MCHA Players of the Week
Plenty of storylines remain in place as the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association enters the final month of the regular season. In the Southern Division, Adrian College and MSOE both swept weekend series to remain deadlocked heading down the stretch. The Bulldogs (6-1 and 9-2 winners over Finlandia) and Raiders (2-0 and 4-2 over Lawrence) are now tied at 12-1-1 in MCHA play and, coincidentally, 15-3-1 overall. A head-to-head series to close out the regular season looms the final weekend.
| MCHA Heads Into Final Month of Regular Season |
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| Written by Chris Zills |
Monday, February 01 2010 |
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Adrian College keeps rolling along, winning its 48th and 49th consecutive regular-season league games with a sweep of Finlandia, claiming victories of 9-1 and 4-0. The Bulldogs remain on the cusp of the top 10 teams in the nation, coming in at No. 12 in this week's USCHO.com national poll.
Marian University extended its winning streak to seven, topping Lake Forest twice in recording 6-0 and 7-2 victories over the Foresters. MSOE recorded a pair of huge victories, taking a home-and-home series with Lawrence after claiming a 5-0 win Friday and a 3-2 victory Saturday - where the Raiders struck for the game-winner with just 1:29 left in the contest. Northland also strengthened its bid for the postseason, beating and tying Concordia over the weekend. The LumberJacks won convincingly, 8-2, in game one before settling for a 6-6 tie in the second game.
Also, recently announced for next week is that the MSOE vs. Concordia game that is scheduled for Feb. 5 is now being played at the Bradley Center. The Falcons and Raiders will play at 3:30 p.m., followed by the Milwaukee Admirals and Houston Aeros playing at 7:15 p.m. Ticket packet information is available on CUW's wesbite at www.cuwfalcons.com on the men's hockey page.
Players of the Week -Marian Universityfreshman forward Dakota Dubetz (Chestermore, AB) earns the MCHA Player of the Week award. For starters, he recorded a natural hat trick in the third period Friday and was +2. He followed that up with a goal and three assists Saturday and was +2 again. For the weekend, he had four goals and three assist for a league-best seven points and was +4. Two of his goals on Friday and two of his assists Saturday came on the power play. Other nominees: Brad Tierney (MSOE), Mike Dahlinger (Adrian), Nicholas Hewko (Northland)
-Milwaukee School of Engineering sophomore goalie Connor Toomey (Burlington, MA) is the MCHA Defensive Player of the Week after a brilliant performance against Lawrence on the weekend. He stopped all 33 shots in a shutout in the opener and then added 24 more saves Saturday for a weekend save percentage of .966 (57-of-59). Other nominees: Brad Fogal (Adrian), Tommy Fitzpatrick (Marian)
-Marian University Sabres freshman goalie Alex Bjerk (Roseau, Minn.) is this week's MCHA Freshman of the Week. Alex started the weekend with a shutout Friday, stopping all 22 Lake Forest shots. He followed that up with two more shutout periods before giving up a pair of Forester power-play goals in the third, making 24 more saves in game two. For the weekend, he stopped 46 of 48 shots for a save percentage of .958. Other nominees: Nicholas Hewko (Northland), Jordan Keizer (MSOE), Andrew Dovey (Adrian), Kraig Wright (Northland) |
The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association heads into February with plenty left to be decided in the standings down the stretch.
