ST. PAUL, Minn. – A year ago, what North Dakota is attempting to do was impossible. Getting to the WCHA Final Five was a big deal, and a win in the Thursday night play-in game meant you got to play two more. But designs on winning the title, if you played on Thursday night, were akin to non-existent.

But after Minnesota Duluth pulled off the three-wins-in-three-nights trick last year, becoming the first team in nearly two decades of trying to do so, suddenly there’s hope for all.

The Bulldogs were indeed hoping to do it again, but ran into a green-and-white roadblock Thursday, falling 2-0 to the Fighting Sioux behind 22 saves by Brad Eidsness. Just don’t talk to the North Dakota coach about pulling off the “win from Thursday” feat. He’s got more immediate concerns in mind.

“We live to fight another day, which is the name of the game in this tournament,” Dave Hakstol said. “We’re not worried about winning three games, we were just worried about today. We’ve had close, tough games with Duluth all season, and we knew this would probably be the toughest.”

Chris VandeVelde celebrates North Dakota's first goal in the midst of several Minnesota Duluth players.

The Sioux did everything but score for 40 minutes, dominating both ends of the ice and out-shooting the Bulldogs 25-10 in the first two periods. After all of that, it looked as if Minnesota Duluth had taken the lead early in the third.

Eidsness produced a pop-fly rebound on a wide-angle shot by Drew Akins, and linemate Cody Danberg swatted the puck out of the air, off a North Dakota skate, and into the net. After a lengthy review, officials ruled no goal, saying Danberg had used a high stick. Clearly disappointed by the call, Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin seemed satisfied with the explanation.

“The nice thing is they have so many cameras here, they can look at it from a lot of angles, instead of just the overhead like in our rink,” he said. “Of course, maybe it would’ve worked in our favor if it was just the overhead.”

With the final minutes ticking away, Jason Gregoire got his team-leading 20th goal for the Sioux short-handed, ripping a high shot past Bulldog goalie Kenny Reiter just seconds after Chris VandeVelde had been stopped on a short breakaway. Later, Evan Trupp got an insurance goal with less than two minutes to play. For the relieved Trupp, it was his first goal in 21 games. Reiter finished with 32 saves.

“We take a lot of pride in our penalty kill,” said Gregoire, after his team got its sixth shorty of the season. “It’s been a huge factor in a lot of our wins.”

The Sioux have now won 10 of their last 11, and are solidly in the NCAA Tournament as it currently stands. The Bulldogs will now wait and hope, having gone 6-10-0 since mid-January. Winning on Thursday would have helped, and winning the tournament, again, would have gotten them a guarantee. But they know better than anyone what a daunting, but no longer impossible, task that is.

“To win three games here is tough. We did it last year, but the circumstances are different,” Sandelin said. “On Sunday we had the Broadmoor (Trophy) in the dressing room, hoping that would give them a little spark. But this is a different team, and it’s a different year.”

Black, White and Blood

The game’s most significant stoppage of play came with 7:45 left in the second, when assistant referee Bob Keltie took an inadvertent stick up high from a Sioux player. The North Dakota training staff attended to Keltie, staunching the bleeding from a cut above his left eye during a several-minute delay. Keltie skated a few more shifts, then was replaced by Jared Moen with 4:37 to play in the first.

BOX SCORE

Like so many Minnesota kids before him, Garrett Raboin headed to junior hockey after a successful high school hockey career (and a state championship football career) in his hometown of Detroit Lakes, Minn. Three years later he was still playing junior hockey, thinking about following his parents into a special education career, and starting to wonder if the call from a big-time college would ever come.

Then, thankfully, the phone rang.

As Raboin heads into his final few college hockey games, his place among St. Cloud State’s best defensemen and best leaders is as secure as his bright future beyond hockey, whenever that may come. A member of the WCHA’s academic all-star team for three years running, Raboin has been the leader of the Huskies defensively all season, and was one of the conference’s top scorers from the blue line, despite missing a few games due to injury late in the season. His 81 career points puts him fourth all-time among Husky defensemen; Raboin recently passed Stanley Cup winner Bret Hedican (77) on that list.

Seeded third, the Huskies will be looking for their second-ever WCHA playoff title this weekend, starting with an afternoon date versus Wisconsin on Friday. Win or lose, two games later Raboin will make his third trip to the NCAA Tournament, fully aware that a win on that stage would be the program’s elusive first of its kind.

As he relaxed on St. Patrick’s Day evening gearing up for the trip to St. Paul, Raboin shared some thoughts about this year’s Huskies, how he got here, and just how much he hears from St. Cloud State’s notorious student section once the puck drops for a home game.

Garrett Raboin: They played well. They played tight and didn’t allow us many opportunities all weekend. They got fantastic goaltending and strong defense, which made it tough for us.

INCH: Is that typical of your rivalry with the Mavericks?

GR: Mankato’s been tough as long as I’ve been here. All in all, they’ve probably gotten the better of us record-wise. They had some good players and good leadership this year and gave us all we could handle.

INCH: Were you a Husky fan as a kid?

GR: I was. Well, I was kind of a WCHA fan. My first few years I lived in International Falls (Minn.), so I grew up around Duluth. The ‘Dogs are the big deal around International Falls. Depending on who was having success in a particular year, I kind of flip-flopped from team to team in the WCHA.

INCH: When did you move?

GR: I was six years old when we moved to Detroit Lakes.

INCH: Your parents are both in special education. What was it like growing up around that?

GR: It was just what I knew, I guess. It was always entertaining when their students would come over. We always had a lot of fun, so it was just part of growing up for me, having students around in the summertime. I never thought too much about it.

INCH: At what point did you feel that was something you wanted to do as well?

GR: Probably after high school when I was in juniors, you kind of start thinking about which direction you might be heading and it seemed like the natural choice for me.

INCH: You played three years of junior hockey. Were you always thinking Division I, or did you get to a point where you would’ve taken any college offer?

GR: Division I was always the goal. There definitely is a point where you’re wondering if you might need to go play Division III or anything to continue your career, but I stuck with it and never lost hope and things ended up working out.

