November
23, 2005
Three
is a Magic Number
By
Jess Myers
The St. Cloud State Huskies have made moves
aimed at being the surprise team in the WCHA in the season’s
first month, with home upsets of Minnesota and North Dakota
and a road win at Northern Michigan. But if there’s
going to be serious talk among Husky fans of home ice in
the playoffs within the next few months, offense will be
the key. Three is quickly becoming new Huskies coach Bob
Motzko’s favorite number, but seeing a three on his
team’s side of the scoreboard remains a challenge.
“We still can’t seem to get to
three consistently,” said Motzko after his team’s
3-2 loss to North Dakota last Saturday. “When we get
to three we’re pretty good, but getting there is tough.”
The stats tell the story – when the
Huskies score three goals or more, they’re 4-0-0 this
year. When scoring two or fewer, they’re 0-7-1.
“A lot of people probably didn’t
expect us to be doing even this well,” said goalie
Bobby Goepfert. “If anything, we’re a little
disappointed about our record because we’ve had a
few more games we definitely could’ve won.”
Saturday’s loss was particularly stinging
to some of the Huskies as the chance to sweep highly-touted
North Dakota was seemingly there for the taking. St. Cloud
State had rallied late in the Friday game, scoring a pair
of third period goals to win 3-2. On Saturday, the Huskies
trailed 3-1 after a disastrous first period which saw the
Sioux take advantage of three Husky defensive zone mistakes.
After the first 20 minutes, the Huskies out-shot
North Dakota 31-13 (including a whopping 16-3 advantage
in the third period) but were able to get only one puck
past Jordan Parise.
“This was the first time all year that
we made defensive mistakes like that in the first period
and it bit us,” said Motzko. “And Parise was
pretty good tonight.”
Goepfert took the loss on his shoulders after
misplaying two pucks in the opening period. The Sioux got
on the board when Goepfert left the crease, lost the handle
on the puck in the corner and allowed Erik Fabian an easy
wraparound goal. It went to 2-0 Sioux when Goepfert put
a clearing attempt right onto the tape of Drew Stafford’s
stick and Stafford’s rising put-back found the net.
“We’re not a team where we can
afford for somebody to have an off night, so I told the
guys that one was on me and I definitely owe them two points,”
Goepfert said. “I’ve always considered myself
a pretty good puckhandler, but I took a few steps back that
night.”
Offensive shortcomings and all, the Huskies
have six winnable games on the horizon (a road trip to Alaska
Anchorage sandwiched between homes series with Brown and
Robert Morris). Motzko’s club stands a good chance
of being well above .500 by the second weekend of January
when the Huskies travel to Denver. Goepfert said that after
what happened last Saturday, the most immediate change you
may see in the Huskies’ game is him spending a lot
more time directly between the pipes.
“The next couple of week I’ll
probably be about as mobile as a bubble hockey goalie,”
he joked. “I’m hardly even leaving the crease
in practice anymore.”
SEEN
AND HEARD IN THE WCHA
An early must-win for North Dakota
– For teams expected to be in the
hunt for the league title, desperation rarely sets in before
Thanksgiving. But after last Friday night’s 3-2 loss
at St. Cloud State, players from North Dakota took what
they felt was a necessary “backs against the wall”
stance in the Saturday night series finale.
“This was definitely a must-win game
for us,” said Erik Fabian, who scored the opening
goal as the Sioux held off a Huskies rally to win 3-2. “If
we lose this, we go two games under .500 in the WCHA and
we definitely know how tough that is to come back from.”
Last season was a rarity in which Denver and
Colorado College each had seven conference losses en route
to tying for the league title. In most seasons, five losses
is about the most a team in realistic contention for the
WCHA crown can have. North Dakota went into Saturday night’s
game with four league losses and knew a fifth so early in
the year would make a Grand Forks appearance by the MacNaughton
Cup a long shot.
“We definitely needed this one to get
back on track,” said Drew Stafford. “We have
next weekend off, so a loss in this one would’ve been
tough to have to think about for two weeks.”
|
Great Weekend Getaway |
 |
|
Colorado
College at Boston U. (Sat.)
Unlike their Front Range neighbors, things
are clicking for the Tigers these days. While staying
relatively healthy, coach Scott Owens’ team
heads to the Bay State with the offense still showing
some diversity, Hobey finalists Brett Sterling and
Marty Sertich clicking again and the defense not having
allowed a goal in two-plus games. While nobody is
awarding a trophy for shutting out Michigan Tech in
back-to-back games, the Tigers are doing what they’re
supposed to do if they want to keep their share of
the MacNaughton Cup. They’re winning the games
they’re supposed to win. It should be fun to
see what they do in their first visit to Agganis Arena.
