Happy Summer. If you’re not a fan, don’t fret, because based on the current weather at my place, either spring or fall can just appear on a moment’s notice.
As of this writing, which will be filed on June 25, we have hit the exact halfway mark of the UMD men’s hockey offseason. This coming Thursday, June 29, is the start of our 100-day season countdown on the Twitter machine. There’s still a lot of summer left, thank heavens, but these days will tick off the calendar before you know it, and we’ll be talking hockey once again.
Hopefully everyone’s offseason has been good. No lavish vacations this year, just a lot of concerts. And we went down to Minneapolis this weekend for Premier Boxing Champions at the Armory, which was a great time as well.
Why am I bothering you? Well, I figured the halfway mark of the offseason would be a great time to talk about the so-called third season, which has brought on some moves and plenty of news.
8 THOUGHTS
1. The UMD men have gotten older. Scott Sandelin brought in 12 newcomers for 2022-23, including ten freshmen. In a sport that was already trending older before the COVID year became a thing in 2020, the Bulldogs were swimming upstream last season with such a young, inexperienced roster. UMD was the youngest team in the NCHC last season, and only five teams were younger (Providence, Boston College, Harvard, Minnesota, and Michigan).
Yes, the three youngest teams in the country made the NCAA Tournament, but they did it with the kind of high-end pure talent that the Bulldogs aren’t typically recruiting. That’s not a dig at the roster from last season, either. Sandelin said time and time again he was excited about what these young guys have a chance to become. But it’s the difference between a more refined product and the hockey equivalent of a bucket full of moldable clay.
(This year’s seniors are the last players who will have the option of a fifth year via the NCAA’s blanket COVID year waiver. UMD has a few of them — forward Blake Biondi, defenseman Darian Gotz, and goalie Zach Stejskal — who will qualify to return to college hockey next season.)
The 2023-24 Bulldogs will not look remarkably different from 2022-23. There are changes — both additions and subtractions — that we will discuss, but the big story comes with age.
After adding three 18-year-olds in 2022-23, UMD will sport a roster this coming season with none. The youngest incoming freshman is forward Matthew Perkins of the USHL Clark Cup champion Youngstown Phantoms. He is 19 years old as of Jan. 21, making him older than all three of the aforementioned 18-year-olds on last year’s roster: Isaac Howard, Cole Spicer, and Aiden Dubinsky.
This is likely intentional. You’ve got a bunch of sophomores who gained big gobs of experience against teams who were often bigger and older. Yes, there were growing pains, but there were also a lot of highlights produced and reason for fans to be excited about these players’ development. Throw in a couple transfers and some older freshmen, and you’ve got a team that’s older, wiser, and quite likely in a better position to win games.
2. The portal taketh, and the portal giveth. I’m not here to break news. You haven’t heard from me here in a while.
Forwards Isaac Howard (Michigan State) and Luke Mylymok (Niagara, with brother Connor) have moved on from UMD after one and three seasons, respectively.
Howard’s decision to move on, obviously, was a needle-mover. Obviously, he came in with a lot of hype (he was committed to UMD for what felt like five years), and his freshman season was full of ups and downs. In the end, I felt like he got better as the season went on, and his ice time was not that of a typical fourth line player despite the fact he occupied a fourth-line spot on the line chart. But the numbers were almost certainly not what he was hoping for as a highly-touted first-round pick coming in, and he has moved to play for a coach (Adam Nightengale) he’s familiar with from the U.S. NTDP.
Hoping for the best for Howard and Mylymok going forward. Hopefully they have great experiences in their new places. Just not against UMD if it ever comes to that.
Sandelin has added a pair of transfers in former Penn State forward Connor McMenamin and ex-North Dakota blue-liner Luke Bast. McMenamin figures to fill a spot on the left side of the line chart, a player who has scored in college (24 goals in four years at Penn State) and brings a lot of experience to UMD. Bast may have a bit of a chip on his shoulder after appearing in just 13 games for UND last year. A left-shot, he should have a chance to compete for top-four minutes on a UMD roster that is missing minutes-munching team MVP Wyatt Kaiser (signed with Chicago).
