they had before, but to the folks old enough
to vote, it seemed a little too, well, cartoonish. The Mavs’
new logo, unveiled recently, seems a little more serious,
and hey, who doesn’t get hungry for a good-sized steak
when they see that new bovine?
|
| Bench
Minor |
|
To
the folks who authorized the new MSU, Mankato logo.
Aren’t we overdue for a little “identity stability”?
Greater Mankato’s favorite college hockey school is
now on its third name (Mankato State College, Mankato State
University and now Minnesota State University, Mankato),
its second nickname (they were the Indians until 1977) and
its fourth official logo in the past decade. Change can
be a good thing in many cases, but let’s take a little
breather before they’re unveiling “Southern
Minnesota State” as the school’s next moniker. |
PUCKS
TO PICK UP AFTER PRACTICE
•
What may be college hockey's most lopsided rivalry
will be renewed this weekend. Colorado College and Air Force have
played 60 games since 1969 and the Tigers have won 52 of them,
including the last 21 in a row. Think that the Falcons will have
an advantage, playing at home and all? Think again. The Tigers
are 26-4-1 versus Air Force in games played on the scenic grounds
of the Academy. No word as to whether the Falcons will raise a
banner to commemorate Nov. 9, 1985, which was the date of their
last win over CC, a 6-5 overtime triumph at since-demolished Broadmoor
World Arena.
•
While there are no live NHL games to be seen on Fox Sports these
days, they’re cranking up the pro and college hockey Wayback
Machine to give viewers a hockey fix while they wait for a settlement
to the labor unrest. Starting Nov. 4, FSN North will show
fans in the Upper Midwest seven classic college hockey games
featuring Minnesota, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth, Wisconsin,
North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Boston College, as well as 10
notable Minnesota Wild and Minnesota North Stars games. Gopher
fans will want to tune in on Dec. 2 to re-live their team’s
upset of CC in the first round of the 2000 WCHA playoffs, in what
was Don Lucia’s first postseason return to Colorado Springs.
• After
he put up gaudy numbers in the USHL, it’s expected that
Denver freshman goalie Peter Mannino will have
a productive and memorable career with the Pioneers. But his first
appearance between the pipes for DU is probably one that Mannino
and his defenders will try to forget. Last Friday in Chestnut
Hill, Mannino got his first collegiate start versus Boston College
and took the loss after allowing five goals on 26 Eagle shots.
Three of BC’s six goals in the game came on breakaways,
and probably produced some unpleasant déjà vu for
DU fans. In the middle of the 2003-04 season, the Pioneers were
plagued by defensive struggles that left then-goalie Adam Berkhoel
to face many breakaways. Of course, the team did make a nice little
rally later in the campaign.
•
What do Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams, New York Yankees owner
George Steinbrenner and former Wisconsin defenseman Barry
Richter have in common? As of last Saturday, all three
are members of the Athletic Hall of Fame at Culver Military Academy
in Indiana. Richter, a first-team All-American for the Badgers
in 1993, played at Culver before winning the 1990 NCAA title at
Wisconsin. He is the second former Badger defenseman honored by
the prep school – five-time NHL All-Star
Gary Suter (an ’82 grad of Culver) was previously inducted.