While You’re There: When college
hockey fans hear about the historical significance
of Faneuil Hall, they think not of the Revolutionary
War, but of the site upon which Junior Lessard (in
2004) and Chris Drury (in 1998) were handed the Hobey
Baker Award. On Saturday, holiday cheer will echo
throughout the Faneuil Hall Marketplace with the sound
of 100 tubas and other horns playing holiday tunes
in front of Quincy Market. |
|
Stick
Salute |
|
A shout-out
is due to long-time UMD hockey radio voice Kerry Rodd,
who left the airwaves earlier this season after 20-plus
seasons manning the microphone at the DECC. Rodd abruptly
left KDAL Radio (where he also hosted a weekday talk
show) in October due to disagreements with the station’s
new management. Rodd will be remembered for his ability
to make the most routine shot on goal sound like a
potential overtime game-winner. We mean no disrespect
to new Bulldog radio voice Bruce Ciskie when we say
we’ll miss the original K-Rodd. |
| Bench
Minor |
|
With four of the Big Ten’s five hockey teams facing each
other on the this weekend, we’d like to ask
the folks at Illinois, Penn State and maybe even Northwestern
or Iowa one question: What’s taking you so long?
Five Big Ten schools make money and draw fans with
successful hockey programs. Heck, lots of people already
refer to Champaign as “a warm Grand Forks.”
Quit dragging your feet and make it your goal to see
the Nittany Lions versus the Illini in the NCAA puck
playoffs within a decade. |
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
• When the Minnesota Duluth
Bulldogs fly outside the continental U.S. lately, they’re
apparently forgetting to bring their offense along. Along
with giving Alaska Anchorage its first WCHA win of the season,
last Saturday’s 2-0 shutout by Seawolf goalie John
DeCaro marked the second time the Bulldogs have been blanked
in their last four games at Sullivan Arena.
• Speaking
of shutouts, last weekend’s back-to-back blankings
of Michigan Tech marked the first time ever that Colorado
College has shut out a WCHA opponent in both games of a
two-game series. The last time CC blanked any opponent in
consecutive outings at the same venue came on Dec. 10-11,
1954, when the Tigers defeated St. Thomas (Minn.) by scores
of 17-0 and 11-0. The Tigers are now a perfect 14-0-0 all-time
against Michigan Tech at Colorado Springs World Arena.
• Sparked
by a career-high 36 saves from rookie netminder Mike Zacharias,
Minnesota State, Mankato won at Nebraska-Omaha on Tuesday,
6-3. The victory extended Mankato’s unbeaten streak
versus college hockey’s other set of Mavericks to
eight games. MSU has gone 7-0-1 against UNO since last losing
to Mike Kemp’s club in the 2001-02 season. Tuesday’s
start by Zacharias provided a well-earned bit of rest for
freshman goaltender Dan Tormey. The rookie from Syracuse,
N.Y., started the previous six consecutive games and during
that time stopped 160 of 171 shots for a .936 save percentage
and a 1.79 goals-against average. He also collected his
first career assist when he was credited with a helper on
Joel Hanson’s goal in last Friday’s contest
2-1 loss at Wisconsin.
• For the
second year in a row, it will be the top-ranked Michigan
Wolverines vs. No. 2 Wisconsin this weekend when the College
Hockey Showcase gets underway. The Badgers are 3-1 in their
past four Showcase games but historically have struggled
in the Thanksgiving weekend affair. Since the Showcase started
in 1993, the Badgers are 2-10-0 vs. Michigan State and 3-8-1
vs. Michigan.
• Last Friday’s
3-3 tie at Denver was the first game the Golden Gophers
had played outside the state of Minnesota since their 2004-05
season ended with a loss to North Dakota in the Frozen Four
semifinals in Columbus. Prior to the trip to Colorado, the
Gophers had played 16 of their previous 17 games in Minneapolis,
St. Paul, Duluth or St. Cloud.
• Denver,
riding a four-game winless streak for the first time since
March 2003, returns to a site of some of last season’s
glory on Saturday when the Pioneers face UMass at the Mullins
Center in Amherst. The ice sheet was where DU beat Bemidji
State and New Hampshire last March, earning their second
straight trip to the Frozen Four. Reasons for the team’s
recent slide vary from injuries to inconsistencies. One
of the current mysteries is the struggles of the goalie
tandem Glenn Fisher and Peter Mannino – neither currently
has a save percentage above the .900 mark.
A variety of sources
were utilized in the compilation of this report.
