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UMD Comes Into First Weekend With High Expectations

With 11 seniors, the Bulldogs are looking to be a force in the NCHC and nationally.  It has been the trend in recent seasons that the teams that make it to play in April are those with seasoned leadership.  Check.

But it is no guarantee.  Look back to 2004-05 season that was full of promise after a Frozen Four appearance and a Hobey Baker to Junior Lessard.  That UMD squad was highly touted in the preseason and the praise stopped there.  With discord in the locker room and loads of individual play, not team play, the Bulldogs finished a disappointing sixth out of ten teams.  The season ended with two lopsided losses at North Dakota in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The season is still to be shaped and I am convinced the leaders of the 2015-16 squad won't let history repeat, even it may be ancient history to these seniors.

Of Note:

• UMD has not started a season 2-0-0 since 2001-02.
• The Bulldogs are on a four games winless streak (0-3-1) against the Beavers.  Last season's lone meeting was a BSU 4-0 win in the North Star College Cup.

StatPack.  Returns next week after some new stats are generated for the new season.

Picks by @afiskness. 

Denver vs Air Force (home/home):  Denver is the better team in this rivalry, but the Falcons will not be a push over.  I will go with a Pioneers sweep.

Massachusetts @ Colorado College:  I keep hearing about how good all of the NCHC teams are and that even the teams at the wrong end of the standings are so good.  It a new season maybe the Tigers will be that good.  Based on the Minute Men being very young and picked to finish last in Hockey East I am going with a Tigers sweep.  If this happens watch for the body clock excuse.

Nebraska Omaha @ Minnesota State University Mankato:  The battle of the Mavericks!  This is the best series for the weekend.  Both teams are highly ranked with the purple cows the preseason favorites to win the WCHA.  I like the red cows scoring ability, but will they find any goaltending?  I will go with a split. 

Providence @ Miami:  The reigning NCAA champs go to Oxford, Ohio and play a highly ranked NCHC team and it is not the premier matchup of the weekend?  They don't share a nickname, so this is the 2nd best series.  Both teams lost a lot but should have depth.  I will go with a split. 

Bemidji vs. Minnesota Duluth (home/home):  The Bulldogs are picked to win the NCHC and are very highly ranked nationally, so now will the team live up to the hype?  The Beavers always paly UMD tough even when the Bulldogs have proven to be the much better team.  Since it is a new season and I don't have to remember past failures, I will officially go with a UMD sweep.  Likely it will be a split with road teams winning.

Ferris State vs. Western Michigan (home/home):  The Bulldogs start a the season with a new goalie replacing CJ Motte, this is a tall order to fill.  The Broncos have been a rough and tumble lower scoring team one that can probably be expected again this year.  I like the Broncos in both games in against a Bulldog team that will likely struggle to score and looking for a new goalie to take over the job.  Broncos sweep.

Icebreaker

Lake Superior State vs. North Dakota, North Dakota vs. Maine:  North Dakota has a new coach and did lose a bunch of talent, but they always seem to be able to bring in new players to fill the holes.  The Lakers have a lot of holes to fill and were at the bottom of the WCHA last year.  I pick a North Dakota win.  The second game of the tournament North Dakota takes on the Black Bear from Orono, Maine.  Maine is picked for 10th in Hockey East.  I will go with another North Dakota win.  

Kendall Hockey Classic

St. Cloud State vs. Alaska Fairbanks, St. Cloud State vs. Alaska Anchorage:  The Huskies are highly ranked again after losing a bunch of fire power last year and will be facing off against both Alaska teams in the Kendall Classic.  I don't think the Huskies have enough scoring to get two wins this weekend.  So I will go with a Huskies loss to the Nanooks and a win against the Seawolves.  

Tuesday 10/13/15

Bowling Green @ Western Michigan:  The Falcons go to Kalamazoo to take on the Bronco who will already have two games under their belt.  The Falcons are highly ranked and should be looking to improve on last years success.  I will go with a Falcons win.

Another Slow Start Dooms UMD, Opposite for UMTC

Rally Comes Up Short in 4-3 2OT Loss; North Dakota Shocks Gophers

The Bulldogs received some time to wait and rest up.  Not that they wanted it, but it was a parting gift from the Denver Pioneers in their 4-3 double overtime win.

Just like last season the Bulldogs make a one game appearance at the Final Five just to turn the bus around for extra R & R at home. Also like last season, UMD falls in OT, but that is where the similarities pretty much end.

Today’s game against Denver was a good hockey game to watch. “It was a hell of a game,” stated Coach Sandelin when asked for his comments. He went onto liken it to last year’s defeat in OT to Bemidji while adding that game was terrible to watch and this game was a good game.

Jack Connolly, Hobey Baker
Finalist, Scored the Tying Goal

The coach was quite content with the outcome of the game. UMD was down 3-0 just over six minutes into the second period, but battled back to tie the game fueled by two Mike Seidel goals in the second. Seidel later had the game winning chance just as time expired, but was stopped by the stretching leg of Pioneers goalie Sam Brittain.

