LOVELAND, Colo. — Before Scott Sandelin arrived at UMD in 2000, the Bulldogs had appeared in four NCAA Tournaments, all under Mike Sertich, three of them in the 1980s.
22 years later, UMD has now appeared in 15 NCAA Tournaments, seven in a row, and nine of the last 11.
Things have changed, and oh my have they ever.
UMD faces old friend Michigan Tech in the semifinals of the Loveland Regional here on Thursday (2pm on KDAL). It marks the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the historic rivals.
(In case you’re wondering, 2015, 2017, and 2018 were the only years where UMD and Michigan Tech played in the NCAA Tournament in the same season.)
Suddenly, I’m the old guy here. People are asking me questions that I used to pepper other people with.
Two weeks ago, UMD was a question mark to even be here. The Bulldogs were teetering on the edge of the .500 mark, and knowing that a team has to finish at or above .500 to qualify for an at-large bid, it was precarious for a short amount of time whether UMD would even be eligible.
Then the Bulldogs hopped a bus to St. Cloud, and everything changed.
(Sorry if you don’t like country music. Please understand that I can’t stand this song, either. But it’s just fitting.)
Led by its captain, Noah Cates, UMD turned its game up to a different level, sweeping St. Cloud State and moving on to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Along the way, the Bulldogs secured their spot in the 16-team national tournament, but they weren’t done yet.
With Cates still playing at what might be the highest level he’s hit in college, the Bulldogs rode strong defensive play and the goaltending of Ryan Fanti to a pair of shutout wins in St. Paul. All of a sudden, a team that appeared to be on the precipice of disaster just ten days earlier had the NCHC’s automatic bid in hand.
Cates isn’t the only UMD player who has raised his game, but he’s the ringleader. Yes, Wyatt Kaiser hasn’t been this good at any point. Owen Gallatin and Connor Kelley have, very quietly, started to become the kind of third pair that Matt Anderson and Louie Roehl did four years ago, when the 2018 Bulldogs rode the .0001 RPI advantage into the NCAA Tournament and didn’t look back. I love what I’ve been seeing from guys like Jesse Jacques, Koby Bender, and Casey Gilling, too, just to name three.
“I think we went through a little bit of a tough time after Christmas,” Sandelin said Wednesday, “for a little bit of a stretch there but I think I’ve really seen our team kind of come together and really play for kind of a team as a whole. Really, no one’s making any selfish plays out there. I think that was one of the main messages going into going into the games last weekend.”
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Against Michigan Tech, UMD will need more of that. Sandelin, actually, would more than likely stress the fact UMD needs to play this way against any opponent, but the Huskies have what it takes to burn you if you don’t come correct.
Michigan Tech has 12 losses entering the NCAA Tournament. Six of them went to overtime, another three were decided by one goal. Four of Tech’s wins were by one goal (three of those went overtime). Close games are nothing new for Joe Shawan’s team, and it’s not likely that MTU will be affected by this one going down to the wire.
Tech goalie Blake Pietila has been outstanding, carrying a 1.91 goals against and .918 save percentage into Thursday’s game. Possibly worrisome for the Huskies? They’ve allowed two or more goals in eight straight games, going back to a shutout win over Bowling Green on Feb. 11, the first night of Winter Carnival. Before that, Tech had four shutouts in nine games to start 2022, only allowing more than two goals twice. And while the Huskies are at 3.25 goals scored per game, they’re only averaging 2.5 per game over the last eight. Combine that with some slippage in Tech’s defensive game, and there’s trouble afoot.
However, Shawan is quick to note that — much like St. Cloud State in the NCHC — a second-half COVID disruption might have impacted MTU a bit. The CCHA’s Huskies were to play Northern Michigan Jan. 21-22, a series that was called off at the last minute because of protocols. Those games were rescheduled for Tuesdays in February, giving Michigan Tech eight games in 16 days during the dog days of the regular season. With no bye week after that, Shawan’s team didn’t have a chance to recover, and he saw some cracks start to form in their game.
Sound familiar? UMD had to deal with a similar schedule interruption, with the difference being UMD still got a bye in February. But there’s no doubt that the biggest cracks in the Bulldogs’ game showed during that stretch in February with a lot of games in a not a lot of days, combined with injuries and Cates being at the Olympics.
Shawan indicated in our conversation that he was happy with what he has seen from his group since their CCHA semifinal loss to Bemidji State on March 12.
“We needed that,” Shawan said of the week off. “We didn’t give guys time off (during the earlier disruption). After that, it was eight games in 16 days. There were a lot of things that crept into our game that we couldn’t (work out in practice). We had overtime games against St. Thomas, Ferris State. We play a game somewhat similar to UMD, which needs to be a high energy game with constant pressure. The week off started with rest, knowing that we were pretty much getting in the tournament. Then it was trying to get things back in our game that I felt we needed to.”
One concern for Shawan: Experience. UMD’s lineup is littered with guys who have national championship rings (Matt Anderson, Louie Roehl, Bender, and Kobe Roth have two of them each). Michigan Tech, which hasn’t appeared in the tournament since 2018 and hasn’t won a game in the tournament since 1981, can’t match that experience.
“If it is, on paper, like you figure it would be, a one-goal game. That’s what we have to offset, because of the experience factor. They’ve shown that, and they’ve earned that. That’s what we have to overcome. Their experience, them knowing that their guys will perform.”
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Fanti, who was named the MVP of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, has certainly started peaking.
(He was, to his credit, quick to correct a reporter on Wednesday who suggested he was peaking at the right time, saying he hopes he hasn’t already peaked, “because then it’s all downhill.”)
Over his four postseason starts, Fanti has allowed five goals on 119 shots with two shutouts, a 1.20 goals against and .958 save percentage. But his surge goes back even farther. Dating back to the second Tuesday game in St. Cloud, where he made a career-high 46 saves and was a significant reason why UMD got two points out of a 1-1 tie and shootout win against the NCHC’s Huskies, Fanti has now started nine straight games. In those nine games, Fanti has allowed 14 goals on 251 shots, a .944 save percentage with a 6-2-1 record and the two Frozen Faceoff shutouts.
Will Tech’s week of rest allow the Huskies to get back to more of a pressure game? Can UMD keep everything rolling as it was last weekend? Those are the major, burning questions heading into this game. On paper, it feels like it has the potential to be a very low-scoring affair. But if one team is making mistakes, can it outscore those mistakes?
We’ll be there, 1:30 montage/pregame on KDAL. Join us from Loveland. Back pregame with lines.
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