New Wild GM says all the right things in Minnesota debut

St. Paul — Paul Fenton, who officially took over as general manager of the Wild this week, used his introduction to the media and public Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center to observe that his new club “is not very far” from contending for the Stanley Cup.

He’s singing owner Craig Leipold’s tune.

Leipold, who interviewed a handful of candidates to replace the fired Chuck Fletcher, said at Tuesday’s news conference that it was unanimous among them “that we are a team that’s just missing a piece.”

Asked what that one missing piece might be, Fenton laughed and noted drily, “I didn’t say that.”

What he must do in Minnesota, he said, is “tweak” the team’s workings “to try to get us to win a Stanley Cup. That’s what our goal is going to be from Day 1.”

Well, yeah…

It’s a given, on the occasion of a new leader taking over any sports franchise, that smiles and optimism prevail.

Said Leipold: “This is a very, very exciting day for us.”

Agreeing that the challenge is an exciting one, Fenton cited the Wild reaching the playoffs for the past six seasons and noted that the franchise “obviously doesn’t need to be overhauled. … This organization has a very good substance to it, and I want to bring a family atmosphere.

“The biggest thing I want to bring here is inclusiveness and passion that people are willing to go that extra mile to help this team win.”

Fenton, 58, is nothing if not committed. He worked for Leipold when Leipold owned the Nashville Predators and leaves Nashville after 20 years on the job, the final 12 as assistant GM.

A native of Springfield, Mass., he met his future wife, Nona, when he was a junior in high school and she was a sophomore. This year they will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.

A former player for Boston University where he was a one-year teammate of 1980 U.S. Olympic goalie Jim Craig, Fenton said he grew up loving the hockey culture of Massachusetts and soon learned that there is an even greater fabric of the sport in Minnesota.

His comment on the Minnesota state high school hockey tournament: “Nothing like it.”

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold and new team GM Paul Fenton (Minnesota Wild/Hannah Foslien)

The former Winnipeg Jet who figures he will have no problem adjusting to the weather differences between Nashville and Minnesota, Fenton talked about the challenge of taking over a franchise just a month before the 2018 draft, looming meetings with team personnel including players and scouting staff, watching some hockey and traveling between his old residence and the Twin Cities.

“I don’t think I’m going to sleep the next month,” he said with a grin.

But he’s relishing it.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been a fun whirlwind.”

Fenton made his reputation by pulling many of the right strings to boost the Predators into the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago and into the second round of this year’s playoffs. He’s not afraid to deal.

In Minnesota, he said, “I’ll look at small trades; I’ll look at big trades. Whatever is going to improve this organization going forward.”

Defenseman Ryan Suter played in Nashville under Fenton and came away with a positive opinion.

“You look at the success Paul’s had in Nashville, from drafting guys to trades that he’s made,” Suter said. “He’s always made his team better, and as a player that’s what you want the guy in charge to be doing.”

Fenton has plenty of experience for the job, but now needs to get to know the people in his new organization. Even coach Bruce Boudreau is a new guy to the incoming GM. Fenton is hopeful the two will mesh.

“I’m not going to tell Bruce how to coach,” he said. “I’ve never been a coach.”

Boudreau, too, must adapt.

“I’ll coach whoever he gets here,” Boudreau said.

Ah, yes, but just what do the Wild need?

There were repeated mentions at the news conference about the requirement for size and speed to be successful in the NHL, but Leipold considers the Wild a team with good size.

Sort of.

“We need to play heavier,” he said.

Boudreau praised the depth of the teams advancing the farthest in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, and Fenton talked about those factors plus a team’s leadership and intangibles that lead to success.

Finding all that, in a nutshell, is the No. 1 requirement for Fenton’s new job.

“I’m here to put a stamp on this thing,” he said. “We’re not leaving until we do the right thing.”

The post Fenton Takes the Reins appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Owner Craig Leipold announced Monday that Chuck Fletcher, the team’s general manager for nine seasons, will not be returning.

The Wild fell in the first round of the playoffs for the third year in a row and lost the best-of-7 series in five games for the second consecutive season earlier this month, getting shut out in their final two games against the Winnipeg Jets.

