For the second time this season, the UMD men’s and women’s teams are home on the same weekend for series.
(If you’re wondering, there are either three or four more such weekends, counting the first weekend of January — when the women play Thursday-Friday and the men Friday-Saturday — and depending on if the women are home for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.)
The men battle Western Michigan, the women Bemidji State. And we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.
9 THOUGHTS
1. Saturday will be an emotional night for the Bulldog men. Family, friends, and Bulldog alumni have come together to create Adam Johnson Memorial Night, honoring the UMD alum and former NHL player more than a year after his tragic (to say the bare minimum) passing.
UMD players will wear special Adam Johnson tribute jerseys for the pregame warmup, with an auction ongoing online for those and some pro jerseys donated by UMD alums who played with Adam.
While you’re here, if you haven’t, please give a listen to the montage we put together last October after Adam’s passing. I had archived 21 of the 24 goals Adam Johnson scored at UMD, and I present those calls in audio form here.
“It’s been a tough year,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said this week, “just with some people that we’ve lost and started with that. But anytime you can celebrate his life and what he’s meant, the type of person he was, it’s a great opportunity.
“I’m glad that I’m glad Hertz (Western Michigan associate coach Jason Herter, who was on the Bulldog staff when Johnson played for the Bulldogs) will be in town too, because he was part of that. And I’m glad a lot of our alumni parents that know the Johnsons and certainly Adam are gonna be back in town.”
Last month, on the anniversary of Johnson’s death in England, The Athletic had a piece written by Mark Lazerus and Sean Gentille ($) that discussed how so few NHL players have kept wearing neck protection while playing. One of the players Lazerus — who covers Chicago — spoke to for the story was Blackhawks forward Joey Anderson, a teammate of Johnson’s at UMD, and one of the players who has a signed jersey in this week’s auction.
“I’m not necessarily surprised,” said Blackhawks winger and Johnson’s former Minnesota-Duluth teammate Joey Anderson, who was required to wear a neck guard after Johnson’s death because he was in the AHL at the time, and who continues to wear it in the NHL. “At this age, guys are pretty stubborn. They’re into their routines and set in their ways. It’s hard for guys to change.”
Sandelin was asked about this subject in a broader question broached at his Wednesday media conference.
“I like that there’s been some changes with the youth hockey, with the necl stuff, even the American (Hockey) League. I know somebody asked me the other day, is it going to be mandatory in the NCAA? And I said, I don’t know. We got a few guys wearing them. I think we had more last year. I’m probably a little more surprised, and I’m not in that world, but I’m more surprised I haven’t seen a lot of different, maybe, manufacturers or different types of…
“I know I’m working with a friend of mine who used to deer hunt with, he’s with a company, he sent a couple samples that our guys got to try and so to get feedback. It’s not there yet but that was good. So there’s people trying, I just haven’t seen a lot of stuff.”
I’ve had a lot of people ask me over the last 12 months and change. I remain fairly steadfast in my belief that neck protection will (likely soon) be mandatory in all forms of amateur hockey. The NHL is a different animal, but the obvious hope here is that if it’s mandatory at the lower levels, you’ll see more and more players continue to wear neck protection when they get to the NHL, whether it’s required there or not.
2. Vibes are strong for the UMD men after a 12-goal outburst last weekend at Miami. And now more help has arrived. Look, Miami was picked last in the NCHC. To be blunt, I saw nothing last weekend that makes me doubt that placement. Anthony Noreen and his staff are energetic and enthusiastic and passionate about getting this job done, but their work has only just begun.
UMD, however, needed that. Sandelin talked a couple times the last few weeks about the team needing to learn how to win together. It’s one thing to joke with Zam Plante about lifting the Clark Cup last year in Fargo (Harper Bentz was there for that, too). And that winning experience is important. But it’s another for this group — a different group at a different level — to figure out what it takes to win.
The Bulldogs seemed to gradually impose their will on the RedHawks last week.
“I thought we got better as the weekend went on,” Sandelin said. “I thought we were a little sluggish in the beginning, but we got the lead, and I thought we got better. I was real happy for Adam (Gajan). He’d always like to get the goose egg, the shutout. But I thought our guys buckled down for him too. And after the previous weekend, it was a good response.
“I thought Saturday, the first two periods were really good for us. Third period, sometimes the way the first two went and the way the game went in our favor after we were down, to score six straight, I thought those (games) are hard sometimes to play. And then we put ourselves in a tougher spot by taking the major, but our killers were great all weekend.”
