Thank You: An Editorial

With all the tasks complete to wrap up the season, now I have a little time to write an editorial.

Thank you, UMD Bulldogs, for a wonderful season. It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns all the time, that is what tests the mettle of players, coaches and fans. Variety is the spice of life and this season had its variety, the highs and lows that made some wonder what the future was for this squad. But it was all taken care of in the end.

Thank you for saving the best for last. Words cannot describe the elation you have given fans, alumni and former players with the first Men’s Hockey national Championship. But please, don’t stop here. Feel free to continue to improve and be a great college hockey power.

UMD Seniors Enjoy the Championship (Andrew Fiskness)

A special thanks to the seniors who have worked hard and stayed for four or more years to see this to the end: Trent Palm, Justin Fontaine, Chad Huttel, Kyle Schmidt and Mike Montgomery.

And thanks to Mike Connolly and Justin Faulk who have decided to leave early. We wish you could have stayed for more, but we also understand.

For now, we who follow UMD Bulldog Hockey, will sit back and enjoy this one. You have earned it. We have earned it.

Thank you.

For anyone wanting to see the video recapping the Frozen Four shown after the championship game at the X, click here.

2010-2011 HighHorse Awards

Connolly's Take Home More Awards

It is that time of year that we sit down and look at the season while doling out the HighHorse Awards. It was unanimous across the board this year in the voting by HighHorse writing staff. Presenting the 3rd Annual HighHorse Awards:

Huffer Christiansen Award (MVP): This year it is very difficult to pick one player as the MVP as there were so many at the top end level. In the end, you need not look further than the FFC line. All three contributed on nearly an equal level, but we give it to the guy that was the play maker and the most consistent throughout the season, Jack Connolly. Jack lead the team in assists with 41, and was tied for second in power play goals at 7 with Mike Connolly. After three seasons Jack is averaging better than a point a game having recorded 137 points in 125 games. With a senior season coming up next year all Bulldog fans are hoping third All-American season.

This was not without some discussion as dissenting voter, Andrew Craig, made a case for Mike Connolly. We then looked into the consistency of play and wholeheartedly agreed on Jack.

Rookie of the Year: The discussion again came down to two names, J.T. Brown and Justin Faulk. We will honor Faulk as he was a quarter back on the defensive line. Brown had a tremendous freshman season which included being named the Most Outstanding Player in the Frozen Four, but his 8 game stretch where he didn’t get into the box score was too much to earn this award. As for Justin Faulk any time a blue liner has a season where he 8-25-33, it is an impressive season. Nearly enough to garner his own talk for the Huffer Christiansen Award. Unfortunately Justin's time as a Bulldog is over as he signed a pro contract.

Most Improved Player: Again this award is splitting hairs just like in the MVP discussion. Two good choices are Travis Oleksuk and Kyle Schmidt. Both had great seasons. Kyle dealt with injuries all year and still managed to score 11 goals, two of which were game winners and the last one being the biggest game winner ever in UMD history. Schmidt also won the national Unsung Hero Award which we believe is much more fitting than our Most Improved. Kyle has the tools, he just had to battle hard through injuries this year. T.O. upped his point total from his sophomore season of 24 points to 33 points this year. He had 14 goals and a team leading 7 game winning goals. We are going to give the award to Oleksuk with his very impressive 0.77 points and two OT game winners.

7th Defenseman Award: Given to the defenseman who steps up, becomes a regular player for the team and makes an impact. This year we salute Justin Faulk. It is unexpected to give the award to a freshman for the second year in a row, but he does fit the crtieria of stepping up and making an impact. This award could have gone to Kenny Reiter for his stepped up play in the NCAA Playoffs, but Faulk had the feel for the most of the season.

#29 Award: Given to the leading goal scorer and named after the most famous #29 from UMD, Brett Hull. For both conference games and overall games that player this year was Mike Connolly. Mike lead the team in goals scored at 28. He played strong all season and his 5-goal game (tying Steve “Pokey” Traschel for the UMD record) against the Gophers is one that Bulldogs fans will remember for a long time. As Mike has decided to forgo his senior season, he will be greatly missed. We at the College Hockey HighHorse had speculated that if he would have returned for a senior season Mike and Jack each would have likely approached the 200 point career, but instead we wish him the best in this future with San Jose.

Those are our awards for the season. With this we also put a close on the 2010-2011 UMD Bulldog season except for the final report card which we will skip. How do you grade a team that has won the National Championship?

