{"id":26018,"date":"2003-10-23T10:01:17","date_gmt":"2003-10-23T15:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2003\/10\/23\/this-week-in-the-cha-oct-23-2003\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:32","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:32","slug":"this-week-in-the-cha-oct-23-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2003\/10\/23\/this-week-in-the-cha-oct-23-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the CHA: Oct. 23, 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"
Another week, another dramatic upset for a CHA squad.<\/p>\n
It was Air Force’s turn to move to the forefront, flying up to Alaska to defeat Miami, 2-0, in the consolation round of the Nye Frontier Classic<\/a>. Senior Mike Polidor continues to impress between the pipes for the Falcons, notching his first shutout and the first win for his team against a member of the Big Four since 1999. The win comes on the heels of Findlay’s upset of Michigan State the previous week.<\/p>\n After crisscrossing the country, Air Force gets some well deserved home cooking against American International.<\/p>\n “Just goes to show you that this conference has gotten to the point where on any night, anyone can beat anyone,” said Alabama-Huntsville coach Doug Ross.<\/p>\n Ross’ clich\u00e9 will get the most severe of tests this weekend. Niagara makes the short trek to Buffalo to play Massachusetts-Lowell and the newly-dubbed No. 1 team in the nation, New Hampshire, in the College Hockey Showcase.<\/p>\n This is a landmark CHA weekend for this season. Alabama-Huntsville opens its season, so for the first time, all six teams will be in action. Findlay-Wayne State renew a burgeoning rivalry. And the Purple Eagles have a chance to upset the early balance of power in college hockey.<\/p>\n “Our guys are obviously excited,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “In our short history as a Division I program, we’ve never had the opportunity to play the number-one team in the nation, and so now we get a real test.”<\/p>\n Niagara catches an added break because eight Wildcat players were suspended<\/a> in the aftermath of the New York Yankees’ ridiculous Game 7 victory over the Boston Red Sox (take Pedro out, Grady). If ever a team was poised for defeat, it would be this weekend.<\/p>\n “You look at the teams from Hockey East, and they will play half of their division schedule against teams in the top-10,” Burkholder said. “We get at most eight games against college hockey’s best, and you have to make them count.”<\/p>\n As alluring as the game against the top team in the nation may be, the seniors may be more focused on Friday’s game. This will be their first chance to play Lowell and its coach, Blaise MacDonald.<\/p>\n MacDonald started the Niagara program from scratch in 1995, and remained its pilot until 1999-2000, leaving after taking the Purple Eagles into the NCAA tournament in 2000. Niagara’s seniors are his last recruiting class there, and they have not hid their emotions on wanting to impress their former coach.<\/p>\n “This will be a big night for the seniors,” Burkholder said. “Blaise has been gone a while, but the seniors remember him and what he did for the program. It’s going to be a special night for everyone involved.”<\/p>\n The weekend may be important emotionally for the seniors, but Niagara will need the help of a freshman if it hopes to win. Over the first couple games of the season, the Purple Eagles’ best player has been rookie power forward Jeremy Hall.<\/p>\n He scored one of the Purple Eagles’ two goals in its opening loss to Union and netted the only tally in their 1-0 exhibition win over Brock. Niagara’s big guns have taken a couple of games to get their skating legs, but Hall has been solid.<\/p>\n “Hall has been everything we’ve hoped for when we brought him in here,” Burkholder said. “I’ve only had two games to evaluate players, but he’s doing what we recruited him for — scoring goals.”<\/p>\n Of course, Niagara has some big time goal scorers, including Joe Tallari. Tallari struggled a little in the first two games with an injury, but he’s fully recovered and looks to make an impression on the national stage.<\/p>\n “It sometimes takes the veterans a couple of games to get rolling,” Burkholder said. “Everyone played against Brock to get their conditioning and their legs. This will be the first time we’ve had a normal college hockey week, with a game on the weekend and four days of practice.”<\/p>\n “Our seniors have great leadership, ” he added. “I’m interested in seeing how much we’ve improved and this weekend will tell us where we are at.”<\/p>\n Nobody can yet confuse Findlay-Wayne State with Yankees-Red Sox (I’m begging you to take Pedro out, Grady), but one of these teams may need Don Zimmer’s services by the end of the season.<\/p>\nClash of the Titans?<\/h4>\n