One of the big series finds St. Cloud State — the most surprising team in the NCHC, if not the whole country — at home on its Herb Brooks National Hockey Center ice to take on perennial CCHA contender Michigan on Friday and Saturday.

The Huskies sputtered through their non-conferemce schedule with a meager 2-4 record, but now we suspect St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson was using those non-conference games precisely as they were intended, to work newcomers into his lineup and juggle units for the regular season.

That suspicion gains credibility when you check out the Huskies once the shooting started in the NCHC. Forget the 2-4 start, because St. Cloud State has zoomed through six games to take sole possession of first place, most recently disassembling University of Minnesota Duluth with the same sure-handed force that might have been deployed to disassemble that Thanksgiving turkey on your platter.

Huskies bite the Bulldogs
Scorewise, both games on the big rink at St. Cloud lived up to the intense rivalry tendencies of Huskies-Bulldogs games over the last decade, although this time both games saw some uncommon rough stuff to end both of the St. Cloud victories last Friday and Saturday night, by 2-1 and 6-5 scores.

The first game was scoreless until Jack Reimann scored late in the second period for St. Cloud State, and UMD’s Matthew Perkins scored midway through the third period to tie the game 1-1. That put Joe Molenaar in the spotlight. Molenaar has been a trusted, loyal soldier throughout his career at St. Cloud State, but he’s never given Larson reason to expect big goal numbers. Until this year. Molenaar, who scored only two goals last season, scored the game-winner with 2:19 remaining against UMD. It was his fifth goal in the last four games. 

The first game boiled over in lost tempers in the final minute as a couple of 5-on-5 scraps broke out. The second one came at the final horn and ended with UMD captain Luke Loheit switching from peacemaker to aggressor, delivering a face-to-face cross-check that earned him a 5-minute major, game misconduct and, because the official time of 20:00 didn’t leave much for punishment, he was also suspended for the next game (last Saturday).

Unlike the defensive shutdown battle, both teams hit the ice running in game 2, and it veered back and forth. Jack Rogers staked the Huskies to a 1-0 lead at 1:46. But Blake Biondi, getting a chance to center the injury-ravaged first line, scored on a power play at 8:56 for a 1-1 tie. Veeti Miettinen — who Larson *did* expect to score this season — regained a 2-1 lead for the Huskies on a power play at 17:46, only to see Anthony Menghini tie it 2-2 in the final second of the opening period.

That pattern resumed in the second period when Tyson Gross gave the Huskies their third lead of the night at 10:38, but UMD defenseman Owen Gallatin countered that in the last minute of the middle period for a 3-3 standoff.

St. Cloud State broke through for two goals in a row to open the third period, with Kyler Kupka scoring at 0:39 and Miettinen at 3:20 for a 5-3 cushion. That made eight goals in Miettinen’s last eight games. UMD battled back for a goal by Quinn Olson to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Jack Ingram made it 6-4 with 2:56 remaining. The Bulldogs weren’t about to concede, and with 1:48 to go, Gallatin scored his second of the game to cut it to 6-5. But the Bulldogs, who never led, couldn’t get the equalizer and went down to extend their exasperating streak to 0-7-1 in their last 8 games.

A look at the men’s hockey conference standings
With their early growing pains providing valuable experience, the Huskies sit in first place alone with a 6-0 conference record, leaving North Dakota (4-0) second in NCHC standings. North Dakota, however, can take satisfaction from moving up to the No. 1 rank in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings.

St. Cloud State stays at home on its Olympic-sized — 200 x 100 feet — ice surface to take on Michigan, which like Minnesota, is finding it a challenge to string victories together in the Big Ten. The Wolverines, bristling with new talent, is only 2-4-2 in the Big Ten. The top three in the Big Ten are Michigan State (5-0-1),Wisconsin (4-2) and Notre Dame (3-1-2). Michigan State, definitely the surprise team in the Big Ten, swept Wisconsin 4-2 and 3-2 to make the Badgers’ stay at No. 1 short as they plunged to No. 6. The Spartans visit Mariucci Arena this weekend to face Minnesota.

In the CCHA, the standings show nearly everybody tangled up and deadlocked. Bemidji State lost 5-1 at Minnesota State Mankato. In their second game, Bemidji State came back to rally from a 5-2 first-period deficit to cut the deficit to 6-4 after two, then rallied for three unanswered goals late in the third period to escape with a 7-6 victory. Jackson Jutting scored at 13:58 and Lleyton Roed tied the game at 14:48 before Jutting scored the game-winner at 15:46. The three goals in the span of 1:48 was enough for the victory and the hop into first place in the CCHA.