3. With the additions of McMenamin, Bast, and some older freshmen, along with the return of all three goalies from last year, UMD is able to keep a couple potential key recruits in juniors for one more year of seasoning. Sorry about that run-on sentence. I’m rusty.
Zam Plante battled injury, playing last season for Chicago and then Fargo in the USHL. He will stay in juniors for one more season. Jayson Shaugabay dazzled for Warroad — winning Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey — before getting some time in with the Green Bay Gamblers, where he will play in 2023-24. He’ll be joined there by goalie Adam Gajan, whose stock soared after he starred for Slovakia in the 2023 World Juniors. Gajan played most of last season for the NAHL’s Chippewa Steel, but also got a cup of coffee with the Gamblers. If you follow hockey, you recognize that the Kaidan Mbereko stories are few and far between, and it’s often a very good idea to give a prospect goalie more seasoning than you would a similarly-aged and talented skater.
The freshmen the Bulldogs have for this season — Perkins is joined up front by Braden Fischer (NAHL Minot) and Anthony Menghini (USHL Fargo), and UMD adds defenseman Aaron Pionk (USHL Waterloo) — are, as I mentioned, all older. The competition, especially up front, should be intriguing to watch unfold.
4. UMD can thank Chris McIntosh for Aaron Pionk. McIntosh is the athletic director at Wisconsin, you weirdo, so what could he possibly have to do with UMD’s recruiting?
Great question.
McIntosh is responsible for the chain of events that allowed Pionk to get released from a signed NLI to Minnesota State. He’s the one who hired Mike Hastings and eventually Todd Knott away from Mankato, and Pionk decided to move away from his plan to attend MSU after those decisions were made.
Once the door was opened, UMD walked right through, and Pionk figures to be a key cog in the Bulldogs’ back line come this fall. We always try to caution against heaping loads of expectations on young players, but this is an exciting pickup for Sandelin and his staff at a position where an impact player could make a huge difference. As much as UMD’s goaltending was problematic last season at times, it also has to be a stronger defensive team in front of those goalies. The 29.1 shots per game UMD conceded last season was nearly three more per game than 2021-22 (26.5), and higher than any single season since 2004-05, nearly two decades ago.
Better puck possession and stronger defensive play have been linchpins of the program, and one can reasonably expect improvement on both, which should help the goalies out.
5. The NCHC has made headlines this offseason. For the first time, there appears to be a serious path toward league expansion. According to the great Brad Schlossman, Arizona State has applied for membership to the conference, and signs point toward acceptance.
If that happens, the Sun Devils wouldn’t join for a year or two, as schedules for 2023-24 are already finalized. It would also push the NCHC to nine teams, an odd number that’s been resisted in the past. But times are different. The Big Ten is at seven with no real sign of changing, and Augustana’s addition puts the CCHA at nine. Throw in some independents — like Lindenwood, which is smack dab in the middle of the NCHC’s large footprint — and you have options for the team that rotates into the bye on the final weekend of the regular season, when many don’t want to be off.
It’s an exciting development for travel-based reasons, clearly, but it’s also got the chance to be good on the hockey side. A new building that’s being showcased by the NHL (strange as that sounds) is only going to help ASU attract top players, meaning the Sun Devils will be a good add for the NCHC’s hockey and its business.
The league also has changed officiating directors, announcing Don Adam will not return after ten years and replacing him with Mike Schmitt. Longtime readers and broadcast listeners know what I think of Mike Schmitt, and I’m pumped to see him get this job and now to see what he does with it.
While nothing is yet official, the NCHC has also discussed moving all games on the final day of the regular season to the same start time. Soccer leagues around the world do this, as does Major League Baseball, and the NFL flexes games around on the final Sunday of the season to try to make it so teams fighting for positions are playing at the same time. Even better: It’s my idea. If it’s adopted, I’m trying to figure out a way it can be named after me. Suggestions are being accepted.
6. While the men are getting older, the UMD women will be younger, as was bound to happen. You don’t lose a fourth-year senior, eight fifth-years, and a sixth-year without losing a large amount of experience from a roster.
