They were warmed by David Silye’s hat trick to lead No. 2 Minnesota State past St. Thomas 7-1 in Saturday’s Hockey Day Minnesota main event on the football field at Blakeslee Stadium in snowy Mankato to complete a weekend sweep of the Tommies.

“It was a challenge (to stickhandle and pass),” Silye said. “But most of us grew up playing on the outdoor ponds. It was such a cool moment to go back into our childhood and we kind of had to simplify the game.”

Thousands of fans crowded the home-side concrete football stands behind the player benches and the temporary aluminum bleachers that lined the far-side of the rink. Students from each university, plus MSU’s “Maverick Machine” pep band piled into the bleachers behind one goal, within shouting distance of each other which allowed the sides to hurl insults back-and-forth.

A climb to the top of the football bleachers to peer over the edge would reveal a thousand more fans below wandering around a makeshift village lined with food, beer and clothing vendors surrounding fans huddled around fire pits as kids slid across the mini hockey rinks.

Despite the cold and MSU’s widening lead, the stands remained mostly full into the third period.

And while it was the players who got the Mavericks fans on their feet to sing “Ole! Ole! Ole!” after each goal, the shovelers on the ice crew became the stars of the show as the game went on and the snow fell heavier.

The ice crew was led by Mat Hennen and Arena Warehouse of Alexandria. The crew arrived in Mankato on Jan. 16 to begin construction on the rink.

“We were prepared for the snow, but the volunteers are saving us tonight,” Hennen said of the shovelers.

The shoveling crew, much of which was manned by members of high school hockey teams, struggled to get the heavy snow to the Zamboni door and off the ice, where it was loaded into a skid loader bucket and hauled away as players on both benches gave enthusiastic stick taps the volunteers.

“The guys on the bench were talking about how it looked like the shovelers were starting to get gassed,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “They were tired and you could see it. The players were so appreciative of what they were doing.”

The Mavericks were well on their way to completing the lopsided victory but, for a moment, the snowy ice surface took its typical toll on a hockey game by slowing the puck and the overall pace.

The evidence was in the powder the puck would kick into the air and the trail it would leave in its wake as it scooted along, resulting in passes that sometimes failed to make its destination. That can often even the playing field and hurt the more-skilled team, in this case MSU, and it almost resulted in the Tommies sneaking their way back into the game.

The Mavericks took an early 2-0 lead on Silye’s first two goals, but St. Thomas came back with a goal by Tom Piechowski two minutes into the second period. Just a few minutes later, the Mavericks misplayed a puck at the blue line and Piechowski took it the distance on a breakaway, but his wrister for the potential tying goal rang off the post.

“The energy changed a little bit when they made it 2-1,” Hastings said. “Then they come down and ring one off the post. Momentum is a crazy thing. They don’t get one and then we find a way to get the two-goal lead again.”

The Mavericks capitalized off the Tommies’ missed opportunity and rattled off five unanswered goals, ending with Silye’s hat trick-clinching goal nine minutes into the third period.

“This kind of hockey, playing in the winter outside, was special and we tied it all in,” Silye said. “As challenging as [the snow] was, I don’t think we would’ve changed it for any other weather.

“Coach Hasty made sure we soaked it all in and appreciated what was going on. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The post The Snow Must Go On appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Irish power-play opportunities dry up in title game loss to UMD

St. Paul — One of the well-documented themes of the 2018 NCAA Tournament was Minnesota-Duluth’s shutdown defense, a facet of the Bulldogs game that won the battle in the Frozen Four title game.

But Notre Dame’s power play sure came close to stealing the show Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Irish fell short, losing the championship 2-1 to the Bulldogs.

“Our power play has always been a big part of us in all these one-goal games,” Irish defenseman Jordon Gross, from Maple Grove, said.

Every time Notre Dame trailed during the NCAA tournament, its man advantage gave the Irish the spark it needed with the team’s first goal. It gave Notre Dame a spark Saturday, too, but a lack of opportunities down the stretch let that spark fizzle.

Trailing 2-0 for the second time this Frozen Four, Notre Dame scored on the power play to get within a goal of the Bulldogs. Andrew Oglevie was the man to score that first goal for the third time this tournament.

“(Our power play unit) has played together for a long time, we know where guys are going to be and we work on it a lot in practice,” said Oglevie, who had 15 goals this season, nine of which on the power play (eighth-most nationally).

“We pre-scout the other team pretty well.”

Oglevie’s redirection from the top of the crease on a rush off a pass from Cam Morrison sent the puck into UMD goaltender Hunter Shepard’s equipment and it trickled through into the net.

Oglevie saw that play coming.

(Photo by Jonny Watkins)

“The breakout goal was a direct result of our pre-scout,” Oglevie said. “We knew (the UMD penalty kill) would be vulnerable to the fast-break breakout. We posted two guys high and I kind of floated up the middle.

