Greetings from my couch, where I’m trying to multi-screen the UMD women’s game, the Wild, and some boys’ high school hockey, all while I write.
This is testing the limits of my brain, but I’m here for y’all.
UMD, for the first time in seven years, is not in Duluth at the moment. Instead, the Bulldogs are in St. Cloud, finishing up preparations for their best-of-three playoff series against St. Cloud State, which starts Friday at the Brooks Center.
That’s right. 2015 was the last (and only) time UMD has not been at home for a first round NCHC playoff series on campus sites (of course, last season’s whole conference tournament was contested in Grand Forks, so only North Dakota was at home that time around, but UMD was in a top four spot and the designated home team in the first round).
Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin wanted nothing to do with “underdog” talk at his Wednesday press conference, largely because that’s not really been something he’s spent a lot of time on, at least in public. What he tells the team is what he tells the team, but he’s never struck me as the kind of guy who wastes much breath on who people think is a favorite and who they think is an underdog.
(He isn’t afraid to use perceived slights as a motivational tactic. In 2011, he brought up multiple times how the discussion on the ESPN selection show about UMD’s regional, which included Yale and Union, featured a ton of talk about the Yale and Union power plays and not much at all about UMD’s, which ended up mopping the floor with Yale in the regional final.)
Friday night will be the 12th meeting between these teams in the last two seasons. It will be the fifth of this season, all coming since Feb. 8. At this point, neither team is spending much time on Xs and Os, and instead it’s more about executing what they do better than the adversary.
“There’s always little things every game that you can try, but it’s (about) better execution,” Sandelin said.
One adjustment Sandelin wants to see from his team is more secondary scoring chances for and fewer against. It isn’t necessarily just about rebound control defensively, but “it’s clearing pucks out of the zone,” he said. If you go back to the last four UMD games, every non power-play/empty net goal has come off either a defensive zone turnover leading to a breakaway or odd-man chance, or an odd-man rush up the rink with speed.
(On Saturday, a turnover led to Sam Hentges’ goal in the first period, then another turnover gave Jami Krannila and Veeti Miettinen a two-on-zero rush, and it took some luck for Miettinen to get the goal after he seemed to fan on the puck, only to have it sneak through Ryan Fanti’s five-hole.)
Simply put, it’s one of those times where it feels like every mistake UMD makes is ending up in the back of the net. Meanwhile, other teams make mistakes against UMD and the Bulldogs don’t capitalize (enough or, twice in the last three games, at all).
Offensively. Sandelin talked a lot Wednesday about forwards doing a better job in front of the net. He likes his guys’ willingness to go to the net, but they haven’t been in position for rebound chances when those chances have been there. Admittedly, SCSU fifth-year goalie David Hrenak isn’t giving UMD very many rebounds, which doesn’t help.
“Right now, our forwards have to do a better job of not losing their hands around the net,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s finding little soft areas, pushing off, whatever. We want our guys to try to get underneath as much as they can.”
By the way, there were three power plays total in Saturday’s game. While such a large number of meetings over a short amount of time might lead to increased truculence, the officiating Saturday was just fine. Call what needs to be called, do what has to be done to keep the temperature down, and let the players decide the game.
(Frankly, with how deep both teams are, I’m not sure either coach minds this, even with St. Cloud’s special teams being as good as they are.)
Sandelin said UMD has the full roster at its disposal once again this weekend. Its only change from Friday to Saturday was Kyler Kleven for Luke Mylymok on the fourth line. We’ll see if that rotation continues.
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The NCHC announced its all-conference teams on Wednesday. I do not vote, but will provide my choices anyway, because it’s my blog. First, here are the teams selected by the league panel, which included all eight head coaches and a media member covering each team.
(15 votes is, by the way, considered a unanimous selection because coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.)
