> More down than up, Huskies are in doghouse > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > By Steve Page > > Bob Mancini says he can live without his hockey team's ups and downs. > > "It's a bad roller-coaster ride right now," the fourth-year Michigan Tech > coach said of his club, which is 2-4 in the Western Collegiate Hockey > Association, 3-6 overall and preparing to do battle with the nation's > second-ranked club, Colorado College, this weekend. > > "We've been inconsistent," Mancini said. "Our goal-scoring production isn't > where it's supposed to be. It all depends on what day we're talking about. > One day, we show we can score a few goals; the next day, we can't score > any." > > In last weekend's WCHA split at Alaska Anchorage, the Huskies snapped a > four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win Friday but lost 7-0 Saturday. > > Tech averages 2.83 goals per game, seventh in the WCHA. The Huskies are > ninth in power plays (10.7 percent, 6 for 56) and penalty-killing (76.5 > percent, 52-68). > > "We've got to have production out of a guy like Pat Mikesch," Mancini said > of his senior center, a second-team all-WCHA selection last season. Mikesch > is fourth on the club this year with four goals and two assists. "He'll get > there," Mancini said. "It'll happen." > > Mancini, who scored 131 career points while playing for CC from 1978-82, > says the Huskies are aware of the Tigers' lofty status. > > "It's an important weekend coming up," he said. "CC has great momentum out > of the blocks. They have an outstanding team. > > "It's too early in the season to do anything special for a team like that. > We're just worried about us. We need to do the best we can and see what > happens." > > WESTERN WANDERINGS: Alaska Anchorage had the WCHA's offensive and defensive > players of the week after splitting with Tech: Junior center David Vallieres > had five goals and one assist; freshman goaltender Doug Teskey came off the > bench midway through Friday's game and didn't allow a goal thereafter in > either game, stopping 37 shots. . . . Denver's 5-1-0 start is the program's > best since going 7-1-0 in 1992. . . . Minnesota-Duluth's 6-2-0 start is its > best since winning its first eight games in 1989. > > Northern Michigan's 0-6-0 start in WCHA play is its worst since it entered > the league 12 seasons ago. Going back to 1994-95, the Wildcats have lost 10 > WCHA regular-season games. They host Anchorage this weekend. . . . Wisconsin > has scored just one power-play goal in its past 17 chances. > > IN THE POLLS: The top four teams in the GT composite poll were ranked in > that order by all four individual polls. Though Boston University is the > unanimous No. 1 selection, the Terriers did not get all the first-place > votes in the individual polls. BU had 10 votes to two for CC in the WMEB > rankings, topped the Tigers 9-1 in USA Today/American Hockey Magazine, 26-3 > in the Troy (N.Y.) Record, and 11-1 in the WMPL/WZRK (Houghton, Mich.). No > other teams received first-place votes. > > ELSEWHERE: This is the first week this season all four major conferences -- > WCHA, Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Eastern College Athletic > Conference, and Hockey East -- will concentrate solely on league games. . . > . BU forward Jay Pandolfo scored four short-handed goals as the Terriers > scored a Hockey East-record five short-handed goals in a 10-2 win over > Northeastern last Saturday. . . . Neither team scored in the third period as > Maine and New Hampshire skated to 4-4 and 3-3 ties last week, then split the > shootouts that followed. Hockey East is the lone conference that uses > shootouts as overtime tiebreakers. . . . Merrimack had the country's longest > Division I overtime unbeaten streak snapped at 18 games in a 5-4 loss > Saturday to Massachusetts. Until then, the Warriors were 8-0-10 in sudden > death. charlie shub University of Colorado at Colorado Springs [log in to unmask] -or- [log in to unmask] (719) 593 3492 (fax) 593-3369 HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.