UMD’s Kayla Black stops 23 shots for her 7th shutout of the season

DULUTH – The St. Cloud State Huskies came into Duluth hoping on Hockey Day in Minnesota hoping to get themselves back in good standings after losing 12 of their last 13 games while the Bulldogs hoped to thwart that effort.

That being said, the Bulldogs came into the weekend as a statistical favorite, but with some concerns of their own after splitting last weekend’s series with Bemidji State, the very same team St. Cloud State defeated the week before.

“You have to be prepared to work,” said Bulldogs coach Shannon Miller. “In our first period, we just played, we didn’t compete and when you do that you get yourself into trouble.”

UMD opened the first period with a goal from left wing Katherine McGovern just under two minutes after puck drop, her first of the season. From there things stayed fairly even offensively, with each team recording only five shots in the first period despite UMD attempting 15, seven of which St. Cloud State blocked in the first frame.

“Every team in our conference is good, so you need to expect a lot of pressure,” said Bulldog center Lara Stalder. “They’re a hard working team so we knew the way they were going to be coming out. We didn’t figure it out in the first period. We need to find that killer instinct in us.”

The second period was scoreless but both teams picked up their offensive efforts, more than doubling their respective shot totals to end the period UMD-18, St. Cloud-13.

The Bulldogs’ Katerina Mrazova was awarded a penalty shot in the early third period, but waited too long to take a shot as she came in on Huskies’ Julie Friend who would make the save to keep her team within one.

However, Friend wasn’t able to stop the shot of a wide open Lara Stalder who doubled the UMD’s lead with 11:49 left to go in the match up. Stalder sent a one timer over Friend’s right shoulder from the edge of the crease after defenseman Brigette Lacquette weaved through traffic from the blue line to send the puck down.

The Huskies answered back with offensive pressure of their own as St. Cloud State coach Eric Rud pulled Friend with nearly four minutes remaining in the game. While the Huskies were able to get more pressure on the Bulldogs, they were unable to crack UMD’s Kayla Black, who made 23 saves on the outing, earning her seventh shutout this season.

“She came up big for us again,” Stalder said of her goaltender. “We need that trust in our goaltender and we have it right now so that’s great.”

The women will face off again on Sunday at 3:07 p.m. at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minnesota for the second half of their weekend series.

The post Bulldog women blank Huskies 2-0 appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Bulldogs to lean on depth in effort to rise in NCHC standings.

If there’s one thing the Bulldogs of late know, it’s youthful exuberance.

While the leadership of the upperclassmen should certainly not be discounted, the last two years the Bulldogs have seen the freshman classes have combine for over 180 points. Last season, the Bulldogs saw forwards Kyle Osterberg and Alex Iafallo finish third and fourth in scoring with 14 and 11 goals respectively.

With that, UMD returns five of its top six point producers from last season, losing only forward Caleb Herbert to the Washington Capitals organization.

“I think up front we have a lot of depth, last year we had the same thing,” coach Scott Sandelin said. “We have a lot of guys that understand how hard it is to win and we have an incoming freshman class that will be contributors for us, but they don’t need to be right off the bat.”

Last season the Bulldogs iced a fairly green defensive lineup which, although they played well, will definitely benefit from another year together. If all goes according to the plan Sandelin hinted at during Wednesday’s press conference, expect to see senior Derik Johnson join the squad, meaning at least four blue liners who have more a year or more of experience under they’re belts.

“I thought for the most part it was a question mark last year, especially when you have two guys coming in that are true freshman who kind of got thrown into the fire and I think they did a great job,” Sandelin said.

Goaltending is the other unknown for the ‘Dogs, who will try out either junior Matt McNeely or freshman Kasimir Kaskisuo. Sandelin hopes to have one of them take over a starting position and this weekend’s first matchup with No. 1 Minnesota will be a serious measuring stick between the two.

The Bulldogs take on the Gophers at 2 p.m. on Friday as a part of the Ice Breaker Tournament at Notre Dame University.

Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

2013-14 Final Ranking: Honorable Mention (were technically 21st) (USCHO) / Received votes (USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine)

2013-14 overall record: 16-16-4

2013-14 NCHC record: 11-13-2

2013-14 Conference Finish:  Fourth

2013-14 Postseason Finish: Lost to Western Michigan in the first round of the NCHC playoff

2014-15 predicted finish: Fifth (2014-15 NCHC Head Coaches’ Preseason Poll)

Tough Skates to Fill: Caleb Herbert F, Aaron Crandall G, Joe Basaraba F

Impact Returnees: Andy Welinski D, Justin Crandall F, Alex Iafallo F, Kyle Osterberg F, Dominic Toninato F

Key Additions: Kasimir Kaskisuo G, Karson Kuhlman F, Brett Boehm F

Why the Bulldogs will exceed expectations: If the Bulldogs can get juniors Austin Farley and Tony Cameranesi back to the scoring they produced their freshman seasons, and sophomores Kyle Osterberg and Alex Iafallo to stay away from that sophomore slump, they will be a serious offensive threat. Forwards Karson Kuhlman and Brett Boehm will be looked at as freshman contributors as well.

Why the Bulldogs will fall short of expectations: The biggest question mark for UMD this season in definitely in net. Two years removed from a 24-start freshman season, Matt McNeely will be pitted against newcomer Kasimir Kaskisuo. So far the team has not decided on a starter, but if coach Scott Sandelin gets his way, they’ll be giving the majority of the minutes to one of those guys as opposed to a 1A/1B system.

The post DI Men’s Preview: Minnesota-Duluth appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Bulldogs hope major roster shakeup has desired effect on team chemistry.

The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs entered the 2013-14 season with plenty of reason for optimism but never lived up to that promise as a number of players fell short of expectations. UMD coach Shannon Miller felt she needed to make some roster moves in order to make her team a legitimate contender this season.

And pretty major ones at that.

Seven rostered Bulldogs were cut in the offseason and Miller brought in nine new faces while bringing two back from a season ago.

“We had to make some changes because those people didn’t belong in our Division I program and it was hurting our chemistry and hurting our performance,” Miller said. “We made the changes we had to make, brought in kids that are really good. Good athletes that want to be at a winning D1 program and want to help us win.”

Returning defenseman Brigette Lacquette spent the majority of last year embedded with Team Canada in preparation for the Olympic Games but returns this weekend in time for UMD’s series with WCHA rival Wisconsin. Fellow senior Brienna Gillanders returned to the ice this past weekend against Connecticut after sitting out most of the previous season with an ACL injury.

A source of apprehension for the Bulldogs is goaltending. UMD starter Kayla Black has been known to stand on her head when needed, but with her injury history there will be plenty of concern if she goes down. Backup net-minder Karissa Grapp has started only a handful of games, and while she’s played fairly well in them, she has yet to prove herself as a legitimate starter.

The Bulldogs will rely on a mix of veterans and newcomers for success this season. Minnesota-Duluth returns four of its top five leading scorers including senior wingers Zoe Hickel and Jenna McParland. Hickel will lead the team as co-captain with fellow senior, and Duluth native, Emma Stauber.

Stauber said that she saw good team chemistry in the early practices before the start of the season and that one key to her team’s success this season will be the leadership of the upperclassmen.

“We have big sisters and little sisters,” Stauber said. “So we’re paired up with one of the new girls and are just someone else they can rely on or come to with questions.”

2013-14 Final Ranking: N/A (USCHO) / N/A (USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine)

2013-14 overall record: 15-15-6

2013-14 WCHA record: 11-11-6-4

2013-14 Conference Finish:  Fourth

2013-14 Postseason Finish: Lost to Minnesota 4-1 in WCHA Final Face-off

2014-15 predicted finish: Third (2014-15 WCHA Head Coaches’ Preseason Poll)

Tough Skates to Fill: Jamie Kenyon F

Impact Returnees:  Zoe Hickel F, Jenna McParland F, Emma Stauber D, Brigette Lacquette D

Key Additions: Jessica Healey D, Michelle Lowenheilm F, Maria Lindh F

Why the Bulldogs will exceed expectations:  With seven graduating seniors, the current Bulldogs are on the clock if they want to win a National Championship and they know it. With both Brigette Lacquette and Brienna Gillanders returning for their final seasons, the Bulldogs are hungry and ready to make a long post season run.

Why the Bulldogs will fall short of expectations: With the addition of so many fresh faces, the Bulldogs could run in to trouble when it comes to offensive production and dealing with adversity without a whole lot of experience. Every year the Bulldogs coaches seem to be high on the team they have to work with, but the closest UMD has come to competing for a National Championship was 2011, a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The post DI Women’s Preview: Minnesota-Duluth appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Invalid Displayed Gallery

DULUTH—To say that the ending to Duluth East and Elk River’s Section 7AA final at AMSOIL Arena was exciting is an understatement to say the least.

Just as it seemed like the Elks were on their way to the state tournament for the first time since 2005, Duluth East’s Alex Spencer roofed a shot with 2:10 left to tie the game 2-2 and send it to overtime.

