The University of Minnesota, for example, has a backlog of traditional rivals that go back to Michigan, Michigan State and North Dakota from the early days of college hockey. More recently, the expansion of Division I college hockey teams within Minnesota has led to ferocious rivalries mainly with the University of Minnesota Duluth, and still more recently, Wisconsin and St. Cloud State, along with Minnesota State Mankato and Bemidji State, and St. Thomas arriving on the DI scene.

By going into the Big Ten Conference, the Gophers pretty well forfeited the intensity of the rivalries with North Dakota, UMD and the other in-state colleges, in exchange for keeping Wisconsin and renewing acquaintances with Michigan and Michigan State. Another thing that is certain is that even if the Gophers don’t consider some of those in-state foes as huge rivals, all of them point to the Gophers as the team they most want to beat.

Gophers goaltender Justen Close got the tip of his pad on this shot by UMD’s Luke Bast (38). (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

In the middle of November, the Gophers can’t take a weekend off from running a gauntlet of those big rivalries. After a banner season that ended as the NCAA Frozen Four runner-up, the Gophers enjoyed some early weeks as the No. 1-ranked team in the country — despite the signing of five defensemen and three prize forwards that are, frankly, impossible to replace.

The Gophers opened with tune-up victories over Bemidji State and a pair against St.Thomas — including a breathtaking 6-5 overtime win in their season opener against the Tommies. Then things got serious, as Minnesota split a series at North Dakota, then returned to 3M Arena at Mariucci and felt the sting of a pair of setbacks pinned on them by Wisconsin, 5-2 and 3-2.

That set up last weekend’s home-and-home series against UMD, which began under a cloak of emotion as the teams paid pregame tributes both nights to Adam Johnson, a quick and skilled center who played for Hibbing/Chisholm and UMD. Johnson died Oct. 28 after a tragic incident during a game in England when an opponent’s skate made contact with Johnson’s neck.

Tributes have been constant from all around the world, and a celebration of life for Johnson was held in Hibbing earlier this week. Without a doubt, the emotional drain for the Bulldogs left them running on empty for their first game against the Gophers last weekend, losing 5-1 at Mariucci to the speedy Gophers.

The next night, the rivalry shifted to Duluth where UMD rebounded with a 4-3 shootout victory at AMSOIL Arena, which the NCAA counts as a tie. Both games were sellouts, with more than 10,000 at Mariucci and 7,345 at AMSOIL.

Time for a breather? It would be nice, but the Gophers go right to Ann Arbor to face Michigan. For any team, facing North Dakota, Wisconsin’s rejuvenated Badgers, UMD and Michigan on consecutive weekends should earn a trip to Acapulco. But not in the crazy world of college hockey’s biggest rivalries.

“We knew it would be a tough series against Duluth,” said Gopher coach Bob Motzko, after the Bulldogs came back from a lethargic first game for a high-speed and intense rematch. “We knew they’d be better in the second game. And we’re not close to getting into our offensive rhythm yet. They had a quick start and we took two really bad penalties. On the road, you have to be disciplined.”

Rhett Pitlick continues his flight as UMD secures shootout victory. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Back-and-forth between Gophers, Bulldogs
UMD, on the other hand, is also rebuilding a bit, and the experience gained early by the Bulldogs, who started off 3-0-2 with both of the ties being shootout wins, got another shot at the game-deciding plan, which counts for an extra point in league play but is only for deciding official ties in interleague play.

In the second game of the weekend between UMD and the Gophers, the Bulldogs’ Jack Smith scored his first collegiate goal for a 1-0 lead, but Jimmy Snuggerud tied it with his sixth goal of the season for Minnesota. Midway through the second period, Snuggerud took a cross-checking penalty in front of UMD’s goal — one of the bad penalties Motzko later referred to. It was made worse when UMD’s Cole Spicer showed the merits of getting a chance to center the first line and drilled a power-play goal to regain the lead at 2-1. Minnesota again tied it, when Aaron Huglen scored a power-play goal after UMD coach Scott Sandelin might have had a gripe about the hooking penalty Kyler Kleven was assessed to create that Minnesota power play.

