Gophers players said three weeks ago that they didn’t know how good North Dakota goalie Aaron Schweitzer was after firing just 51 shots on the freshman in a two-game series.
Six games later, Schweitzer is making a statement to this effect: He’s pretty good, and he’s here to stay.
Although those games were against Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan and Alaska-Anchorage — the bottom three teams in the WCHA — the numbers put up by the Regina, Sask., native are impressive nonetheless.
Schweitzer allowed just nine goals during the stretch, helping UND to at least a share of the league title for the first time since 1987.
He shut out Alaska-Anchorage last weekend in back-to-back games, earning both WCHA rookie of the week and defensive player of the week honors on Monday.
His overall statistics in league games are impressive: 9-1 record, 1.99 goals against average and a 91.6 save percentage.
What once looked like a weak spot for UND heading into the post-season is now a source of strength.
FYI
Should any teams finish tied for a position in the WCHA, the league would use the following criteria to determine the higher seed for the league playoffs:
1) Head-to-head competition
2) If the teams split their season series, the next tie-breaker method is most WCHA wins during the regular season. For example, if one team finishes 16-12-4 and another finishes 17-13-2, the teams have the same number of points, but the latter team would be the higher seed.
3) If the teams are still deadlocked after that, the team with the least number of goals scored against it in the four-game season series is the higher seed.
4) If the first three methods don’t produce a winner, goal differential in WCHA games will determine the team with the higher rank.
Mayasich honored
Former hockey great John Mayasich was named to the NCAA’s 50th Anniversary college hockey championship team on Monday, the only ex-Gophers player to make the team.
The team, which consists of three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards, will be introduced during the second intermission of this year’s NCAA championship game on Mar. 29 in Milwaukee.
Mayasich, who played from 1951-55, never won a NCAA title but played on Minnesota’s 1953 and 1954 runner-up teams.
His Gophers career records for goals (144) and points (298) still stand today.
Backchecks
ù Northern Michigan’s sweep of Michigan Tech last weekend was its first league sweep since Nov. 25-26, 1994, against Alaska-Anchorage.
ù Denver is now 16-6-4 over its last 26 games and undefeated (8-0-3) in its last 11 home games.
ù Alaska-Anchorage is now 0-12 all-time at North Dakota after being shut out in back-to-back games for the first time in school history.
ù The Gophers moved up one spot into sixth place in the latest Pairwise Rankings, a ratings system used by the NCAA to determine tournament teams.