This is a season that every Bulldog fan will remember forever. We felt that this team has been so close to being at the top the last few years, but it took the right combination of players to get there. For next season, 2011-2012, UMD will be the reigning NCAA Champions and will have a target on their back every game. The graduating seniors and early departures will make for a lot of holes to fill, but with a year of experience for the current young players will go a long way.

It should also be noted that there are no players on any other WCHA team that have the experience of winning a NCAA Championship. This should build confidence for next year.

National Championship Thoughts - Bulldogs Rule

UMD Turns Away Michigan 3-2 OT for First National Championship

It is the top of the college hockey world. Minnesota – Duluth reached the pinnacle Saturday night with a 3-2 OT win over Michigan Wolverines Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

Kyle Schmidt celebrates his game winning goal with teammates

The first Men’s Hockey National Championship is sweet. The season was a roller coaster, but in the end, UMD won the gems they needed to get into the NCAA Tournament. Once into the tourney, they went on a four game winning streak to capture the crown.

The final game was not at all a lock. Again for the second game in the Frozen Four, UMD’s opponent scored first and took a lead into the first intermission with the 1-0 lead.

The second period went back and forth with the Bulldogs taking their first lead 2-1. But at the end of the period, the Wolverines showed that they were not going to roll over by tying the score at 2-2.

Third period was scoreless leading to overtime. Overtime, the place UMD fans should remember well from the only other Bulldog team to play in a National Championship, an overtime loss to Bowling Green in 1984.

No one could tell this Bulldogs squad that they weren’t going to win it. They were in familiar territory playing in their 15th OT game of the year going 7-2-6 for the season. “We played a lot of overtime games, especially in the beginning of the season,” said freshman J.T. Brown, voted the Most Outstanding Performer of the Frozen Four. “Not always something you want to play, but we found a little knack for getting it done in overtime, and that's one of the things we did pride ourselves going into the overtime period.”

Early in season, we did express some concern on how UMD seemed to wait until the end to tie then rely on OT to win. Brown maybe said it best that it was practice. The Bulldogs worked their plan, right? Anyway, it all worked out in the end.

There were many expectations of this team from the start of the season. With All-American Jack Connolly returning with linemates Justin Fontaine and Mike Connolly, fans and experts expected to see point production and wins stack up. Early in the season they did both in earning the #1 ranking in polls for three weeks in mid-November.

Down the stretch it was the FCC line that scored their share, but they also drew much attention for opponents. That is where the “other” players come in. The overlooked players that very good n their own right, but were “lost” in other team’s gameplans by the FCC line. Players like Brown, Travis Oleksuk and Kyle Schmidt, UMD’s second line. Additionally there were the hard working Mike Seidel and Jake Hendrickson who tallied a few goals, but worked hard when called upon to keep opponents in check.

In the championship, it is fitting that the FCC line did not record a point. The goals were scored from the likes of Travis Oleksuk, Max Tardy (first UMD goal) and Kyle Schmidt. In addition, Brady Lamb contributed three assists.

On the other side of the puck, the team defense has helped propel UMD through the NCAA Tournament to the championship. Kenny Reiter is good, but when the guys in front of him, starting with the defensemen, take their defensive responsibilities, Reiter becomes a very good if not great goalie. No other play than Jack Connolly batting the puck out of the air that was destined for the UMD goal to help the Bulldogs cause. That play and the many team blocked shots are a value that can be easily overlooked.

That is the way UMD has won all season, playing as a team, everyone chipping in. That sense of team is the way that a championship team should be. It is a championship of the whole team, school and Duluth community.

“You win as a team,” said Sandelin. “It’s the beauty of the game.”

National Championship Box Score

Bulldogs Down Union With Solid Play

UMD Uses Resurgent Defense in 2-0 Win

It has been a comment burning in the back of my mind all season. UMD is not built for defense. But yesterday the defense shined in their NCAA East Regional first round game beating the high scoring Union Dutchmen 2-0. It wasn’t your typical Bulldog game.

Maybe the slow start for UMD was normal when committing four penalties in the first period against the nationally top ranked power play of Union that was 31.1% before yesterday’s game. The Dutchmen were 0 for 9 on the PP for the game.

The number of power play chances for Union shouldn’t alarm anyone. The officials crew out of Hockey East did more breathing through their whistles yesterday than not. UMD had eight power plays of their own going 2 for 8 on the man advantage. Interested to see who will be working the East Regional Final tonight.

So it was the defense that ultimately kept UMD in the game. If Union would have converted on even one of the first period power plays, the outcome likely would have been different.