INCH: What ultimately went into your decision to go to St. Cloud State?

GR: It was one of those things where right when I heard from Coach Motzko, it felt good in my gut and my heart was there. I couldn’t wait to get to St. Cloud. From the time I first talked to coach to the time I knew I was coming it was a matter of days.

INCH: Last season the Huskies did pretty much everything except beat Minnesota and ended up sitting home and watching the Final Five as a result. Was that a motivating factor going into this year?

GR: I don’t think it was really our losses to Minnesota. Definitely being away from the Final Five and other postseason play, guys went to work this summer with that in mind. It’s also another year of maturity throughout our lineup and we brought in some good freshmen. It’s just a unique team. It’s different than any team we’ve had since I’ve been here and guys like to go to work every day at the rink. That’s contributed a lot to our success.

INCH: It’s your second year as a captain. How has it changed things for you, being in a leadership role?

GR: It really hasn’t changed things too much. I’ve always been a player that’s worn it and gone about my business as I had before. That letter has fallen on me by how I’ve carried myself on and off the ice up to the point that I earned it. I’ve kept doing the things that come to me naturally and never thought too much about it.

INCH: How did you injure your ankle and how has the recovery process been?

GR: I kind of went into the boards funny, got bumped from behind a little bit in Wisconsin. It’s the longest injury I’ve ever had to deal with, but a lot of players have to deal with it in their career. I had to go through rehab, and it’s one of those things that’s going to linger around until the season’s over and I get some rest. For right now, with the importance of these games and the intensity of them, you just play with it and kind of forget about it with the emotions of the game.

INCH: On the Huskies defensive corps, what makes that group so successful?

GR: Eric Rud is our coach back there and he’s done a lot of work with us. It’s an accumulation of things that have come throughout the four years at St. Cloud, from learning from the guys who were older when I was a freshman and sophomore. When you’re growing up through a program, you try to teach the younger guys something as I was taught by the guys before me. This year, I think we have some defensemen who have played a lot of games. Just about all of us have a couple seasons under our belts and have led for various teams. It’s a team thing. It’s the forwards and the defense all working together toward a common goal.

INCH: A few years ago some of the Huskies dyed their hair red for the playoffs and I see Wisconsin is going with the playoff moustaches this year. What is your team doing as a playoff gimmick?

GR: Nowdays you’re different if you don’t do anything, so we’re going to stick with being ourselves and go with what’s been winning us games throughout the year.

INCH: With the end of the season approaching, do you think about the NCAA Tournament and getting the Huskies their first win there?

GR: To our guys, that’s not a thought. You hear about it. The two previous times I was in the national tournament, that comes up, but this team of guys has goose eggs all across the board and we’d like to get a win. Not to get rid of the losing streak for the university but for ourselves because that’s where we hope our season can go.

INCH: The crowds at the National Hockey Center are pretty legendary. What is it like having all of those crazies on your side?

GR: It’s unbelievable. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I think opposing teams enjoy playing in our arena and it brings out the best in them … it definitely brings out the best in us.

INCH: Do you block out the crowd once the game starts or do you hear the chants from the student section?

GR: Absolutely you hear them. They’re a big part of any success we have had and are going to have. Our fans are top notch, that’s for sure.

THE FAVORITE

While wins have been plentiful in Denver’s march to its third MacNaughton Cup of the past decade, blowouts have been a rarity. Even in winning 11 of the last 12 regular season games, the Pioneers’ opponents were within two goals in seven of those wins. Some might see that as a sign that these league champions are not as strong as some from past years, where five-goal margins were expected. We see it as a sign of strength. Since the Pioneers have rarely been able to go into “cruise control” mode late in games, we see a team that has developed real grit and the ability to win with a 60-minute effort. We’d be anything but surprised to see the Pioneers in the WCHA Final Five title game for the third consecutive year.

THE GATE CRASHER

In January, while North Dakota was in the midst of an ugly stretch where the Fighting Sioux went 1-5-1 and looked like a lock for a road playoff series, we tried to make the case that sans Chay Genoway and Brett Hextall (both injured at the time) NoDak was a different, more lunch-bucket team. Sioux coach Dave Hakstol would have none of it. But while Genoway’s on-ice stick salute last Saturday was all we’ve seen of him in a Sioux sweater, Hextall’s return and the unexpected re-addition of Matt Frattin have given North Dakota a bit of a retro look. To be clear, they’re playing like they did way back in November, winning seven in a row and scoring nearly five goals a night in that stretch as they head to the playoffs. This looks like a team bent on making one or two trips to the Xcel Energy Center in March.

INCH’s ALL-WCHA TEAM

F - Rhett Rakhshani, Denver
The lighting quick release makes Rakh the player WCHA goalies least like to see alone with the puck.

F - Jack Connelly, Minnesota Duluth
A breakout year for the Duluthian determined to return his hometown team to the Frozen Four.

F - Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud State
Five more points, and Lasch will finish as the Huskies all-time leading scorer. That’s not all he’ll be remembered for.

D - Brendan Smith, Wisconsin
The forward disguised as a blueliner on the Badgers’ ridiculously talented back line put up a WCHA-best 33 assists.

D - Patrick Wiercioch, Denver
When there’s a face-off late in a game and the Pios need a goal, all the forwards have one plan: get the puck to #28 on the point.

