The Week 2 Wraparound
Welcome to BLOOD WEEK - hockey edition
There are lots of things that college football and college hockey have in common: traditions, pageantry and innovation. But more than anything, hockey as a sport embodies a certain quality in college football that is beloved by sickos like me: things get WEIRD.
You want upsets? Plenty of those. Ridiculous field shenanigans? Last year, an Auburn hockey game was stopped because fans pushed the boards into the rink, destroying part of the ice. Fans turning into strange creatures because they’re drunk beyond belief? Try any ACHA or CHF game and you’ll see the familiar tailgating sight of college students taking shots in the parking lot, but this time in between periods.
Hockey has its own weird, wonderful brand of strange, but we’re gonna go ahead and borrow one thing from our college football brethren: the concept of BLOOD WEEK.
What is a Blood Week? As defined by its inventor, college football writer/internet youth pastor Jason Kirk (@thejasonkirk), it’s when at least five ranked teams suffer upset losses with at least two being top-10 teams at the time. That definition is flexible to allow general vibes or quality over quantity to factor in.
In the case of college hockey, we’re going to define a Blood Week as when at least five top 25 teams and one top 10 team lose to a combination of unranked (outside the top 25) or lower ranked teams. If some of these losses are shocking blowouts, that factors into the aforementioned vibes.
This week was debatably a Blood Week for the College Hockey South, as some of the conference’s top teams endured early season stunners. Why?
Tennessee at Georgia (Tennessee W 6-0)
Wow. Georgia, a team that only lost one game at home all year last season (4-3 loss to Georgia tech), a program that’s won two CHS titles in three years, a program that hadn’t been shut out since at least 2019 (stats aren’t available before then), a program that curb stomped this same Tennessee program last year by going 3-0 with a combined score of 19-3… got embarrassed in its home opener by the Vols?
Yep, that’s exactly what happened. Big Orange steamrolled the CHS’s favored son in unceremonious fashion, to the tune of limiting the Dawgs to just 13 shots on goal and putting up five of their goals at even strength. This wasn’t just a fluky game decided by penalties or a hot goalie. Tennessee controlled the pace of play, shut down one of the most multidimensional offensive attacks they’ll see all year, and produced sustainable scoring of their own. This was a clinic.
I had some less than favorable things to say about the Vols last week, namely that they weren’t fulfilling the vast potential that the program contains. If this is what we can expect from them this year, color me impressed. The pieces are all there for this team; they just have to make sure that they put the puzzle together more than once.
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt (8-3 Vanderbilt W, 3-2 Ole Miss W)
Vanderbilt was in a similar spot to Tennessee last year: not in the playoffs, but not a bad team either. For the Commodores, that’s honestly a big step up from where they’d been. With the addition of a new coach and more experience on the roster, the Black & Gold look like they’re ready to take a big step forward. An 8-3 drubbing of Ole Miss and a tight loss in the second game proves it. Contributions from newcomers (three players scored their first career goal and Andrew Shearson got his first win between the pipes) will be critical for the ‘Dores in marching to the postseason.
The Rebels finished last year dejected and angry after not getting any postseason action, but they’re going to need to get better results than their opening weekend to have any shot at proving their doubters wrong. This program won the conference in 2020 and made the final in 2019, so they have it in them. Taking 15 penalties including a game misconduct for abuse of an official like they did in Game 1 is not the way to get back to the top of the mountain.
USF at Florida (6-5 USF W, 10-2 Florida W)
The Gators were a thorn in the side of pretty much every top team they played last season, and in the process climbed to the top themselves. Playing a top 15 USF team tight and then pummeling them the following day is exactly what’s made this Florida team so great; after dropping a heartbreaker in overtime to ERAU, they came back the next day and beat another top contender on the road. In the bloodbath that is the CHS South, they might just come out ahead of everyone else because of that resiliency.
For USF, coming out of the weekend at .500 is a win. Florida is no slouch team, and in a weekend where Georgia and Ole Miss suffered similar or worse fates it’s perfectly fine to deal with a blowout on the road after a close victory. The Bulls need to find some consistency though, as things have been a tad Jekyll and Hyde. You can’t secure a top seeding in the postseason by trading impressive wins and non-competitive losses.
