{"id":25526,"date":"2003-02-20T09:32:32","date_gmt":"2003-02-20T15:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2003\/02\/20\/this-week-in-the-wcha-feb-20-2003\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:23","slug":"this-week-in-the-wcha-feb-20-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2003\/02\/20\/this-week-in-the-wcha-feb-20-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the WCHA: Feb. 20, 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"
Some thoughts this week, while finally being convinced six WCHA teams won’t make the NCAA tournament:<\/p>\n
Don Brose has a hard time hiding the joy he’s feeling in watching Troy Jutting’s Minnesota State-Mankato team do so well this season.<\/p>\n
Brose, who retired as the Mavericks’ coach in 2000, after leading them for 30 years — including their first in the WCHA — is thrilled to see Mankato ranked among the top schools in the country.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited for Troy. Troy played for me four years and was my assistant coach for 10 years,” Brose said. “I’m so happy for Troy, I’m so happy for the program because this puts Mankato on the map again.”<\/p>\n
Brose took the Mavericks to the WCHA Final Five in their first season of full league membership. They’re poised to make another run at it this season, sitting in second place with three weekends left.<\/p>\n
“I think they’re a really, really exciting team to watch,” said Brose, who’ll be present for alumni weekend in Mankato this weekend. “They’ve got a good nucleus of three seniors who are really good leaders, but the rest of them are kids who have really stepped up. <\/p>\n
“They’re fast, they’ve got a couple of real snipers in [Shane] Joseph and [Grant] Stevenson. Goaltending’s been good. They’re just fun to watch.”<\/p>\n
Brose has kept himself busy since his retirement from coaching by doing what he’s waited a long time to do — hunt.<\/p>\n
He’s been duck, pheasant and goose hunting in North Dakota and South Dakota.<\/p>\n
“That was one of the reasons I got out [of coaching] when I did — I wanted to be able to hunt,” he said. “I hadn’t fired my guns in 23 years and I wanted to be able to get out hunting. I’ve done that a lot lately.”<\/p>\n
“Hockey hankies,” T-shirts and a pregame concert. Oh yeah, some hockey, too.<\/p>\n
Minnesota State-Mankato is going all out to make the atmosphere at this weekend’s games against North Dakota something memorable. The school is distributing more than 5,000 “hankies” before Friday’s game at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center, and 900 shirts to go along with a concert before Saturday’s game.<\/p>\n
It might be more memorable if the Mavericks add onto their 15-game unbeaten streak.<\/p>\n
North Dakota’s reaction to all this? Bring it on.<\/p>\n
“That’s all good and fine, but we’re used to those things everywhere we go,” said Sioux coach Dean Blais, who did mention, however, that those plans have made their way onto the bulletin board in the UND locker room.<\/p>\n
“It’s not going to be anything unusual or extra emotional for us. Sometimes that works against you and you can’t do your normal routines with a band playing before the game. Sometimes, it’s a distraction for the team.”<\/p>\n
The Mavericks need points this weekend. While most teams have six league games left, Mankato has only four — these two against UND and next weekend at Colorado College. The promotions won’t be a distraction, coach Troy Jutting said.<\/p>\n
If that unbeaten string ends now, the Mavericks still could slide as low as seventh place in the final standings.<\/p>\n
“With the two recent wins over Alaska-Anchorage, we have put ourselves in a position where there is little doubt that we are skating the most important series in school history,” Mankato athletics director Kevin Buisman said in a statement released by the school. <\/p>\n
“There is a lot on the line in terms of the postseason, with home ice and seeding positions up for grabs. All eyes in the WCHA and throughout college hockey will be focused on what happens right here in Mankato this weekend, and it’s our time to shine.”<\/p>\n
The next two weeks were going to be St. Cloud State’s ground on which to make a run at solidifying a top-five spot in the standings. Knee injuries to two key players now have the Huskies hoping they can merely survive.<\/p>\n
Defenseman Jeff Finger had arthroscopic surgery this week to repair a torn meniscus in a knee. Last Saturday, forwards Ryan Malone, one of the team’s leading scorers, and Joe Jensen, who’s been in form since Christmas, suffered knee injuries. Jensen should play this weekend, but Malone likely will be out the next four games.<\/p>\n
With dates against Wisconsin on the road this weekend and at home against Anchorage the next, the Huskies, who enter the weekend tied with Denver for sixth place, have a golden opportunity at eight points. But without those key players, it’ll be a little more difficult because their depth will be stretched.<\/p>\n
After the Badgers and the Seawolves, the Huskies close the regular season with a home-and-home series against Minnesota that could be vital in playoff positioning. They hope to have Finger and Malone back by then.<\/p>\n
“You can’t make up for good players,” Huskies coach Craig Dahl said. “Good players win games. It’s tough to take those guys out of the lineup.”<\/p>\n
And don’t think wins at Wisconsin are a sure thing for St. Cloud, either. In its last four games at the Kohl Center, it’s 1-2-1.<\/p>\n
“You go and you play as hard as you can and do the best you can,” Dahl said. “Hopefully, you can still win. If you can’t, you can’t — there’s not much you can do about it.”<\/p>\n
With go-to players out of the lineup, the Huskies will turn to the next group to make an impact.<\/p>\n
Dahl said they’ll rely more on Jon Cullen and Joe Motzko, while hoping Peter Szabo can turn it up. There may be wholesale changes to the line combinations as well, Dahl said.<\/p>\n
Last season, Minnesota started its run toward a national championship with a strong February. The Gophers may be doing it again this season with a different cast, but coach Don Lucia wouldn’t say that just yet.<\/p>\n
The Gophers were 6-2 in February last season, starting a drive that would see them lose only once in March and take the NCAA title in April. Today, they’re 4-1 in the second month of the calendar year. The common thread is that a loss in both seasons came against Colorado College.<\/p>\n
Lucia isn’t so sure this is a run his team is on. As far as he’s concerned, his team is fixed at a consistent level.<\/p>\n