College Hockey:

This Week in the NCHA/MCHA

Well, finally back from holiday break, though a week later than anticipated. My apologies for my absence last week but a couple unexpected trips to the doctor are never convenient.

All is well now, and though its been awhile not a whole lot has changed on the national scene.

The NCHA still has five teams in the top 15 of the USCHO.com Division III mens poll and is still stalked by second ranked University of Wisconsin-Superior. The 15-1-1 Yellowjackets continue to roll along and now claim five first place votes.

St. Norbert and St. Scholastica loom right behind Superior at third and fourth, respectively, while Stout checks in at No. 7. UW-Stevens Point re-enters the poll after a brief absence and resides at No. 13.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is also receiving votes but remains just out of the top 15.

As has been the case all season, Adrian remains the lone MCHA team receiving votes, and appears to be permanently cemented at No. 8.

NCHA

This weekends meetings between travel partners will mark the halfway point of the NCHA season, and though the league standings are all jammed up as expected, there is a little bit of interesting stratification.

Superior has been red-hot and stands at 6-0, but must face 4-2 St. Scholastica this weekend. St. Norbert and Stout are also 4-2; the Green Knights draw Lake Forest this weekend while the Blue Devils face a road date with their resurgent rival, 2-4 River Falls.

Wrapping up the schedule is Stevens Point traveling to Eau Claire. Both are 2-4 and Saturdays meeting will likely prove critical if either wishes to make a run at the top half of the league.

The Superior-St. Scholastica meeting is one that could be discussed ad nausea, but its on the back-burner for now as the two should provide plenty to talk about next week.

Instead, lets take a look at two teams in the bottom half of the league that have yet to be discussed this season: Stevens Point and River Falls.

The two got off to quite contrasting starts to the season. The Pointers opened 5-0 and 8-2 and currently stand at 11-5-1 overall, largely on the strength of an extremely impressive 9-1-1 non-conference record. Meanwhile, the Falcons surprisingly struggled early, starting 1-6-1, but have won seven of eight and five straight to earn an 8-7-1 overall mark.

Regardless of the road each took to this point, they both carry 2-4 league records into the weekend and have their eyes set on the top half of the league. As an NCAA Pool C bid is quite unlikely for either, its NCHA crown or bust.

Perhaps the most surprising element in play was the slow start of River Falls. A permanent fixture in the top half of the league over the past 15 years, 1-6-1 is not a record anyone is used to seeing tacked up next to the Falcons, though it might not have been wholly unexpected with 11 or 12 new faces in the lineup on a nightly basis.

I think obviously we had a big turnover of players, especially in losing the three All-Americans, said Falcons head coach Steve Freeman. We thought we could bring in a good freshman class and they could step in right away, but there was a little adjustment period.

He added, It was a tough transition for some of these guys with the way we play and the philosophy of our program, and especially when it comes to understanding the style of the NCHA.

As mentioned, the Pointers jumped off to a much stronger start than the Falcons, despite losing their top two scorers from a year ago. Well on pace to outscore last years team, the Pointers appeared to find the perfect mix this season, having only scored 10 less goals to date than they did all of last season.

Stevens Point freshman Jon Madden’s 15 goals are the most among the nation’s freshman (photo: Walt Paulson).

I think we more than replaced them with guys like [freshmen] Jon Madden, Luke Nesper and Travis Erstad, said Stevens Point head coach Wil Nichol. Add in that everyone who has returned has a year playing together and playing for me and that we have a great senior class, and I think weve been able to create some good balance in a short period of time and its created some depth.

Despite the optimism in the Point camp, no one can forget the way they faded down the stretch last season, eventually succumbing to Stout in a two game opening round playoff sweep.

I think that was my fault, explained Nichol. I was a young coach and I think I pushed the guys too hard and we got tired. I dont think we had the same jump at that time. Looking back on it I take a lot of the blame as far as not keeping the guys fresh.

With the Pointers looking to stay fresh this time around, the Falcons are focused on keeping the ball rolling. And why not, considering they have won seven of eight?

It was just a matter of us having to acclimate so many new players into our program at one time. We didnt have a lot of structure in our game early on, said Freeman.

Our young players are starting to play pretty well, and were starting to get some secondary scoring. Weve been getting some really good goaltending lately, too, so hopefully its something that we can carry over.

As solid goaltending is a must for any late season push, both fare well in that regard. Sophomore Thomas Speer excelled as a freshman last year, but a bout with mono has opened the door for senior Marcus Paulson. Paulson is undefeated on the season, ranks among the Pointers all-time leaders in minutes played, and is coming off an impressive shutout of Hamline.

Its hard to take Marcus out right now, explained Nichol. We are winning with him in net. Thomas is back 100% this week, though, so what is it, January 14 and we finally have a fully healthy roster? To have Thomas back and Marcus probably playing the best he has in his career, its nice. Nonetheless, its tough to change [anything] when youre winning.

River Falls bounced back and forth between junior Stephen Ritter and sophomore Bo Storozuk early, but seem to have settled on Ritter according to Freeman.

We felt pretty good about both these guys, he said, but wanted to give one of these guys a little more playing time and the opportunity to gain a little confidence and Ritter has really stepped up to the plate right now.

Though the paths each team took to this point are dramatically different, all that matters now is they are tied for third (or seventh) in the league depending on the way one wishes to look at it. Perhaps the best vantage point is that both teams are currently four points back of playoff home ice. One interesting factoid is that of the eight conference games remaining, both have five on the road.

I dont want to just give you a sound bite or anything, but for now we really just have to worry about going into Hobbs on Saturday. Its been a long time since Point has gone in there and won, and they are very, very good, said Nichol. We have to worry about the immediate, and not try to win eight games in a row. Just go out and win one.

Freeman had similar sentiments, stating, With our hockey team were just trying to worry about ourselves and take one thing at a time, but with us we are going to have to learn to play on the road against some great hockey teams. I think our future is really bright and we can get something going here at the end, but we have to play some tough veteran hockey teams.

Platitudes, perha