Last week we saw all 10 WCHA teams face off against each other — one of only three times that will happen all season. At the end of the weekend, things stayed pretty much the same. Colorado College and Denver remain on top with Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota State on the bottom. Minnesota and North Dakota are still in the middle. <\/p>\n
We also learned that my column is now apparently a curse, for St. Cloud State is currently sitting in eighth. Sorry guys.<\/p>\n
Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week:<\/i> Blake Geoffrion, UW.
\nWhy:<\/i> Had four points (1g, 3a) in the Badgers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 sweep of St. Cloud State.
\nAlso Nominated:<\/i> Jimmy Kilpatrick, CC; Mike Howe, UM; Mick Berge, MSU-M; Ryan Duncan, UND.<\/p>\n
Red Baron WCHA Defensive Player of the Week:<\/i> Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, UND.
\nWhy:<\/i> Stopped 63 of 65 Pioneer shots in the weekend split with Denver, had four shutout periods and had a .969 save percentage for the series.
\nAlso Nominated:<\/i> Brian Connelly, CC; Chris Butler, DU; Jeff Frazee, UM; Mike Zacharias, MSU-M.<\/p>\n
Red Baron WCHA Rookie of the Week:<\/i> Ryan McDonagh, UW.
\nWhy:<\/i> The defenseman had a +4 rating, two assists and four shots on goal during his team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weekend sweep of St. Cloud State.
\nAlso Nominated:<\/i> Richard Bachman, CC; Tyler Bozak, DU; Rylan Galiardi, MSU-M.<\/p>\nKeeping Up with the Pros – Monthly Drive-By<\/h4>\n
I said I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d only do this once a month, so here we go.<\/p>\n
NHL: Dany Heatley, UW – 14-19-33 and Paul Stastny, DU – 11-22-33, t-10th overall.
\nAHL: Toby Petersen, CC – 13-14-27 and Gabe Gauthier, DU – 8-19-27, t-4th overall (but Gauthier is called up currently).
\nECHL: Aaron Slattengren, CC – 17-10-27, t-3rd overall.
\nIHL: Tab Lardner, MTU – 11-10-21, t-1st overall.
\nCHL: Konrad Reeder, SCSU – 11-17-28, t-7th overall.<\/p>\n
A few teams will be missing a few players as they go off to the Czech Republic to represent Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships. The players who will also be representing the WCHA are Minnesota\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mike Carman, Ryan Flynn, Kyle Okposo and Cade Fairchild, Denver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tyler Ruegsegger and Rhett Rakhshani, Wisconsin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Blake Geoffrion and Jamie McBain and Colorado College\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bill Sweatt.<\/p>\n
Again, nothing. Tear.<\/i> I was going to have a contest for you guys next week, but plans change. Alas, that will come in January. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a good one though, I promise.<\/p>\nWCHA Report Card<\/h4>\n
Well, thanks to this column basically being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This Month in the WCHA,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t break down the series like I normally do. Check that — I could,<\/i> but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think you want to see that many stats thrown at you and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to type all of them out. Therefore, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just give you the basics along with my it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-not-really-at-that-point-yet-but-close-enough-to-count mid-season grades for everyone.<\/p>\n
No. 2 Colorado College<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Up two after sweeping Alaska-Anchorage.
\nOverall Record: 10-4 (10-2 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Chad Rau (9-8-17).
\nGoaltending: Richard Bachman (11 gp, 9-2, 1.63 GAA, .945 sv %).
\nGrade: A+. Bachman has stepped in and filled Matt Zaba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skates unbelievably well, the offense has been clicking and the defense has been strong as well. Now that we know Drew O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Connell can win a game or two, the Tigers should be able to stay strong when Bachman gets a night to rest.<\/p>\n
No. 4 Denver<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Down one after splitting with North Dakota.
\nOverall Record: 10-4 (7-3 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Brock Trotter (6-9-15).
\nGoaltending: Peter Mannino (14 gp, 10-4, 1.66 GAA, .936 sv %).
\nGrade: A-. Mannino seems to be back to his freshman year form and the young offense is working just fine. The defense is now a little older and it shows. The team still has some off nights, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nowhere near as bad as last season.<\/p>\n
No. 7 North Dakota<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Up one after splitting with Denver.
\nOverall Record: 7-5-1 (5-5 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Ryan Duncan (5-9-14).
\nGoaltending: Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (13 gp, 7-5-1, 1.52 GAA, .940 sv %).
