Friday Night Recap

What an amazing night of college hockey last night. Here was Western College Hockey Headquarters, we had a game on TV, a game on each of our two computers, a game on the radio, and were Gametracking as many other games as possible.

We'll start with the top team in the country losing on their home ice in Minnesota. Alaska-Fairbanks came out and played a great game, getting off to an early lead. Alaska-Fairbanks outworked the Gophers all night and took a 3-2 lead into the last minute of the game. With 30 seconds left, Gino Guyer was given a birthday gift from referee Randy Scmidt was he was allowed to dig under the pads of goalie Wylie Rogers while the puck was covered until he could knock the puck free and score the game-tying goal. It looked like the Gophers would steal a tie or use that momentum to win the game in OT after that blown call, but Kyle Greentree put a great shot over the glove of goalie Kellen Briggs to win the game in OT for the Nanooks. No matter what happens tonight, this weekend is already a success for Fairbanks as they'll walk away from this weekend with a quality win that will really help them come March.

The Michigan/Boston College game also lived up to it's billing last night. By all accounts, both teams were extremely fast and it was a great up and down game. Michigan may have gotten the better of BC on the scoreboard and outshot the Eagles, but the teams seemed to be very equally matched. There looked to be a bit of controversy when Boston College tied the game with under a minute left, but the goal was waved off by referee Matt Shegos, who instead called a penalty on Peter Harrold for goaltender interference. It seems as though Shegos made the right call, however. First, it was pretty clear that Harrold did interfere with Sauer's ability to make the save. Second, the same call had gone against Michigan about a minute earlier. It was a tough call to make for referee Matt Shegos, but the right one.

Jack Johnson is slowly building his legend at Michigan. He started off the game by scoring a goal with a blast from the point. Also in the first period, he had a great hit that laid out a BC player and ignited the crowd. Finally, in the second period, he took a slap shot that literally knocked the helmet off of goalie Cory Schneider. Schneider was just lucky his head was still attached after that shot. Johnson could earn a reputation as one of the greatest to play at Michigan, even if it's only for a year.

I didn't get a chance to see or hear anything from Colorado College/Ohio State, but it sounds like a great game. Colorado College's top line accounted for both of their goals, while either Rod Pelley or Tom Fritsche had a hand in each of OSU's four goals. OSU put in two goals in the third period while goalie Dave Caruso held off the Tigers and Ohio State will escape from a tough weekend with at least one win.

In Marquette, goalie Tim Boron got the opening night start over transfer Bobby Goepfert and let in two early goals against Northern Michigan. In the end though, it didn't really matter when Boron let the goals in. He could have shut out the Wildcats and only gotten a tie because the Huskies, even with their new coach, had the same problems not generating offense. Someone needs to start scoring for the Huskies if they want to win games.

Colorado College's win over Maine last week looks a little more impressive after Maine defeated Denver 5-1 last night. I stopped playing attention to the Gametracker on this game when Denver was leading 1-0 midway through the second period. The game was closer than the scored indicated though, as Maine added an empty net goal in the last minute of the game, then scored against with one second left. Regardless, I think Denver showed that they're not quite the same team that won the last two national championships just yet.

Devoted Minnesota State, Mankato fan Curtis Meyer said he was tired of journalists only having one line insults for the Mavericks, and while I'd love to break that trend, all I can say about last night's game is: STAY OUT OF THE DAMN PENALTY BOX! The Mavericks dug themselves into a 3-1 hole by way of three powerplay goals for the Beavers. They fought back, scoring two goals in the third period to tie it up at 3 goals apiece. Then, MSU,M took a penalty, negating a 4-on-4 situation and an eventual powerplay for the Mavericks. Instead, Bemidji got a 4-on-3 powerplay and scored the game-winning goal. Bemidji is a very good team, now with three wins over WCHA teams, but the Mavericks can't afford to keep giving teams opportunities like that. Bemidji was 4-11 on the powerplay last night. If the Mavericks can cut down on the number of penalties they take, they could be very good.

Ar the Maverick Stampede, Alex Nikiforuk got off to a great start against Miami, scoring all three of his teams goals in a 3-2 win over Army. Scott Parse assisted on all three goals.

Finally, the new rule emphasis on checking from behind seems to be a bit of a failure. I think it's a great idea by the NCAA to cut down on dangerous plays before something terrible happens, but I also think the punishment has been a bit too harsh. Last night, Andrew Ebbett, Bill Thomas, and Ryan Carter, among other were all ejected from the game in the first period due to this new rule. Just about every game featured at least one ejection for a hit from behind. There needs to be some sort of middle ground between just a two minute penalty and a 5 miute major with game misconduct.