Monday, March 5, 2012
Story Lines: At Long Last
Story Lines is a regular look at some of the hot topics and storylines to watch in Division I men’s college hockey.
First Line: At Long Last
Playoff hockey is the best time of year, but no one is likely looking forward to it more than Taylor Matson. The Minnesota Golden Gopher captain is poised to play his first career postseason games this weekend against Alaska Anchorage after missing the WCHA Tournament each of his first three years due to injury. The senior is a tremendous leader – he has been named the team’s Mike Crupi Most Determined Player each of the last two seasons – and should give the MacNaughton Cup champions a boost as he makes his playoff debut. While college playoff hockey is new to the Vancouver Canucks draft pick, he has advanced to the Xcel Energy Center before, with the Academy of Holy Angels team in high school.
Second Line: Rivalry Weekend
You never know how conference tournament brackets will shake out, but if there’s a theme this weekend, it’s rivalries. Michigan-Notre Dame and Harvard-Yale are two of college athletics’ best rivalries in any sport and each meet for the right to advance to their conference championship weekends. Both split their regular-season meetings. Schenectady and Troy, N.Y., are separated by just 16 miles, an easy trip for Rensselaer’s visit to rival Union this weekend. In the WCHA, Denver hosts head coach George Gwozdecky’s alma mater, Wisconsin.
Third Line: Momentum?
Three conferences began their playoffs this past weekend, leading to the situation where the underdog teams enter this coming weekend with momentum, against a team that hasn’t played in 12 days. That could be even more pronounced as Holy Cross visits Mercyhurst, as the Crusaders are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. Another visiting team on a bit of a roll is Rensselaer, which already won one road playoff series. The Engineers started the season 3-16-1 but are 9-6-2 since then, including their three-game series win at Clarkson.
Fourth Line: Stars, Smiths and Scoring
The Dallas Stars have eight draft picks playing college hockey, roughly average among NHL teams. No team can compare to the way Stars selections light the lamp, however. Colgate’s Austin Smith and Miami’s Reilly Smith – no relation – rank 1-2 nationally in goals with 34 and 26, respectively, and no one else is close. Their 60 goals combined dwarfs the next-best goal-scoring tandem of prospects, Florida’s Nick Bjugstad (Minnesota) and Drew Shore (Denver), who have 44 goals between them.
6
The number of points that separate the top four scorers in UMass Lowell’s balanced attack, led by 35-point scorers Scott Wilson and Riley Wetmore.
Quoteable
“From the big picture perspective we’re extremely excited about our young guys and where we’re headed. I would have said the same thing if we lost the series. It’s nice to see them perform as well as they did in a very difficult situation.” — Bowling Green head coach Chris Bergeron, whose team got 9 of its 11 goals this weekend from freshmen