Stonehill is a second-year Division I program. The Skyhawks won just twice last season while playing only nine home games against Division I opponents. Under first-year head coach David Berard, Stonehill has already taken down a pair of teams — Merrimack and Lake Superior State — on the road, and now this team that features 13 newcomers and eight Division I transfers will try to show what it can do against UMD in a two-game series at Amsoil Arena Friday and Saturday.
The Bulldogs are well aware of how hard Stonehill’s players have worked this season. It’s evident on video. But their focus right now is inward.
See, after allowing 12 goals to Minnesota in a two-game sweep last weekend, UMD knows it must improve defensively before it does anything else.
This weekend against Stonehill is the next chance to get better.
9 THOUGHTS
1. We’ll dive into more of that in a moment, but first you get to put up with me getting something off my chest. I really should know better than to read through all my mentions on social media.
After Saturday’s game, I was paging through a couple of interactions on my posts and I stumbled on something that someone said to Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune during the game.
I’m not going to link to it or give it any more oxygen than I have to. Basically, this person was arguing that UMD coach Scott Sandelin was lucky this isn’t the NHL, or he would have been let go after two tough years and a 1-4 start to this season.
If you’re out there, or those of you who are feel similarly, let’s take a trip back in time. Yes, the UMD men’s program existed before the 2009 WCHA Final Five title, or the 2004 Frozen Four run. You might be a bit of a Johnny-come-lately, but you’re still more than welcome to cheer for this or any other team you’d like to cheer for.
It’s just important to understand context and history.
UMD hired Sandelin in 2000. His first team won seven games, but you could see improvement into his second season and especially the third. 2003-04 was going to be a big year for the Bulldogs, and they delivered a trip to the Frozen Four. With a lot of seniors back in 2004-05, expectations were high and UMD struggled under the weight of them.
Sandelin brought in a big freshman class for 2005-06 that included future NHLers in Matt Niskanen and Mason Raymond, along with guys like MacGregor Sharp, Josh Meyers, and the late Andrew Carroll. That team — my first year calling games — won 11 games. Alex Stalock came aboard in 2006-07, but struggled in the first half of the season and ceded the job to veteran Josh Johnson. Stalock was back as the starter in 2007-08, and he was mostly great, but he had little chance with a team that scored 74 goals in 36 games.
Of course, UMD did well in recruiting in this stretch, with the likes of Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly, Evan Oberg, Travis Oleksuk, JT Brown, and Justin Fontaine join the fray.
But if this were the NHL, Sandelin wouldn’t have seen the start of a 2008-09 season that began the Bulldogs on the trajectory that brought three national championships in nine seasons. Actually, when UMD floundered at the end of the regular season and cost itself home ice in the WCHA playoffs by getting swept by Anchorage in the final home series, it’s arguable that Sandelin’s seat was at least lukewarm.
Then Stalock caught fire. Five WCHA playoff games — two at Colorado College and a historic three-game Final Five run — saw Stalock concede just four goals while UMD trailed for a grand total of zero minutes and zero seconds. The conference tournament title brought with it an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, and the rest is history.
We see coaching changes in pro and college sports all the time when teams/programs are arguably not upgrading at the position. It’s change for the sake of change. Sometimes, the patience required to bring continuity is exactly what the doctor is ordering.
In short: Thank heavens this isn’t the NHL. Or SEC football. You get the point.
2. UMD was exposed in a lot of ways by Minnesota, but none more than the defensive zone.
“We’re not anywhere good enough defensively,” Sandelin said at his Wednesday media conference. “I think it starts there. Not just the defensive zone, but just all over the rink and protecting the middle of the rink. Minnesota is probably one of the best teams we’re going to play. One of the top teams, certainly talent-wise, transitionally. We didn’t make it hard on them. We fed their transition with turnovers and poor structure.”
While the Bulldogs weren’t good enough against the Gophers, Sandelin did see improvement after Friday’s horrific start that saw Minnesota go up 4-0 and outshoot UMD 23-4 in the first period.
“I thought we had a much better team Saturday,” he said. “Certainly had an opportunity to take the lead early. We certainly had opportunities to tie the game and even in the third period we had some chances. I mean, obviously Friday’s first period I hope was an anomaly, because that was ugly. I thought our last two periods were better and I thought Saturday was decent. It’s not anywhere near good enough to beat a team like that, but overall I thought it was better.”
