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Huskies prepare for No. 4 Colorado
 Media Credit: Adam Masloski Colorado College sophomore Aaron Slattegren and Husky senior co-captain Ryan LaMere go head-to-head in a game at the National Hockey Center last season.
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Perhaps the only thing more exciting than this weekend's WCHA matchup between the No. 7 Huskies and the No. 4 Colorado College Tigers in Colorado Springs is the farfetched path each team took to reach their early/mid season prominence.
No two teams in the WCHA absorbed greater off-season losses than the Tigers and the Huskies. The Huskies lost their top three scorers in Jon Cullen, Joe Motzko and Ryan Malone who combined for 49 goals (40 percent of Husky scoring). The Tigers, who won the regular season WCHA championship last season, lost Hobey Baker Award winner Peter Sejna, Noah Clark and Tom Preissing who also combined for 49 goals and 133 total points last season.
Although Colorado College led the WCHA in every single offensive category last season, they have taken on a new defensive focus this season and currently led the league with 1.83 goals against average. The Huskies are close behind with a 2.10 GAA.
This weekend's matchup will feature the top two, and last remaining undefeated goalies in the conference in SCSU's junior Adam Coole (6-0-1) and CC's first-year netminder Matt Zaba (4-0-2 overall, and 1-0-2 in WCHA play). Coole has the league's best save percentage at .940, while Zaba holds the best goals against average at 1.58.
Zaba has been a huge surprise for a CC team that is without former second team All-American goalie Curtis McElhinney, who is out with mononucleosis.
"He's stepped in and he's done an outstanding job for them in McElhinney's absence. That's one of the reasons why they've continued to be a team with only one loss," said Husky head coach Craig Dahl.
However, the Tigers aren't the only team with a new look. The Huskies have also formed a brand new identity of their own. After a 2002-03 season in which Cullen, Motzko and Malone accounted for 40 percent of their goals, the Huskies now have scoring coming from nearly every angle. After Brock Hooton, Andy Lundbohm and Colin Peters scored their first goals of the season to help the Huskies take three of four points from Alaska Anchorage over the weekend, only six Huskies that have yet to net a goal this season. Four of those six are first-year players, and only two have played in at least 10 games.
Casey Borer and Grant Clafton are two first-year defensemen who have yet to touch the back of the net, but that may not last long with SCSU's newly stressed aggressive blueline play.
"We're trying to get the defenseman involved a little more in the offensive rushes in an intelligent way and we work on that every day," Dahl said. "We're trying to do everything we can to develop offensive skills, keeping in mind that we're playing 11 or 12 freshmen and sophomores, so scoring is going to be a problem. This is a league that's dominated by juniors and seniors."
Senior defensive co-captain Ryan LaMere knows that it's just a matter of time before one of the two gets on the score sheet.
"When I was a freshman, I was a little tentative because you've got the coach looking at you and you're more liable to be taken out of the lineup if you make a big mistake because you're a younger guy," said LaMere who is tied with Dave Iannazzo and Matt Gens for second on the team in point production with nine (two goals and seven assists). "They're both really good offensive defensemen, but they're playing solid defense right now and that goal will come eventually. I have a feeling it will come in the next couple weekends."
The Huskies broke their scoring drought of six goals in four games when they scored five against Alaska Anchorage in Friday's win, but they are still focusing in consistently generating more shots.
"That's the biggest key," LaMere said. "Even if it's from the perimeter, we need to shoot the puck more and put up more shots and limit their shots. Good things happen when you shoot the puck, whether it's a good bounce or a lucky bounce. We have to really try and shoot the puck from where we are and not try and make those extra passes or fancy plays.
With a four point lead over the University of Minnesota Duluth and six ahead of the University of North Dakota, the WCHA leading Huskies will get a better feel for what their future fate holds.
"These next two weekends are huge," LaMere said. "Whether people say it or not, if we can get six or seven out of the next two weekends, that would be huge because that would not guarantee, but almost guarantee you in the top five and home ice advantage for playoffs. We're trying to stress to the younger guys how important it is to get these points before Christmas to stay in first place."
Husky Notebook
-Along with McElhinney, Colin Stuart and Brandon Polich will be out of the Tigers' lineup due to injuries.
-CC and SCSU are two of the five WCHA teams in the top 15 USCHO rankings. UND is No. 1, Denver is No. 8 and Wisconsin is No. 11. The WCHA is tied with the Hockey East Conference for the most teams in the nation's top 15.
-Konrad Reeder will replace first- year forward Gary Houseman and join Joe Jensen and Billy Hengen on the Huskies' third line.
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