After Notre Dame lost to Michigan, 5-3, Saturday night, ND head coach Jeff Jackson said, “They scored three goals that must have bounced off 15 things.”
That got me thinking about all the little things that make a difference — or don’t — in college hockey.
Keep in mind that small is a relative term.
- Points separating Nos. 1 through 4 in the CCHA standings: four. It’s the same as it was last week, only the top four teams – Notre Dame (17), Michigan (16), Miami (15) and Alaska (14) each have three more points.
- Number of goals Ferris State scored against Lake Superior last weekend: 0. Laker freshman Kevin Kapalka earned two shutouts against the Bulldogs Nov. 12-13.
- Number of CCHA goalies who rank among the top 10 nationally for save percentage: 0. LSSU’s Kevin Kapalka (.929) has the highest overall save percentage in the league, and that puts him at No. 13 nationally. This is an unusual trend for a league that is normally littered with great goalies. WMU’s Nick Pisellini (1.85 GAA) and Miami’s Cody Reichard (1.92) are Nos. 9 and 10, respectively, nationally among goalies for goals-against average.
- Number of wins Michigan has on Friday nights this season: 1. The Wolverines haven’t registered a Friday-night win since beating Bowling Green Oct. 8. They’re now 1-3-1 on Fridays.
- Amount of time left in regulation when Carlo Finucci scored Alaska’s game-winning goal over Miami Saturday: 1:29. Finucci scored from Jarret Granberg and Colton Beck at 18:31 to earn the split. The Nanooks and RedHawks have now split each of their last four series in Oxford.
- Amount of time it took to Phil Fox to net his first goal in Northern Michigan’s 5-1 win over Bowling Green Saturday: 1:12. Fox also had the game-winner in that contest, and the only goal in NMU’s 2-1 loss to BG the night before.
- Bowling Green’s power-play success: 8.2 percent, No. 55 in the country. The Falcons had netted three PP goals in 10 games prior to their series against NMU last weekend, in which BG’s Brett Mohler scored two.
- Northern Michigan’s penalty killing success: 73.0 percent. The Wildcats have killed off 46-of-63 opponent power plays through 11 games, giving them the No. 55 PK in the nation. Incidentally, the Wildcats are second in the nation for penalty minutes, averaging 20 per game.
- Number of non-RedHawks who have earned league offensive Player of the Week honors: 2. Miami swept that award in October, Buckeye Danny Dries won Nov. 8, and this week’s award goes to Spartan Derek Grant, who had a goal and four assists in a split against OSU.
- Carter Camper’s scoreless streak: one game. Camper has registered at least a point in every game he’s played this season except for Nov. 6 against Ferris State.
- Number of CCHA teams among the top 10 in the nation for scoring offense: 1. It’s Miami, of course, bolstered by Camper’s 11 goals. There are four CCHA teams, however – Alaska, Miami, Ferris State and Western – among the nation’s to 10 defenses.
- Time senior Miami goaltender Ben Saska has spent in net this season: 3:59. The St. Clairsville, Ohio, native faced no shots in the final minutes of Miami’s 9-1 win over Northern Michigan Oct. 23. He’s the third goalie for Miami, brought up from the club team for that position – and what Miami did for him that night is one of the reasons I love this sport. Saska was interviewed by the Wheeling Intelligencer just days before he got to play.
- Number of penalty minutes Western Michigan’s lead scorer, Max Campbell, has this season: 0. The senior has five goals and four assists in nine apparently cleanly played games.
- Number of games Ohio State has lost by more than one goal this season: 1. Saturday’s 4-0 loss to MSU was the first multi-goal loss of the year for the Buckeyes.
- Number of wins Bowling Green needs before reaching No. 800 in program history: 1, and I couldn’t be happier that it will come during the new Chris Bergeron era in BG. And, yes, disbelievers, the Falcons will win another game this season.