In a statement, Leipold thanked Fletcher, whose teams reached 100 points in three of the past four seasons, for making “substantial contributions to our franchise over the past nine years,” but added, “I feel it is time for a new approach aimed at delivering the Stanley Cup to the deserving fans of the State of Hockey.”

Leipold said assistant GM Brent Flahr will serve as acting general manager while the team looks for a replacement. Flahr is considered one of many candidates to take over for Fletcher.

Minnesota finished third in the Central Division this season and second in 2016-17, but has lost 16 of its most recent 20 playoff games. It had made the playoffs for six seasons in a row.

Injuries to Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Nino Nieterreiter, Charlie Coyle, Jared Spurgeon and others added to the team’s degree of difficulty this season, and Suter and Parise were both sidelined at the finish.

Because of the likely retirement of 41-year-old winger Matt Cullen and the team’s close proximity to the NHL’s salary cap, more changes are likely for the Wild via trades and free agency during the summer.

Expect Leipold to move quickly to name a new GM and begin the process of restructuring the Wild lineup.

The post Fletcher out as Wild GM appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Offense sputters putting Minnesota on the brink of elimination 

St. Paul – Is it too soon to suggest that the undermanned Wild — they are missing $196 million worth of talent in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter — are simply no match for the Winnipeg Jets?

Coach Bruce Boudreau says no.

Yes, the Wild dropped a 2-0 home ice decision to the Jets Tuesday night and trail 3-1 in the best-of-7 playoff series, but Boudreau insisted that the Wild are not finished.

“They’ll regroup,” he said.

He has to be optimistic; he’s the coach.

Game 5 is Friday in Winnipeg, where the Jets have won 34 of 43 games since the start of the 2017-18 season, and after they shut down Minnesota in Game 4 in front of 19,277 antsy Wild fans, the Wild will need to win three straight to advance.

It’s a tall order without Parise (broken sternum) and Suter (broken ankle), who signed twin $98 million contracts in 2012 as free agents.

The Wild outshot Winnipeg for the first time in the series Tuesday, but were unable to muster a goal againt Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was pulled after two periods in Minnesota’s 6-2 win two nights earlier.

Hellebuyck made 30 saves.

“You knew five or 10 minutes into that game that he was ready and feeling good,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

In Parise’s absence, someone needed to pick up the slack. Well, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Jordan Greenway and Tyler Ennis each managed just one shot on goal while Marcus Foligno, Matt Cullen and Daniel Winnik each had zero.

Nevertheless, Boudreau pointed out, the Wild battled their tails off and might have taken the game into overtime if not for what Boudreau and everyone in Minnesota’s dressing room called a blatent missed call.

The Wild were controlling the puck on the power play late in the first period with the score 0-0 when Eric Staal, stationed between the circles, got flattened by a cross-check to the neck from Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey.

Staal lay on the ice for a moment, finally got up on one knee, then skated slowly off the ice as play continued.

“He cross-checked me,” Staal said. “Everyone saw it. I don’t know how no one with stripes saw it.”

“My take,” Boudreau said, “is the same take that everybody in the building saw. The refs looked at it and they decided not to call it because we were already on the power play.

“It cost us the game.”

A five-on-three manpower edge might have enabled the Wild to score first, but two additional factors stemmed from the non-call, Boudreau noted, because Morrissey very likely would have been ejected.

First, Morrissey got an assist on the only goal of the first 59 1/2 minutes late in the first period, and second, he made a sterling defensive play to knock the puck off the Nino Niederreiter’s stick to prevent a breakaway later in the game.

An empty-netter capped the scoring with 11 seconds remaining.

“It should have been a 0-0 game going into overtime,” Boudreau moaned.

The first goal — both Jets goals were scored by Mark Scheifele — was all the Jets needed on this evening as their defense yielded hardly an inch all night.

“We didn’t give them a whole lot of ice tonight to stretch out on,” Maurice said.

Especially in the third period, when the Wild tried to push the pace but managed just nine shots on goal.

“They really dug in,” Boudreau said. “They were really good in the third period.”

