But last week’s action involving Minnesota’s six Division I college hockey teams resulted in some impressive goaltending performances that made headlines in the Big Ten Conference, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the Central Collegiate Hockey Assocation, the women’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association for women, and even the NHL.

The Minnesota Gophers stayed at the top of national men’s ratings, despite splitting two games at North Dakota, with the goaltending of Justen Close. He was responsible for the Gophers’ 4-0 victory in game one, and he couldn’t be faulted when he made 32 saves when the Fighting Hawks came back to beat Minnesota 2-1 in the rematch at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.

Close’s first-game victory gave him back-to-back shutouts. But the Hawks got 21 saves from Ludvig Persson, their goaltender of the hour, in game two. Minnesota’s loss didn’t cause it to drop out of the No. 1 national ranking because both Boston University and Michigan, ranked No. 2 and No. 3, also lost over the weekend. The only movement among the top five was North Dakota, which appropriately moved up from fifth to fourth and served notice to their NCHC rivals that they are, indeed, equipped for contention.

Frost gets 2-year extension; WCHA packs top-10 rankings
The Gopher women, also ranking high at No. 4 in the WCHA, gave coach Brad Frost a two-year contract extension because he simply forms a contending team year after year. They stand No. 4 after running up a 5-0 record in the early going, including a WCHA midweek match with ever-improving St. Cloud State. The Gophers lost a lot of offensive firepower from last season, causing Frost to proclaim that it will take a more defensive posture to win this year, and beating the Huskies was a clear example.

Frost’s goaltender was Skylar Vetter, who was trying for the fourth-straight Gophers shutout. Avery Farrell spoiled the shutout big with a goal with 5.2 seconds left in the third period. Minnesota had gained the advantage when Ava Lindsay scored midway through the second period, and Taylor Stewart, a fifth-year transfer from University of Minnesota Duluth, scored a short-handed goal into an empty net with 47 seconds left. Fifth-year goaltender Jojo Chobak — another transfer from UMD — was pulled for a 6-on-3 skater edge. The Gophers won 2-1.

The Gopher women have a big challenge this weekend, with a trip to Ohio State (5-1), which is ranked No. 2 in the WCHA-dominated top 10. Wisconsin, Ohio State, Colgate and Minnesota make up the top-four ranked teams, followed by unbeaten Quinnipiac and Yale. UMD (4-2) is ranked No. 7 with St. Cloud State (7-2) rising to No. 10. 

UMD swept Minnesota State Mankato in WCHA play by 3-1 and 4-1 margins. Mary Kate O’Brien, Reece Hunt and Hanna Baskin scored for the Bulldogs in game one. In the second game, Gabby Krause scored a pair of goals to go with goals from O’Brien and Jenna Lawry. Bulldogs freshman goaltender Eve Gascon made 21 saves in the second game, and she was named WCHA Rookie of the Week for her stinginess. 

An interesting part of this coming weekend’s UMD trip to Bemidji State is that it will be a homecoming of sorts for Hunt. She transferred from Bemidji State to UMD for her fifth year, seeking a master’s degree in business with UMD’s curriculum.

Bemidji State’s Mattias Scholl watches his blocked UMD shot trickle past him. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Cohasset natives shine in net at college, NHL levels
Minnesota-Duluth’s men may have good reason to help the good folks of Cohasset, Minn., a tiny mining town on the Western tip of the Iron Range, build a statue to goaltenders. Hunter Shepard, a Cohasset native, is a former Grand Rapids High School standout who guided the Thunderhawks to the Class 2A state tournament before playing junior hockey on his way to UMD. He was the MVP as the Bulldogs won back-to-back NCAA championships. Shepard recorded 15 shutouts in his days at UMD.

While he continued to do his hometown of Cohasset proud by winning the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup trophy for Washington’s AHL franchise, he was called up to start his first NHL game for the Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey on Oct. 25. That was the same day that current UMD goaltender Zach Stejskal was named NCHC Co-Goaltender of the Week for recording his first collegiate shutout in last Friday’s 4-0 victory over Bemidji State before also surviving a wild, power-play-filled shootout to beat the Beavers 5-4 in overtime Saturday in Bemidji.

“I know I came close a lot of times,” Stejskal said, of getting a shutout victory. “I remember one game we were tied 0-0 against St. Cloud, and they beat us 1-0 in overtime. When we’d win and I’d give up a goal late, I’d always say that shutouts didn’t matter, winning was what was important. But now that I finally got a shutout, I’ve got to admit, it’s pretty neat.”

Both nights, Stejskal had to outduel Bemidji State’s Matthias Scholl, who was victimized by a three-goal first period for the Bulldogs, all on power-play tallies from Matthew Perkins, Luke Bast and Aaron Pionk. The next night was not a pleasant one for either Stejskal or Scholl.

“I thought their goalie (Scholl) played great,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We looked really confident on our power play in the first game, but there were some unnecessary penalties that we will have to tighten up.”

After a miraculous recovery from cancer, UMD senior Zach Stejskal recorded his first career shutout against Bemidji State to keep the Bulldogs unbeaten at 3-0-2. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Stejskal’s story has a double impact, because he, too, is from Cohasset, Minn., and was a state tournament star at Grand Rapids before playing at UMD. After one impressive season, however, Stejskal was stunned by the news in the fall of his sophomore season that he had testicular cancer and would miss the entire season during treatment. He made it through treatment, got a clean bill of health, made it back last season and has become the No. 1 netminder as a senior for the Bulldogs.

Somebody asked Sandelin what he thought Shepard would be going through in his first NHL start at Washington, and the coach said: “Knowing Shep, he’s probably nervous, excited, and probably won’t show it.”

Unlike the 6-foot Shepard, Stejskal is 6-foot-5, towering over the crossbar, the crease and just about everybody on both teams. Maybe they’ll need twin statues up in Cohasset.

The post Glory to Goalies 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.

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