OXFORD, Ohio — When a strong start didn’t lead to any notable offense or goals for UMD Friday, the Bulldogs slowly began to struggle to generate the same kind of offensive push. UMD’s bottom six forwards helped turn a nothing period into a two-goal lead late, and the Bulldogs rode that momentum to a 5-0 win over Miami.
Time to do the thing.
9 THOUGHTS
1. While not perfect, this was a good and much-needed win for UMD. The Bulldogs needed a kind of game like this. Get the lead, build on it, get some really timely saves from a young goaltender, and deliver a knockout punch.
There were times the UMD forecheck was dominant. There were times, however, where players were on the wrong side of pucks, perhaps cheating for offense, and the Bulldogs were still too soft at times on zone exits, leading to extended time defending that Miami could not make them pay for.
In other words, this really didn’t play out like a 5-0 game. That happens, but I’ll bet the coaches will enjoy teaching points out of a win over a loss.
2. After a tough weekend against North Dakota, Adam Gajan picked up his first collegiate shutout, and he earned the hell out of it. Strong, composed, was in good position basically all night, and got some help on a couple scrambles in front and at the side of the net.
Gajan made a couple acrobatic saves look awfully easy, and his aggression — coming out to challenge shooters — paid off on some Miami rushes as well.
We know there will continue to be ups and downs, but this was a strong statement start from the elite freshman goaltender, and a strong show of confidence by this coaching staff to go back to him when it would have been really easy to give him the night off after he allowed seven goals on 28 shots against UND last week.
3. UMD’s fourth line was outstanding in this game, and it was great to see them get rewarded for it. Joe Molenaar is such a good player. He’s not a speed demon, he’s not going to wow you with his stickhandling, but he’s almost always in the right spot and makes the right play. His forecheck helped set up Carter Loney’s goal that opened the scoring. It was Matthew Perkins and Blake Bechen hard on pucks in the offensive zone to set up Jack Smith on the second goal, which was a bit of a happy accident. Bechen threw the puck to the net, and it caromed in off Smith.
Coincidentally, I asked Sandelin about Molenaar’s presence — on the ice, on the bench, and in the room — and how important his experience is with so many young players around him.
“This group’s got to find out how to win,” Sandelin said. “And it doesn’t just happen. And I think we’ve shown that through the first nine games. There’s certain things day in and day out, game in and game out, that you have to do. And you got to be willing to make those sacrifices and commit to that. Joe’s been a great vocal guy for us. He’s been a calming presence.”
Anyway, it was the Smith line that was the most consistent, really in all three zones. Great sticks, smart plays, and they gave UMD those two vital goals in what was — again — a nothing first period up to that point.
4. Dominic James’ line started the game with a shift almost completely conducted in Miami’s zone. No, it didn’t end in a goal or even a Grade-A chance. But it set a tone for the kind of night that group was about to have.
James finished with three points, five shots, two blocked shots, was a plus-three, and scored a goal on an absolute (kids, earmuff it for a second) piss missile of a shot in the second period for his seventh of the season.
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That made it 3-0 after Miami had gained some momentum during the second.
Anyway, Anthony Menghini scored (his fifth of the year), also had five shots, threw a couple impactful hits after he took an ill-advised major, and was a plus-three. Jayson Shaugabay picked up a pair of assists and was a plus-two.
All in all, a solid night’s work for that whole line.
(By the way, he’s not on this line, but Kyle Bettens helped set up Menghini’s third-period goal with a strong zone entry, and I’ve really liked his last two games after a bit of an uneven start for him. Needs to get his shot sighted in 🤣, but his game seems to be coming around and that’s a major positive.)
5. One of the NCHC unbeatens survived the night with perfection intact. Defending national champion Denver went into Grand Forks and never trailed in a 5-2 win over North Dakota. Some guy named Zeev Buium had a hat trick for DU. I’ll report back if I can get more intel on this player.
The other unbeaten, Colorado College, started fast at Western Michigan, jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first period. But the Broncos stormed back, getting a second-period marker from Tristan LeMyre and leveling in the third on a goal by Grant Slukynsky. Tim Washe then scored in overtime as the Broncos won 3-2 and gave the Tigers their first loss of the season.
Elsewhere, the first home NCHC game for Arizona State was Friday against Omaha. I’m tired, and this game was 2-2 when the blog went to press. Sorry. 😴
6. College sports are in a time of major change. I don’t think I need to tell you guys that. It’s basically useless to try to predict what will happen next, as no one can claim to know for sure.
