COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — This season has not gone the way any of us envisioned or hoped.
But those of us who travel with the hockey team can’t complain about the weather hand we’ve been dealt in 2023-24.
And it is continuing here in beautiful Colorado Springs. Sunshine expected through most of the visit here, with some potential bad weather hopefully not until after we leave Sunday. Windy, but how’s that any different than home? 😁
Anyway, last road weekend of the regular season for the UMD men. Playoffs for the women, after a viral moment last weekend.
And we’re here to cover it all.
8 THOUGHTS
1. Let’s start with the elephant in the room. College hockey went viral twice last weekend, and one of them was a particularly bad moment for the game.
We’ll start with the one that involved the UMD women and wasn’t nearly as messy. Trying frantically to tie the score in the final seconds against Minnesota, UMD had goalie Eve Gascon pulled for an extra skater. That’s when we found out that Gophers standout Abbey Murphy is fully aware of what Ridly Grieg of the Ottawa Senators did.
Luckily, it seems Clara Van Wieren was well aware of what Morgan Rielly did and everything that came from that, as you can see on the videotape.
#Gophers get one more! pic.twitter.com/epBmAKvGSQ
— Minnesota Women's Hockey (@GopherWHockey) February 24, 2024
As of the time I embedded this, it’s been viewed more than 1.4 million times.
Imagine if Van Wieren had done something more violent.
I asked UMD coach Maura Crowell and redshirt sophomore forward Mary Kate O’Brien about this play and Van Wieren’s response at UMD’s weekly Wednesday press conference. Yes, there’s playoff hockey happening right now and I wanted to respect that, but this was too big of a story to ignore.
“I thought we looked classy in the video,” Crowell said of the play and the moment that followed. “So I was proud of our team, and I’ve got to give it to the linesman, (Aaron) Neville. He got in there real quick, which was great. He’s a pro. And I don’t really have a big problem with the slap shot. I think people get really upset about disrespecting the game. I don’t really have a problem with that. Happy that our team gave a little bit but not too much and kept it clean.
“They won the game at that point, so what’s the point in starting a fight and potentially putting yourself in a spot where you can’t play the following weekend? As I mentioned before, emotions were high throughout the weekend. That was an unfortunate way for it to end. But again, proud of our group, proud of Clara.”
I asked Crowell, who was aware of the views this video has received, if she was happy nothing her team did in response gave the sport a chance to trend for all the wrong reasons.
“100% Yes, absolutely. And again, I like I like the way we look. We give a good shove. Our linesman gets in there. I think that looks good too. It is what it is. You’re going to get an empty-net goal. If you want to do a slap shot, whatever. That’s what she (Murphy) was feeling in the moment. I’m not worried about that. I’m more worried about how we respond, and I was happy with our response. And again, I thought we looked classy.”
O’Brien offered some tremendous perspective.
“I’m glad that we didn’t do anything too extreme where it could have put us in a tough spot for this weekend,” she said. “The last thing we need is to maybe take a big shot at that and to not have our full lineup going into this weekend.
“Was I the biggest fan of the slapshot? No, but if that was my teammate to win the game for us, maybe I don’t have that much of a problem with it. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t see it coming as soon as I saw her skating down. I knew it was coming just from knowing that person’s tendencies.
“I think like that whole weekend, but especially Saturday’s game was when we were kind of letting our emotions get the best of us. It’s a rivalry, so we get into it. But I think to see that play happen and for it to not be this big explosion afterwards, I’m glad. Fortunate that our group was able to walk away from that without something major happening.”
Shockingly, I have thoughts here.
I had no major issue with what Greig did in the NHL, only Rielly’s response (which IMO was properly dealt with by the league, much to the chagrin of Leafs fans, who are luckily not large in numbers or loud in voice). In this case, I will again say I don’t have a huge issue with what Murphy did. This is supposed to be entertainment. People pay good money to attend games and support their favorite teams/sports, between tickets, parking, merch, and concessions. And it’s an emotional, intense game. We can’t expect maximum intensity and emotion out of young (or old) athletes without accepting the occasional violation of decorum.
Yes, unwritten rules are a thing, no matter how dumb we might all see them to be. But part of their function is to serve as a policing measure of sorts. Which leads us to …
2. What happened in Alaska last week was an embarrassment to this game. And, yes, there is a correlation between this and what we saw in the UMD-Minnesota game.
