We’re hearing an awful lot about the impact that college defensemen are having on the professional game this season. Hockeytown has been buzzing about the contributions the Red Wings got from Dan DeKeyser (Western Michigan) and Brendan Smith (Wisconsin).
Lately, we’ve seen hockey fans in Boston amazed at what Torey Krug has brought to the Boston Bruins. With two goals and an assist in his first two NHL playoff games, following his call up from the Bruins AHL team in Providence, fans are now wondering if he’s become a permanent fixture on the blue line in The Hub.
As Spartan fans, we’re not surprised at all. For three seasons, we saw what Krug brought to the ice every night. We saw a player who was a natural leader, being elected as team captain as a sophomore. We saw a player who, despite being undersized (MSU had him listed as 5’ 9”… in his skates, maybe!) was named to the CCHA’s All-Rookie Team after leading the league’s rookie defensemen in scoring.
As a sophomore he added the pressure of being the team’s captain, but still more than tripled his goal scoring numbers while earning the Top Offensive Defenseman honors from the conference. In fact, in that second season he was voted to the pre-season second team, but finished the year as a first team All-Conference selection!
Then in his junior season, Torey led the league in scoring and was named as a finalist for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award. He got better and better every season that he wore the Green and White!
This season, as a member of the Providence Bruins, he led his team in scoring from the blue line with 13 goals and 32 assists for 45 points and the top seed in the AHL’s Eastern Conference. Now in the NHL, Torey has 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 career games! I was recently asked by a fan if it was time to believe the hype surrounding Torey.
My response?
Torey has been too small to succeed for his entire life, yet he keeps on succeeding, first in Juniors, then at Michigan State and now as a professional. In my mind, it’s not hype at all. Torey has proven that he deserves the shot he’s gotten. He’s earned it!
Torey Krug Links
-The guys at CSN New England have a man crush on Krug. VIDEO LINK
-Boston Globe: Another Big Game for Krug. ARTICLE LINK
-Telegram.com: Coach Claude Julien's Confidence in Krug. ARTICLE LINK
-WEEI.com: Bruins Little Man Proving He Belongs on Big Stage. ARTICLE LINK
-Boston Herald: Have no fear, Torey Krug is here. ARTICLE LINK
-NESN.com: Krug's confidence gives Bruins the jolt it needs. ARTICLE LINK
A couple of years ago, I was talking with Rob Woodward during the offseason and I told him that I thought Torey Krug would eventually be a great captain for the Spartan Hockey team. He thought about it and agreed. Now, two years later, I realize that even I underestimated just how good a player, and captain, he would become!
Last night at the CCHA Awards in Detroit, Torey was honored as the CCHA Player of the Year, Offensive Defenseman of the Year (for the second consecutive season!) All CCHA First Team, Co - CCHA Scoring Leader and MSU's Perani Cup winner for earning the most points in the three stars contest. Additionally, The Hobey Baker Award top 10 was announced, and Torey is on that list as well.
He's definitely the Spartan's best player and, if he returns for his Senior season, may wind up setting some records that will never be broken by another defenseman. But the thing that has caught my eye more this year, is the way he's become a leader on the team.
I started following him on Twitter last year. All summer long Torey would tweet about his excitement for the upcoming season. Once school started, the pace picked up. Following the "Judgment Day" team building exercise the guys went through it picked up again. Then through the season it was words of motivation, encouragement and celebration, but the thing I noticed was that he rarely used "I" or "Me". Everything was "We" or "The Boys". Victories and losses were team victories and team losses. That's called being a captain.
Then last night something special happened. Even though the team isn't participating in the CCHA Championships, a busload all went to the Fox Theatre, rather than just the players who were winning awards. Now I've been to the Awards show quite a few times and this NEVER happens. Last night, however, the team was there to celebrate the team accomplishments. Brock Shelgren was honored as the team's Scholar Athlete (a 3.7 GPA in Finance will do that for you) and the TEAM was there to applaud him. Every time Torey went on the stage, he had his own, personal, "slapshots" cheering him on. And when he was announced as the Player of the Year, he got a standing ovation from the TEAM!
And when the evening was over, the congratulatory tweets started coming out. But the tweet that caught my eye, was one from the man of the hour. It read "I have unreal teammates!!! These guys drove an hour and a half both ways to celebrate awards that WE won. All the credit to the boys". Then later this morning there was this "Thanks for all of the congrats. Let it be known my team deserves all the credit. In order to succeed, you must be surrounded by great people".