Kenny Reiter played brilliantly in stopping all 32 Union shots for the shutout. All Coach Sandelin wanted out of Reiter was him to play good, and he played great. But Reiter would likely be the first to say he didn’t do it alone. The whole team was blocking shots, taking their man and back checking well in front of him. Kenny just had to do his job with the shots that made it through.

Both Bulldog goals came on the power play using Union’s winning formula against them. Kyle Schmidt’s tip in the first was a great play that started with good puck movement and a low, tippable shot from Mike Montgomery.

The second Bulldog goal came from Justin Fontaine again on the power play. Fontaine buried a second rebound past Union goalie Keith Kinkaid. Kinkaid stopped the first shot, took the second off his facemask from Justin Faulk before Fontaine jumped up for the goal. Kinkaid for Union played just as well as Reiter, but the better offense that day put the pucks in the net.

Maybe most impressive was the play of all lines for the Bulldogs.  UMD has been heavily reliant on the FCC line as of late, but only one point was registered from that first line.  UMD needs the balanced attack from all forwards to keep the winning going.

With the win, the Bulldogs extend their season at least one more day to face Yale in the East Regional Final tonight at 5:30 CDT with the winner going to the Frozen Four in Saint Paul. Yale made it to tonight’s game with a 2-1 OT win over Air Force.

UMD should expect more if the same out of Yale who is the #3 power play in the nation and the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. And with the balanced, even keeled defense and attack of UMD we saw yesterday, Yale should expect the same fate as Union.

UMD - Union Box Score

Yale - Air Force Box Score

Regualr Season Ends with a Bulldog Thud

Omaha Outplays Duluth in 5-2 Win

As good as Friday felt to Bulldog fans, Saturday felt terrible in a 5-2 UMD loss to UNO.

UMD was riding what seemed to be a resurgence, winning a Friday game against a team higher than them in the PWR and conference standings. The Bulldogs were tied for second with an outside chance at claiming second after the Saturday night games.

Enter the pudding where the proof lies.

The Bulldogs coaching staff focused last week’s practices on making the shift after a goal a quality one. It worked to perfection Friday night, but it was lost Saturday.

Duluth and Omaha skated to a scoreless first period where goaltender play dominated. Both Faulkner for UNO and Reiter for UMD were playing well, and arguably Reiter won the goalie dual with his better saves.

It didn’t take long into the second period for the scoring to start. The Mavericks second line was out and scored at 1:04 of the second. UMD elected to keep the same personnel on the ice for the ensuing faceoff as many teams do. It was on that next shift that UNO took a 2-0 lead at 1:26 this time with their third line. It was the start of a bad night for UMD’s second line, the Schmidt-Oleksuk-Brown line.

Joe Basaraba pulled the Bulldogs to 2-1 on a goal with Jack and Mike Connolly assisting at 9:07. The goal was Basaraba’s third of the season and it was Jack Connolly’s 50th point.

It wasn’t the next shift that scored for the Mavericks, but they didn’t waste much time. UNO’s fourth line scored at 11:25 again against UMD’s second line. UNO led at that point 3-1 and the Bulldog second line was a minus 3.

The third period saw both teams score, UNO more than UMD, but it was the hole UMD dug themselves in the second that ultimately did them in. The comebacks of the early season are gone. The Bulldogs cannot have letdowns that turn into multiple goals.

And it wasn’t all bad. Many Bulldogs came out on the plus end of the night, but it was the minuses that left the team with a stinging end of regular season loss.

The second season, the payoffs, start next weekend for Duluth at home against Saint Cloud State. Losses can and eventually will end the Bulldog’s season if they cannot pull together and all play a complete game.

Saturday's Box Score

Bubble-land Again. With the loss, UMD falls to a tie for #10 in the PWR. If UMD wants to push into the NCAA Tournament they have to find a way to get past the Huskies next weekend. Or this season will be very reminiscent of last season’s NCAA near miss.

A Friday Night UMD Win!

Bulldogs Beat Visiting UNO Mavericks 4-1

A win does a world of good.

UMD beat UNO convincingly 4-1 last night at AMSOIL Arena. The Bulldog win was the first Friday night win since January 21 at Michigan Tech.

It was the game Bulldog fans were waiting for. It was a complete game with great effort in all facets of the game. The win really a statement that the team is back and focused on the end of season and the prize that lies beyond.

