With both of tonight's teams occupying the bottom two spots in the CCHA standings, its no secret that both of these teams are going to be chasing 6 points. They need to. At least as of this writing, Western Michigan was leading 3-2 with not a lot of time left in the 3rd, which should put them in sole possession of 2nd place with Lake State playing out of conference this weekend. Always an exciting weekend for college hockey.
On to this actual series, Miami has yet to earn a point in the CCHA. Currently standing at 2-6-0 right now, the RedHawks are clearly not looking like the Miami team of old. Seeing which team comes on the ice tonight will be an interesting. Since I didn't actually write a preview like the horrible blogger that I am, at least let me tell you a little bit about this team.
Backstopped by a traditional powerhouse goalie tandem, Cody Reichard and Connor Knapp have just not performed to the same level as they did a year ago. While struggling with goaltending consistency, their offense has yet to find a rhythm after the loss of scoring monsters Carter Camper and Andy Miele. Reilly Smith is certainly still present, but his point totals have not been what it was 8 games into last year (5 versus 13).
Their blueline is just as stout as it has been in years past, as its filled with juniors and seniors, while working in a freshmen or two.
On the Nanooks side, I am really glad to see Michael Quinn back on defense tonight. Paired up with Aaron Gens should make for a real solid night on defense. And hopefully getting him back will add a spark to the team.
Speaking of spark, the Nanooks lines have been shifted around quite a bit. Beck and Finucci are centered by Adam Henderson, which should add some real strength to that line. Henderson has a lot of potential, and hes a great center. Faceoffs have been lacking a bit, but he's becoming a bit of a playmaker, even if his stats don't really show it. Gehon and Taranto are centered by Kunyk, which this might be my favorite line ever. If Gehon's stick is as good as it has been, he should really be able to help Kunyk and Taranto get back to their scoring potential. I'd be interested to see if Gehon makes a transition to the center spot and get Kunyk back to his familiar wing. Yaremchuk and Meyers are also paired together on the wings with Granberg in that top line. Meyers, Granberg, and Yaremchuk have all been paired together once again after having some great chemistry last season. I'd be interested to see if they can get it going again.
But anyhow, without further ado, here are the lines for tonight.
Miami Redhawks
F1 Garrett Kennedy - Max Cook - Alex Wideman
F2 Steve Mason - Trent Vogelhuber - Jimmy Mullin
F3 Bryon Paulazzo - Alden Hirschfeld - Tyler Biggs
F4 Curtis McKenzie - Austin Czarnik - Reilly Smith
D1 Will Weber - Chris Wideman
D2 Cameron Schilling - Steven Spinell
D3 Ben Paulides - Joe Hartman
G1 Cody Reichard
G2 Connor Knapp
Alaska Nanooks
F1 Nik Yaremchuk - Jarret Granberg - Ron Meyers
F2 Chad Gehon - Cody Kunyk - Andy Taranto
F3 Colton Beck - Adam Henderson - Carlo Finucci
F4 Garrick Perry - Justin Filzen - Matt Gates
D1 Michael Quinn - Aaron Gens
D2 Justin Tateson - Scott Enders
D3 Kaare Odegard - Trevor Campbell
G1 Scott Greenham
G2 Sean Cahill
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