Tigers Get Only One Point From Tech

For the second straight year, the Tigers are struggling to start off the second half of the season - taking only one point from a team that CC has dominated in recent years. This time around, the Tigers' pairwise ranking may not be solid enough to withstand the hit. The one point weekend has dropped the Tigers to 14th in the pairwise rankings - the tournament bubble, and with a tough road remaining. The Tigers failed to get a win on the weekend despite allowing only three goals, and CC's normally potent power play was held to 1-8 in the series. The disappointing weekend leaves CC at 4th in the WCHA standings, one point ahead of surging North Dakota.

The Tigers still have not swept a series since taking on Denver in early December, despite not having played any top teams in the time since. The next three series for CC will be key not only for determining WCHA standing but also determining just how good this team really is. The Tigers next three opponents are:

Wisconsin
Wisconsin
@ St. Cloud State
@ St. Cloud State
Minnesota
Minnesota

Wisconsin went .500 in January but did notch impressive shutout wins over Minnesota and Denver. St. Cloud State kept up their impressive run this month with the exception of a one point series at Minnesota State-Mankato. Minnesota has really been struggling after getting off to a remarkable start. They opened the month of January with a sweep of Mankato before dropping their first game in months at Wisconsin. That led to them going 2-4 in their last six games, and recently suffering a home sweep at the hands of North Dakota. All three of these teams have proven to be beatable, but all three present big challenges for CC in the coming weeks. The Tigers need wins - and lots of them - to maintain their spot in the NCAA tournament.

Notes:

* Here's an interesting discussion of CC's PWR possibilities down the road.

* The Tigers picked up another recruit recently. This time it's Mr. Rylan Schwartz, a recruit for either the 2008 or 2009 season, coming from Notre Dame of the SJHL (same team as freshman Kris Fredheim).

* A look at the new pairwise rankings. Denver and North Dakota are really coming on strong all of a sudden, while Maine and Minnesota seem to be stumbling.

Tigers Split At UMD

The old saying among WCHA fans is "split on the road, sweep at home", and this weekend the Tigers lived up to one half of that, rebounding on Saturday night for a split with the Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth. After suffering a comeback loss on Friday night, CC turned the table on Saturday and won a game that the Tigers were trailing in for two periods with four third period goals. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see or listen to the games this weekend so I can't really say much firsthand about how the Tigers looked. Feel free to comment on this post with your opinions if you did get to see the games.

The result moved CC into a three-way tie for second place in the WCHA, along with Denver and St. Cloud State, both of whom the Tigers will face again this season. The Huskies had a disappointing weekend, snapping their long win streak with a loss and a tie to Minnesota State-Mankato. Another team that had an even bigger streak snapped was Minnesota, who lost their first game since the season opener, 2-1 at rival Wisconsin. Denver didn't play any WCHA games but had a nice sweep of Niagara, solidifying their ranking in the Pairwise. Speaking of the Pairwise, the Tigers are still looking okay, although they will need wins over the second half to keep it that way. CC is currently at 9th, and will have plenty of opportunities to pick up additional quality wins during the second half of the season. One such oppurtunity will be the next WCHA series, when CC travels to Houghton for a series with Michigan Tech, who are low in the Pairwise, but still considered a TUC. After that series, the Tigers face a murderer's row of (the seemingly rejuvenated) Wisconsin, (at) St. Cloud State, and Minnesota.

Notes:

* Bill Sweatt is now listed as a "limited viewing" player by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau. This is presumably due to time missed this season.

* As much as I'm expecting CC to be a top team next year, I'm getting concerned about goaltending. Drew O'Connell apparently did not have a great game this weekend, and Richard Bachman is really struggling in the USHL. I believe that both these guys will eventually be really good goalies, but I still need some convincing. Neither currently have a save percentage above .900.

* Andreas Vlassopoulos is off to a heck of a start so far this season, with six points in nine games. I haven't had a chance to see him play all that much so far this year, but I'm looking forward to it.

* Despite limited action so far, Billy Sweatt is now second on the team in points per game with .87, behind Jimmy Kilpatrick who has 1.05 per game. Scott McCulloch and Chad Rau are both scoring .83 points per game.

* Is USCHO ever going to update their PWR and KRACH rankings? Really fellas, it's getting embarrassing.

* Minnesota, Denver, CC, and St. Cloud State have all emerged as the top of the WCHA so far, and it should be an interesting fight to the finish as all four of these teams will be playing each other again before the season is over. Denver in particular is about to begin a tough stretch of league play, as they travel to Minnesota and then take on SCSU at home in the next few weeks. Minnesota currently has a commanding seven point lead in the standings, but some stumbles down the stretch could certainly open the door for any of these four teams to take the conference regular season title.

