ALLENTOWN, Pa. — For UMD, this is all too familiar. It's the 13th NCAA Tournament in program history, the eighth under head coach Scott Sandelin, and the fifth consecutive season that will end with games in the NCAAs.
Bowling Green? The Falcons are here for the first time under ninth-year head coach Chris Bergeron, and for the first time in 29 years overall.
If there's pressure heading into Saturday's first-round NCAA Midwest Regional game at PPL Center, that pressure is likely on the defending champions. UMD is a top regional seed for just the second time ever, seeded at No. 2 nationally for the second time in three years.
UMD's captain, Parker Mackay, is playing in his fourth NCAA Tournament, and he knows the value of experience will only take the Bulldogs so far.
“Experience anytime you can get it is important going into these situations, but at the
same time every team at this point is really good,” Mackay said Friday. “We respect everyone that is here and it
will be a fun experience again but to be able to have a lot of players on our team coming
back here will be huge going forward for sure.”
“We know that this time of year, everyone who is here is deserving of a spot to be
here,: fellow senior forward Peter Krieger said. “We have worked all year to get to this point. We are taking it one day at a time,
which every other team is probably doing as well. We are just chasing the opportunity.”
Is experience overrated?
Depends on who you ask.
As Bowling Green's Bergeron said, “I don't think you can teach experience.” The Miami alum said he thinks one of the Bulldogs' strengths is the experience on the roster, “because of what they went through last year.
“How do you teach someone that? You can't. We'll look to our older players. It means a lot to have those juniors and seniors out there. I'm a firm believer that you can't teach experience. You have to go through it.”
******
Of course, we've already seen how experience can be overrated in this tournament, and it's only eight hours old.
Top seed St. Cloud State is done, succumbing 2-1 to NCAA Tournament newcomer American International. You can't get less experienced in the NCAAs than the Yellow Jackets, who had never played in it before. AIC plays Denver Saturday in Fargo for a spot in the Frozen Four, which is crazy to type and I just did so I would know.
To his credit, Bergeron deflected a lot of the underdog talk at the press conference Friday in Allentown. He did say his players' “ears perk up” when the team is a perceived underdog, but he used that as a chance to talk about UMD and how tough it will be to play the Bulldogs on account of the defending champions' compete level.
Bergeron also spoke at length about what this NCAA berth means to him and the proud program he runs.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I get to sit up here and represent all the people that this means a lot to. That is very humbling for me, because I know how important this program is to a great number of people, whether they played or just cheered for the team. Years ago, when there was talk and rumor, those people not only cheered for us but they fought for this program. It is a proud day for them and for all of us.”
Bowling Green has talent. Junior goalie Ryan Bednard (who is listed as 6-5 but Bergeron actually said he's 6-6) has a .926 save percentage to go along with a 1.78 goals against. Sophomores Max Johnson (19 goals, 42 points) and Brandon Kruse (nine goals, 40 points) have combined for 82 points. Another sophomore, Connor Ford, has 17 goals and 34 points.
Sandelin is, not surprisingly, aware of the skill Bowling Green possesses, and he knows the Bulldogs have to take good care of the puck, along with make smart plays while pressured.
“They pressure you and do a
really good job all over the rink playing as five and playing their system; they are good
with their sticks,” the head coach explained. “You can’t get frustrated, I think that is key because there are going to be
a lot of sticks on pucks and plays will be disrupted because of their pressure and their
positioning and their sticks. So it is easy to get frustrated when you don’t make a lot of
clean plays, but you just have to stick with it and hold on to it and make sure we possess
it and not throw it away which starts any team’s transition, especially Bowling Green’s.”
The Falcons sure don't give up much. Bowling Green allows 1.82 goals per game, UMD sits at 2.00. If all goes according to plan, this will be a tight, low-scoring game. Which means it'll probably end 6-5 or something wacky like that.
Of course, Bowling Green will have to deal with a UMD team that is truly four lines and three defensive pairs deep. Oh, and Mike Richter Award finalist Hunter Shepard had a great weekend at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and looks to continue playing at that level.
Look, UMD will be challenged Saturday, but let's not pretend the Bulldogs can't bring the game to the Falcons, too. Respect the opponent, absolutely, but don't forget UMD has a pretty good team, too.
