‘Senior Night’ goals push UMD to second NCAA title

St. Paul — Maybe the UMD hockey team should try to schedule its “senior night” to coincide with the NCAA championship game every year. 

   Karson Kuhlman and Jared Thomas — senior linemates who spent most of their four years not scoring — came up with the biggest goals of their careers Saturday night to ignite the Bulldogs to a 2-1 victory over Notre Dame before 18,303 fans at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

   The eight freshmen in the Bulldog lineup deserved the raves from all who watched, and sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard weathered some intense pressure to hold that early lead, but captain Kuhlman, from Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, and Thomas, from Hermantown, came through with first-period goals to stake the Bulldogs to a 2-0 lead.

   Then UMD could safely, but dangerously, turn things over to goaltender Shepard and a textbook display of team defense led by their poised and patient blueliners, to win their second NCAA championship in men’s hockey.

    Kuhlman and Thomas continued their late offensive leadership, which shows some great patience by coach Scott Sandelin. Kuhlman, always hustling, has proven his captaincy repeatedly. His goal Saturday night was his 13th  of the season — far from sufficient reward for all the energy he’s spent.

   “If I could have 25 guys like Karson, my job would be a lot easier,” said Sandelin, who tried double-shifting Kuhlman in the first period after freshman winger Kobe Roth injured his ankle when he was checked into the boards. On the first shift Kuhlman played on the fourth line, he scored.

    Thomas, a big scorer in high school and in junior, spent his four years looking good, and doing everything right, but without scoring much. His goal — the game-winner — was his 11th of the season, and only his 21st in 163 games over four years. But Sandelin stuck with him patiently, for his speed, his two-way play, and maybe believing he might someday come through offensively.

   It worked, even if just barely, because Thomas’s 11th tally was the game-winner and gave UMD its second NCAA men’s hockey title at the same location it won it’s first one, in 2011. That time, the Bulldogs beat Michigan 3-2 in the second overtime, after beating Notre Dame 3-2 in the semifnals.

   For their play in the Frozen Four, Kuhlman and Thomas were both named to the all-tournament team, along with Shepard and freshman defenseman Scott Perunovich, and Notre Dame winger Andrew Oglevie and defenseman Jordan Gross. For good measure, Kuhlman also was named tournament most outstanding player.

    UMD violated a whole raft of traditions to finish 25-16-3 — the most losses by an NCAA champion. After losing twice in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Center, UMD made the NCAA field as the final at-large entry by one-10,000th of a Pairwise point over Minnesota. From that point on, the Bulldogs became the first team since 1977 to win all four of its NCAA tournament games by one goal.

    Taking down top-seeded Notre Dame, which finished 28-10-2 and still in search of its first NCAA title, means UMD won the title as the lone NCHC team in the field, against three Big Ten teams — for the third straight NCHC championship. 

   The other traditional difficulty the Bulldogs ignored was the high-risk of trying to hold onto a narrow lead against an explosive opponent. But the Bulldogs shrugged all of that off and continued to follow a remarkable pattern of their own, jumping ahead 2-0 with a forceful first period, then battling to hang on as the game progressed.

   The Bulldogs did that in Sioux Falls when they got a 2-0 lead on Air Force and won 2-1 for the West Region title, and they did it again Thursday when they struck twice in the first 3:04 and rode those goals to another 2-1 victory to eliminate Ohio State in the semifinals.

    So why should Saturday night’s final be any different? 

   The Bulldogs opened the tough, physical battle against Notre Dame by losing Roth, who a couple of hours later was helped onto the ice in a protective boot to join the raucous celebration. That’s when the senior tandem of Kuhlman and Thomas staked them to the 2-0 lead.

    On his first turn at wing with center Jade Miller in Roth’s spot on the fourth line, Kuhlman helped spring the puck free in the neutral zone, then he slipped ahead to the far blue line as Miller rounded up the puck and passed it ahead to Kuhlman, who was wide open to rush the net. Kuhlman started to crank up for a slap shot, and appeared to change his mind, striding in a couple more steps and snapping a wrist shot past Notre Dame goaltender Cale Morris on the short side at 9:06.

Injured UMD forward Kobe Roth is escorted around the Xcel Energy Center Ice by linemate Jade Miller hoisting the Bulldogs national championship trophy following Minnesota Duluth’s 2-1 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

Both Thomas and Kuhman have provided leadership roles with heady play and a lot of grit in tight quarters, and late in the first period, they demonstrated, collaborating on a forecheck in the right corner of the Irish zone. Kuhlman finally nudged the puck around the corner boards to Thomas, who won another battle for possession there and headed for the goal.

   With no angle to shoot at and no teammate to feed, Thomas rammed a shot at Morris, who was already kneeling in the crease, figuring he had every angle covered. Turns out, he didn’t. Thomas’s shot hit his skate and glanced into the net, and the Bulldogs were up 2-0 at 18:39 of the opening session.

   “Kars got the puck up to me, and I threw a surprise shot at his feet,” said Thomas. “I was fortunate enough to find a little hole there.”

   It could have been 3-0, but Mike O’Leary eliminated a set-up in the slot with a timely hook that saved a goal, maybe, but didn’t elude the officials. UMD’s power play, however, seemed to get more deliberate as time passed, interrupting their momentum on that overlapping power play, and another one 2 mintues into the second period.