G - Marc Cheverie, Denver
Some point to his .937 saves percentage. We turn our gaze one column to the right, where we see an .810 winning percentage.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Credit Dave Hasktol and Bob Motzko for their successful in-season juggling acts brought on by injures and other factors, but give this nod to Denver’s George Gwozdecky for knowing when to plead and prod, and knowing, with the most on-ice talent in the league, when to get out of the way and let them do what they do. In pushing all of the right buttons, he made his colleagues look good too, becoming one of the rare WCHA coaches’ pre-season picks to actually win the league title.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

As Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie drives headlong in his quest to become just the third netminder to win the Hobey, we wonder if anyone in his hometown would even notice. Not that folks in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, aren’t proud of their native sons, but with a neighborhood kid named Sidney Crosby bringing a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal back to town in the last 12 months, would the Hobey would even get a page 9C mention in the Dartmouth Cole Harbour Weekly News? With six shutouts en route to a league title and his sights set on more, we may have a chance to learn what kind of local impact the Hobey will make in the Maritimes.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Speaking of gold medals, it’s been a nice winter for North Dakota forward Danny Kristo. The fiery redhead from suburban Minneapolis the missed out on a state high school title last winter with his Eden Prairie pals, opting instead for a year in the USHL. He hasn’t missed much in 2009-10, rattling off 30 points to become the WCHA’s top-scoring rookie and grabbing the top prize for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in early January. It’s scary to think what he might do for an encore.

BREAKTHROUGH PLAYER

The preseason bio on Minnesota Duluth forward Rob Bordson said the Duluth native intended to “turn up the volume” in 2009-10. If that’s the case, he was clearly set on “mute” a year ago, playing in just six games and going without a point as a sophomore. Then his volume knob got turned up to 11, or more accurately, 28, as in the number of assists he led the Bulldogs with this year. Playing left wing on one of the ‘Dogs top two lines much of the season, Bordson is an unexpectedly important element in Minnesota Duluth’s effort to repeat as Final Five champs, and return to the NCAAs.

Other Conference Recaps: Atlantic | CCHA | CHA | ECACH | Hockey East | WCHA

Playoff Preview Capsules: Atlantic | CCHA | CHA | ECACH | Hockey East | WCHA

No. 10 Michigan Tech at No. 1 Denver
MTU: 5-28-1 (4-24-0 WCHA)
DU: 25-7-4 (19-5-4 WCHA)
Season Series: Denver, 2-0-0
Husky Fact: Tech scored exactly half as many goals as their opponents, both in conference and overall play. In WCHA games, the Huskies had 59 goals and gave up 118. Overall it was 71 for, 142 against.
Pioneer Fact: The last time Denver hosted the Huskies in the WCHA playoffs was in 2005, when the Pioneers swept Tech en route to winning the Broadmoor Trophy and the NCAA title.
How Michigan Tech Wins: Score goals, and lots of them. The Huskies goaltending has not been a strong suit at any point this season, which puts them in the unenviable position of having to try to outscore an opponent that has Marc Cheverie between the pipes.
How Denver Wins: Same formula they’ve used all season: get a lead (even a small one), and hold it. Some think it’s a sign of vulnerability that the Pioneers have rarely blown out opponents. We think that learning to hold leads in close games may pay off big-time in March.

No. 9 Alaska Anchorage at No. 2 Wisconsin
UAA: 11-21-2 (9-17-2 WCHA)
UW: 22-9-4 (17-8-3 WCHA)
Season Series: Wisconsin, 2-0-0
Seawolf Fact: Alaska Anchorage’s last win in Madison was in a WCHA playoff game, a 2-1 victory on March 12, 2005. The Seawolves only trip to the WCHA Final Five came in 2004 when they upset the Badgers on the road.
Badger Fact: The 17-8-3 conference record by Wisconsin gave the Badgers sole possession of second place in the WCHA, which was their best finish since Mike Eaves took over the program in 2002. They tied for second in 2006, before winning the NCAA title.
How Alaska Anchorage Wins: Use your skilled lines, and shoot the puck. The Badgers are amazing at scoring goals and playing defense, but their goaltending is pedestrian. Put pucks on the net, and your odds go up dramatically.
How Wisconsin Wins: It all starts with the most talented blue line crew in college hockey. Let the defensemen control the play, and score goals like the Badgers have done all season.

No. 8 Minnesota State at No. 3 St. Cloud State
MSU: 15-18-3 (9-17-2 WCHA)
SCSU: 20-11-5 (15-9-4 WCHA)
Season Series: Minnesota State, 1-0-1
Maverick Fact: History tells us the two-hour bus ride to St. Cloud should be no burden for the Mavs, who are 7-1-1 in their last nine trips to the National Hockey Center.
Husky Fact: This will be the first playoff encounter between the Huskies and Mavericks. Since joining the WCHA in 1991, St. Cloud State has previously faced every conference team except Minnesota State in the league playoffs.
How Minnesota State Wins: Play the game with your head first, and your legs second. The Mavericks rival just about anyone in the WCHA in terms of experience, but mental mistakes have doomed them this season. Play a thinking man’s game.
How St. Cloud State Wins: Get the puck to the hot hands. Drew LeBlanc ended the regular season with 11 points in his last 10 games, while Ryan Lasch needs just five point to become the program’s all-time leading scorer. It starts with them.

No. 7 Minnesota at No. 4 North Dakota
UM: 17-17-2 (12-14-2 WCHA)
UND: 20-11-5 (15-10-3 WCHA)
Season Series: Tied, 1-1-2
Golden Gopher Fact: The last time Minnesota had a WCHA playoff game in Grand Forks was 1987, which was the last year all of the league playoff games were held at campus sites. The Gophers were also memorably upset by Holy Cross there in the 2006 NCAA playoffs.
Fighting Sioux Fact: North Dakota enters the playoffs on a seven-game winning streak, during which the Sioux are averaging 4.5 goals per game.
How Minnesota Wins: Play with heart. There’s never been a question about the Gophers talent, especially at forward, but they’ve played too many games lacking the fire that separates winners from also-rans. Facing a rival in the post-season, they’ll need passion.
How North Dakota Wins: Stay hot and hungry. After an ugly, injury-riddled stretch in January and early February, the Sioux have gotten healthier and forgotten how to lose. This is no time to remember.

