WCHA Preview: 9. St. Cloud State Huskies

St. Cloud State University

Key Losses: Dave Ianazzo, F; Matt Gens, D; Mike Doyle, F; Peter Szabo, F
Key Returnees: Casey Borer, D; Billy Hengen, F; Justin Fletcher, D; Andrew Gordon, F; Tim Boron, G; Matt Francis, F
Key Newcomers: Bobby Goepfert, G; Michael Olson, F; Dan Kronick, F
Projected Leading Scorer: Matt Francis
Grades:
Offense: D
Defense: B
Goaltending: B+
Coaching: F

Analysis:

From the late 90’s through the turn of the century, St. Cloud was one of the strongest programs in the country, even though they never achieved much in the way of postseason success. The past few years though, St. Cloud has been undergoing a bit of a rebuilding process, and unfortunately, this will probably be the year where they have to hit rock bottom before they can be successful again.

The problems for the Huskies start at the top, with head coach Craig Dahl. Dahl took over coaching the Huskies for the legendary Herb Brooks in the late 80’s and it’s seemed that ever since, he’s been trying to emulate Herbie. In theory, that’s not a terrible idea, but Dahl always seems to screw it up in the application. He’s constantly trying to do what he thinks a good coach would do, rather than doing what is right for his team.

I think this could be summed up best in looking at a series St. Cloud played at the end of the 2003-2004 season against Colorado College at home. St. Cloud needed one win to make the NCAA tournament.

In the first game, St. Cloud got 3-1 in the first period. Two of the goals were direct results of defensive turnovers leaving goaltender Tim Boron out to dry. The third was a Brett Sterling powerplay blast. None of the goals could have been considered Boron’s fault. Despite this, Dahl decided to change goalies and put in Adam Coole, who performed well early in the season, but hadn’t seen any game action in almost a month. The Huskies came out playing well in the second, and controlled the play. They didn’t allow a shot on goal for almost 7 minutes. When CC finally got a shot on goal, they scored on their first shot as a result of Coole’s rustiness. With the score at 4-1 and all the wind taken out of the Huskies sails, the game was essentially over thanks to Dahl’s move. The Huskies went on to an embarrassing 7-1 defeat.

In the second game of the series, after a game in which nobody played particularly well, Dahl decided not to dress Dave Ianazzo and Billy Hengen, two of the team’s three top scorers. Now if it had been for disciplinary reasons, I could understand it. But Dahl sat them out simply to “send a message to his team” Again, I could understand the move if it was a meaningless game early in the season, but in arguably the most important game of the season, St. Cloud found themselves down by a goal in the third period with two thirds of their top line sitting in the stands.

Critical coaching errors in two games cost St. Cloud a chance at the NCAA tournament that year.

I’m not as critical of Dahl as some people are. I don’t blame him for his ridiculous quotes to the media. Every college hockey coach is happy to get a split on the road. Only Dahl could make it sound like he actually hopes his team loses a game though. I don’t blame him for kicking Tyler Arnason off the team. I believe Arnason’s drinking episode in Sweden this past year proved that the fault probably lied with Arnason and not Dahl. I don’t even blame Dahl for his NCAA failures. St. Cloud was the victim of some bad luck, and more important, bad draws in the tournament. I doubt any other coach would have had more success in the same position.

Regardless, a change needs to be made at head coach for St. Cloud and it looks like that change is coming. Former Minnesota assistant Bob Motzko left Minnesota to take the assistant coaching job at St. Cloud, with the understanding that he’ll take over the head coaching spot whenever Dahl leaves, voluntarily or not. Motzko should inject new life into the program. He’s already paid immediate dividends by getting a commitment from defenseman Jon Ammerman for 2006.

As for the players on the ice, the biggest strength for the Huskies will be in goal. Transfer Bobby Goepfert will be eligible this season after sitting out last season. Goepfert was very good for Providence for two years before being kicked off the team for violating team rules. While many people expect Goepfert to play very well, the Huskies don’t have a lot of room for improvement in goal. Tim Boron has been outstanding for the Huskies the past two years, but hasn’t had much help in front of him. Whoever is in goal for the Huskies this year will be able to keep them in some games, but ultimately will struggle due to the team in front of him.

The defense for the Huskies should also be solid. The team will be led by junior defenseman Casey Borer. Borer showed what a talented defenseman he was when he was arguably the best defenseman(in a pretty weak bunch) on the US World Junior Team last year. Borer is a solid defensive defenseman. The Huskies also have a very talented offensive defenseman in Justin Fletcher. After a non-descript freshmen year, Aaron Brocklehurst should be ready to step up as another offensive defenseman. The Huskies will need goals anywhere they can get them this season, which means anything they can get from the defenseman will be a big plus. One player that could surprise a lot of people this season is Matt Stephenson. He struggled as a freshmen and didn’t see much ice time, but he is a big defensive defenseman that is very good in his own end. He could give the Huskies some good ice time at the 5th or 6th defenseman spot.

The offense for the Huskies is a huge question mark right now. The Huskies have a ton of pretty good players, but lack marquee players that can play on the first line and put up over a point per game.

Last season, Andrew Gordon got off to a hot start, but Gordon was more of an opportunist than a creator. Towards the end of the season when those opportunities became few and far between, Gordon looked pretty average.

There were high hopes for incoming freshmen Michael Olson after he won an award for best Canadian Junior Player. Olson, however, won that award primarily for his defensive abilities. He only averaged about a point per game in the BCHL, which is decent, but not that spectacular in the goal-happy league.

Nate Raduns is a very good power forward, but he has lacked a skilled playmaker to set him up for goals. Matt Francis could be that player. I went with Francis as a bit of a sleeper pick when I projected him as the team’s leading scorer. Francis struggled this past year and didn’t score as much as everyone hoped. He looked very good on the ice though and had many scoring chances. If things go his way this year, he very well could lead the team in scoring.

Overall, the Huskies probably won’t be able to score enough goals to keep up with the rest of the WCHA. If they played in the ECACHL, I think they’d be a very good defensive hockey team, but it’s hard to win a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 games in a league where you’re facing Marty Sertich, or Gabe Gauthier or Robbie Earl every weekend. As such, the only real saving grace for Husky fans this season will be that it will probably be Craig Dahl’s last season behind the bench for St. Cloud.