{"id":30129,"date":"2008-11-27T20:45:37","date_gmt":"2008-11-28T02:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/11\/27\/this-week-in-the-cha-nov-27-2008\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:19","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:19","slug":"this-week-in-the-cha-nov-27-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/11\/27\/this-week-in-the-cha-nov-27-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the CHA: Nov. 27, 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"
Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!<\/p>\n
As is the theme each year with this column, we’ll go over what each team has to be thankful for any why.<\/p>\n
As is also a recurring theme, the number of teams in the CHA since this writer took over the league beat has been cut almost in half, so the column tends to get shorter as the league gets smaller.<\/p>\n
That said, here goes the 2008 “What CHA Teams Have To Be Thankful For” list.<\/p>\n
Alabama-Huntsville<\/b><\/p>\n
A strong athletic administration committed to winning and keeping hockey alive in the deep south, warm freaking weather year-round, the opportunity to look forward to hosting the 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa and always-strong attendance figures that most times go unnoticed by CHA cynics and so-called writers.<\/p>\n
Bemidji State<\/b><\/p>\n
Your new rink in a few short years, being the only CHA team to boast an NHL draft pick (Chris Peluso), hosting the CHA tournament in March, the shortening time frame to join the WCHA, being situated in the hockey-crazed state of Minnesota and having the best green jerseys in the country.<\/p>\n
Niagara<\/b><\/p>\n
Looking forward to hosting preliminary games in the World Junior Championship in 2011 at Dwyer Arena, a healthy Ted Cook (and one that stayed all four years), a packed arena every home game, the best school nickname in the country and a reputation the last couple years for producing NHL-caliber talent.<\/p>\n
Robert Morris<\/b><\/p>\n
Knowing that having a team primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the upside of said players, a high-end recruit coming next season in Zach Hervato and the ability to upset teams that may take the Colonials for granted and seeing hockey continue to grow in the Steel City.<\/p>\n
CHA<\/b><\/p>\n
The four head coaches — all classy, intense guys, a league where each team has a 25 percent chance to go to the NCAA tournament, a league where any of the four teams can go out and compete (and sometimes win convincingly) against teams from the other five conferences and the fact that the 2008-2009 season has the CHA can really be the most important reason to be thankful in the first place<\/p>\n
Lastly, I’d like to take this moment to say I am thankful for my very beautiful, loving and supportive wife of four years, Stephanie, and our sons, Ethan, 3, and Wyatt, 1. You guys are my world and I love you (and honey, your Thanksgiving meatballs!) like you will never know! (And yes, I love you, too, Eddie!)<\/p>\n
In a rematch of last year’s CHA title game, Niagara hosted Bemidji State for a pair last weekend and each team took a 3-1 win.<\/p>\n