Junior defenseman and alternate captain Joey Pierce was pretty pointed in talking about the starts to games so far.
“We’ve got to be able to start games better,” he said. ‘I don’t know if it’s been three or four games in a row now where we’ve been chasing pretty early on in the first five minutes. Obviously Friday was a little more dramatic in that sense where we were down pretty big pretty quick. I think we’re just looking internally to figure out what we can do as a group and as individuals to be ready for puck drop.”
Sandelin pointed fingers directly at Aiden Dubinsky and Aaron Pionk after Friday’s loss, something he’s not known for doing on a regular basis. Both were better Saturday, but Sandelin again this week said the Bulldogs have some veteran guys — unnamed this time — of whom more is expected.
“There’s some guys that need to, going into the year, we thought these guys, they have to be good,” Sandelin said. “And right now, a couple guys are struggling with some things that they’re doing. There’s some other guys waiting in the wings, right? And when Max (Plante) comes back, it makes it even more difficult.”
Sandelin went on to mention freshmen Harper Bentz (one game played) and Trevor Stachowiak (zero).
“They’re putting themselves in a position that they’re ready to play if somebody’s not. They’re not sitting back here.”
3. One fun note: Pierce reunited with Pionk as the two were paired for Saturday’s game. When Pionk first moved to defense with the Minnesota Wilderness in 2021-22, his first defensive partner was his close friend Pierce.
“I’m happy to play with anyone, but me and Aaron are pretty close,” Pierce said. “We’ve known each other forever, we live together now and so that’s pretty special when we get to be out there together for a full game.”
Guessing you haven’t seen the last of these two together on the line chart.
4. Stonehill has a lot of new this season. As mentioned, the roster includes 13 newcomers and eight Division I transfers.
So far, the results have been pretty good. Stonehill already owns two wins over Division I teams, beating Merrimack in overtime on opening weekend before taking down Lake Superior State last weekend in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
“From a success standpoint,” Berard told me this week, “we’ve already won more Division I games than the program had last year, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is a small victory for us that we’re already at the two-win mark at Division I games. I think the guys have been able to derive a little bit of confidence from winning.
“I think we’ve been really competitive in the other games that we’ve played. And we’re just trying to get better week to week. But I think when you win, it reinforces the things that we’re trying to teach to the team. If we play the way that we’re capable of, and we do the things that we think we need to do to be successful, that we’re able to see games through and have success.”
Sandelin noted some of that improvement after watching some video this week.
“Watching them a little bit last night against Lake State, another older team that’s gonna come in here and work,” Sandelin said. “It’s like I told our guys, everybody’s good in college hockey, anybody can beat anybody. So we need to have a good mindset, right? Starts there.”
The Skyhawks’ leading scorer is not one of the transfers. Sophomore Anthony Galante has five points over five games, including a really nice goal in the Friday win over Lake Superior State.
“He’s an energy guy,” Berard said. “He plays really hard. We remark as coaches, the pucks find him. There’s situations where you think he might be beat and somehow he has like an extra effort or a third effort. He’s one of those guys, his timing is good, he seems to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a situation that happened. He’s a hard worker and I think he wins a lot of one-on-one battles. He’s kind of a wiry guy, a good skater.”
5. Berard said this week the Skyhawks have some lofty long-term goals, which include a new building and eventually admission into a conference, something the veteran coach calls “hugely important” to everything they’re trying to do.
“If you really want to separate your program,” he explained, “being in the league allows you to do that. And being in the league allows you to play for a championship. Being in a league allows you to go to the NCAA tournament a lot easier than it would be as an independent.”
For perspective on that: In its final season as an independent, Arizona State won 24 games and finished 20th in the PairWise, not particularly close to a spot in the NCAA Tournament. RIT won 25 and missed out in 2022-23, but the Tigers play in primarily one-bid Atlantic Hockey and didn’t win the conference tournament (Canisius did). You have to go all the way back to 2017-18 to find the last time a team in a multi-bid league won more than 23 games and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament (Northern Michigan won 25 games, finished second to Minnesota State in the WCHA, but lost to Michigan Tech in the conference tournament championship and didn’t get an at-large).
It might be a chicken-egg thing for Stonehill. There’s talk of a new facility, and maybe that has to come to fruition before there can be talk about a league membership. Either way, building a competitive team is going to help the program in so many ways as well.