“Jake (Evans) made a nice pass up to Cam (Morrison) and he found me back door. I just tried to get a stick on it, not really trying to pick a corner. I just wanted to get it on net. I think it went five-hole.”

Notre Dame found itself trailing Providence by a goal after the first period of the East Region final, but an Oglevie power play goal got the Irish on the board late in the second period in a 2-1 win.

And Thursday night in the Frozen Four semifinals, after giving Michigan a two-goal lead going into the second, Notre Dame again used an Oglevie goal with the advantage to spark the comeback.

The Irish finished the season with a power play that converted 23.7 percent of its opportunities, good for seventh in the nation and went 6-for-15 from the beginning of the Big Ten Playoffs through Thursday’s semifinal.

But after Notre Dame scored Saturday, it wasn’t rewarded another power play, and without it, couldn’t get the equalizer.

“(The power play) got us back into the game and gave us momentum,” said Gross, who assisted on two power play goals and scored one this postseason. “Unfortunately, the refs put their whistles away after that goal. They didn’t want to give us another one.”

The post Power Shortage appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Gopher goalie Sidney Peters wins 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award

Northeastern’s Adam Gaudette wins Hobey Baker Award 

St. Paul — Sidney Peters woke up Friday, April 6 with a notification on her phone for a missed call. It was the phone call she’d hoped for and put so much work in for.

The University of Minnesota goaltender, who just wrapped up her collegiate career less than a month ago in the NCAA quarterfinals, was informed she’d been accepted to the Uniformed Services University in Maryland. There, Peters will continue her education for a career in medicine while serving in the Air Force.

And to top the day off, Peters accepted the Hockey Humanitarian Award Friday evening at Roy Wilkins Auditorium.

“Today has been the coolest day of my life,” said Peters, who came to Minnesota from Geneva, Ill. “I had a missed call from the Dean at the Uniformed Services University so I called him back and he offered me a spot with the Air Force. It’s the coolest accomplishment I’ve been a part of.”

The award honors “the college hockey player that most personifies true community spirit through the selfless commitment of leadership, effort and time” and players, male or female, in all three divisions are eligible. Peters won the award over Camil Blanchet (Bowdoin College), Courtney Pensavelle (Yale), Luke Rivera (SUNY Fredonia) and Lauren Spring (Ohio State).

Peters’ numbers may not have been considered the elite of the elite her senior season, but they were certainly above average and provided the Gophers with a backbone on which to build their 24-11-3 season.

She posted a 1.93 goals against average (18th-best in the country) and a .922 save percentage, numbers that give any team a chance to be successful, but it takes a lot more than these statistics to win this award.

How about 830 volunteer hours served in various communities for a qualifying stat? Peters is a certified Emergency Medical Technician with the U of M Emergency Medical Services, working on campus and namely Gophers football games.

“We work with a lot of drunk kids,” said Peters, a kinesiology major with a minor in biology. “I also work a lot in one of the hospitals on campus.”

Peters volunteers with Maroon and Gold Impacting the Community (a development program that sends student-athletes all over the Twin Cities to schools and children’s hospitals). She was also a goaltending coach at Hockey Ministries International in Chicago, but the defining piece of volunteer work she’s completed was an eight-day trip to Haiti to help serve with her favorite charity, Project Medishare in 2016.

The Hockey Humanitarian Foundation donated $3,000 to Project Medishare on Peters’ behalf.

“I felt like I came away with a lot of lessons and a new perspective on my career and life in general,” Peters said. “It makes a bad day at the rink not look that bad at all.

“It also made me realize there’s so many people out there that we can help and there’s so much more we can do.”

And with all that on the schedule, one could wonder how she ever found time for hockey.

“It’s difficult, but it’s rewarding. I got used to working with half a battery,” Peters said. “I’ve enjoyed the last five years. I wish I had more time in college, but I know with this next step, I’ll have more opportunities to be excited about.”

Peters has wasted no time moving on to a new chapter in her life, completely different from goaltending, now that her hockey career is complete. She’ll complete officer training school in Alabama this summer before school starts in August in Maryland.

“I just left my team a month ago, so to find a new team to find a new team to group of people to care about will be special,” Peters said.

The Humanitarian Award announcement proceeded the unveiling of the men’s AHCA Division I All-Americans.

Northeastern forward and D-I leading scorer (30 goals and 30 assists in 38 games) Adam Gaudette earned the Hobey Baker Award, edging Henrik Borgstrom of Denver and Harvard’s Ryan Donato.

Gaudette is the first Northeastern player to receive the award and was the only finalist to attend the ceremony. It was the first time in Hobey history that two out of the three finalists had to miss the presentation. Borgstrom (Florida) and Donato (Boston) are playing for NHL teams competing for playoff positions.

Minnetonka native Jimmy Schuldt (St. Cloud State defenseman) and Forest Lake native C.J. Suess (Minnesota State forward), both First-Team All-Americans, were the Minnesotans among the top 10 finalists.

