Husky hockey: SCSU's Marvin center of attention

 For the Sioux fans that haven't seen this one this article is interesting but it's not going to fan the flames of discontent. The flames of discontent are already there. It's almost like the SCSU team; fans and media are holding their breath and hoping their boy Marvin makes it out of this series without too many bumps and bruises. That is the beauty of hockey if you do something cheap, bush-league or violate the hockey code eventually you will pay for it, maybe not this weekend but eventually. I also wish people would stop painting Marvin as the victim, he made this bed. This song would probably be a good theme song for this weekend's series.

Mike and Connie Marvin often make the trip from Warroad to St. Cloud to watch their son, Aaron, play for the Huskies. This weekend’s series against North Dakota is one they’ll have to miss, however, because they’ll be in Vancouver, watching their daughter, Gigi, play for the U.S. Olympic team.

They’ll be keeping close tabs on what happens at the National Hockey Center, though, especially since Aaron Marvin could be a focal point for some in a crucial late-season matchup between fourth-ranked St. Cloud State and the 11th-ranked Sioux.

The Huskies are tied for first place in the WCHA and are trying to claim their first MacNaughton Cup. Sixth-place North Dakota still has a chance at home ice, but can’t afford to let many more points get away.

That’s where Marvin comes in. There’s a significant contingent of Sioux backers — if not UND players — who could blame him for sabotaging their season. On Nov. 13, North Dakota was tied for first place and knocked off the Huskies 4-2 in Grand Forks — only late in the second period, Marvin chased down Sioux captain Chay Genoway and crushed him with a check from behind into the glass near the SCSU net.


Marvin drew a one-game suspension, Genoway suffered a concussion and, three months later, has yet to return to the lineup. He was the top-scoring defenseman in the league at the time of his injury, when UND was 7-1-1. Without him, they’ve gone 6-10-4 — including a 1-4-1 mark in the last month.

“Back home, we’d always say what goes around comes around,” said Marvin, who publicly expressed regret shortly after the hit and has had one other five-minute major (on Feb. 23, 2008) in 107 career games. “They’re definitely going to be coming around on Friday night. Whatever happens, happens. You just have to keep your head up and protect yourself.”

Various Internet message boards have lit up recently with calls by Sioux fans for frontier justice. It remains to be seen whether the opportunity for that could come today or Saturday. It’s certain Genoway’s teammates would like to at least respond by beating SCSU

“He’s still a huge part of this team,” UND senior Darcy Zajac said of Genoway during the Sioux’s weekly media availability. “This weekend’s for Chay. We’ve got to be playing for Chay, and we got to get those two wins for him.”

Adding twists to the storyline are that Marvin’s grandfather, Cal, is a member of the UND and U.S. Hockey halls of fame. And Aaron is sort of related to Genoway. One of Marvin’s cousins married a relative of the Sioux senior.
“No team feels worse than us,” Huskies coach Bob Motzko said of Genoway’s injury. “We’re all hoping he comes back quick — unless he chooses to (medically) redshirt.”

Not that it will buy Marvin any goodwill. [SCTIMES]

If SCSU Huskies coach Bob Motzko wanted to extend some good will he would have suspended Marvin for longer like George Gwozdecky did when Paukovich injured Robbie Bina back in 2005. I am not advocating any cheap stuff this weekend. I want UND to run the Huskies into the ground play a physical hardnosed brand of hockey and crash the net. Nothing dirty, however, if the chance presents itself take that pound of flesh. Remember hockey is a physical game so the Sioux forwards should pound Roe and Lasch every chance they get. The Huskies are not a physical team and don’t like to be hit, they are a lot like the Gophers.