For those who haven’t seen it, and I’m not sure how this is possible. I’m going to embed a YouTube video from the folks who run the Nanooks Hockey Blog, covering Alaska-Fairbanks.
There are other clips of this incident out there, but this one covers the pertinent happenings.
Yes, you see two players — Tucker Ness of Arizona State and Dawson Bruneski of Alaska — leave their respective penalty boxes to fight on the ice. Both players’ seasons are over as a result of this incomprehensible decision.
There’s nothing I’m going to say about this that you haven’t heard already. It’s garbage. This is not hockey, it has no place in sports, and both programs should be embarrassed to have had players partake in such nonsense.
But watch the fight again. And think about how hockey’s code governs such things. It’s based on respect. Respect for the game, respect for the officials, respect for all the players, even the adversary. Where is it in this moment?
This isn’t a professional game where two guys get into a fight during the flow of play, or even off a faceoff. Think about how harshly the NHL would punish players who stepped out of the penalty box to fight on the ice. Especially when they throw the officials around like this so they can keep fighting while the men in stripes try like hell to break it up.
When you decide you’re okay with what Abbey Murphy did, just remember that the same code that governs that decision governs what Ness and Bruneski did. And don’t misread this, as I’m obviously not trying to put them on the same level. But there’s a certain level of respect that needs to stay alive in this sport. It doesn’t mean we can’t have fun and entertain the paying customers. It means we can’t let that respect factor whittle completely away in the name of entertainment.
(This is why I think what Van Wieren did was so important. It didn’t go too far, but she stood up for her teammates and program at something that she perceived as disrespectful. Sends a message.)
3. Yes, Arizona State is going to be in the NCHC next season. And in my humble opinion, the Sun Devils will need to clean up their act.
UMD is the most penalized team in the NCHC this season, through last weekend of course, at 158 penalties taken for 385 minutes.
The Bulldogs rank 22nd nationally in penalty minutes, 152 behind Division I-leading …
Yup.
Arizona State (537 minutes).
And this isn’t a new development. ASU was fifth nationally in penalty minutes per game last season, third in 2021-22, ninth in 2019-20, second in 2018-19 and in 2017-18, fifth in 2016-17, and 12th in their Division I debut season of 2015-16. The only real outlier is the COVID year, when Arizona State played 26 games, all against Big Ten foes on the road, and finished tied for 49th in penalty minutes per game.
I don’t know head coach Greg Powers at all, outside of the 20 or so minutes we spent on the phone before ASU’s season opening series in Duluth last year. He seems to have his stuff together, and he’s done a nice job piloting the transition from club team to Division I, having led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament in their third full Division I season. So the last thing he needs is some old nerd in Minnesota telling him how to do his job.
Powers suspended Ness for the rest of the season immediately after that fight happened last week, a good step. He appeared on the CHN Insider Podcast and made clear that this isn’t the stuff he wants his program known for.
As the NCHC journey begins, he likely is well aware that it can’t be something that happens. In order to be competitive in such a high-level league, Arizona State has to cut back on the PIMs. Heck, UMD has taken too many penalties and given up too many power plays, and Arizona State has the Bulldogs beaten in both categories.
4. Now, for matters at hand for the UMD women. Playoff hockey begins Friday at Amsoil, as UMD hosts St. Cloud State for a best of three series. Take out the two empty-net goals SCSU scored against UMD on Dec. 9 (yes, we know they still count, just play along for a moment), and there have been a grand total of eight goals scored in four games prior. Each team has four.
Two weekends ago, the teams met in Duluth, a two-game series that saw one (1) goal. It was Van Wieren off a great setup by Olivia Wallin in the third period of a 1-0 UMD win in the Friday game. Saturday ended 0-0 before St. Cloud won the shootout 3-2 for an extra point in the league standings.
“I think while the series two weeks ago was exciting, if you like defensive games,” Crowell said. “I think we know we can be better.”
Crowell offered no information on the season-long goalie rotation with Hailey MacLeod (All-WCHA Second Team) and Eve Gascon (WCHA All-Rookie Team), so we don’t know if it will continue or if Crowell will try to pick one. My guess is we will see both of them this weekend, but there’s no way to know what will happen if 1) this series goes to a third game, or 2) UMD advances.
