Tigers Contained

A good weekend at home for the Michigan Tech Huskies, taking 3 out of 4 possible points from the conference leading #3 Colorado College Tigers. 2-2 tie Friday, 5-2 victory Saturday.

In my mind there were three big keys to this weekend's results.

#1 - Heart & Hustle: It wins games - period.

#2 - Faceoff Wins: Tech must've spent two weeks working on this, because it really showed. Winning a key faceoff is like a small moral victory, mentally. In terms of the actual game, puck possession is always a good thing, and winning faceoffs is an important way to ensure your team is carrying the puck the majority of the time.

#3 - Tough, Physical Play: You could tell that CC did not want to play the physical game. They are, for the most part, a very fast team who wants to try and skate circles around their opponents, not deliver big, "whoop and holler-worthy" hits.

Friday could have probably been a win for the Huskies were it not for the outstanding play of one Richard Bachman. The Huskies also played the best OT period I've ever personally witnessed them play, keeping up pressure on Bachman and the CC defense, and not permitting the Tigers to get any shots on Teslak. Saturday, Bachman looked significantly more mortal, and perhaps had his first off night of the season. To his credit though, almost all of Tech's goals on Saturday came off of good passes and hard work.

As for Tech goaltending, Teslak looked good on Friday night despite his month off due to injury. Perhaps a few more rebounds than usual, but the defense helped him out when he needed them to. Saturday, Nolan looked fine, making several key saves in spite of perhaps one soft goal.

So now, with three big conference points against the top team in the WCHA, Michigan Tech looks ahead to next weekend and a series up in Anchorage. With all due respect to UAA, a sweep is a must for the Huskies if we want to keep the goal of home ice alive this season. Unfortunately, Anchorage is fresh off of a series with North Dakota in which they, by all accounts, outplayed the Sioux on Saturday and still lost following a potentially huge goal that was ultimately disallowed. So I have to believe they're pretty angry about that, and will be ready to fight for points back in their home barn. Their record is really not indicative of their potential.

Given Tech's tendency to play well against ranked teams and poorly against weaker teams, I'll have to say that this series is likely to end in a split, with UAA taking a Friday victory and Tech salvaging two points on Saturday. The long trip is likely to take its toll on a team that is admittedly tired of flights, buses, restaurants, and hotels after their long, mid-season road schedule.

I sort of wish I was headed up to Anchorage next weekend. Having been there once before (about 7-8 years ago), I can say it's a nice city and would make for a worthwhile "road" trip someday.

Pre-Season Predictions: Part 3

Next up, Denver and CC...

Colorado College

Last season, CC finished 5^th place in the WCHA by two points and just missed the NCAAs.

Up front, the Tigers lose Polich and Cox. Perhaps a much bigger blow is that they will be without Kilpatrick until at least Thanksgiving, which may negatively impact their early season as he seems to be an important leader and playmaker. However, their other top three scorers are all back and they will gain two strong recruits in Steve Schultz and Tyler Johnson. Back on defense Lee Sweatt is gone, but there’s still enough depth and experience for CC to get by.

The big question will be goaltending. Zaba has graduated, and backup Drew O’Connell doesn’t have much to offer in the way of statistics or big game experience. He will likely be competing for the starting job with incoming freshman Richard Bachman.

If the Tigers can hammer out their goaltending issues early on, they could be pretty good this year. Assuming they get past a seemingly-suicidal opening stretch against Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota with a 3-3 or even 2-4 record, they will be a team to keep an eye on.

Prediction: Somewhere between 4^th and 6^th in the league.

Denver

Denver completed the 06-07 season with a narrow claim to 4^th place in the league and just missed out on the NCAA tourney following a Wisconsin upset in the first-round of the WCHA playoffs.

The good news for the Pioneers is that even though Dingle left early, Trotter, Rakhshani, and Ruegsegger are all back for their sophomore seasons, and talented forwards like Tyler Bozak and Jesse Martin are on the way in. The bad news is that Denver suffers from a lack of depth on the blue line.

The Pioneers will be relying upon Mannino heavily in goal this season, and he has plenty of experience, though he has been unable to repeat his strong freshmen year performance when he helped Denver win a national championship.

DU’s predicament is similar to St. Cloud’s – the offensive prowess is there, so if the defense Denver has can get the job done and Mannino plays well, they should have a decent season. If Mannino gets left out to dry too much, there’s no telling what might happen. Bottom line – it’s probably something of a rebuilding year at Magness.

Prediction: Somewhere between 4^th and 7^th in the league.

Part 4 will conclude this pre-season analysis sometime next week, and I will also take a stab at actually ranking the teams.