MARQUETTE, Mich. — Maybe Wild TV voice Anthony LaPanta is wrong when he consistently claims that “jinxes aren’t real.”
Maybe they are.
I mean, probably not, but how else do you explain four straight and seven of ten No. 1-ranked teams in the college hockey polls losing to start the season?
Yeah, it’s probably not a jinx. Anthony is right. They’re not real.
Right?
Northern Michigan was able to score late, then hold on to beat the top-ranked Bulldogs 5-4 Friday night. The Wildcats’ late go-ahead goal came on a two-on-one rush that started with what appeared to be a bad pinch in the neutral zone.
Before the game, UMD head coach Scott Sandelin talked about what he wanted to see his team do in front of fifth-year senior goalie Ben Patt, who made his first career start in place of Ryan Fanti (COVID protocols). It really isn’t any different than what he would say if Fanti were starting. Or if Andrei Vasilevskiy was his goalie.
With Northern Michigan being a team that plays on an Olympic surface, Sandelin referenced his team’s win at Minnesota Oct. 22.
“I thought it was one of our best games from a structure standpoint, playing smart. We were getting pucks in, our puck management was good. We were playing above people, our defensive structure was good, we protected the middle of the rink and really didn’t let them get going.
“We’re going to have to defend hard in our zone, because they like to bring pucks to the net. They’re strong on the walls. You got to win battles along the wall, and win battles at the net front.”
UMD spent a lot of this game — especially the second period — chasing. The middle frame was a struggle, as UMD lost 13 of 18 faceoffs, was outshot 18-5, and outscored 2-0. Friday’s defeat leaves UMD 51st out of 59 teams in faceoff percentage for the season at 46.4, and there are times where it really comes back to bite the Bulldogs.
Northern Michigan generated an odd-man rush off a third-period faceoff win in its own zone. It scored off a faceoff win in the second period. It won draws on UMD power plays, on its own power plays, and at even strength in all zones. The final tally ended 33-27 for NMU, but it’s an area of concern for the Bulldogs, who have two veteran centers in Casey Gilling and Jesse Jacques, and I believe they expected to be better overall in this area this season.
(Unofficially, by the way, I have Gilling at 45.4 percent for the season, Jacques at 50.3. UMD’s other primary centers are freshmen in Dominic James, who is the team leader at 51.4, and Carter Loney, who is at 38 percent on draws.)
So while it was Vincent De Mey who did UMD in with back-to-back late goals, the second into an empty net, it was that second period that really hurt the Bulldogs on Friday. It sort of came out of nowhere, too, as UMD had put itself out front with goals from Blake Biondi and Casey Gilling in the first period, and appeared to control much of the five-on-five play. Patt was beaten on his first shot faced — during a five-on-three, of all things — but held Northern off the board on its next eight to finish the first.
Northern cranked up the pressure all over the ice in the second. The Wildcats won battles, won races, and UMD could do little.
As for Patt, he was beaten high glove for two shots from the left side, but also kept his team close with a couple of aggressive plays. Clearly, Patt is the typical shorter goalie (listed at 5-11). Aggressive, challenges shooters, but it can haunt him, as it did on De Mey’s go-ahead goal. Hank Crone shot wide on a two-on-one, but Patt came out so hard to challenge Crone’s shot that he couldn’t get back before De Mey played the end-wall bounce and got it over the goal line.
That high glove shot was in play for Northern throughout the night. They tried it numerous times, missed more than a couple, and obviously found enough paydirt to win.
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There was enough offense to win on Friday. Biondi fired one home for a power play goal after good work on a puck retrieval and solid movement. Gilling scored off a faceoff when Noah Cates found him open by the goal. Olson was set up by James for the tying goal in the third period. But Loney’s goal only left UMD with 18.9 seconds, and it wasn’t enough to get the pressure cranked back up.
The Bulldogs can’t afford a 20-minute lull against anyone, especially a team that can pressure and move up the rink like Northern Michigan does. Grant Potulny’s team has speed, skill, size, and is plenty old (CHN has the Wildcats as the fourth-oldest team in the country, an average age of 23, or one full year older on average than UMD).
If you’re looking for adjustments, start there. UMD has to play a consistent game. It has to do a better job taking care of its defensive zone. It feels like UMD is giving up too many odd-man rushes for a team that — despite conceding five times Friday — still has a season goals-against average of 1.8.
There’s room for improvement, yes, and keep in mind that UMD is still playing without its top goalie in Fanti, a top defenseman in Wyatt Kaiser, and top penalty-killer Luke Loheit remains out. Barring a change of plans, I would expect Loheit to sit out again Saturday (at least I think that’s the preference going in, not knowing if anyone picked up a nick in this game that will force a change of plans), with the hopes of getting him healthier for a crucial home series against Denver next weekend.
At the end of the day, the sky is far from falling. UMD is 10-4-1 and still is playing much more good hockey than bad. UMD has quality non-conference wins all over its resume, probably already enough to get the Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament, provided UMD takes care of its NCHC business. It’s early on that sort of thing, but we’re far away from the panic button here. Not even close to time to even consider that.
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Elsewhere in the NCHC, it was St. Cloud State edging North Dakota 8-1. Easton Brodzinski had a hat trick, Nick Perbix dished out four assists, and the Huskies led from 18 seconds in (Kyler Kupka goal) all the way to the end.
Oh, and Jami Krannila did the thing.
JAMI KRANNILA MICHIGAN GOAL FOR ST. CLOUD STATE OH MY GOD pic.twitter.com/5vzXiKh10r
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 4, 2021
Mike Legg just kicked himself again, realizing the lost potential when he didn’t trademark this. 
Western Michigan beat Miami 6-3 in Oxford behind a goal and two assists from Ty Glover. Also, it was Omaha hanging on to beat Colorado College 4-3. The Mavs led 4-0 into the third before the Tigers struck three times and made it interesting.
Denver led Arizona State 2-0 when this edition of the blog was published, and there’s no telling if the lazy writer is going to come back here and update this with the final score.
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Sandelin and crew will get the players ready for Saturday’s 5:30pm rematch on KDAL, and we’ll see if they can find a way to close some of the defensive holes and do more to help Patt out. Do that, and I really do like UMD’s chances at getting out of here with a split.
Then we’ll just have to beat the snowstorm home.
Back pregame with lines.
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