St. Cloud State’s men’s hockey team is coached by a UMD alum and former Bulldogs assistant coach in Brett Larson. The Minnesota and UMD women are both rebuilding after graduating tremendous classes of standout and influential fifth-year players, many of whom now will have a chance to make an impact in the new PWHL.
Pardon both UMD programs if they don’t feel like they’re looking in a mirror this weekend. And after all the trips to St. Cloud over the last three seasons, one has to assume the men are experiencing plenty of deja vu this weekend.
8 THOUGHTS
1. Of UMD’s last 13 games last season, seven of them came against St. Cloud State. The teams met six times over UMD’s last 12 games of the 2021-22 regular season and first weekend of the postseason (the Bulldogs then had the audacity to finish that season by playing four straight games against non-SCSU opposition. Oh, and the COVID year of 2021-22 saw UMD and SCSU get together seven times in a span of 17 games after the holiday break.
That’s 20 UMD-SCSU games over the last three years. So excuse UMD coach Scott Sandelin if he isn’t spending a lot of time breaking down video of the Huskies.
“They’re a good transition team,” he said. “They’ll spread you out on the rink. Power play’s always good there, they stay out of the box. So nothing really changes, right?”
“We’ve been there a lot,” said UMD fifth year senior co-captain Luke Loheit. “We’ve tried to figure out how many times — Quinny (fifth year forward Quinn Olson) and I tried to figure out how many times we played them. I think it’s over 30, I think it’s like 35.”
(The actual number: 47. Olson has played against St. Cloud State 24 times, Loheit 23.)
2. The last meeting was certainly interesting. UMD and St. Cloud State met in the third and deciding game of a first-round playoff series March 12 in St. Cloud. That Sunday night game featured plenty of emotion, lots of hard hitting, scrums after whistles, and only two penalties (one on each team, each of them tripping minors, and they came a little more than a minute apart in the second period).
While Omaha and North Dakota played a Game 3 that night that featured 14 penalties and too many power plays for anyone’s comfort (both coaches in that game, UND’s Brad Berry and Omaha’s Mike Gabinet, said they’d rather have nothing called in a game like that than too much), UMD and SCSU almost crossed the line the other way, a game that was insanely physical and emotional for how little was being called.
It was a turf war on ice.
“I thought, when you look back at it, yeah, they could have called more penalties,” said Sandelin when asked about that game. “But you know what, it was both ways. And you let the players decide at that time of the year. And I thought, at the end of it, the referees didn’t play a factor in the game. It was two teams battling and getting away with certain things, and some chippiness, and stuff after the whistle. But that’s what it should be at that time of the year. And I thought they managed it pretty well.”
3. UMD is winless in six, with just seven goals scored, and only three of those have come at even strength.
The power play continues to be efficient, but here are UMD’s numbers with the man advantage over these six games:
1-for-3
0-for-3
0-for-3
2-for-4
1-for-3
0-for-1
TOTAL: 4-for-17 (23.5 percent)
In total, it’s down a bit from its clip heading into this stretch, but the power play isn’t to blame for UMD’s offensive woes. They’ve mostly done their job, as 23.5 percent — especially against this gauntlet of adversaries — is very good.
Instead, it’s five-on-five offense that has dried up for the Bulldogs, largely because they simply haven’t stacked the kind of puck possession required to wear down opponents. Instead, teams have been doing that to UMD.
Loheit wants his group to simplify their offensive game.
“It’s being willing to make plays not being scared of making mistakes,” he said. “I think guys are just a little scared to make some plays, I think just with how many things have been going on. Bad things have happened from some turnovers that have cost us some goals and cost us some leads.”
4. It might come as a surprise, but UMD continues to perform pretty well in the faceoff circle. The Bulldogs were not a good faceoff team last year, and lost their best faceoff guy — Dominic James — to a season-ending injury in the second game of the season.
But Cole Spicer, Jack Smith, and Carter Loney have stepped up. Being 34th nationally in faceoff percentage doesn’t sound impressive, but UMD’s 50.4 percent success rate easily clears the last couple of seasons.
“It’s been a really good, bright spot for us,” associate coach Adam Krause said. “Like anything, you want to just move the needle. It’s not going to get perfect overnight, but we’re really proud of some of our guys taking some steps in that. It’s something that I know we’ve focused on, and obviously losing Dom, not only in face offs has been quite the loss for us, but it’s been an area that you can take as a positive this early in the season.”
Krause said it’s clear his centers are doing their homework.
“There’s a lot of video work and studying kind of what centers that potentially you could be lining up against for the majority of the game. What your strategy is on different sides of the rink, whether on your forehand, your backhand and what dot you’re on, whether it’s a defensive dot, your offensive dots or even dots in the neutral zone, your strategy changes a little bit.
“You put more thought into the mental aspect, what’s the purpose on each of these dots. It’s all credit to those guys. We’re giving them the resources, the video, but they’re clearly putting in the work.”
5. One key for UMD this weekend: Learning from the past without dwelling on what’s gone wrong. What has happened has happened. It’s over. Can’t change it.
“I think we’ve got to find the positives,” said Loheit. “We’ve just got to keep learning. It’s early in the season, but at the same time I don’t want to keep saying that. So you got to find a way to to learn but also have the urgency to change it, right? I think we’re all very eager to change it. We’re all very eager for a good weekend.”
