Used to play \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I spy with my wandering eye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with my kids, when both they (all six of them) and I were a lot younger.<\/p>\n
Found myself doing so again this week as I perused the D-I landscape.<\/p>\n
Da Badgers. Just when you think you’ve got Wisconsin figured out, the Badgers hit you with a crate full of knuckle pucks.<\/p>\n
Yes, they are the defending national champs, but they’ve also lost their accomplished head coach – Mark Johnson – to the Olympic team. And yes, all their firepower (sophomore sniper Brooke Ammerman excepted) has been siphoned off to the Olympics, to graduation, or to both.<\/p>\n
But when they sputtered to a 2-3-0 start, and were beaten by teams (Ohio State, Bemidji State, and North Dakota) they’ve manhandled in the past, one could sense a seed change was underway.<\/p>\n
That’s when they go and outscore Ohio State, then upend high-flying Minnesota.
\nThat’s what caught my eye there.<\/p>\n
Gotta be Clarkson. You knew the program was building. You knew that the Desrosiers – Shannon and Matt – were probably the best married couple coaching tandem in womens hockey (okay, the sample size for that one is a little small).<\/p>\n
But the way they handled New Hampshire (6-2) and Boston University (7-2) was very impressive. Connecticut transfer Dominique Thibault has indeed been the impact player that every one hoped she’d be (7-8-15), but she’s had scoring help with three fellow Golden Knights having joined her in the double-digit point club.<\/p>\n
Clarkson has the second-stingiest defense in the country, but also the seventh-most prolific attack. Nice balance, which has vaulted Clarkson to the second spot in the USCHO poll … their highest ever ranking, if memory serves.
\nSo, yeah, that’s what caught my eye.<\/p>\n
The roster that the WHEA will be putting on the wide Whittemore Center ice for the Nov. 22 tilt against the U.S. National team as part of the Qwest Tour.<\/p>\n
The squad, with reps from all eight WHEA schools, isn’t long on experience with just six seniors among the skaters. Now the Nationals, with more than a dozen players who were playing college pucks last year, have been thrashing its collegiate opponents so far.<\/p>\n
Its 6-1 rout of the WCHA All-Stars, and 11-1 blasting of North Dakota, stand in testimony. Neither could have been very pretty or entertaining to watch, for that matter.<\/p>\n
One remains hopeful that the group sent out by the WHEA – headed by Player of the Month (and one of the most exciting skaters in the game today) Kelly Paton of UNH – will manage to keep matters close. Or hey, even pull off a stunner.<\/p>\n
A coupla things, there. The first is that Mercyhurst suffered its first loss of the season, a Halloween night 4-3 setback to Minnesota-Duluth, but was still able to hang on to its No. 1 poll ranking. The Lakers played a stiff non-conference slate, and will now get to work against its CHA sisters with a pair of weekend tilts at Wayne State.<\/p>\n
The other is that Robert Morris will head out to Wisconsin (see above) for what on paper would be a pair of romps for the Badgers. However, last year, the Colonials made a similar trek out to Minnesota and shocked the Gophers – then ranked No. 1 – 3-2.<\/p>\n
Caveat Badger, I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Used to play \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I spy with my wandering eye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with my kids, when both they (all six of them) and I were a lot younger. Found myself doing so again this week as I perused the D-I landscape. What Caught my Eye: WCHA Da Badgers. Just when you think you’ve got Wisconsin figured out, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"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":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n