This week on CCHA RinkRap: A virus shreds Lake State’s roster; Joe Shawhan’s nightmare finally relents; Mankato’s hot line solves the Maverick PP woes; and the inequities of the 72% “Split.”
M.A.S.H. Unit Up In The Soo
Damon Whitten put on a brave face, but his post-game voice Saturday night revealed a man mired in crisis management. Half a dozen players, including five critical forwards, were sidelined with an unnamed virus, leaving Whitten and his staff to constantly juggle lines and defensemen in their two home losses to Bemidji this weekend.
“In 20 years of college hockey, I never had to deal with a week like we dealt with this week,” said Whitten, his vocal chords under duress. “The disruptions, the lack of bodies, like a minor pro-league practice with how few guys we had to practice, just a really challenging week.”
Hockey culture prides itself on the “next man up” mentality, but what if there is no next man? Things were so desperate on the LSSU bench that they had to use defenseman Jake Willets up front for most of Saturday’s loss. Due to all the special teams play, Whitten spent most of the weekend with only eight reliable forwards. It forced him to play three-dimensional chess on the bench, searching for forward combinations with any gas left in the tank.
“You’re constantly taking in all the input you can, whether it’s body language, whether somebody is stuck out for a long shift in the defensive zone,” said Whitten. “Certainly power play and penalty kill change the dynamics.”
All three Laker coaches were in scramble mode. During their respective intermissions Zack Cizek spoke about “energy management,” while Mike York revealed all the juggling he’d been doing with his D-corps.
“We’re trying to spread out the minutes on the back end,” said York. “We’re short up front, so we’re going to spot some D up there. It takes all 18 guys.”
Despite a valiant effort, the Lakers limped to bed Saturday having lost six points in the standings to Bemidji State, a blow to their hopes for home ice in the CCHA playoffs. The Beavers were the beneficiaries of the undermanned Lakers, vaulting back into the national rankings with their road sweep.
Whitten put on a brave face Saturday night, talking about how several players stepped up, exploiting their newfound minutes. But the crisis should continue, Whitten is not expecting his sidelined players back any time soon. The LSSU roster debacle is a sobering reminder that the health issues of 2020 are still with us, despite a fully vaccinated lineup.
“I thought our guys handled it as well as you could,” said Whitten. “A really unique situation, one I hope I’m never in again.”
The End Of Joe Shawhan’s Nightmare?
Coaches love to tinker: move Johnny to the power-play, change the starting goalie, adjust the PK pressure. But one thing coaches cannot do is put the puck in the net, a fact that has been bedeviling Michigan Tech’s Joe Shawhan for nearly two seasons. What is so maddening is that his team is getting chances, truckloads of them, often doubling the shot total of their opponents.
His frustration has become part of the daily drama in the hockey-mad Keweenaw Peninsula. In his radio show prior to Tech’s showdown with rival Northern Michigan, Shawhan was forced to defend his comments about needing to “recruit differently,” he spoke about hating the conciliatory comments from coaches like Bemidji’s Tom Serratore last year, when the victorious Serratore told Shawhan that Tech deserved to win five of their six games. Losing in overtime to Lake State last weekend was a “kick in the teeth,” said Shawhan, who conceded that his sleep patterns were ruined. For fans of century-old novels, Shawhan’s angst was straight out of a Kafka novel—a man tormented by demons beyond his control.
Shawhan reached the nadir of his nightmare Friday night at the MacInnes Center. His club’s frustration devolved into a theater of the absurd: the Huskies were outshooting Northern by a 3-1 ratio, and had generated a staggering 90 shot attempts, yet still they were losing 2-1. As the game approached its final minute. Shawhan pulled goalie Blake Pietila in an attempt to score a second goal, the equivalent of ascending Everest. Then MTU’s innocuous Rylan Mosley found a loose puck from his perch atop the crease, and everything changed. The sophomore banged home a precious goal to force overtime. Shawhan’s beleaguered soul had been given a temporary reprieve. Somewhere within the din of the delirious MacInnes Center was the sound of one man exhaling.