Staal, Dumba, Granlund and one or two others had Minnesota’s best chances, but Cullen said the team needed to play with a bit more desperation and “we didn’t have enough.”

Parise and Suter are still out. Game 5 is in Winnipeg, where the Jets practically toyed with the Wild in the first two games of the series. Is it over?

“We’ve just got to re-focus and try to get a win,” rookie defenseman Nick Seeler said. “It’s far from over.”

He has to say that, but actually, it’s very close to over … unless the Wild can spring an upset in Game 5 and force a Game 6 back at the X on Sunday night.

The post No Parise, no goals appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Four-goal second-period blitz shifts momentum Minnesota’s way

St. Paul – Suddenly, we have a series.

In the eyes of many disenchanted Minnesota hockey fans, the Wild looked like they would be unable to do anything in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but absorb four straight playoff losses to the muscular Winnipeg Jets.

Until Sunday night.

With heaps of snow bringing back memories of February — they went 9-4-3 that month — the Wild executed a quick 180 to snuff out the high-flying Jets 6-2 in front of 19,175 at the Xcel Energy Center.

“We got a life, now,” winger Zach Parise said.

After the Jets dominated the first two games in Winnipeg, they grabbed a 1-0 lead on a softy that squirted past goalie Devan Dubnyk 4:50 into the first period Sunday.

“It didn’t defelate us by any means,” Parise said.

Apparently not.

Wild forwards Eric Staal and Jason Zucker celebrate Staal’s first goal of the series on the second period of Minnesota’s 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of there first round Stanley Cup Playoff series on Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Mikael Granlund banged in the rebound of a Mikko Koivu shot on a Minnesota power play midway through the first period, and the Wild netted five of the ensuing six goals to pull within 2-1 in the best-of-7 series.

“We needed that — a little pushback on these guys that we knew we were more than capable of,” Dubnyk said. “And we needed to win the game, plain and simple.”

Three games down and things have changed.

“We were good in the first two, and they didn’t like their game,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “They were good tonight and we didn’t like our game.”

The win was a team effort for a Wild lineup that at times appeared unable to keep up with the Jets during the two games in Winnipeg.

“I thought we got really good games from our big players,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Go down the line: Eric Staal scored his first goal of these playoffs and added an assist, Parise scored his third, Koivu was a force and tallied two assists, Granlund had a goal and an assist, Nick Seeler picked up two assists and a few key blocked shots, Matt Dumba netted the game-winner and an assist, Marcus Foligno got his first goal of the playoffs plus three big hits, and Jordan Greenway bagged his first goal as a pro.

“That shows a lot of good things about our team.” Greenway said. “We got scoring from our top two lines and we got secondary scoring, too. Everyone’s pushing in the right direction.”

Factor in an air-tight defense that blocked 20 Winnipeg shots compared to eight blocks by the Jets and you have the recipe for a win.

Hits — such a factor in Winnipeg — were 26-19 in favor of the Jets but did not seem to faze the home team.

“It’s a physical series,” Granlund said. “It’s fun to be out there — there’s a lot of contact and a lot of emotion.”

Midway through the final period the result became so obvious that some in the big crowd took note of the four-goal lead and the wintry weather and chose to exit the premises a little early for what they expected to be a snow-slowed ride home.

Like the Wild, they could look forward to a rematch two nights later at the X.

One more Minnesota win and the series will come back to the X for Game 6 next Sunday.

The post Wild Push Back appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Ex-Bulldog Soucy draws rave reviews in NHL debut

St. Paul – Life without Ryan Suter officially began for the Wild Monday night in their final home game of the regular season.

Suter, Minnesota’s premier defenseman, is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair a broken fibula in his right leg and is finished for the remainder of the team’s play in 2017-18, the Wild announced Monday.

“I just feel really bad for him,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “He’s a guy that’s been pretty durable his whole life, so it’s probably pretty depressing for him. We just want him to get better.”

Suter’s absence didn’t seem to bother the Wild much Monday as they defeated the sagging Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in front of 19,189 at the Xcel Energy Center.

A Minnesota-centric blue line crew — including Elk River’s Nate Prosser, Eden Prairie’s Nick Seeler and former Minnesota-Duluth standout Carson Soucy making his NHL debut — helped the Wild zero in on a spot in the playoffs Monday.

