UMD Hockey, as jordan Saw It
End Of The Year 2011
As 2011 wraps up, the UMD Bulldogs men’s hockey team sit atop of most college rankings. And, why shouldn’t they. Unbeatable since we had green grass on our lawns. A hot goalie. A Defense that’s knocking the foe’s over the boards and an offense that scores just enough.
There are some great players on this season’s team, but when I walk the ring around the Amzoil Arena, I talk with fans that love to natter about the players on the “old teams”.
I only go back to the Curt Giles era, when Jim Knapp or Stan Palmer or Billy Oleksuk were throwing their weight around. A 15 and 21 season still packed the arena with fans in 1975-76, until 1978-79’s team showed us what a winning season was really felt like.
So a guy comes up to me at the Arena and says, “Jordan nameyour all-time favorite Bulldog hockey players?” Ouch. That’s a tough one. So many and so talented. Remember as stated a few weeks ago, it’s not always the STAR players that win a hockey game. It’s also the guys named Joe that carry the lunch buckets to the rink. The ones who burrow after loose pucks or go into the corners and get crunched, or do the crunching along the blue line without receiving points on a scoring play.
Favorites over my years? Present players excluded, please: Alex Staylock and Bob Mason are my goalies. Mason, a lefty, had a gift for brilliant saves and got down and up better than any tender before and introduced the “butterfly” style to the local fans. Staylock carried the Bulldogs along in the playoffs a couple of times. Both Staylock and Mason left before graduating. Mason joined the Olympics after 1983 and Staylock turned professional.
For defensemen, how about Tom Kurvers, Curt Guiles, Norm Maciver and Jim Johnson. Enough said after the quartet had great professional careers following their stint with the Bulldogs. And they all played a lot of WCHA games in their four year careers for the Bulldogs.
Up front, Brett Hull, Bill Watson, Derek Plante, Tom Milani, a pair of Connolly’s, Mark Pavelich, Dan Lempe and Huffer Chrisetnson. Huffer opened up one night just before Christmas in 1971, to help the Bulldogs score 9 goals against the Gophers. Hull had hat tricks in Wisconsin both Friday and Saturday one weekend in 1985.
Unsurprisingly, some very good players are absent from my listing, perhaps your favorites aren’t there. To tell the truth, I might even alter a few names after I put this on the blog. The important thing is they all entertained us and gave their all. Remember, these are just a few of the STARS. The guys named JOE got the puck to them and were in all probability third on the scoring sheet.
Happy 2012 Rik