The nine older players were expected to leave. UMD had to pivot a bit when senior Taylor Stewart transferred to Minnesota, but Maura Crowell was able to find Paula Bergstrom from Long Island in the portal. Crowell also plucked forwards Reece Hunt (Bemidji State) and Olivia Wallin (Penn State) from the portal to help fill a veteran void on this season’s team.
The big change comes in goal, where highly-touted freshman Eve Gascon joins to compete for the job with sophomore Hailey MacLeod, who looked good in limited duty filling in for Emma Soderberg, who signed with the PHF’s Connecticut Whale. Four freshman skaters (forwards Grace Sadura and Payton Holloway, along with defenders Quinn Dunkle and Ida Karlsson) join as well, as the restocked Bulldogs look to compete in the always-loaded WCHA.
Gascon’s adjustment to college hockey will bear watching. The talent is there for her to be the next star goalie produced by UMD, but it’s never easy for a freshman in that position.
(By the way, we’re already past the halfway mark of the women’s offseason, as they embark on an opener against LIU on Oct. 6 at Amsoil.)
7. I asked Twitter for questions. As usual, y’all are smarter than I am.
What are some reasons why the UMD will be better? What are some reasons they'll be about the same?
— Biddy 📐 🐶 (@Biddco) June 15, 2023
I might have already laid this out, but it starts at the back end. Stejskal, Matthew Thiessen, and Zach Sandy all return, and I believe better play in front of them will allow them to improve greatly off an uneven 2022-23. This is an older team that might still struggle to score some nights, but depth matters, we just saw that in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. UMD’s style is hard to play against. That hard ground game Sandelin likes doesn’t lend itself to pretty goals, but what it does is soften up adversaries. Throw a few body blows, and maybe you find it easier to cash in off the rush. Worked for Vegas, and it’s worked for UMD in the past.
How to improve the pk
— Duluthbulldogshockeytownusa (@Hatefightingsi1) June 16, 2023
UMD wasn’t outlandishly penalized last season, something we talked about a lot. Too many misconducts, yes, but the actual number of power plays given up wasn’t awfully high. It just looked bad because it felt at times like UMD players needed to be partially decapitated to draw a power play of their own.
But there are two things to watch here: First is faceoffs, where UMD really struggled. Another year should help these guys, as it felt players like Spicer and Dominic James struggled at times against bigger and older centers. And I think the goaltending will be better, which will help as well, though, again, UMD’s short-handed save numbers were not out of line, so perhaps something structurally needs to improve as well.
Who steps up to replace Kaiser?
— Marko (@Marko33527170) June 15, 2023
Boring answer, but this is a committee. Pionk and Bast will both eat some of these minutes, as will returning junior Owen Gallatin. I’ll try to project the lineup once the roster is officially official, but there’s a good chance Pionk is the top-pair LHD by midseason if the adjustment to college goes well. Amazing to think he was a forward before the Minnesota Wilderness moved him to the back end.
For a team that has developed goaltenders so well over the last decade+. Who do you look forward to seeing develop at that position in the current pipeline?
— Corey Go Pack Go (@Bulldog14411) June 25, 2023
Great question. Has to be Gajan, right? He’s the only goalie committed at the moment. Sandelin expressed regret when we chatted after the season ended about not giving Sandy a chance in the second half, after he fought through a hellish first half full of bad-break injuries.
I still think Stejskal and Thiessen are the top guys here, and as I’ve said here, I’m betting on both being better. But watching Gajan from afar is going to be a hoot this season, I think. It all starts with the draft this week, where he could conceivably be the second North American goalie off the board.
8. Unless there’s an earth-shattering update, I likely won’t be back in this space for a few weeks. That’s fine, because this is close to 2,300 words and y’all need time to digest it.
Once the roster is finalized, I’ll take my annual crack at drawing up the line chart. And before you know it, the team will be back on the ice in Duluth and preparing for the upcoming season.
Oct. 7 will be here before we know it. Touch grass and do something fun this summer. Enjoy the countdown on Twitter, as that starts Thursday.
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