Kenny Reiter played an excellent game in net for UMD making 34 saves on 35 shots. He should get the nod in tonight’s game. In front of Reiter, the whole team did their part to play defense to make his job easier.

Travis Oleksuk led scorers with two goals, including the game winner, his team leading 7th of the season. Oleksuk’s linemates JT Brown and Kyle Schmidt both picked up two assists on the night.

The brightest spot for the game is how UMD went “off-script.” The Bulldogs have been a team playing from behind early in games for much of the season. Taking a 3-1 lead out of the first period was the start that set the tone for the game. The Bulldogs have also relied heavily on the first and second lines for goals. In Friday’s game UMD got their fourth goal from a hard working fourth line wing, David Grun. The more that the third and fourth lines play good defense and chip in scoring, the further UMD will play into Spring.

The win temporarily flip-flops UMD’s and UNO’s PWR rankings. The Bulldogs take over #8 and the Mavericks fall to #11.

Friday's Box Score

What to look for tonight. UMD can’t be expected to do much more than Friday night. A win or tie keeps UMD ahead of Omaha in the playoff picture. A Bulldog win coupled with a Denver loss or tie moves UMD into second for the playoffs and lines them up for the added bonus of a possible bye at the Final Five.

Home Ice is Locked. With the UMTC tie and CC win last night, those two teams locked up the last two home ice spots for the first round of the playoffs next weekend.

New Year, New Challenges

Bulldogs Head to Clarkson with Stuff to Prove

Happy New Year! How happy is it? It isn’t December any more, and that should be a relief to UMD and Bulldog fans who went 1-3-1 in December 2010. Dylan Olsen is playing well at the World Juniors, well enough that he was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks December 31, thus ending his days at UMD. Darn that December! Wait, AMSOIL opened. Unfortunately it opened with a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of the Sioux.

Good news department. What was negative from the last game, the 5-0 loss, can be turned around in a hurry as UMD is currently getting ready to take on Clarkson. Game time less than three hours from this post.

Lets break from the usual notes and go with the HighHorse resolution list (or the list of resolutions that we feel must be made to make UMD a top team again).

Resolutions for the new year in the 2010-2011 season:

Stick with one goalie. At this point we feel that Crandall has proven himself as a capable backup, but the keys to the bus should be given to Reiter to do what he can. Bottom line is that goaltending is close to a train wreck, so let’s go with one guy. That should make Crandall hungry and have him step it up.

Break up the lines. Switch ‘em up and tinker. A team that has scored only six goal in their last four games needs some sort of shake up. It has been Sandelin’s mark that he moves lines around, but really has stayed hands off this year. Please, let’s get back to it.

Feel the fire and get consistent. This is a veteran team. Consistency should not be an issue, but it is. The team needs to make their own resolution to work hard and keep the effort up for a whole game.

Those are three resolutions that we believe the Bulldogs need. It all starts tonight in New York without Faulk (Juniors Tournament), Schmidt (injury), and Olsen (signed to the big leagues). It is time to step up and play the game.

We don’t have a prediction for this series. We will be interested to see how the team reacts to their nasty December and the defection of Olsen.

First Weekend, Improving Results

What does it take to turn a team around? Evidently a few words of wisdom as evidenced by the UMD hockey team from Friday to Saturday night.

Coach Sandelin reportedly ask his team to do three things better after giving up, and scoring, six goals in the opening game. They were penalty kill, face-offs and coverage in the defensive end. Poof…Saturday brought 58 plus minutes of shutout hockey giving up two goals in a 3-2 win. Those two goals did come in a 108 second span so maybe defensive coverage could be stressed again.

I know, different teams and different nights, but both teams were ripe for the picking. Regardless of the shots on goal differential for the Lakers, they lost to a Canadian college team. UMD has to take that game and complete a “sweep” at Marquette.

The bottom line is that UMD did not lose a game this weekend which would have been disappointing at the very least.

Spread Around the Scoring. Tallying six goals Friday night was impressive. Four of them came from the FCC line with Schmidlt and Seidel rounding out the scoring sheet for UMD. On Saturday, the defense heeded the coach’s words to cover better on defense AND they stepped it up by scoring all three goals in the win. Olsen, Lamb and Faulk had all the offense that was needed by UMD to win. The more players that score, the better, and the more the wins the Bulldogs will win.

Superior Cup Winner. For the first time in the four year history, UMD does not have at least a share of the cup. This year’s winner is clear cut and is the Huskies of Michigan Technological University. MTU went 2-0 on the weekend putting an exclamation point on the deal with a convincing 6-2 win over Lake State.

