Before I get started, if you haven’t read the story about Jamie Russell, check out the link in the post two below this one. It’s really a great feature story by Jess Myers (no relation) of Inside College Hockey.
Also if you get a chance, head out and support the women’s hockey team tonight at All Seasons Arena. The team is raising money to fight Breast Cancer and all money collected at the door tonight (admission is free) will be given to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Minnesota Affiliate. I wrote a little more about in the event today in my column.
On a side note, I decided to do a little straw poll of players and coaches following Wednesday’s practice. The question was spurred by a comment someone made on a previous post about St. Cloud State being MSU’s biggest rival. I asked 13 people — a combination of players and coaches — the WCHA team they consider to be their biggest rival. Eight people said Minnesota, three said North Dakota and two said St. Cloud State. I thought it was kind of interesting.
Now, onto this weekend.
The team is in very good spirits this week following a solid weekend up in Anchorage. Most are not really sure what to expect at Huntsville this week — on the ice or off of it.
“I’m from Oklahoma and I’ve never been to Alabama,” said junior forward Mick Berge.
I also talked to Berge about the new line adjustments made by Mavs head coach Troy Jutting this week. You can read a little more about it here in my story in the Reporter today. In short, here are the new lines for this weekend, according to Jutting:
Berge-Trevor Bruess-Jon Kalinski
Joel Hanson-Kael Mouillierat-Geoff Irwin
Jerad Stewart-Zach Harrison-Rylan Galiardi
James Gaulrapp-Andy Sackrison-Jason Wiley
“I wanted to see if we could develop some different things chemistry wise,” Jutting said. “We also have a lot of conference games coming up. I want to keep these guys on edge.”
I knew it wouldn’t take Troy long to waffle on the goalie rotation for the weekend. In fairness, he did tell me he reserved the right to change. Monday, he said it would likely by Mike Zacharias on Friday and Dan Tormey on Saturday. It still might end up that way.
But his official answer on Wednesday was Zacharias on Friday and “we’ll see what happens” on Saturday. He said the same thing last weekend. My gut tells me he will go with the rotation this weekend, in order to provide Zacharias rest for the series against Minnesota. He has played all but one period so far this season, and with the way he has played, Zacharias seems like he has assumed the No. 1 spot in net — at least for now.
The key for the Mavericks this weekend is avoiding a let down against UAH.
Just one week after a three-point conference weekend and one week before a home-and-home series with rival Minnesota, MSU is faced with a pair of non-conference road games against a nondescript opponent.
“We just need to keep reminding ourselves not to go in underestimating these guys,” said junior defenseman Brian Kilburg. “Anytime you have a team like Alabama-Huntsville; when they play a team from the WCHA, they going to want to play a little bit harder.
Mavericks captain Joel Hanson agreed, comparing Huntsville a lot to this past weekend against UAA.
“We have to go into it like that,” Hanson said. “We didn’t really know what to expect from Anchorage. But these are important games for us. When it comes down to the end of the season, these non-conference games are important in the Pairwise. It’s a big series for us.”
Jutting has been preaching the importance of these games since the beginning of the season, citing the Mavs’ ability to finish strong over the past few seasons but still get no love from the folks who decide who plays past the Final Five.
“These non-conference games is what has held us out of the NCAA Tournament the last few years,” Berge said.
“I think two years ago, our weekend at Bemidji cost us a shot at going to the tournament last year,” Jutting said. “I have been stressing to these guys; although they don’t seem important at the time, they are really important by the time the end of the season rolls around.”
From the guys I talked to, it seems to be taking affect. Zach Harrison, for example, was preparing to watch DVD’s on the Chargers’ power play and penalty kill units.
“I think this weekend can be a huge momentum builder,” Hanson said. “That momentum would be big for us heading into that Gopher series.”
PREDICTION
The Chargers will likely play inspired hockey for the first part of Friday’s game, and may even get an early lead. But MSU is the superior team. They played well last weekend in Anchorage, and gained three points despite the fact they still haven’t found a consistent offensive weapon. I’ll go 4-1 Friday and 5-3 Saturday as MSU takes the sweep, and discovers some offense to boot.
WCHA PREDICTIONS
I’m done picking scores for these games, but I’ll pick series. MSU is playing non-conference this weekend and Minnesota-Duluth is off. Everybody else is playing a conference opponent. There will be no non-conference games for any WCHA team next week for the first time all season…
DENVER AT MINNESOTA: Split
Minnesota hasn’t proven they can score goals consistently and Denver usually is good for one outstanding night from goaltender Peter Mannino. It will be interesting to see if Gophers coach Don Lucia plays netminder Jeff Frazee both nights, or gives another start to freshman Alex Kangas. Kangas was outstanding in Minnesota’s 2-1 win Friday night at Mariucci Arena.
MICHIGAN TECH AT WISCONSIN: Split
Michigan Tech is playing inspired hockey right now and the Badgers are coming off a weekend where they didn’t play. Tech’s Michael-Lee Teslak has been the best goalie in the conference through the first few weekends and might steal a win on Friday for the Huskies.
COLORADO COLLEGE AT NORTH DAKOTA: Split
The Tigers were swept last weekend at New Hampshire and the Fighting Sioux split at Michigan Tech. The smart man would pick UND in a sweep here, but my gut tells me CC will find a way to win one game. Both teams are fast and can score goals. The question for the Tigers is: which goaltender will show up? Richard Bachman was outstanding in both wins over Minnesota, but CC coach Scott Owens decided to give Drew O’Connell a shot Friday against UNH. The Tigers lost the game 5-3. Bachman started Saturday and wasn’t much better, allowing four goals in a 4-2 loss.
ALASKA-ANCHORAGE AT ST. CLOUD STATE: St. Cloud State sweep
Any regular reader of this blog knows I am not very high on SCSU. They have not been able to find a consistent scoring threat to take the reins from the departed Andrew Gordon. Until the final five minutes Sunday, it looked like they were going to be shutout by the Under-18 team. Luckily for them, they scored a pair of goals to salvage a tie and maybe a sliver of respect. UAA played well enough for a split last weekend, but only got one point. The travel is long. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a split. But I’ll give the Huskies one more chance to prove themselves.
Enjoy the games and thanks for reading!
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4 comments:
I'd say the Gophers are the team I'd most like to see the Mavs beat (only because of their arrogant fans), but to be truely considered our biggest rival we'd have to actually beat them once and awhile. You could make a case for Wisconsin or North Dakota, because we've met each team in the past few WCHA playoffs, not to mention they always seem to fill the seats when visiting Mankato. St Cloud State could make their way into the convo but we'd have to play a heated playoff series for that to happen, again just my opinion.
I've got to ask again, does anybody know if the new jerseys are for sale yet? And if so where at and how much?
I'm the one who made the argument for St. Cloud as the biggest rival. While I still stand behind my thoughts, I guess the answers speak for themselves. I can admit when I'm wrong:)
I do think Joe in comment #1 has a point though. I see the Gophers noted as "the biggest team to beat" for the Mavs...but when it comes to rivals in the nitty gritty of it all I really do think that SCSU is more of one than the Gophers.
To each their own. If I knew the 2 that agreed with me, I would give them props for the right answer:)
The rivalry thing is kind of interesting. I guess I don't really have an answer, I was just intrigued by the question. No shock, a lot of the people that voted for Minnesota were the kids from the metro area (although not always true). North Dakota is a valid argument because of the playoff series' and the brawl last season. SCSU is a rival in all other sports, ad the hockey games are usually pretty interesting.
In all fairness, there are people that couldn't pick just one. "I hate them all," said one player.
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