Western Michigan

[Al DeFlorio]

Just looked at their season to-date and saw WMU tied Maine at Alfond in the second game of a weekend pair, with Maine needing an extra-attacker goal to salvage the tie.  They also split with Ferris State in a home-and-home.

Anyone here familiar with them?

[jkahn]

See http://www.wmubroncos.com/sports/hockey/index.html  
including their article on the upcoming series.  Though 7-7-1, they've won four in a row and tied Maine at Maine, so they can play top teams very competitively.

[ugarte]

They also split with Ferris State (winning at home, losing on the road), who is currently leading the CCHA.  

I assume Ferris is very near WMU. Instead of playing a pair at Ferris and a pair at WMU, like most western conference matchups, they have two home/road weekends.

[KeithK]

According to MapQuest, Ferris State (Big Rapids, MI) and Western Michigan (Kalamazoo, MI) are about 107 miles or 1:50 apart.

The schools in the CCHA aren't as far apart as the western folks make out, at least once you throw out Fairbanks and Nebraska Omaha.  Everyone else is in Ohio (3) or Michigan (6).  Oh, there's also Notre Dame.  Of course, it's no Hockey East...

[Jeff hopkins \'82]

While everyone else is "in Michigan or Ohio", remember that Michigan is 20% bigger in area than New York, is far less compact, and the schools are more spread out across it.  For example, it's 350 miles from Detroit to the Sault (Lake State) and 500 to Marquette (NMU).  And that's just within Michigan.  Now consider the distances from the Ohio schools (another 100-200 miles) and you're talking some long road trips.

Kind of makes Ithaca to Cambridge or Hanover look trivial.

Jeff

[littleredfan]

Apparently the team is flying to play the W. Michigan games...how often does that happen? (insidecollegehockey says they'll need 2 planes)

[JDeafv]

Hopefully they are not flying today ... both of my flights were cancelled  earlier today and I'm still in Ithaca ::help::  ... however, last I heard they were taking the bus.

Interesting writeup on LeNeveu.  It seems that everyone "owns" his rights.  How is it possible that multiple teams own his rights?

[peterg]

We haven't seen them in several years, but they'll be very familiar with CU and Coach Schafer, with Scott Garrow on the staff.

[ugarte]

I think they own his rights with respect to the other teams in the same league.  For instance, the Colts owned John Elway's NFL rights, but it doesn't mean that Elway could not have signed with the Yankees.

[Yo Momma]

Davey and I are making the trip from Roseville via tractor!  We look forward to seeing you all there.

[jd212]

well, last we saw them was three yrs ago. and for the record, we are 5-0-0 against them in total. and leneveu will be in net both games

[Adam \'01]

And, for what it's worth, in Jan of '98 Jason Elliot had 30 saves against them for the 2-0 shutout.

[jkahn]

I'll be there Saturday wearing an old (1966) Cornell jacket with leather sleeves (if I can still fit into it) over a Lynah Faithful t-shirt (circa 2002).  I hope to meet some of you at the pre-game gathering.  Can't wait to see the Big Red in action.   Info from the Cornell Club of West Michigan on the Saturday pre-game:
"For anyone arriving early, we've arranged for a casual pre-game gathering (5-6:30pm) at

University Roadhouse,
1332 W. Michigan Avenue,
Kalamazoo, 616-345-7990.

There is a separate area for Cornell fans - purchase your own food & drinks from the menu!"

[DeltaOne81]

Just pulled this from the USCHO CCHA column, quote from the Western. Mich head coach:

"Coach Schafer has done a great job with that program," said coach Jim Culhane. "They're coming off a win over Boston University and have been ranked most of the season. They have a lot of talent coming back from their NCAA tournament team of a season ago, so we have our work cut out for us."

Um, excuse me? A win? How about two convincing wins??... ranked most of the season? How about top 10 all season, and ranked since a good ways back through last season?? Seems kinda like he doesn't know who he's dealing with. "EZAC" mentality maybe?

I'm not trying to say these weekend games are a given, WMich has had some great games, but that just kinda struck me as uninformed.

Btw, I'm not sure where Jason gets his information, but my hunch (just a hunch) is that Lenny will play tonight, and if we win, someone else'll be in net tomorrow. If we don't win, well, I'd still think probably someone else, but it'll be a tougher choice.

-Fred

[bigred apple]

Jeez, Fred.  I think he was trying to be complimentary without kissing ass.  Should every coach sound like Lou Holtz?