The unfortunate news going forward is that Minnesota won’t have the benefit of playing the lackluster Oilers in postseason play, but that might be countered by Boudreau’s announcement earlier in the day that defenseman Jared Spurgeon will be back by then, if not before.

Nate Prosser and the Wild’s defensive corps made it a long night for Edmonton forwards on Monday. (MHM photo / Jonny Watkins)

Suter spearheads Minnesota’s blue line for every occasion — especially with Spurgeon sidelined since March 13 with a torn hamstring — but Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba and Ryan Murphy joined Prosser, Seeler and Soucy for a solid performance against Edmonton.

The play of the six D-men made it a good night for goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 22 shots to post his 29th career shutout and fifth this season.

“I don’t think I saw one mistake out there,” Dubnyk said.

Boudreau, too, was smiling when it was over.

“Our defense was good tonight,” he said.

Soucy, who was playing for UMD in the Frozen Four a year ago, stepped in with a flawless performance.

“He did look poised,” Boudreau said. “I was — as we all were — very happy with his game.”

Soucy, who had three shots on goal and two hits in 15 minutes, 26 seconds of playing time, said it was a relief to step on the ice for the first time in an NHL game and he looked to the leadership of Minnesota’s current top pair: Brodin and Dumba.

“Brods and Dumba played great tonight and they’re going to take a load, which they did,” Soucy said. “I hope a couple of us others can get the minutes we can and just make it easier for them.”

Brodin, who was on the ice for more than 24 minutes, said Minnesota’s blue line contingent has work to do without Suter, but he voiced confidence that those manning the position will do fine.

“We’ll see when Spurg is back,” he said, “but yeah, right now we have the D we have and I think we played good today.”

The Wild outshot the Oilers 40-22 and controlled play throughout.

Their offense was fueled by another Minnesotan as Bloomington’s Zach Parise scored a goal in each of the first two periods to give him 12 goals and 16 points in his past 17 games.

“All around it was a pretty good game for us,” Parise said. “Our defensemen did a good job. Ryan’s a tough guy to replace, but I thought they did a good job all over the ice.”

The post With Suter Out, D Steps It Up appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – The Wild appear to be decent bet to make the playoffs after picking up one point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins Sunday night, but nothing is certain.

The only sure thing, after they defeated Nashville, Vegas and Arizona and dropped overtime decisions to the Bruins and Los Angeles Kings in their past five starts, is that they should step into postseason play feeling as if they are well prepared.

“That is probably the most playoff-like game we’ve played all season,” forward Daniel Winnik said Sunday.

Indeed it was, much to the delight of a thoroughly entertained Xcel Energy Center crowd of 19,183.

“It was a big point for us,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Going 3-0-2 in the last five, we’re holding our own. We’re not going anywhere fast, but we’re going in the right direction.”

The Wild fell behind 1-0 in both of the back-to-back home games against Nashville and Boston, two of the top three teams in the NHL, but rebounded in both, beginning with a 4-1 victory over the Preds.

“I think if you said going in we’d get three out of four points against two of the very best teams in the NHL, we’d be happy about it,” Winnik said, noting that failing to get the fourth point Sunday stung a bit. “But I think overall, it was a very good effort.”

Minnesota, which upped its season total to 93 points with seven games remaining, stood third in the Central Division through Sunday’s games but maintained very little breathing room ahead of Colorado and St. Louis.

Mikko Koivu’s goal midway through the third period tied the score Sunday in the tightest of games — Boston outshot the Wild 28-25 and neither team was willing to yield even an inch of space.

“This time of year, teams are really buckling down, especially playoff teams,” Wild goaltender Alex Stalock said. “They’re playing the way they want to play in two or three weeks. I think you see how tight games are going to be; it’s a bounce here or there and that’s the difference.”

The Bruins got the decider when Brad Marchand beat Stalock just 28 seconds into overtime of a game in which both team had potential goals disallowed. David Pastrnak got Boston started with a goal 3:15 into the second period.

Before that and after, the ice was filled with one puck battle after another.