    It was no surprise that Notre Dame got some fire from the penalty kills, and that the penalties started to even up. The Bulldogs did a good job killing a Louie Roehl penalty at 4:35, but when Perunovich stopped a rush and was called for interference when the Notre Dame skater hurtled over him, the Filghting Irish broke through Shepard’s goaltending.

   Dan Morrison was on the right boards and passed across the slot to Jake Evans in the left circle. Sophomore Andrew Oglevie broke hard to the net, and arrived just as the pass from Evans got to the crease, and Oglevie jabbed the puck under Shepard at 7:40.

    The Bulldogs obviously had no intention of sitting back to protect the lead, outshooting Notre Dame 18-9 in the second period. Still, the Irish had some excellent chances at the equalizer, the best of which was when Colin Theisen sped around the defense and crashed the net.

   Shepard, who had made two or three exceptional saves at the left post moments earlier, held his ground and made the save to preserve the 2-1 lead to the second intermission.

   “I thought we played much better in the second period,” said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson, whose team dominated its first season in the Big Ten by winning its first 13 games, and made it a habit to win close games at the finish. “We needed to tie the game in the second, because once you get to the third period, they’re a shut-down team.”

   In the third period, the shut down effort was mainly by UMD’s kiddie corps — the steady and heady defense led by sophomore Nick Wolff and the five freshmen who never seem to sense any danger. They stopped rushes, played the puck smartly, and cleared everything, while leaving a few threats for Shepard to handle.

   After outshooting Notre Dame 18-8 in the second period, UMD held the Irish to only 5 shots with a 7-5 edge in the shut-down third, for a 35-20 game advantage. “Obviously, we didn’t want to get on our heels,” said Kuhlman. 

The post Titletown appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

UMD captain’s clutch play leads Bulldogs national title

“This year has been fun because our relationship as a coaching staff (with Kuhlman) grew,” Bulldogs head coach Scott Sandelin said. “We had a lot of talks earlier in the year. It was fun to see him kind of mature into the leader that he was.

 

“There were some frustrating times, but we found a way to get through together … I can’t say enough about Karson. He’s a great kid, great captain for us and I was so excited that he was the Most Valuable Player of this tournament because he deserved it.”

 

Kuhlman was also the MVP of the NCAA Division I West Regional and led the Bulldogs to four straight one-goal wins in the national tournament.

 

This was Kuhlman’s first season wearing a letter for a team since he was an alternate captain for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in 2013-14. His teammates voted him as the team’s captain last spring after the Bulldogs reached the national championship game.

 

UMD captain Karson Kuhlman and former Bulldog great, Bill Watson, share an embrace following Minnesota Duluth’s 2-1 Frozen Four championship game win over the Irish on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

“Throughout the summer and the fall, we knew we were going to have a lot of ups and downs,” said Kuhlman, whose team had eight freshmen and five sophomores in the lineup in Saturday’s win at Xcel. “As much as it was a learning experience for the younger guys, it was also a learning experience for myself and the leadership group.

 

“How to manage games with these younger guys and also how to manage everything from on the ice to off the ice to everything in between. At the end of the day, I couldn’t be happier with how all of them and how they stepped up.”

 

It helps when the captain is leading the way with his energy and relentless play. In the championship game, Kuhlman also stepped in to help out on a line he had not played a shift with this season.

 

Freshman left wing Kobe Roth went down with a lower leg injury in the first period. Kuhlman took a shift in Roth’s place and gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with a goal at 9:06, which was 2:45 after Roth left the game.

 

“We were down to 11 forwards and I just liked the way Karson was playing,” Sandelin said. “He said he was fine to go and I told him to keep his shifts short. It paid off. It was a big goal for us to get the lead.”

 

Kuhlman got the puck from Jade Miller after Miller stole the puck in the neutral zone. He got it to Kuhlman, who faked a slap shot at the top of the faceoff circle, took a couple strides and then scored on a wrist shot from the faceoff dot.

 

“I was kind of caught it flat-footed and the ‘D’ man was closing in pretty good,” Kuhlman said of his 13th goal of the season. “I actually had scored on one of those earlier in my career on a really similar play on the catching glove side.”

 

Then Kuhlman set up the game-winner. Kuhlman and center Jared Thomas were attacking low in the Notre Dame zone. Kuhlman was able to push the puck down to Thomas, who took a couple strides toward the net and scored at 18:39 of the first period for a 2-0 lead.

 

UMD went on to win its third straight game that the Bulldogs held a 2-0 lead after the first period and ended up winning 2-1, this time to clinch its second national title.

 

Kuhlman grew up a Minnesota-Duluth fan and was a freshman on the Cloquet/Esko/Carlton High School team when the Bulldogs won their first title in 2011 in St. Paul.

 

“I remember 2011 and how much it meant to the fans in the whole city,” Kuhlman said. “I just can’t believe it. It’s pretty special.”

 

Kuhlman is an undrafted player, who finished with 38 goals and 40 assists in 165 career college games. He will graduate this spring with a degree in organizational management after being an NCHC All-Academic Team member for four years.

The post Cool Man Karson 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 blitz Buckeyes early, hold on late to reach second straight title game

The preliminaries to the NCAA Frozen Four were all written and spoken in colorful language: Was the Big Ten clearly the best college hockey conference because they got three teams to the Frozen Four? Does a youthful UMD stand a chance as the NCHC’s lone entry? And are the Bulldogs doing it with mirrors, using five freshmen on defense and eight in all, and still returning to the Frozen Four?

