Badgers Best Huskies in West

In a rematch of WCHA semifinal opponents playing now for a trip to the Frozen Four, the only commonalities were jersey color and venue. The main difference being the outcome. The result is Wisconsin skating out of Saint Paul and into the Frozen Four with a 5-3 win against Saint Cloud State.

Wisconsin clad in their white home jerseys came out and clearly took control of the game from the opening puck drop. Their energy and puck movement kept play in the SCSU end, except for the special teams play from seven penalties in the period.

Wisconsin scored three goals in the first, two of which were shots off of big rebounds from SCSU goalie Mike Lee. “the message is that you need to get pucks and bodies to the net and then make [Mike Lee] make saves,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, “Early in the game we were able to get pucks [Lee] did not control very well.” As a result, thr Huskies starting goalie was replaced by Dan Dunn at 15:21 of the first. Still the score at the end of the first period was 3-1 Wisconsin.

Through the second period, the Huskies continued to be outplayed, but no scoring occurred.

“Our tanks weren’t full tonight,” said SCSU coach Bob Motzko regarding the Huskies overall play. “Wisconsin earned the victory. To our guys’ credit, we made it interesting at points.”

Still, the game was tight into the third with the Badgers still coming strong but not showing anything on the scoreboard for their efforts. It was eventually SCSU who scored next at 4:16 of the third to trail 3-2. Wisconsin countered 2:38 later to regain their two goal lead. The Huskies still would not say die scoring with the extra attacker on a delayed penalty at 17:10 of the third to again pull within one again at 4-3. It was shortly thereafter that Wisconsin iced the victory with an open net goal.

The Wisconsin win crowns them the West Region Champion and ends the season for SCSU.

How College Hockey Works. It is easy to see the effects of the seniors on the Huskies team this year, and maybe no one more than Garrett Raboin. When asked about his time at SCSU, Raboin stated:

They are going to keep making number 7’s and I’m sure coach has somebody ready to throw out there next year. I can’t say enough, it’s a tough loss and it’s sad that it is over…it’s tough to be disappointed with my career at St. Cloud, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As far as the importance of having highly regarded juniors return as seniors, Coach Eaves had some parting thoughts. Eaves believes as more and more early departing athletes return to campus, their stories get out of long bus rides, three games in three nights, and the general grind of the minor league system. As more alumni come back with the same experiences, more players like Blake Geoffrion will stay to play their senior seasons.

West Region Final Set: Badgers and Huskies

The conventional region’s final is now set. The West Region higher seeds both won tonight unlike in the east, after Wisconsin’s 3-2 victory over Vermont.

In what can be termed as a sleeper of a game, Wisconsin converted 3 of 6 power plays and used solid defense to oust Vermont, the last at-large bid awarded by the NCAA.

Vermont showed some life in the first and took advantage of two Badger defensive breakdowns to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

In the second the Badgers poured on the offense out-shooting the Catamounts 16-3 while taking a 3-2 lead. Wisconsin’s dominance in the second set the stage for the win in the third period.

The third period was without scoring, but did turn ugly in middle as multiple shots to the head, hitting after the whistle, and knee to knee hits were called and observed without call.

For the second time tonight, the goalies played as well as could be expected and were the stars for each team.

Tomorrow night Wisconsin will meet Saint Cloud State for the second time in two weeks at the Xcel Energy Center. This time it will be for a trip to Detroit and the Frozen Four.

Monkey Off the Back of SCSU

In what turned out to be a dramatic finish, Saint Cloud State finally has their first Division I NCAA Tournament win.

What started out as a dominant Huskies game with SCSU leading throughout and 3-1 at one point in the second period, Northern Michigan gained their legs, calmed their jitters and the game was tied at three at the end of regulation.

“We were very nervous early and we did not get in a rythm at all,” said NMU coach Walt Kyle.  “It was a goalie battle tonight.” And it was NMU goaltender Brian Stewart that really kept the Wildcats in the game. With 50 saves he is my pick for player if the game.

SCSU was not going to be denied. Just as though it seemed a repeat of the game last Saturday when they took a lead against North Dakota and lost the game, the Wildcats took control of the game in the third period and eventually tied the score for overtime.

In the first overtime, it was just what a hockey fan would want, open skating and scoring chances on both ends. When asked about shootouts that are used in the CCHA that NMU is a part of, Kyle said, “Shootouts get old quick.”

A suspenseful first OT lead to a short second OT when Tony Mosey tipped in a Garrett Roe pass 0:23 into the period.

“Both goalies played great,” is how SCSU coach Bob Motzko summed it up. With a total of 99 shots on goal, the goalies were the key to the game for both sides.

The Huskies will play the winner of the Wisconsin – Vermont game tomorrow night for the West Region Championship.

Motzko Under Pressure?

Bob Motzko says he hadn’t heard questions about the SCSU 0-8 NCAA record, but he obviously has been thinking about it. Of course he won’t admit that, but his quote provided by Kevin Allenspach of the St. Cloud Times:

Huskies coach Bob Motzko on the inevitable 0-8 in the NCAAs question: "I’ll be honest – we didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last year, so it was never asked then. And I’ve only heard it twice this week. Once was when the boys were in here (the media room) and the second time was from you (a reporter, and not me). So I’m not sick of it at all. It’s one of those things that we don’t talk about, ever. Some of our guys were 2 years old when it started, and a couple weren’t even born yet. So it’s ridiculous. I know, as the coach of the program, and I know the frustration of our fans. But all you can do in the short-term 20-plus years St. Cloud State’s been at the Division I level, we’ve been in the tournament a lot – and a lot in the last decade. In the old days, you used to play on your home campus. So a lot of teams that have these records, they were getting wins on campus.