“They’re a difficult team to play against because they’re in your face all night long,” Boudreau said. “They push you to the limit.”

That’s how it seems every night these days, as Minnesota prepares for another game against the Predators on the road Tuesday and then two against the Dallas Stars.

“We’re playing against really good teams right now,” winger Zach Parise said. “We’re managing to get points, but it sure would have been nice to get that other one.”

Things are a far cry from five months ago.

You night remember, the Wild started the season 5-7-2 and often looked out of sync. However, improved play from guys like Joel Eriksson Ek, Nino Niederreiter, Marcus Foligno, an injury-free Parise and Winnik has helped provide a boost to an offense mostly relying previously on Eric Staal, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Ryan Suter and Koivu.

Minnesota needs them all as the end of the season looms.

“It’s going to be tight the rest of the way,” Stalock said. “We’ve got to win games. We’ve got seven games to go, and we need all the points we can get.”

The post Buckling Down appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Lucia, 59, had one season remaining on a contract that was scheduled to pay him $612,500 next season.

A native of Grand Rapids, Minn., who played hockey at Notre Dame University, Lucia has overseen a program with declining success both in wins-losses and gate receipts over  the past few years.

Home attendance was announced at 8,724 per game this season — more than 1,200 short of a sellout — and crowds frequently numbered fewer than that because of no-shows.

Lucia’s teams won NCAA championships in 2003 and 2004 and he posted a record of 457-248-73 at Minnesota, including 11 regular-season conference titles, four league playoff titles and five appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four.

The 457 wins rank first in Gophers’ history.

This season, however, his team went 19-17-2, lost its final four Big Ten games to Penn State and was knocked out of the NCAA field because of the success of other teams after that.

Lucia issued the following statement through the University of Minnesota: 

“I am proud of the 14 banners that have been added to the rafters of 3M Arena at Mariucci. I am forever grateful to all the coaches, staff and most importantly the players who have worked so hard to accomplish this over the years.

“Most importantly to me, we did it the right way. Our players all graduate and have always represented themselves to the high standards of Gopher hockey on and off the ice. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to be the head hockey coach at the University of Minnesota.”

The big question is who will follow Lucia to try to resurrect a program that formerly was considered one of the best — if not the best — men’s hockey programs in the United States. Among the expected candidates will be Gophers assistants Mike Guentzel and Scott Bell and Northern Michigan coach Grant Potulny, all former players in the system.

The post Lucia steps down appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Denver University probably had fewer fans at the Xcel Energy Center this weekend than the mite hockey teams that entertaained customers between periods of the NCHC tournament.

It didn’t matter.

The Pioneers, after dispatching Minnesota-Duluth 3-1 in Friday’s semifinals, cruised to a 4-1 victory over No. 1-ranked St. Cloud State at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game on St. Patrick’s Day at the Xcel Energy Center.

The finale capped a rough weekend for Minnesota teams; North Dakota dumped Minnesota-Duluth 4-1 in Saturday’s third-place game.

Strangely, Saturday’s assorted results around the nation should allow the Bulldogs to sneak in the NCAA tournament which begins next week. Meanwhile the University of Minnesota — which is scheduled to host the Frozen Four later this spring at the X — was ousted from tournament play.

The Huskies, who reached the final with a 3-2 overtime win over North Dakota Friday, had already clinched a spot in the upcoming NCAA tournament but never seemed to get on track against the fourth-ranked Pioneers.

Credit Denver.

The Pioneers climbed in front when a shot by Kohen Olischefski caromed of the skate of a defender and past goalie David Hrenak just 4:24 into the first period, then made it 2-0 with just six seconds left in the period when Jake Durflinger potted a long rebound.

Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery said he figured there would be no letdown from his guys over the intermission.

“You can’t relax,” he said. “If you play prevent defense against St. Cloud, you’ll be two goals behind in a matter of five minutes.”

Instead, the lead ballooned to 3-0 less than three minutes later — just 2:06 after the first intermission — when Ryan Barrow’s backhander from the left circle beat Hrenak and prompted Huskies coach Bob Motzko to insert backup Jeff Smith in the net.

