ALLENTOWN, Pa. — 10 NCAA Division I programs have made back-to-back-to-back appearances in the Frozen Four.
Sunday night, UMD tries to become the 11th.
The Bulldogs also aim to make the Frozen Four — April 11 and 13 in Buffalo — for the fifth time under 19th-year head coach Scott Sandelin.
(By the way, a win would lead UMD to its seventh Frozen Four appearance overall, and the Bulldogs would move into a tie for 15th on the all-time list if that happens.)
A tall task awaits.
Quinnipiac is loaded with talent under 25th-year head man Rand Pecknold. 13 freshmen litter the roster, nine of whom played in Saturday's 2-1 regional semifinal win over Arizona State. That's valuable experience when facing a UMD team that has 16 players who own national championship rings.
But Pecknold has a pedigree. Quinnipiac has played for two titles, losing to Yale in 2013 and North Dakota in 2016. He has won over 500 games (he hit the 500-win mark earlier this season) and has a .613 winning percentage with the Bobcats. He won't be phased by this moment, and his players didn't appear to be on Saturday, either.
Pecknold said after the Arizona State win that he expects the Bobcats will need to play better to beat the Bulldogs. He also showered UMD's back end with praise.
“They’re good,” said Pecknold. “They’ve got some pretty talented D. Love Shepard in net, I think his compete level is off the charts. He really battles and tracks the puck well. They just come with four lines of
forwards. It is hard for me to figure out, because I don’t see them a lot, I’ve watched a ton of tape over
the past two weeks getting ready for them, but it just seems like they’re all interchangeable. (Sandelin) does such a good job. He’s one of the better coaches in college hockey.”
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On paper, this is a tantalizing special teams matchup. Quinnipiac's power play clicks at 25.3 percent, good for fifth nationally and third among teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
But since losing defenseman Brandon Fortunado for the season to an injury in February, the Bobcats have only scored on six of 38 power play chances, a 15.8 percent conversion rate. Four of the goals came on six chances Feb. 22 against St. Lawrence. Outside of that game, Quinnipiac has scored just two power play goals on 32 chances (6.3 percent).
The Bobcats are still dangerous on the back end, thanks to Hobey Baker finalist Chase Priskie, who has 39 points this season.
The UMD penalty kill, which topped the nation for most of the season, slipped late in the regular season, allowing 10 goals on 18 chances (55.6 percent) in the last five games of the season. In the five games since the playoffs started, UMD has killed 17 of 18 opponent power plays (94.4 percent) and allowed only 15 shots on goal (zero in two power plays against Bowling Green Saturday, though in BG's defense, one of those PPs was only ten seconds long).
The Quinnipiac kill has been humming along, third nationally at 87.6 percent, which ranks the Bobcats second (behind Bowling Green) among NCAA qualifiers. Quinnipiac has killed 14 straight power plays over the last six games, including Arizona State's only chance Saturday night.
Conversely, the UMD power play has struggled in the playoffs. The Bulldogs were scoreless in four chances Saturday, though they did have a couple good looks. The fourth of those power plays was the worst of them, with no shots and little sustained zone time. And, like Bowling Green, one of UMD's power plays was ten seconds long (BG had a power play that it short-circuited with a penalty after losing a faceoff, so we had 1:50 of four-on-four hockey sandwiched between ten-second power plays that are virtually nothing but stat pads for penalty kills). Anyway, the postseason numbers for UMD are not good: 1-for-19 (5.3 percent) with 27 shots on goal.
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One thing to watch for in this game: Ice conditions. We didn't hear much from UMD about it, but Pecknold made sure everyone knew what he thought after Quinnipiac's game.
“It was really warm in the rink, the ice wasn’t
great, it was an issue,” he said. “I don’t think that’s on the PPL [Center], I think they’ve done a great job. When you
shave the ice down and you paint over it and it’s fresh ice, this always happens. It’s hard, ice needs to
get broken in over 10 days and we didn’t do that. Nothing on them, but the puck was bouncing a lot.”
In my experience, the ice conditions do tend to improve as these weekends go on. What will help is it is much cooler in Allentown (low 50s) than it was at its peak Saturday (low 70s). Also, there isn't a game before this one. That gives the ice a few hours to settle after the teams' morning skates, assuming they actually had them (this time of year, they sometimes become optional and are typically very short for those who do take part).
(I have a longstanding rule against attending morning skates because nothing really ever happens at them. However, the NCAA does not allow media to attend them at their events, so even if I typically went I wouldn't have been there.)
If the ice is bad, this is one of those games where it would likely have an affect on both teams.
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The goaltending matchup will be good, too. Couple of Mike Richter Award finalists in Shepard for UMD and Andrew Shortridge for Quinnipiac.
Shepard has stopped 157 of 162 shots (.965 save percentage) in five playoff games after the UMD penalty kill struggles brought Shepard's save percentage down a bit in the latter part of the regular season. Shepard has brought that percentage back up to .919 heading into this game.
Shortridge is at a .941 on the season. This will be his 21st straight start after wrestling the starting job from sophomore Keith Petruzzelli, who had rotated through the first half of the season. Shortridge was up over .960 at Christmas, but since taking over the job full-time, he has a save percentage of .925. Still very good, but not quite as superhuman as the first half of the campaign.
Based on the defenses and the goalies involved, it seems a low-scoring, tight game is again in order.
It's for a trip to Buffalo. We wouldn't have it any other way.
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Freshman center Jackson Cates returns after missing three games with illness. Freshman defenseman Hunter Lellig draws out of the lineup, so UMD will dress 13 forwards and six defensemen for this regional championship.
Quinnipiac has tweaked its bottom two lines because of an injury to forward Nick Jermain, who is out. Freshman Daniel Winslow takes his place, and the Bobcats have ten freshmen dressed for this game.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Cates (Noah) – Krieger – Swaney
Koepke – Richards – Mackay
Tufte – Cates (Jackson) – Laderoute
Roth – Miller – Exell
Jacques
UMD defense
Wolff – Perunovich
Samberg – Anderson (Mikey)
Anderson (Matt) – Roehl
UMD goalies
Shepard – Deery – Dietrich
Quinnipiac forwards
Bongiovanni – Tufto – de Jong
Martin – Fallstrom – Whelan
O'Connor – Davidson – Winslow
Lombardi – Burgart – Friedmann
Quinnipiac defense
DeLiberatore – Priskie
Cukste – Rafferty
Shiplo – Metsa
Boudreau
Quinnipiac goalies
Petruzzelli – Mayanja – Shortridge
(Quinnipiac lists goalies numerically. Shortridge is starting.)
