Not for himself, Souliere was the backup goalie, but rather for goaltending partner Nathan Airey. Souliere felt such urgency to secure the puck from Airey’s first collegiate shutout that he is still uncertain if the final horn sounded before jumped on the ice.

“Was the game over?” Airey asked Souliere.

Souliere’s response: “I might have been on the ice before the game was over. No joke, I might have.”

Souliere got the puck for Airey following his 32-save performance, and the sophomore delivered a message right back. “OK, your turn. You go get one.”

Souliere didn’t disappoint as he stopped 22 shots in a 2-0 victory last Saturday to give the Gophers a sweep of then-No. 6 Wolverines and move Minnesota into the No. 1 spot in both college hockey polls this week.

No plan? It’s working.
Bob Motzko has his team atop the rankings doing something he usually eschews: Employing a goalie rotation. Since Motzko took over as Gophers coach in 2018-19, he has had two goalies start double-digit games only twice in a season. The last time it happened was in 2021-22, when Jack LaFontaine turned pro in January, forcing Motzko to turn to Justen Close. Close started 92 games over the next two-plus seasons.

Gophers goaltender Liam Souliere spent four seasons at Penn State before arriving at the University of Minnesota and becoming part of a successful goaltending duo. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

But Close’s departure after last spring created an opportunity for Airey, who missed almost the entire first half of 2023-24 because of injury, and also led Motzko to bring in Souliere, a graduate transfer who had spent four seasons at Big Ten rival Penn State.

The fact Motzko hasn’t picked a primary starter is a credit to Airey and Souliere.

“We have no plan,” Motzko said when asked about his goalie plan. “Just keep doing what we’re doing. We didn’t set it out to be a plan; it’s just working out that way right now. Both guys are doing great.”

Souliere’s 1.37 goals-against average is the best in Division I, and Airey isn’t far behind at 1.99. Airey’s 9-0-1 record makes him one of only two goalies in Division I to not have a loss. Souliere has a .943 saves percentage; Airey is at .918.

They have rotated all season, except for a late November series against Notre Dame when Airey got back-to-back starts in a pair of victories. Otherwise, it’s been Airey in the opener and Souliere the following night. Souliere made 28 saves in a 1-0 shutout against his former team on Nov. 2, a night after Airey stopped 21 of 22 shots in a 3-1 win against Penn State.

Tight friendship off the ice
One reason this system has worked so well is because the two have become so close. Talking to them in a lounge just outside the Gophers locker room on Tuesday, you got that feeling that they are more like brothers than hockey buddies.

Airey, 21, is from Cochrane, Alberta, and Souliere, 25, is from Montreal. The two had never met before the offseason and chatted a few times once Souliere arrived. But they hit it off during a trip to the Minnesota State Fair to help promote Gophers hockey.

“We’re both Canadian,” Airey said. “There was poutine and whatnot (at the Fair), so we were kind of comparing that and right away when you have two Canadians on a team, obviously, with Matthew (Wood, who is from British Columbia) as well, you jell right away, that’s just the reality of it. Going around that day we were talking about everything. Whether it was our pasts, or our futures and what we wanted everything to look like, we kind of went through a lot of stuff.”

Souliere appreciated the patience Airey showed in answering his many questions.

“I think I got to kind of show him my curious side,” Souliere said. “He’s a farm boy, and I knew that about him. When we went to go see the animals I was asking a bunch of questions and he was answering them. And he was happy to answer them. He could have been like, ‘Oh, this guy is weird, why is he asking me about, why do goats act like this?’ I knew that he knew a lot about all these types of different things that were happening at the State Fair and just getting to learn them. I also loved his maturity. For a younger guy, he’s super, super mature and calm. I take after that and I’ve learned a lot about that. It’s been great.”

Sophomore Gophers goaltender Nathan Airey has typically gotten the nod in net in series openers. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Airey could have decided that after a season recovering from injury and then getting into only three games, with one start, playing behind Close, that he wanted to be the main goalie. But he welcomed the news that Souliere was coming to Minnesota and even requested the two be roommates on the road.

Airey said he had been impressed watching Souliere at Penn State and wanted to be pushed. “It was a no-brainer, I was pumped,” he said.

Airey, though, probably didn’t expect to get along this well with his goalie partner. Souliere already has a degree in finance and in some ways plays a big-brother role in a relationship that goes well beyond just talking about goaltending.

