If anyone has a good reason to have the pre-holiday
blues, it would be Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell. His
team is 2-11-1 heading into this weekend’s home series
with North Dakota, and the Huskies haven’t won –
or even scored a goal – since Veterans Day.
So maybe one can credit the fluky warm spell
that melted all of the snow in Houghton this week for Russell’s
optimistic mood (no snow in the Copper Country in late November
– but remember that global warming is just a myth).
Or maybe the fact that he’ll add a key senior blueliner
to the lineup for this weekend has Russell feeling better.
After missing the season’s first 14
games, gargantuan defenseman John Scott will be back on
the rink this weekend to face the Sioux, giving much-needed
assistance to a young defense corps that Russell admits
may have seen excessive ice time as he assesses the progress
of his many rookies thus far in the 2005-06 campaign.
“Our young defensemen have probably
been playing too many minutes,” Russell said. “That’s
one reason why we’re excited to have John Scott back
this weekend.”
Scott, who’s 6-7 and has a reach that
Russell has jokingly claimed stretches from Houghton to
the Mackinac Bridge, missed the first two months of the
Huskies season while serving a school-mandated suspension
for legal troubles he encountered last March.
According to a report in the MTU Lode,
the school’s student newspaper, Scott got into a minor
traffic accident with a car carrying three other Tech students
on March 26. After words were exchanged, Scott allegedly
pursued the students’ sedan with his SUV, and the
incident ended with Scott ramming his vehicle into the other
car.
In April, Scott was arraigned in Houghton
County District Court on three charges (malicious destruction
of property, assault with a dangerous weapon and operating
while intoxicated). In addition to the 14-game suspension,
Scott was ordered by the school to make a presentation to
high school hockey teams in the Houghton-Hancock area about
his experience, its effects and what he learned. The final
element of his school-mandated punishment was to make a
presentation to his own team about the dangers of drinking
and driving.
While school officials can’t and won’t
talk about the crime and punishment elements of Scott’s
case, Russell speaks freely about what having Scott’s
size and reach on the blue line will mean for his team,
especially while killing penalties. The Huskies’ special
teams rank last in the WCHA statistically thus far, with
opponents scoring on more than one-fourth of their power
play opportunities.
Still, Russell points to potential breaks
in the dark clouds, raving about the offense that Chris
Conner has provided thus far and noting some similarities
between his youthful club and the freshman-laden Sioux.
He likes the play of his freshman goalies thus far and says
they’ve done a nice job of transitioning from juniors
to college hockey. Some would be overly down about getting
shut out three games in a row, then having a weekend off
to think about it. Not Russell.
“The time off was good for us physically,”
he said. “We were pretty banged up after the series
at Colorado College, so the break was probably a good thing.”
Nobody would argue that Scott’s unplanned
break was a good thing, but with the hulking veteran back
in uniform, there may just be a few brighter days –
and more snow – in the forecast.
SEEN
AND HEARD IN THE WCHA
Sizing up the showdown–
Lost in all of the “Phil Kessel versus his
hometown team” hype this weekend when top-ranked Wisconsin
visits Minnesota is the fact that the Gophers chances versus
Bucky’s smothering defense have gotten a lot better
recently. And the potential difference-maker isn’t
even from Minnesota or Wisconsin.
North Dakota native Danny Irmen actually returned
to the Gopher roster two weeks ago for their win and tie
at Denver, after missing nine games. Irmen broke a finger
in the Gophers’ season-opening home loss to Alaska
Fairbanks, but has averaged a point per game since returning
to the lineup. In last weekend’s 2-2 tie at Michigan
State, Irmen scored both Gopher goals in the first period,
his first two of the season.
“He’s such a good two-way player,”
said Gopher coach Don Lucia, who added that he doesn’t
think Irmen will be fully recovered from the injury until
after Christmas.
Irmen is still skating with a cast for a few
more weeks and says that he still isn’t close to being
able to make a fist, but finding the net in East Lansing
was a good, and fortunate, thing.
“Those goals were pretty lucky, I’m
not going to kid myself,” Irmen said. “But it
was definitely nice to get the first one out of the way,
and to have that second one come so quickly after was even
better.”
Irmen’s potential for offense is likely
to be critical for Minnesota this weekend, versus a Wisconsin
team that has climbed to the top of the national heap via
opportunistic offense and smothering defense.
“I don’t even have to look at
the tape,” said Lucia of scouting the Badgers. “They
have a veteran team and they do a terrific job of taking
away the middle of the rink and blocking shots. They didn’t
lose any significant skaters off of last year’s team,
and they were good then.”
Lucia says that Mariucci Arena’s Olympic-size
ice sheet may open up some spots for his team to make plays
versus Wisconsin’s defenders, but is wary of the extra
room to skate that it will give the likes of Joe Pavelski
and Robbie Earl.
“If you’re going to give up three
or four goals in a game with Wisconsin, your chances of
winning aren’t going to be very good,” Lucia
said.
As for how to treat prized rookie and Madison
native Kessel this weekend as the freshman faces the Badgers
for the first time, Lucia says it’s barely on his
radar.
“People make a lot more of that than
it is,” he said, noting Wisconsin’s captain
grew up 15 minutes from Mariucci Arena. “Tom Gilbert
is a great player, and he’s from Minnesota. There
are connections on both sides.”