Tigers Shut Down By "Hostile and Abusive" Sioux Defense

After shutting out North Dakota on Friday night, CC got a taste of its own medicine on Saturday as the Sioux defense held them to just one goal, and only two shots in the second period. Jack Hillen and Scott McCulloch provided the Tigers' only goals on the weekend, and Matt Zaba was stellar in net with 60 saves on 62 shots. North Dakota's win on Saturday moves them into a tie for 5th in the WCHA with Wisconsin, who took Denver to the woodshed on Saturday after losing on Friday. CC has dropped to 4th behind Minnesota, Denver, and St. Cloud State, although each of these teams has two games in hand on Denver. Next week the Tigers travel to Minnesota Duluth to take on the cellar dwelling Bulldogs. UMD is 4-10-2 in the WCHA and is tied for last place with Minnesota State. Nevertheless, UMD typically plays the Tigers tough and a much needed sweep may be hard to come by.

Denver and Michigan Tech are not playing WCHA games next weekend, instead taking on Niagara and Bemidji State respectively. There are some league matchups to keep an eye on however. Minnesota takes on rival Wisconsin in Madison. Could the winning streak come to an end? Not all that likely, but with Elliott in net you never know. Another interesting matchup will be UAA playing at UND. UND has been terrible at home this year and UAA is fighting for home ice in the WCHA playoffs. St. Cloud State will be playing at Minnesota State, and I would expect a Huskies sweep but you never know. The level of play in general should be much higher next weekend in the WCHA with the return of players from the World Junior Championships in Sweden. About half the Team USA roster seemed to come from the Gophers, and a number of other WCHA schools, including CC, sent players as well.

The Tigers split with North Dakota was not particularly helpful in the quest for an NCAA tournament berth. CC has dropped to 9th in the pairwise rankings, and probably won't be able to get any quality wins next weekend. In the next three weeks, the only TUC that CC will be seeing is Wisconsin, and they are just barely on the bubble. This will make CC's later games against St. Cloud State, Minnesota and Denver all the more important. And unlike last year, don't expect OOC bonus points to help CC at the end of the season. With OOC losses to New Hampshire and Bemidji State, the bonus will not do anything but hurt the Tigers' chances.

One last piece of news: CC recently got a commitment from Steve Schultz, who's been putting up some impressive numbers in the USHL.

Tigers PWR Takes Hit With Home Split Against Bemidji State

The brawl with UAA came back to haunt the Tigers last Friday as a depleted CC squad fell to Bemidji State 3-2. Thankfully the Tigers were able to rebound on Saturday night to the tune of a 5-3 win. CC was handicapped on Friday night by the loss of five players due to suspension, including captains Lee Sweatt and Brandon Straub. Bill Sweatt was also absent as he remains in Sweden with the suddenly rejuvenated Team USA. Despite that, the Tigers outshot the Beavers by a large margin, but still had trouble finishing. The weekend split dropped CC to 10th in the Pairwise Rankings. Bemidji State ran their record against the WCHA to a surprising 5-1-0.

The split was not a great way to start the second half of a season that includes some key matchups - especially at home. In the second half, the Tigers will face talented North Dakota, underachieving-but-still-defending-champs Wisconsin, and juggernaught Minnesota at home. Throw in a game against archrival DU and that's a pretty tough home schedule - but also one that could earn great standing in the rankings if CC is successful in the second half. The Tigers will also face St. Cloud State for the first time on the road.

CC's next series is against North Dakota at home, and is probably even more important to the Sioux than it is to the Tigers. UND badly needs wins to stay in contention for the tournament. The Sioux came into the season highly ranked and expected to compete for a national title this season, but have faltered badly in the first half to the tune of a sub-.500 record. A CC sweep this weekend would likely doom UND to a bottom half finish in the WCHA, while a Sioux sweep would pull them to within one game of .500 in league play.

Some more notes:

* CC's top recruit for next year, Tyler Johnson, has observers raving. His most recent accomplishment was a five point game (two goals, three assists) in a 5-0 win. Thanks to gmf1a of cctigerhockey.net for finding this.

* Kate Crandall of the Gazette writes about Chris Kawano's tough start on Friday night, and also mentions another potential CC recruit. Jeff Foss, of Moorhead High School, is also considering Maine, Boston University, and UMD.

* Potential recruit Rob Bordson, who recently visited CC, has decided to attend UMD instead.

* You can keep up with Bill Sweatt and Team USA at the Tiger Den section of the Gazette, which has really been impressive so far with their coverage of CC hockey. Kudos to Kate Crandall, who's doing a great job.

* CC's freshmen are really doing well so far. Looking at the stats, there's a few who jump out in particular. Brian Connelly (2-11-13) has really exceeded expectations - and with the loss of Brian Salcido before the season, it's a good thing. Billy Sweatt (4-7-11) has also been doing well, although that's in a smaller sample size. I was a little worried about Addison DeBoer coming straight from high school, but he's doing well too with four goals and three assists on the year. Lastly, Dre Vlassopoulos has played only five games so far, but has three points, including his first collegiate goal, which he scored this weekend against Bemidji State. Brian McMillin also notched his first in the same game.

* Brett Sterling is second in the AHL in points, and first in goals.

* Lastly, it's not much of a surprise, but it's great to see Jimmy Kilpatrick, Scott McCulloch, and Chad Rau doing so well after the departures of Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, and Joey Crabb last year. We needed that. Having defensemen Lee Sweatt and Brian Connelly producing points is a nice bonus as well.