The third UMD goal was scored by Hobey Baker finalist Jack Connolly.  Connolly took a pass from Drew Olson and rifled a one-timer from the high slot past Brittain.

UMD had all the chances they could have wanted, it was just a matter of converting opportunities and there just weren’t enough to get the Bulldogs over the hump.

Sunday’s NCAA selection show will reveal where UMD plays next weekend.  As the PWR looks now after all of Friday's results, UMD will not be in Saint Paul.  The reasoning is UMD is stuck in the #2 or #3 seeded bands with the Gophers and intra-conference games cannot be scheduled in the first round.

Of note:

• UMD scored the only power play goal of the game and went 1-4 on the PP.
• The ailing Bulldog penalty kill was a perfect 5 for 5 and looked much improved.
• Kenny Reiter was strong in net and kept UMD in the game at many points early in the game.
• The game winning goal by Zac Larraza is his first as a collegian.  He is Denver's "extra man" as the Pioneers are skating five defensemen and 13 forwards.  Larraza estimated that he was out for about 10 shifts for the game.

North Dakota and Minnesota - Twin Cities

The semi-finals of the Final Five was the day of comebacks.  UMD came back, but couldn't finish off Denver, but North Dakota did finish their comeback.

Down, and seemingly out, North Dakota used their timeout at 14:07 of the second period.  At that point they trailed the Gophers 3-0 and were being out shot 20-2.

What occurred next goes into the Final Five record books.

North Dakota proceeded to score the next six goals and out shoot UMTC 26-5 in a stunning 6-3 win.

Gopher leaders reported being shell-shocked and trying hard not to lose instead of going of the win.  Coach Lucia seconded the remarks and said he is not worried going into the NCAA Tournament next weekend.

The UMD loss was hard to take, but the absolute meltdown by the Gophers will be hard to forget.  If a team of collegians can nose dive that badly, whose to say that their psyche is resilient? 

Fans will get to see the resilliancy of the Gophers next weekend back at the Xcel Energy Center for the first round of the NCAA West Regional.

Second Intermission: Bulldogs Two-Thirds Through Season

A Report Card on UMD's Second Trimester of the 2011-12 Season

Here we are again, grading time.

UMD is two-thirds of the way through the regular season and have compiled an impressive 17-4-3 record for the season. They are currently #1 in the polls for the seventh week and are currently #2 in the PWR.

With the current success, it really makes for an easy report card. It is like those parent-teacher conferences where the student is doing really well and the teacher may wonder why the parent even came in. And when the parent asks what the student can improve on, the teacher may struggle to find a facet to work on, but they usually can and we have too.

Offense: A. The offense is the least of any worries UMD fans may have. Over the period, the Bulldogs averaged 4.25 goals per game. Scoring is still spread out among players with three players in double digit goals and 10 with double digit point totals.

Of note:

• Jack Connolly (15-25-40) is the team, and the nation, points leader and should be considered a favorite for at least the Hobey Hat Trick (final three).
• Travis Oleksuk (16-14-30) is the goals leader.
• Blue line offensive output is a key to the Bulldogs success led by Lamb, Kishel and Bergman, 6-8th on the team for points respectively.
• For the season, the Bulldogs average 3.96 goals per game, the most in the nation.

Team Defense: A. Kenny Reiter and the defensemen are playing great. Over the period the team allowed 2.33 goals per game which any team in college hockey would take especially in a league like the WCHA. Bottom line is the team is never really out of a game because the defense keeps them close. Reiter started 11 games in this period before Aaron Crandall took over for one game giving Kenny some rest and building confidence with a win.

Of note:

• Reiter’s GAA is 2.11 (13th in the nation) with a saves percentage of 0.921.
• No skater on the team has a negative plus/minus rating.

Special Teams: C. Here is that spot that can be worked on. Overall the team doesn’t look that bad, but we are looking at the last 12 games. In that 10-1-1 stretch, the power play unit is scoring 15.9% of the time, not what fans are used to from Bulldog teams of late. The penalty kill unit is also struggling a little with a success rate of 79.7% for the period. Both numbers are what you would expect from an average team, not the #1 team in the nation. Good news out of it is that the Bulldogs play really well even strength if the specials teams are this average.

Of note:

• Of the 28 goals allowed, 12 were during UMD penalties.
• Of the 51 goals scored, 10 were on the power play.
• Travis Oleksuk leads goal scorers with 6 PP goals. Brady Lamb leads defensemen with 3 goals on the PP.

Goaltending: A. Kenny Reiter has played as good as any team could ask for. Fatigue is always a back-of-the-mind worry for a goalie that starts so many games. Kenny will become an elite goalie for program history if he can keep his numbers up at this pace for the rest of the season.

Of note:

• Reiter now has 3 shutouts for the season, none in the period.
• Reiter’s GAA went up in the period from 2.05 to 2.11.

Coaching: A. Coaching is great and they deserve much credit in keeping this team’s focus on hockey.

