KALAMAZOO, Mich. — UMD’s most recent history with Western Michigan actually predates the NCHC’s launch in 2013. The teams first met in a non-conference series early in the 2008-09 season, a series UMD swept at the DECC. Western was struggling to win consistently in the CCHA at the time, and the 2008-09 Broncos would go on to lose 19 more games. But coach Jim Culhane was let go after the 2009-10 season, opening the door for some guy named Jeff Blashill to take over.
Blashill took the Broncos to the 2011 NCAA Tournament in his only year on the job, as Western won 19 games and Denver needed double overtime to eliminate WMU in the opening round at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Blashill moved into the pro ranks, where he would eventually climb the ladder and is now the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. That was when Western Michigan surprised many in college hockey by hiring veteran NHL coach Andy Murray to take over.
UMD’s return trip to Western Michigan — from the 2008-09 series — came January 6-7, 2012, a non-conference series over holiday break that attracted huge crowds to Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo. People came in droves to see the defending national champions, who were on the tail end of a school-record 17-game unbeaten streak at this point. The Bulldogs swept this series, winning 4-1 on Friday night, as Travis Oleksuk’s power play goal at 11:55 of the third period broke a 1-1 tie. Joe Basaraba and Jake Hendrickson (empty net) added insurance goals, while Hobey Baker winner Jack Connolly had three assists. UMD won 5-2 the next night.
It’s going to sound strange when you read on here, and we talk about how difficult Lawson Ice Arena is on opponents. But UMD has seen quite a bit of success in this building. The Bulldogs won their first five games in the old barn, and UMD is 9-6-1 all-time there despite going just 1-4-1 at Lawson since the start of the 2018-19 season, outscoring WMU by a 56-41 aggregate in 16 meetings.
Recency bias might tell you the Bulldogs aren’t great at Lawson. Western swept UMD during the COVID season by 4-0 and 4-1 scores, with UMD’s only goal coming very late in the Saturday game. Despite the fact the teams played in an empty arena, it was another one of those weekends where Western Michigan played at home and made it very, very difficult on its opponent.
Scott Sandelin has mentioned previously how difficult this arena is to play in. He said before last year’s series that Western is almost a “different team” at Lawson. So in the run-up to this season, I decided to do a little project.
I went back to collegehockeystats.net, which I will never let go of completely, and looked back at the first seven full regular seasons of the NCHC. I didn’t count last year’s shortened campaign for a variety of reasons, but I was curious how teams’ performances compared at home versus on the road.
Before I get to what we learn when we look at this, a couple parameters and explanations:
–> I didn’t count last year primarily because 1) schedules were extremely unbalanced, and 2) there were no fans, which could have affected how games played out in some cases.
–> I only counted true home games. Outdoor games, of which there have been two that counted in the NCHC standings, were eliminated.
–> I only counted conference games, because teams’ non-conference schedules vary so much that it felt like the numbers we generated would be more “true” if only league games counted. Yes, there is one team per season that misses out on each league venue (for UMD this year, it’s the new building in Colorado Springs), but over a seven-year period, there’s a very good balance in the conference schedules.
So here are the results. I’ll start by giving you the raw home/road numbers for each team.
COLORADO COLLEGE
Best home season: 5-4-3 (2013-14)
Best road season: 4-5-3 (2018-19)
Worst home season: 1-9-2 (2016-17)
Worst road season: 0-10-2 (2014-15)
Home NCHC record: 21-52-11 (.315)
Road NCHC record: 16-55-12 (.265)
Difference from home to road: .050
DENVER
Best home season: 9-1-2 (2016-17)
Best road season: 9-2-1 (2016-17)
Worst home season: 6-6 (2013-14)
Worst road season: 4-7-1 (2018-19)
Home NCHC record: 53-22-8 (.663)
Road NCHC record: 38-31-15 (.542)
Difference from home to road: .121
MIAMI
Best home season: 8-4 (2014-15)
Best road season: 5-5-1 (2014-15)
Worst home season: 2-8-2 (2018-19)
Worst road season: 1-8-3 (2017-18)
Home NCHC record: 31-44-9 (.423)
Road NCHC record: 18-56-9 (.271)
Difference from home to road: .152
UMD
Best home season: 9-1-2 (2019-20)
Best road season: 9-2-1 (2016-17)
Worst home season: 3-7-2 (2013-14)
Worst road season: 5-6-1 (twice, 2015-16 and 2018-19)
Home NCHC record: 45-27-12 (.607)
Road NCHC record: 48-33-3 (.589)
Difference from home to road: .018
NORTH DAKOTA
Best home season: 11-1 (2019-20)
Best road season: 9-3 (2015-16)
Worst home season: 4-7-1 (2016-17)
Worst road season: 3-7-2 (2017-18)
Home NCHC record: 52-24-6 (.655)
Road NCHC record: 46-32-6 (.583)
Difference from home to road: .072
OMAHA
Best home season: 8-3-1 (2014-15)
Best road season: 6-4-2 (2013-14)
Worst home season: 3-8-1 (2016-17)
Worst road season: 2-10 (2018-19)
Home NCHC record: 35-41-8 (.464)
Road NCHC record: 30-47-7 (.399)
Difference from home to road: .065
NOTE: Omaha opened Baxter Arena in 2015. The Mavericks went 15-8-1 at CenturyLink Center, and are 20-33-7 at Baxter since it opened.