\nGrade: C-. The Fighting Sioux didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose much comparatively in the off-season, have had minimal injuries and Lamoureux has, for the most part, been outstanding. So why are they only .500 in conference? Sure, this team usually turns it on in the second half, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guaranteed to happen again this year. Maybe the loss of Jonathan Toews hurt more than anyone expected.<\/p>\n
No. 10 Wisconsin<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Up three after sweeping St. Cloud State.
\nOverall Record: 7-6-1 (4-4 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Kyle Turris (6-11-17).
\nGoaltending: Shane Connelly (12 gp, 6-6, 2.84 GAA, .901 sv %).
\nGrade: C. Shane Connelly has been an adequate replacement for Brian Elliott, but nothing overly spectacular — yet. Offense, which looked to be a problem coming into the season, hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been bad, all things considered. However, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just middle-of-the-pack right now — much like everyone else.<\/p>\n
No. 14 St. Cloud State<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Down four after being swept by Wisconsin.
\nOverall Record: 7-5-2 (3-4-1 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Ryan Lasch (11-12-23).
\nGoaltending: Jase Weslosky (11 gp, 6-5, 2.03 GAA, .932 sv %).
\nGrade: B-\/C+. Weslosky has worked well as a replacement for Bobby Goepfert and Garrett Roe has been a wonderful addition to the line-up. Still, the Huskies need offensive production from more than just Lasch and Roe and the defense still needs some work. For them to move solidly into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d territory, they need to be able to take points from the lower teams every weekend.<\/p>\n
No. 15 Minnesota<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Down one after splitting with Michigan Tech.
\nOverall Record: 8-7-1 (4-6 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Ben Gordon (4-9-13).
\nGoaltending: Jeff Frazee (11 gp, 6-5, 2.72 GAA, .896 sv %).
\nGrade: F. What was that I said at the beginning of the season — the Gophers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rebuild, they reload? Well, despite returning almost all of their offense, they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been able to get it going — probably in part to the offensive losses from the back line. If something doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change and fast, Minnesota fans may well be in for a long rebuilding year.<\/p>\n
No. 16 Minnesota-Duluth<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Down four after taking only one point from Minnesota State.
\nOverall Record: 6-5-3 (5-5-2 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Josh Meyers (4-6-10).
\nGoaltending: Alex Stalock (14 gp, 6-5-3, 2.28 GAA, .914 sv %).
\nGrade: B-. Sure, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only .500 in league play, but all things considered, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing better than most people expected. Besides, most everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s around .500 in league play, so that means nothing. The main problem going into this season was offensive production — they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have one dominant line or player (their top scorer only has 10 points), but at the same time, everyone except their back-up goaltender and a freshman defenseman out since the beginning of November has at least one point.<\/p>\n
No. 20 Michigan Tech<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Stayed put after splitting with Minnesota.
\nOverall Record: 6-7-1 (5-6-1 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Tyler Shelast (7-3-10).
\nGoaltending: Michael-Lee Teslak (10 gp, 4-4-1, 1.81 GAA, .935 sv %).
\nGrade: C. In terms of the WCHA, these Huskies — currently fourth — are about where everyone pegged them to be. The defense and goaltending have also performed as expected, but their problem still continues to be offense. Losing a highly-regarded offensive recruit to major-juniors after failing to get through the NCAA Clearinghouse also doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help.<\/p>\n
Minnesota State<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Garnered one vote after taking three points from Minnesota-Duluth.
\nOverall Record: 4-6-2 (2-6-2 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Mick Berge (7-2-9).
\nGoaltending: Mike Zacharias (9 gp, 3-3-2, 1.82 GAA, .930 sv %).
\nGrade: D-. Sure, the Mavericks returned both goaltenders — and Zacharias has been doing pretty well, considering — but they just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to crawl their way into the top half of the league. Right now, the conference highlight for them is probably taking three points from tUMD. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not good, but there is an upside — with the league the way it is this season, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically nowhere to go but up.<\/p>\n
Alaska-Anchorage<\/b>
\nPoll Movement: Still out of the polls after being swept by Colorado College.
\nOverall Record: 4-5-3 (1-5-2 WCHA).
\nTop Scorer: Kevin Clark (5-7-12).
\nGoaltending: Jon Olthius (11 gp, 3-5-3, 2.86 GAA, .886 sv %).
\nGrade: D. The Seawolves do have some positives — a point a game player in Kevin Clark, four games in hand and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been relatively competitive, beating the Gophers and tying a few other teams. However, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also at the bottom of the league as usual. As a result, their upside is the same as Minnesota State — all they can do is improve.<\/p>\nIn Case You Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t See It<\/h4>\n