6. It feels like a random matchup of teams, but Berard really appreciates Sandelin’s willingness to play the Skyhawks.
“It gives you credibility just,” he said, “just having your name associated with Minnesota Duluth for a weekend. That’s great and I really appreciate Scott for scheduling us because a lot of teams aren’t interested. When you’re kind of a fledgling program and you’re getting started, it’s good to have someone like Scott and someone program like Duluth that’s willing to play you.”
Sandelin has previously talked about the importance of playing the newcomers in Division I as they try to establish a foundation. He jumped at the chance to get Stonehill in his building.
“I was told by a number of people you shouldn’t play them,” Sandelin said. “I really don’t care what those people think, I think it’s important for us to play those teams and they want to play. So that’s why we scheduled it.”
There are five independents in Division I this season, with Stonehill joined by Lindenwood, Long Island, Alaska-Anchorage, and Alaska-Fairbanks. UMD will host Fairbanks Jan. 3-4 at Amsoil Arena.
7. Many eyes will be on Grand Forks this weekend, where North Dakota hosts Boston University in the biggest series of the weekend. Talent all over the ice in this one, and we’re in for a treat if the games are half as good as they were in Boston last year (split, with UND’s win coming in overtime).
Augustana is in St. Cloud to face the Huskies Friday and Saturday. We’ve got a battle of Mavericks this weekend as well, as Omaha visits Minnesota State for two games. Omaha was swept at home last weekend by Augustana, but head coach Mike Gabinet noted at his media conference this week the red Mavericks had more scoring chances in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Vikings than they did in the Ice Breaker title game against Minnesota, which Omaha won in overtime.
“That’s hockey,” Gabinet said, accurately.
Elsewhere, Colorado College visits Anchorage, Miami is home for Lindenwood, Arizona State plays two at Northern Michigan, Wisconsin travels to Denver, and Western Michigan visits Boston College Saturday for a single game.
8. I know it’s a month away, but UMD and the Adam Johnson Memorial Fund are putting together what should be a great tribute and fundraiser on Adam Johnson Memorial Night, scheduled for the Western Michigan game on Nov. 23.
It’ll double as a wonderful celebration of Adam, his life, and his love of hockey, along with being a fundraiser for the Adam Johnson Memorial Fund, which has a stated goal to “support hockey camp scholarships and academic scholarship awarded to a Hibbing High School senior with plans to attend UMD.”
Events scheduled that night include:
Adam Johnson Memorial T-Shirt Giveaway: The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative Adam Johnson Memorial T-shirt.
Jersey Off My Back Auction: UMD players will wear special warm-up jerseys, which will be auctioned off during the game. Winning bidders will receive the jerseys directly from the players on the ice after the game.
Online Silent Auction: Fans can bid on pro jerseys of players who played at UMD with Adam.
Hibbing Youth Hockey – Little Chippers: Adam’s hometown youth hockey association will be part of the evening’s events, showcasing the future generation of players.
Watch this blog and UMDBulldogs.com for more details as the date approaches, but we can’t encourage you enough to get tickets for that game so you can be there to help support Adam’s family and this fund.
9. The UMD women are taking the weekend off after sweeping St. Thomas and allowing zero goals in two games last weekend. Eve Gascon stopped all 27 on Friday, then Tindra Holm went 19-for-19 on Saturday.
Yes, more goals would be great. Yes, it would be good to put games away earlier when the opportunity presents itself, especially with UMD running just ten forwards last weekend against UST.
But the Bulldogs needed two wins and got them. They did it while not giving the Tommies a lot of sustained offensive zone time or grade-A scoring chances.
Something to build off of. Hopefully UMD can get forward Jenna Lawry back from injury when they head to Mankato next weekend. The Bulldogs will play with no more than 11 forwards for the time being at least, as it was announced Thursday that senior Gabby Krause would be retiring from hockey for medical reasons.
A statement from UMD senior forward Gabby Krause. pic.twitter.com/BpiZeWpmjG
— UMD Women’s Hockey (@UMDWHockey) October 24, 2024
Not a lot to add here. Looks like Krause will remain around the team, as she’s been all season up to this point. Can’t imagine the reality she’s had to deal with here, so best wishes (and good health, obviously) to her in whatever she does in life.
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6:30pm pregame Friday, 5:30 Saturday from Amsoil. Back pregame with lines.
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