Minnesota took a 3-2 lead when Jaxon Nelson scored later in the second period, which ended with Connor Kurth took a last-minute penalty for hooking. The overlapping power play gave UMD’s top sniper, Ben Steeves, a small opening, which was all he needed to drill a perfect pass to the top of the right circle from Luke Loheit at 0:53 of the third period for a 3-3 tie. It stayed deadlocked through to the end of regulation and 3-on-3 overtime, which was mostly 4-on-3 because Minnesota’s Rhett Pitlick was called for an extra man, and then UMD’s Carter Loney was called for tripping Snuggerud as he tried to break out of the Minnesota end to give the Gophers the extra skater.

But repeated blocks of Gopher missiles and some huge saves by UMD goaltender Matthew Thiessen held the tie, and it was on to the shootout, where Thiessen again was the star. Brett Olson skated in and beat Gophers netminder Justen Close inside the left post on the first try, and Thiessen made a big save on Brody Lamb at the other end. Steeves then skated in and whistled a shot past Close on the second UMD try, so when Thiessen went down and stacked the pads to block Pitlick’s shot and send him flying across the crease, UMD had regained its form with a 4-3 shootout victory (though officially a tie).

UMD sophomore Cole Spicer celebrated his goal that gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead in Saturday night’s 3-3 tie with Minnesota. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Familiar foe for UMD’s Spicer
Spicer’s goal in the game was another contribution to the rivalry scenario.

“I played two years at the U-18 team in the U.S. Development program,” Spicer said. “When I was there, I was teammates with Snuggerud and Ryan Chesley of the Gophers.”

So, matching goals with Snuggerud was a special treat for Spicer, a sophomore who didn’t play much last year after transferring from North Dakota. Spicer grew up in Grand Forks, and his family has a tradition of great athletes who all played for the Fighting Sioux back in the day when that nickname was proper.

“I committed to North Dakota when I was 14 years old, because my dream growing up was to play there,” Spicer said. “I left high school after one year and played on a Triple-A team in Michigan, then played my junior and senior years on the U-18 team. A year ago, I went to North Dakota and enrolled as a freshman, but they told me because of COVID, some older players had stayed for a fifth year, and they brought in some older junior players, so they wanted me to go back and play another year in junior.”

To say that was a disappointment would be an understatement, so Spicer decommitted at UND and opened his recruiting channels again. UMD associate head coach Adam Krause called Spicer, followed by a call from Sandelin, according to Spicer.

“I accepted their offer right away, because I love the whole culture at UMD,” Spicer said. “Coach Sandelin might have great players or not, but he manages to win. We’ve got a big family here. I’m living with four other guys, and we get together and have other players over to our place every Sunday to watch football and have a lot of laughs. Everybody is a great guy on this team, and I don’t regret what happened to me at all.”

Spicer, who was placed between grad students Quinn Olson and Loheit on the first line when Dominic James suffered a season-ending injury two weeks into the season, now has four goals and is seeing quality time on both the power play and penalty kills. And as rivalries go, he has another one coming up imminently.

North Dakota comes to Duluth for a series to open the NCHC regular season at AMSOIL Arena.

The post Rivalry: Gophers vs. Bulldogs appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Adam Krause, Minnesota Duluth
Senior Forward
Hermantown, Minn.

Krause led the Bulldogs to a non-conference sweep of Northern Michigan, chipping in four points on a goal and three assists while posting a plus-5 rating in the two games. Although he was held pointless in Friday’s 3-1 win, the UMD captain put three shots on goal and was plus-1. The next night he exploded for a career-high four points and compiled a plus-4 rating in the contest. Krause scored the Bulldogs’ third goal on a breakaway to make it 3-1, while he dished out the primary assist on UMD’s first goal and fifth goal, which came short-handed. He also assisted on the Bulldogs’ final tally in the 6-3 win Saturday as he was named the game’s first star. Krause put three more shots on goal Saturday and finished with six shots on the weekend.

DEFENSEMAN OF THE WEEK
Joey LaLeggia, Denver
Senior Defenseman
Burnaby, B.C.

In Denver’s only game of the weekend, LaLeggia led the Pioneers to a 3-0 shutout of rival Colorado College, anchoring a defense that did not give up a goal and was 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. The Edmonton Oilers prospect also contributed offensively, handing out two assists in the win. His first assist was the primary helper on the opening goal as his shot was deflected in for what turned out to be the game-winning goal. He also helped seal the win with an assist on an empty-net goal. LaLeggia posted a plus-2 rating in the win, blocked two shots and fired three shots on goal against the Tigers.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Jared Thomas, Minnesota Duluth
Freshman Forward
Hermantown, Minn.

