MCRHL Championships Spotlight ? Edition 5

Team: Western Michigan B Broncos Record: 13-5-1 overall, 7-1-0 league Second-round opponent: Winner of Ohio State B vs. Michigan B, Saturday, March 6 at 4:15 PM The Broncos were one of two B teams to earn a bye for the first ever B Division Championship. This gives them the advantage of already being in the double-elimination portion of the tournament and puts their first game off all the way to 4:15 tomorrow. WMU had one of the biggest games of any of the B teams this season when they tied the Michigan Wolverines? A team. The only league blemish came by an 8-5 loss to Eastern Michigan B. Earlier in the season, however, the Broncos beat EMU 8-6 in an exhibition game, so the teams are fairly evenly matched. The Broncos out of Kalamazoo are lead in scoring by Nick Resk and John Gorski, ranked second and fourth respectively in the league scoring race. Brian Media is the main backstop for the B club. To win the entire tournament, WMU could play as few as three games, but losing to their first opponent would force them to play five games in that same time span. As in the Active Division, the first games for each team may be the most important, with it being so difficult to win from the losers? bracket. A good sign for the Broncos? They haven?t lost to either the Buckeyes or the Wolverines this year. Team: Eastern Michigan B Eagles Record: 19-5-0 overall, 7-1-0 league First-round opponent: Winner of Michigan State B vs. Illinois B, Saturday, March 6 at 3:15 PM The only league loss the Eagles suffered was a surprising one to the Ohio State B Buckeyes, which was a huge win for OSU. That game was a very close one, and the type of game that may be Eastern?s weekness, judging by an 0-3-0 record in one goal games. Although that statistic shows they?ve been very close to winning 22 of 24 games, it also shows that they have been susceptible to being upset. That being said, this is the #1 ranked team nationally at the B level. Additionally, they are 6-0-0 against their possible first opponents, MSU and Illinois, which leads one to believe they could find themselves in the semi-finals after only one win. The key to this team seems to be their defense and goaltending, who only gave up 20 goals in eight regular season games. Andy Bedard leads the B Division in both Goals Against Average and Save Percentage, which is a tribute to him and his defensemen, and will be the key for the Eagles in their quest for the Midwest Cup. Team: Western Michigan Broncos Record: 20-3-0 overall, 17-3-0 league First-round opponent: Illinois, Saturday, March 6 at 9:00 AM Looking at the Broncos? record, one might assume their losses were to Michigan State and one of the other top four or five seeds in the Midwest. However, the first loss suffered by the Broncos was to none other than Illinois, their first-round opponent in a compelling match-up tomorrow morning. Both teams would have to admit that the upset came early in the season (only the second game for WMU), but none the less Illinois is a team that has upended many high seeds and scared the rest at some point in the year. Western?s Achilles heal is their time spent in the penalty box. They blew out the league, registering 312 penalty minutes in 19 regular season games played. That equates to almost half of every game being penalized, which is not a strategy the Broncos can win with in post-season play. That?s a statistic to watch for sure in the Illinois game, because the Illini had the second fewest penalties in the MCRHL, only 120 minutes. Luckily for WMU though, they are very talented and have huge scoring potential. Curt Russell, John Hackett, and Robbie Harrell all finished in the top 10 in league scoring, giving Western the most players carrying that honor. The Broncos also carry two of the top four goalies in the MCRHL, who have split time throughout the season. Eric Dumais and Steve Stork both carry GAAs under 4.00 and Save Percentages of at least 86%. As we?ve said all year, if Western stays out of the box, they are one of the most dangerous teams in the country. That statement will be put to the test this weekend though, with the Broncos looking for the automatic bid to the national championships. Team: Michigan State Spartans Record: 29-2-0 overall, 19-1-0 league First-round opponent: Ball State, Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 AM Looking at Michigan State?s record and accomplishments this year leads one to believe they would be a shoe-in for winning the Haschel Cup. After winning 26 in a row, being ranked #1 nationally for most of the season, and capturing their fourth straight NARCh Winternationals Championship, MSU was looking like the national championship teams of 1999 and 2000. Out of the last five games however, the Spartans have lost two and are in some ways backing into the MCRHL Championships as the first seed. Even though the Spartans have three players with at least 40 points, they have seemed to struggle to score at times recently with a pair of 4-1 losses. Injuries have hurt MSU as they lost playmaker and scorer Mark Demmer during the tournament in Las Vegas to a knee injury he has not yet recovered from. That injury did not really slow down Ken Jung, however, who won the league scoring title with an impressive second half of the season. Another big bright spot has been goaltender Chris Luscombe, who lead the league in GAA and Save Percentage during the regular season. The Spartans, like always, have played a smart, puck-control type of game this season that tends to frustrate opponents and lead them to taking penalties. Those penalties are very bad news to opponents because MSU scored just under 2 power play goals per regular season game, leading the league. Even with their recent struggles, the Spartans are probably still regarded as the favorites to win the Haschel Cup, a trophy that will be very tough to win this weekend. All of the action starts tomorrow at 9:00 AM, so come out to Total Roller Hockey this weekend and see who will win the Midwest and Haschel Cups. Stay tuned to MCRHL.com for a recap of the MCRHL Championships and the soon to be announced invitations to the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships in Anaheim, California.