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CC hockey: Three things to watch at Anchorage
Here are three things No. 8 Colorado College (13-8-3, 9-6-3) will focus on when it travels to play Alaska-Anchorage (8-13-1, 6-11-1) this weekend.
1. Be ready to compete on the road
The competitive fire on display in Saturday’s 6-5 win over Wisconsin will have to be mimicked at Alaska-Anchorage, where the physical, defense-oriented Seawolves are a tough home team. Expect UAA to come out playing hard for their first home games since Dec. 5. The hosts enjoy a 4-6 home record including Saturday wins over Denver and North Dakota. The Seawolves are 2-1-1 in 2010, including a tie at No. 1 Denver.
2. More production on the power play
CC played better with the man advantage this past weekend with better puck movement and a few quality scoring chances. That will have to improve against Alaska-Anchorage, which has a 19th-ranked penalty kill (112-of-134, 83.6 percent) taking on CC’s No. 9 power play (30-of-136, 22.1 percent). That total includes a 4-for-49 showing by the Tigers (8.2 percent) in the past nine games.
“We need to start converting and get a few more prime scoring chances,” said Tigers coach Scott Owens, adding that no personnel changes are planned for either power-play unit. “Not yet. We want to see what another weekend on a large sheet does for us.”
3. More balanced scoring
The line change Saturday seemed to spark the second and third lines, which had one goal at Duluth. Big senior Brian McMillin (two goals, one assist) benefited from being paired with the speed of Tyler Johnson (one goal) and Tim Hall (two assists). Andrew Hamburg scored twice while lined up with Rylan Schwartz (two assists) and Bill Sweatt (one goal). That kind of balanced production would be a great help this weekend.
