{"id":34853,"date":"2011-02-10T05:00:59","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=34853"},"modified":"2020-08-24T21:32:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T02:32:35","slug":"back-atop-ccha-miami-tryin-to-get-the-feeling-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2011\/02\/10\/back-atop-ccha-miami-tryin-to-get-the-feeling-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Back atop CCHA, Miami tryin’ to get the feeling again"},"content":{"rendered":"
This weekend is the closest of the season to Valentine’s Day, and every longtime reader of this column knows what that means: a bitter, divorced, middle-aged woman is doing the writing this week. Of course, that differs very little from any other week in the season, but at this time of year, the Ghosts of Valentine’s Day Past manifest themselves in strange ways. Endless Barry Manilow. The memory of being snubbed by Nate Guenin.<\/a> And Valentine’s Day, 2006.<\/p>\n Ah, yes. Best Valentine’s Day date of my life. Nate Guenin was involved, but only enough to prevent a third-string goalie from making a really big mistake.<\/a> That was the night that the Miami RedHawks clinched the regular-season CCHA title with a 6-3 win over Ohio State in a packed and rocking old Goggin Arena, an event that prompted then-Miami hockey sports information director Jess Bechard to comment, “I think I got a picture of Rico smiling.”<\/p>\n Five years later, and look who’s on top of the CCHA standings again this week. After sweeping Michigan — no easy thing to do, even in one’s own barn — the RedHawks played themselves into first place. With 45 points — one ahead of the Irish, two ahead of the Wolverines — and two fewer league games remaining than ND and UM, Miami is doing its best to make this an interesting month.<\/p>\n I’m lousy with the math and this year the whole three-point thing makes my head hurt. A quick look at the standings, though, shows me the following. I think.<\/p>\n \u2022 Miami can win out and still not take first place.<\/p>\n \u2022 Michigan can win out and still not take first place.<\/p>\n \u2022 Notre Dame can win out and take first place.<\/p>\n \u2022 Western Michigan can win out and take first place.<\/p>\n \u2022 It is still mathematically possible for Ferris State, Lake Superior or Ohio State to climb to first place, but each would need a lot of help from other teams and possibly some freaky planetary alignments (with planets not yet detected and named within our own solar system).<\/p>\n \u2022 Bowling Green can finish no higher than 10th.<\/p>\n \u2022 It is still mathematically possible for Michigan State to finish fourth. In addition to a lot of improbable help from other teams and nearly impossible planetary alignments, the Spartans might need actual divine intervention to make that happen.<\/p>\n \u2022 It is still mathematically possible for Alaska or Northern Michigan to finish second. See the bullet point about Michigan State.<\/p>\n I think one of the weirdest things of all is that Miami could win out but still finish third, unless the RedHawks receive significant help from other teams — most notably Western Michigan and Ohio State, I believe.<\/p>\n I’m dizzy from this. Just this month, I thought it was years of grad school, underemployment and a recent total uprooting of my life for a new life in Flint that sent me to the chiropractor. Now I’m beginning to think I see the real culprit.<\/p>\n In the remaining three weeks of the regular season, four teams have two of their three last regular-season league series at home: LSSU hosts Alaska and Miami; UM hosts OSU and WMU; MSU hosts NMU and BGSU; OSU hosts LSSU and FSU.<\/p>\n Of those four, the Spartans have the toughest road trip remaining — Alaska — while the Buckeyes spend their last two weeks in the comfort of Value City Arena.<\/p>\n The team with the toughest schedule remaining is Western Michigan, which plays Miami, Michigan and Notre Dame and only one game of the home-and-home against the Fighting Irish in Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n … and it’s Miami junior goaltender Cody Reichard’s stock that’s rising. Reichard — who has shared time in net with classmate Connor Knapp since they were freshmen — had both wins in the sweep of Michigan, stopping 53 of 55 shots.<\/p>\n Both Miami goaltenders posted better numbers in their first two seasons, and on Inside the CCHA radio, Reichard said that there are a number of reasons why things look a little different this season.<\/p>\n “Everyone this year is kind of in a little different role,” said Reichard. “We obviously lost one of our main keys there in Chris Bergeron.”<\/p>\n Bergeron, Bowling Green’s first-year head coach, was an assistant at Miami.<\/p>\n “We’ve changed a couple things this year and stressed having D-men jumping into the play and be more offensive, so obviously this year is a little different from last year. As long as we can tie up some wins here, we’re not too worried about it.”<\/p>\n So, now you know.<\/p>\n Before Miami’s series against Michigan last weekend, senior forward Andy Miele talked about Miami’s plans for the final stretch of the season. In an interview with College Hockey All-Access on NHL Home Ice, Miele did something that really surprised me. He talked about the PairWise Rankings.<\/p>\n “It’s definitely something that we have been looking at lately,” said Miele, who quickly emphasized Miami’s focus on more immediate games.<\/p>\n Coming from a program where the party line has been, “We don’t look ahead,” Miele’s comment was a revelation.<\/p>\n Frankly, I’m relieved. I was beginning to think that the RedHawks weren’t prey to normal human temptations.<\/p>\n Saturday, Feb. 5, marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Brendan Burke, the Miami student team manager whose life was cut short by an auto accident on snowy roads near the Ohio-Indiana border. Mark Reedy, a friend of Burke’s and a student at Michigan State, also was killed in the accident.<\/p>\nCould it be magic?<\/h4>\n
<\/a>
Home again<\/h4>\n
Something’s comin’ up …<\/h4>\n
It’s a miracle<\/h4>\n
This one’s for you<\/h4>\n