Motzko pulled Hrenak just to try to change momentum.

“He really wasn’t at fault,” Motzko said. “They were kind of fluky goals.”

St. Paul, MN; March 17, 2018; NCHC Frozen Faceoff, Xcel Energy Center. Championship game between the Denver Pioneers and St. Cloud State Huskies. Photo by Russell Hons

St. Cloud, despite the repeated urging of the Huskies fans in the announced crowd of 11,372 that was inflated with customers from Duluth and North Dakota but almost nobody from Denver, simply could not break through against Denver’s defense and goaltender Tanner Jaillet.

Jaillet made 28 saves and was picked as the tournament MVP.

“In the first five minjutes we were on our heels and St. Cloud was coming at us,” Montgomery said. “Obviously the tournament MVP stood tall in those moments, and after we scored that first goal we really started to play Denver hockey.”

The second goal, at 19:54 of the opening period, was an even bigger difference maker, according to Jaillet.

“Us being able to get that one before the end of the first was huge,” said Jaillet, a senior from Red Deer, Alberta. “From there, we just kept rolling.”

It didn’t help St. Cloud’s cause that the Huskies, trailing 3-0 after two periods and needing a jolt of offense, picked up three penalties in less than a six-minute span of the final period.

“We were going,” Motzko said. “We killed them all off and we got our momentum, but after we made it 3-1, we had a couple of great chances and they got another fluky one. That was a tough spot that we were in.”

The Huskies’ goal by Ryan Poehling at 15:54 of the third period was offset by Dylan Gambrell’s goal just 1:12 later, ruining any chance for Motzko to try to pull his goalie and further whittle the lead.

So who’s dancing?

Despite Saturday’s loss to the Pioneers, St. Cloud State should be in firm position for the No. 1 seed at the West Regional in Sioux Falls.

Meanwhile, Minnesota State-Mankato, which was eliminated in WCHA semifinal play last week, will likely secure a No. 2 seed in one of the four regionals because of their strong, consistent play this season.

As for the University of Minnesota, an unprecedented, doomsday style of events unfolded. The program needed a win from one of six teams on Saturday to carry them into the tournamet: Clarkson, Providence, Robert Morris, Ohio State, Northern Michigan or St. Cloud.

And all six lost.

Coming into play on Saturday, there was only a 1/64 chance of the Gophers not making the tournament and that one minuscule outcome came true, according to College Hockey News.

Yet, because the Gophers was bounced, it’s likely that the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs have secured a spot the 16-team tournament, which will be announced on Sunday morning, March 18.

The post Denver captures NCHC title appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Huskies coach Bob Motzko said he laughed out loud when someone from the media asked him before the game if the Fighting Hawks might be extra motivated against the Huskies because they needed a win or two in this tournament to advance to the NCAA playoffs.

“Do you ever not get an intense game from North Dakota?” Motzko said.

Motzko nailed it: St. Cloud required a goal from former Lakeville South High School standout Nick Poehling just 1:47 into overtime to slip past the team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux in the matinee semifinal game Friday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.

“The puck came right to me,” Poehling said. “I just shot it, and I guess I got a little bit lucky.”

Easton Brodzinski celebrates after scoring a goal to give his team a 2-1 lead over North Dakota at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff (MHM / Jeff Wedge).

The game-winning goal came after a North Dakota turnover allowed St. Cloud State to turn aside a fierce comeback that enabled the Hawks to tie the score 2-2 midway through the third period.

That, too, was no surprise even though the Huskies appeared to be in control  with a 2-1 lead through two periods after getting goals from Patrick Newell and Easton Brodzinski while outshooting North Dakota 21-14.

Didn’t matter.

The Fighting Hawks, staying afloat thanks to a tremendous game by goaltender Cam Johnson, came out for the third period according to junior center Nick Jones with a plan to apply strong pressure on St. Cloud and keep at it.

For awhile, they had the Huskies on their heels.

“Relentless effort,” Jones said.

Motzko wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t surprised, either.

“As well as we were playing, we were on the verge of getting knocked out,” he said.