Friend of the blog Brad Schlossman detailed the latest effort among the leaders in college hockey, trying to keep the NCAA from changing long-standing rules about deferred enrollment in men’s hockey without at least some robust discussion.
All NCAA Division-I sports — except tennis, skiing and men’s hockey — allow athletes a 12-month grace period after high school graduation to enroll in college before their eligibility clock starts ticking.
Tennis has a six-month grace period.
Men’s hockey and skiing have grace periods until an athlete’s 21st birthday.
Few Division-I men’s hockey players enter college directly out of high school. Most play a year — or more — of junior hockey.
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While no legislation has been introduced to move men’s hockey into the same bucket as other sports with deferred enrollment, commissioners are wary of a scenario where the Council would potentially sign off on such a move without much debate.
This is a very interesting topic, one to follow. The push within the NCAA has been to create uniformity among all the sports. That’s why the CHL rule went through earlier this month.
Doing so here could have major impacts across a sport where freshmen are routinely starting college around their 21st birthday. And we’ve seen it at UMD: Some of these players are important parts of championship-caliber teams.
7. We’ve already lost a Division I program this week, as American International announced it is moving back to Division II starting next season.
Sources told College Hockey News the program was being dropped back to D-II because of “budgetary issues and the changing landscape of NCAA athletics.”
According to AIC’s latest EADA filing, men’s hockey had the highest expenditures of any non-football team at the school, totaling $1,773,427.
AIC’s program began in 1948. It was Division II until 1998 when it joined Division I and the MAAC. The rest of the school’s athletic programs compete in Division II.
Now, nothing has happened yet with regard to deferred enrollment, but AIC has benefitted from that as much as anyone. The Yellow Jackets have routinely been among the older teams in Division I, and they’ve made noise in the NCAA Tournament going back to the St. Cloud State upset in 2019.
Again, the future is inherently unpredictable at the moment, but it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to connect these dots and conclude that AIC might not be the only program that has these difficult conversations at some point soon.
If deferred enrollment goes away, adding to all the other challenges smaller programs are going to face in this new world, you have to wonder about what damage that could do.
We’re not in a spot where we can afford to lose programs. If anything, the CHL rule change creates a world where there will be too many good players for the programs we have, and there are no signs of any schools adding hockey.
Keep your eyes open and let nothing surprise you.
8. At Amsoil Arena, Minnesota took the lead in the second period and beat UMD 4-1 to open a two-game series. The Gophers peppered UMD goalie Eve Gascon, forcing her to make 48 saves to tie a career high. Hanna Baskin scored for UMD, which falls to 1-9-1 in the last 11 meetings against the Gophers.
After the game, coach Laura Schuler lamented her team’s puck management, two days after lamenting her team’s puck management in her weekly media conference.
“One of the things I said in the press conference (Wednesday) was we need to manage the puck better and we need our puck reads to be better,” she said, per Matt’s gamer linked above. “There were many 50/50 pucks where we weren’t playing defensively first. We were cheating offensively and you can’t do that against a good team.”
Rematch Saturday at 3pm.
9. It’s been a tough year for a couple of UMD’s normally-powerful fall sports. Football was 3-4 at one point after consecutive 24-21 losses, with its first three losses coming on the final play of the game. The Bulldogs have won three straight and host Minnesota State at noon Saturday on KDAL for Senior Day at Malosky Stadium.
UMD will honor 21 seniors who are moving on in a pregame ceremony. Among them is offensive lineman Aiden Williams, who will get some accolades this offseason and could conceivably get his name called in the NFL Draft. The seniors are 42-12 in their time at UMD, and the entire class had to navigate a lost season in 2020 due to COVID.
Volleyball also wraps up a difficult season Saturday at 4pm at Romano Gym against Winona State. The Bulldogs enter the last day of the season with an outside shot at the NSIC Tournament, but they’ll need some help to make that happen. Either way, it’s the last go-round at home for eight seniors: outside hitter Payton Addink, middle blocker Ellie Dammann, setter Maddi Kealy, defensive specialist Emma Kujawa, libero Kaylyn Madison, defensive specialist Kiley Nihart, right side hitter Samantha Paulsen and outside hitter Cianna Selbitschka.
Paulsen was named first team All-NSIC this week.
Hats off to all the players and coaches. Both teams have played well down the stretch after being given every reason to pout.
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5:30 pregame once again on Saturday, since Miami is one of the few places that doesn’t start the Saturday games one hour (or more) earlier than Friday. Different rant for a different day, I guess.
Back pregame with lines.
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