Looking at the scoring leaders in the NCAA so far this season, Michigan's Chad Kolarik is second in the country, and first among western schools in terms of scoring with 7 points in his first two games. The 3.50 points per game average is the best in the country. Sure it's easy to say that Michigan beat up on two weaker teams last weekend, but is it possible that Kolarik could continue to be one of the top scorers in the country? I just may be willing to believe it.
You see, based on past history, Kolarik looks due for a huge year. Take a look at this pattern.
Four years ago, while with the U17 team, Kolarik emerged as one of the stars for the team. He had a great year, including scoring a beautiful shootout goal to help his team win the Four Nations Cup. Kolarik and friend Kevin Porter were two of the more highly-recruited forwards for that year.
The following season, however, Kolarik didn't have as good of a year. His stock dropped considerably. He was only rated as the 17th best forward recruit by Insidecollegehockey.com, and wasn't picked until the 7th round of the NHL Draft.
Kolarik rebounded with an impressive freshmen campaign at Michigan when he scored 18 goals, including 11 on the powerplay. He was third in the CCHA in freshmen scoring. And in the top 20 overall in the league in both goals and points.
With big expectations in his sophomore season, Kolarik had a disappointing sophomore season. He improved on his overall point total by three points, but his goal total dropped from 18 to just 12, and he only managed 5 powerplay goals.
So continuing on with the every-other-year theory, Kolarik looks primed to have a huge year and be better than anyone expected. If he does put up a huge year, he'll likely sign a contract this summer with the Phoenix Coyotes. I just hope they don't expect too much from him next year.
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To be fair, Chad's 2005-2006 season was really a season in two parts. There was the first half of the season where he REALLY struggled, and the 2nd half of the season (once getting put on the Ebbett/Kaleniecki line) where he was a part of Michigan's best line while TJ Hensick and Kevin Porter struggled terribly on the "first line". The timing of this was after the GLI around new years. In Michigan's first 19 games, Chad had 5 goals and 8 assists (13 points) with a -4. In Michigan's final 22 games of the season, he had 7 goals and 18 assists (25 points) with a +16 rating. And, this upward trend occured while Michigan as team was going the opposite direction, starting hot against some easier teams, and going downhill as the CCHA schedule wore on.
In any event, it sure is good to see him picking up where he left off.
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