No. 6 Colorado College at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth
CC: 18-15-3 (12-13-3 WCHA)
UMD: 20-15-1 (16-11-1 WCHA)
Season Series: Minnesota Duluth, 3-1-0
Tiger Fact: Colorado College has previously faced Minnesota Duluth 10 times in the playoffs, with five of the games going to overtime. This is the first time in the past 17 seasons that the Tigers have had to leave Colorado for the first round of the playoffs.
Bulldog Fact: Each of the last three WCHA playoff series hosted by the Bulldogs (in 1998, 2003 and 2004) has gone to a third game, with UMD winning each time.
How Colorado College Wins: Find new faces. The Tigers enter the playoffs ice cold and somewhat banged up, with goalie Joe Howe and others fighting the injury bug. Sounds like the perfect time for lesser-known Tigers with something to prove to step up.
How Minnesota Duluth Wins: Shrink the game. These will be the last playoff games on the DECC’s Lilliputian ice sheet. If the Bulldogs can make things uncomfortable for a team used to Olympic-size ice, they can advance to defend their WCHA Final Five title.

Playoff Preview Capsules: Atlantic | CCHA | CHA | ECACH | Hockey East | WCHA

Conference Recaps: Atlantic | CCHA | CHA | ECACH | Hockey East | WCHA

Denver coach George Gwozdecky is one who generally keeps his emotions in check. So if you were expecting a big display after his team’s dramatic MacNaughton Cup-clinching victory last Saturday, you were bound to be let down.

Cheverie continues to make Denver look good.

After addressing and congratulating his Pioneers behind closed doors, Gwozdecky sat with reporters and offered a smile and words of thanks when he was congratulated on directing Denver to its 12th WCHA regular-season title. If it seemed that his mind was on other things, that’s because he was already looking ahead.

“Our plan all along was to try to win as many games as we could down the stretch and put ourselves in a position for the postseason. If that included the MacNaughton Cup, all the more merrier,” Gwozdecky said, after Rhett Rakhshani’s goal with just seconds left in overtime lifted the Pioneers to a 4-3 win at Minnesota State. “We’ve done it before where we’ve tried so hard to win that thing that we’ve ended up emotionally spent. I’m excited for the regular season to end and the most fun part of the season to begin.”

Gwozdecky was likely referencing his deep and talented 2002 team, which charged to the WCHA’s regular season and playoff titles, only to bow out quietly in the NCAA playoffs. By contrast, these Pioneers hadn’t even wiped off the sweat from their Cup-clinching effort when they were already talking about the next piece of hardware they intend to collect.

“The Gold Pan is very serious for us,” said goalie Marc Cheverie, referencing the traveling trophy that the Pioneers battle Colorado College for each year. “We haven’t won that in a number of years. We want that bad because no one on our team has ever had it.”

There’s little more than the Gold Pan to play for this weekend when the Pioneers host, then visit, the Tigers. Denver will hoist the Cup on Friday, is assured of a home playoff series with 10th-place Michigan Tech, and is looking like a solid No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And with Cheverie rattling off 21 wins and a half-dozen shutouts this season thus far, there’s talk that another significant piece of hardware may revisit Denver. In the Saturday win, Cheverie showed off the credentials that give him a realistic to join Robb Stauber and Ryan Miller on the short list of Hobey-winning goaltenders. Just seconds before Rakhshani’s game-winner on Saturday, Cheverie stopped the Mavericks on a 2-on-1 break.

“Marc Cheverie continues to be the guy that makes us look great,” Gwozdecky said. “I’m sure he’s going to have a lot of accolades in the postseason, and he deserves them all.”

Making Cheverie’s job a little bit easier is the Pioneers’ top line of Rakhshni, Tyler Ruegsegger and Joe Colborne. That trio combined for two goals and six assists on Saturday. Gwozdecky admits that two years ago, when Rakhshani and Ruegsegger were juniors, he thought there was “no bloody way” they would stick around for a fourth year of college hockey. But he’s delighted they did.

“Like any top line they’ve really been able to mesh well and really develop some pretty good magic between the three of them,” said the coach. “All three are different players, but all three are very effective when you combine their strengths and what they can do together.”

How far they can go together as a team is the next focus. It’s been well-documented that the 1991 Northern Michigan squad was the last to win the MacNaughton Cup outright and win a NCAA title in the same season. But Gwodecky’s 2005 Denver team shared the Cup (with Colorado College) and then won the national title, so some might argue that the “curse” has already been broken. One thing these Pioneers have rarely done this season is blow out their opponents. In their current 10-game winning streak, a 5-1 triumph over Minnesota has been as close to a rout as they’ve seen, and the players think that’s a good thing.

“We keep finding ways to win,” Cheverie said. “We’re not dominating teams. Every game is tough.”

Now the true tough work begins, with four more trophies (Gold Pan, Broadmoor, Hobey and NCAA title) in their sights as the Pioneers eye March and April. Not to lessen the importance of the Cup, which Gwozdecky believes is the hardest conference title to win in college hockey, but the celebration will be somewhat muted, as energy is conserved for what they expect will be a longer run.

“We know this is far from over,” Colborne said outside the visitors’ locker room in Mankato. “We’ll enjoy it tonight, but then we’ve got to move on because there’s a lot more we want to do with our season.”

RARE ROAD SWING FOR CC

After getting swept at home by North Dakota last weekend, Colorado College will be going on the road for the playoffs for just the second time in the last 17 seasons. In 2004, the Tigers traveled to Denver for a pair and swept the Pioneers. Denver made good use of the extra weekend of rest, and went on to win the NCAA title that season.

One playoff scenario has CC traveling to Minnesota Duluth for round one. After the Bulldogs visited CC in the playoffs last year and upset the Tigers, there are surely one or two CC players who would relish the opportunity to return the favor.

FIRE AWAY BADGERS

Someone has clearly gotten the message to Wisconsin that a shot on goal is never a bad play. En route to scoring 10 goals last weekend in a sweep at Michigan Tech (by identical 5-2 scores each night), the Badgers recorded an amazing 113 shots on goal. They had 63 on Friday, and a relatively tame 50 on Saturday.

Speaking of the Badgers, this is our favorite stat of the week: If Blake Geoffrion holds on to claim the WCHA scoring title this weekend, he will be the first Wisconsin player to do so since two Badgers shared the honor at the end of the 1977-78 season. Who were they? None other than current Badger men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves and current Badger women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson (who took a leave of absence to coach the Team USA women to a silver medal in Vancouver).