First-Team All-NCHC
F: Bobby Brink, Jr., Denver – 45 (15) – unanimous
F: Ethen Frank, Gr., Western Michigan – 38 (12)
F: Riese Gaber, So., North Dakota – 25 (6)
D: *Ronnie Attard, Jr., Western Michigan – 42 (14)
D: ^Nick Perbix, Sr., St. Cloud State – 24 (6)
G: Ryan Fanti, Jr., Minnesota Duluth – 23 (6)
Second-Team All-NCHC
F: Carter Savoie, So., Denver – 20 (4)
F: Drew Worrad, Sr., Western Michigan – 17 (4)
F: Kevin Fitzgerald, Gr., St. Cloud State – 17 (3)
D: Jake Sanderson, So., North Dakota – 19 (5)
D: Mike Benning, So., Denver – 16 (3)
G: Zach Driscoll, Sr., North Dakota – 22 (6)
Honorable Mention All-NCHC
F: Cole Guttman, Sr., Denver – 10 (1)
F: +Noah Cates, Sr., Minnesota Duluth – 9 (2)
F: Connor Ford, Sr., North Dakota – 4 (1)
D: Brandon Scanlin, Jr., Omaha – 10 (1)
D: Michael Joyaux, Sr., Western Michigan – 6 (1)
G: Magnus Chrona, Jr., Denver – 10 (2)
* 2020-21 First-Team All-NCHC
^ 2020-21 Second-Team All-NCHC
+ 2020-21 Second-Team All-NCHC and 2019-20 First-Team All-NCHC
Based on getting to see every team in the league at least once, and a bunch more times via NCHC.tv, here are the picks I would have made on a ballot that I did not have.
FIRST TEAM
Forwards: Bobby Brink, Denver; Ethen Frank, Western Michigan; Drew Worrad, Western Michigan
Defensemen: Ronnie Attard, Western Michigan; Nick Perbix, St. Cloud State
Goalie: Ryan Fanti, UMD
SECOND TEAM
Forwards: Riese Gaber, North Dakota; Kobe Roth, UMD; Carter Savoie, Denver
Defensemen: Jake Sanderson, North Dakota; Brandon Scanlin, Omaha
Goalie: Zach Driscoll, North Dakota
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Forwards: Matteo Costantini, North Dakota; Carter Mazur, Denver; Massimo Rizzo, Denver
Defensemen: Sean Behrens, Denver; Owen Gallatin, UMD
Goalie: Jakob Hellsten, North Dakota (only goalie on ballot)
Brink might get the nod for Player of the Year, but I’m here to give Attard a nod there. He’s been terrific, productive offensively and very good without the puck as well. Worrad might be the most underrated player in the league. Frank and Attard get a lot of love, but Worrad is a slick passer with great speed who can win draws. He’s as good a playmaker as exists in the NCHC.
10 of Roth’s 13 goals came in 16 games against Denver, North Dakota, Western Michigan, and St. Cloud State. He’s a big reason why UMD is still an NCAA Tournament contender despite an uneven second half. Gaber and Savoie are a treat to watch, undersized players who possess incredible motors and have great skill.
I still have not seen Jake Sanderson play in person. If UMD wins this first-round series, we’re going to fix that next weekend. Otherwise, it might never happen, at least at this level.
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The other first round series are: Miami at Denver, Colorado College at North Dakota, and Omaha at Western Michigan. While Miami definitely played better down the stretch, I would be very surprised if either DU or UND didn’t win their series in two games. As for Omaha-WMU, while I really like Western Michigan, I think this one has some upset potential. Omaha really seemed to get going down the stretch a bit, perhaps galvanized by getting swept by Miami in February. But the Mavericks went 4-2 over six straight home games against St. Cloud State, North Dakota, and Denver to finish the regular season. It wasn’t enough to finish higher than sixth, but it probably was enough to snap the Broncos to full attention. Expecting that to be a hell of a series, no matter who wins.
(Remember, Omaha is the only team in the league which has yet to advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.)
6:30 pregame Friday on KDAL. 5:30 on Saturday, then 5:30 Sunday if necessary. You can never truly plan for a third game, but this series feels like one that’s destined to go that way, possibly moreso than any series I’ve covered in my 17 years.
Of course, that means one of these teams will win both games with relative ease. But jinxes aren’t real.
Back pregame from the Herb with lines and any other info worth passing along.
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