Weekend Recap
by WCHBlog on Jan 25, 2010 12:41 AM PST
10 comments
What Was Good...
St. Cloud State-I don't normally look at the national polls, but I found it interesting that St. Cloud was only 12th in the polls, while moving up to the cusp of a number one seed in the Pairwise. Their 8-game winning streak really highlights the difference between the two. A human looks at that stretch and thinks there aren't games over that stretch that they should have lost, which accounts for them not moving up much in the polls. A computer looks at it and sees them go from an average team at one game above .500, to being one of the best in the country at 9 games over .500. Is one more right than the other? It's tough to say.
Nebraska-Omaha-There's been a lot of people touting Dean Blais as a coaching genius--and since he helped bring the US a gold medal, there's no argument here--but what gets glossed over is how average UNO has been under him this year. Granted, he's not working with his own players, and I do think he's getting as much out of them as he can, but they haven't been great in a league where a team like Lake Superior, which doesn't have a ton of talent, can compete for a spot in the top four. The Mavericks did pick up 6 huge points this weekend, however, against Northern Michigan, and if they play well down the stretch, they can really move up the standings.
Wisconsin-A three-point weekend at home made the race for the WCHA title a very exciting four-way race. Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, St. Cloud, and Wisconsin are all within two points of each other, and Colorado College is 2 points back, but has also played two more games. I can't remember the WCHA being this close at the top in a number of years.
What Wasn't So Good
Minnesota-It was pretty much more of the same from Minnesota. As bad as things were on the ice for the Gophers, Don Lucia should get some credit for taking some BS question about Gopher hockey being the cornerstone of the state of hockey before Saturday's game, and deflecting it to talk about all the great college programs in the state of Minnesota, which was probably the most airtime those other programs got during the "Hockey Day Minnesota" festivities on Saturday. Not that I'm complaining about FSN's coverage, per se. They had a lot of great material, and I know they've got bills to pay. But celebrating the other college programs in the state has been something FSN has lacked in their hockey day coverage.
Ian Cole-Cole turned down an opportunity to sign with the St. Louis Blues this summer, and so far, his year probably hasn't gone how he hoped. Aside from Notre Dame really struggling, he missed Saturday's game with his second concussion of the year. Hopefully that doesn't become an issue for him in his hockey career.
Colorado College-The Alaska-Anchorage Rope-a-Dope returned, with CC blowing out the Seawolves on Friday night, and then losing on Saturday night.
Western Michigan-They only got one point last weekend against Bowling Green, and with a tough schedule to finish the year, they're almost definitely going to finish in 12th place in the CCHA. That's a program that could really use a major shake-up, perhaps similar to the jolt Bowling Green got last year when their program was on the chopping block, because right now, they're really not going anywhere.
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SCSU
I don’t know Chris, it seems like KRACH thought pretty highly of them when they were only one game over .500. In other words, they were an above average team with merely an average record… hence the poor poll ranking.
From that perspective, you’d expect that they’d do what good teams do… which is beat teams they’re supposed to beat.
Regarding the polls: Teams ranked four through eleven all dropped at least one game over the weekend. You could make a good case for ranking SCSU 4th.
by The Exiled One on Jan 25, 2010 6:32 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
Minnesota State...JP
Jean Paul (J.P.) Piche …… MSU goaltender 1987-91.
by Caxton Bomber on Jan 25, 2010 7:30 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
“Don Lucia should get some credit for taking some BS question about Gopher hockey being the cornerstone of the state of hockey before Saturday’s game, and deflecting it to talk about all the great college programs in the state of Minnesota, which was probably the most airtime those other programs got during the “Hockey Day Minnesota” festivities on Saturday. Not that I’m complaining about FSN’s coverage, per se. They had a lot of great material, and I know they’ve got bills to pay. But celebrating the other college programs in the state has been something FSN has lacked in their hockey day coverage."
