Admit it: you were bewildered when you looked at INCH’s WCHA preview and saw we had St. Cloud State picked for second (behind Denver). Not too many weeks later, when the Huskies were sub-.500 (5-6-2 after losing in Denver the day after Thanksgiving), we were bewildered too.

But, as we’ve said time and time again, you can’t win the WCHA title in November. And if you hang tight through a tough early schedule, knowing there are winnable games ahead, as the Huskies have, you probably can’t lose it then either.

After all of that early season discontent, the Huskies travel to Colorado College this weekend just a point out of the top spot in the league, currently tied for second (with Denver). But with the top five teams in the WCHA just two points apart, St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko doesn’t see a race, he sees a mess.

“There is no first place right now, there’s just a big blob of teams up there, slugging it out,” Motzko said. The meeting with the Tigers in Colorado Springs is important not just for the four points on the line, but for the sake of revenge as well. In mid-December, the Tigers took three of four points from a tired Huskies team in St. Cloud.

While CC is just 2-5-0 in its last seven games, the Huskies haven’t lost since that cold December weekend, having rattled off eight in a row without a loss or tie. The reasons for the rally are many, involving schedules, defensive pairings, goaltending tandems and old-fashioned hard work. But the end result is that with five more weekends of WCHA play ahead, St. Cloud State is fulfilling expectations – INCH’s and their own.

Motzko points first to improvement in the defensive corps as a key to the better results. After experimenting different combinations, he’s settled on the top pairing of captain Garrett Raboin with Chris Hepp, and has liked what he’s seen. The stat sheet shows good things from that duo as well, as Raboin has been freed up to do more, and has all five of goals this season since the holiday break.

“I’m getting into those scoring areas more, from the hashmarks in,” said Raboin, praising Hepp’s defensive tendencies. “I’ve always had some freedom, but (Hepp) has done a nice job of being back there and limiting the other team’s opportunities. I’m definitely not afraid to take a chance, if there’s an opportunity there.”

In contrast to October and November, in Raboin (who was named the WCHA’s Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday), Motzko sees a completely different player wearing the C these days.

“He played like the whole weight of the world was on his shoulders in the first part of the year, and was doing a lot of things that were out of character,” Motzko said. “It’s no coincidence that our little run has happened at the same time as he’s started scoring more and playing more to his strengths.”

Behind Raboin and Hepp is the effective defensive duo of Oliver Lauridsen and surprising freshman Taylor Johnson. And behind them is one of two emerging goalies that have made a huge difference for the Huskies.

With the opportunity to win a gold medal at the World Junior Championships looming in the first half of the season, it was understandable if Huskies freshman goalie Mike Lee may have been a little mentally preoccupied. Since Lee has returned from Saskatchewan, he and Dan Dunn have settled into a rotation which has quickly become the most effective goalie tandem in the league. Since opening the season with an overtime loss at Miami (Ohio), Dunn has only lost once, while Lee has become the Huskies regular Saturday night netminder and is producing great results as well.

Those results were seen by many on last weekend. After going 0-6-0 versus Minnesota last season, the Huskies got a measure of revenge and four important points in sweeping a home-and-home series from the Golden Gophers. True to his low-key nature, the coach focused on the wins, and not the opponent.

“It was one weekend in a long season, but anytime you get two wins in a weekend in this league, it’s like finding a piece of gold,” Motzko said. “Last year there was not good chemistry and they clobbered us. This was our year, but it’s not over yet.”

As opposed to the first half of the season, which had the Huskies on the road to Miami (Ohio), Michigan Tech, North Dakota and Alaska Anchorage, the road in has been more favorable. After the series at Colorado College, the Huskies come home for their next four WCHA games – two each with Alaska Anchorage and North Dakota – before a sure-to-be critical trip to Wisconsin. They’re solidly in that “blob” of contenders and have an opportunity to win the school’s first-ever MacNaughton Cup. But coach and players are focused on the near future, not what, with more wins, may come in March.

“There’s a lot of season left,” said assistant captain Aaron Marvin. “The road trips are always tough, and CC is always tough. You look at this league and it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing, you know it’s going to be a battle.”

And after a slower-than-expected start, these Huskies are in the thick of the dogfight.

BEST VERSUS BEST, REST VERSUS REST

There is interesting schedule symmetry in the WCHA this weekend, with the best playing the best, and the lower-rung teams facing off head-to-head as well. In Houghton, the ninth- and 10th-place teams meet with Minnesota State visiting Michigan Tech, while eight hosts seven in Anchorage as Minnesota visits the Seawolves.

Then, up where the air is rare, we have North Dakota (currently sixth) hosting second-place Denver. We have the other second-place team, St. Cloud State, visiting Colorado College, which is in a toe for fourth place with Wisconsin. And the Badgers make what may be their last trip to the DECC, to face league-leading Minnesota Duluth.

The league’s schedulers could hardly have planned things better for the sake of drama and standings intrigue.

EARPLUG TIME AT THE RALPH?

This weekend will be Denver’s first visit to North Dakota since last year at about this time, when the Fighting Sioux got a sweep, and four very important points en route to winning the MacNaughton Cup. That was also the weekend that Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky, after an on-ice fracas, made his now-legendary stroll across the ice to speak to the officials, on his way to an ejection.

Needless to say, some Sioux fans have been saving some choice words for coach Gwoz for a long time, eagerly anticipating his return. We’re sure there will be the standard pre-game announcements warning against the use of “foul and abusive language” by fans and threatening ejection for same. We wonder, if ushers stringently enforce that threat, will there be any Sioux fans left in the building by the third period?