It didn’t take long for the answers to start coming in, and they kept coming in as the Bulldogs held off Ohio State 2-1 in the first NCAA hockey semifinal at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. 

Minnesota Duluth forward Jade Miller takes on on the chin from Ohio State’s Ronnie Hein during the Bulldogs’ 2-1 Frozen Four semifinal win over the Buckeyes on Thursday, April 5 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

The story of this year’s UMD team is its defensive poise, all those freshmen notwithstanding. They worked it again and now take a 24-16-3 record into Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship game, in quest of their second-ever national championship. Ohio State ends its season 26-10-5, and the Bulldogs are assured of facing another Big Ten power in the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal, between Michigan and Notre Dame. 

It doesn’t seem to matter. On the third shift of the game, UMD made a spirited attack and Ohio State goaltender Sean Romeo blocked a couple of close-in chances, although he seemed unable to find the puck after one save. Undoubtedly some cynic in the seats, and maybe on the Buckeye bench, might have wondered, “Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art that puck?”

Ah, UMD junior winger Parker Mackay found it before Romeo got his bearings and directed it out to center point, where UMD freshman defenseman Matt Anderson spotted his partner, fellow-freshman defenseman Louie Roehl, in deep on the right, impersonating a forechecking right winger. “I thought Matty was going to shoot,” said Roehl. Instead, Anderson sent Roehl a crisp pass, and Roehl ripped a shot past Romeo and into the Buckeyes net at 1:53.

 The UMD fans were still aroused from that early goal, when a couple of seniors collaborated for another one. Jared Thomas deflected the puck away from an Ohio State point man, and when he saw it was headed for captain Karson Kuhlman, Thomas took off, breaking behind the OSU defense. Kuhlman, near the right boards in his own end, zipped a perfect 100-foot pass right on the tape, springing Thomas for a clean breakaway. Closing fast, Thomas gave a little head feint and a deke to go to his backhand, but he interrupted his own move to slide a backhander under Romeo and between his pads at 3:04.

“Karson made a great pass to me, and did what he always does — he gives us a spark when we need it,” said Thomas.

The Bulldogs used that early springboard for a dominant first period, outshooting the Buckeyes 17-4 and taking that 2-0 lead to intermission.

“We had two freshman ‘D’ get us the first goal, then Jared Thomas gets free for the second one, and that gave us a huge start,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin.

Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said, “We haven’t done that all year. For whatever reason, we seemed to be on our heels at the start, and I looked up and after only 3:04, we’re down 2-zip. UMD’s defense plays a lot like we want to play; they use their speed to take away time and space.

“But I told our guys to go out and play to win. We’ve come too far, and I was proud of the way we came back, and right to the buzzer, we felt like we could win.”   

The second period was considerably tighter defensively, but neither team scored. The big, strong Buckeyes forwards started exerting their physical forecheck and the Bulldogs had some problems getting out of their end. But, as they’ve done all season, the Bulldogs displayed great poise in their own zone, and sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard held the 2-0 lead into the third period.

Ohio State got back into the game thanks to a couple of penalties. Riley Tufte went off for elbowing at 5:38, and less than a minute after killing that one, Nick Wolff was called for tripping.

Minnesota Duluth defenseman Dylan Samberg (Hermantown) drills Ohio State’s Wyatt Ege (Elk River) during the Bulldogs’ 2-1 Frozen Four semifinal win over the Buckeyes on Thursday, April 5 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Even then, the Buckeyes needed one more “break” to get on the board. Sophomore defenseman Wyatt Ege moved in from the right point for a power-play shot, but his stick broke as he swung. As Ege, who is from Elk River, went in search of a new weapon, the puck skittered free, and Dakota Joshua shoved it to Tanner Laczynski, who moved to the top of the right circle and drilled his clean shot past Shepard at 9:27.

“We didn’t generate the number of chances we wanted to,” said Buckeye captain Mason Jobst. “But they did a good job clearing out in front, and their goalie played well.”

Rohlik pulled Romeo with 2:10 remaining, and the Buckeyes charged again. A couple more freshman defensemen came through with poise in the face of that pressure, however. First, when the Buckeyes rushed hard up the right boards, Mikey Anderson blocked a pass that ricocheted back out across the blue line, necessitating a regroup instead of an attack.

Then, with the clock ticking down into the final 15 seconds, right in the midst of a mad scramble in the corner, UMD freshman defenseman Dylan Samberg dropped down on all fours. Knowing he couldn’t cover the puck, or throw it out of the zone, he groveled back and forth on hands and knees, tapping the puck back and forth, but out of the Buckeyes reach, as the clock went down to 0:00.

The officials checked the video and determined there was still 1.2 seconds left, but the Bulldogs won the faceoff and killed that as well, for their second game-winning celebration. And it might be the first time in UMD history that a Bulldog hockey highlight video might have to show a freshman defenseman killing the clock on his hands and knees in the corner.

The post Moving On appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

When the Minnesota Wild selected the 19-year-old Nick Swaney in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL Draft with the 209th overall pick last June, the former Lakeville South forward became the first player in school history to be drafted by an NHL team.

The long wait did not faze Swaney, who had been there before.