Florida State at Auburn (6-3 Auburn W, 8-4 Auburn W)
The Tigers put up 144 shots on goal over two games and allowed just 36 against. That stat along with the scores tell you stories of this series: Auburn dominated, Florida State got incredible goaltending, and Cam Denk struggled. Another important number? FSU put up two shorthanded goals in game two. There’s work to be done for both teams, but the home side should honestly just be happy that they came away with the sweep.
Last time Auburn met the Seminoles at full strength, the two fought to a 2-2 tie that ended in a shootout loss for the Tigers. That game played out similarly on the stat sheet to this weekend; massive shots on goal gap, outstanding play from FSU netminder Ryan Malvaso, and a lack of opportunism by Auburn kept the game close. The difference this year was an improved defense and the play of freshmen skaters Brooks Franklin, Alex Duchemin and Ethan Pustizzi, all of whom scored at least one goal. Duchemin and Pustizzi totaled four and six points respectively, impressive totals for players in their first games.
Auburn will need better from starting goalie Cam Denk heading into a daunting road game against Alabama’s D-I ACHA team, a foe the Tigers have never bested since their reformation in 2010. Denk looked good at times, but perhaps due to a lack of consistent action allowed a few goals that were uncharacteristic for him. After he performed like a top flight player and carried a heavy workload last season, it’s a reasonably sure bet that he’ll bounce back. The junior goaltender is at his best when he’s needed most.
What to Watch: Week 3
Tennessee at Florida: Friday, 7:15 PM CT
After spanking Georgia at home, the Vols head on another rivalry road trip to face the hated Gators. Florida hasn’t quite asserted itself as a program that’s truly established in the conference’s top echelon, but that doesn’t appear to be far off anymore. The Gators have played ERAU and USF, two very good teams, to series splits. Tennessee has a pair of extremely impressive road victories and looks like they might be a top three team in their division, but there’s always a chance for a letdown game after pulling off a big upset. You can watch the game via Florida or Tennessee’s YouTube feeds. Links will be tweeted at puck drop.
Tampa at Alabama: Friday, 8:00 PM CT; Saturday, 6:30 PM CT
Last year’s No. 1 team heads to Birmingham to take on the tide in unfriendly confines. It’s the biggest weekend for Alabama Hockey all year between this series and a certain other game (more on that later), so we’ll see whether or not this group on the CHF team can make a statement early on with a huge upset. Bama made a good run in both postseason tournaments last season, so there’s little doubt they can be dangerous. However, Tampa is a well-oiled machine with an excellent returning roster and massive scoring punch. Can the Tide put their rough start to last year behind them, or will the Spartans steamroll one of the CHS’s better squads en route to asserting their dominance? I have no idea. Compels me though.
FAU at ERAU: Friday, 8:15 CT; Saturday, 7:00 CT
The Eagles are an infuriating team to play by all accounts, especially on the road. The tradition of winning in Daytona has been an undercovered storyline over the past few years when ERAU was a member of the SCHC, but it’s getting plenty of attention now. Meanwhile, FAU keeps winning despite being a club with almost nonexistent support from its university. The Owls finished second in the CHS and almost upset Georgia in the conference championship game. Returning most of a stacked roster led by towering senior defender David Israel, this should be one of the conference’s highest scoring and brutally physical teams all season long. If ERAU pulls off the upset, they’ve officially arrived as a favorite to win the South, but that’ll be a tough task.
South Carolina at Georgia: Friday, 7:15 PM CT
This is a top three rivalry in the College Hockey South. Two juggernaut programs with nearly opposite methods of how they built their status (Georgia by consistency and championships, Carolina via a brash and attractive social media approach) clash in a hyper-physical battle in Athens this week, and it’s one of two must-watch games for me as a fan of the league. Scoring will be at a premium and Georgia still hasn’t proven they’ll be capable of beating quality competition this season, but it’s early in the year and both benches will get up a bit differently for this one. This could end up being a preview of a late playoff game or of who wins the East.
Auburn at Alabama ACHA D-I: Friday, 7:00 PM CT
The Iron Cup is back, and Auburn is looking to pull off the upset. The Tigers haven’t beaten Alabama’s top team since 1984, and they’ll have to travel to Pelham to do it. This game typically draws large crowds and gets borderline anarchical with the way the two sides go after one another. Alabama technically plays a level up and in a different league than Auburn, but the Tigers look like one of the better teams in the CHS this year and could be capable of giving them a challenge. Rivalry games are also frequently WEIRD so there’s plenty of room for things to go wrong for the Tide.