UMD killed majors in both games, conceding only five total shots on goal in the ten minutes of Miami power play time. Both were at critical times. The Friday major on Anthony Menghini came right after UMD had taken a 2-0 lead, and the Bulldogs didn’t let Miami take back any momentum at all on that power play. Saturday, Joey Pierce was tagged for a major after a Miami challenge, and in a 6-2 game with the Bulldogs on their heels a bit, getting that kill eradicated any remaining hope the home team had.
Now we’ll see how things look with Max Plante back. Sandelin confirmed Wednesday that the plan is for Plante to return after a ten-game absence due to an upper body injury. Sandelin said the Plante brothers — Max and Zam — are together with fellow freshman Harper Bentz on a line.
His first two-plus periods in UMD colors were nothing short of dynamic. If he can pick up where he left off, the Bulldogs have the makings of a dangerous top two lines because …
3. UMD might have something with its new-look James Gang, with Menghini on drums and Jayson Shaugabay on bass (or vice versa, but Menghini plays hockey like a guy who would be good on the drums).
(Please don’t ask me what that means because I do not know.)
Anyway, the trio combined for five goals (three for Menghini, one each for James and Shaugabay), 11 points (five from James, three each for Menghini and Shaugabay), and 19 shots (nine by Menghini, eight for James, two by Shaugabay).
Sandelin was asked about Menghini’s run of form, with six goals in his last four games.
“I think he’s always had that ability,” the head coach said. “He’s going for the Cy Young Award*, for sure. I think he had that in junior hockey too, but I just think he’s playing the way Geno needs to play. And that’s something we talked about with him too, just when you go up there, just play your game. Because he can skate, he’s an agitator, he can shoot a puck. You’re gonna get opportunities if you play the right way, especially playing with those guys (James and Shaugabay). Make sure you’re ready.
“He could have probably had another five or six goals this weekend. So hopefully he can finish off more of those chances, because they’re going to keep coming with the line he’s on. Dom’s going to create, Shaugs is going to create, but Geno brings an element to that line with speed and tenacity. Just keep your game simple, right? Because sometimes guys move with different guys and they change the way they play. And then they end up not really accomplishing what they should accomplish.
“His effectiveness on the line is, the reason he’s there, is he has the ability to score. He can skate. He’s not afraid of the physical. A little kamikaze at times. But I love that about him, right? We talked about it probably a month, three weeks before we actually did it. And he’s taken advantage of it. He’s had a great opportunity there.”
(* – A quick aside to explain the Cy Young bit for those unaware. Kraig has used this term on the radio and I’ve stolen it as well. It’s used to describe a player who has a lot of goals and not many assists. Look at the G-A line like a pitcher’s record. Menghini is 15-2 now for his UMD career. That’s Cy Young stuff.)
4. The James Gang was good last weekend, but Jack Smith’s line may have been the straw stirring the proverbial drink.
Smith, Carter Loney, and Joe Molenaar were active all weekend, fantastic in all three zones. They minimized defensive zone time, spent a ton of time down low in the offensive zone, and scored three times (two by Loney and one by Smith) on the weekend.
Not surprisingly, Sandelin was very happy with the trio.
“They played a huge role in the weekend,” he said, “so we’re going to look for those guys to keep doing that. They’ll keep playing that way. It may not be every weekend where they’re going to score three, four goals, but I hope so, because they’re going to generate chances the way they play.
“First they’re older and experienced. We talked about Joe a lot, his calming influence, some of the intangible things he brings, the messages on the bench. Watch him play, there’s no panic in his game. I think it was great to see Jack come back and really not miss a beat. Lones has been good for us, but we talked a little bit about what can we do to get him to contribute a little more offensively. He has offensive skill. I’m not asking him to lead our team in scoring, but he’s a really good F1 on our forecheck, he’s smart.
“We’re gonna rely on those guys. We can play them against anybody, they’re all very important guys in our kill. They’re kind of like-minded the way they play and they’re okay with playing the simple game. That’s the nice thing about it. They don’t have to be fancy and sometimes this game isn’t fancy. It’s simple, hard work, grind, get to the net, make simple plays. You saw both their goals are 10 feet around the net. They’re willing to go there.”
5. Western Michigan is a different challenge. The ninth-ranked Broncos are 6-1-1 after a straight split of six points last weekend against Colorado College (Western won in overtime, then Colorado College win in a shootout after a 1-1 draw).
The Broncos are good at this reloading thing. Pat Ferschweiler’s group lost seven of its top nine scorers from last season’s NCAA Tournament team.