“It was my third year (of eligibility) so I was going in kind of just whatever happens, happens. If it wasn’t going to happen it wasn’t the end of the world and if it was it was pretty awesome. Obviously getting drafted by your hometown team is a pretty surreal moment for me and my family.”

Nick Swaney (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Although Swaney’s reign as the lone Cougar draft pick lasted just six picks, when fellow Lakeville South alum Joshua Ess was snatched up by the Chicago Blackhawks, no one can take No. 1 from him.

The humble Swaney, however, does not concern himself with those things. Instead, the now 20-year-old University of Minnesota Duluth freshman prefers to pay homage to those who came before him.

“I know I’m the first drafted but I think of guys that I looked up to like Justin Kloos, for instance, who didn’t get drafted but got a game with the Wild this year and is playing with the Iowa Wild,” Swaney said. “Growing up watching Justin and (former Bulldog) Kyle Osterberg play high school hockey really pushed me to where I am and hopefully I can do that for kids coming up right now too.”

This week, Swaney is once again following his fellow former Cougars once, this time to the Frozen Four, an event both Kloos (2014 with Minnesota) and Osterberg (2017) helped their teams reach.

“As a kid you dream of getting to the Frozen Four and, making it even better, playing at the ‘X’ in front of a big crowd is going to be something special,” Swaney said of playing for a national championship in the arena he one day hopes to call home.

Swaney grew up playing youth hockey in Lakeville and by the time he reached high school he was a player in high demand, especially after a strong showing in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League.

That’s where UMD coach Scott Sandelin took notice.

“I saw a kid that, obviously, could skate, he’s got good speed, but he could score,” Sandelin said. “Everybody’s looking for guys that can score.”

Shortly after the UMHSEL season concluded, Swaney announced his commitment to Sandelin and the Bulldogs.

I’m proud and excited to announce I’ve committed to play college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth! #Bulldogs

— Nick Swaney (@swaneshow) October 28, 2013

After finishing his sophomore season at Lakeville South, Swaney joined the United States Hockey League’s Waterloo Black Hawks and, in his junior hockey debut on March 15, 2014, scored his first USHL goal with 40 seconds left in a 7-3 win over the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

Swaney returned to the Cougars as a junior, scoring 25 goals and 57 points in just 25 games before rejoining the Black Hawks and contributing nine goals and 13 points their final 15 games.

Sandelin said the original plan when Swaney was recruited was for him to play two years of junior with the possibility of joining the Bulldogs sooner.

Swaney decided to forgo his senior season at Lakeville South and hone his game in Waterloo the next two seasons, scoring 115 points on 66 goals and 49 assists in 120 games, including 30 goals in his first full season.

“He had a really good first year in junior hockey but we felt he was a top-six forward for us,” Sandelin said. “I didn’t really want him playing maybe a third or fourth line role.

“There was some consideration of bringing him in after his first year of junior but we didn’t lose anybody that year and we were pretty much set.”

On one hand, that cost Swaney a chance to play in the Frozen Four with the Bulldogs a year earlier but, on the other, it gave NHL representatives more opportunity to watch him play consistently in a top-six role.

“For us, he’s your typical late bloomer,” Wild Assistant GM Brent Flahr said. “Last year,we spent a lot of time watching Waterloo and he’s guy that kind of caught everybody’s eye. At the same time, he’s not the biggest body so he needs to get stronger and gain a step and get quicker.”

Flahr added Swaney is a smart offensive player who can make plays and play in most situations. “Sandy does a great job with those kids up there, him and his staff,” Flahr said. “So we’re hopeful he continues to get better and so far, so good.”

Swaney wouldn’t disagree with that assessment, saying college hockey has been exactly as he expected and, overall, his rookie season has been a good one.

“I’ve had a couple injuries this year which kind of set me back a little bit and put some hiccups in the road,” Swaney said. “Just getting back that confidence here at the end of the season and knowing my linemates are going to be picking me up no matter what happens.”

Swaney comes to St. Paul playing on a line with seniors Jared Thomas and Karson Kuhlman, the team’s captain. The pair are the first players in school history to make four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

“Playing with them you get their best every single night and you feed off of it and makes you want to play up to their level,” Swaney said.

Swaney and Nick Deery celebrate a UMD goal. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

With its roster pillaged by graduation and the NHL,  2017 NCAA runner-up Minnesota Duluth was not expected to make another Frozen Four run this season. Yet the Bulldogs find themselves in St. Paul, site of the school’s first and only national championship and two wins away from another.

Swaney said resiliency has been key to the Bulldogs’ season, pointing to UMD’s poor showing in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff putting its NCAA tournament hopes in peril.

“We lost both of those games and kind of barely snuck into the NCAA tournament,” Swaney said. “We knew that’s all we needed; once we got in anything could happen.”

The Bulldogs bounced back in the West Regional in Sioux Falls, S.D., storming back from a two-goal deficit to eliminate Minnesota State in overtime and defeating Air Force 4-1 in the region final.

Swaney scored the tying goal against the Mavericks with 4:08 left in regulation and scored again 55 seconds into overtime but the goal was reversed when the officials ruled teammate Dylan Samberg had interfered with the MSU goaltender. Parker Mackay’s goal 1:33 later, however, officially sent UMD back to St. Paul.

While the Bulldogs are the underdogs among Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan, Swaney says UMD cannot be counted out this weekend.