Thomas had a big weekend to help lead UMD to a sweep of Northern Michigan, tallying three points on two goals and an assist in the two games. On Friday, he scored the game-winning goal early in the third period to break a 1-1 tie, which was his first goal since Oct. 18. He also put three shots on goal in the 3-1 victory and was named the game’s second star. In Saturday’s 6-3 victory, Thomas was moved to UMD’s top line and recorded just his second multi-point game as a Bulldog with a goal and an assist. He helped set up UMD’s third goal to go ahead 3-1 in the first period, while he capped the win by scoring a goal for a second straight night in the third period to make it a 6-2 game. Thomas posted a plus-3 rating in the win Saturday. With his two goals on the weekend, he doubled his season total entering the NMU series. Thomas finished the weekend with a plus-3 rating, four shots on goal and went 14-6 in the faceoff circle (.700).

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Tanner Jaillet, Denver
Freshman Goaltender
Red Deer, Alberta

Jaillet recorded his first career shutout in Denver’s only game of the week, backstopping the Pioneers to a 3-0 win at rival Colorado College. He stopped all 30 shots that came his way, tying his career high for saves (Jan. 24 at Miami), as he recorded double-digit saves each of the first two periods in a tight game. Jaillet also helped DU kill CC’s only power play of the game as he finished with a 1.000 save percentage and perfect 0.00 goals-against average. He was named the game’s first star while earning his ninth win of the season. Jaillet dropped his GAA from 2.14 to 1.97 on the season and upped his save percentage from .920 to .927 on the campaign.

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Krause scores twice to lead Bulldogs over Gophers 2-1

SAINT PAUL – One shot was all it took. And that’s good because that’s all Minnesota-Duluth had registered against Minnesota through nearly 18 minutes of the third period in Saturday afternoon’s North Star College Cup consolation game at Xcel Energy Center.

UMD captain Adam Krause scored just his fourth goal of the season, but second of the game, on the Bulldogs’ first shot of the period with just 2:19 to play, lifting his team to a dramatic 2-1 win over the Gophers. Minnesota had outshot Minnesota-Duluth 11-0 to that point.

Krause’s linemates Alex Iafallo and Dominic Toninato assisted on each of his goals and Matt McNeely made 31 saves to backstop the victory. Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox took the loss with 23 saves.

“It’s funny how the game works,” Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “Sometimes you get 40 of them (shots) and don’t score and sometimes you get fewer and score more. But we’ll take it because it’s a good win for our team.”

“We thought that game was ours,” Gopher captain Kyle Rau said. “We like the way we played the whole game, (Wilcox) played unreal, so it was just one of those games where they capitalized on their chance and we had multiple chances to get ahead in the third and we couldn’t bury it.”

Nursing a 1-0 lead late in the second period, the Bulldogs’ Carson Soucey went off for charging at 19:53 giving the Gophers a power play on fresh ice to begin the third and it paid dividends.

Just 31 seconds in, Rau took a Justin Kloos feed from behind the net and buried his 12th of the year to knot the score 1-1.

Minnesota received a much-needed spark from the goal and reeled off the period’s first 11 shots while holding the Bulldogs without until the 17:41 mark.

“We knew they were going to have a push, it was a little bit later than we expected, but we stuck with it,” Krause said. “We’re two struggling teams right now and we knew they were going to be desperate.”

“We knew it was an important [penalty] kill and they got momentum from that and had us on our heels,” Sandelin said. “We kind of weathered that and got some saves and buried an opportunity.”

Only seconds prior to Krause’s game winner, Minnesota had a golden opportunity on a 2-on-1 but Travis Boyd’s pass to Sam Warning failed to connect.

“I like the way we did a lot of things tonight, we gave up 22 shots on Friday and 26 tonight,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “But when we have a chance, we have to finish.”

The Bulldogs got on the board first on Krause’s third goal of the season at 14:04 of the opening period. Krause, honored this week with nominations for both the Senior CLASS and Hockey Humanitarian awards, had his backhanded wraparound attempt denied by Wilcox but the Hermantown native poked in his own rebound.

The game was a rematch of the inaugural North Star College Cup title game but the stakes weren’t quite the same this time around. One year after Minnesota defeated Minnesota-Duluth in a shootout to become the first to hoist the glossy wooden trophy, the two squared off in the second-year tournament’s consolation game.