A DECC THROWBACK

With the Winter Olympics still going last weekend, and so many flashbacks to the 1980 Miracle on Ice being referenced, it seems appropriate that Minnesota Duluth played like the days of Reaganomics had returned. The Bulldogs 3-0 shutout of Minnesota last Saturday marked the first time UMD had blanked the Golden Gophers since a 8-0 win on Nov. 14, 1980.

A glance at the WCHA composite schedule will tell you that officially the league’s first-round playoff series start in two weeks. But don’t let the schedule fool you. For all intents and purposes, when North Dakota takes to the ice of Colorado Springs World Arena to face Colorado College this weekend, the playoffs will have begun in earnest.

And if you’re a Tiger fan, or more importantly, a Tiger, that may or may not be a good thing. CC was the unexpected feel-good story of the season’s first half, and closed out 2009 with a trip to Florida and a 12-5-3 record heading into the new decade. But as they return home for a make-or-break weekend series, there’s suddenly an air of desperation in C-Springs.

The Tigers have gone a pedestrian 5-7-0 since Jan. 1 and where once they seemed a lock for home ice and a trip to the NCAA playoffs, today they find themselves tied with the Fighting Sioux for that final home ice slot. Those who study the computer rankings also tell us that if one team or the other gets a sweep this weekend, it could effectively knock the other team out of the national playoff picture. It’s a situation of which the Tigers are fully aware.

“We’ve got home ice on the line. We’ve got NCAA tournament bids on the line, and it’s coming down to the wire,” said CC forward Mike Testwuide, who leads the Tigers with 18 goals. “It’s big time right now. We’ve got to put some games together, get some wins and have a playoff mentality right now.”

If the sense of desperation was lacking before, last weekend’s troubles at Minnesota brought the Tigers immediate situation into much sharper focus. Coming off a free weekend where they were, in theory, able to get healthy and energized, CC instead fell flat in Minneapolis, losing 3-0 and 7-4. Those results, combined with NoDak’s home sweep of Minnesota Duluth, allowed the Fighting Sioux to close the gap.

“It looked like we were skating in sand,” said Tigers coach Scott Owens after the Friday night loss. “We feel we’re definitely a better team than this.”

Some things haven’t changed despite the general reversal of fortunes for the Tigers in 2010. Testwuide and Billy Sweatt are still the consistent sources of offense, and freshman goalie Joe Howe is still one of the league’s stronger netminders. For some, his rookie performance is reminiscent of what another CC freshman, Richard Bachman, did two years ago. You’ll recall that Bachman backstopped the Tigers to the WCHA title, earning league MVP and rookie of the year honors in the process.

“He comes up with big saves at key times and that sparks us and we’ll come down and usually get a couple goals,” Testwuide said of Howe. “Richard consistently did it and we’ve seen Joe do it numerous times, so we know he can step up too.”

Where there’s been less stepping up is in the overall offensive performance. It’s one thing to score less. It’s another when cracking 20 shots on goal becomes a challenge. But Owens admits that since Christmas, his team usually gets into the “high teens” in shots on goal in a game, and that second shots have been harder and harder to find.

Add to that a tough schedule, or at least one tougher than that of the teams CC is battling for the playoffs, and there’s work to be done if the Tigers are to wear their white sweaters in the opening round.

“These last six games - anytime you go to Minnesota, host North Dakota and then have Denver left,” Owens said during the series in Minneapolis. “North Dakota finishes up with (Michigan) Tech at home, so there’s a lot of pressure on us.”

Still, while acknowledging that things have been harder to come by lately and the Tigers seem to be riding a roller coaster, Testwuide, for one, seems delighted to be closing out his final regular season of college hockey with games that matter, for now and for two weeks from now.

“We’ve got a great set of guys in the locker room with great character, and we can always bounce back,” Testwuide said. “It’s awesome. Doesn’t get better than this.”

BIG GAMES IN THE BIGGEST STATE

While Alaska Anchorage’s place in the lower echelon of the WCHA standings is secured, there are Alaskan bragging rights, a trophy and a winning streak on the line during the Seawolves’ final non-conference series this weekend. Dave Shyiak and company play archrival Alaska in Anchorage on Friday and in Fairbanks on Saturday with the Governor’s Cup on the line.

While the Nanooks have been fiercely competitive in the CCHA and have hosted league playoff series of late (something the Seawolves have still not done since joining the WCHA in 1993) Alaska Anchorage owns the rivalry of late. The Seawolves last loss to Alaska (still referred to as “UAF” in the materials put out in Anchorage) came on Dec. 31, 2005, and the Seawolves have not lost a home game to the Nanooks since two months earlier, on Oct. 22, 2005.

TWO MORE FOR THE CUP

Denver needs either two wins, or a win and a Wisconsin loss (at Michigan Tech) this weekend to clinch the MacNaughton Cup, which would be George Gwozdecky’s third in the past decade (the Pioneers won the Cup outright in 2002 and shared it with Colorado College in 2005).

Of course, wins have rarely come easily for the Pioneers at Minnesota State, and the schedule Gods have them visiting Mankato this weekend. DU fans can take some heart in knowing that after years of struggles, Denver is actually on a two-game winning streak in Mankato, and is undefeated (3-0-1) in its last four meetings with the Mavericks.

INSTANT NOSTALGIA IN MADISON

If you were unable to make it to the Camp Randall Classic hosted by Wisconsin earlier this month, or if you were there and want to re-live the action, check out the video serial at www.uwbadgers.com. They’ve been recently adding new episodes to a 10-part web video series on the event.

The first segment, with current Badger Patrick Johnson and a childhood friend skating on the frozen pond behind their old neighborhood in Verona, Wis., made for great hockey nostalgia. While trading dekes and shots on a recently-shoveled patch of ice, the friends shared stories about childhood, about Patrick’s impossible task of living up to his father Mark’s heroics for the Badgers and the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, and about the magic of playing hockey outdoors.