The post A Heart Of Gold appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Hunter Shepard keeps cool as UMD stays hot

St. Paul — Hunter Shepard looked as cool chewing gum and answering questions in the locker room as he looked calm and collected stopping pucks 45 minutes earlier, helping Minnesota-Duluth reach the national championship game.

UMD’s sophomore goaltender stopped 19 shots in the Bulldogs’ 2-1 Frozen Four semifinal game Thursday evening at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Bulldogs (24-16-3) will face the Michigan/Notre Dame winner in national championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The theme of UMD’s run to the title game has been its young defensive corps that had to regroup after losing five of its members to graduation or pro contracts with five freshmen, but the Bulldogs had to replace a goaltender, too.

Shepard was Hunter Miska’s backup when UMD went to last year’s national championship game in Chicago. Miska, a freshman in 2016-17, played remarkably down the stretch and signed professionally after the Frozen Four which made the job Shepard’s after winning an early-season battle with Nick Deery.

The measure of Shepard’s success during the tourney run hasn’t necessarily been shutouts, although he did post goose eggs in UMD’s NCHC first-round sweep of Western Michigan and he has the second-most shutouts in the nation this season with eight.

But this NCAA tournament, he doesn’t needed to put up gaudy save totals because he hasn’t needed to. Shepard stopped 19 shots against Minnesota State-Mankato in the first round and 11 against Air Force in the region final.

“I only have to make 3-4 key saves against a quality opponent and that’s my job,” Shepard said, sitting back in his stall after a postgame stretch with a wad of gum in his mouth and a towel around his neck.

“I just need to make decent saves at key times and manage the game from there.”

Minnesota Duluth goaltender Hunter Shepard makes one of his 19 saves during the Bulldogs’ 2-1 Frozen Four semifinal win over the Buckeyes on Thursday, April 5 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Shepard has the nation’s eighth-best goals against average (1.93) and 10th-best save percentage (.924). The UMD defense performed in the first period Thursday like it had at the West Regional two weeks prior in Sioux Falls with suffocating defense that kept attempted shots from turning to shots on goal.

In addition to the six goalless periods that Shepard delivered, the defense held opponents without a shot in one period in each of the Bulldogs’ regional wins. UMD held the Buckeyes to four shots in a UMD-dominated first period that resulted in 17 shots on goal and a 2-0 lead for the Bulldogs.

Of course, Shepard will be the first to pay homage to his D.

“The way we play defensively, teams don’t shoot the puck all the time,” Shepard said. “We’re good on our gaps, our guys are up on their guys and there aren’t a lot of lanes for them to shoot.

“It’s good for me, because when you only see 20-25 shots a game it’s easy to stay fresh. You’re not laboring as much on a back-to-back as you would if you got 35-40 shots.”

Though OSU increasingly sustained offensive pressure as the game went on, Shepard seemed to tighten the seal on his net more and more.

He committed robbery in the first two minutes of the third period, victimizing both Brendon Kearney and Lakeville native John Wiitala. Kearney was on the doorstep of the crease with an attempt to redirect the puck, but Shepard’s right pad blocked it. Shepard sprung across the crease to stop Wiitala’s rebound attempt with the left pad.  

“I was on the post and I gave the guy in front of me a quick shoulder check,” Shepard said. “I slid to my right and made the save. All I did then was make a little push over and tried to stay in position and the guys cleared it away.

“It wasn’t a very easy to play to clear because it was so bang-bang. It was (Ohio State’s) best opportunity of the third period).”

On a penalty kill as a result of a Riley Tufte elbowing penalty, Shepard moved left across the crease to rob OSU captain Mason Jobst with the left pad and stick on a one-timer from the left circle.

But Shepard’s bid for his first shutout since the Western Michigan series was ripped up following a Nick Wolff tripping penalty on a Tanner Laczynski wrist shot that put the Buckeyes on the board with his 17th goal of the season with 10:33 left in the game.

But that was it. The Buckeyes couldn’t find a way to penetrate the UMD defense to get the puck to puck to Shepard, much less past him.

With last season’s title game experience, Shepard has an idea of how to spend the next 40 hours.

“I just stay in a routine doing what you do two days before a game,” Shepard said. “Staying in a routine is probably the biggest thing for me and just be ready to go Saturday.”

The post Bulldogs Backbone appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Bulldogs ride maturing blueline corps into second straight Frozen Four

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Just a sophomore, Nick Wolff is Minnesota-Duluth’s most experienced guy on a defensive group that was one of the team’s question marks heading into the season.

Assistant captains Carson Soucy and Brendan Kotyk, along with Neal Pionk and Willie Raskob didn’t return to the blue line this year after helping the Bulldogs reach the national championship game in 2017.

UMD sophomore forward Riley Tufte and freshman defenseman Louie Roehl embrace following Minnesota Duluth’s West Region final win over Air Force on Saturday. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Would their replacements be ready to perform? How much would their youth and lack of experience affect UMD’s ability to hang with the skilled and talented teams in the NCHC?