It doesn’t get easier for Bemidji State, as the Beavers make a Thanksgiving weekend trip to its closest Hwy. 2 rival — North Dakota. Another pair of CCHA highlights this week show Michigan Tech at MSU Mankato, and St. Thomas is at home to face Lake Superior State.

Women’s hockey updates
In the WCHA women’s competition, Ohio State swept Wisconsin in a battle of undefeated league-leaders, winning 3-0 and then 2-1 on Hannah Bilka’s short-handed goal at 1:17 of overtime. Jennifer Gardiner, who scored the first goal in the second game, had two goals in the 3-0 opener.

Minnesota swept two games at Duluth, both by 3-1 counts, with Abbey Murphy scoring a goal in both games and Peyton Hemp scoring an empty-netter with 0:15 left. Hemp also scored the final goal in the second game. 

The WCHA gets a chance to flex its power this weekend with an array of games against Eastern foes. UMD stays home in AMSOIL Arena to take on Colgate, which is ranked No. 2 in the country behind Ohio State.St. Lawrence is at Ohio State. Minnesota and St. Thomas travel to Washington D.C. for a weekend tournament. The Gophers face Harvard on Friday afternoon and Cornell on Saturday afternoon. Flip-flop those opponents and days for the Tommies as they face Cornell and Harvard.

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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.

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Going back 50 years, a hockey series between the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth would command the spotlight of all the state’s sports fans. The Golden Gophers were the only Division I college hockey team before that, until UMD joined the WCHA in a bold attempt to go “big time” Division I in 1965.

After UMD played one year in the old Curling Club, the Bulldogs moved into the sparkling new Duluth Arena — later the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center — and their first WCHA game in that harbor-side facility was against the Golden Gophers on Nov. 19, 1966. The anticipated full house of 5,700 fans was in place, and so was UMD center Keith “Huffer” Christiansen. He spent the game leaving a trail of Gopher skaters behind as he flitted around the ice, setting up six goals as UMD thrilled the home fans and shocked Minnesota 8-1.

That ignited the rivalry that rose to breathtaking intensity over the years between the “Main U” and the ”Duluth Branch,” and should have been the state’s treasure for a lifetime. When the teams meet this weekend, almost 57 years later, Christiansen’s six assists still stand as the UMD single-game assist record. But everything else is different.

First of all, the WCHA has been shattered and split as the expanded field of six Division I teams in the state now branch off into three different conferences — the Gophers in the Big Ten, UMD and St. Cloud State in the dominant National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Minnesota State Mankato, Bemidji State and newcomer St. Thomas in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

With the Gophers and Bulldogs in different conferences, and no games between the two last year, the edge of intensity is off the renewal of the rivalry, which will be conducted Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci and Saturday night at Duluth’s AMSOIL Arena.

Another reason that might dull the edge is that UMD, after starting 3-0-2 this season and winning shootouts after the two ties, went to Ithaca, N.Y., last weekend and lost 4-1 and 3-0 to highly rated Cornell. The Gophers, then ranked No. 1 in the nation, was swept at home by Wisconsin in 5-2 and 3-2 games. 

Adam Johnson skates in a game against Colorado while playing with the Bulldogs. (Photo courtesy of UMD Athletics)

Bulldogs remember Adam Johnson
The emphasis for the Bulldogs all week is to talk about real-world matters off the ice, and try to focus on practice and the upcoming games during the week of preparation for the Gophers. No small task.

Adam Johnson, 29, was the son of Davey Johnson, who was a star at Hibbing High School and then played for four years at UMD. That connection was among the reasons Adam grew up hoping to also play for the Bulldogs. In high school, Adam led the Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets to the Class 1A boys state hockey tournament his sophomore year. Even though they lost to Hermantown in a semifinal game, Johnson scored a pure hat trick. It was after that sophomore season that he accepted an offer from another Hibbing grad, Scott Sandelin, who was by then head coach at UMD.

“We had been tracking him through various summer camps,” said Sandelin. “He could skate, handle the puck, and was a playmaker. For us, being a Northern Minnesota school, it’s important for us to try to get the best Northern Minnesota kids. He was an unbelievable skater and so talented that it was evident he was in an elite category at a young age. I felt fortunate to have coached him for a couple of years just to be around him. I remember his smile, his wit. We all loved him; he was a fun guy to be around. I wish I’d the chance to coach him more than two years.”

As a sophomore, Johnson was UMD’s second-leading scorer in goals and points. His biggest goal was probably the one he scored to beat Boston University 3-2 in the West Region Final to send the Bulldogs to the Frozen Four in 2017. That team, which Sandelin regards as possibly the most talented he’s had at UMD, lost in the NCAA final to Denver. But it was the springboard for UMD to win the next two NCAA championships.