No worries.
Western isn’t scoring at the rate of previous Bronco teams (yet).
No worries.
Alex Bump is emerging as a stud, averaging a point per game as a sophomore, and there’s a lot of meat on that bone when you consider the fact Bump has 52 shots on goal. In eight games. And he’s scored three times.
As Chris Daughtry sings in a kinda new song, the dam’s about to break.
“I certainly hope it is sooner rather than later,” Ferschweiler said this week. “Not included in those 50-plus shots are his seven posts he’s already hit this season. And inside those 52, what’s the number of quality looks? They’re high. I don’t know what it is, but it’s real high. He leads us in Grade-A scoring chances by a country mile. He drags his teammates along with him. But like I said, he produces every single night. And that’s where he can’t get lost in just points. I think some people just look at the finished product. His process has been excellent. He practices hard and well every single day. He’s delivering on the ice, and whether it goes in or not, it’s still a positive for the Broncos each and every shift.”
While Western isn’t necessarily piling up goals, Ferschweiler is thrilled with his goaltending. Graduate Cameron Rowe came back for a final year, and Ferschweiler said Rowe knew in coming back that he was going to have competition in goal.
“I didn’t know at the time it would be one of the best prospects in the country,” Ferschweiler said of freshman Hampton Slukynsky. The Warroad product decommitted from Northern Michigan after coach Grant Potulny left for the AHL, and he decided to head to Western Michigan. Rowe and Slukynsky have each started four times, combining for a .934 save percentage. You’re going to win a lot more than you lose with that number.
“I think they’ve done a great job of pushing each other, of making sure that each one is on top of their game,” Ferschweiler added. “We have split so far, but I told them, like the rest of our team, this is an effort-based reward system here. Whatever you earn, you’ll get. And so far, they’ve each earned a game per weekend. I’m assuming that’ll be the case here in Duluth. And then we’ll just kind of move forward, take it weekend by weekend.”
6. Congrats to Arizona State, which picked up its first-ever conference win Saturday over Omaha. The reward? A trip to Denver and a two-game series against the 12-0 Pioneers, who haven’t lost since the Clinton administration*.
(* – possible exaggeration)
A search party has been formed in an effort to find the Pioneers’ first loss. We’ll update you on its progress as developments warrant.
The rest of the weekend in the NCHC sees Miami travel to Omaha, where the Mavericks continue to see all the close-game fortune they experienced last season explode in one fell swoop. Saturday’s defeat to the Sun Devils was the fifth of seven Omaha losses to come by one goal (and, to reiterate, the loss to Western two Saturdays ago included a Broncos empty net goal to create the final two-goal margin).
Also, St. Cloud State returns from bye to travel to Colorado College. Should be a great series with superb goaltending. Of course, CC’s Kaidan Mbereko could be the best goaltender in the country, while SCSU sophomore Isak Posch has emerged as a potential star in the making (.935 save percentage in 11 games/starts).
7. The UMD women are home this weekend to face Highway 2 rival Bemidji State. The Bulldogs are looking to rebound after getting swept at home last weekend by Minnesota, as the Gophers passed the Bulldogs for third in the WCHA standings.
Head coach Laura Schuler talked last week about the need for improved puck management from her team. She didn’t necessarily get what she was looking for on Friday, when Minnesota controlled much of a 4-1 win, but she saw improvement in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Saturday. She noted the stat report they use internally showed them at 52 percent puck possession on Saturday, including 58 percent in a second period where Minnesota had nine minutes of power play time.
“Really thought one of the things going into that weekend is we wanted to manage the puck better,” Schuler said at her Wednesday media conference. “And I always put the onus on the puck carrier. You know, it’s your responsibility to hold on to the puck to have poise and confidence with the puck. You have to make sure the receiver is ready before you move the puck. It’s not a hot potato. Take that responsibility. We really honed in on this past week and I thought it paid off for us. Obviously still not the outcome that we wanted, but I thought overall our Saturday game against Minnesota was one of the most complete games that we played to date.”
Bemidji State’s record (3-10-1) isn’t going to scare people, but the improvement the Beavers are showing as the season progresses under first-year head coach Amber Fryklund (yes, the Hibbing legend) should snap all adversaries to immediate attention.
The last two weekends, Bemidji has played the Gophers tight (a one-goal loss and a Saturday 4-1 defeat fueled by three first-period Gopher power play goals) before sweeping St. Thomas. Freshman goalie Kaitlin Groess — reigning WCHA Rookie of the Week — has brought her save percentage up to .916 for the season.