But he knew advice was uneccessary after St. Cloud State, which had the benefit of winning and losing in its two overtime games against Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the tournament a week earlier, traipsed into its locker room after the third period.

His players knew the score.

“There was no coaching going into overtime,” he said.

Just a costly turnover and it was over in a hurry.

North Dakota coach Brad Berry, whose team is a longshot at best for the NCAA tournament going into Saturday’s third-place game, said turnovers cost the Hawks all afternoon.

“They have a really talented group that can kill you if you don’t take care of pucks,” Berry said.

St. Cloud finished the day with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal and could have put the game away early if not for 31 saves by Johnson. In the end, even though they had already locked up a berth in the NCAA tourney, the victory has SCSU in the conference tournament final.

The post SCSU finishes UND in OT appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – The on-again, off-again Wild have been nothing but “on” at the Xcel Energy Center this season.

While the team’s ride on the road has too often been sabotaged by potholes, Minnesota is simply ridiculously good on home ice.

After scoring a franchise-record four goals in less than 3 1/2 minutes of the second period Tuesday night, the Wild sauntered to a 6-2 victory over Carolina and a remarkable 24-5-6 home record this season.

They have points in 26 of their past 28 home games.

Stunning.

They are zeroing in on the team’s best win total at home: 29 games in 2006-07.

The 2017-18 season just might go down as the craziest of seasons: Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle have missed numerous games because of injuries and neither has 10 goals, Minnesota natives Nate Prosser and Nick Seeler have somewhat surprisingly become regulars on the blue line, and Eric Staal has vaulted himself among NHL leaders in goals.

According to coach Bruce Boudreau, Staal’s production is way beyond anything expected when the Wild signed him to a free-agent deal two summers ago.

“Everything he touches — we should start calling him Midas — everything he touches turns to gold,” Boudreau said.

Staal, who notched his 35th and 36th goals against the Hurricanes, scored just 13 goals during the 2015-16 season, you might remember, before bouncing back with 28 for the Wild last season.

The 33-year-old, who sccored 45 goals for Carolina in 2005-06 when he was age 21, is on pace to challenge that this year. The 36 goals lifted him into a tie for fourth in NHL goals behind Alex Ovechkin, Patrik Laine and Evgeni Malkin.

“I’ve got a lot of work if I want to catch or be around those guys,” Staal said with a chuckle. “I don’t like my chances with those guys, to be honest.”

But the way this season has gone, who can predict anything?

Prosser, who is from Elk River, is another out-of-nowhere story this year; he was reclaimed on waivers from St. Louis for the second time in his career on Nov. 30, when Minnesota had an 11-10-3 record, and in the 42 games he has played since then the Wild are 27-11-4.

He has two goals, six assists and ranks seventh in plus-minus on Minnesota’s roster with plus-8.

Then there’s Seeler, a native of Eden Prairie who sat out Tuesday after a heavyweight bout with Detroit’s Luke Witkowski in a 4-1 home victory Sunday. Seeler, 24, was called up for his NHL debut Feb. 13 and played 11 consecutive games before he was hurt in his fight, meshing so well as an untried rookie that the Wild decided they could trade defenseman Mike Reilly to the Montreal Canadiens.

These exceptional turnarounds and surprises have lifted the Wild into third place in the Central Division and make the team an almost sure bet to reach the playoffs.

On the other hand, however, there’s that pesky issue surrounding the team’s bumpy ride on the road. As they head out on a quick two-game jaunt to Vancouver and Edmonton, the Wild take with them a 14-17-1 road mark.

Boudreau is growing weary of the recurring questions.

“If I knew, I would figure it out and change,” he said. “Why we can play very good defensively at home and then allow all those goals on the road is beyond me. We talk about it every day. Hopefully, we’ll correct it.”

Parise, who scored a power-play goal against Carolina to give him six goals in 28 games, says there is no easy answer to the home-and-away variences.

“We’re searching for that answer, too,” he said. “The only thing we know is we have to be a good road team down the stretch and then — knock on wood — into the postseason.”

Despite an unpredictable season through 67 games, the message after another home win seems to point to a measure of optimism heading into the rest of the regular season. After all, six of those remaining games are on home ice.

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