Johnson took advantage of his stellar sophomore season and signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played in 13 NHL games with the club, and scored a goal against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. He spent most of his days in the American League, however, so he decided to venture to Europe, where he played with a team in Sweden for one season, then a team in Germany before signing this year with the Nottingham Panthers of the Elite Hockey League.

Johnson’s upbeat and magnetic personality made him an immediate hit with his new teammates, and he was among the best players when the team went to Sheffield to face the Sheffield Steelers last Saturday night. He carried the puck up the left side, going 2-on-2 against the two Sheffield defensemen. Sheffield player Matt Petgrave and Johnson collided, and Petgrave’s skate blade cut Johnson’s throat. 

“I heard about the incident before our game, and I knew it sounded bad,” said Sandelin, who kept the news from his players as they took the ice for Saturday’s Cornell game. “I didn’t know he had passed away until after our game.

“I coached that game with a heavy heart. The incident itself was scary, and you don’t think about things like that happening. It puts everything into a different perspective. Our hockey team is a family, and we’ve lost a family member, and it hurts. The whole hockey world is a family, and it’s pretty touching to see how everybody is reaching out.”

Adam Johnson skates with the puck against Miami. (Photo courtesy of UMD Athletics)

Reactions to Johnson’s death
In the time since the incident, some social media users were quick to criticize Petgrave, 31, who is from Toronto and played for three different Ontario Hockey League junior teams including Niagara Falls, Owen Sound, and the Oshawa Generals, before playing four years at the University of New Brunswick. Trying professional hockey led Petgrave to Europe. He played in Denmark before signing with Sheffield.

After the incident, social media was filled with the narrative that Petgrave tried to intentionally kick Johnson. But various teammates of Johnson came to Petgrave’s defense — including Westin Michaud, a former Cloquet star who played at Colorado College and at North Dakota before making his way to Nottingham.

“The hate that Matt is receiving is terrible and completely uncalled for,” Michaud said, in a post on X. “I was at ice level on the bench, closest to the accident. I saw both players moving fast. The unintentional clip of the Panther player’s leg by the Sheffield player caused the somersault. It’s clear to me his actions were unintentional and anyone suggesting otherwise is mistaken. Let’s come together and not spread unwarranted hate to someone who needs our support.”

Victor Bjorkung, a Panther teammate from Sweden, said in an interview with a Swedish outlet: “I was a couple of meters away, so if anyone experienced it as it really was, it was me. It’s so insane that people think it was deliberate. Check the video, then you will see it’s an accident. Two skates collide right before and it goes so damn fast, there is no chance it is deliberate. I have texted him [Petgrave] and expressed how I feel about everything, and I support him. No one on our team thinks it’s his fault. Quite the opposite. We stand behind him.”

Teams throughout Europe and the NHL have paid tribute to Johnson, none more touching than the Penguins, who put a gigantic photo of Johnson in his Penguins uniform on the scoreboard. Then the announcer said instead of a moment of silence, let’s all give one final cheer in tribute to Adam Johnson.

UMD captain Luke Loheit said the players learned of Johnson’s death after Saturday’s game, then flew home Sunday before Sandelin conducted a team meeting to discuss the incident.

“I didn’t know him real well, but I skated with him a few times,” said Loheit, a fifth-year graduate student from Minnetonka. “We had a conversation as a team Monday, and talked about their family, and how important it is to enjoy being here, and to enjoy each other.

“You can’t go out there [on the ice] and not think about it. It was a freak accident, and as seniors, we all have to deal with it in our own way. Obviously, we lost a family member, and there’s support throughout Minnesota and the hockey world.”

Sandelin and the players talked about the likelihood that some legislation is likely to add neck protection collars to the hockey uniforms as soon as next season. The UK Elite League has already made them mandatory.

“We haven’t talked about neck protection,” Sandelin said. “But I’m sure this will open some eyes to the problem.”

UMD women’s coach Maura Crowell, whose team plays St. Thomas Friday and Saturday at AMSOIL, said she will be investigating what is sure to be an increasing number of throat protectors.

“I would be shocked if the NCAA didn’t pass a new rule about neck protection,” Cromwell said.

Former UMD coach Mike Sertich, who recently came through exhaustive treatment to be declared free of the pancreatic cancer he was diagnosed with less than a year ago, said he has always been close to Davey Johnson.

“He called me all the time while I was going through my treatment,” Sertich said. “And I’ve talked to him several times since this happened. It’s heartbreaking. I haven’t seen the video and I don’t want to see it.”

Sertich, after coaching UMD and Michigan Tech, spent a couple of years coaching Bantam hockey in Hermantown back when Adam Johnson was a Bantam at Hibbing.

“I remember we played them in a playoff game,” Sertich said. “Adam scored the winning goal against us, and afterward he skated over to our bench and apologized to me. That’s the kind of person he was.”

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