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Huskies look to regroup against Chargers
In a perfect world, the SCSU men’s hockey team would like to look at this weekend’s home series with Alabama, Huntsville as an opportunity to fine tune that well-oiled engine that had been driving them to the best start in school history.
However, on the heels of a six-game stretch that has seen the Huskies only win twice, the engine needs to head to the shop for some retooling.
“Nothing really needs fixing,” said Husky defensemen Joel Peterson. “It’s more mental for us, we are working hard and playing our systems, it’s just that we are making stupid mistakes.”
Where those mistakes start might be the power play. For the majority of the first half of the year, the Huskies power play was clicking at a rate of nearly two goals a game. They were 5-for-13 with the man advantage in their split with UMD Jan. 11 and 12, but in their last four games that once lethal unit has hit an 0-for-16 streak.
“The thing with our power play is that when we are hot we are extremely hot,” said forward Mark Hartigan. “Right now though, we are just cold.”
They still lead the league at 32.5 percent, which is 8.5 percent more than second place Gophers, but like Wisconsin proved last weekend, teams have found a way to contain the Huskies most viable asset.
What UW would do is have one of their penalty killers key on Husky forward Mark Hartigan, who mans the point. Hartigan was forced to make a pass instead of unleash what is arguably the hardest shot in all of college hockey.
“We took away Hartigan on our penalty kill and that was the key for us this weekend,” said UW head coach Jeff Sauer. “We wanted to focus on him and we were able to do that.”
“We can’t worry about how teams are going to face us,” said Hartigan. “We just have to get back to the simple things, like getting the puck on net and having guys crash the net and that is what we haven’t been doing. If we can do that I think we will start scoring goals again like we were at the start of the year.”
Fortunately for the Huskies, this weekend might provide them the break from losing they need.
“This weekend will be good for us,” said Peterson. “We still have to play hard and smart, but if we do that and are able to get a big lead it will give us an opportunity to maybe work on some things and figure some more things out.”
They don’t know much about who they are facing this weekend. The Huskies own a 5-0 lead in the all-time series with Alabama, Huntsville, but the two teams haven’t played since March 1990. UAH share two common opponents this year with SCSU, but only of one them plays in the WCHA.
UAH split with Bemidji State back in November and they also split a series with Mankato in early January at UAH. MSUM rebounded from a 2-0 loss to win the next night 5-0, proving they can play with teams in what is possibly, the nation’s toughest conference.
“We can’t overlook anybody,” said Hartigan. “We have to go into this weekend like we are playing the Colorado Avalanche. We have to look at it like this is our hardest series of the whole year. (UAH) is not that bad in their league and with any team in Division I, you never know who can jump up and bite you.”
The Chargers haven’t played a game in three weeks and they have only one win since November, but if there is a lesson the Huskies have learned in the past few weeks, it is that they can’t take anyone lightly.
Meaning that if SCSU comes to play, this weekend could be just what the mechanic ordered for a team with a loose cylinder.
“We just need to get back on track, get back to what we know how to do,” said Hartigan. “We have the talent; it’s just a matter of us using it.”
Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]
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