Great Weekend Getaway
Wisconsin
at Minnesota (Fri.-Sat.) Mike Eaves' head coaching record at Mariucci
Arena stands at 0-6 as his top-ranked Badgers prepare
for another visit to the House that Woog Built. Maybe
that’s why the team is changing things up a
bit, staying in downtown St. Paul instead of nearer
to the rink in Minneapolis. Perhaps that extra few
minutes on the bus between the hotel and the arena
will give Eaves more time for pep talks, strategy,
inspiration or whatever means he uses to motivate
his club. The Badgers come to Minnesota unbeaten in
their last dozen games, so whatever Eaves has done
thus far, it's working.
While You’re There: One of
the lesser-known gems on the University of Minnesota’s
Minneapolis campus is only a few blocks from Mariucci
Arena. The Bell
Museum of Natural History, at 10 Church Street,
is a great place to spend an hour our two immersed
in the dioramas and wildlife displays showing much
of Minnesota’s natural wonders. As a special
treat for friends visiting from Wisconsin, look closely
and you’ll find a taxidermist’s depiction
of a vicious badger attacking a tiny gopher –
an infraction that should probably merit a 10-minute
misconduct, minimum.
Stick
Salute
Former Minnesota State, Mankato star
Grant Stevenson made his long-awaited
NHL debut a memorable one. Called up by the San Jose
Sharks for their game at Calgary on Nov. 23, the Alberta
native scored his first NHL goal in his big league
debut. Through his first three NHL games, Stevenson
was averaging a point per game for the woeful Sharks,
who have lost nine in a row at last count.
Bench
Minor
WCHA referee
Derek Shepherd spent part of last Friday night at
a Duluth hospital getting treated for the broken nose
he suffered as a result of a puck taking a crazy bounce
off the DECC’s glass. But when asked about the
idea of on-ice officials being mandated to wear NHL-style
eye shields, WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd
(Derek’s father) said there not much call for
it. “The coaches think (the refs) can’t
see now,” he exclaimed. All jokes aside,
it’s time to make things safer for
the guys in the stripes before we’re hearing
about something more serious than a broken nose. Eye
shields would be a good start.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
• Despite the fact that
Alaska Anchorage has been outshot in 11 consecutive games,
the Seawolves are clicking when down a man lately. Entering
this weekend’s home series with St. Cloud State, the
Seawolves have not allowed a power-play goal in their last
three games. They held Minnesota 0-7 on the power play in
a Nov. 12 loss, and killed all eight of the Bulldogs’
man advantages during a split with Minnesota Duluth in their
most recent series.
• Last Saturday’s
hat trick by Colorado College forward Brett Sterling at
Boston University was the third of his career and his second
of the season. The three goals moved him into seventh place
on the school’s all-time goal scoring chart with 93
in three-plus seasons. Sterling needs 20 more to move him
ahead of Ron Hartwell and into first place. Hartwell scored
112 times for the Tigers between 1949-52.
• After Saturday’s
4-0 win at Massachusetts, Denver is now 3-0-0 all-time at
the Mullins Center in Amherst. The building holds many good
memories for the Pioneers, who beat Bemidji State and New
Hampshire there last March en route to the Frozen Four.
Denver coach George Gwozdecky’s lone beef with the
return trip involved having to use the visitors’ locker
room, as opposed to the Minutemen’s plush accommodations
that the Pioneers had access to last spring, when they were
the Northeast Regional’s top seed.
“The only disappointment was when we
got off the bus and came into the building, we started to
head down to the locker room that we had last year,”
Gwozdecky said. “Unfortunately, (UMass coach) Donny
(Cahoon) wouldn't give it to us.” Denver sophomore
goaltender Peter Mannino notched his sixth career shutout,
and his first of the season, in the win.
• Minnesota
Duluth’s convincing 9-1 and 5-1 wins over Yale during
the Thanksgiving weekend marked the Bulldogs’ first
sweep of a home series since a pair of wins versus Minnesota
State, Mankato on Oct. 22-23, 2004. With five players suspended
for the first Yale game due to team rules violations, 12
of the 16 skaters dressed for the home team recorded at
least one point in the rout. The Bulldogs will look to extend
their winning ways over the Mavericks this weekend in Mankato.
In the last nine games between the two schools, UMD is 7-1-1,
with the Mavs’ lone win coming in overtime in the
opening game of the 2004 WCHA playoffs.
• This Friday,
Michigan Tech will be looking for its first home win over
North Dakota since Jan. 7, 1995. The Huskies may have picked
a bad time to try to break that string, as the Fighting
Sioux are well rested, having not played on Thanksgiving
weekend. The last seven times that North Dakota has had
an idle weekend, the Sioux have returned to action by posting
a 6-0-1 mark in their next game.
• Friday’s
Minnesota Duluth win over Yale briefly featured a two-referee
system, thanks to an errant puck. Five minutes into the
game, referee Derek Shepherd was struck in the nose by a
puck and had to leave the ice, bleeding profusely. His brother,
Brad, was watching from the stands, having officiated the
UMD women’s team’s 6-1 win over Harvard earlier
in the day. With the approval of the Shepherd boys’
father, Greg, who is the WCHA’s supervisor of officials
and who was also in attendance, the game’s two assistant
referees worked a two-official system for a few minutes,
giving Brad time to strap the blades back on and finish
the game.
• St. Cloud
State forwards Konrad Reeder and Andrew Gordon both recorded
their first collegiate short-handed goals in the Huskies'
4-4 tie with Brown last Saturday. It was the first time
the Huskies had scored two shorties in one game since a
6-2 win at Maine on Oct. 13, 2001.
A
variety of sources were utilized in the compilation of
this report.