5. It’s the kind of series that might come down to one mistake or one chance either way, but O’Brien doesn’t want to think of it that way.
“I think the best thing that we can do is kind of ride the wave of some of the good hockey that we’ve played this past weekend,” she said, “and implementing that into this series is going to be huge for us. With playoffs can come pressure, but I think what’s so important for our group is to go out there and just remember all the preparation that we’ve put into it … and just playing free without the pressure of ‘This might go wrong’ because at the same time it could go right and it could go very well for us. So I think if you the more you think about the potential bad, that’s when you can start to play worse.”
Winner advances to the WCHA Final Faceoff, and given the current state of the PairWise (UMD is ninth, SCSU tenth) that team will likely need to beat Ohio State (should the Buckeyes advance, of course) in the semifinals to have any chance of making the national tournament.
4pm Friday, 3pm Saturday, and 3pm Sunday if necessary.
6. The UMD men take a six-game losing streak into Colorado Springs. The Bulldogs sit seventh in the NCHC, which will be their worst finish in ten years of the NCHC if it holds through the final two weekends of the regular season. Colorado College, meanwhile, sits in fourth place, and with three straight home games before they wrap up the regular season at rival Denver next Saturday, the Tigers are aiming to host an NCHC playoff series for the first time in the recorded history of history.
(The last playoff series Colorado College hosted was in the WCHA in 2012.)
I asked third-year CC coach Kris Mayotte what he would have said if I told him in September this was the position his team was in, fourth in the NCHC and firmly on the NCAA bubble after a long absence.
“That’s the goal,” he said. “And you’d be excited. I don’t think you go into any season saying, this is what we’re capable of and this is what we’re not capable of. And so at the beginning of the year, I would have said, yeah, that makes sense. Because at the beginning of the year, everything’s possible.”
7. The difference? Well, sophomore goalie Kaidan Mbereko is a real nice place to start. The leader in the clubhouse for NCHC Goaltender of the Year has built off a strong freshman season, and it seems he keeps getting better as the season goes on. He’s not the prototypical 6-4 goalie that you see all over pro hockey these days. He’s smaller, but tremendously smart and athletic.
But it’s not just him.
As we’ve chronicled before, Mayotte shied away from the transfer portal and chose to build this program through recruiting.
It’s worked.
The depth is much better, both up front and along the blue line. They’ve got size and snarl up front, and some really good skaters on defense.
“I thought they were a really good hockey team when they left here,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said of Colorado College. “They’re a really good puck pressure team. Got a great goal tender. Gotta find a way to get there. Obviously their top line is good. They’re big, they’re heavy, they got speed.
“And their supporting cast is good. They’re older. They compete. They’re deep through their four lines, and they’ve got some mobile defensemen that get up the rink.”
Mayotte said that improved depth has made a huge difference for his team.
“Friday night, everybody’s excited,” he said. “You had the week to prepare. You build your belief. But Saturday night in this league, that’s big boy hockey. You gotta be able to show up and do it again on a Saturday night. When you don’t have the depth, it makes it really hard to be able to do it on back to back nights because of how heavy and strong and this league is. So it’s just allowed us to manage minutes better and it’s allowed other guys to step up.”
8. I don’t think it’s possible for UMD — which is locked into traveling for a third straight year in the NCHC playoffs — to know its first round opponent by Saturday night. North Dakota leads St. Cloud State by three points, Denver is four back of SCSU, and CC is two back of Denver. Western Michigan is three points behind Colorado for that final home ice spot.
It’s mathematically possible for five teams — North Dakota, SCSU, Denver, CC, and Western — to finish second. UMD and Omaha could both finish sixth or seventh, though Omaha clinches sixth if it wins both games at Miami this weekend.
The other series pit Western Michigan against North Dakota in Grand Forks, while St. Cloud State hosts Denver.
Obviously, we’re going to narrow down the possible road trips with whatever happens this weekend. And as much as I love Colorado, I’m hoping we can narrow it down to ones that don’t involve any airplanes.
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7:30pm pregame back home on Friday, 6:30pm on Saturday. Join us on KDAL. Lots of ground to cover, including some updates on Minnesota Hockey region tournaments, the state tournament field, and more. Should be a fun weekend!
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