{"id":98280,"date":"2012-11-26T01:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wcha-blog\/?p=935"},"modified":"2012-11-26T01:00:34","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T07:00:34","slug":"weekend-recap-three-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2012\/11\/26\/weekend-recap-three-observations\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend recap: Three observations"},"content":{"rendered":"
Here are three observations from this past weekend:<\/p>\n
Wisconsin’s Kerdiles, Zulinick cannot suit up soon enough<\/strong><\/p>\n No disrespect to Minnesota State intended, but the fact that the Mavericks marched into Madison and left with a league road sweep shows how far the Badgers have fallen while missing three of its better offensive players. Top-tier freshman talents Nic Kerdiles (NCAA suspension) and Morgan Zulinick (thigh) will likely play at Denver this coming weekend but proven junior center Mark Zengerle (broken finger) will remain out.<\/p>\n Their return cannot be soon enough even if expectations of freshmen must be lower. Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves sounded like the coach of a last-place team (currently Alaska-Anchorage) after Saturday’s loss.<\/p>\n “Stay with us,” Eaves told the Wisconsin State Journal<\/em> after his club fell to 1-5-2 in the WCHA and 0-4 at home. “This group has not quit. They work hard and we’ll get healthier and we’ll have some difference-makers in our lineup.”<\/p>\n True, but it remains to be seen if they will be enough.<\/p>\n Minnesota-Duluth comes back to earth<\/strong><\/p>\n Just when things were looking up, host Minnesota-Duluth (3-7-2, 1-5-2 WCHA) was drubbed 5-1 by St. Cloud State in their most lopsided loss of the season a day after their first league win.<\/p>\n “We didn’t get off to a good start; we weren’t able to match (St. Cloud State’s) intensity,” UMD captain Cody Danberg told the Duluth News-Tribune<\/em>. “Collectively, we struggled in a lot of areas. That shouldn’t happen in our rink.”<\/p>\n Indeed. That kind of inconsistency will continue to trouble UMD until the team figures out they need to play hard for 60 minutes.<\/p>\n North Dakota’s Saunders in position to enjoy special season<\/strong><\/p>\n It is clear that North Dakota junior goalie Clarke Saunders is on the verge of a memorable year.<\/p>\n Saunders stopped 35 of 36 shots Friday against well-regarded Notre Dame to improve his save percentage to a WCHA-best .934, a 2.09 goals against average (third in the league) with a 4-2-2 mark, including two shutouts.<\/p>\n Saunders, who was an iron man for undermanned Alabama-Huntsville the previous two seasons, could be fresh for the first time late in the season with Zane Gothberg (.902 saves, 2.97 goals against, 2-2-0) spelling him periodically. That bodes very well for North Dakota’s MacNaughton Cup hopes, especially if UND enjoys its usual second-half surge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are three observations from this past weekend: Wisconsin’s Kerdiles, Zulinick cannot suit up soon enough No disrespect to Minnesota State intended, but the fact that the Mavericks marched into Madison and left with a league road sweep shows how far the Badgers have fallen while missing three of its better offensive players. Top-tier freshman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n