It’s an icy morning, at least up the hill from Duluth. This post will be updated later when I get to Amsoil and we have the lines in hand for this regular season finale.
UMD’s 3-2 overtime win Friday does NOT guarantee the Bulldogs home ice for next weekend. Here’s what we know: UMD is three points ahead of St. Cloud State. As was noted earlier this week by the smarter-than-me Mick Hatten, St. Cloud State can still get home ice via tiebreaker.
Tiebreakers: If SCSU gets to 36 points with a regulation win and an OT/shootout loss, then SCSU would win the tiebreaker based on head-to-head (TB #1) as SCSU would have 1 regulation win and 3 ties (for tiebreaker purposes OT/shootout don’t count) vs. UMD.
— Mick Hatten (@MickHatten) February 28, 2022
So the Bulldogs need at least a point out of this game. If it goes overtime, UMD gets home ice and the overtime and potential shootout would be just for funsies. It gives us the potential for a bizarre situation at the end of the game where Brett Larson pulls his goaltender for an extra attacker in a tie game.
(Think of the old-school two-game, total goals series, where a team could be up 3-1 in the second game but playing without its goalie late because they lost by three the night before. Overtime does SCSU no good here. If it’s tied and late, you can bet Larson calls David Hrenak to the bench because he knows a regulation loss doesn’t do enough damage in the PairWise compared to taking a chance to play at home next weekend. Hell, how crazy would it be if Scott Sandelin had to pull his goalie to tie the game, then Larson calls his guy off because Sandelin’s move worked?)
(Also, given how close every game between these teams has been, going back to even last season, who’s ruling any of this out? Look at this rundown of UMD vs SCSU games in the last two seasons.)
UMD VS SCSU – LAST TEN MEETINGS
Friday: UMD 3 SCSU 2 (OT)
Feb. 22: UMD 1 SCSU 1
Feb. 8: UMD 2 SCSU 2
March 15, 2021 (NCHC semifinal): SCSU 3 UMD 2
March 6, 2021: SCSU 4 UMD 3 OT
Feb. 27, 2021: UMD 5 SCSU 1
Jan. 9, 2021: SCSU 1 UMD 0 OT
Jan. 8, 2021: SCSU 4 UMD 3
Jan. 3, 2021: SCSU 3 UMD 1
Jan. 2, 2021: UMD 4 SCSU 3 OT
TOTALS: St. Cloud State leads 5-3 with two ties; total goals are 24-24. Six of the eight non-ties are one-goal games.
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Great comeback win by UMD on Friday. The Bulldogs have proven in previous years capable of rallying from deficits, but those types of wins have been much harder to come by in 2021-22. In fact, Friday’s rally was the first time since Jan. 24, 2020, that UMD has won a game where it trailed by two or more at any point in the game (that night, UMD was behind 3-1 in the second period before coming back to beat North Dakota 7-4).
Jami Krannila and Nick Perbix (power play) gave St. Cloud State a 2-0 lead in the second. Krannila’s goal was early in the period off a UMD defensive zone turnover, while Perbix was given too much room on a power play entry and snapped home a shot near the midpoint of the second.
A returning Tanner Laderoute (missed four games, upper body) got UMD on the board inside of five minutes left in the second, as he banged home a rebound off an Owen Gallatin shot. Laderoute only had the one shot on goal, but his energy and smarts were noticeable from the start of this game. It was great to get him back in the lineup.
(This isn’t something to be messed around with. I talked to Hunter Lellig about it this week, but it sure feels like UMD has done a much better job getting pucks to the net from out high as the season goes on. The Bulldogs aren’t blessed with a lot of big, heavy shots on the back end, but Gallatin, Lellig, and especially Darian Gotz have improved at this as the season has gone on. Lellig said it’s something they’ve spent a lot of time working on in practice, and the improvement is both noticeable and necessary.)
Fifth year forward Kobe Roth, playing in his last regular season home weekend, took over from there. He deposited a tremendous feed from Wyatt Kaiser during a five-on-three early in the third that tied the game for UMD. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, one of the penalties that led to the five-on-three was a big hit on Gotz by Easton Brodzinski at the UMD blue line. Gotz left the game and did not return, meaning there’s a chance UMD only had its full roster available for one game.
Roth’s stick was all over the place in this game, affecting SCSU breakout plays, SCSU rush plays, and helping UMD generate offense. It was only fitting that, after the game got to overtime, Roth won a stick/position battle behind the Huskies’ net, walked out front, and sniped a shot past Hrenak from the slot to give UMD the two-point win. It isn’t enough to guarantee the Bulldogs are at home next weekend, but it is enough to guarantee UMD can’t finish the season under .500, meaning the Bulldogs will be eligible for a spot in the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday on March 20.
He, Kaiser, and Casey Gilling got the only shift for UMD in overtime, and all three were big parts of Roth’s winning goal.
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Senior Night on Saturday. The ceremony will be a long one, with 13 players and a member of the Bulldogs’ support staff all being honored. But you’re encouraged, as always, to hang out for it.
Drive safely if you’re heading to Amsoil (or anywhere). All sorts of differing opinions on what kind of precip we will end up getting, but it’s certain we are getting precip and it will be messy.
(For those wondering, Sandelin said this week that no decisions have been made regarding the potential of any fourth-year guys returning next season. Lellig confirmed that this week, only saying he would love to come back if it was possible. Remember, while teams were allowed to exceed the 18-scholarship limit this season, that is not the case going forward. So it has to make academic and financial sense for all involved. Sandelin said he wants the players to focus on the task at hand for now, and they can worry about the future once the season is over.)
6:30 pregame on KDAL.
For UMD, Gotz is good to go. Only one change, as Kyler Kleven draws in on the fourth line for Luke Mylymok. St. Cloud State fifth-year defenseman Seamus Donohue is out, replaced by fifth-year Luke Jaycox, who will play for the 11th time this season (154th career game). No other changes for the Huskies.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Cates – Gilling – Roth
Bender – Jacques – Laderoute
Olson – James – Biondi
Kleven – Loney – Loheit
UMD defense
Anderson – Roehl
Kaiser – Gotz
Gallatin – Kelley
Lellig
UMD goalies
Fanti – Stejskal – Patt
St. Cloud State forwards
Kupka – Fitzgerald – Miller
Brodzinski – Walker – Hentges
Miettinen – Krannila – Okabe
Brand – Salquist – Molenaar
St. Cloud State defense
Trejbal – Perbix
Peart – Luedtke
Bushy – Meier
Jaycox
St. Cloud State goalies
Hrenak – Castor
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