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St. Cloud State University
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Huskies await No. 1 CC
Peter Sejna and top-ranked Colorado College invade the NHC this weekend
By Bobby Hart
Published:
Thursday, February 13, 2003
The similarities are uncanny.
As the nation's leading Colorado College Tigers wander into the NHC this weekend with the WCHA's top offense, defense, power play, penalty kill and top scorer in junior Peter Sejna, Husky fans may start to remember what once was.
Last season around this time it was the Huskies who owned that impressive statistical portfolio as they topped the WCHA in almost every category and owned the nation's top scorer in Mark Hartigan.
"There are definitely similarities," Colorado College head coach Scott Owens said. "Especially on the offensive end and the way the stats play out. Then you look at not only the top player, but his supporting cast."
That supporting cast includes senior forward Noah Clark. Clark is the nation's top setup man with 37 assists and is also sixth in the nation in points with 49.
Then there is senior defenseman Tom Pressing, who is the nation's top offensive blue liner with 19 goals (12th nationwide), the top power play scorer with 14 goals, and is arguably the second best candidate for the Hobey Baker award at this point in the season. However, Sejna is just too good to ignore. While balancing a 31- game point streak, dashing Mark Cullen's record, he leads the nation with 62 points. He comes into the weekend second in goals (29) and assists (33).
"He had a great freshman year then fell off a little last season. But, he paid a price last summer and really trained hard. He lost a bunch of weight and put on some muscle," SCSU head coach Craig Dahl said. "Now I think he's the odds-on favorite for the Hobey Baker."
Although it doesn't seem very characteristic of the Huskies to be intimidated by anyone on their home ice, where they hold a 10-3-2 record this season, the Tigers haven't played on the road in almost a month.
"Sejna's 31-game point streak, boy I'd like to break that," Malone said. "No matter the circumstances, Sejna's not God. I know for a fact that he's just another player, and he's no Danny Heatley."
Maybe the biggest reason that CC is No. 1 in the nation is because they haven't had any major injuries yet this season, which is a freak occurrence in the WCHA. That would be a fortune of luck that the injury-riddled Huskies can't even dream about. Now that Ryan Malone and Ryan LaMere are back in the lineup after missing four games, it looks as if SCSU may be without assistant captain Jeff Finger. Finger collided with Matt Hendricks in practice and has a sprained knee ligament which could keep him out for as long as three weeks (that may mean one day in Finger time).
"They haven't lost one man for a single weekend," Dahl said. "They had the same lineup in November as they do now in February. That really helps a team jell and get better as time goes on."
Though Owens admitted that keeping focus hasn't been that difficult thus far this season, it may be a different story all together come playoff time. This is a reality that the Huskies found out the hard way last season with a premature NCAA playoff exit in Michigan.
"We know we still have a ways to go," Owens said. "I have a feeling it'll still come down to the last three games for the title. And when the playoffs come around, whoever is in those sixth and seventh spots (in the WCHA playoffs), will have a really good chance for some upsets."
All eyes will be on the NHC this weekend as SCSU will not only be gunning for Sejna and his top-ranked Tigers, but also the fifth and final home ice spot in the WCHA playoffs. They are currently tied with UMD for that spot with 21 points, with Denver trailing by only one.
"The wheels can fall off at any time and right now we're still trying to put all our wheels together and put it in cruise control in time for the playoffs," Malone said.
"It'll be the biggest series that we've had this season, not only because they're the number one team, but because we need some points so we can finish at the top half of the playoffs," freshman Tim Conboy said.
"Anybody in this league can beat anyone else. It all depends on who shows up to play and who's more disciplined. We just need to make sure to do both of those things."