That's what being a captain is all about!
The playoffs are in full swing and we all know what that means. Yep, Scott’s productivity has gone through the basement floor due to one invention… the Pairwise Predictor. I could play with this thing for hours, working every different combination of wins and losses possible. So I finally made the decision to wean myself off it, and make one pass, with my best estimate of what will happen. Here we go…
In the CCHA, I think that Miami is finally playing like we all thought they would all season long. I have them beating Western Michigan and Michigan to win the CCHA Tournament and the automatic bid. I also think that Bowling Green’s heroic run will end with losses to Michigan in the semi finals and Western in the consolation game.
In the WCHA, I think that Denver will beat Michigan Tech, and North Dakota will knock off St. Cloud State in the play in games. But that’s all she wrote for both as I think Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth will play an all Maroon and Gold final with the Gophers beating the Bulldogs.
In Hockey East, I believe that Maine is rolling and will knock off Boston U in one semi final, and that Boston College will beat both Providence and the Black Bears to win the title.
In the ECAC, I have absolutely no clue, but I’m guessing that Union will beat Cornell for the title, while Harvard will “paste” Colgate (I couldn’t resist!) in the consolation game.
And finally, in Atlantic Hockey, I predict that Air Force (why are they in ATLANTIC Hockey???) will beat Niagara for the title, and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Based on all of these results, and with help from the aforementioned Pairwise Predictor, Here is how I believe I believe the brackets will turn out. The teams making the tournament will be…
1 Boston College
2 Michigan
3 Minnesota
4 Miami
5 Union
6 Minnesota Duluth
7 Ferris
8 Boston U
9 North Dakota
10 Maine
11Massachusetts - Lowell
12 Denver
13 Cornell
14 Michigan State
15 Western Michigan
16 Air Force
The top seeds get placed in the closest regions. BC to Worcester, Michigan to Green Bay, Minnesota to St. Paul and Miami to Bridgeport. Then the rest of the field serpentines into place so that 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on. That gives us these brackets…
Worcester
1 Boston College
2 Boston University
3 North Dakota
4 Air Force
Green Bay
1 Michigan
2 Ferris
3 Maine
4 Western Michigan
St. Paul
1 Minnesota
2 Minnesota Duluth
3 Massachusetts Lowell
4 Michigan State
Bridgeport
1 Miami
2 Union
3 Denver
4 Cornell
The committee then gets to work. They don’t like conference matchups in the first round, and we’ve got one in Green Bay with Michigan facing Western Michigan. There’s an easy fix. Swap seeds 15 & 16 putting Western in Worcester and Air Force in Green Bay. The other thing the committee looks at is possible attendance. One additional swap will help. I think they could flip flop the 10 and 12 seeds, putting Maine in Bridgeport and Denver in Green Bay. This puts both teams closer to home. So this is how I believe I believe the brackets will wind up…
Worcester
1 Boston College
4 Western Michigan
2 Boston University
3 North Dakota
Bridgeport
1 Miami
4 Cornell
2 Union
3 Maine
Green Bay
1 Michigan
4 Air Force
2 Ferris
3 Denver
St. Paul
1 Minnesota
4 Michigan State
2 Minnesota Duluth
3 Massachusetts Lowell
Moore Realignment Thoughts
By Scott Moore
Well, well, well! I guess we can all assume that the powers that be in college hockey are not regular readers of my hockey blog. Last month I put forward my proposal for how the teams of the CCHA and WCHA should realign when the Big Ten Hockey Conference begins […]
My $0.02 on College Hockey realignment
By Scott Moore
Seems like everywhere I go, the number one topic of conversation has been the Big Ten Hockey Conference, and what it will mean to the CCHA. Nobody seems to think about the WCHA which is also losing two of its’ big name teams.
For the record, I was not initially in favor of a Big Ten Hockey Conference, and I still have some issues with it. It […]
Two Month Update
By Scott Moore
It seems hard to believe that Tom Anastos has been Michigan State's Head Hockey Coach for 2 months now. When Tom was introduced as the new leader of the hockey program back on March 23rd, it took everybody in the hockey world by surprise... including Anastos himself!
Now, two months later, things are moving.
Meet and Greet (and more playoff news)
By Scott Moore
It's time for the American Hockey Coaches Association annual meeting down in Naples Florida. An article by Todd Milewski on USCHO points out that this year, there's a new group getting together, the Big Ten Hockey Coaches!
Todd […]
