{"id":31123,"date":"2010-03-11T14:18:46","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T20:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/11\/this-week-in-the-ccha-march-11-2010\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:55","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:55","slug":"this-week-in-the-ccha-march-11-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/11\/this-week-in-the-ccha-march-11-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the CCHA: March 11, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
In my idea of heaven, college hockey generates so much interest that local network affiliates not only run second-round conference playoff games in prime time, but slick teasers to promote the games. I see the four winning coaches from last week’s first round of the CCHA playoffs walking toward the camera side-by-side, the obligatory slow-motion tracking their determined progress, their creased faces in the soft spotlight while the smoke behind them, back-lit, billows to indicate the seriousness of the situation. (Back-lit billowing smoke does indicate the seriousness of a given situation, doesn’t it?)<\/p>\n
Then they pause, side-by-side, staring intently into the camera. Each gets his own three-second close-up while a voice-over announcer says, “These four men guided their teams to first-round success. The battle continues this weekend.”<\/p>\n
For the sakes of Red Berenson, Dean Blais, Dallas Ferguson and John Markell, I so wish that my idea of heaven were a reality, because reality this weekend will likely be much, much harsher. Michigan State, at least, has the billowing smoke when the players take the ice.<\/p>\n
Congratulations to the Wolverines, Mavericks, Nanooks and Buckeyes on their very much decisive first-round victories in the CCHA playoffs. After the games began, the victors were never in question. The four victorious teams outscored the four losing teams by a collective score of 42-7. The only game that appeared close was the first game of the Notre Dame-Ohio State series, which the Buckeyes won 3-1. Even that, though, didn’t sound as close as the score, and OSU spanked ND 8-2 the following night for good measure.<\/p>\n
“Just one of those nights where shots you were taking were going in,” said OSU’s Sergio Somma after the lopsided Saturday win in which he scored two himself. “It happens sometimes.”<\/p>\n
“I just thought we did a good job of staying with it, then taking the lead and growing [it],” said UNO assistant coach Mike Hastings after the Mavericks registered their second consecutive 6-1 win over Bowling Green Saturday night.<\/p>\n
“I thought we got a lot of good bounces tonight,” said Berenson after the 6-0 win Saturday sealed UM’s sweep of LSSU. “Some of the goals were lucky, but when you’re working hard, it seems you get lucky.”<\/p>\n
After the Nanooks beat the Broncos, 4-1, Saturday, Ferguson told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,<\/I> “Obviously, getting it done in two games is a nice thing when you’re moving on to the second round.”<\/p>\n
Last weekend was a first in recent CCHA history — the first time that all four home teams swept opponents in the first round of playoffs since the league made the move to its two-week playoff series format in 2006. What does this say about the league this year? Well, it reinforces what we all probably knew going into the weekend, that the middle of the pack was very competitive this season.<\/p>\n
However, I also thought that Notre Dame would rebound in the second half and that Lake Superior State was competitive, period, and look what happened to them last week.<\/p>\n
What does this say about the series to be played this weekend? Not a clue. I don’t believe that the top-tier teams are exponentially stronger than the mid-pack teams they’re hosting, except for Miami — which lost its second round playoff series to Northern Michigan last year before going to the NCAA title game. <\/p>\n
As I said, not a clue.<\/p>\n
Two sets of archrivals are facing off in the second round. Everyone on this side of the Michigan-Ohio border is aware that State and Michigan are playing a second-round, to-the-death (well, sort of) series this weekend, but perhaps the rivalry between Ohio State and Miami isn’t as widely known as it should be — and it should be.<\/p>\n
First things first. I get to cover the UM-MSU series, and I’m gleeful. If you had asked me at the start of the season whether such a series were possible, I would have said, “Sure, the Wolverines might host the Spartans in the CCHA playoffs.”<\/p>\n
What a difference a year makes. Last year, the Wolverines had 26 wins going into the second round of the CCHA playoffs, which they hosted. This year, UM has 21 — not so bad — but is .500 in the last eight games and facing a rested MSU team on the road, an MSU team that took three of the squads’ four matches this season.<\/p>\n
And UM has renewed vigor, it seems, in front of Shawn Hunwick, the junior walk-on goaltender — a true, non-scholarship player — who came in for the injured Bryan Hogan two weeks ago and backstopped the Wolverines to two lopsided wins last weekend. Hunwick, the younger brother of former Wolverines player Matt Hunwick, registered his first career start in the second game against Notre Dame two weeks ago. He’s now 3-2-0 with a .915 save percentage and 1.96 goals-against average.<\/p>\n
In the Wolverines’ weekly press conference, Hunwick was relaxed, joking about how the media ignored him for three years. Berenson told annarbor.com<\/I> that Hunwick is a team player, never complaining about not having started a game in most of his first three seasons. “He’s obviously a players’ goalie,” said Berenson. \t<\/p>\n