“We lost a lot, but we knew had a lot of great guys coming in,” Wolff said. “I don’t really consider myself the ‘old guy’. I’m just as goofy as they are. I learn off of them and they learn off of me.

“Right now, they’re killing it. (The young guys) just played one of our best weekend series we’ve seen them play.”

The UMD defense has shackled opposing offenses with the nation’s eighth-best scoring defense at 2.14 goals allowed per game all season and in the NCAA tournament when it mattered most.

The Bulldogs punched their ticket to their second straight Frozen Four and sixth in school history after they eliminated Air Force 2-1 in the West Regional final Saturday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Minnesota-Duluth (23-16-3) will face the Denver/Ohio State winner in the Frozen Four semifinals April 5 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“It was a really new team this year and we came together as a group,” UMD sophomore forward Joey Anderson said. “Going to two Frozen Fours is really cool, but we’re not done yet and we want to reach that final goal of winning the national championship.

UMD was able to do what St. Cloud State couldn’t do against Air Force on Friday, and that was to jump on the Falcons early and create chances right from the start, but most of all, suffocate the Falcons with a stifling defense and puck-possession game.

The Bulldogs held their opponents without a shot on goal for an entire period for the second night in a row. Air Force didn’t get its first shot on goal until the fourth minute of the second period.

“From the start, they took us to the woodshed,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We haven’t seen speed like that all year.”

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period when Dylan Samberg left the puck for Riley Tufte and went hard to the net, making contact with Air Force goaltender Billy Christopaulos at the edge of the crease.

UMD’s Joey Anderson (13) and Dylan Samberg (4) watch Anderson’s shot settle in the back of the Air Force net to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the first period of their 2-1 West Regional final win over the Falcons. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

Tufte took a shot from the point and Joey Anderson cleaned up the rebound. Officials determined after a review that Samberg’s contact didn’t prevent Christopaulos from making the save, one night after Samberg interfered with the Minnesota State goalie to overturn a UMD goal in overtime.

Wolff made the score 2-0 a few minutes later with a wrist shot while trailing the play on a rush.

“I thought it was important to go out and get the first goal,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “We were able to carry that momentum through the rest of the period. We talked before the game about starting on time and getting a lead.”

The Falcons started to apply pressure as the second period progressed and finally broke through with 6:16 left in the game. Evan Giesler scored it for the Falcons, trying to make a pass out front from behind the net and the puck deflected off Hunter Shepard and over the goal line.

Shephard and the Bulldogs withstood a late desperation surge by Air Force to seal the trip to St. Paul where UMD won its title in 2011.

“We’re going home (to the ‘X’),” Wolff said. “We’ve all played there before. I played in the state tournament there. It’ll be good to be home.”

Added Sandelin: “It’s great for our program, but I’m more happy for our players. We have a very young group, so we talk about how hard it is to get here. They needed to get here to realize how hard it is to win two games to get to the Frozen Four.”

The post UMDefense Grounds Falcons appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Parker Mackay’s goal has UMD a win away from Frozen Four repeat

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — After seven minutes, it looked like Minnesota State was on its way to a history-making night, but by game’s end, Minnesota-Duluth made sure history repeated itself.

The Bulldogs are back in the region final for a second year in a row after a 3-2 overtime win in the West Regional Friday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Parker Mackay scored on a wrist shot from the slot 2:28 into OT to make UMD 9-0 all-time in the first-round games while the Mavericks are still looking for their first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

“We were feeling pretty confident after the third period,” Mackay said. “We didn’t want to get too complacent.”

Third-seeded UMD improves to 22-16-3 and will face No. 4 Air Force at 8 p.m. Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four. MSU finishes the season 29-10-1.

Minnesota State’s Zeb Knutson watches his first-period shot elude Minnesota Duluth goaltender Hunter Shepherd to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead in Friday’s West Regional semifinal. (MHM photo / Jonny Watkins)

The Mavericks scored two quick goals before the seven-minute mark of the first period by Zeb Knutson and Ian Scheid and UMD was punchless out of the gate with just one shot on goal by the time MSU was up 2-0.

“We had a good start,” Knutson said. “Everyone was dialed in and excited for the game.”

Then the Mavericks offense went dormant. No registered shots on goal for roughly 35 minutes, including the entire second period and no goals the rest of the game.

“We’ve played them three times and neither team’s gotten out to tremendous leads,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “I thought we survived the second period.”

UMD began the long road back with an 8-0 shots on goal advantage in the second period, highlighted by Karson Kuhlman’s goal at the 6:38 mark.

“We got the jitters out in the first period and just stuck with it,” UMD’s Nick Swaney said.

MSU made an effort to regroup during the second intermission and get back on the offensive and rebuild its lead. Knutson and Connor Mackey each connected with posts, but that was it.

“We got back in the locker room and we all came together as a team and said ‘hey, we can do this,’” MSU forward and Hobey Baker Award semifinalist C.J. Suess said. “I felt like after coming out of the locker room our spirits were up and that we were ready to go in the third.”

