Sorry this post has been late. It’s been pretty hectic the last 24 hours, and lets be honest: I felt like being a little lazy in my little bits of down time.
Anyways, I’ll just leave the MSU-UAA weekend alone. If you want to check out my thoughts on it, just scroll down and there they be…
In talking to Troy Jutting yesterday, he was obviously very pleased with the weekend. He is still a little worried about the lack of offense, more specifically, the Mavericks’ inability to capitalize on its quality chances. He said creating them hasn’t been a problem, its been finishing. Definitely sounds like a team with young forwards still trying to find their way… but I think they will. Give it some time.
For those wondering, early indications are that Mike Zacharias — named the WCHA’s Defensive Player of the Week this week — will start Friday against UAH and Dan Tormey will start Saturday. That’s the same thing Jutting said last week, but changed his plans Saturday to allow Zacharias the start once again. Being that this is nonconference action, however, Tormey will probably start Saturday regardless of how well Zacharias does Friday. Probably a good call…
By the way, Zacharias is off to a fantastic start. In four games, Zacharias has a 1-1-1 record with a save percentage of .933 and a goals against of 1.87. If he can maintain that pace, the Mavericks should be in pretty good shape come March (heck, maybe even April). Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage aren’t exactly offensive juggernauts, but I don’t think Zacharias’ confidence has ever been higher. Probably a good thing with more offensive minded Minnesota and Denver on the docket in coming weeks.
On one hand, this weekend’s series against Alabama-Huntsville might be just what the doctor ordered. What MSU needs to watch for is the “sandwich effect.” Last weekend was a very nice three point effort on the road against a conference opponent. Next weekend promises to be an emotional home-and-home series against arguably their biggest rival. This weekend’s games are against an opponent that isn’t very good and is essentially meaningless… unless you factor in what a pair of wins against UAH will do for you in the Pairwise by year’s end. Probably not a whole lot…
Look for more on the “sandwich effect” in Thursday’s official weekend preview.
Now onto the WCHA…
• A Golden Effort
Anybody see the final five minutes of Saturday’s Minnesota-Ohio State game Saturday? The Gophers’ Alex Kangas almost single-handedly held onto the weekend sweep for the U. I haven’t seen that kind of one man show in nets in a long time. But if you’re a Gopher fan, you still have to be concerned about the lack of offense. Don’t look for much of an improvement this weekend. Minnesota hosts Denver in what might be a low-scoring series.
• More inconsistency from CC
I was kind of surprised to see Colorado College get swept by UNH, but can you really be that shocked? CC was one of the WCHA’s most inconsistent teams last season, and with so much youth and inexperience along the blueline and in net, that trend will probably continue. UNH isn’t a bad team either…
• Told ya so...
I told you St. Cloud State wasn’t that good. After escaping with a 2-1 win Friday over Bemidji State (a score I predicted right on, by the way), SCSU needed a pair of goals in the final five minutes of Sunday’s game just to tie the Under-18 team.
• Will the real Michigan Tech please stand up?
Maybe Tech is for real. Or maybe not. Depends on which night against North Dakota you look at. Either way, a home split against a team like UND was good enough to move the Huskies up to No. 13 in the national rankings — one spot higher than the week before.
• Turris finally cooled...
Wisconsin didn’t score this weekend, but that’s because they didn’t play. The off week was probably the only thing that was going to cool off freshman Kyle Turris, who has already bagged five goals and seven assists in the team’s first four games. With home series against Michigan Tech and North Dakota on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if he can keep at his current pace — or at least stay near it.
Check back Thursday for the weekly Mavericks and WCHA preview… I promise, I’ll really do it on Thursday. Thanks for reading!
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2 comments:
Ok, I will argue that the Gophers aren't the Maverick's biggest rivals. I say St. Cloud is. I think the intensity between the schools is much greater. SCSU and MSUM as rivals makes more sense than the Gophers. Heck, everyone wants to say the Gophers are their biggest rivals. I disagree. It's SCSU all the way.
Crosby is just tearin the Wild apart. 1 G, 3 A with four minutes left. harding looked helpless on that last breakaway. I wanna know when Sid is going to contribute to this site
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