Ex-Bulldog Kuhlman turning heads in Boston but taking it day by day

St. Paul — With all eyes on Charlie Coyle’s first-ever road game at Xcel Energy Center for the Boston Bruins and Minnesota rookie Nico Sturm’s NHL debut, lost in all the hoopla was the return of a player who has experienced more success in the Wild’s home building than the two of them combined.

Esko, Minn. native and former Cloquet/Esko/Carlton High School star Karson Kuhlman skated for the Bruins on Xcel Energy Center ice for the first time since April 7 of last year in Boston’s 3-0 win over Minnesota in the Wild’s 2018-19 home schedule finale.

“A little different, obviously, but very exciting,” Kuhlman said when asked to compare his two most recent games in St. Paul. “To be in this situation, playing down the stretch here for such a great organization is pretty special.”

Former Minnesota Duluth captain Karson Kuhlman celebrates a goal in the Bulldogs’ 2018 West Regional semifinal win over Minnesota State. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

The 23-year-old Kuhlman played his first NHL game in his home state nearly a year to the day after he factored into both goals in Minnesota Duluth’s 2-1 win over Notre Dame to lift the Bulldogs to the 2018 Frozen Four title. Kuhlman, the team captain, scored the game’s first goal that night and later set up Jared Thomas’ game winner to give UMD its second national championship.

The performance earned Kuhlman the Frozen Four’s Most Outstanding Player honor, a distinction he shares with former Bulldog J.T. Brown who suited up for the Wild on Thursday night. Kuhlman said he has been keeping tabs on the Bulldogs who are making a third straight appearance in the Frozen Four next week.

“I’ve got a lot of a lot of good friends on that team, we had a lot of good memories and, obviously, won a championship together too,” Kuhlman said. “They’re poised to make a nice little run here in Buffalo next weekend.”

The undrafted Kuhlman, who finished with 38 goals and 40 assists in 165 career college games including 20 points (13-7–20) as a senior, helped lead a team featuring eight freshmen and five sophomores in the lineup to a national title.

“If I could have 25 guys like Karson, my job would be a lot easier,” Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said after the championship game. “I can’t say enough about Karson. He’s a great kid, great captain for us.”

Kuhlman, who signed an ATO with Boston’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Providence Bruins, as a free agent just three days after his collegiate career ended, made his NHL debut for the Bruins on Feb. 16 in a 4-2 road win over the Los Angeles Kings. Two nights later, Kuhlman scored his first NHL goal in a 6-5 OT win over the Sharks in San Jose.

Currently in his fourth stint with the Bruins this season, Kuhlman has five points (3-2–5) in nine career games. He has spent most of his first pro season playing for Providence where he is a team-high plus-23 while recording 12 goals among his 30 points.

Kuhlman called the whole thing a whirlwind experience. 

“I’ve just been taking it day by day and really focusing on getting better, working on my game and just kind of watching all these guys who have done it for so long and taking little little notes from them,” Kuhlman said. “As a group, our leadership, of course, is unbelievable, second to none really.

“So they’ve just made me feel so comfortable and then that comfort kind of translates into confidence every day so it’s a pretty special group.”

(MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Bruins were coming off of a 6-2 win over Columbus on Tuesday which saw Kuhlman pick up his first career multi-point game with a goal and an assist earning him the game’s third star for his efforts. With Thursday’s win over Minnesota, the Bruins are now 6-2-1 with him in the lineup, primarily playing right wing on Boston’s second line centered by David Krejci with Jake DeBrusk on the left side.

“We’ve been looking for a winger on that right side and it’s been kind of a revolving door,” DeBrusk said. “Against Columbus he was, I think, the best player on our line and when he plays like that, he’s fun to play with.

“He grinds, he works really hard and brings energy and I feel like anytime you kind of have those intangibles, when you put them with some skill with Krec, I think that he can get some good looks.”

Kuhlman praised his linemates for making the game simple for him in his career’s early stages.

“I just try to go out there and work as hard as I can and get them the puck and, obviously, good things have happened here as of late,” Kuhlman said.

Saturday’s season finale in Boston against Stanley Cup favorite Tampa Bay will likely be NHL game No. 10 for Kuhlman who admits his brief tenure in the world’s best league has taught him a lot about what he needs to do differently this offseason.

“I think I think that’s one thing I really, really kind of hang my hat on is how in shape I come into camp every year so I work hard in the summers and take a lot of pride in that,”Kuhlman said. “This little end of the season here is as a good view of what I’ve got to work on and what I’ve got to get better at.”

The post Keeping His Cool appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

‘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.

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