| PLAYER OF THE WEEK |
DREW SHORE
Denver
So. | F | Denver, Colo.
His Statistics: 2 GP; 4-2—6 in Denver Cup wins vs. Lake Superior State and Air Force.
His Impact: Shore’s big weekend helped Denver run its winning streak to six games and is the latest effort for the sophomore in a breakout season. He was named tournament MVP after leading the event with six points, and he recorded his first career hat trick in the win over Lake Superior State on Friday. The next night, Shore potted the game-winning goal against Air Force.
The bigger picture is that Shore is having a breakout season. He has a four-game point streak and has a point in nine of DU’s last 10 contests. Shore has already set a career-high in points with 22 on the year (10 goals, 12 assists) and shares the scoring lead among all WCHA players.
His Runners-Up: Max Campbell, Western Michigan; Doug Jones, Dartmouth; Ben Meisner, American International; Michael Pereira, Massachusetts.
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| STICK SALUTE |
We heartily hoist our branches in honor of American International, which beat Mercyhurst twice in Erie, Pa., this past weekend for its first road sweep in more than nine years. The Yellowjackets’ last such conquest occured Nov. 9-10, 2001, when they took two games from Fairfield—a school that dropped its varsity hockey program after the 2002-03 season.
AIC has a respectable 3-4-0 road record so far this season, pretty heady stuff for a program that entered the year with a 34-game (0-28-6) winless streak away from home and hasn’t won more than three road games since the 2002-03 campaign. Goaltender Ben Meisner starred for the Yellowjackets, stopping 62 of the 64 shots he faced on the weekend and turning aside all 35 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout Saturday.
| BENCH MINOR |
Hockey pugilists typically adhere to an unwritten but well-known code of conduct when it’s time to duke it out. No such agreement exists in football, however, which explains why Sunday’s scrap between the Houston Texans’ Andre Johnson and the Tennessee Titans’ Cortland Finnegan looked so ridiculous. Tearing off one another’s helmets, wildly flailing arms in an attempt to land a blow — watching these two trying to settle a grudge was an embarrasment. Hockey’s detractors—and even some of its most ardent supporters — bemoan the tolerance of fighting in the sport, but at least we leave the heavy lifting to the guys who know how to do it.
| SAY WHAT? |
“I got four.”
Wisconsin’s Justin Schultz to Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal after the Badgers’ 4-1 win against Michigan State Saturday, which snapped a six-game winless skid. Theoretically, Schultz, a sophomore defenseman, was responsible for four goals—he became the fifth blueliner in Badger history to record a hat trick, and he also contributed to the Spartans’ lone tally when a centering attempt by MSU’s Zach Golembiewski caromed off Schultz’s skate and past Wisconsin goalie Scott Gudmandson.
Schultz very nearly became the first Badger defenseman to score five goals. Two of his shots against MSU ricocheted off the goal post. He’ll have to be content to join Maco Balkovec, Bruce Driver, Barry Richter, and Gary Suter on the of Wisconsin rearguards with three-goal games.
| RANKINGS OUTRAGE |
Of the 84 ballots submitted for the two voter-driven polls this week, all but one ranked Minnesota Duluth as the nation’s top team. The lone holdout, a member of the USCHO.com voting poll, put Boston University in the top spot. To this we say, really? True, the Terriers have just one loss, but they’re a less-than-inspiring 1-1-4 in their last six games. Remember that old Warren Zevon tune, “Hit Somebody”? BU, you need to beat somebody.
| TWEET OF THE WEEK |
@INCH In honor of Thanksgiving, a look back at what we’re thankful for: http://bit.ly/f9FjEX
The INCH First Shift is intended to wrap up the recently completed weekend, so we’ll do the same here in our Tweet of the Week. In case you missed it, @INCH revisited our old Things We’re Thankful For that were published over seven consecutive years in our Found On A Cocktail Napkin. The times change, but the sentiment remains the same. The 2008 version is linked here, but the previous Napkins are archived at the bottom.