Michigan Tech is admittedly my second favorite team, so this is a good sign for them, a team that has not had good fortune for a while. I wish it didn’t have to come at the slight expense of the Bulldogs.

Superior Cup Starts the Season this Weekend

Great Expectations for the Bulldogs in 2010-11
They are called early season jitters. That feeling of excitement of the unknown, a fresh start players and fans alike. For the writers, it is a time of speculation and looking for that information that isn’t based on games this year, but past performance or from practicing this fall. In both cases it is an unsure time before we see what the product is on the ice.


The Long Road to… Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is first on the list of travel destinations for the Bulldogs this season. UMD holds an all time series lead against the Lakers of LSSU 7-3-4. In those 14 games, only one of them occurred in Sault Ste. Marie and that was the first game of the season two years ago.

The second night of the weekend takes the Bulldogs to Marquette, Michigan to face the Wildcats of Northern Michigan University, an NCAA Tournament participant last year. NMU, a former member of the WCHA, is 33-32-4 against the Bulldogs all time.

Opponent Update. It is very normal to play an early season exhibition game against a Canadian college team. What is not normal is for an NCAA team to lose to one of those Canadian college teams. The real good hockey players go to Juniors in Canada and the rest go to college, the opposite of what happens in the United States. The UMD Friday night opponent completed the unusual feat by losing to Western Ontario 5-4 last weekend. Bottom line, this is a game that UMD has to win when looking at the opponent.

NMU is coming off of an NCAA berth with confidence to boot. They are picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the CCHA this season. Their main loss from last year is goaltender, Brain Stewart who propelled them to a strong late season surge into the NCAA Tournament. They will have a big question mark in goal and are vulnerable, at least early in the season, because of it.

With season expectations high and a veteran crew, a Bulldog “sweep” this weekend looks to be a very good possibility. What may hold them back is the road trip is long to Sault Ste. Marie and having to backtrack over a hundred miles after Friday’s game to get to Marquette will be a grind. I know, good teams overcome those obstacles, but these are the first trips of the season.

Pre-Season Bulldog Picks. The HighHorse takes its stab at predicting season awards before the season starts.

MVP: Again, we will go with Connolly. Which one? We weren’t sure before the season last year, but this year we will go with Jack Connolly.

Darkhorse (Our breakout player of the year): If Mike Seidel shows his size and speed in practice so he can get to the ice for games, he will be a factor on this Bulldog team.

Rookie of the Year: UMD has a trio of forwards joining the team this year along with two defensemen. From reports and past records, Joe Basaraba will have the biggest impact on this UMD squad.

Key players that could make or break this season based on their play:

Kenny Reiter, goalie, has the only game experience in net on the team.

Dylan Olsen played well last season, but he has so much more potential on the blueline.

Travis Oleksuk had a great year two sesons ago after he broke into the game lineup. Last season was much less than expected. We will assume last year was affected by his knee injury and this year he will return to form.

Kyle Schmidt had a good thing going at the end of last year. He needs to continue to be the point scorer when teams shut down the top line players.

Around the WCHA. With all WCHA teams in non-conference tilts, we will leave this one go for this week. The one note that must be mentioned is the road that Denver has to travel this year. In our preseason WCHA rankings we noted that the Pioneers may struggle with all the talent they lost, especially at goalie. That point was accented when they lost to Lethbridge, a Canadian college, 5-2 last Sunday. Although LSSU also lost in their exhibition, at least the score was close.

Sweep Completed, Rankings on the Rise

In a show of force and talent, the UMD Bulldogs powered through the Colorado College Tigers Saturday night 4-1 to complete the sweep in Duluth. The scoring started for the second straight night by Kyle Schmidt with plenty of JConnolly, MConnolly, and Fontaine mixed into the scoring sheet.

The fact that the top line for UMD is producing points in the newly started second half of the WCHA season is very promising. The addition of other Bulldog players taking the opportunity of opposing teams paying so much attention to the top line has aided in the great success of Schmidt, Rob Bordson, and Travis Oleksuk.

Kenny Reiter has solidified the goalie situation with three strong games in row in which he started in net. Granted his defense in front of him has been improving greatly, Reiter still does have to make the plays and he has been.

Next the Bulldogs take this upward bound team on the road to Mankato for a key test. This road trip against the bottom-half dwelling Mavericks will be telling if the Bulldogs will continue to push for #1 in the WCHA and the McNaughton Cup. As of now, they are alone in second two points behind Denver. A sweep against Mankato would make leaps and bounds towards the cup.

