This weekend marks the conclusion of the WCHA regular season. A big weekend which caps off the milestones each program has made. I'll start by listing the season surprises:
August 31st, 2011: College Hockey News names Aaron Dell #1 goalie in the WCHA with Joe Howe of Colorado College coming in second.
The news - Aaron is good, as he always has been. Beating out an NHL drafted goaltender for the top spot is never easy. Chalk one up for the guy between the pipes.
Sad news is that Joe Howe is no where near this prediction. He fell so far he could start and win both games this weekend and still end up with a losing record. Not too good for him. Defensive effort in the beginning of the season kept Joe down and he never really rebounded. Josh Thorimbert stepped up with a B- game. Definitely show's that Colorado College does not have a dependable man in between the pipes.
August 31st, 2011: USCHO picks Minnesota-Duluth to finish first place in the WCHA. Not a bad call considering the bulldogs have locked up the #2 seed and are looking for #1 this weekend. This surely is the last season of the feel good national championship story from 2011. Jack Connolly leaves along with Kenny Reiter and this team is about as talented as Minnesota State.
September 7th: College Hockey Network (not to be confused with (College Hockey News) predicts Minnesota to have another lack luster year.
What really happened: Minnesota played like the team they are: 4 players short of an entirely draft picked team. This team has shown up in force. Unfortunately the goalies on the bench have kept themselves busy by writing down stats as Kent Patterson has done ALL the work. Should St. Patty go down in the NCAA tourney look for Minnesota's stock to fall quickly. Not to mention next season will be the second debut for former Colorado College goalie Michael Shibrowski. Having not played a single minute this season, he may be a bit rusty and that could cause some problems in the state of hockey.
Other notables:
Michigan Tech: Talk about the New York Yankees! Tech hires and new coach and takes a 2 win team to within three points of home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. That says something. Look for this team to be around for a while.
St. Cloud State: Many thought that State's long term focus was gone after the 2010 Florida Classic debacle. Fortunately the staff at St. Cloud have been able to keep this team together. Only time will tell how detrimental the loss of key players last season will be.
Wisconsin: Reload or Redo? Every year Wisconsin is in the thick of the punch. They are always able to contend with the best. Two years ago they attempted to win the National Championship. They lost. With no early defections the Badgers slumped last season and lost the home playoff ice to Colorado College. This year, the entire team has lost their way. Joel Rumpel has been horrible and every player on this team is scratching their head.
Colorado College: Leave it to one of the wealthiest college hockey teams in the country to make the bone headed decision: Extend a coach who has no prior history of doing anything great with his team before the team really starts to go downhill. I for one am a CC season ticket holder. On Sunday I will be a former CC season ticket holder. No reason to waste my money. I'll come back when A.) I'm watching CC play someone else(who I'll be rooting for) or B.) CC fires Owens. Looks like I won't be seeing the latter anytime soon.....which other team should I like?
It's been a great season of Colorado College hockey. I have had a great time reading the blogs, posts, and articles displayed in the recent WCHA Hockey forum and in the Colorado College hockey forum. For all of you CC fans, keep your head up. I'm excited to see what the WCHA and the new NCHC is able to do for the Colorado College family. For all of you WCHA fans, next year will be a wild finish to this era of hockey.
So long............
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