“Our interests are aligned, and that really helps,” Airey said. “We talk finance and I go to him. He’s got a lot of experience with that. We’ve talked relationships before, we’ve talked about a bunch of stuff. Whether it’s on the bus or wherever it is, we always enjoy each other’s company and we’re always on the same page.”

Rotation helps both of them
Their rotation has enabled both to pick up things from the other. Souliere can go to school on an opponent by watching Airey on Friday, and Airey can see how his veteran teammate approaches things on Saturday. The goaltenders offer different styles in part because Airey is 6-foot-3 and Souliere is 5-foot-11.

“Michigan, obviously is a super-skilled team, super-good team, and Nathan did a really, really good job of having calm feet and keeping his hands high,” Souliere said of what he picked up on Friday. “He made so many hard saves look easy and just being able to see that and understand that the success he had was because of those decisions. Not over moving his feet, keeping his hands up, tracking the puck, all those little things.

“I am going to school on Fridays and it’s awesome. I get to just feel the game out and see how he handles it and the things he’s doing that led to success.”

So what does Airey pick up from Souliere?  

“Two things for me,” he said. “First of all, his movement, it’s amazing. Whether it’s sliding, whether it’s feet-to-feet movement, it’s so smooth and crisp and it’s also quick and fast. Powerful. Another thing is he’s got so much experience, his puck movement is amazing. … Just his confidence with playing the puck is top notch. Whether it’s passing it up to a wing and bypassing the d-man sometimes. It’s just plays like that where I can just learn and watch and understand that maybe I have a little more time (to move the puck) than I think.”

Sophomore Gophers goaltender Nathan Airey, shown here in practice this week at Mariucci Arena, enters the weekend with a 1.99 goals-against average. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

The Airey-Souliere Show will return to Mariucci Arena tonight, Dec. 13, as the Gophers face a Michigan State team (12-2-0) that fell from first to third in the rankings this week.

Souliere, as usual, will be Airey’s biggest fan in the opener.

“It’s easy. I love the guy. He’s a great kid and well raised,” Souliere said. “This is a team game and whoever is doing the job is doing the job, and right now we’re both doing it. It’s wonderful and, to be honest, it’s kind of nice. We get to just talk about the game together after games and we kind of just feed off each other.

“He’ll go on Friday and do fantastic, and it kind of just pushes me to have to do the same. I’m pretty sure that if I do great on the Saturday, he feels the responsibility to keep it up on the Friday and it’s kind of like a give-and-go kind of thing we have going and it’s been awesome.”

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The post Gophers Goalie Tandem appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Michigan freshman forward Garrett Schifsky, a 2021 Andover graduate, skated at right wing on the third line for the Wolverines in the Frozen Four. His high school coach, Mark Manney, spoke this week about the excitement in the area to see Schifsky play on such a big stage.

“First, you’re just happy for the kid, because his hard work paid off,” Manney said. “When you advance like this, it’s just another reminder that there’s something bigger than you there, too.”

Garrett Schifsky winds up for a shot against Boston College in the Frozen Four. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The result of Thursday’s second Frozen Four semifinal didn’t go in Michigan’s favor against No. 1 Boston College, however. BC shut out Michigan 4-0, despite the 32 shots on goal from the Wolverines. BC goaltender Jacob Fowler stopped all of them. BC capitalized with a goal only 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game and then extended their lead with a pair of goals 49 seconds apart in the middle frame.

“I thought we brought it to them in the first period, and just kept going,” Schifsky said. “But they generated their stuff off the rush. They had a good goalie tonight. And everything he saw, he stopped. Credit to them. They’re a good team.”

Schifsky finished the game with one official shot on goal. He also fired a shot just wide of the net in the middle of the second period, and he drew a slashing penalty in the third period while driving the net trying to generate a scoring chance and get the Wolverines on the board.

Despite the stinging end to the season, Schifsky said after the game that it was special to come back home and play in front of family and friends at Xcel Energy Center “and try and win something very special.”

Manney noted that as good of a season as Schifsky had, which is wonderful, Schifsky was still down on the list of depth scoring for Michigan; “there’s stars all around him,” Manney said, adding that Schifsky is willing to be a penalty killer since he hasn’t been put in that typical scorer’s role.