“It’s about attitude,” Sandelin said. “Our guys have been pretty good the last two days, but we should be, right? We haven’t won in six games. There is no substitute, except go back and get to work and hopefully have their attention a little bit more on certain areas that we’ve got to get better at.”
“I think it’s definitely a fine line between obviously being disappointed in the results, but not letting that disappointment distract you from learning and getting better,” said Krause. “I think you’ve got to table that and use it as energy and focus and fire and making sure you’re putting positive energy into the teaching things.
“One of the things our young guys are learning right now is that the teams that we’re playing are very good opponents.”
(So is the next one.)
Larson isn’t a dummy. He doesn’t care that the Bulldogs are winless in six, started league play 0-2, or that his team is 4-0 in conference. He’s fully aware that UMD will be ready for this weekend.
“I know what a week is like with Scott Sandelin after getting swept at home,” said Larson. “I know that UMD is going to come in here on a mission and they’re going to be playing great hockey. You’re going to see Bulldog hockey this weekend, that they’re going to be extremely hard to play against. They’re going to be relentless. We know that they’re one of the best board checking teams in the league. They get on your D, create turnovers, they defend very well. I think the biggest thing for me is, is making sure that we’re not resting our laurels after a good weekend at Western.”
Then again, no matter the previous results, this feels kinda like life in the NCHC.
6. As usual, the weekend before Thanksgiving is a busy one in the NCHC. Miami heads to North Dakota to reunite with three-year bell-cow goalie Ludvig Persson, who now mans the crease for UND. The RedHawks showed some promise in non-conference play, most notably posting a win and tie against Arizona State, but started league play 0-4. North Dakota is off the UMD sweep and looks strong.
Omaha heads out west to face Denver this weekend. The Pioneers split at ASU last weekend, while Omaha swept Long Island non-conference. Also in Colorado, we’ll see Colorado College host Western Michigan. CC responded well to getting swept by Denver, going to Oxford and sweeping Miami with a 9-2 aggregate.
7. The UMD women see a familiar face as well. It might not be 20 meetings over three years, but UMD and Minnesota have seen each other an awful lot.
And to add some intrigue, both teams are (sort of) rebuilding their rosters after losing tremendous classes of talented players that led their respective programs to a lot of wins.
UMD comes in having six straight, with head coach Maura Crowell using the Dr. Evil-style quote fingers to make clear she’s happy UMD won these games “we were ‘supposed’ to win.”
A lot of newcomers have settled in nicely, perhaps none better than Reece Hunt. The graduate transfer from Bemidji State is already one off her career high for goals (she has six goals and 13 points in ten games).
“She’s doing great,” said Crowell. “I think she’s a natural goal scorer. She has anticipation skills that other people maybe don’t have. She’s super explosive. Her feet are really good. Just a dynamic player.”
Hunt and Penn State transfer Olivia Wallin are together on a line right now, and both have made an impact in their first few weeks playing for UMD (Wallin has three goals and nine points).
But UMD has conceded just ten goals in ten games. Senior and alternate captain Nina Jobst-Smith said it’s been a smooth transition from Emma Soderberg to this year’s tandem of freshman Eve Gascon and sophomore Hailey MacLeod.
“They’re both solid,” said Jobst-Smith. “They have the mental game figured out, which is huge, especially playing in that position. They know how to reset. They know how to play. They know how to prepare. And that’s something that a whole team can really take a lot of comfort in, just knowing that they’re ready for whatever comes their way.”
Crowell is excited for the weekend against a quality opponent in the Gophers.
“They start with great goaltending, just like us there. Solid D corps. A lot of new faces up front, but still with (Abbey) Murphy leading the crew. She’s one of the best players in the world right now. So a different look, some younger players, but still the Gopher DNA, where they’re going to want to get up the ice. They want to get up the ice fast. They want to use their speed. And they have great goaltending behind them.”
8. Busy weekend for local hockey, but I wanted to drop a quick reminder of Saturday’s event in England. The Nottingham Panthers — Adam Johnson’s pro team in the EIHL — are holding the Adam Johnson Memorial Game that evening, playing against the Manchester Storm.
Fans can watch the game for free via YouTube. The Panthers are encouraging people to donate to the Love for Hibbing and Hockey Memorial Fund, which was established by the Johnson family after his tragic passing.
Game is at 1pm Central time Saturday. Get more info, including the link to donate, here.
You’re likely aware than an arrest was made in the case this week. South Yorkshire Police issued a statement confirming the arrest Tuesday, then the person arrested was released Wednesday. It’s widely believed that the player whose skate hit Adam — Sheffield defenseman Matt Petgrave — was the person arrested, but in England it is literally illegal to identify the person arrested in a case unless that person consents or is formally charged.
Either way, as someone who has never seen the video of the incident (and hopes to never see it), I implore you to not rush to judgment. It’s okay to be sad it happened and not take a side, one way or another. There’s a legal process that is being followed, and we have to trust it will lead to the relevant facts in due time.
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7pm pregame Friday from St. Cloud, then 5:30 on Saturday.
On the bright side, we should know our way around the building by now.
Back pregame with lines.
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