Nick Swaney’s one-timer shot from the low left circle got past Connor LaCouvee with 4:08 left in the third period to send the game to overtime.

It didn’t take long for the back-and-forth overtime fireworks to blast.

Players watch as UMD’s Nick Swaney (23) scored what was thought to be the game winner 55 seconds into overtime before the goal was reversed after review due t goaltender interference. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

UMD’s players jumped over the boards and rushed across the ice to mob Swaney who had just put the puck in the net for the Bulldogs 55 seconds into OT.

“We just called upstairs and asked our guy to take a look at it and we thought there was contact prior to the puck going in,” Hastings said. “I had a pretty good idea it was going to be overturned.”

The video replay showed Dylan Samberg running LaCouvee over in the crease and preventing the MSU goalie from making the stop on Swaney’s rebound shot.

A good goal was the call on the ice, but called off after review.

“I thought the guys did a good job refocusing and going back out there,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “I think all my excitement went out with the (disallowed) goal. I was still excited for second goal but not as excited as the first one.

UMD goaltender Hunter Shepard experienced a flurry in front of his own net after the ensuing faceoff. The puck slid toward the net on a Nick Rivera shot amid the scrum, but MSU’s Brad McClure was knocked into the goal and his breezers prevented the puck from crossing the goal line.

Shepard finished with 19 saves and LaCouvee had 19 for MSU.

Back on the other end, after a defensive-zone turnover, Justin Richards found Mackay gliding down the slot and hit him with a pass. Mackay took a second, head faked and put the puck over LaCouvee’s shoulder.

“They had been blocking shots all game so I was just trying to maybe fake it out and see if there was a shot lane,” Mackay said. “Sure enough, I just tried to get the puck on net and it went in.”

The post Bulldogs Nip Mavs In OT appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Regional woes continue for top-seed Huskies

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Those who proudly wear St. Cloud State red and black would like to say this isn’t familiar territory, but lately, it appears to be the truth.

The No. 1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament Huskies fell to Air Force 4-1 in the West Region semifinals Friday afternoon at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

“It’s miserable,” junior forward Robby Jackson said. “I just sucks, man. I don’t even know how to put it into words. We battled tooth and nail, but we couldn’t solve their goalie today.”

Air Force improves to 23-14-5 and will face either Minnesota State or Minnesota-Duluth in the regional final at 8 p.m. Saturday. St. Cloud State finishes the season 25-8-6.

The Falcons, ranked well beyond the top 16 in the PairWise Rankings and qualified by winning the Atlantic Hockey playoff title, struck twice early in the second period on goals by Tyler Ledford after the first 20 minutes went scoreless.

Air Force goaltender Billy Christopoulos makes one of his 39 saves to lead his team over St. Cloud State and into Saturday’s NCAA West Region final. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

The chances SCSU failed to score on or were stopped by Air Force goaltender Billy Christopoulos from that point on will surely haunt the Huskies, who had 18 shots in the second period.

“The second period was crazy, the chances we got,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said.

The Huskies are 1-4 in their last five NCAA tournament games and the only lead they had in any of those was a one-goal lead for a 7 ½ minute stretch early in the 2015 West Region final against North Dakota, which UND won 4-1.

There was the 4-0 loss to Minnesota in the 2014 West Region final, followed by a first-round overtime win against Michigan Tech in 2015 in which SCSU never led until the OT goal.

And then, the overtime loss to Ferris State in the 2016 West Region when the No. 2 overall Huskies rallied to tie the Bulldogs, only to lose in overtime.

“I never thought we’d hurt worse than we did when we lost to Ferris, but here we are,” Jackson said.

The NCAA tournament has been a lot more kind to Air Force, which beat Western Michigan in the 2017 first round and has now won three tournament games in program history.

Air Force scored its first goal three minutes into the second period when Ledford broke up a soft pass from SCSU Jimmy Schuldt and knocked it out of the air and past goalie David Hrenak. Officials went to the monitor to check if Ledford’s stick rose above the plane of the cross bar, but the goal was called good on the ice and evidence of a high stick playing the puck was deemed inconclusive.

“We just watched (the play),” Falcons coach and Coleraine native Frank Serratore said. “It was really close.”

Ledford tipped home a Matt Koch centering pass for another goal and his sixth of the season, and then Christopaulos became the star of the show.

The junior from North Carolina stretched across the crease to reach out and rob the Huskies with his glove in the second and third periods, once on a cross-ice pass from Ryan Poehling that hit Jackson in the skates before he could shoot, allowing Christopaulos time to get over.

“(Christopaulos) is dialed in right now,” Motzko said. “If he stays dialed in, Air Force is going to win tomorrow. Someone’s gotta score on this kid.”

St. Cloud State’s Will Borgen (20), Robby Jackson (23) and Jimmy Schuldt (22) mob teammate Blake Lizotte after his third period goal. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

The Huskies scored with time ticking away on their season with 2:51 left in the third period. Blake Lizotte entered the zone and hit Newell on a pass near the far boards and Lizotte redirected Newell’s shot into the goal.

