UND is off this weekend. And with all quiet on the UND front, it’s a great time to look around at what else is going on in the WCHA. So, here are some notes and thoughts from around the league…
Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi announced he’s stepping down from that role this summer. Many fans/media have been heavily critical of Maturi because of the performance of Gopher athletic teams in recent years. But an athletic director’s job goes far beyond that.
Maturi was the administrator who helped get the football team its biggest edge in many, many years with the building of TCF Bank Stadium. I’ve also heard he was a key player in starting Big Ten Network, a major revenue stream for the school. He was a champion for the smaller sports and a huge friend to college hockey.
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Where’s the buzz about Denver rookie blue liner Joey LaLeggia? The former BCHL MVP seems to get zero talk about rookie of the year, but is averaging more than a point per game both overall and in WCHA play. Justin Schultz is the only defenseman in the country with more points than LaLeggia.
Only two WCHA defensemen have come close to averaging a point per game as rookies in the last decade and both are Pioneers — Matt Carle and Patrick Wiercioch.
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Can we attribute Michigan Tech’s turnaroud solely to the hiring of Mel Pearson? I say no, not entirely. I’m of the opinion that Jamie Russell should get a tip of the cap for this season.
Look at Tech’s top scorers this season. Brett Olson is the leader. He was injured for half of last year. Then, it’s Jordan Baker. He got hurt before last season started and never played. Then, it’s David Johnstone, a Russell recruit who was one of the USHL’s top scorer last season. Then, it’s Blake Pietila, a Russell recruit and maybe Tech’s first from the NTDP.
Yes, Pearson should be lauded for Tech’s success. But I believe that some kind of turnaround — maybe not to this extent? — would have happened under Russell, too, and Russell definitely set the table for Tech’s success this year.
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St. Cloud State senior Drew LeBlanc could have an interesting decision to make. If he gets healthy enough to play at the end of this season, he could either rejoin the Huskies for a few games or he could decide to sit out and take a medical redshirt.
It is highly unlikely that St. Cloud State will make the NCAA tournament this season, so you may believe that LeBlanc would be more inclined to take the redshirt. However, LeBlanc was sought after by multiple NHL teams last summer and could decide it’s time to move on.
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Omaha forward Terry Broadhurst was one of the hottest players in the league to start the season. He had 14 goals in the team’s first 15 games. But since his two-goal game against St. Cloud State on Nov. 26, Broadhurst has not scored a goal. That’s an 11-game goal drought for the speedy winger.
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It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin star Justin Schultz responds from a quiet weekend in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Schultz is still a legit Hobey Baker Award candidate, but needs to bounce back quickly.
It also will be interesting to if other teams use Dane Jackson’s PK scheme of denying Schultz passes while the Badgers are on the power play.
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Speaking of Dane Jackson’s penalty-killing unit, it is now No. 1 in WCHA games. UND is successfully killing 85.5 percent of WCHA opponents’ power plays.
Brad,
I was thinking the same thing about Tech’s success. Russell deserves some of the credit. Those were his players. It’s interesting how a new face on the bench can make a difference in a team’s performance. And the ability to stay free of the injury bug.
I was thinking the same thing about Tech. They were short last year due to injury and they had a lot of freshmen playing big roles.
Credit goes to Pearson, much like Hitch has turned around St Louis.
Big differences there. Hitchcock is using the same players as his predecessor. Pearson has the services of a lot of guys who were hurt last season (including the team’s top two players) and Russell’s best recruiting class.
From his very first interview, Pearson made a point to thank Jamie Russell and his staff, insisted that he would not throw this season away, and that there were some “good pieces in place”. I would agree that Russell deserves some credit on the recruiting front. The Johnstone brothers, Blake Pietila, Tanner Kero, and Ryan Furne will all play a big role in Tech’s fortunes over the next 2-3 years, as will Jujhar Kharia when he arrives in Houghton next fall. All of them committed when Russell was still in charge.
A coaching change had to be made though – it was clear that Russell had lost the ear of most of his players by January of last season. So Pearson deserves his share of the credit for coming in, getting his uptempo playing style implemented, getting some fans back in the MacInnes (especially by getting students involved), and delivering 12+ wins with a majority roster of players who went a program-worst 26 games without a win last season.
Jamie Russell was a first class person as well as a coach and did his best in a tough situation. I have said many times that I would have rather had Tech in the NCHC than St. Cloud.
I was thinking the same thing about Tech. They were short last year due to injury and they had a lot of freshmen playing big roles.
So Pearson deserves his share of the credit for coming in, getting his uptempo playing style implemented, getting some fans back in the MacInnes (especially by getting students involved), and delivering 12+ wins with a majority roster of players who went a program-worst 26 games without a win last season
A coaching change had to be made though – it was clear that Russell had lost the ear of most of his players by January of last season. .