1. LSSU: Lets start with my own little Alma Mater, Lake Superior
State.
Its hard to believe that this program was a regular feature in the
CCHA Finals so much that Sault Ste. Marie folks and LSSU students
booked bus trips to Detroit in September, rented out huge blocks of
rooms, and had a yearly Saturday night dinner for all the parents,
fans, and alumni at the Olympia Room at Joe Louis Arena.
Any loyal LSSU follower, and some of the idle and curious, are simply
dumbfounded at watching the Laker Anchor put up a meek fight to earn
the last CCHA Playoff spot and trip to the slaughterhouse in East
Lansing against MSU.
Everyone associated with the school or program knows the problem --
its head coach Scott Borek. The team is lifeless, sloppy, and out of
shape. The passing is terrible -- and that is the best part of their
game. They shoot when they should pass, pass when they should skate,
skate when they should shoot . . . you get the idea. The team plays a
brand of hockey somewhere between cotton and silk on the physical
scale. There seldom seems to be a pre-game plan, or at least the
players are seldom ready to play on Friday night. In short, its been
a long three years.
The question on everyone's lips has been: Is Borek coming back? There
is still one year left on his contract, and tiny LSSU is loathe to pay
out its small supply of money for nothing. However, with the program
losing cash and attendance actually dropping for the first time EVER,
it sure looks like the school is paying out its small supply of money
for nothing anyhow.
2. Northern Michigan: New Stadium not quite what many expected.
The NMU Wildcats are moving into a new, state-of-the-art building that
will define NMU hockey and draw top recruits, a stadium that will
finally give Northern hockey a home to be proud of (after the
charming, but dark, cold, and tiny Lakeview Arena). But is this new
stadium, which opens next season, going to be NMU's hockey Mecca? No.
Instead, the Regents at NMU and the City of Marquette have joined
together in designing a bland, multi-purpose building that will be
more than over-used.
The new NMU Activity Center is like the ten blind men describing an
elephant -- its a mess. The hockey rink will be Olympic sized, to
facilitate not just the NMU hockey team, but the Olympic skating
camps. The arena will also be used for Basketball, Volleyball, and a
host of other local events, shows, and circuses. It will seat about
4,000 for hockey, with private boxes and a nice new set of locker
rooms. But is this the showcase for NMU hockey?
While many schools are building rinks with the intention of giving the
hockey team its own home, and many more schools already having fine
buildings for hockey-only, NMU seems to have taken a step backward in
time to the drab days of multi-purpose blandness and lack of
atmosphere. While officials in Marquette are claiming that this
building will be hockey-first, all else second, one is hard pressed to
find any facts to back up such language.
In other Northern News, the ‘Cats are fighting for a home playoff spot
just two years removed from the disastrous six-win season of 1996-97.
The Wildcats started off strong this year, and gained some national
poll attention. Since those early weeks, however, NMU has played
erratic hockey -- dominated one night, sleep-walking through the next
night. Recent weekends against Ohio State and Lake Superior seem to
highlight this trend.
At home against OSU, the ‘Cats were pounded on Friday night, only to
issue the same pounding right back on Saturday night. Against LSSU,
the ‘Cats were badly outplayed in a 4-4 tie on Friday night, but
smothered the Lakers in a 4-0 shut-out the next night. Consistency is
going to be needed in greater quantities if the Wildcats want to make
noise in the CCHA Playoffs.
3. Michigan Technological University: Next year, Again.
The Huskies just can't seem to get everyone they need all in one
season. Last year, the team lead the nation in PP goals an
percentage, and were fourth in the WCHA in total goals -- the problem
was that they couldn't keep anything out of their net. Then Savage
and Sutton graduated. This season, the Huskies can't buy a goal, but
the defense isn't half bad.
As for low points in Huskey Hockey History, last weekend's sloppy mess
against upstart Omaha -- at home no less -- should rank right up
there. Coach Tim Watters has been talking all February about his team
getting into a good frame of mind for the playoffs -- but a 2-10-0
record in the second half of the season looks more like a melt-down
than a gearing-up. Losing to Omaha is the final kick in the pants for
a season that had mostly disappointing performances.
Looking ahead, it seems the Huskies are destined to play in Colorado
(either CC or Denver) in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. The
last time the Huskies traveled out to the Rocky Mountain State for the
playoffs, they stunned the entire college hockey world by beating CC
two in a row en route to a WCHA Championship run that ended in the
final game. The people in Milwaukee are still buzzing about the
screaming hoards of victory-starved Michigan Tech fans, and that giant
100 person band, that flooded south for the games at the Bradley
Center. Don't expect lightning to strike twice, however. It is
likely the Huskies will go meekly into the night after the first round.
That being said, the word out of Houghton is that Tim Watters is
working over-time to increase the talent level of the team. He has
been trying since early last season to build a team "Based on the
North Dakota model -- small, fast, dedicated, hard-working players."
So far he only has Paul Cabana to show for his efforts, but that is
because he has three very good young players spending an extra year in
juniors to get some size, and brush up on their math. Tech is adding
a Liberal Arts component to the college next year -- English,
Political Science, and History -- which should ease the recruiting
burden on Watters somewhat. It has been tough for the Huskies to find
a hockey player with the requisite skill on the ice, and brain power
to survive in such a tough engineering school off the ice.
4. Other Questions of the Day:
Is anyone else happy to see Michigan stumbling at the end of the
season?
How come I get the feeling that New Hampshire is going to lose in the
first round of the NCAA Tourney?
Will the real Alaska-Anchorage team please stand up?
Does Clarkson's dramatically improved play the past two months
reflect positively on North Dakota and Northern Michigan (who both
handily beat Clarkson early in the season)? Or is this a different
team now?
What on Earth happened to Vermont?
Is Paul Pooley of Providence the most underated coach in NCAA D-I
Hockey? I mean, really, his Friars are in the hunt this year with
less talent than most teams.
Are the rumors of Sault native and former NHL Coach of the Year Ted
Nolan taking over the LSSU program the single most rediculous thing
anyone has ever heard?
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