Western Collegiate Hockey Association
Ben Street and the Badgers take on SCSU in first round WCHA playoff action. |
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Badgers Hit the Road for Fresh Start in WCHA Playoffs
March 13, 2008
By John Gilbert
Coach Mike Eaves says he likes where Wisconsin's hockey team is at, but he meant that figuratively more than literally, because the Badgers are at St. Cloud for this weekend's pivotal first round of WCHA playoffs.
That's just one of five very intriguing best-of-three match-ups for Friday-Saturday-Sunday, following one of the tightest races on record. Minnesota is facing the rarified feeling of a playoff road trip as well, playing at Minnesota State, Mankato; MacNaughton Cup champion Colorado College is at home against 10th place Alaska Anchorage; Michigan Tech goes to runner-up North Dakota; and MinnesotaDuluth hits the road for Denver.
The five survivors convene at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul next week for the 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five climax, which also might be expected to be one of the tightest.
"Tightest," in either case, not only means close, as shown by how many slots weren't certain until last weekend's firing was finished, it also describes the bigger news in the WCHA this season, which is how tight all the teams were in allowing goals.
That equates to how unsuccessful they all were at scoring at the other end, as well.
"I think there is great parity in our league," said Eaves, whose Badgers finished their regular season a week early, and in fourth place for a home-ice slot, but while they were idle the final weekend, both St. Cloud State and MSU, Mankato vaulted ahead of them.
"We've got a young group, but we've certainly grown up during the season, and I think we're playing our best hockey of the season right now," said Eaves. "Our confidence grew as the year went along, and while we found the way to score enough, we did good things with and without the puck. I like where we're at right now."
In all games, Wisconsin's top goal-scorer is junior Ben Street, who has 13 goals. The next five Badger scorers are all freshmen or sophomores. Sophomore Michael Davies and freshman Kyle Turris each scored 11, sophomore Blake Geoffrion had nine, and freshman Patrick Johnson scored eight. Sophomore defenseman Jamie McBain only had 3 goals, but his 17 assists give him 20 points, to tie Davies and Johnson for third in total points.
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That's a long way from league-leading goal scorer Chad Rau of Colorado College, who had 27 goals in all games, or the 23, 18, or 17 goals of St. Cloud State's triumverate of league leaders - Ryan Lasch, Garrett Roe, and Andreas Nodl.
But the reason for such parity, as well as tightness, comes in goal. Wisconsin's Shane Connelly, a junior, has an impressive .914 save percentage, but that's only good for an eighth-place tie with Denver's Peter Mannino. North Dakota senior Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (1.66 goals-against/.934 save percentage) and Colorado College freshman Richard Bachman (1.77/.934) tied for the best save percentage and were the only ones below a 2.00 goals-against average. Behind them come Jase Weslosky of St. Cloud State at .929, Alex Kangas of Minnesota at .923, Michael-Lee Teslak of Michigan Tech and Mike Zacharias of MSU at .920 each, Alex Stalock of UMD at .917, and then Connelly and Mannino at .914.
"I think there are more goalies over 90 percent in saves than I've ever seen," said Eaves, who took a minute away from focusing on his team's series to assess the whole league, as playoffs begin.
"We all felt North Dakota would be up there, and they are," said Eaves. "Colorado College had a good young goaltender come in as a freshman, and they ended up winning the title. Denver got off to a good start, and rode that to finish third, even though they had some problems at the finish.
"St. Cloud State has some very good high-end offensive players, and they kind of live and breathe with their power play. You know what's coming, and you still can't stop it, because those guys are so good. We only saw Mankato before Christmas, and we lost and tied at their place, and won and lost at our place. They also have a big kid in goal."
That would be Mike Zacharias, the Mavericks' junior who held them in while their offense got untracked, then led the way to a seven-game WCHA winning streak, approximately matched only by North Dakota, as both teams maneuvered their way upward through the standings.
As the regular season ended, not only did St. Cloud and Minnesota State improve their status, but Minnesota Duluth snapped out of a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory at Minnesota. As important as the victory was - exceeding by one the total number of goals the Bulldogs had scored during the five-game losing skid - the best thing about it was that the Bulldogs played about as good a game as they have played all season.
So UMD's series at Denver, which dropped its final two games, against CC, could be a good one. True, CC ranks as solid favorite over Alaska Anchorage, and North Dakota ranks as less a favorite but still solid, the other three series rank as absolute toss-ups. The Gophers, who traditionally show up and do well at the Final Five, have dominated MSU throughout their history, although being host to the Gophers might make this the biggest hockey weekend in Mankato's history. And St. Cloud State has those scorers that the rest of the "tight" league can only envy.
"But you can throw all the records out the window now," said Eaves. "Anybody can win every series. And everybody gets a fresh start."