“Obviously, it’s going to be kind of a different stage — more emotion and everything — but if we can just stick to what we know and just live in the moment and play period-by-period, things are going to go in our favor.”

The post Late Bloomer appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The St. Paul Rangers were one of five founding members of the Central Professional Hockey League (CPHL) back in 1963 and played three seasons at the St. Paul Auditorium as a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers.

Among those who laced up for the Rangers were Hall-of-Fame defenseman Doug Harvey, future St. Louis Blues great Bob Plager and Bob Woytowich, who skated with the Minnesota North Stars in the team’s inaugural season.

None of them contributed to the Rangers’ most successful season of 1964-65 when coach Fred Shero, who a decade later would lead Philadelphia’s “Broad Street Bullies” to back-to-back Stanley Cups, guided St. Paul to the CPHL’s Adams Cup championship.

One of those who hoisted the cup that night was a 5-foot-10, 180-pound forward from Flin Flon, Manitoba whose 46 assists and 70 points were career highs for the journeyman in the midst of a 16-year pro career with 12 different teams that ended in 1973 with the Minnesota Fighting Saints.

(Photo courtesy of Michigan Photography)

His name is Mel Pearson but most people are more familiar with his son, also named Mel, the head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines, one of this weekend’s participants in the Frozen Four in St. Paul. The site is an all too familiar one to Pearson.

“It’s interesting we’re sort of heading right back to where it all started for me down at the same location as the old St. Paul Auditorium and then my dad played in the original Civic Center there,” Pearson said.

The Wolverines are back in St. Paul for the the first time since 2011, the last time the Frozen Four was played at Xcel Energy Center. Pearson was an assistant under Red Berenson seven years ago when Michigan reached the title game before falling to Minnesota Duluth 3-2 in overtime.

That ended Pearson’s 23-year run helping Berenson guide the Wolverines to a 667-243-71 record, 11 Frozen Fours, and two national championships.

He was lured away from Michigan by a head coaching offer from his alma mater, Michigan Tech, the school he helped lead to its last Frozen Four appearance as a senior in 1981 in Duluth.  After compiling a 118-92-2 record in six seasons in Houghton, Pearson landed his dream job nearly a year ago when he replaced the retiring Berenson at Michigan.

Feeling Minnesota

Pearson was just five-years-old when his father played his lone season with the Rangers but, after a few more stops in a vagabond hockey career, the Pearson family returned to Minnesota in 1972 when Mel Sr. latched on with the Fighting Saints.

The Pearsons, which also included Mel’s mother, Ruby, and brother, Ted, settled in Edina where both boys played hockey in the city’s youth program. That’s when Pearson, a bantam at the time met teammate John Anderson, the man who now refers to Pearson as, “a brother from another mother.”

Anderson and Pearson went on to become teammates at Edina-East High School under legendary coach Willard Ikola, who led Edina teams to eight state championships and 616 wins in 33 seasons. 

Pearson’s father scored eight goals and 20 points for the Fighting Saints in 1972-73 but when he was not brought back the following season he opted to hang up his skates. That’s when the family made the calculated, but difficult decision to move back home to Flin Flon one man short.

“Mel’s mom and dad wanted him to have an opportunity to potentially earn a scholarship with his hockey and, more importantly, get a good education; that was their primary concern,” Anderson said. “And he was living in Edina and Edina wasn’t all bad.”

The Pearsons left Mel behind, setting him up with a billet family kitty-corner across the street from the Anderson household. However, it quickly became obvious that the family, with its much younger children, and Pearson were not a good fit.

“I asked my parents if it would be alright to take Mel in,” Anderson said. “They thought about it for about 10 seconds and said, ‘Sure.’”

Pearson was more than eager to please his new host family and immediately took one for the team.

(Photo courtesy of Michigan Photography)

“The first night he came to our house my mom made split-pea soup and he absolutely hates split-pea soup,” Anderson said. “He sat there and ate it with a smile on his face. ‘Oh Mrs. Anderson, I just love this soup.’”

The two shared a room and soon went from good friends to best friends despite Anderson’s incessant snoring drawing Pearson’s bruise-inducing retaliation.

“In the middle of the night he’d throw a shoe at me, or something like that,” Anderson said. “I’d have to short-sheet his bed or get back at him in some fashion and let him know that wasn’t acceptable.”

Anderson said Pearson spent eight years living with his family, three in high school, four more while he went to Michigan Tech and another year while working as a sales rep for a Twin Cities sporting goods company after graduation.

“He went back to Flin Flon in the summers to be with his parents,” Anderson said. “He’d come back to our house at Christmas time and Thanksgiving because it was too far to go back to Flin Flon. He was part of our family and still is part of our family.”

The feeling is mutual, according to Pearson.

“We’re so close that he actually officiated my daughter’s wedding a couple years ago,” Pearson said. “That’s how tight we are.”

Pearson’s current family’s origins can be traced to Edina as well where he met Susie, who would eventually become his wife. Like Mel, Susie was the new kid on the block, so to speak, having moved to Edina from Atlanta due to her father’s job at 3M.

The couple started dating in high school and maintained a long-distance relationship as Susie went to the University of Minnesota while Pearson was at Tech. They are approaching their 36th anniversary and boast three children, Kim, Sarah and Paul, and one grandchild, Sarah’s son Finnely.

