2008 Woodie Awards
Club hockey faces in-state rivals
By: Ottusch
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
The club hockey team faces its toughest competition to date this weekend when it travels to Oakland University and Michigan.
CMU faces OU at 8:40 p.m. Friday and U-M at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The team will have its hands full because Oakland (4-6) is last year's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 National Champion and a two-time Division 2 Champion (2004, 2006).
"Their program's been good the last five years," said senior Craig Lipar.
Michigan (7-1) is one of the toughest teams in the Central Division and likely will be ranked in the top three when the first rankings are released.
"It's a huge game for us because if we beat them, most likely after the second ranking, we'll be ranked ahead of them," Lipar said. "If we lose, we'll be ranked behind them. Any games against the top five teams in the Central … are always the biggest games of the season for us."
The key for victories this weekend relies on the team's defense, which has been coming together the last few weeks.
"We're definitely going to have to continue our good defensive play because both these teams are capable of scoring just as many goals as we're capable," Lipar said.
Coach Chris LaPan said one of the biggest reasons for the improved team defense has been CMU's ability to stay out of the penalty box. Being penalty-free this weekend will be more important because of its competition.
This weekend marks the first time Central has to face more than one team in a weekend.
"It doesn't impact us at all because we want go out there and we want to make teams to play our game," said junior Andrew Anson. "We don't want to play down or at another team's level. We want them to play with us. We want to control and dominate the game."
sports@cm-life.com
CMU faces OU at 8:40 p.m. Friday and U-M at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The team will have its hands full because Oakland (4-6) is last year's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 National Champion and a two-time Division 2 Champion (2004, 2006).
"Their program's been good the last five years," said senior Craig Lipar.
Michigan (7-1) is one of the toughest teams in the Central Division and likely will be ranked in the top three when the first rankings are released.
"It's a huge game for us because if we beat them, most likely after the second ranking, we'll be ranked ahead of them," Lipar said. "If we lose, we'll be ranked behind them. Any games against the top five teams in the Central … are always the biggest games of the season for us."
The key for victories this weekend relies on the team's defense, which has been coming together the last few weeks.
"We're definitely going to have to continue our good defensive play because both these teams are capable of scoring just as many goals as we're capable," Lipar said.
Coach Chris LaPan said one of the biggest reasons for the improved team defense has been CMU's ability to stay out of the penalty box. Being penalty-free this weekend will be more important because of its competition.
This weekend marks the first time Central has to face more than one team in a weekend.
"It doesn't impact us at all because we want go out there and we want to make teams to play our game," said junior Andrew Anson. "We don't want to play down or at another team's level. We want them to play with us. We want to control and dominate the game."
sports@cm-life.com
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