It’s February? Did I not get the memo about this? Wow.<\/p>\n
It’s a quiet week around the CHA: only Wayne State and Bemidji State are in action as they face off in Detroit. If you need your hockey fix, Detroit-Wayne County Airport’s not a bad destination. Trust me … I’m fighting the urge myself.<\/p>\n
But before we get into that, some random thoughts for a slow week:<\/p>\n
A preview of coming attractions, as it were. I’m still waiting to talk to the two young players involved, but this is a great, great story in the making: Ryan Huddy’s dad, Charlie, and Carly Napier’s dad, Mark, both played for the Edmonton Oilers. Big deal, right?<\/p>\n
You’ve heard me talk about Huddy before — he’s one of Tom Serratore’s fantastic freshmen up at Bemidji. But Carly Napier is at BSU as well — she just plays for the women’s team. And their dads were Oilers … together with the Great One.<\/p>\n
Oh, the stories that could be told. I mean, wouldn’t you love to say, “Not only can my dad beat up your dad, but he can make a pass over to the Great One!” That would’ve shut me up on the playground.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned next week.<\/p>\n
Congratulations to the three young men who will represent the CHA in the Hobey Baker voting:<\/p>\n
2003 HOBEY BAKER AWARD FAN BALLOTING<\/b> Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m surprised by a number of things on this list.<\/p>\n Why are there only two schools represented? UAH, Air Force, Findlay, and Niagara fans … where’s the love? I’m not seeing it. Each of these schools has at least one player that you could reasonably push for the Hobey Baker. We’ll get to that in a moment, but really, folks. I’m surprised.<\/p>\n What also surprises me is that Stanich is above Guerrera. Stanich is a very good defenseman, but on the Warriors, I like Tyler Kindle better — and so, apparently, do the media and coaches of the CHA, since Kindle has received various accolades in the last couple of seasons.<\/p>\n Stanich is deserving of the recognition that he gets, but so are any number of other defensemen around the CHA. Who? Oh, like Tyler Butler and Ryan Leasa at UAH, or Brian Reaney at Air Force, Anders Olsson up at Bemidji, Paul Prefontaine in Findlay, Andrew Nahirniak at Niagara, Kindle at Wayne State.<\/p>\n And that’s just off the top of my head, so I know that I’m leaving someone out.<\/p>\n Dave Guerrera is the defending Player of the Year, and while Stanich has played well this season, Guerrera should command more respect.<\/p>\n Who else could and should have been nominated at the other schools? For starters, I’m surprised that Falcon SID Dave Toller didn’t have General Gilbert order every cadet to vote for Andy Berg or Reaney. Charger fans should have gotten behind Karlis Zirnis, the school’s first Division I 100-point scorer, or Steve Charlebois or Butler or somebody.<\/p>\n Oiler fans could have ridden the Jamie VandeSpyker bandwagon to victory … or the Kevin Fines one, either. And why were Niagara fans not chomping at the bit to make Joltin’ Joe Tallari their Hobey candidate?<\/p>\n Sure, it may be a few years before CHA fans can cheer on one of their own in the Hobey Hat Trick. But until the fans can recognize who the stars in the conference are and vote them on to victory, well, you have to wonder.<\/p>\n A warning to all CHA foes with Air Force yet on their schedule: do not take the Falcons lightly.<\/p>\n I told you this last week, and the Chargers didn’t listen the first night, as the Falcons outworked and outplayed them to tie that game in the third period. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is a disciplined group of young men that comes on strong at the end of every season, thanks to their own hard work, discipline, and great coaching by Frank Serratore, Derek Schooley and Co.<\/p>\n Of course, I’m sure that Tom Serratore will say the exact same thing about those Findlay Oilers. All reports out of Bemidji indicate that the Oilers may yet have begun to fight, and last week’s games seem to indicate it.<\/p>\n
\nTop five and CHA players (through Feb. 5, 2003)<\/p>\n\n
\n Rk<\/td>\n Player<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2nd<\/td>\n 3rd<\/td>\n Points<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1. <\/td>\n Peter Sejna, F, CC <\/td>\n 2,599 <\/td>\n 652 <\/td>\n 656 <\/td>\n 15,607 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2. <\/td>\n Tom Preissing, D, CC <\/td>\n 1,358 <\/td>\n 2,061 <\/td>\n 634 <\/td>\n 13,607 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3. <\/td>\n Chris Kunitz, LW, Ferris <\/td>\n 2,411 <\/td>\n 255 <\/td>\n 166 <\/td>\n 12,986 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4. <\/td>\n Brandon Bochenski, F, UND <\/td>\n 1,154 <\/td>\n 1,375 <\/td>\n 390 <\/td>\n 10,285 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5. <\/td>\n Zach Parise, F, UND <\/td>\n 1,529 <\/td>\n 628 <\/td>\n 445 <\/td>\n 9,974 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 26. <\/td>\n Keith Stanich, D, WSU <\/td>\n 219 <\/td>\n 252 <\/td>\n 138 <\/td>\n 1,989 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 28. <\/td>\n David Guerrera, G, WSU <\/td>\n 214 <\/td>\n 204 <\/td>\n 127 <\/td>\n 1,809 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 54. <\/td>\n Grady Hunt, G, BSU <\/td>\n 55 <\/td>\n 132 <\/td>\n 170 <\/td>\n 841 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n A Public Service Announcement<\/h4>\n
A Reprieve<\/h4>\n