******
Sandelin didn't need St. Cloud State to get bumped out of the tournament. To be honest, I wonder if he would even consider mentioning it to his team. Doesn't seem like his style. He knows what has to happen Saturday, and it starts with … well, the start. He talked a lot about UMD's slow start in the NCHC title game against St. Cloud State, a game the Bulldogs would rally back to win 3-2 in double overtime.
“We need to have a good start,” said Sandelin. “I think that is important for us and it is not always
about scoring goals. It is about making sure that we come out and get four or five shifts
under our belts where we are moving the puck north and trying to establish some
pressure in their zone and not start like we did on Saturday where we got pinned in our
zone and we got tired. That is why we didn’t have any energy to go the other way. St.
Cloud did a great job with that and these guys are going to come at us too.”
If you go back a few games, UMD hasn't had a really good start for a while, one of those games where they jump on an opponent and dominate possession. It's hard to play a complete game without having a good start.
We don't know who will officiate this game. We know it won't be a crew from the NCHC or WCHA, as NCAA games are not officiated by crews from the leagues represented in the game. Hockey East and the Big Ten are the most likely candidates to be in Allentown, as their leagues did not send any teams here (Quinnipiac is ECAC, and Arizona State is considered WCHA as that is where it drew officials from and that is the league the Sun Devils worked with for supplemental discipline when needed).
But Bowling Green finished third in Division I and second to Arizona State among NCAA qualifiers, averaging 14.5 penalty minutes per game. UMD clocked in 24th nationally and fourth among tourney teams at 11.3.
However, the Falcons concede a staggering 4.7 power plays per game, more than a full power play
per game
more than UMD's 3.6 per game. It's something Bergeron is absolutely concerned about, insistent the last thing he wants is for his team's return to the NCAA Tournament to disintegrate into a special teams affair.
“If there was a reoccurring theme with our group over the course of the year,” he said, “more of a negative thought, we’ve taken too many penalties, unnecessary, undisciplined penalties over the course of the year. Now, the last game we played we talked about, we can not get into a special teams battle with Minnesota State, their power play is extremely strong, this is no different.
“We do have confidence in our special teams, but Minnesota Duluth is a whole other bunch of problems and we cannot allow ourselves (to get into that type of game). I understand that penalties happen but they can’t be unnecessary or undisciplined. A special teams battle, we have killed penalties consistently and have been pretty good all year, I think we’re in the top two or three in terms of our special teams penalty kill. Our power play has been better as of late and I do think tomorrow’s game will come down to special teams. We need to find a way to the good side of that.”
(In case you're wondering, Bowling Green's 4.7 power plays allowed per game is tops among tournament teams, but so is the Falcons' 4.9 power plays for per game. UMD averages 3.6 for and 3.6 against, which puts the Bulldogs in a tie with Notre Dame for the third-fewest power plays for among NCAA teams, and eighth among the 16 teams for power plays against.)
Sandelin eluded to this earlier in the week, saying he believes the Falcons will take penalties if UMD forces them to defend the way he wants his team to.
And when UMD gets a power play, the Bulldogs better be ready to feel some heat.
“Their penalty kill is very
aggressive,” said Sandelin, “they have nine short-handed goals so we know that we are going to be
under pressure, but that is no different than the way that they play five-on-five. We have
got to manage that and make sure that we have support and we are doing the right
things with the puck. We have to take advantage of getting up the rink quick. Being
successful on the power play starts with winning face-offs. If we win face-offs, we aren’t
chasing pucks. We are going to have to do things a little quicker and execute to try and
get some pucks on net and hopefully score some goals.”
******
A reminder:
Because of the Twins, we are on WDSM (710AM and 98.1FM) in the Twin Ports and surrounding area for the start of Saturday's game. 2:30pm pregame, highlighted by a Pop Evil montage and interviews with Sandelin and sophomore forward Nick Swaney. 3pm puck drop in Allentown.
We will join the game in progress on KDAL after the Twins game ends, at which point we will be simulcasting.
However, if you are a loyal online listener, 1) thank you, and 2) we will stream the game as always at kdal610.com, as well as on the KDAL app. No change to your listening habits from the season, no need to download a different app for one game.
Survive and advance. Don't, and it's the end of the season. It's that simple. We hope for a good result and another game to bring you on Sunday, but we'll torch that bridge when we get there.