Keep the good stuff coming, Bucky.

The students who crunch numbers at Minnesota Duluth’s impressive new Labovitz School of Business (where they operate their own hedge fund) could likely present you with numerous scenarios about what has to happen in the next few weeks for things to break right for the Bulldogs. Most immediately, we know that a win and a tie by the Bulldogs this weekend in their series at North Dakota means home playoff games in the DECC for the first time since 2004, and the last time ever, as their new building will open next season.

Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin leads the Bulldogs into an important series this weeekend at North Dakota.

But for the Bulldogs coach, the only math he’s focused on is immediate in nature, and involves putting more numbers on their side of the scoreboard in their next game. Scott Sandelin reflected on his team’s recent struggles in Friday night games, and on his primary goal for the weekend.

“We’re just focused on getting a win (Friday) night,” Sandelin said. “We need to get back to a little more consistency, because the last month has been really up and down. We haven’t been very good on Friday, and then we seem to wake up on Saturday.”

After sweeping Colorado College and Minnesota State in early January, the Bulldogs were atop the WCHA standings. But since then things haven’t gone so smoothly. The pessimist will note that UMD has won just two of its last six games, with a 0-3-0 mark on Friday night. The glass-is-half-full crowd will note that the Bulldogs have won two of their last three, and head to North Dakota after a weekend off to get a little bit healthier.

For Sandelin, it’s not so much about health or luck or days of the week, it’s about hard work and defying expectations. Those are traits personified by two of the unexpected standouts that have emerged for UMD this season - sophomore goaltender Kenny Reiter and junior forward Rob Bordson.

With a team-leading 26 assists in 30 games, Bordson is doing as a junior what many on the UMD coaching staff expected of him as a sophomore - a season in which he had zero goals and zero assists in 15 games.

“We always knew Rob had good offensive abilities, he was just never strong enough,” Sandelin said. “Over the summer he spent time in the weight room and has gotten much more committed to his game. And the puck is always around him.”

In Reiter, nobody knew what the Bulldogs had for simple lack of ice time. Buried behind star Alex Stalock and rookie Brady Hjelle last season, Sandelin notes that Reiter very easily could’ve left to seek playing time elsewhere.

“Give him credit. He just kept working and kept working. Kenny has persevered a little bit more,” said the coach. “When he was visiting he knew Al was here and knew that Hjelle was already committed.”

Reiter, from Pittsburgh, has split time with Hjelle for the most part all season, starting 18 games to Hjelle’s 15. But Reiter’s superior numbers (.917 save percentage, 2.22 goals-against average heading into the North Dakota series) lead one to believe he’ll be the guy in goal when the Bulldogs get to the playoffs - whether it’s at home or on the road.

UMD has the much-anticipated home series with arch-rival Minnesota sandwiched between trips to North Dakota and Alaska Anchorage to close the season. While generally not looking ahead, Sandelin admits it would be nice to have a home playoff spot wrapped up and out of their minds before the Bulldogs board a plane for Anchorage. And knowing how desperately North Dakota needs points if the Fighting Sioux hope to get home ice and a NCAA tourney invite, Sandelin knows his alma mater will be a desperate team this weekend.

“It will be a lot tougher for that reason,” the coach admitted.

For the Bulldogs, that makes this weekend the perfect time to forget about the numbers and the goal differentials and the records and the playoff-clinching scenarios, and just head out to the ice to play.

ACADEMIC HONORS ABOUND

It’s that time of year when the WCHA emphasizes the student part of student-athlete, honoring its scholar athletes for the 2009-10 season. The numbers of athletes honored for their work in the classroom as well as on the ice seem to get larger the further west you go this time around, as St. Cloud State has six players on the list, North Dakota and Alaska Anchorage each have five, and Denver leads the WCHA with eight scholar athletes.

By contrast, these are apparently not stellar times for schoolwork in the Big Ten. Rarely-used Wisconsin defenseman Ryan Little (who played in 22 games last season but has yet to make an appearance this season) is the only Badger on the list, while no Golden Gophers made the cut.

Players must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or better for two semesters to make the list.

DESERT DUO STEPS INTO COLD

Relatively balmy WCHA schools like Colorado College and Denver have, more often than not, been the landing place for warm-weather kids bound for college hockey. Tigers coach Scott Owens once said California kids seem to like CC because of the familiar abundant sunshine and because it’s as close to home as you can get in college hockey. This despite the 18-hour drive needed to get from Colorado Springs to Los Angeles.

But the southwestern talent pipeline has taken a shift farther north recently, with notable players from Arizona making recent commitments to North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth. A winter in Grand Forks probably will not be that much of a culture shock for Phoenix-area native Colton St. Clair, who has skated with the USHL’s Fargo Force the last two seasons. A star for the Arizona-based PF Chang’s program when he was just 15, St. Clair originally committed to CC, but changed his allegiance to the Fighting Sioux earlier this season.

Family ties likely played a large role in another PF Chang’s standout’s decision to become a Bulldog. Derik Johnson, currently manning the blue line for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, is the son of former Bulldog, and 14-year NHL veteran Jim Johnson. The elder Johnson played for the Penguins, North Stars, Stars, Capitals and Coyotes, before settling in Arizona and coaching the PF Chang’s team for several years.

In many ways, Colorado is where it all began for Golden Gopher captain Tony Lucia. He was just six when his father, Don, moved the family from Fairbanks to the Front Range, to be the head coach at Colorado College.

Aaron Ness and the Gophers begin a difficult home stretch this weekend in Denver.

This weekend, with Minnesota visiting Denver and the Gophers facing the most critical stretch of their schedule left this season, the younger Lucia senses a chance for another new beginning, for him and his team, in Colorado.

If Tony Lucia’s college hockey career is to end in a NCAA tournament game, the Gophers have some ground to make up on the WCHA field.

“We know we dug ourselves a hole early in the season,” Tony said, after the Gophers practiced in Denver on Thursday. Minnesota enters the weekend seven points behind CC and Wisconsin in the race for the final home playoff spot. Catching the Badgers is unlikely, but overtaking the Tigers is somewhat less of a long-shot. Minnesota has two games in hand on CC, and two head-to-head meetings with the Tigers, in Minneapolis, later this month.