SCSU pulled Hrenak after the Huskies won the ensuing faceoff, but the Falcons gained possession of the puck as he got to the bench, leaving the net wide open as Air Force skated the puck through the neutral zone.

Jordan Himley sent the puck into the net for Air Force, effectively sucking out of the building whatever steam SCSU had generated and added another empty netter shortly after.

“We played the whole game waiting for that big goal to go in, but it came a little too late,” Motzko said. “We all know now, parity in college hockey has never been greater.”

The post Falcons Stun SCSU appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It’s Wednesday evening and the action is starting to pick up for Erik Martinson and the interns helping him get the Denny Sanford Premier Center ready for the ball.

Martinson has been in Sioux Falls since Sunday, nailing down the fine details of a well-run NCAA Regional hockey tournament from hiding all advertisements and signage to converting football and basketball locker rooms to hockey before the teams get there.

No. 6 Minnesota State and Atlantic Hockey Association champ Air Force roll in first. Top-seed St. Cloud State and No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth are set to arrive a little later.

“I don’t know how we got three Minnesota teams in one region, but I think it’s awesome,” said Martinson, assistant athletics director for operations at the University of North Dakota.

“I’m glad it all worked out with the PairWise Rankings, because I think we’re going to have a great atmosphere.”

Denny Sanford Premier Center Twitter Image

The West Region has a definite Minnesota flavor, with the three Minnesota teams plus Colorado Springs-based Air Force, which has plenty of Minnesota ties with Coleraine-native Frank Serratore behind the bench and seven Minnesota-native players.

“Hopefully there’s more of a positive flavor for the Minnesota teams because of the proximity,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “It was nice that we had a 2 1/2 -hour bus ride instead of hopping on a charter and flying like we’ve had to in the past.”

The idea of an arena filled with green-clad North Dakota fans faded as conference championship weekend progressed, but when the NCAA tournament bracket revealed a nice consolation Sunday morning.

“The best outcome would’ve been if UND was here,” Martinson said. “The next-best outcome is what we have with the teams that we got here.”

The NCAA regional rounds have seen notably sparse crowds, especially since the sites were required to be off campus starting around 10 years ago. Hundreds of empty seats are usually visible on TV and thousands more unoccupied in the upper decks, often closed off.

Those in charge at the Denny Sanford Premier Center hope and are confident that won’t be the case this weekend.

“Obviously, North Dakota not making the tournament is going to have an impact,” said Ty Halpin, the on-site NCAA representative in Sioux Falls this weekend.

“But the fan bases are able to drive and I think the game times are conducive to fans coming. Talking to people here, they think a lot of the people who bought tickets thinking North Dakota would be here, will probably still come. Even if it’s not full, it’s still going to be an enthusiastic atmosphere.”

UND showed what an electric atmosphere at a regional can look like with a much smaller, 4,000-seat arena with much of its fan-base willing to pay anything for a ticket when the school hosted at Fargo’s Scheels Arena in 2015 and 2017.

The crowds at those games, around 90 percent Fighting Hawks fans, spilled into the standing-room areas.

“I was down on the ice handing out championship hats to UND players after the region final (at Scheels Arena in 2015),” Martinson said. “It was the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life because it’s all the noise is coming at you. Atmosphere drives everything.”

UND’s absence and a larger arena to fill have created challenges when it comes to attendance while trying to match the crazy atmosphere of the Fargo regionals.

The Denny Sanford Premier Center – with a capacity of 10,678 – is home to the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede, an indoor football team and live concerts. The arena is the only one out of 16 in the USHL that seats more than 10,000.

No. 1 in the PairWise Rankings, St. Cloud State was the easy pick for the top seed in the West Region since the selection committee tries to reward top seeds with shorter travel. To maximize attendance, the committee had to do some flip-flopping.

MSU, ranked sixth in the PWR, was slotted to play Midwest Regional host No. 11 Penn State in Allentown, Penn. and No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth would’ve played No. 5 Denver out east in a natural bracket.

Good news for those who value bigger crowds and better atmosphere more than bracket integrity.

“You never know what’s going to happen once the 16 teams are determined,” Hastings said. “I’ve never really tried to figure out who we’re going to play. The important thing is to focus on getting in and progressing from there.”

A large chunk of tickets were gobbled up more than 5,000 on presale by UND fans, who assumed their team would play in Sioux Falls this weekend, and it’s hard to blame them, given their program’s 15-year streak of tournament appearances.

(A host team is automatically placed in the region it’s hosting as long as it qualifies for the tournament.)

Each team that qualifies for the tournament is allotted 400 tickets, typically offered first to their season-ticket holders and Halpin estimated 1,000 tickets were sold via the NCAA’s official ticket exchange.