Schifsky entered the Frozen Four weekend as the seventh-leading scorer for Michigan with 16 goals and 34 points in 40 games. He was also a plus +18, ranking just behind scoring leaders Gavin Brindley and Rutger McGroarty at +19.

“He’s been put in a regular role, and he’s performing that role well, but he’s also getting goals,” Manney said. “We’re super proud of him.”  

A leader at Andover, then in Waterloo
Schifsky is the second Andover graduate to skate in a Frozen Four. Wyatt Kaiser, a 2020 Andover grad, skated with Minnesota Duluth in the 2021 Frozen Four. He was also a freshman, manning the blue line for the Bulldogs who lost to Massachusetts 3-2 in the semifinals. Kaiser is now in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

Garrett Schifsky battles for the puck in front of the BC net. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Schifsky played three seasons for Andover, helping lead the program to its first two state tournament appearances in 2020 and 2021. Though Andover lost in the state quarterfinals in those two years, Andover won the consolation bracket in 2020 and took home the Class 2A state championship in 2022.

As a senior captain, he led the Huskies in scoring with 29 goals and 60 points during the 2020-21 season. That year was played out with a shortened schedule in the wake of the pandemic. It was also a season with limitations and restrictions because of the pandemic, so the team couldn’t be together as much. Manney credited Schifsky for his leadership that season, which also carried over into the next season’s state championship team.

“He did a wonderful job of getting the most out of the other kids on that team,” Manney said. “The juniors, or seniors when we won the state tournament, I think that Schifsky had a big impact on them.

“We’ll be forever indebted to him here for taking a group of kids and turning them into professionals, at least for a couple of hours a day for three or four months in the winter.”

Schifsky had continued success in junior hockey, playing for the Waterloo Black Hawks and racking up 100 points (58 goals, 42 assists) in 125 career USHL games. He put up 46 points as an alternate captain in 2021-22 and then 28 goals and 52 points in 57 games last season as the team’s captain.

A coachable, respectful leader
Having watched Schifsky at Andover and then catching a few games when he played for Waterloo, Manney said he sees the same player in Schifsky.

Garrett Schifsky recorded a shot on goal and drew a penalty in the Frozen Four game against BC. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“Just doing what he does better,” Manny said. “That’s what I see. He’s always been so coachable. I think that’s one of the things that sets him apart.

“He’s an active listener and was then (with Andover). If you asked him to try something a different way, he would go out and do it. I think he’s that was in his life, too.”

Beyond the hockey talents, Manney spoke highly of Schifsky with his good character and being a role model for the youth in the Andover community. Schifsky and Kaiser return to Andover in the summers to work for Manney with his summer youth programs.

Schifsky gave credit right back to Manney, someone he said became like a father figure to him.

“Just taught me everything I know to this day, and I couldn’t have done it without him and just great leaders above me,” Schifsky said.

Along with coachability and listening skills, Schifsky is open to new things, which is what Manney said drew Schifsky to Michigan’s program. Schifsky “really just buys into the team thing,” Manney said, referring to him as one of the top three or four leaders the Andover program has ever seen.

“He owned the locker room,” Manney said. “If there’s a kid out of line, it never got to me. Then he was captain in Waterloo, and I’m assuming they saw the same stuff we did.

“He’s a future captain in Michigan, too, someday, I think, for the same reason.”  

The post ‘Doing What He Does Better’ appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The post Gallery: Frozen Four Semifinal, Michigan vs. Boston College appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Despite losing 4-0 in the second Frozen Four semifinal at Xcel Energy Center, the Wolverines routinely sent their offensive-minded defensemen up into the play as fourth forwards, and had multiple power plays to set up shop and get to work. What better way to showcase their nine NHL draft picks on the roster? Michigan knew it needed to meet Boston College’s once-in-a-generation collection of offensive talent, highlighted by four first-round NHL draft picks, head-on.

That’s what made Eagles’ goaltender Jacob Fowler even more impressive on Thursday.

BC goaltender Jacob Fowler weathers a storm in front of the net as Michigan players Max Estapa (94) and Josh Eernisse (6) try to put the puck in the net. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“Jacob was outstanding in net tonight,” said Boston College coach Greg Brown. “Ideally, we’d like to spend more time in the offensive zone, but they were doing a solid job defensively.”

