DENVER — Sorry not sorry, but you almost didn’t get a dispatch. It is sooo nice outside. But the wind has picked up and it’s supposed to snow overnight into Friday. Then be nice again Saturday. Like, you think Minnesota weather is weird…🤷♂️
Anyway, business.
UMD is here, hoping to do something no one has done all season, and that’s win a game as the visiting team at Denver’s Magness Arena. The Pioneers are 13-0-1 at home this season, with the only tie coming against Alaska. Denver has outscored its adversaries 76-26 in those 14 games, an average score of 5.4-1.9. Exactly one (1) of the 14 games has been decided by one goal, that a 4-3 win over Arizona State on Oct. 9.
“They’re a dangerous team with skill,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said of the Pioneers. “Great off the rush. They’re as good a team in the country as playing as a group of five in all zones. They’re dangerous. They’ve got a lot of guys who are slippery, they can shoot. They know where the puck’s going. They play fast. They don’t give you a lot defensively. They swarm you. They make it hard to make a lot of clean plays under pressure.”
These teams met before Christmas break in Duluth, with Denver dominating 5-0 on Friday before UMD turned the tables Saturday and won 6-2, a win Sandelin labeled a “good character win” at the time and again this week when asked about that December series.
Since that Dec. 11 meeting at Amsoil Arena, Denver is 9-0-1 with 48 goals scored and 19 allowed. Magnus Chrona, who is one win from 20 on the season, has four shutouts since the break ended.
“It’s the overall development of our play without the puck,” Denver coach David Carle said this week when asked what has improved the most with his group since those games in December. “I thought it was really good up there in the Friday game (in Duluth), Saturday night I thought Duluth showcased their puck pressure. I think we’re more connected without the puck, and it’s allowed us to get the puck back quicker.”
Denver junior Bobby Brink continues his season-long tear (Carle calls him a “man on a mission”). He has points in 21 of 26 games this season, including the last ten in succession (3-17-20 in the last ten games, 9-32-41 for the season). Carter Savoie — who scored two huge goals during a five-minute Denver power play in the second period Friday that cut St. Cloud State’s 3-0 lead to 3-2 and sparked DU’s wild 8-5 comeback win — has 16 goals, 33 points, and two hat tricks this season.
And Carle really likes his team’s defensive play as of late, helping Chrona pitch those four shutouts. Denver is plus-15 in shots on goal per game, and you can’t claim it was all run up in non-conference games, because the Pioneers are plus-14 in NCHC play.
(For reference, UMD is at around plus-five, both overall and in the NCHC.)
This is a huge challenge this weekend. Can UMD slow Denver’s home roll? Can the Bulldogs find a way to win in a building where no one but Denver has won this season? Doing so could be a huge boon to UMD’s NCAA Tournament and home-ice chances.
(Just to be clear, UMD’s NCAA Tournament chances are likely to remain pretty good, no matter the results this weekend. But a win or two would be significant in a lot of ways.)
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The Bulldogs are in the middle of a weird stretch of games. Tuesday in St. Cloud was UMD’s third strong performance in a row. The Bulldogs have one win to show for it, with five standings points attained out of a possible nine.
This UMD team appears well-built to cause a lot of problems come March, no matter where it lands in the final 1) NCHC, or 2) NCAA Tournament bracket (the latter assuming the Bulldogs can hold on to a spot, and I do like their chances). The Bulldogs’ struggles to gain points in the last three games boil down to one number.
3.
3 remains UMD’s magic number. If the Bulldogs can score three times in a game, their record is 11-2. The losses came at Western Michigan and Northern Michigan. If UMD concedes two or fewer, the record is 12-2-3.
The formula is there. The margin for error is razor thin.
Tuesday night, for example. UMD plays a strong game, especially the first 40 minutes. There were a couple missed opportunities, including the Koby Bender getting so robbed by David Hrenak that he had every right to call the cops when he got to the bench. But here comes St. Cloud State. Bad bounce off the referee leads to a neutral-zone turnover, and Seamus Donohue converts a three-on-two to slice the lead in half.
And we all know what happened in the final two minutes with Hrenak pulled. Tanner Laderoute appeared to draw a penalty that would basically have ended the game. It was missed, and Spencer Meier converted a rebound to tie the game with just under a minute left in regulation.
The unfortunate reality is that there was probably a missed call, and yes it did have an impact on how the game ended. But you have to turn the page, ultimately. Belaboring the point won’t bring the win back. It’s gone forever.
And, of course, the Huskies got the extra point in overtime after the officials took over four minutes to rule that Jami Krannila’s shootout goal was legal, despite him appearing to push UMD goalie Ryan Fanti’s right pad over the goal line in his follow-through.
(I’ve watched the play a ton. I’ve talked to people who played the position to get their perspective. Ultimately, I don’t have a huge problem with the decision. I have a huge problem with the amount of time it took to reach the decision. But I’ve written about this already. A lot. You know how I feel. And I do not have faith the powers that be in the game feel strongly enough to do anything to fix it.)
Combine it with the Western Michigan series Jan. 28-29, and it feels like UMD is starting to turn a corner in terms of showing that trademark consistency in its game. And this is a team built to win in March, when the games get even tighter and it’s exceptionally difficult to score five-on-five goals.
“We played a really good first 40 minutes,” Sandelin said of Tuesday night. “I didn’t think they had much life, but they get the (Donohue) goal, and they start to come. They got shut out at Denver, and we got off to an early lead, which was important. They got life on their goal, and at the end, we just couldn’t get the puck out. I was disappointed in the no-call on Laderoute, but we got caught out there and they got a shot on net and a rebound.”
Sandelin noted that he’s liked a lot of what he’s seen the last three games, going back to the 5-4 Friday win over Western Michigan.
“The only thing disappointing,” he said, “is we were in positions to win games with the lead going into the third period (the second WMU game and again on Tuesday), and we didn’t close them out. Those are, obviously, valuable points.”
The results might not show that things are trending in a good direction, but the tape does. Sitting here in early February, the process still matters a great deal.
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If you were watching/listening Tuesday, you’re probably aware that UMD lost freshman Dominic James to what we later learned was an upper body injury in the third period. During Wednesday’s weekly Zoom call, Sandelin ruled James out for the weekend, saying the hope was he could return next week at home against North Dakota.
Sandelin, however, also said that sophomore forward Luke Mylymok, who has been out since suffering a serious injury during preseason training, is a possibility to make his season debut in Denver. Luke’s mother, Darlene, took it one step farther on the Twitter machine Thursday.
This boy is finally healthy and cleared by Doctors to play his first game of the season tomorrow against University of Denver. Woohoo! Let’s go Bulldogs!!! 👍🏻🎉 https://t.co/jGe9V64xrl
— darlene mylymok (@mylymok) February 11, 2022
Mylymok will always be famous in Duluth for scoring the winning goal in last season’s five-overtime classic against UND. He has an intriguing skillset and could be a factor for UMD down the stretch as a depth forward. He has been skating since December, but playing in games, as you know, is completely different.
“He’s worked hard,” Sandelin said of Mylymok. “Last week, he had a full week. He’s kind of eased back into it. Comes at a good time to hopefully get him back.”
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7:30 pregame on Friday, 6:30 on Saturday. I’ll be doing my normal morning show rounds Friday on our family of stations, and I’ll be on the KQ Trainwreck at some point Friday afternoon, live from Magness Arena. Time TBD, so watch Twitter for that.
Back here pregame with the lines.
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