Pioneers ice CC, Gophers and Badgers....

Another Friday, another day of hatred coughed up in the lineage between rivals. On this day, four teams took part in arguably the two best rivalry's in all of college hockey: CC vs. DU and WI vs. MN.


CC has had a strong year from their team in terms of points, defense, player contribution and teamwork. This time last year their junior goalie, Joe Howe, was swirling down a season that belonged in the toilet. The CC defense was lagging behind and really made the offense look mediocre. This was a sad season because CC had an awesome player in Jaden Schwartz.

Fast forward to this season: Putting the Cornell series aside, CC has had an absolutely dominant season. Josh Thorimbert has looked stunning while Joe Howe has returned to form and found his swagger. The matured defense looks great from their hard knocks a year ago, and the offense has sizzled everything in it's path. I was one of the few people who gave CC absolutely no chance this year because Jaden was gone. Tisk, Tisk. I'm bad. The good news is, without Jaden the Tigers have looked great and have proved to almost everyone that they will not be a bottom feeder in the new NCHC, but a possible contender.....

....Well that was until last night when the Tigers played their first game against a future NCHC team. Denver staple-gunned the Tigers to the boards and railed four goals on 12 shots against Josh Thorimbert. By the fourth goal, Josh seemed to be out of it and everything appeared in line for Josh to leave the game. Howe came in during a tough spot and gave up another goal within two minutes making the score 5-2. Not long after, Joe gave up his final goal making the score 6-2 and the Tigers officially washed out of the game.......but wait a second....The Tigers came back in the third period and literally stunned the Pioneers. CC ripped, clawed and scratched their way to a 6-5 game using the exact same formula that got them past Bemidji and Wisconsin. To say how good the tigers did, they left their net open for over a minute and no goals were even scored. Denver never even got a shot off to the empty netter. It was the exact kind of empty netter that fans want to see. The one that never attracts a puck. With 15.4 seconds left, Rylan Schwartz posted on Denver's goalie skated forward and slapped a shot which was only stopped by a defender in the way. The play wound down to about 3.4 seconds and a faceoff near the blue line all but keeping CC from a season sweep of the Pioneers. Looking back at the game, I think the Tigers showed some real fortitude in playing this game. They showed that they can compete. They did give up quite a few goals, but at least they can work off of this.

BADGERS VS. GOPHERS

I am not one who is nice to college goaltenders. I tend to rip them when I see poor performances. For references on my past views of college goalies, just consult CC fan Lee Siewart. He can tell you personally how many poor reviews I gave of CC goalies in the past. Given my history, I was less than thrilled to see the Wisconsin back up starting for the Badgers. Landon Petersen is a capable goalie who can definitely make plays. However, he did not play much last year and played one game this season. Joel Rumpel has played okay in the past and has a respectable GAA. My main concern with Petersen was not his lack of work, it was the lack of personnel in front of him that worried me. Nic Kerdiles(2nd rd, Anaheim, Suspension) and Mark Zengerle(Broken Finger) were both out leaving Wisconsin without capable scoring options. So my first thought was to grab some beers because I would need a buzz to watch this game. Boy was I wrong! The Badgers never led, but did some solid tape to tape passing and played incredibly good defense against #3 Minnesota. Last year, Minnesota was #2 in the nation for goals scored and all of their top scorers (Bjugstand, Condon, Haula) all came back for another round. Although they lost their goalie to graduation, they picked up a capable replacement in Adam Wilcox. During the first period, Wisconsin showed some talent with the puck. They only had nine shots on goal, but kept the Gophers to the same. They played a solid effort game with a few penalties which they killed off. During the second period, the badgers fell flat. They got scored on, but came right back to score the game equalizing goal. I was not impressed to see a 10 minute game misconduct and a 5 minute major for a blow to the head. However, the badgers played through it and kept their skates moving. Most importantly, Landon Petersen held strong facing 20 shots in the period and only allowing one goal. Enter the third period and yet again another 10 minute game misconduct and a 5 minute major for a blow to the head. Yet again, the badgers killed the penalty off and staved off wicked break away's by Bjugstand and Condon to force an uneventful overtime and a tie. Minnesota gave the first and second star to their players and the third star to Michael Mersch who scored both goals. I however, would have given a star to Petersen for standing tall. He faced 44 shots and only allowed two goals. As a fan, I am optimistic for the Badgers to play another round against the Gophers. However, they are going to need to keep this defense up to continue.

All in all it was a great night for college hockey. Between the two games, I give the goalie star to Landon Petersen. He played better than any of the other goalies mentioned in this blog. I give the player star to Rylan Schwartz because he played outstanding and led by example (except after the game had ended he slammed a DU player into the boards causing a DQ which will force him to watch the next game from the stands). My defensive star is going to Minnesota. Although they didn't play well, I think they were a key contributor into the fine play of Wilcox. Denver, CC and Wisconsin all left their goalies out to dry while the Gophers held a good D.