MCRHL Championships Spotlight - Edition 1

Over the next few days, MCRHL.com will chronicle the season of all 14 teams that qualified for the MCRHL Championships to be held March 6-7 in Wixom, MI. This first instalment deals with the lower seeded teams that had to fight to get into the tournaments. In the Active Division, the eight teams will battle for the Haschel Cup, the first championship trophy to be awarded in the league. The B Division competitors will fight for the Midwest Cup, another brand new trophy. Team: Ohio State B Buckeyes Record: 11-8-0 overall, 4-4-0 league First-round opponent: Michigan B, Saturday, March 6 at 12:00 PM This Buckeye squad had quite an up-and-down season, registering some big wins and some surprising losses over the course of 19 games. After opening the season 2-0, with wins against Illinois State B and Michigan State B, it appeared the Buckeyes might be a team to contend for the B Division title. However, after those two games, the Bucks lost six in a row, including losses to Michigan Tech and Illinois B, teams that figured in to the lower tournament spots in the division. Therefore, going into the second semester in Homer Glen, IL January 17th, the Buckeyes stood at 2-6-0 overall, and were looking like they would miss out on the opportunity to play in the regional championships. It all turned around on the 17th though with a 4-3 win over Eastern Michigan B, currently the #1 ranked B team nationally. Phillip Krawec was the star, stopping 41 of 44 Eagle shots. Although the Eagles scored with 28 seconds left to tie the game at 3, Troy Vereshack netted a goal with 14 seconds to pull off the upset. Including that game, OSU B has gone 9-2-0 since January 17th, and is one of the hottest teams heading into the tournament. In fact, the only losses they have suffered have been at the hands of EMU B, which seems to now hold a mental edge on the Buckeyes. Their road to the regional championship will be a very tough one though, coming in as the sixth and final seed in the MCRHL B Division Championship. They will face a Michigan B team in the first round currently ranked 11th in the nation and hungry to prove that they deserve consideration for the national championship. If the Buckeyes do get by the single-elimination first round, their next contest would be against Western Michigan B, another top team in the country. Team: Ball State Cardinals Record: 10-12-5 overall, 6-10-4 league First-round opponent: Michigan State, Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 AM Ball State has been one of the many inconsistent MCRHL teams this season. The most consistent statistic has been ties, where the Cardinals lead the league easily. There will be no ties in the MCRHL Championships however, and that many ties points to possible overtime games involving BSU in the tournament. The Cardinals were actually undefeated in their first seven games, before the real meat of the schedule hit them. Although they haven?t defeated anyone sixth or better in the standings, BSU has managed ties against Illinois State, Ohio State, and Eastern Michigan, proving that they have the ability to compete with most teams in the league. One problem for Ball State has been penalties, averaging almost 20% of the game in the penalty box through the 16 games recorded in the statistics. If they avoid the box, like many others in the MCRHL, they could make a splash in the tournament and prepare themselves well for the Division II Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships in Anaheim, which they have already locked up the automatic bid for. Starting as the eighth seed in the region is obviously a challenge for the MCRHL Tournament, having to beat a Division I top-25 team to avoid playing two games and being eliminated. Momentum is important going into the national tournament, and the Cards will look to start some next weekend. Team: Illinois Fighting Illini Record: 11-13-3 overall, 7-10-3 league First-round opponent: Western Michigan, Saturday, March 6 at 9:00 AM Illinois is another team that falls into the roller-coaster/inconsistent team category. The Illini have tied Michigan, beaten Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan and still finished seventh in the regular season standings. It was head-to-head games against Ball State, Illinois State, and Miami of Ohio that kept Illinois from finishing higher. This is one of the more dangerous teams in the field because of their ability to compete with anyone in a given game. The first game with the Broncos will be a big test, but they have already won a game against WMU this year. Next up will depend on the result of Illinois State and Michigan, both teams that the Illini have tied in the regular season. Michael Benge led the team in scoring through 17 games with 37 points, and will be leaned on in the tournament to provide offense. The Illini come in to the tourney playing well, and have been playing under pressure for the last month or so of the season. In the last event of the season, Illinois was able to pull off a tie against Miami which gave them the seventh spot and avoided playing the Spartans in the first round. They also had a very close contest with Ohio State, who ended up beating the Spartans later Saturday night. The Illini will need to pull off the improbable regional championship to earn a bid to the national championship tournament, but this team has shown all year that anything is possible. It?s guaranteed that they will skate and play hard in the tourney, and should be a great team to watch. Stay tuned for more team spotlights and news on the MCRHL Championships at MCRHL.com.