Fans that do make the trip to Sioux Falls will be impressed when they walk through the four-year-old Denny Sanford Premier Center’s doors, according to Halpin. He said he was impressed by the “four adequate locker rooms” and the sightlines provided by a steep upper deck that makes the fan feel closer to the ice.

“It’s phenomenal and it’s still pretty new,” Halpin said. “They’ve dressed it up pretty well from an NCAA perspective and it has all the bells and whistles you can ask for.”

The post Minnesota’s Ice appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Quarterfinal matchup gives new-look Moose another shot at Hermantown

The third game of the Class A quarterfinals at the Minnesota state high school hockey tournament, on its face, appears to be the matchup that might hold the most intrigue for an obvious reason.

Monticello will take on top-seed Hermantown in a rematch of the 2017 Class A championship game – which the Hawks won in double overtime – allowing the opportunity for the Moose to exact its revenge.

But this is a different Monticello team with different goals and expectations with just some of the same pieces off last year’s team that made the memorable run to the title game. The former Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake also dropped its co-op with Annandale, going by just Monticello now despite Maple Lake remaining part of the co-op.

“It’s the same experience, but with a different group of guys,” said junior forward and captain Troy Dahlheimer.

“Last year, going into the tournament, our coach told us to enjoy the experience (of state) and just have fun. It turned out, once we got past the No. 2 seed (Delano), it only got easier from there. We knew we were a good team, we were really excited and that’s what drove us all the way to the championship.”

The primary instinct may be to figure Monticello returns an experienced roster with a group that’s played on the big stage, but only eight players return from last season’s roster.

The Moose will rely on Dahlheimer, who had two goals and three assists in the Section 5A Playoffs, for an offensive charge.

Monticello lost St. Cloud State verbal commit Ben Ward (a junior last season who scored 28 goals with 50 assists in 2017-18) to the NAHL and Nick Zwack (31 goals, 31 assists) to graduation. Both were Dahlheimer’s linemates.

“We’re a young team, but it really shows what our program has in store,” said Dahlheimer, who’s the Moose’s top-returning scorer from last season when he had 45 points and has mirrored that total with 45 points heading into state.

“We’ve really been letting these young guys know what an unreal experience the state tournament is.”

Monticello’s Troy Dahlheimer fights through a Ryan Sandelin check in the 2017 Class 1A state title game. MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

An eight-game stretch in which the Moose went 2-5-1 to end the regular season could’ve sent the team stumbling into sections. Monticello took that skid not only as a team-galvanizing experience, but also to get familiar with top-notch opponents.

Ranked Class A teams like Sartell and St. Cloud Cathedral beat the Moose, as did state tournament entrants Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (Class A) and St. Michael-Albertville (Class AA).

“At the end of the year, we played faster teams and I like to think it helped our team play faster once we got to sections,” Dahlheimer said.

Added Monticello coach Eric Nelson: “We weren’t looking down at that point. We knew we had work to do. Sartell was a good team and we played them tough. We knew if we played like we did against Sartell and the way we played for a period and a half against Cathedral, we’d have a good opportunity to make it out of our section.”

Nelson said senior captain and defenseman Tyler Anderson is another key returnee from last season who wants to leave his mark on the program.

The goaltender Tyler Klatt is back to help the Moose attempt to replicate last season’s success and his team will likely need him to replicate his own success in order to make that happen.

Klatt posted a .929 saves percentage in the 2017 postseason and he’s been steady lately, stopping 94 percent of the shots he faced in sections.

“Klatt’s really stood on his head at times,” Dahlheimer said. “He comes up big on breakaways and good shots. He can make big saves when we need one.”

Klatt may have been the main reason the Moose were able to hang with Hermantown in the championship for three regulation periods and nearly two overtimes. He held the Hawks scoreless on 15 shots after the first period, which Monticello finished with one shot on goal.

The Moose put two quick goals on the board early in the second period, but Hermantown tied the game at three late in regulation to force OT.

Just when the game appeared to be lost on a goal in the second OT, the goal was overturned because of goaltender interference on the Hawks, giving Monticello new life.

“After the goal, I burst into tears,” Klatt said. “And when they called it off, I think we got momentum back a little bit.”

Dylan Samberg eventually netted the game-winner late in double overtime to clinch the Hawks’ third state championship.

Hermantown has experienced big changes of its own, with longtime coach Bruce Plante’s retirement after last season. Also gone is Samberg, a second-round NHL draft pick and defenseman at Minnesota-Duluth, and Minnesota State commit Ryan Sandelin.

“They’re obviously still a great team,” Nelson said. “They’re going to be fast, they’re going to move the puck well, they’re going to be physical like most northern teams are. They got the No. 1 seed for a reason.”

The post Monticello’s Revenge appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

SCSU’s Motzko, Poehling represent USA

Based on how poorly things turned out for St. Cloud State by the end of the 2016-17 season, the confidence that its players spoke with in September must’ve stemmed from something other than the previous season’s win count.