"If we were 1-7 because a team would’ve won 12 years ago, would it make a difference? It has no bearing on this team. We have to live with it, and I have to live with it. I feel for our fans, though, because they want it so bad. Fans are passionate. They want to see good things happen. Our hockey team wants to advance. The only way we can get to that round of eight is to win a hockey game. I was involved in a couple of (NCAA losses), but if you want to beat me up on 0-for-8, I can’t answer it. I’ve got so many things to think about. I’ve got three little kids and these guys and I’m trying to figure out where we’re going to have dinner. Worrying about some losses from I don’t know how many years ago, I don’t."

Yikes, it seems he is on the edge and ready to explode. Hopefully, his energy will be channeled to his players as they take the ice today against Northern Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA West Regional Preview

Wisconsin, Saint Cloud State, Northern Michigan, and Vermont will be converging this weekend in Saint Paul for the NCAA West Region at the Xcel Energy Center. That combination of teams is very interesting in that they have at least one common factor, they have all played UMD this year. Bulldogs record in those games is 1-4-1 with the lone win coming against the Badgers. One more interesting fact that leads UMD out of the NCAA Tournament.

What is also interesting about this field is that two of the teams have lost to Michigan Technological University. SCSU and NMU account for two of MTU’s five wins this season. UMD twist on this is the Bulldogs account for two more of the five MTU wins. The fifth was against Minnesota State – Mankato.

Two of the four teams just played at the X in the WCHA Final Five, Wisconsin and Saint Cloud State. Actually, they played each other in the tournament with SCSU winning 2-0, before losing 5-3 to UND in the Championship game. Wisconsin won the last WCHA 3rd Place game over Denver 6-3.

A Look At the Teams. The HighHorse will be at the X to take in the west Regional, so a more in depth preview of the teams is below.

Wisconsin (#1): Coming off of a convincing win over a Denver squad is good for the Badgers. Of course, the Pioneers were pretty much mailing in their effort in the 3rd Place game as it was never close on the scoreboard or in the quality of play.

Wisconsin went 1-1 in the Final Five and that is the way the second half of the season has gone for the Badgers. From Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal:

The casual observer might not have noticed, but the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team spent much of the second half of the regular season getting by on its good looks.

“We played OK,” UW coach Mike Eaves said. “We found ways to win games.”

Outside of a fantastic Western Collegiate Hockey Association series performance against then-No. 1 Denver in late January — a 3-3 overtime tie and a 4-3 victory in a playoff-like atmosphere at the Kohl Center — the Badgers were maddeningly inconsistent.

They could be dynamic one night, like the 5-2 win at Minnesota-Duluth when they put up 52 shots against a top-10 team. They could be disconnected the next, like the 6-5 loss at Colorado College when they allowed four goals in the first 15 minutes to another top-10 team.

Even with the variability of the team, they are talented on offense and defense and that is why they will win the West Region.

Saint Cloud State (#2): Perseverance, attitude, and confidence have propelled this Huskies team into the NCAA Tournament and a #2 seed. The question is can they keep the attributes listed above going to win two games here to advance out of the West Region.

Or should the question be if they can even win one game in the NCAA tournament? The Huskies are 0-8 in NCAA Tournament play since entering the Division I ranks in the 1987-88 season.

The addition of Garret Roe who was injured during the Final Five would be a big boost to this team. According to the St. Cloud Times, Roe has been practicing and is expected to play in Friday’s game.

Nonetheless, I cannot help but look at the spotty play late in the season highlighted by the collapse in the WCHA Championship game where the Huskies scored two goals in the first minute of the game only to surrender four unanswered in losing to the Sioux. Therefore I will say that the Huskies winless NCAA streak will continue when they lose to the upstart Northern Michigan Wildcats.

Northern Michigan (#3): In an up and down season that ended on a 10 of 13 game winning streak, the Wildcats of NMU qualified for the Tournament. Their record against teams in their year’s tournament is 4-5-4, nothing to write home about. But this team wins when they need to. Evidence the late season run into the CCHA Championship game which they lost to Michigan 2-1.

The key to this NMU team is their goaltending. Even though they cannot rely on it every night to totally shut down the opponent, it has been enough to allow the scoring to take care of the game. If netminder Brian Stewart plays his game, the scoring will be there and NMU will beat SCSU before falling to Wisconsin.

Vermont (#4): With an overall record of 17-14-7 the Catamounts secured one of the last at-large bids to the Tournament. In a down year for Hockey East, Vermont had an unimpressive 9-11-7. In fact, Vermont just barely bested Northeaster for the last spot in the Hockey East Tournament by one point even though Northeastern had 11 conference wins. As a note, Hockey East only has 8 of the 10 teams in the conference qualify for their tournament.

The reason Vermont is in the Tournament is their non-conference wins over ranked teams along with taking out New Hampshire in the first round of the Hockey East Tournament. Wins over Yale, Denver, and UMD propelled Vermont’s PWR and thus landed them in the Tournament.

Some say that Vermont doesn’t belong in, but they have the numbers to back it up in the PWR. Their accomplishment is great, but their stay will be short lived. Wisconsin will take them out in the Region Quarterfinals.

Again, prediction here is Wisconsin will emerge and go on to the Frozen Four. We will ad the predictions for the other regionals in an article in the near future.