Funny how you give Dandy Don credit here, but ignored arguably the biggest story in the state (let alone western college hockey) in your “What Was Good…” segment (BSU sweeping UMD in case you missed it)…
Hubbs!
by moose97 on Jan 25, 2010 7:32 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
Chris look who the Huskies have played, they should beat the likes of Brown (X2), QU (X2), MTU (X2) and at least split with Minnesota and they swept. Not an impressive schedule the last 8 games.
by Eric B on Jan 25, 2010 10:09 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
Western Michigan almost assuredly will have a new coaching staff next year. I believe that Jim Culhane is in his last year of his deal and there have been not-so-subtle rumors on the radio around here that players come in loving the game and are through playing hockey by their sophomore years. Guys like Vince Bellissimo with enough talent to go pro leave early but the ones that don’t stay for the free education.
My old blog is Tigers By The Numbers.
Now I write at Bless You Boys.
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by Mike Rogers on Jan 25, 2010 11:36 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
Culhane
I thought that he got an extension not too long ago, much to the chagrin of Western’s fanbase. I could be wrong though.
The real test for SCSU is yet to come with road series at CC and Wisconsin, and a home series with North Dakota. Take a majority of the points in those games, plus sweep UAA and Mankato like they ought to, and then they’d be contending for the MacNaughton and have a case for being a top team.
by F2BNG on Jan 25, 2010 4:31 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
I don’t know, I haven’t followed WMU much at all, but I believe he had gotten a 3 or 4 year extension just about 3 years ago. I’ll have to do some research.
My old blog is Tigers By The Numbers.
Now I write at Bless You Boys.
Like music? See what I'm listening to at my Last.fm account.
by Mike Rogers on Jan 25, 2010 4:57 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Just looked. Bahhh! I was thinking the extension was around 2005, but it was actually in May of 2007. So he’s got a 4 year deal that runs through 2011.
My guess is that there’s a very real possibility he gets fired and bought out of the final year of his deal after this season. There might even be a real possibility that WMU drops the program altogether. It’s not a money maker, the ticket prices are WAY WAY too costly (and go up when Michigan, Michigan State, or Notre Dame are in town) and it is not a good vibe at the moment. Couple that with Michigan’s struggling economy affect the university itself, and there seems to be a perfect storm to give it a hard look.
Plus, they are “filling” 61% of the seats — I’d doubt it’s even 50% to be honest.
My old blog is Tigers By The Numbers.
Now I write at Bless You Boys.
Like music? See what I'm listening to at my Last.fm account.
by Mike Rogers on Jan 25, 2010 5:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
With the economy the way it is and budgets tightening every year as the state tries to buckle down (especially at the non-flagship schools), I don’t see WMU buying out Culhane. People claim Minnesota is going to buy Lucia out of the last year of his contract, and the issue of money always comes up in that argument too.
I’ve heard Western fans complain that their AD really only cares about pigskin and roundball (as is often the case at D1 mid-majors with a hockey program), and that’s why Culhane got the extension he did back in 07, despite his mediocre-at-best results.
by F2BNG on Jan 25, 2010 5:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, the economy will dictate that he probably stays. Though, if they do plan on buying him out, the buyout could feasibly be less given the number of years left on the deal (I believe it just runs through 2010-11 season).
The AD does care about Football and Basketball more than hockey, but really concentrates on Football. I think she’s right in doing this, though. We aren’t like a Ferris State that is D2 in football — our FB program is D1 and needs to bring in a substantial amount of revenue to fund the rest of the athletic department. Such is life as a MAC school — where things get mishandled all the time. Point in case, MAC moving the first round of the conference tournament to on-campus sites because of the women’s MAC conference game is going on in Cleveland at the time. They’re the only conference that does this in D1 basketball (to my knowledge).
But I’m getting off track. I love hockey and college football, so I see both sides of the fence. I do lean that Kathy Beauregard should spend more time and energy in building a profitable football program.
Also, Culhane got the extension partly because of her lack of focus on the hockey team, but partly because the team showed some promising results moving from the basement to slightly above the basement. Sucks that it happened right when his contract was up. He’s also been pretty good in terms of discipline and keeping his players off the police blotters — something that got Bill Wilkinson canned a decade ago.
My old blog is Tigers By The Numbers.
Now I write at Bless You Boys.
Like music? See what I'm listening to at my Last.fm account.
by Mike Rogers on Jan 25, 2010 7:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
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