WCHA: In Review; Team Jersey suppliers

This blog will address the past season in the WCHA and the upcoming apparel contracts with respective teams.

First topic: WCHA/NCHC/Big 10 apparel.

As reported last week by College Hockey News, Reebok and Adidas are expected to announce deals with the NCHC, Big 10 and WCHA regarding team apparel. This decision, although not confirmed by Reebok or Adidas, has been rumored after Nike released a statement regarding their partnership with the NFL beginning in 2013. After that point, Reebok will no longer be the primary jersey provider for the NFL.
Nike is expected to pull their supplier deal from Minnesota at that time. Currently, Reebok has set up North Dakota and Wisconsin as their flagship Universities.
Adidas has a 4 year option left with the university of Denver and Bauer currently controls an undisclosed contract with Colorado College after the Nike-Bauer venture ended two years ago.

AROUND THE WCHA:

Every year, I write a blog at the beginning of the season on what to expect and a blog at the end of the season describing the teams who I felt did or did not do as expected.

Did as expected:
Minnesota-Duluth: I expected this team to finish 1st in the WCHA. They finished second and only by 1 point. I believe it's fair to say that the Bulldogs met what I had thought they would do.

Denver: I believed Denver had a strong shot at the #2 spot in the WCHA. They had a great year last season and showed off Sam Brittain in style. During the beginning of the season, the Pioneers had early troubles stemming from poor goaltending to team congruence. Things have changed with the emergence of Juho Olkinura. The Finnish goal tender showed himself as a stalwart in the pipes. With Sam Brittain coming back from an injury, I expect the net situation to be a very gut wrenching call every night.

Minnesota-State: Austin Lee is a great goaltender. He's probably the most recognizable player on this team. However that is a problem, since Mike only stops shots. He doesn't usually put them in the opposing net. I didn't expect this team to make it far this season, and they proved me right.

DID NOT DO AS EXPECTED:

Michigan Tech: If anyone can say wow, this is when you do it. Going from a 2 win team to 2 wins from home ice is a feat in itself. The Huskies should be proud. 2012-13 might not produce much different but this team is definitely set for the new look WCHA in 2013.

Colorado College: 2011 was a highlight reel for CC. Making the tournament and falling to the eventual national champion runner up is a great work. Not to mention slaughtering the defending national champions in juggernaut fashion. This year though has been one for the dumpsters. CC has managed to maintain home ice in the first round of the WCHA for the second year in a row. This team is fading, and fast. Jaden Schwartz missed 15 games last season and still scored more points than he did missing his 5 games this season. I'm sure quite a bit is on his mind including his impending off season decision as to whether or not turn pro. I don't see this situation getting better in the next year. It doesn't help that the "Powerhouses" of college hockey will show en-force during the 2013 season. That might be the last year the World Arena see's Owens being the bench boss.

North Dakota: Out of all the negative stories, NoDak has to be the one case with an Alibi. This team lost Matt Frattin, Chay Genoway, Brad Malone, Ewan Trupp and others before the season started. Within 3 games, NoDak lost their top 2011 prospect in Rocco Grimaldi. Not a good combination. However NoDak has turned their fortunes around. I thought this was the surefire 2012 WCHA champions. I was wrong. NoDak is in power mode now. Hard to beat a team like this.

Minnesota: WTF? This team was picked 6th by the media for the WCHA standings and currently sits 7th in the PAIRWISE. Wow! Good thing for the Gophers: a reliable net minder has emerged. Bad news for the Gophers: the only back up to see minutes this season saw them last Friday night. For 1 20 minute period. Minnesota will likely see some growing pains in the net come next fall.

Alaska-Anchorage: Coming off of a half way decent performance last season, the seawolves had a real chance to turn things around. Instead they turned things upside down and fell badly. It's hard enough to get good recruits to Alaska in the first place. Having a performance like this relegates this team to a top tier high school team. No bueno.

Bemidji State: Goaltender Dan Bakala is one of the better undrafted netminders in the WCHA. This year he just couldn't be the star that he needed to be. Bemidji will have to prove they are for real starting next week in Sioux Nation. Unfortunately, that's not the place you want to prove yourself. That's the place you plan ahead on getting swept so that you can focus on other teams. Not good for the Beavers.

Wisconsin: On Wisconsin.....On to something else. For years Mike Eaves has been known as bench boss of the team which is always reloading. Never a rebuilding team, the Badgers always have talent. This year the team has 1 senior. Defections are never a good thing, but even the normal graduation system can wipe out a team. Joel Rumpel had nobody to look up to this season. It showed. He's progressed since the beginning of the year. This team needs to grow. I was expecting them to do better than 10th.

Although I have not covered every team in the WCHA I covered the ones who I felt made the impacts from the beginning of the season. I will spotlight UNO and SCSU next week regardless of their fate in the WCHA playoffs.

This was supposed to be the year that the WCHA was weak. As it turns out, weak is a subjective word.