Moral victories are for losers.
That sounds mean, but it’s true. When was the last time you heard a team that actually won try to claim a moral victory?
It doesn’t happen.
Anyway, the prevailing notion heading into Saturday was that UMD would play better. It was only a matter of how much better the effort would be. As it turned out, the Bulldogs were a lot better. One could reasonably argue that UMD’s effort Saturday will win it a lot of hockey games. Just not the one it played in that particular night.
Minnesota State got two goals from Sam Morton — one in each of the first two periods — and held on for a 2-1 win and a series sweep. The Mavericks held UMD to just 16 shots, the same total the Bulldogs finished with on Friday, but UMD only conceded 17 shots on goal, and coach Scott Sandelin had to feel much better with what his players gave him for 60 minutes.
Much like every coach on Earth, however, Sandelin isn’t a “moral victory” guy, and it’s still a loss. It’s a sweep that could — but almost certainly won’t — hurt UMD down the PairWise line. Because if both these teams end up as good as we expect them to be, what happened over the weekend in Mankato will be only a blip on the radar come March.
8 THOUGHTS
1. We’ll start with the game from Mankato. It was clear from the hop that UMD was more engaged physically, more determined to take time and space away and establish a forecheck. Sandelin actually wasn’t overly displeased with the last of those points on Friday. He thought UMD forechecked at least decently. It was better Saturday, as the Bulldogs were able to hem MSU in its zone a lot more than it did at any point Friday, even after the game got out of hand.
Goals were still hard to come by, and so were really good scoring chances. And UMD’s players — experienced and not — need to get better at bearing down on chances in games like this. There are going to be teams that play strong defensive hockey (including UMD’s opponent next weekend, frankly) and limit scoring chances. Sandelin has talked about this before. There could be a game where UMD has 20-plus legitimate chances to score, and the next night it has around a half dozen. Players simply have to bear down when those chances come, and that concept is at an even greater emphasis when you get to a game like Saturday where chances are at a serious premium both ways.
2. UMD thought it had the game tied in the second period, but Luke Loheit’s power play goal was immediately waved off, as the referee ruled the puck was put in the net by a high stick. With the new rules regarding replay (starting this year, there are a few more things that have to be challenged by coaches to be reviewed, most notably goalie interference), there was and still is confusion over whether Sandelin needed to challenge this to get it reviewed (my sense from reading the rule is this is supposed to be subject to a coach’s challenge). The referees apparently thought Sandelin was challenging the call before he decided to, which led to UMD’s coaches waving off the announced decision to challenge. Apparently, there was some sort of miscommunication, and the ship sailed. The referees looked at the call, confirmed it (which, based on the replays I’ve seen, is frankly laughable verbiage because I don’t know how anyone could have confirmed that call with the available evidence), and UMD was charged its timeout, something that certainly could have hurt later when the Bulldogs had goalie Zach Stejskal pulled and were pressing to tie the game.
3. There was more confusion later in the game. Minnesota State iced the puck with six-ish seconds left in regulation, but the game clock ran all the way down to 1.8. Instead of reviewing the time immediately, which the officials do have the discretion to call on their own without a challenge, they discussed it at the scorer’s table for what felt like forever before settling at 5.7 seconds. Then MSU coach Mike Hastings used his timeout, and the referees went to actually review the correct time, landing at 6.9 seconds.
Yes, the timeout would have slowed the process down anyway, but it felt like the referees could have saved everyone some time by opting to review the time from the start, instead of having a drawn-out conversation about it.
4. Sandelin will lean on his leadership after nights like Friday almost every time, and I thought all three captains — Tanner Laderoute, Quinn Olson, and Luke Loheit — had strong efforts Saturday. Loheit scored UMD’s only goal of the weekend during a power play in the third period, but the three gave the Bulldogs hard hockey nearly every time they were on the ice.
There were plenty of standouts. I thought Aiden Dubinsky had another good weekend. He has a good stick, can move his feet, and the 18-year-old is not intimidated, even playing against guys who have six years on him. You can see why the coaches think highly of freshman forward Kyle Bettens’ potential, too. He’s going to figure some things out at this level, and he will be a force when he does. Wyatt Kaiser drew two penalties on Friday and kept up his strong start Saturday.
5. Faceoffs were, frankly, a problem. MSU trucked UMD in the circle Friday, and while the numbers were less lopsided on Saturday, the Bulldogs still lost a lot of key draws. Faceoffs can be overrated to an extent, but those offensive/defensive zone draws — both five-on-five and on special teams — are huge. Minnesota State scored directly off a faceoff win in the first period Saturday, and the Mavericks won that late faceoff after the long delay, preventing UMD from getting the puck anywhere near the front of the net. In fact, the Bulldogs were held without a shot over the last 2:40, mostly with Stejskal pulled.
6. The NCHC had an uncharacteristically difficult weekend. Yes, St. Cloud State got two wins at Wisconsin, Western Michigan swept Bowling Green, and Omaha got a win and tie at Lake Superior State. But UMD got swept, Denver was swept at UMass, Colorado College lost two games at St. Lawrence, and North Dakota allowed 11 goals while losing and tying at home against Quinnipiac.
There’s a lot of non-conference play left, and significant series to be played. Minnesota State goes to St. Cloud this weekend. North Dakota plays at Minnesota. Western Michigan plays Notre Dame in a home-and-home this weekend. Denver tries to pick up the pieces with home games against Providence. And that’s just this week. Doesn’t even take into account UMD’s home dates with Cornell next week.
7. Oh, and UMD plays non-conference this weekend, too, hosting a different team that wears red. Wisconsin will travel up Highway 53 and visit Duluth for the first time since 2012, when the teams were members of the WCHA. Wisconsin is struggling at 0-4 so far this season, but the Badgers have some very talented young players that merit attention. Everyone in Division I is good enough to win games, so you can bet UMD will respect the Badgers regardless of record.
We’ll see what Tony Granato decides to do in goal. Ex-Gopher Jared Moe started the first three games, but Mercyhurst transfer Kyle McClellan got the nod Saturday against St. Cloud State and made 25 saves in a 2-1 loss.
8. The gauntlet begins for the UMD women this weekend. The 6-0 Bulldogs were off last week, and return Friday and Saturday at fellow unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Ohio State in Columbus. If that’s not enough, UMD hosts Wisconsin next week and is at No. 2 Minnesota Nov. 4-5. The Bulldogs play three of the next four weekends away from home, all WCHA series.
It won’t define UMD’s season, because the Bulldogs get the Buckeyes and Gophers at home later, but it’s an early chance to remind everyone that they and not the Gophers or Badgers were the ones standing in the end against Ohio State. The teams split four regular-season meetings last season before Ohio State got the national championship.
We’ve got the men’s games on the radio from Amsoil Arena this weekend. 6:30pm pregame Friday, 5:30 on Saturday as we’re doing another 6pm Saturday game. Talk later this week.
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