“She’s the one that grounds me,” Pearson said of Susie. “When I get off on these tangents or something or get to wound up about the hockey, she’s the one who reels me back in. You need that, you need to strike some balance in your life. Other than being my biggest supporter, she’s also the one who keeps me in line.”

After Mel graduated from Edina, his parents sent his brother Ted to live with another Edina family and pursue the same dream. He won back-to-back Minnesota state titles with Ikola and Edina-East in 1978 and 1979 before going on to play at Wisconsin where he won national championships in 1981 and 1983 under Bob Johnson and Jeff Sauer, respectively.

“Neither one of my parents went to college and I think they saw the opportunity that presented itself and I was fortunate to have developed as a player in Minnesota and went on to play at Michigan Tech. The foresight was invaluable then.”

To this day, Anderson is amazed by the sacrifices the entire Pearson family made in pursuit of Mel and Ted’s academic and athletic goals.

“He didn’t live at our house because his parents weren’t good people,” Anderson said. “He lived at our house because his parents felt that was the best thing for him. Being a parent myself, I can’t even imagine what they gave up and how they felt about it.

“It’s a huge credit to them, it was a huge blessing to our family and I think we’re all a little bit better because of it.”

Michigan Mentors

The 1977 Edina-East Hornets (Courtesy of Carroll Goalie School)

The friends, teammates and roommates played in a state tournament together as seniors in 1977 under Ikola, finishing runner-up to Rochester-John Marshall.

Pearson recalls admiring Ikola for the way he ran his teams with discipline and accountability, even when he was the one held accountable.

“I remember one day, just as we got on the ice and were getting warmed up, I shot a puck up into the stands on purpose and Willard told me to go get the puck,” Pearson said. “I looked at him and I said, ‘I’ve got my skates on.’ He said, ‘You get up there and you go get that puck.’ I had to get off the ice in my skates and crawl around get the puck. My teammates got a good chuckle out of that and, needless to say, I never flipped another puck in the stands on purpose.”

Ikola, an All-American goaltender at Michigan (1952-54), was just the first former Wolverine to mentor him.

“I was very fortunate to end up being able to play for a guy like Willard Ikola,” Pearson said. “Really, all thoughout my career I’ve ended up in spots where I’m coached by a former Michigan player and it all started with Ike.”

His good fortune continued in college with the opportunity to play for another former Michigan goalie, John MacInnes (1946-50), who led Michigan Tech to a 555-295-39 record and three national titles in 26 seasons coaching the Huskies.

“You look at them, I mean Willard’s arguably the best coach in Minnesota high school hockey history,” Pearson said. “John McInnes, when I was playing for him, set the record for most all-time wins in college hockey and won national championships at Michigan Tech. And then Red is one of the, I think, top five all-time in college hockey and he got a late start in college and won national championships. So they’re all not only great men and teachers of life but winners.

“They were winners.”

Pearson says the trio shares many qualities but one in particular stands out as the one he most tries to emulate.

“The way they treated people, they way they treated their players,” Pearson said. “They’ve got a couple of other things in common but the one thing that’s really stuck with me is how they treated their players, with class and dignity and just professionalism. They’re all father figures.”

His childhood friend sees the same qualities in Pearson

“Mel will be a total asset to that Michigan hockey program for as long as he’s there because he’s got the kids’ interests at heart and he always will,” Anderson said. “He’ll never put himself first before the team and that’s why he’ll be successful wherever he goes.”

The post “One Of Us” appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Young defense, goaltending  lead UMD back to Frozen Four

  When hockey fans see Carson Soucy step into the Minnesota Wild lineup to play his first NHL game as a replacement for Ryan Suter, they have to be impressed with the 6-foot-5 rookie defenseman. Same with Neal Pionk, when he moved seamlessly into the New York Rangers lineup halfway through the season.

  Similarly, seeing Alex Iafallo spend the entire season as a solid winger for the Los Angeles Kings, or Dominic Toninato hustling his way into the Colorado Avalanche lineup, creates cumulative evidence about the talent that powered last season’s UMD Bulldogs into the Frozen Four. Though they lost a 3-2 overtime game to Denver in the NCAA final at Chicago, the Bulldogs got there because of a talented forward group and an exceptional corps of defensemen.

  However, that also creates the larger question: How did this year’s UMD team make it back without all those standouts? The Bulldogs lost their senior leaders, including their three top scoring forwards, as well as five senior defensemen, compounded by the summertime underage signings by captain-to-be Adam Johnson, defensive standout Pionk, as well as freshman goaltending star Hunter Miska.

  The impressive recruiting skills of head coach Scott Sandelin and top assistants Brett Larson and Jason Herter notwithstanding, trying to find new scorers, a new goaltender, and acclimating five freshman defensemen made this a certain rebuilding season. Right?

  “Just wait until you see these freshmen,” said Larson, a former Duluth Denfeld and UMD defenseman who returned to the UMD staff after venturing off to gain experience as a USHL coach and as assistant to old recruiting partner Steve Rohlik at Ohio State. He said it with a slight grin, and you learn quickly to never question Larson.

