"Pat, I'd Like To Buy A Goal..."

Make that multiple goals.

This weekend was not the greatest way to start conference play, but it could've been much worse. Indeed, the Huskies were swept by the #3 Colorado College Tigers, 2-0 and 4-2.

On Friday evening, the stellar play of senior goaltender Rob Nolan kept the Huskies alive for most of the game. He stopped 36 of 38 shots, including 18 shots alone in the 2nd period, making several outstanding saves. Unfortunately, the offense gave him absolutely no support after the first 10 minutes of the game, with the Tigers spending a majority of the time in the MTU zone. CC's Scott McCulloch capitalized on a shorthanded breakaway after poking the puck away from Deron Cousens at the blueline and skating it down the ice, deking right and beating Nolan five-hole with a backhand. That goal turned out to be the game winner. Alex Gagne fanned on what was probably the best opportunity all night for the Huskies to beat reigning WCHA Player/Rookie of the Year, CC sophomore goaltender Richard Bachman, taking just one second too long to shoot the puck.

Saturday evening, Tech started out slow, handing the Tigers a goal in the first five minutes of the game and beginning the parade to the sin bin that has become all too familiar with Husky teams as of late. Bachman robbed Ryan Bunger with a diving save on Tech's best offensive chance in the first period. Finally, in the second period, sophomore Jordan Baker got MTU on the board, poking the puck home in the midst of a crease fustercluck, with freshman Alex MacLeod picking up his first collegiate assist after scoring two PP markers last weekend, and sophomore Bennett Royer also grabbing his first assist of the year. Unfortunately, a mistake by the Tech defense early in the third allowed Bill Sweatt to capitalize on a pass from Eric Walsky, skating in behind the defenders and wristing a shot into the top-corner of the net over Nolan's left shoulder. Steve Schultz extended CC's lead to two goals with a PP marker about halfway through the third.

The Huskies called their TO and pulled Nolan with 2:31 to play in regulation. The move paid off when freshman Brett Olson scored his first collegiate goal, firing the puck through traffic and past Bachman with 21 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, CC iced the game with a long-range ENG that slipped into the empty net with about 2 seconds left on the clock, leading to the final score.

Overall, Tech played two tough road games against the pre-season favorite to repeat as WCHA champions. On Friday the offense failed to get anything going, and on Saturday the Tigers' talent simply prevailed. I'm looking forward to the Winter Carnival matchup slated between these two teams here in Houghton. Maybe all it'll take is a little of the Huskies Pep Band and the Misfits to get Bachman to cough up five goals again. ;)

The U-18 kids are in town next weekend, which should be a good exhibition tune-up to help ensure we don't completely embarass ourselves by not sweeping the Seawolves out of the MacInnes the following weekend. It'll also allow time for lingering injuries to do some healing before four straight WCHA series against Anchorage, Wee-sconsin, Arrogance!!1!11, and the Landcows.

"You Can't Always Get What You Want...

...but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need." ~Mick Jagger

First of all, props to Yager for the awesome photo.

So we wanted to sweep this weekend, but of course, we didn't. Red Light Robbie struck again, but thankfully the weekend wasn't a total waste of my time and money.

After Nolan's questionable performance on Friday night, Josh Robinson (or "Robo", as he apparently goes by in the locker room) got the nod on Saturday against the Lakers and notched his first collegiate W with a solid performance that included a few clutch saves to preserve the one-goal victory.

I am proud of this team though. Even after Rob began playing head games with himself right out of the gate, the Huskies in front of him never really gave up and it eventually paid off when they scored the final two goals of the evening; they needed that. They didn't whine about some pussy little finger injury in order to get a break (I'm looking at you Brian Stewart), and only took one penalty the whole night. They delivered big hits, battled hard in the corners, and deserved better than what they got.

A lot of the NMU fans I ran into on Friday were serious douchebags. No, I'm not talking about any of the Puckheads - they're the cool, diehard fans (even if I do hate their team). I'm referring to those drunk bandwagon 'fans' who only show up to rivalry games to antagonize the opposing fanbase and aren't really there to watch hockey. They would do better to stay out of the arena in the future.

Saturday night, Tech went up twice only to give up the tying goals thereafter. They overcame a nasty CFB on Geoff Kinrade towards the end of the second period that drew blood and sent him to the locker room for stitches, head bandages, and a fresh jersey. Kinner insisted on coming out to play the third and still battled out there, playing solid shifts. The Huskies peppered LSSU goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson with shots and finally, with about five minutes remaining in regulation, Jordan Baker banged home a rebound off a quick shorthanded rush led by Drew Dobson and the team never looked back.

With only a few exceptions, the LSSU fans I ran into were classy in spite of their team's loss and the fact that seven guys managed to turn their arena into MacInnes East. Of course, the fact that one particular group of them were relatives of Chris Conner may have had something to do with my impression. ;)

Also, it'd be awesome if there could be a battle of the LSSU band and the Huskies Pep Band sometime in the future, though I'm not sure exactly how it would go down since bands technically aren't allowed to play in opposing hockey arenas anymore, and I doubt the home team would want them there anyway in most cases. That banner above prompted one of their 'tones to come running over and tell us to bring our band next time, and we would have a throwdown. :D

The WCHA schedule gets rolling this weekend with a pair of games against the Tigers out in Colorado Springs. Jamie Russell seems to think the NMU debacle wasn't entirely Nolan's fault, so it's very likely that Robbie will get a chance to redeem himself on Friday evening, squaring off against reigning WCHA Player (and Rookie) of the Year, Richard Bachman. I'm sure the Tigers' offense will put up plenty of shots on the big ice, so if he's up to task, he should be able to get a rythym going. If not, look for Robo between the pipes on Saturday, with a chance for the Huskies to light up CC's backup Drew O'Connell.