That optimism was founded on a belief that another year of maturation would highly benefit a young group. That positivity was proven to be well within reason as the Huskies sit atop the nation in the PairWise Rankings (as of Dec. 14), the USCHO.com Poll and in the NCHC standings as well heading into the three-week holiday break.

“We went through the fire last year. It’s our turn to rise up,” said junior left wing Robby Jackson. “We lost a lot of overtime games and couldn’t close out when we had leads. We knew we had the talent and it was all right there.

“We knew we were going to be good this year.”

SCSU was swept out of the first round of the NCHC Playoffs last season and the Huskies finished below .500 (16-19-1) for just the third time since 1999.

But it’s almost seems as though last season was nothing more than a fluke – a hiccup for a team that was within, at most, one win from the Frozen Four each year from 2013-16.

The first-ranked Huskies have the look of a team that will again be in the conversation as a national title contender this March after a 12-2-1 first half to the season.

And what better of a way to put an exclamation point on the first half than with a 3-1 victory against North Dakota, a team SCSU was tied with for first place in the NCHC going into the Dec 9 series finale.

The state of Minnesota has three teams ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Poll. Minnesota State (seventh) and Minnesota (10th) are also ranked in the top 10.

“We’ve really done a good job of just focusing on the hockey and the only time we got caught up in the rankings was when we were No. 1,” Jackson said in regard when SCSU took its No. 1 rank into a series at Denver and got swept.

“We had a sloppy week of practice and we walked around campus with our heads up high. There was just way too much overconfidence. Denver took it to us and that was our reality check.”

Those losses to the defending-champion Pioneers are the Huskies’ only losses of the season.

Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt leads all Huskies in scoring with 19 points (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Jackson leads the Huskies in goals with seven – one of them in the win against North Dakota – is second on the team in points with 17. Junior defenseman Jimmy Schuldt’s 19 points lead the team and he also has the team led in assists (14). Schuldt leads the nation’s defensemen in points scored per game with 1.27.

But the numbers that truly show a night-and-day difference between this season and last is in the goaltending category.

Freshman David Hrenak’s goaltending stats are some of the best in the country with his .947 save percentage (second best) and 1.82 goals against average (fourth).

His platoon mate Jeff Smith, a junior, isn’t far behind with a .928 SV% (sixth nationally) and 2.10 GAA (12th).

“We can really interchange them any night,” Jackson said. “We have full confidence in our goalies and it’s comforting to know that we can count on them to save our bacon if we need them to.”

Goaltending was a question mark for the Huskies at the beginning of last season with All-American goalie Charlie Lindgren signing a pro contract after the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Though Smith emerged as the starter with an improved second half of the season, SCSU missed having a seasoned goalie in net.

As the Huskies completed finals week for the fall semester, their coach headed out to Buffalo, N.Y. to serve as Team USA’s head coach at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships for the second year in a row.

Coach Bob Motzko is back for a second straight season leading Team USA at the World Junior Championships. (St. Cloud State University Chronicle)

Motzko coached Team USA in 2017 and served as one of Don Lucia’s assistants in 2014 and the United States beat Canada in the gold medal game of last year’s tournament with SCSU defenseman Jack Ahcan a member of the team.

Motzko said assistants Garrett Raboin and Mike Gibbons will act as co-head coaches during Motzko’s absence when the team opens the second half of its season Dec. 29-30 at Princeton.

Jackson’s linemate sophomore center Ryan Poehling earned a spot on the preliminary Team USA roster, making this roster the third consecutive with an SCSU player on it (Will Borgen, 2016 and Ahcan) and he’d be the ninth Husky to make the final roster.

Of course, Poehling understands he needs to make a good impression on Motzko and the USA Hockey staff. He’s one of 15 forwards and two will be cut for the final roster .

“I thought I was able to show what kind of player I am (during the World Juniors Showcase this summer) I feel like I had a really good first half for St. Cloud,” said Poehling, who along with Motzko, left for tryout camp in Columbus, Ohio on Dec. 14. “I’m absolutely honored to be invited to the tryout, but I also believe I’ve earned it.”

Poehling has four goals and 11 assists through 14 games this season and helped the Americans win the U18 World Championships in April in Slovakia.

Hrenak has made the preliminary roster for Slovakia and former SCSU defenseman Dennis Cholowski, who left the Huskies to play major-junior hockey this season, made Canada’s camp roster but was cut Dec. 14.

Should Team USA make the medal round on Friday, Jan. 5, Motzko and Poehling would have less than 24 hours to return to St. Cloud and prepare to take on the Gophers the next night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, followed by a road game on Jan. 7 at Mariucci.

Poehling said he’s willing to play each game.

While the hockey world puts its focus on Buffalo later this month, Motzko said he plans to have more contact with his players back in St. Cloud this year than he did when the tournament took place in Montreal and Toronto.

“I’ll check in more this year, almost on a daily basis just to see how we’re doing,” Motzko said. “I don’t need to, but it might make me feel better. The players will handle it.”

The post Top-Ranked Huskies Blast Through First Half appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.