  Sure enough, sophomore Nick Wolff was joined by freshman defensemen Scott Perunovich, Mikey Anderson, Dylan Samberg, Matt Anderson, and Louis Roehl — all homegrown Minnesota high school players — and the defense never missed a beat. Hunter Shepard, former Grand Rapids star who competed and narrowly lost out to Miska in goal last season, went through the same early-season competition but won it this time, and has been superb, a fact Sandelin attributes to the quiet work of former UMD goaltender and now goalie coach Brant Nicklin.

   Freshmen wings Nick Swaney from Lakeville, Kobe Roth from Warroad, and center Justin Richards, who is listed from Columbus, Ohio, because that’s where his dad, former Wild coach and Gopher defenseman Todd Richards, formerly coached, but without question, the most astounding thing about this edition of the Bulldogs is the defense. And that

UMD defenseman Louie Roehl defends against Air Force forward Evan Giesler in UMD’s 2-1 West Regional final win over the Falcons in Sioux Falls, S.D. on March 24, 2018. (MHM photo / Jonny Watkins)

goes for the coaching staff, responsible for the intriguing development of the freshmen.

  What goes mostly unnoticed by casual observers is that rarely does the UMD defense come out from behind their net and chip the puck up off the sideboard glass to clear the zone. Just as unnoticed is how prevalent such defensive zone play is. Virtually all NHL teams, college teams, and high school teams have short-fuse switches to panic mode and send pucks ricocheting off the glass or sideboards to get it past the opposing point-men and out to center ice. Of course, that leads to a lot more icings at one end of the spectrum, and loss of possession at the other end.

  Sandelin and his staff stress a puck-control game, and it starts when the defensemen get the puck.

  “Back in our end, they don’t panic,” said Sandelin. “They’re patient, and they’re always looking to make a play — sometimes to our own demise. Sometimes you just have to get the puck out across the blue line, and sometimes our guys think that if they can’t make a tape-to-tape pass, it’s not a good play.

  “It’s all in the recognition. Under pressure, sometimes what you want to do isn’t the best play. But look at our guys on D. We made some mistakes, but you’re always going to have that. I think our D has been pretty good all year. They’ve stepped in and played some really good hockey. For all of them to play as well as they have all season is a big reason we’ve had the success we’ve had.”

  On nearly every college coaching staff, the assistants have a defensive specialist and a forward specialist, but not UMD. While Larson played at UMD, Sandelin and Herter were elite defensemen at North Dakota who went on and played some pro hockey. When Sandelin got the UMD job, he added Larson and, for a while, OSU coach Rohlik, and former North Dakota sniper Lee Davidson, and later former UMD and NHL star Derek Plante. All of them were standout forwards as players, but as things evolved, and Larson returned from Columbus to be closer to his young family, the UMD staff wound up with three defensemen providing three voices, but singing in harmony.

  “We all see the game a little differently,” said Larson. “And we all offer suggestions all the time. It’s not like most teams, where one defensive coach is the only voice the defensemen hear; with us the guys get a slightly different explanation, delivering the same message. So maybe something from one of us clicks.”

  Larson also has a simple philosophy for the sharp-passing breakouts rather than the simpler off-the-wall escapes. “We want to possess the puck if we can,” Larson said. “We want getting rid of the puck to be our last option, even though at times you have to do it, like late in a close game when you have to play zone-to-zone hockey.”

  The trend in hockey to clear the zone in near-panic mode is a lot like dump and chase in the offensive end, which requires giving up the puck in hopes of maybe getting it back. Sandelin said, “I’m not a big guy for ‘Hope’ plays. There’s no shot-clock in hockey, but my feeling is if you possess the puck for even as little as 10-15 seconds, that means it’s 10-15 seconds the other team doesn’t have it. The longer we have the puck, the longer they don’t.”

  The fact that five freshmen and a sophomore can play so effectively and consistently is a tribute to Sandelin and his staff. They decided early to be patient, and to let the young players play and maybe make mistakes while they gain game experience and work to eliminate the mistakes.

  “We’ve played eight freshmen a lot of games,” Sandelin said. “And they’ve been fine. You can get away with some mistakes by a couple of young forwards, and they can be more costly by young defensemen. We don’t have a lot of right-handed defensemen, so I make all of them play the off-side.

  “Early, I wasn’t happy with the way Nicky [Wolff] was playing, because I thought he was trying to do too much as a leader.”

UMD defenseman Nick Wolff shields the puck from Air Force forward Pierce Pluemer in UMD’s 2-1 West Regional final win over the Falcons in Sioux Falls, S.D. on March 24, 2018. (MHM photo / Jeff Wegge)

 So Sandelin paired the hard-hitting 6-foot-4 sophomore Wolff with Perunovich, the mercurial freshman puck-rusher, whose defensive play has improved steadily, while his offense remains the team’s prized possession. Going into the Frozen Four, the elusive Perunovich is UMD’s leading scorer with 36 points, on 11 goals and 25 assists.

  “If we give Perunovich some parameters, he could back off, but he wouldn’t be nearly as effective,” said Sandelin. “He’s responsible and wants to help out on defense, to the point where sometimes I have to get on him to take off more and join the rush.

   “Matt Anderson has great skating ability, and Mikey Anderson is steady, and Dylan Samberg is a big, physical presence. Louie Roehl has improved all season, and we’ve got Wolffie, who has played well and it’s hard to realize he’s only a sophomore. We put Mikey and Dylan together and let them try things, just so we can see what works. It takes some time to see where everybody fits.”