But the league’s top team (despite what the standings may currently tell you) looms in the foreground. Denver swept the Gophers in Minnesota earlier in the season, and is a tough place to start for a team in desperate need of wins in its final eight games.

“We’re going to have to rely on our defense and special teams this weekend, and make it a race to three,” Tony said. “We feel pretty confident that if we can score three goals in a game, we can win.”

The burden of scoring that needed trio of goals lies with a trio that has clearly established itself as Minnesota’s top line. With Jordan Schroeder centering newcomer Jacob Cepis and hulking freshman Zach Budish, the Gophers feel they have a line that can compete with any in the league. Schroeder was the story of the first half for the Gophers, and not for good reasons. Touted by many (including INCH) as the league’s preseason MVP, he needed a month to score his first goal, and at one point the school went so far as to issue an official statement denying he was leaving Minnesota early. In Dinkytown, they call that “Pulling an Okposo.”

Since returning from a gold medal-winning turn with Team USA at the World Juniors, Schroeder has notched at least a point in all but one of Minnesota’s games and has worked well with the high-energy Cepis, who has five goals in his first 10 games as a Gopher. Tony Lucia sees a more self-assured Schroeder since his triumphant trip to Saskatchewan.

“Half of the battle is confidence,” Tony said. “Since coming back from the World Juniors, Jordan has played really well and that line has really come together.”

They had last weekend off, giving the players a much-needed chance to step away from hockey, and an opportunity to rest and recuperate. That was most critical for forward Mike Hoeffel, who has missed the previous four games with mononucleosis.

Still the Gophers see a mountain they need to climb looming ahead, and it has nothing to do with the view of the Rockies from their downtown Denver hotel rooms. After the visit with the Pioneers, Minnesota has two at home with CC, a pair on the road at Minnesota Duluth and two at home with high-scoring Wisconsin.

“You look at our league top to bottom and all of those teams are in the top half,” Tony said, noting that they expect to need four or five more regular season wins, two first round playoff wins and two wins at the WCHA Final Five to get into the NCAA tournament. “This is going to be a tough stretch, and we know it’s critical that we come out with a winning record.”

If you need to climb a mountain, Tony Lucia knows that Colorado is the perfect place to start.

SHUT UP AND SHIVER

In the wake of Wisconsin’s hugely-attended outdoor game last week, and amid the talk of a similar event at Minnesota’s football stadium in the near future, we heard a funny suggestion from a friend of INCH not too long ago.

Bob Nygaard, the long-time sports information director at Minnesota Duluth suggested to us that for the sake of keeping up with WCHA rivals, the Bulldogs should consider hosting an outdoor game at 4,000-seat Griggs Field next season.

Let’s see: poor sightlines for hockey, 2,500 fewer seats than the new DECC and a chance to sit outside for three hours in the middle of a Duluth winter? Let’s just say there would be plenty of tickets available.

CHASING A LEGEND

Congratulations to Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell for a milestone last weekend. While the Huskies 3-1 win over Minnesota Duluth was just their fifth this season, it gave Russell 66 career victories which tied him, with Herb Boxer, for second-most in school history.

Of course, Russell has a long way to go if he has designs on the top spot. The late John MacInnes, for whom the Huskies’ rink is named, won 555 games in 26 seasons behind the Tech bench. That included three national championships and seven WCHA titles.

MADISON, Wis. — If Wisconsin’s Brendan Smith is to be a serious contender for this year’s Hobey Baker Award, the junior added a key line to his resume at Saturday’s Culver’s Camp Randall Classic.

After dominating the first 20 minutes of play in front of 55,031 fans at Camp Randall Stadium, Smith’s Badgers let momentum slip into the hands of visiting Michigan in the second and a good chunk of the third period as the Wolverines gained a 2-1 lead. But as the clock wound down, Michigan captain Chris Summers took a pair of untimely penalties in the closing minutes of the contest, allowing Smith to steal the show.

The junior from Mimico, Ont. sent Badger fans into a frenzy with two power-play goals that solidified his candidacy for college hockey’s most prestigious individual honor and leading WIsconsin to a 3-2 win.

“When a young player is on the ice, all they think about is winning the Stanley Cup or whatnot on the back door rink,” Smith said as Wisconsin students chanted his name in the background. “This was pretty damn close.”

Wisconsin outshot Michigan 13-6 in the opening frame, controlling the puck with ease and taking an early lead three minutes into the period when Jordy Murray knocked a rebound past Wolverines netminder Bryan Hogan.

Though the Badgers maintained momentum and threatened to extend the lead on several occasions, Michigan scratched its way back into the game when Scooter Vaughan slipped a puck past Scott Gudmandson late in the first period. Linemate Lindsay Sparks cycled the puck behind the net and sent a pass back to Vaughan in front of the Wisconsin net.

Michigan's Carl Hagelin celebrates linemate Kevin Brown's third-period goal that eluded Wisconsin goalie Scott Gudmandson and gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead.

Freshman Kevin Lynch gave the visitors the lead midway through the third period. Lynch carried the puck up through the neutral zone and let loose just inside the blue line, surprising everyone in the stadium, including Gudmandson, who lost sight of the shot.

“Obviously the ice wasn’t too good, so just getting shots on net was our focus,” Lynch said. “Off of the faceoff we lost the draw, but it came out to Carl [Hagelin]. He gave it to me and I just held on to it and once I got across the blue line, I just let one go and it went in.”

Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves praised his team for their response to Lynch’s stunning goal. Instead of collapsing and letting the exuberant atmosphere within the stadium dwindle, the team bonded together on the bench behind its captains and leaders and set out to crack the Michigan defense that held them goalless for more than 51 minutes.

“A lot of times, you talk about the fact that a game is like trying to solve a riddle,” Eaves said. “You’ve got to find the answer to the riddle. We stayed with it. On the bench, guys were saying the right things. It wasn’t like they got quiet or they got down. We stayed with it and we had good leadership on the bench.”