Nick Altmann made sure his team’s late surge was not had in vain as he chipped a puck through Elk River goaltender Mac Berglove’s five hole just over two minutes into extra time to get his team to its sixth straight state tournament.

Duluth East has now reached the Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament 21 times since 1958.

“This means a whole lot, it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said head coach Mike Randolph. “It just shows the character of these kids and how far they’ve come. They just have no quit in them. The bench never got down, we struggled for two periods and came out in the third and played great.”

The first period saw mostly conservative play from both sides, with neither team looking to take too big of a risk early.

The second period, however, was a different story.

Elk River split the game wide open with an early goal by Reggie Lutz as he potted a rebound that ricocheted wide off of a Chase Springman shot from the opposite circle. That goal not only served to get Elk River on the board, but also woke up a reserved Greyhounds offense.

After plenty of quality chances by the Duluth East, a shot finally made its way between the pipes for the Greyhounds with less than five minutes to go in period. Berglove made a couple of sprawling saves but could not control the puck and Duluth East’s Bryton Lutzka converted a second rebound to knot the game at 1-1.

The Elks were not prepared to go into the locker room at period’s end without the lead however. It only took Jake Jaremko, the Greyhound’s leading postseason scorer, 14 seconds to snipe a shot from the slot over the shoulder of Duluth East’s Gunnar Howg to regain the one-goal lead.

The third period saw plenty of chances for the Greyhounds, including a couple of quality shots on an odd man rush by Nick Altmann and Jack Kolar, but Elk River’s Berglove stood strong between the pipes.

“Our last two games have given us some confidence that we can score against any goalie because those kids were really good too,” said Randolph. “We had to find a way to beat him. I don’t know where it went, and I don’t care where it went. I’m just glad it went in.”

The post Hounds Stun Elks in Overtime appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

DULUTH—While the Section 7A semifinal game between Duluth Marshall and Hermantown started out as a competitive one, the Hawks quickly took over for a decisive 6-2 over the Hilltoppers on Wednesday night at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth.

It marks the second straight season the Hawks have eliminate the Hilltoppers, having ousted Marshall from the state tournament a year ago in the Class A state quarterfinal when coach Bruce Plante’s Hawks qualified in Section 5A. Hermantown rolled through Section 7A, outscoring its opponents—International Falls and Duluth Denfeld being the others—by a combined 21-3.

Hermantown’s top line, consisting of Nate Pionk, Scott Wasbotten and Ryan Kero, crashed the net at 2:29 of the first and Pionk potted a Wasbotten rebound for his first goal of the night to take an early lead.

Duluth Marshall’s Luke Pavelich sneaks a puck past Hermantown goalie Adam Smith during the 7A boys hockey final at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. (Photo / Dave Harwig viewthroughmylens.net)

Marshall fought back with a goal of its own, however, less than four minutes later. Hilltoppers forward Luke Pavelich took advantage of a wide rebound from just inside the left circle for a backhanded goal.

The rapid-fire scoring did not end there as the Hawks would add another, Pionk’s second goal of the game, all within eight minutes of the opening faceoff. A third Hermantown goal would be added before the period ended, this time by Wasbotten.

“We knew Marshall was a good team,” Pionk said. “Every game was tough and they battled, everyone battles in this section. We knew we’d have to bring it in this section, the compete level is so high.”

The second period saw more even exchange of chances early, with both Marshall and Hermantown creating opportunities for themselves. Marshall struck first in the period, taking advantage of a weird bounce of its own nine minutes into the frame. Jon Hansen beamed a puck in from the point that deflected in over Hawk goaltender Adam Smith’s shoulder.

Smith quickly redeemed himself with a big save seconds later and was lights out from that point on, finishing with 22 saves.

Hermantown was not done with the scoring however as Pionk would complete his hat trick while Kero added a goal of his own.

Duluth Marshall did a much better job of controlling the Hermantown offense in the third period, allowing just one shot on goal through the first ten minutes of the stanza and only four overall in the third. The Hilltoppers had a strong offensive surge in the last dozen minutes of the game, but were unable to convert.

Adding insult to injury, Hermantown’s Kero added an empty net goal as time expired for a final score of 6-2 to advance on to the state quarterfinals.

“It feels great, it’s amazing,” Pionk said. “To win here in Duluth in front of all these people, I’m pumped.”

Hermantown team picture with the Section 7A championship trophy. (Photo / Dave Harwig viewthroughmylens.net)

The post Hawks Fly Over Hilltoppers appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.