Game Day Material

The CC Athletics site takes a look at their stories from the week, including goalie Richard Bachman winning another WCHA Defensive player of the week award and the Tigers finally returning home.

David Ramsey has a good column about the Tigers dealing with adversity with all the suspensions this season

This week in the WCHA by the USCHO highlights the Tigers sweeping through their off-ice problems and gearing up to put a wooping in UAA.

The puck drops tonight at 7:37 at the World Arena, and the Tigers will try to remain undefeated at home and keep their chances strong to play at home in the regionals this spring.
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This week in the WCHA by by Theresa Spisak/WCHA Correspondent, USCHO

Jan. 10 — Doth the new year kill the column jinx? After I talk about possible troubles concerning the Gophers and the Tigers, both teams swept their weekend series.

After talking with Coach Scott Owens last week, I felt the Tigers might be okay, but held off judgment until the weekend series, where they went ahead and swept the Badgers — screwing with my predictions.

As for the Gophers, I’m not going to say they have turned it around just yet — not to disrespect Wayne State, but they’re not the WCHA. Still, Don Lucia’s squad accomplished a few of the goals we discussed last week — the team scored one more goal a game (in fact, five each night), didn’t really allow a soft goal (well, at least on Friday — caught that one on TV) and scored both power play AND short-handed goals.

In other words, things are looking up at the U, if only for a weekend.

Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week

Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Ryan Duncan, UND.
Why: Had two goals and two assists in the Fighting Sioux’s road split at St. Cloud State, as well as had 10 total shots and was a +2.
Also Nominated: Chad Rau, CC; Peter Rouleau, MTU; Evan Kaufmann, UM.

Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Richard Bachman, CC.
Why: Helped CC to its first two-game conference road sweep of Wisconsin since 1995-96, had five shut-out periods and stopped 43 of 44 shots on goal.
Also Nominated: Brent Solei, UM; Joe Finley, UND.

Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week: Deron Cousens, MTU.
Why: The defenseman had three assists and was a +4 in the Huskies’ sweep of Mercyhurst.
Also Nominated: Aaron Marvin, SCSU.

Battle of the BCHL Superstars

This week’s series between Wisconsin and Denver features the two players who battled it out all season last year for the British Columbia Hockey League’s scoring crown — the Badgers’ Kyle Turris (66-55—121 for Burnaby) and the Pioneers’ Tyler Bozak (45-83—128 for Victoria), the eventual victor.

That’s all well and good, but how are the two doing this year?

In the battle of WCHA rookies, St. Cloud State’s Garrett Roe (United States Hockey League product, 11-17—28) is leading the pack. After that, however, we have Bozak (10-11—21) and Turris (7-12—19).

The Badger is better overall per game (1.17 points per game, good for 3rd nationally), yet he has played in four fewer games, thanks to the Wisconsin’s schedule and his time at the World Junior Championships. The Pioneer, on the other hand, is averaging just 1.05 points per game.

However, keep this in mind: Turris scored 12 of his 19 points in the first four games of the season and hasn’t had a multi-point game since Robert Morris on Oct. 20. . Bozak, meanwhile, got off to a slower start, but in general, has been a little more consistent.

If you look at the stat lines per game, Turris has, in 16 games, gone five games without a point and has had three multi-point games. Bozak, in 20 games, has had six games without a point but five multi-point games. Bozak arguably has more offensive talent surrounding him while Turris is leading his team in points.

“I wanted to beat him more than anything [last year] and I’m sure he wanted the same thing,” said Bozak, when asked about their rivalry last year. “I know he’ll be coming in wanting to outplay me this weekend like every time we played last year.

“I’m sure he’s going to come in and it’s going to be a good battle for us and more, so I hope our team gets the win and we get the sweep.”

While I couldn’t get a hold of Turris to get his thoughts, thanks to his different travel schedule resulting from World Juniors, I’m sure he feels similarly.

Random Notes (and Commentary!) From Around the League

UAA: The Seawolves will gain a new player for the second half of the season — Jeff Carlson. The defenseman spent last year with the NAHL’s Southern Minnesota Express, establishing him as the Express’s top-scoring defenseman (15-24—39).

DU: The Pioneers have started the “Mannino for Hobey” campaign to promote senior netminder Peter Mannino. Mannino is a legit candidate this year, but we’ll see if Damien over at LetsGoDU (http://letsgodu.blogspot.com) can provide backing like they did with Danny King