The matchup was set the night before when unranked Bemidji State blanked the No. 7 Bulldogs 4-0 behind 28 Michael Bitzer saves and top ranked Minnesota State beat No. 17 Minnesota 4-2 to create an all-WCHA championship game.

In typical UMD/Minnesota fashion, the game was a physical contest with multiple crease area scrums, hard hits and jostling after the whistle. There was a sense these were two teams with some pent up frustration.

Sandelin agreed but said it was important for the Bulldogs to limit Minnesota’s power-play opportunities, recalling how critical that was to UMD sweeping the Gophers in mid November.

“The game’s got emotions and things are going to happen but I thought that was a real key, to not get into that,” Sandelin said. “But you could tell both teams were trying to get a win desperately.”

The post UMD makes its shot count appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the award is presented annually to college hockey’s finest citizen – a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

Finalists will be announced in February and the winner will be recognized in a ceremony on Friday, April 10, as part of the Frozen Four in Boston.

Click here to see the full list of this year’s nominees.

The post Trio with state ties up for Hockey Humanitarian Award appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Four Minnesotans were among twenty NCAA men’s hockey players who were selected as candidates today for the 2014-15 Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award. The in-state nominees are Minnesota Duluth’s Adam Krause (Hermantown), St. Cloud State’s Andrew Prochno (Minnetonka), North Dakota’s Nick Mattson (Chanhassen) and Minnesota’s Kyle Rau (Eden Prairie).

The award celebrates the loyalty of seniors who honor a four-year commitment to their university and recognizes them for their accomplishments in their sport and their community while remaining in school.

According to the release, the candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the season, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Men’s Frozen Final Four® in April.

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Featured Image:
Dominic Toninato battles it out with CC’s Jeff Collette in UMD’s 5-1 win on Oct. 19, 2013 in Colorado Springs. (Photo: Casey Gibson)

Family season tickets got Dom Toninato and Adam Krause into the DECC for most Minnesota-Duluth hockey games when they were kids growing up in the Duluth area.

“Growing up, I don’t think I ever missed a UMD game my whole life if I could help it,” said Krause, who grew up in Hermantown. “The only games I missed were when I had my own hockey games.”

Tonitato and Krause are grown up but haven’t missed a Bulldogs game yet this season, now suiting up for the hometown team.

“We had season tickets when I was a kid and we never really missed a game unless we were on the road for hockey,” Toninato said. “UMD was at the top of the list. I couldn’t leave home because it’s a great place to play and I liked going to the rink to watch UMD play.”

Krause, a right winger, is the captain and scored two goals to help UMD beat North Dakota, 6-3, Saturday on the road and salvage the series split.

Krause is used to playing the grinder role but Saturday, he was able to showcase his shooting accuracy. He scored on a one-timer from the slot trailing on an odd-man rush in the first period. In the third period, he was open in the slot and ripped another one-timer into the net.

“Tonight was the first time since I’ve played here that I was on a first scoring line,” Krause said. “I’ve been a grinder but Coach (Scott Sandelin) gave me an opportunity and I was able to capitalize. Hopefully I can stay on that line.”

The win improved the Bulldogs to 5-4-1 overall and 2-2-0-0 in the NCHC after two consecutive losses.

“We have to just keep working and the effort has to be consistent,” said Toninato, a center who entered Saturday’s game with a four-game point streak.

“We have to get that fire going on Fridays and keep it rolling into Saturday night.”

Toninato has two goals and three assists in 10 games and is one of three former players from Duluth East. Forward Max Tardy and defenseman Andy Welinski also played for the Greyhounds.

Defenseman Tim Smith grew up across the harbor in Superior, Wis.

“If we have top (high school) players in our area, we want to get them in our program,” UMD coach Sandelin said. “It’s really important to get kids like that, especially if they fit in your program and these kids have so far.”

Sandelin lost defenseman and Duluth East graduate Derek Forbort in a recruiting battle to UND.

The Bulldogs have two more recruits coming in via the local pipeline – Hermantown’s Neal Pionk and Karson Kuhlman, a forward from Cloquet who left high school hockey after his sophomore season to play for Dubuque of the USHL.

“It was my dream to grow up and play for the UMD Bulldogs,” Krause said. “When I was a kid, those guys were the best hockey players in the world to me.”

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