“They have played Minnesota really tight.” Schuler said of BSU. “They played St. Cloud really tight. They just swept the Tommies. I think they’re a really well structured team. Amber Fryklund is doing an excellent job there. And obviously Emma Sobieck, who was with us last year. I think they’re bringing a new flair to that program, new energy and we’re super excited to play them.”
8. With REO Speedwagon and Loverboy playing at Amsoil Arena Tuesday night, UMD’s teams moved down the hall and practiced at the DECC for most of this week.
I was over at the men’s practice for a while on Wednesday. The DECC was charmingly (that’s a word??) cold. But there was no escape of a nostalgic feeling. Walking around the rink in that old barn brought back a lot of memories. Games I attended as a fan-turned-season ticket holder around the early 2000s. Being there the night Mike Sertich returned as Michigan Tech’s new head coach and the Huskies beat Sandelin’s Bulldogs in overtime. The comeback win over the Gophers in Game 3 of their 1998 playoff series (I’m one of the maybe 3,000 who can honestly say they were there, and we did NOT leave early!). Getting the play by play job after the 2005-06 season had started, and we had attended the season-opening series as fans. That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day.
Sandelin brought up the last game there, when Mike Connolly’s tremendous short-handed goal was the difference in a 2-1 win over Denver.
(Oh, what the heck? Here’s the call. Enjoy. Somehow I actually manage to sound younger here.)
Anyway, I asked both UMD coaches — Sandelin and Schuler — about getting back in that place. Schuler, you might remember, was at the DECC for the 2008 Frozen Four and watched the Bulldogs win the national title before joining the staff that offseason.
“I think I mentioned this before,” Schuler said, “but our secondary facility is so nice. It’s a lot nicer than other people’s programs, where sometimes that’s their primary facility. So we’re so fortunate to have two amazing places right here and we only have to literally walk five minutes in our roller blades to get across to go. It’s a pretty amazing facility over there and absolutely it’s brought back some great memories of us being successful over there so that was a lot of fun to practice in that building.”
“Yeah, every time we go there,” Sandelin said, “guys go, ‘We got to play a game here, coach.’ They want to play a game there. I’m fine with that if we can. It’s always been a great rink. The neutral zone is really tight. We did a four on four game on Tuesday. Guys were like, ‘Whoa, there’s not a lot of room.’ We almost went to three on three, but we decided to keep it four on four. A lot of good memories there. I remember the last game there too, right, before we moved over against Denver.
“It’s fun to go over there. And I think the guys like it. I still laugh at when we used to always play there, and then we go to those Olympic rinks. It’s not a big ice sheet. But a lot of good memories. Still a great rink. Maybe we’ll play a game there someday.”
(I’m genuinely curious what you guys think of that idea. Feel free to drop me a line however you’d like.)
9. There was news in the WCHA this week, as St. Thomas coach Joel Johnson stepped down suddenly on Tuesday afternoon.
The university’s initial statement offered no reason for the sudden change, one that saw assistant coach Bethany Brausen elevated to interim head coach. Reports surfaced that Johnson coached Friday’s game in Bemidji, but was not seen on the bench Saturday.
The school elaborated a bit on Wednesday, saying it was notified of an incident after Friday’s game that triggered an investigation.
Tommies athletic director Phil Esten issued a statement indicating that a Friday night incident led to Johnson’s resignation.
“While I cannot comment on the specifics of the incident itself, I can confirm we immediately started an investigation after concerns were brought to our attention following Friday night’s game,” Esten said in his statement. “Coach Johnson did not coach the team on Saturday night and resigned on Tuesday. We hold all of our coaches to the highest standards consistent with university values and convictions, and prioritize the experience and well-being of our student-athletes.”
St. Thomas lost 4-1 to Bemidji State on Friday after losing its previous game to Lindenwood 6-1. After losing Saturday, without Johnson, the Tommies fell to 1-8-1 in their past 10 games.
No comments being offered on anything that was alleged, since we don’t have really any info about it, but this type of thing really sucks for the players and remaining staff. They’re the ones who have to adjust the most to a major change like this happening on the fly. And none of them asked for any of it.
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We hit the air at 6:30pm Friday, then fire off our Adam Johnson tribute one more time Saturday at 4:30pm ahead of a 5pm start. There are myriad reasons for traffic congestion this weekend in the Canal Park area, so please plan accordingly if you’re attending either game (or both).
Back pregame Friday with lines.
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