Despite losing in sudden death, Tech ended up with a point in the standings, and crucial points in the Pairwise computer (more on that later). Handcuffs removed, Tech managed the unthinkable Saturday night at Northern’s Berry Center, scoring four straight goals to close out a 5-2 win. Four snipes in 24 minutes is more than a typical weekend total for Tech. The shackles appear to be off.
“The team’s been kind of fighting it around the net, not really putting pucks in,” said junior Husky Logan Pietila, who scored the first of his two goals to open Saturday’s scoring. “It’s good to get one in, a dirty one [actually, a bang-bang drive] to start is good…it kept the momentum going.”
In the post-game Shawhan was careful not to jinx his club’s offensive barrage—nine Huskies on the scoresheet, five with multiple points. He focused his individual praise primarily to the other Pietila twin, goaltender Blake, who finally got some offensive support. “I thought Blake was incredible… outstanding.”
Shawhan and company return to Bemidji next weekend, where they hope to keep the offense rolling, and avoid consolation from Serratore in the post-game handshake.
Power Play Returns To ’Kato
The Bowling Green-Minnesota State series wedged nearly 8,000 fans into the Mayo Clinic Events Center this past weekend, most enjoying the Mavs dominant sweep of the Falcons. It was the crowds in the penalty boxes, however, that created the extreme optics. A whopping 34 penalties were recorded between the two squads throughout the series, and in the closing minutes Saturday, four Falcons had transformed the BGSU penalty box into a New York City subway car. Mavs coach Mike Hastings volunteered a solution after Friday’s penalty-fest: “We’ve got to maintain our discipline, and when we get on the power play, we’ve got to make it count.”
In Saturday’s first period, Hasty’s Mavs executed exactly as prescribed: 0 penalties taken, two power play goals. MSU headed to the intermission with another 3-0 lead. A reunited trio led the way for the men in purple all weekend.
Reliable point-producer Julian Napravnik returned to the lineup, Cade Borchardt regained his scoring touch, and Nathan Smith continued his consistent attack, as the threesome found the proverbial lightning in a bottle. In the first four periods of the series, the CSN troika amassed 10 points.
“They were really good five-on-five,” said Hastings, “I thought they were very good on the power play.”
Going into this weekend, the Mavericks were downright pedestrian with a man advantage, operating below 25 percent. That all changed versus BGSU, as the Mavs blasted five PP markers in 15 attempts, thanks in no small measure to the CSN line. Warning to the rest of the college hockey world: the No. 3 ranked Mavs have just ironed out their only flaw.
When Is A Split Not A Split?
If someone wanted to split a candy bar with you, you’d expect something close to half. You might complain about a 60-40 split, and you’d never want to be on the wrong end of a 70-30 split. There are weekend “splits” in college hockey that are actually more lopsided than that. Let’s examine.
Most pundits reported that Northern Michigan split with Michigan Tech this weekend, based on the fact that both teams added a single victory to their ledger sheets. That implies 50-50, which is clearly misleading. CCHA games are each worth three points, so the Cats' overtime win Friday and their regulation loss gained them 2 points out of a possible 6, that’s a 40-60 split. But the all-important computer rankings take it one step further: an overtime loss equals 45 percent of a win, and conversely, an overtime win equals only 55 percent of a victory.
Thus, the weekend’s computer points break down with Tech gaining 1.45 wins, and Northern earning a mere 55% of a win. That’s a 72.5 to 27.5 split, and if you’re on the receiving end of 27.5 percent of a candy bar, you’re not happy. Joe Shawhan’s Tech squad has had OT losses to Notre Dame, Lake State and Northern this season. Although those losses were painful at the time, the three results translate to nearly a win and a half. Those are vital gains in the only standings that count toward the post-season tournament: the Pairwise computer standings.