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Huskies look to bounce back against UMD in playoff series
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor Huskies� captain Jon Cullen struggles to keep the puck during last weekend�s series against the Gophers. The team will be looking for a significantly better showing this weekend when the Huskies take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
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By the sounds of things, there is no panic around the National Hockey Center this week. In fact, the team that calls the arena home is still as confident as ever.
At least that's the way the SCSU men's hockey team is acting.
"We had two tough losses last weekend but we are still confident," said forward Matt Hendricks. "The thing is that now it's the start of a new season and everybody is 0-0. Everybody in this league is good and all we can do is go out there and work our (tails) off for 60 minutes and hopefully we will come out on top."
That new season starts this weekend when Hendricks and the rest of the Huskies play host to Minnesota-Duluth in a best-of-three series at the NHC. The teams have met before, splitting a pair of games Jan. 11 and 12. The Huskies lost 3-2 on Friday night that weekend before rebounding with a 6-1 win on Friday.
That weekend, the Huskies ran into a hot goaltender. Adam Coole turned away 77 shots in the two games. His win in the first game was the team's first WCHA win of the year. Since then though, the Bulldogs have been a different team, going 5-7-2 to close out the year.
"There is no doubt that they are a better team," said SCSU head coach Craig Dahl. "But look at the league, everybody has a tough match up this weekend and we are no different. It's going to be a typical WCHA battle."
Dahl has had some work to do this week. For the first time in well over a year, his team dropped back-to-back games. Nobody dressed in cardinal and black was happy with the weekend performance against Minnesota. But as Dahl put it, the train didn't stop, it just slowed down.
"It's not like we went from a good team to a bad team because we got beat by Minnesota; they're a quality hockey team," he said. "I told the guys that there are eight other teams in the league that would take our spot right now. I can guarantee you Duluth would. The fact is that you can't let one weekend beat you for the rest of the year. I have confidence in the guys and they have confidence in themselves. We ate a little bit of humble pie and sometimes that happens."
The weight they put on this weekend from that hefty dessert helped their slide in the national polls. The Huskies dropped to fourth in both national polls, but more importantly, they fell all the way to seventh in the Pairwise rankings, which mirrors the selection process for the NCAA tournament. If they were to drop two games this weekend, their season, however unlikely, could be finished.
"We can't pay any attention to that stuff," Hendricks said. "We just have to win games and it's as simple as that."
If there is one thing the Huskies can look at this weekend while preparing for the Bulldogs, it would be their 6-1 win back on Jan. 12. In what could have been their best performance of the year, not only did they put six pucks behind Coole, they peppered the UMD end so hard that the only skate marks on the opposite side of the rink were coming from the referees when they went to pick up the puck after an icing call.
In the first period that night, the Huskies out shot UMD 24-3. By the time UMD registered their first shot on goal, SCSU had attempted 30.
"When we play our game, I think we can do that to any team in the country," said forward Nate DiCasmirro. "That's our thing, though. To be successful we have to concentrate on our game, not what the other team is doing."
There is already another date circled on the calendar for the Huskies. If they can get by Duluth and Minnesota wins at home against North Dakota, the teams will have a rematch of last year's semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center, which the Huskies won, 3-0.
"The house will be rockin', just like last year," Hendricks said. "You better believe (I want that rematch), and I think they know it too."
"I just hope they see the real Huskies that time," Dahl said.
Around the rink
- As of Wednesday afternoon, Dahl had yet to decide on a starting goaltender for this weekend's series. He said that Dean Weasler has looked as good this week practice as he has ever looked and that Jake Moreland has been impressive as well.
- Joe Motzko will return to the lineup this weekend after sitting out the last two games recovering from a concussion he suffered out in Denver two weeks ago.
- The flu bug won't leave Jeff Finger alone. He was sick when the Huskies were in Denver and the virus has hit the defensemen again. Dahl said that even though he hadn't practiced much this week, Finger should be ready to go Friday night.
- Students who plan on going to this weekend's playoff series had better plan on buying a ticket. The WCHA controls all ticket sales for playoff games, meaning that student activity fees won't get you in the door.
Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]
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