• Check out the CCHA Now featuring Ben Holden. Rico’s RedHawks are featured several times. Be sure to check out the #1 play of the week from Scott Jean of Lake State at the 9 minute mark. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

• Miami Head Coach Rico Blasi comes into the weekend with 198 career wins in CCHA action. He’s 4th on the Active CCHA coaches list, and 9th all time. Here’s the top 10 (* = active)

1. Red Berenson* (Michigan), 506
2. Ron Mason (MSU, BG, LSSU), 494
3. Rick Comley (MSU, NMU, LSSU), 315
4. Jerry York (BG), 250
5. Bill Wilkinson (WMU), 234
6. Jeff Jackson* (ND, LSSU), 224
7. Bob Daniels* (FSU), 224
8. Jerry Welsh (OSU), 210
9. Enrico Blasi* (Miami), 198
10. John Markell (OSU), 194

• Connor Knapp continues to impress. I can’t say I’d be surprised if we see a split this weekend in net, but Knapp has truly been extraordinary with stats like these:
  12 Games played, 8-4-0 record (6-3-0 CCHA) with 2 shutouts.
  GAA: 1.77 – good for 2nd nationally, .13 behind #1.
  Save %: .932 – 6th nationally, .005 behind #1.

• Reilly’s Roll continues. These stats are equally impressive:
  4 Game winning goals in a row and 7 total – best in the country
  Points in 5 straight games
  CCHA Player of the week for the 3rd time
  INCH National Player of the week
  4th in the CCHA in overall scoring and 6th in Conference-only scoring

• This team is starting to make a run, just when we thought the usual “Rico Swoon” would begin. This can only mean good things for the team that was ranked at #2 by the coaches and USCHO, and #1 by USA Hockey and USA Today.

• Just when you thought the polls couldn’t get any wackier, USA Hockey Mag and USA Today ranks WMU 14th and Miami “receiving votes” at 16th after Miami put on a dominating display and beat the Broncos 3-1 and 4-0 last weekend. The next point should make you feel better, though.  In addition to the wackiness of the order, there are currently 8 CCHA teams in the USCHO top 20, with Lake State in the “others receiving votes” category at #21.

• The current PairWise Rankings show a different story, with Miami in a tie for 14th, and Western Michigan at #17.  If the season ended today, this would put Miami in the NCAA tournament as an at-large team, and WMU would be out. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. There’s a lot of hockey left. For what it’s worth, Northern Michigan stands in a tie for 6th in the PairWise, largely based on their 7th best RPI ranking.  For a quick “primer” on the PairWise in easy to understand terms, check out a great friend of Miami Hockey Julie Robenhymer’s Bracketology over at Hockey Buzz.

• Both games will be on the TeeVee on ONN, but there will be no radio for the games this weekend. As always, the Miami All-Access fail pass has streaming video on http://www.muredhawks.com

• Is it too early to start talking about magic numbers? Okay fine. We’ll wait till next week. Promise. But to win the CCHA it’s near… okay. I’ll wait.

• In other CCHA action this week, there isn’t really a marquee matchup other than the Miami/NMU series. Michigan is off this weekend. In the only other matchup of ranked teams, #16 Michigan State visits #10 Ferris State.

Across the country, however, be sure to  catch some fantastic action on the national broadcasts (eastern times shown):

Friday:

• Colgate vs #9 Cornell on CBS Sports at 7pm
• St. Cloud vs #3 Minnesota on Big Ten at 7
• Wisconsin at #18 North Dakota on Fox College Sports Atlantic (FCSA) at 8:30
• Yale vs Harvard on NBC Sports at 7:30
  **don’t forget to catch former Voice of the ‘Hawks John Walton as he calls Yale/Harvard

Saturday:

• #20 Maine vs #2 Boston U. on CBS Sports at 7
• Providence at #5 Merrimack on FCSA at 4
• Wisconsin at #18 North Dakota on FCSA at 8:30
• #3 Minnesota vs St Cloud on Fox Sports North at 8

In additon, The NHL Skills Competition is Saturday at 7  and the All-Star Game is Sunday at 4, both of which will be televised on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus).

Have a great weekend, RedHawks fans!