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.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

In a nutshell, I'd like to thank the Michigan Tech hockey team and staff for one of the best birthday presents I've ever had.

Tonight's Huskies perhaps took a little while to get going, but I was quite happy with their performance overall. I knew as soon as Nolan came up with a huge ass save within the first two minutes of the game that he would be fine. The defense came up pretty big too, with a lot of good blocks, a strong PK, and plenty of successful clearing attempts.

This having been my 21st, I will now commence with some celebratory adult beverages and begin to contemplate tomorrow's title game against a certain school from Ann Arbor. A school that I grew up cheering for. A school that I nearly attended. But that was then, and this is now.

My opinion is that Sparty was due for a rude awakening. They have played a lot of middle-of-the-pack CCHA teams, but have failed to defeat anyone with a record better than .500 at this point in the season. Beating Michigan will be a much taller order for the Huskies, especially since the Wolverines new lines (formed due to the temporary absences of some players to World Juniors) have now had a game to adjust.

{PROVICED played a decent first period against Michigan this afternoon, but the Wolverines eventually found their mojo and Sauer played well. Sure, a lot of shots were simply fired into his chest, but he made some good saves to preserve his shutout. None were as big as the shot that he stoned with a save against the side of his body, after he'd been caught wandering from the net. Bottom line - this is not the Billy Sauer that I saw against North Dakota in last year's NCAAs.

Sleep well Huskies, for tomorrow you must truly play to win.

PS. - Props to the Michigan Alumni Band for only playing "Let's Go Blue!" 8 times this year. In spite of the fact that I kept count, I felt that was reasonable. ;)

CPZ Not Attending MTU; Duluth Series This Weekend

Two sources have now confirmed that Casey-Pierro Zabotel will not be attending Michigan Tech. He was unable to achieve a high enough score on his entrance exam retake to meet the NCAA's standards. It's a shame, but tSBFinW wishes him good luck with the rest of his career. He has signed with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, so no doubt the major junior league trolls at WCHB will flood the announcement with comments about the NCAA's obvious inferiority by tomorrow morning. ;)

Swept by SCSU - yuck. Losing twice to the One & Done Huskies in our own barn does not make this blogger happy. News of tTeslak's back spasms also makes this blogger very, very concerned for the upcoming series against the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. If Robbie Nolan wants to get back on track, he needs a strong showing out in Daloot on both nights, assuming tTeslak can't play again. Our offense must also create and bury a lot more chances than they did against St. Cloud. We cannot expect to sweep on the road if we can only score three goals per weekend.

This blogger will be traveling home for most of Friday, and won't have access to a computer again until Monday, so he likely won't be hearing any game results until then. Therefore, in lieu of listening to or being at the games, he'll just have to make sure to sieve/taunt a picture of Stalock before he leaves. :)

Weekend Recap

So it's a little late; deal with it. :P

MTU and UW split a pair of games down in Madison, at the Kohl Center. I was unable to go, though I did listen to Saturday's game (and I even got to watch the third period). I'm glad we came away with a road split, because Tech sounded/looked tired on Saturday. This win Friday/lose Saturday situation had better not become routine.

Looking Ahead

This weekend, we're back in Houghton for some hot, Husky-on-Husky action at the MacInnes, as St. Cloud State comes to town for a two-game series.

I've said this on USCHO and I'll say it again - we need to sweep St. Cloud this weekend. We need it to prove that we can be consistent and sweep a series, and also to gain some momentum going into a stretch of five straight road games. Next weekend we'll face what appears to be a surprisingly decent UMD squad at the DECC, and then we'll be down at the Mariucci at the end of the month (following a weekend off), looking to extend our recent winning record there against the Goofs, who by then will have six more games under their belt and should be ready to play. After that, it's another weekend off before the annual slugfest with eNeMa U, beginning Friday at the Berry in Marquette.

This is it - we're at home for the final time until mid-December, and the team will enjoy the benefit of a friendly crowd. St. Cloud has gotten off to a slow start (though they appear to be slowly gelling), so we need to take advantage of that.

We need a sweep - let's get it.

Ready for the Sioux?

This weekend, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux will travel to Houghton to take on the Michigan Tech Huskies at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. In fact, it's almost Friday morning - the Sioux have probably arrived already.

I've heard that the media respects the Sioux quite a bit - enough to give them some kind of #1 ranking, I guess. Not that polls matter much before Christmas.

They also say that this Jean-Phillipe Lamoureux guy is playing pretty well - shutting out three different opponents for 8 consecutive periods is certainly impressive, especially given some of the games I watched him play last season.

In the end though, does it really matter? Whomever plays better, more complete hockey this weekend should come away the winner, regardless of rankings. At this point in the season, anything is possible.

Which brings me to my nominee for Cliche Arena Rock Anthem of the Weekend - "Solution" by Tesla

Surprisingly, it's not a cliche mega-hit that seems appropriate this week, but instead a metal song you've probably never heard of unless you are a big fan of Tesla. It's the chorus that fits the most...

If we're gonna make it through tomorrow
The solution is to make a change today

With that in mind, did the Huskies spend this week fixing mistakes? Did they refine their penalty kill and defensive plays to help avoid the opportunities MSU-M got last weekend?

I guess we'll find out tomorrow night, because Tech is going to have to be on top of their game with North Dakota in town.

Since this is a three-event weekend for the pep band, I will be in the top row of Section M on Friday night, happy that I'll finally be able to keep a close eye on the game, rather than hunting for music every 15 seconds. My lips will need the break if I have to play for ~5 hours Saturday.