J Michael "Dave Burton" Jackson writes: >(A question to those in Ann Arbor: if Michigan wins it all, do you think >someone could ask Red to at least smile? Maybe pump his fist in the air once >or twice?) You must have missed the CCHA title game...Red came as close to doing a Jimmy Valvano as I've ever seen. He was very excited (lots of smiles, hugs, etc) and the Michigan fans were excited for him. It was GREAT to see him visibly enjoying the win. Also, someone asked for more of a preview of the Western teams. I thought JMJ's Michigan comments were right on the money. I don't have time to discuss all of the CCHA teams in depth, but I'll try to give a couple of opinions and some UM numbers. LAKE SUPERIOR A better team than the 1994-95 version. I like LSSU to be in Cinci. John Grahame is a top notch collegiate goaltender. Keith Aldridge is an easy All-America pick on defense. He didn't have one of his better game in the CCHA championship, so look for him to come out smoking in Albany. Aldridge (Best Offensive Defenseman) Bates Battaglia (Best Defensive Forward) and Mike Matteucci (Best Defensive Defenseman) swept the CCHA "Best" awards. The big scorers are Sean Tallaire and Brian Felsner, Tallaire being more of a finisher among the pair. Also keep an eye on young forwards Joe Blaznek and Bryan Fuss. Blaznek is all hustle and Fuss is a major pain in the butt, period. Typical of what the Lakers throw at you with their third and fourth lines. MICHIGAN Best depth in the CCHA, maybe in the country. Here's what they throw at you up front: NAME YR GP G A PTS EXTRA Brendan Morrison JR 32 26 40 66 CCHA Player of the Year Kevin Hilton SR 40 10 50 60 CCHA scoring champion John Madden JR 40 27 29 56 10 shorthanded goals Jason Botterill JR 34 32 23 55 129 penalty minutes Bill Muckalt SO 38 24 28 52 exciting as any Warren Luhning JR 37 19 29 48 117 penalty minutes Mike Legg JR 39 13 25 38 overlooked in JR class Matt Herr SO 37 18 13 31 often scores big goals Greg Crozier FR 39 12 9 21 untapped talent Bobby Hayes FR 40 8 13 21 CCHA winning goal The blue line pairs include SR Steven Halko (All-CCHA second team, All-America???) with FR Bubba Berenzweig, JR Blake Sloan (6-23--29/+38) with JR Chris Frescoln and JR Harold Schock (5-19--24/+37) with SR Mark Sakala. Halko, Sloan, Schock and Berenzweig will get the crunch time minutes, and Sakala is a proven playoff performer. (Check out Sakala's performance in the 1995 semi versus Maine if you can.) The goaltender is Marty Turco (31-7-1/2.20/89.4). Another playoff performer. Has 58 wins and is just a sophomore. MICHIGAN STATE Still Anson Carter's show. Sean Berens (SO), Taylor Clarke (SR), Steve Ferranti (JR), Richard Keyes (SO), Tony Tuzzolino (JR), Mike Watt (SO) and Mike York (FR) appear to add a lot of depth up front, but the Spartan offense has sputtered over the last month. IMO, the most dangerous weapons behind Carter are Keyes and Watt. Simply the most dangerous are Keyes and Tuzzolino. Keep your head up if they're on the ice. The MSU defense is solid...but currently wounded and tired. Mason has been riding four D's for several weeks. Tyler Harlton (SO) and Jeff Kozakowski (FR) play a little more than Chris Bogas (FR) and Chris Smith (SR). MSU will likely look to play a slow, low-scoring game so they can keep their bench short. Goaltender Chad Alban comes and goes, but he has the ability to keep them in such a game. In their last game at Yost (UM), Michigan threw everything at them and the Spartans stood there and took it. After two periods, Alban had kept the score 1-0 and MSU had only taken six shots on goal. They could be tough to catch with a lead, likewise they're not likely to come back from a deficit. WESTERN MICHIGAN They need to ride CCHA Rookie of the Year netminder Marc Magliarditi as far as they can. Mags is deserving of All-America honors, but he sounded (I didn't see it) very mortal in their CCHA first round playoff exit. They don't have an Anson Carter, but like MSU they have a balanced offense...a more veteran one at that. Seniors Chris Brooks, Jeremy Brown, Derek Innanen, Jamal Mayers and Kyle Millar can all hurt you. Brown had the best year, but look for Brooks and Mayers to pick it up as well. The best non-senior is junior Justin Cardwell. The WMU defense is big, young and relatively decent. SR Darren Maloney leads, but Joe Corvo and Geoff Collard had strong freshman seasons. I believe that top offensive D Steve Duke is still out with an injury. John H ([log in to unmask]) Who wouldn't complain about four CCHA teams in Cinci... HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.