Some odd thoughts about the state of affairs in the CCHA and beyond
 
Last weekend in the CCHA:
 
All I can say about this entire past weekend, is that there are a lot of
CCHA fans shaking their heads, wondering what might have been.
 
It is simply one of those years where anybody has a shoot at beating
everybody else.  OK so some teams have a far longer shoot than others,
but never the less we are looking at a season that is shaping up to be a
lot more interesting than last years run-away by big Blue.
 
Improved competition in the CCHA
 
It is nice to see Notre Dame evolve into the vertebrate family this
season, and become a tougher team to beat.  The Irish have indeed made a
definite improvement this year.
 
MSU is always dangerous, and W. Mich, along with LSSU makes crossing into
the land of no-fault insurance as hard as ever.
 
You could say the CCHA is to college hockey what the Big Ten is to football.
 
Dare I invoke the word "parity?"  I don't think I will.  Murphy's 23rd
law of college hockey states that as soon as someone uses the word parity
to describe the CCHA, LSSU (regardless of it's record to that time) will
then win all it's remaining games and prove the description wrong.
 
BG's recent slide
 
As for BG's play of late, I can only say that we lost a game to OSU last
year about this point of the season.  We then rebounded to finish second
in the conference this past year.  I think BG will be able to climb back
into the thick of the title race, if it can iron out the inconsistencies
they have had so far this season.   Injuries not withstanding, the
Falcons should be able to play better than they have against OSU and MU.
Loosing a couple of games doesn't disturb me as much as some of the other
aspects of the Falcons play of late.
 
The Falcons flat effort during various games, and the lack of output from
several players I had high expectations for this year, seem to be the
biggest worries.  When I talk of the Falcons slowing down, and not giving
their best effort at times, I am comparing their play to that which they
displayed during the Mich. State game (BG's third game of the year).
That game was among the best I have ever seen the Falcons play.  They
gave a total 60 minute, face-off to final buzzer effort.  They simply,
and soundly beat MSU.
 
I know that MSU has a special rivalry about it, and that teams can't "get
it up" for every game.  Nevertheless I can't help but feel a keen sense
of letdown when I see how they play against WMU, OSU, MU, and the latter
parts of the UM debacle.  The Falcons seem to "turn it on" for awhile,
but then "turn it off" if they get behind, or go ahead.
 
I expected players like "The mighty" Quinn Fair, and Chad Ackerman to
really flourish this year.  They aren't playing "badly" but they are
really performing as well as they are capable.
 
They are any number of factors contributing to all of this.  Injuries,
the resulting affects on the lines, and fatigue.  But I have seen to many
traces of these problems since the first couple of games to be able to
write them off to those factors alone.  BG's success of failure during
the rest of this season will depend on the will and desire of the players
to pull themselves out of their funk and
 
 
Nathan W.L. Boyle
 
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