ST. CLOUD STATE
Best home season: 11-0-1 (2018-19)
Best road season: 10-1-1 (2015-16)
Worst home season: 5-7 (2016-17)
Worst road season: 3-8-1 (2019-20)
Home NCHC record: 52-25-7 (.661)
Road NCHC record: 46-30-8 (.595)
Difference from home to road: .066
WESTERN MICHIGAN
Best home season: 8-3-1 (2016-17)
Best road season: 6-6 (2018-19) and 5-5-2 (2013-14)
Worst home season: 5-7 (2015-16)
Worst road season: 0-11-1 (2015-16)
Home NCHC record: 42-35-6 (.542)
Road NCHC record: 28-47-9 (.387)
Difference from home to road: .155
As you can see, Western Michigan’s .155 winning percentage differential is the largest in the conference, beating out Miami at .152. It’s become even more clear the difference in recent years. From 2016-2020, Western Michigan went 29-16-3 at Lawson, while posting a 19-25-4 road record in that same stretch.
The smallest difference? UMD’s, which is a scant .018. UMD is also the only team in the conference with more NCHC road wins (48) than home (45) in the league’s first seven seasons of existence.
The altitude doesn’t give Denver and Colorado College huge advantages versus playing on the road. Denver’s home/road differential has been a bit more pronounced since its title season of 2016-17 (22 home wins in the last three seasons compared to just 12 away), but the Pioneers have been tough on teams in all sorts of venues. And even greater altitude hasn’t helped CC shake the overall doldrums since joining the league. The Tigers have the fewest total NCHC wins (37) since it formed, and the next-lowest is a long way ahead (Miami has 49).
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So why is Western such a tough team to play in its rink?
First-year coach Pat Ferschweiler has some thoughts on it, but he wants to know something else that’s pretty important.
“My question is, how can we be a better road team while maintaining that home advantage?”
Ferschweiler, an alum, took over after Murray suddenly stepped down Aug. 3. Ferschweiler said he didn’t know it was coming, that Murray had been “involved and engaged” throughout the summer, and had gone on the road recruiting once the NCAA moratorium on off-campus recruiting ended in June.
When asked about the home/road difference with his team, Ferschweiler talked a lot about Lawson’s atmosphere, which we’ve discussed before and is certainly pretty, um, unique in the sport these days.
“Our Lawson Lunatic crowd, our student section,” he said, “Lawson can be an intimidating place for sure. Let’s not kid ourselves. We’re coaching college kids but they’re still kids, and they can be influenced by those emotions, sometimes in a negative way, and hopefully our crowd is pushing our guys forward in a positive way. It’s been in effect here for a long time, since I played here. It’s an exciting place to play, a great college atmosphere.”
“It’s a unique arena in our league,” UMD assistant Adam Krause — who has played and coached in the venue — said this week. “It stands apart. It’s a bit older. Tight rink, they’re right on top of you. I just think they have a totally different identity when they’re there. It’s hard, the fans are right there. There’s something about that rink.”
“I think the energy they play with in their rink,” UMD captain Noah Cates said when asked what makes Western so tough at home. “Feels like a smaller rink. They’re a little bit quicker and really hard on their forecheck. We’ve got to simplify our game. We know they’re not going to give us a lot of room.”
“It’s a fun building,” said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. “It seems all the games are super fast there. Obviously, they play that way, too.”