Once Summers took his first penalty, a tripping call at the 14:18 mark of the third period, Eaves was confident he had solved that riddle with some review of Michigan’s penalty-killing strategy between periods.

“It had more to do with what Michigan was doing and trying to take advantage of what they were doing,” Eaves said. “We watched the first power play after the period and thought there was something we could do. We made an adjustment and we executed at a critical time.”

The Badgers used Michigan’s focus on Blake Geoffrion to their advantage, getting Smith open from close range twice, and he buried them both.

“It’s so exciting, I have to give credit to the power play,” Smith said of the tying goal. “Michael Davies threaded that through the lane so pretty. He’s so talented. Really the play was backdoor to Blake, but they took that away so I was able to get open.”

The victory could be a big one for Wisconsin, which Smith said is focused on trying to get to the top seed in the NCAA tournament. He admits that it will be tough to run down Miami and Denver from behind, but his coach believes the victory might just give them the momentum they need to do just that.

“We said at the beginning of the week that this could be an energizer for us as we head into the last part of our WCHA season,” Eaves said. “To win the game the way we did, it certainly has the potential of doing that. I think the guys will be really excited about coming to the rink next week and getting back into the WCHA race.”

A Camp Randall Tradition?

With the game such a rousing success, Eaves was asked in his post game press conference whether he would do it all again.

“I hope so,” Eaves said. “Scooter, the ice doctor here from the company that put the ice in, actually feels that doing it at the college level makes a lot more sense than the pros, because if you do it every four years, you’ve got a new crop of students that haven’t experienced it. That’s a pretty common-sense statement. After what happened tonight, I think we can get that upper part of the stadium full based on what happened here.”

If the game’s star, Brendan Smith, had a vote, he’d surely do it all again next year.

“Fifty-five thousand fans, you can hear them now,” Smith said as they continued to chant his name in anticipation of his exit through the tunnel to the Wisconsin locker room. “This is unbelievable; I have no words to describe it.”

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag

• Aside from the renowned Wisconsin bratwursts, the hottest seller at concession stands inside the stadium was a $6 souvenir travel mug filled with hot chocolate.

• The fan festival area inside the Badgers’ football practice facility was a heated and, therefore, popular place Saturday. The Hockey Hall of Fame had several of the NHL’s top awards on display, and there was a significant line to get pictures taken with the Hobey Baker Award.

The display from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame featured vintage sweaters from Michigan and Wisconsin. The 1924 Badger sweater looked more like a maroon mock turtleneck with well-worn leather elbow patches, while the sweet-looking 1946 Wolverines sweater featured a snarling animal on the front and—get this—stripes of maize, blue and red on the shoulders.

No puck luck: Instead of giving errant biscuits to fans, security gathered them.

• Both Wisconsin goalies—Becca Ruegsegger in the women’s game and Scott Gudmandson in the men’s game—wore red and white knit hats over the top of their goalie helmets. The wind chill was in the single digits by the time Gudmandson took to the ice, making the winter headwear more of a necessity. Not so in the relative warmth of the afternoon women’s game. “The hat was more of a decorative thing,” Ruegsegger admitted.

• Cardinal and white were by far the most popular colors inside the stadium, with the combination of maize and blue a distant second. In third place was not the green of Bemidji State (which lost 6-1 to the Badgers in the women’s game) but the eye-popping blaze orange favored for cold-weather wear by so many Wisconsin deer hunters.

• We had a tie in the contest for favorite t-shirt seen on State Street before the game. We really liked the one with the map of Illinois that said “Baja Wisconsin.” But we’re not sure if we could rank that ahead of the one next to the “Wisconsin Nursing” and “Wisconsin Engineering” shirts that read “Wisconsin Undecided.”

• Facilities officials from the University of Minnesota were on hand Saturday getting a first-hand look at how the rink was put together and how to smoothly run an outdoor hockey event. Marc Ryan, one of Minnesota’s associate athletic directors, told INCH this week that the Golden Gophers are in the advanced planning stages of hosting a similar event at the new 50,000-seat TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis next season.

• Stadium security down on the field was unfortunately tight for some young fans at the game. The security personnel ran down every loose puck that came off the playing surface, ending any hope that kids might head home with a free souvenir and the memory of a lifetime.

Jess Myers contributed to this report.

While admitting that the Golden Gopher men’s hockey results have been less than expected, University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi gave his coach a vote of confidence on Monday.

“I can tell you that Don Lucia will be coaching Gopher hockey next year unless he chooses not to,” Maturi told InsideCollegeHockey.com.

The Gophers currently stand in seventh place in the 10-team WCHA and are looking likely to miss the NCAA playoffs for the second consecutive year. The non-typical on-ice results, coupled with health problems that led to Lucia missing a few games last season, have led to many questions raised by fans and others in college hockey media circles regarding Lucia’s future. Some have gone as far as to speculate that Nebraska-Omaha coach Dean Blais, a Minnesota alum, would coach the Gophers next season. Maturi acknowledged disappointment with the on-ice results, but said that Lucia has the athletic director’s full confidence.

“I think we’ve got to just take a deep breath and stay the course,” Maturi said. “Nobody’s happy that we’re not winning more. I’m concerned and we’re all concerned. But I’m not concerned about the competencies and talents of Don Lucia.”

Lucia, whose contract with Minnesota runs through 2012, has coached the Gophers to a pair of NCAA titles, two WCHA regular-season titles, and three WCHA Final Five championships in his first 10 seasons in Minneapolis. He has a career record of 548-294-76, spending six seasons each at Alaska-Fairbanks and Colorado College before coming to Minnesota prior to the 1999-2000 season. He coached CC to three WCHA titles and two Frozen Four appearances and has been named WCHA coach of the year three times. Lucia’s record at Minnesota is 269-139-47, which includes a 13-13-2 mark this year.

Minnesota, which has lost three of its last four games, is off this weekend before traveling to Denver for a two-game series Feb. 12-13.