What struck me this week in the CCHA was the minutiae, the things that don’t draw a lot of attention but that matter in small ways. Perhaps it’s a Big Chill hangover – so much of it seemed ridiculous and overblown to me – but I found hockey beauty in the little things last weekend.
Of course, there’s no getting away from The Big Chill in the Big House.
Here they are, in no particular order.
- Friday’s 4-2 Ferris State win over Alaska snapped a 15-game winless streak against the Nanooks that dated to Jan. 2, 2003.
- Andy Taranto scored the first and last goal of the weekend for the Nanooks. Taranto was out three games with an injury, and in his first game back, UAF’s 4-2 loss to FSU Friday, Taranto had the first goal. He then netted the game-winner in overtime Saturday. Those were his only two goals of the weekend.
- Friday’s 5-2 Lake Superior State win over Western Michigan snapped an 18-game Bronco road winless streak, dating back to Jan. 8, 2010.
- Notre Dame had 96 shots in a two-game split with Northern Michigan, including a season-high 53 shots in Saturday’s 3-2 loss.
- Northern Michigan needed five games this season to register a win, but after opening the 2009-10 campaign 0-4-1, NMU has gone 8-4-2 since Oct. 29.
- Bowling Green broke its four overtime-game streak on Saturday with a 4-2 loss to OSU. In their four previous games, the Falcons went 0-2-2-0 in OT CCHA contests.
- For the fourth Friday in a row, the Buckeyes played an overtime game to open a series, beating the Falcons 4-3. OSU went 3-0-1-1 for those four OT contests.
- Western Michigan senior goaltender Jerry Kuhn earned his first CCHA when the Broncos beat the Lakers, 4-1. Kuhn had gone 0-14-5 against league opponents until that match; his win Saturday gives him a 5-20-7 record at Western.
- Two Miami players have more points than anyone else in the nation, seniors Carter Camper (13-22-25) and Andy Miele (8-23-31).
- Camper and Ohio State senior Sergio Somma (10-8–18) lead all CCHA players in power-play goals (five each).
- With a split against Northern Michigan and 29 points to their name, the Fighting Irish finish the first half of the season in first place in the CCHA. Last year at this time, ND was in fourth place with 18 points. “We wanted to make sure we ended the first half on a good note,” senior Calle Ridderwall told the South Bend Tribune this week.
- UM defenseman Jon Merrill scored the first goal of the Big Chill and therefore the game-winner. He also scored on his first two shots of the game, at 12:04 and 14:54 of the first period. It was Merrill’s first multi-goal career game.
- According to the Detroit Free Press, 22 members of UM captain Carl Hagelin’s family came over for the Big Chill game from Sweden. Hagelin’s brother, Bobbie, told the Free Press, “This is so big, people in Sweden are talking about it, the world record, and my brother is captain of the team and part of the record.”
- Also according to the Detroit Free Press, Guinness certified the Big Chill’s record-breaking crowd at 85,451, not 113,411.
- According to AnnArbor.com, only five people were arrested at the Big Chill, two for assault and battery.