Of course, when you have a team like the one Ferschweiler has this season, Western Michigan will be a tough out in anyone’s building. The Broncos are, like UMD, off to an impressive 5-1 start that includes sweeps of Ferris State (home and home) and Colgate (road), along with a home-and-home split with Michigan (the loss came in overtime after Western had the potential regulation winner called off because of a high stick). Last weekend, Western opened the Colgate sweep by rallying from 5-0 down on the strength of a Ronnie Attard hat trick (Western has the only two hat tricks by defensemen in NCHC history, the other belonging to Michael Joyaux last season in St. Cloud) to win 6-5.
“I’m proud of them,” Ferschweiler said of his team’s 5-1 start. “They come to work real hard every single day. We have a fantastic group of kids that wants to be better. They’re not afraid to be coached. It’s a real fun group to work with.”
Attard, the reigning NCHC Defenseman of the Week, is the ringleader. Ferschweiler calls him a “college hockey superstar.” There’s a chance Attard is the best player in the best league in the country, and if you don’t think he’s that, you can’t argue he’s not in the team picture. I’d even go so far as to say he will be on everyone’s Hobey Baker shortlists once 2022 rolls around.
“He’s a better player this year than he was last year, and he was a first team All-American last year,” Ferschweiler said. “I don’t know how he could have more of an impact than he already does. His offense is easy to see. The things that are underrated on him are his competitiveness, his defensive stick is good. He’s able to separate people from the puck. He’s found his voice as a leader on this team.”
On a team with some really good fifth-year guys leading the way, Attard is the one everyone be aware of at all times this weekend.
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UMD enters this weekend series shorthanded. Sandelin confirmed on Wednesday that junior forward Luke Loheit is week to week with an injury suffered during UMD’s win at Minnesota on Oct. 22. Loheit has a goal in five games this season, but was a leader on the fourth line with freshman Carter Loney and a rotating cast of characters — primarily freshman Kyler Kleven — at left wing. Loheit was also a fixture on UMD’s penalty kill, where he will also be sorely missed during his absence.
Also out is sophomore goalie Zach Stejskal, and that prognosis is gloomier, as Sandelin proclaimed Stejskal as out “an extended period” with a lower body injury he got during practice the week before the Minnesota series. For now, junior Ryan Fanti (4-0, .926 save percentage) takes the starting job, backed up by redshirt senior Ben Patt, who has yet to appear in a regular season game for UMD.
Sophomore forward Luke Mylymok was injured in the run-up to the season and remains out, and Sandelin noted Wednesday that Mylymok will miss “most of the season,” an indication that he might be able to return at some point, but that point clearly isn’t going to be anytime soon.
For now, Ben Almquist and Jarrett Lee join Kleven in that fourth line rotation. It’s not ideal depth for the Bulldogs, but it’s what they have at the moment, and it’ll have to do.
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Injuries are testing UMD’s depth, no doubt, but Sandelin still likes what he’s been seeing.
“Like I told you guys (before the season),” he said Wednesday, “I felt we had more depth this year.”
He has every reason to, by the way. Kleven looks like he’s gaining confidence and growing chemistry with Loney, who’s a skilled, slick player and appears to understand his fourth-line role. He’s playing well.
Lee had his best game as a Bulldog in the Saturday date with Minnesota. He kept things simple and was competitive without the puck, smart with. Almquist played well in his only turn, which came against Providence in the Ice Breaker third place game.
UMD has used the same seven defensemen — Wyatt Kaiser, Louie Roehl, Matt Anderson, Connor Kelley, Owen Gallatin, Hunter Lellig, and Darian Gotz — in every game so far. Gallatin has been a revelation on the third pair, with Kaiser and Kelley playing most of the Minnesota series together while Anderson and Roehl were reunited. Anderson has been playing his best hockey so far this season. Lellig has been pretty dang solid as well.
They’ll need everyone pulling on the same chain now that the games are for real. A 5-1 record is great when you consider the schedule UMD played (Krause talked this week about being “real proud” of the guys for getting off to this start), and those sweeps (Bemidji State and Minnesota), along with the Providence win, are really good to have in the back pocket come selection time.
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Now UMD needs to sustain this level of performance through some adversity and in the toughest conference in the country.
It all starts here in Kalamazoo. 5:30pm pregame both nights on KDAL. No TV this weekend, so you’re stuck with me. #ListenToTheRadio online here or via iHeartRadio.
I’ll be all over our morning shows from Kalamazoo Friday, starting at 6am. Bruce Ciskie Show at 10am on KDAL, including my Ferschweiler interview. And I’ll be on the KQ Trainwreck with Kevin and Tom at around 5:05pm tomorrow live from Lawson.
Back here pregame with the lines.
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