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Huskies' plan relies on cohesiveness
Thanks to the loss of eight starters from last season, the Huskies are beginning the 2003-04 season with rather low expectations, at least from the WCHA polls.
The Huskies are expected to finish eighth out of 10 teams according to the major college hockey polls, which is a drastic change considering they have been one of the most consistently successful programs in the nation, advancing to the NCAA tournament in each of the last four seasons (the only WCHA team to do so).
The players are not only welcoming the challenge, but using it as motivation to rebound from a 2002-03 season where they ended up with a sixth place finish, their worst since 1999, and failed to earn a ticket to the WCHA Final Five for the first time since 1995.
"In the past we were never in the position to surprise people and now we are and it's always fun playing with that chip on your shoulder," said senior co-captain Matt Hendricks, who will be sharing the "C" with senior defenseman Ryan LaMere.
SCSU is counting on a stable defense and a stronger sense of team cohesiveness to pull them through this season. According to LaMere, a lack of team chemistry could have led to the Huskies' subpar finish last season.
"It seems like the team was in cliques last year," he said. "This year it's more like everyone is together and this is more of a team thing. People are calling each other on problems and conflicts. �If someone is messing up let them know, don't go talking about it behind their backs. We had some guys that were doing some things that they shouldn't have been, and not working as hard as they should've been and nobody was calling them out on it."
Of course there were the injuries too. Last season the Huskies only enjoyed four games with a full healthy line-up.
"All the guys came back in better shape and stronger than last year," said Head Coach Craig Dahl. "I think there's a feeling of optimism around the guys and I think they feel really good about the moral and work ethic of the team. We just have to make sure we stay off the emotional rollercoaster as the season progresses."
Offense
Without a doubt, the Huskies will feel the sting of losing three of their top offensive weapons in former seniors Joe Motzko (42 points), Jon Cullen (37 points) and Ryan Malone (36 points), who combined for about 40 percent of SCSU's goals last season. Taking that factor into consideration and adding that the Huskies' fifth-ranked offense (WCHA) finished with an average 96 goals last season, SCSU may run into some problems if they do not fill some major gaps in their forecheck.
"That's going to be the key, is who's going to score for us?" Dahl said.
The weight will be primarily on the back of Hendricks, who decided to put off his NHL career with the Nashville Predators for a chance to be SCSU's main man. The 217 lb. forward lead the team in goals last season with 18, power-play goals with 10 and was tied for third on the team with 36 points.
Sophomore Joe Jensen will also be counted on as a scoring threat after a surprising first-year campaign. The former Osseo star shocked not only SCSU with the team's fifth best nine goals, but also the entire WCHA when he lead the Huskies with a hat-trick in a win over the eventual National Champion University of Minnesota last season.
"We don't have a lot of scoring coming back, but as you look back over the past years, we've lost scorers every season and guys have stepped into that role and picked it up for the guys we've lost," Hendricks said. "There's not a lot of firepower up front, but we've got great 'D' and great goaltending so we're just hoping we can pound some goals in the net with a blue collar work ethic."
Perhaps the biggest key to the Husky offense will be if juniors Mike Doyle, Peter Szabo and Dave Iannazzo will be able to step out of their sophomore slump. They combined for only 15 goals last season, compared to 27 during their impressive freshman year when Doyle and Szabo where named to the WCHA All-Rookie team.
"Certainly Doyle and Szabo are going to have to rebound from subpar sophomore years and get something done like they did in their freshmen year," Dahl said.
The Huskies received a boost of confidence when Doyle came back from training in his home of Anchorage, Alaska with 20 extra pounds of muscle and some quicker legs. The offense hopes that he will be able to add onto his impressive performance Saturday when he dismantled St. Clair College with a hat-trick.
Szabo, who is second in returning players in assists (17) behind only Hendricks (18), also had a productive offseason after training nearly five hours a day back at home in Nitra, Slovakia.
The Huskies also hope to get some contributions from freshman Brent Hill, who was the fourth leading scorer in the Alberta Junior League last season (93 points) and has shown great speed.
Although the numbers don't add up in the Huskies offense's favor, they realize that predictions are not everything. The Huskies hope to take a few things from Mankato's impressive run last season when they finished third after being picked to finish seventh in the conference and ended up finishing second in offensive scoring with 116 goals.
"They worked consistently throughout the season and they found some guys that could score goals for them," Hendricks said. "They had a lot of scrappy players from their first line from their fourth line, and they all played alike. That took them a long way."
Defense
The losses of Derek Eastman and Jeff Finger seem subtle compared to the offseason hits the offense took.
However, the Huskies will need to find a way to fill the scoring void of the two blueliners who combined for 30 points last season, which is a lot considering they each missed a big chunk of the team's schedule due to Eastman's academic ineligibility (17 games) and Finger's endless streak of injuries (14 games).
According to senior captain Ryan LaMere, the Huskies are not too worried about it.
"We've got seven guys back this year and that's a solid 'D' core right there, and hopefully we'll be able to surprise some people," LaMere said. "We have three new freshman defensemen that are outstanding and look great on the ice, so if anything, it will be more solid than it has in the past."
Freshmen defensemen Justin Fletcher, Casey Borer and Grant Clafton all showed potential in SCSU's exhibition win over St. Clair College.
Borer, who assisted three goals Saturday, but is known as a more physical defensemen at 6'2 205 lbs, should provide the Huskies with another enforcer to go along with T.J. McElroy and Conboy.
Fletcher and Clafton are known more for their aggressive offensive skills. Fletcher, who had a goal and an assist Saturday, was ranked the third top scoring defenseman in the USHL last season while racking up a league's best plus 34. Clafton is no slouch himself and was the top scoring defensman in the USHL in 2002 with 34 points.
The Huskies will count on Matt Gens (14 points, four goals) to add some offense to the blueline and will continue to hope that Tim Conboy's (15 points, three goals) rib injury will not keep him out too long.
In goal, the Huskies will break the three-year trend of beginning the season with a senior goalie.
However, the Huskies are excited about the young potential they have in Jason Montgomery, Adam Coole and Tim Boron.
Montgomery will be the "incumbent," as Dahl called him, after leading the team with 2.97 goals against average while splitting time with Jake Moreland last season.
"(Montgomery) is capable of playing very well in this league and he looked very good at times last year, and times he was down a little bit, but that's normal for a freshman goalie, unless they're unbelievable."
Boron, who was the MVP of the British Columbian Junior League last season, has Dahl very excited about his potential. With wide open competition from some talented goaltenders and some potential scoring defensemen, the Huskies will rely on their defense as their key strength this season.
"I always use the quote 'Offense wins games, but Defense wins championships.'" LaMere said. "I think if we just play solid defense, offense will come for the defensemen and the forwards."
The Huskies certainly hope so.
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