Rankings. The USCHO poll released today places UMD at #10 up from #13 last week. The Inside College Hockey Power Rankings has UMD up six spots to #8. From INCH:

Let's dub the Bulldogs' forward trio of Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly, and Justin Fontaine the FCC Line. They can't be regulated, combining for six goals and seven assists in the weekend sweep of Colorado College.

With success comes expectations. Many are starting to expect a lot from this seaon’s Bulldogs.

Keep it Rolling as a Streak is Broken

No preview was written this week as I was battling the traditional winter cold this week, but did not miss the call of this big match of Minnesota – Duluth against Colorado College.

A great effort by the UMD Bulldogs at the DECC snaps the season-long, undefeated road record for Colorado College in a convincing way 5-2. After a stalemate in the first, 1 goal and 10 shots on goal for each team, the Bulldogs started the period that has killed them for most of the season, the second stanza. The Bulldogs may have turned a new leaf in taking the second period 3-0 over the Tigers.

As usual the Big 4 hit the tally sheet with Fontaine 2-0-2, JConnolly 0-2-2, MConnolly 1-2-3, and Bordson with 0-2-2. And as the Bulldogs have become very good at is adding scoring from the other lines with Drew Atkins and Kyle Schmidt tallying goals on the night.

Proving me wrong yet again was Kenny Reiter in the net. Another strong game may have tipped the scales in his favor as the #1 guy. We will wait until tomorrow night to see if a rotation is in play.

Now it is up to the Bulldogs to take care of business and finish the effort and take CC again tomorrow night. First road loss, why not make it two? And in the meantime further solidify the second place standing in the WCHA that UMD claimed tonight.

There's No Place Like Home

Home cooking is what the Bulldogs need after the trip to Saint Cloud. Going 3-1 at home and 0-1-1 on the road, the team needs more game time under their belt and the best place to do that is at home.

This weekend they renew competition against Clarkson of the ECAC. Lifetime series, UMD is tied 2-2 against the Golden Knights. The last meeting between the squads was in 1997, a UMD win in the Syracuse Invitational Tournament.

Keep Out! The Bulldogs are averaging 22.7 PIM/game, second to Wisconsin in the WCHA. The penalty kill for UMD has been good with all the work they have had posting a 81.1% efficiency. As they stack up against Clarkson, the Golden Knights power play is currently at a 19.4% efficiency.

You Take the Fall. Coupled with UMD’s problem with penalties is the positive that they have the ninth best power play in the nation at 25.6%. That mark still puts them at second in the WCHA behind Colorado College’s 32.4%.

More Scoring to Come. Rob Bordson has 2 goals and 3 assists this year. His five point total this year is two shy of his previous two years at UMD numbers of 1 goal and 6 assists.

Issues that still need answers…

• Travis Oleksuk is still out with an ankle/leg injury. His promising offensive skills are being missed by the Bulldogs.
  
• UMD needs more players to get into the scoring column. As witnessed last weekend, the players who are doing the majority of the scoring may be held off by a good defensive plan or they may just have off nights. Whatever the reason, if you don’t score you don’t win. Rob Bordson, as mentioned above, and Kyle Schmidt showed great signs of improvement in this area last weekend.
  
• Defense will need to be more, well, defensive. Many times against SCSU last weekend a defenseman carried the puck into the offensive zone only to have it stripped and taken the other way. The most alarming time this happened was during UMD’s power play chance in overtime on Friday. Defense needs to take care of business in their own end first, then get involved on the other end.
  
• Who will be the starting goalie tonight and Saturday? Is a splitting of nights going to occur? We will have to wait to find out.

In other WCHA action:

Alaska – Anchorage at Minnesota: All college hockey fans will keep at least one eye on Minneapolis this weekend to see if this Gopher team can pull out of their dive. It may be the right weekend to do that seeing that the Seawolves are in town. But it could also backfire if the trend isn’t because they were playing the “elite” teams.

Saint Cloud State at Michigan Tech: Battle of the Huskies will see if a mediocre SCSU team can get things done on the road. Likewise, the Tech offense is going, now they just need a backstop to keep the puck out of the net and they may roll.

Minnesota State Mankato at Denver: This series should be two more chances for Cheverie to add shutouts to his stats.

New Hampshire at Wisconsin: This will be a good non-conference match up to see if the Badgers are the team that played last Friday night (6-0 win) or Saturday night (3-2 loss) at Mankato.