  Mikey Anderson and Matt Anderson are unrelated. Mikey is the freshman brother of sophomore winger Joey Anderson. “When we were little kids on the outdoor rinks in Roseville, we were always scrapping,” said Mikey. “If I’m a wing, he would be hitting me, and if he was a wing, I’d be hitting him. Either way, mom and dad weren’t happy at the end of the day.”

  And now that they’re reunited, on a college team playing close to home at Xcel Energy Center in the Frozen Four, the whole family is happy.

The post Bulldogs Reloaded appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

More often than not, when University of Michigan coach Mel Pearson walks out of Yost Arena after a Wolverines practice, he’ll find freshman forward Jack Becker still on the ice long after many of his teammates have departed to feed off the day’s post-practice training table offerings.

Becker is not going without, mind you, the former Mahtomedi High School star is trying to satisfy his never-ending hunger to improve his game.

“What I really like about Jack is his commitment to the game, his commitment to getting better,” Pearson said. “I left the rink tonight and he’s the last guy off the ice working on some skill things. He doesn’t do it to show off, he just does it.”

Pearson is no stranger to the Becker family work ethic as Jack’s father, Russ, played for Pearson at Michigan Tech from 1985-88, when the latter served as an MTU assistant under Herb Boxer prior to a 23-year stint under Red Berenson at Michigan.

As Pearson tells it, though, the similarities between father and son — the first second-generation player he has coached — end right there.

“Jack’s a lot better player,” Pearson said laughing. “No, Russ was a great guy. Big, strong, raw, gangly defenseman out of Virginia. You can tell the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because Russ was a hard worker. He might not have been the most talented player but he gave you everything he had every night.”

Jack Becker says he is motivated by his love of hockey but also hinted at an ulterior motive.

“I like to stay out on the ice because that’s just a lot of fun … and I try to avoid studying a little bit,” Becker confessed through a chuckle. “I think if you just focus on getting better every single day it’s going to eventually pay off.”

The payoff this weekend could be a national title for Becker, Pearson and the Wolverines who faceoff against Notre Dame in Thursday night’s second Frozen Four semifinal at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

“This doesn’t always happen,” Becker said v. “It took a lot of hard work to get here as a group and now we’re here to win the national championship.”

Jack Becker scored five goals in three games as a junior for Mahtomedi to help lead the Zephyrs to a third-place finish at the 2015 Class A state tournament. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

Becker’s return to St. Paul comes more than three years after the Dellwood, Minn. native led his Mahtomedi team to a third-place finish at the 2015 Class A boys’ state tournament. Becker, a junior, potted a hat trick in a quarterfinal win over New Ulm and added a pair of shorthanded goals in the Zephyrs’ third place game win over St. Cloud Apollo three days later.

“High school hockey has got a really special place in my heart,” Becker said. “It’s just hockey in its purest form, having fun with your buddies out there. Every tournament time it’s always great to reflect on those memories and talk to your buddies and we always have a good time.”

That state tournament was the last time he would don the gold and navy Mahtomedi ‘M’ on his chest after long youth and high school career doing so.

Becker played two games for the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede that spring before skating the next two full seasons for the Stampede, including his senior year in high school.

“The USHL was just two more years for me to get bigger and stronger and work on my skating a little bit more,” said Becker, who scored 24 goals among 51 points in 109 USHL games. “Coming out of high school I was a little lanky and thin so I needed to develop physically to get ready for the college game.”

Becker said his father, a one time MTU assistant (1990-91) under current Vancouver Canucks assistant Newell Brown, always raved about playing for Pearson.

He immediately understood why when he and his coach-to-be finally met.

“Just his personality and he knows so much about the game and he’s helped so many players move on to professional levels,” Jack said. “Obviously, my dad experienced that firsthand so I think my dad and I are the biggest coach Mel Pearson fans.”

While in his second full season playing for Sioux Falls, the newest member of the ‘Mel Pearson Fan Club’ verbally committed to Michigan Tech, where Pearson was in his sixth season as head coach of the Huskies. Naturally, when Pearson replaced the retiring Berenson in the spring of 2017, Becker followed his new coach to Ann Arbor.

“We realized how important it was that the coach and the coaching staff wanted you to be a part of their program and what they had going,” Russ Becker said. “So when Mel made the decision to move to Michigan it was a pretty easy choice and decision for Jack to follow him.”

With a familiar ‘M’ back on his chest, Jack Becker said his freshman season was an adjustment for him in terms of speed and strategy. By the final weekends of the season’s first half, however, he believes he was playing very well.

“I didn’t really get rewarded on the stat sheet but I think that carried over,” Becker said.

Pearson echoed that statement.

“He’s shown great growth this year,” Pearson said. “I don’t think he had a goal at Christmas time when he went home and I believe he’s got eight now so he’s really stepped up his game.”

Becker not only has all eight of his goals since Jan. 1, he has 13 of his 14 points overall in that span.

With his son about to participate in a Frozen Four in his hometown, playing for a school like Michigan and a coach he respects as much as he does, Becker’s father admits he never dreamed things would turn out this well for Jack.

“As a parent, you want your son to play for somebody that’s going to not only develop him as a player, but develop him as a young man and make academics a priority,” Russ Becker said. “I think that’s something that Mel’s carrying on. You want somebody that’s going to coach the whole person and I think Mel and his whole staff are a really good group of people.”

The post The Next Generation appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.