Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Uncaged Notes

It's been a busy week so postings are hard to come by but I'll have 2 for today. Below is a great article from the Gazette about the Tigers struggles with not being able to string together consecutive quality games. Right now they are playing .500 hockey which isn't good come post-season time, yet they are still just out of first place in the WCHA so it will be a great finish. As far as the polls, the Tigers dropped to 13 in the USA Today poll. Full polls for the week are below the article. One poll ranking (or unranking) of note is Air Force, who went from 15 to gone-zo this week after getting whooped up on by Canisius. Have a great week!
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Tigers are tired of taking the bad with all the good
FRANK SCHWAB-THE GAZETTE

Saturday's win over Wisconsin was big for Colorado College. So were wins at Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota and against Minnesota State-Mankato and North Dakota, but CC couldn't follow any of them with another victory.

The Tigers know that the come-from-behind 4-3 victory at Wisconsin won't mean as much if they don't play well this weekend against St. Cloud State.

"It would be huge if we could keep it going," said junior right wing Mike Testwuide, who scored his first goal of the season Saturday. "We usually get a good game and then a bad game, and we need to keep this going."

For as inconsistent as the Tigers have been this season - they haven't swept a series since Oct. 17-18 - they are still in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association race. CC is three points out of first place, even though it is tied for fourth with North Dakota and has played two more games than some of the top teams. With back-to-back series against eighth-place St. Cloud and last-place Michigan Tech, the Tigers could make up some ground.

CC dropped in the polls, despite Saturday's win. The Tigers are 13th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, down from 11th last week. Air Force, which was swept over the weekend after being No. 15, was not ranked. The U.S. College Hockey Online PairWise rankings, which mimics the NCAA selection committee's numbers, had CC tied for 19th. The Tigers were 18th last week.

That's fine with the Tigers, because coach Scott Owens was hopeful they have taken a step in the right direction.

"Everybody competed and played hard, a lot of guys contributed," Owens said of Saturday's win.

Still, there's no way to tell with this season's team. Owens said he wanted to see a good week of practice, but didn't know how to ensure the Tigers would keep playing like they did Saturday.

"That's the million-dollar question," Owens said. "But you'd like to think this would be a momentum changer for us."

Owens might have gotten his team's attention with some lineup moves Saturday night.

He benched alternate captain Scott McCulloch and freshman defenseman Gabe Guentzel after Friday's 6-1 loss. He said each player will probably be back in the lineup this weekend but wanted to see how they practiced this week.

CC hasn't always played with great passion this season, but played hard after falling behind 2-0 Saturday.

"I do think it helped us," Owens said of the lineup changes. "I think it was an attention getter, some guys played different positions and stepped up."

CC got out of the series at Wisconsin pretty healthy. Owens said there were no new noteworthy injuries. Backup goaltender Drew O'Connell has a sore shoulder and could miss a day or two of practice, but should be available this weekend.
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POLLS
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

The 14th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the six NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the American Hockey Coaches Association and USA Hockey Magazine, the official publication of USA Hockey.

Jan. 19, 2008

No. Team (First-place votes)
Points
Last Poll
1. Notre Dame (22)
496
1
2. Boston University (6)
464
2
3. Cornell (6)
434
5
4. Denver
394
4
5. Northeastern
386
3
6. Minnesota
336
8
7. Vermont
204
7
8. Michigan
280
6
9. Princeton
222
14
10. Miami
188
9
11. Ohio State
156
14
12. New Hampshire
154
13
13. Colorado College
132

11

14. Boston College
46
12
15. North Dakota
45
NR

Also receiving votes: Wisconsin 17, Alaska 9 Nebraska-Omaha 9, Air Force 2, Michigan State 2, Quinnipiac 2, Yale 2.

USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Poll

Jan. 19, 2008

No. Team (First-place votes)
Points
Last Poll
1. Notre Dame (38)
986
1
2. Boston University (7)
931
2
3. Cornell (5)
877
5
4. Denver
828
4
5. Northeastern
821
3
6. Minnesota
753
7
7. Vermont
673
8
8. Michigan
637
6
9. Princeton
562
10
10. Miami
507
9
11. New Hampshire
468
13
12. Ohio State
467
14
13. Colorado College
427
11
14. Boston College
320
12
15. North Dakota
316
17
16. Wisconsin
280
17
17. Minnesota Duluth
123
NR
18. Dartmouth
117
18
19. Alaska
100
NR
20. Air Force
94
15

Also receiving votes: Nebraska-Omaha 67, Yale 39, Minnesota State 26, Quinnipiac 26, RIT 16, Maine 13, Union 7, Michigan State 6, St. Lawrence 5, St. Cloud State 4, Massachusetts 3, Niagara 1.

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