Overall Team: A. #1 in the polls for 7 weeks and # 1 or 2 in PWR. Yes they can still improve in the stat departments but they can't go any higher in the standings and rankings.

Looking Ahead. The Bulldogs look to finish off the season and take the MacNaughton Cup for the first time since the 1992-93 season.  The remaining schedule is likely in UMD's favor for a surge tot he top.  A really beneficial goal is to finish in the top two to be in line for a bye in the Final Five, but that is a long way off at this point.

Of note:

• Challenging series will mainly be at home with North Dakota and Colorado College visiting.
• Road series of interest are Alaska – Anchorage and Saint Cloud State.
• This season UMD is 4-1-1 against future co-members of the NCHC.

The final grading period starts this weekend at home against Michigan Tech and will finish after the regular season.  We will look at the post-season as a final exam.

Vote for Hobey

The voting for the Hobey Baker award has begun and this year the Bulldogs have three players who could be candidates. Currently the voting is for the fans to narrow the selection down to a group to 10 players. This first phase will run through March 7th. Phase two will follow consisting of voting on the best from the group of 10 which will begin on March 19th. The final three finalists will be selected on April 1st and the winner awarded on April 9th.
The three UMD players on the ballot for the first round are Jack Connolly, Justin Fountaine and Rob Bordson. All three are having a great season so get out and vote to get them through to the next round.

Who will be this year's Hobey winner?

The 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award were announced this past Friday and as all of the experts are saying there were a bunch of surprises to this year’s list. I decided to take a deeper look at this year’s list of 10 and try to determine who the committee will pick for the Hobey Hat Trick on April 2 and who they will pick as the winner. I haven’t seen all of the players play, so I feel there is no way I can truly say “who is the best player in college hockey”.

So let begin with a breakdown of the players:

Player - Team - Position - Year - Awards
Louie Caporusso Michigan F Sophmore CCHA 1st Team Forward
Matt Gilroy Boston University D Senior HE 1st Team Defense
Chad Johnson Alaska G Senior CCHA Player of the Year
Zane Kalemba Princeton G Junior ECAC Player of the Year and the Ken Dryden Award
Jacques Lamoureux Air Force F Sophmore AHA Player of the Year
Jamie McBain Wisconsin D Junior WCHA Player of the Year
David McIntyre Colgate F Junior ECAC 1st Team Forward
Viktor Stalberg Vermont F Junior HE 1st Team Forward
Brad Thiessen Northeastern G Junior HE Player of the Year
Colin Wilson Boston University F Sophmore HE 1st Team Forward

Over the years the Hobey committee seems to like goal scorers and points leaders. This year’s points leader is currently Bryan Leitch of Quinnipiac with 59 points, who is not one of the finalists. He is 7 points ahead of Jacques Lamourex. Since there is no big time scoring leader (I think the committee is thinking this), this means there will be a defenseman, a goalie and a forward as the three finalists.

So let’s go to the Defense. You have Jamie McBain who was the WCHA player of the year and Matt Gilroy who was Hockey East 1st team defense. Well, McBain’s Player of the Year Award trumps Gilroy’s 1st team award. McBain is the 1st Finalist.

Now it is on to the goalies. There are three to pick from and all three have terrific numbers and all three were their conference’s Play of the Year. First is Chad Johnson for Alaska (not in the tournament), second is Brad Thiessen of Northeastern and third Zane Kalemba of Princeton. Theissen and Kalemba are both still playing in the Tournament. I think if either Kalemba or Theissen have big games one of them will be the goalie in the final three, if not Johnson and his 6 shutouts for the season will be the goalie in the Hobey Trick. At this point I am going to say Johnson.

Last are the forwards. We have one conference Player of the Year award winner remaining in Jacques Lamourex, with the other being 1st team conference forwards in Colin Wilson, Viktor Stalberg, David McIntyre and Louie Caporusso. David McIntyre’s Colgate Raiders are done for the season and he is tied for 10th in the nation for scoring (with Viktor Stalberg) so he is out. For that matter Viktor is out also. For a UMD comparison MacGregor Sharp is currently tied for 6th in scoring overall and 2nd for goals scored and he is not a finalist. Now to Wilson and Caporusso, both have more points than Sharp, however currently less goals. So before a decision is made lets looks at Lamourex who leads the nation in goals scored and is currently 2nd in points. Since Lamourex was the only forward that was a conference Player of the Year and all of the others were not considered to be the best player in their respective conferences this season, Lamourex gets the nod.

Ok so we have McBain, Johnson (or one of the others if they stand on their heads) and Lamourex. So who wins the Hobey? Well for the UMD connection the committee probably remembers Stalock’s performance last weekend and will say is Johnson really the best goalie in the Nation? At which point they will probably think back to Ryan Miller and Rob Stauber and ask “is Johnson in their caliber?” I think they will say no. That leaves Lamourex and McBain. So, Lamourex, had a great season for a team that is viewed to play week competition (Air Forces strength of schedule in the RPI is currently 45). I think they will pass on Lamourex leaving McBain as your Hobey winner. Lets watch and see what happens.