In what they hope is a precursor to ending the season with a victory on Saturday in the national championship game against Denver, the Eagles shined offensively, but maintained a solid backstop to prevent the opposition from gaining any momentum, clinging to any sign of life in the game.

Fowler was there to meet the challenge. He met every one of Michigan’s 32 shots and kept it out of his own net.

“He’s probably the calmest goalie I’ve ever played with,” said forward Cutter Gauthier. “Any opportunities we give up, just knowing that safety net back there, that he’s in between the pipes, and he’s as competitive as all of us, and he’s a great kid as well.”

Just another victory for one of the nation’s top goalies on the team that has been turning heads across the college hockey landscape all season long. Even though it was his 32nd victory of the season, Fowler makes the feat even more impressive for another reason, too: His age.

The Montreal Canadiens third-round draft pick is just a freshman, having been the go-to starter for Boston College all season long. To say he’s been up to the challenge is an understatement, with a .926 save percentage (fourth best in the nation) and a 2.14 goals against average (eighth best in the nation). In the victory on Thursday, Fowler now has the third-most wins in a season all time for BC, adding to his accolade of having the most wins in a single season as a freshman for the program.

This bucks a significant trend in college hockey that was even evident in BC’s own semifinal matchup. Michigan goaltender Jake Barczewski is nearly six years older than Fowler. A graduate transfer in his first year with the Wolverines, Barczewski arrived on a Wolverines team in need of proven goaltending, a resume he spent four years building at Canisius in the Atlantic Hockey Association, plus two years before that in the USHL.

Jacob Fowler stood tall in net all game long for BC. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Many schools across the college hockey landscape attempt to go goalie-hunting to remain competitive with an experienced roster outside the crease. While Michigan has ventured into this realm of the transfer portal in the last few years, so has North Dakota and rival Boston University.

In a game where the Brown said it was a “track meet” with high-danger chances going both ways throughout, Fowler was the solid rock that meant the difference. Even though there were key blocks on the penalty kill and 4-on-4 play, the buck stopped with the freshman goaltender.

“Going into every game, it’s nice having him back there,” said forward Will Smith. “He has such a confidence in net, coach touched on it, there [were] a few too many odd-man rushes, so having him back there definitely helps. I’m looking at this, he had 32 saves, he was unreal tonight.”

With the high-end talent in front of him, Fowler kept the distance to allow the success of his forward group to shine through for a chance at the program’s sixth national championship on Saturday.

“I’m super pumped for him and the game he had today,” Gauthier said. “It’s been fun learning how to score goals on him in practice, but a great kid and he had a heck of a game tonight.”

The post Fowler Shines In Frozen Four appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

What is interesting is that as time has evolved, there is no question that women’s Division I basketball has caught and passed the men from the standpoints of technical excellence and creative playmaking. Plus, they shoot 3-pointers as though they invented them.

Another interesting footnote to the NCAA’s wild and crazy climax to the winter sports season is that somehow the NCAA convinced the rest of the world to reserve the first weekend in April for the basketball semifinals and finals — the Final Four in both men’s and women’s basketball. That forces the NCAA hockey tournament to play down to its final four — which are known as the “Frozen Four” — and then put its game on hold before being allowed to finish its peak competition. It’s grown to now-popular status and fills up big arena. But it must wait to be decided a week later.

We have a vested interest this year, because the men’s hockey Frozen Four will be held at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. The semifinals are on April 11, with the two winners coming back to collide on April 13 to decide the championship.

That means a two-week break from the wind-up to the intensely heated and competitive play in four regionals around the country, which led to some very surprising survivors to convene in St. Paul. In the first semifinal, it will be No. 2-ranked Boston University facing No. 3 Denver at 4 p.m., followed by the 7:30 p.m. game between No. 1 Boston College and Big Ten stalwart Michigan.

If it appears that all six of Minnesota’s Division I hopefuls got locked out of their home facility, we must admit that there could probably not be four more potent heavyweights in the college hockey world than the ones in the Frozen Four.

Men’s hockey regionals set Frozen Four
We were all hoping to see two or three of Minnesota’s teams reach the Frozen Four, but they fell like dominos leading up to or into the regionals. The Minnesota Gophers was the only team from the state to reach a regional final. That was in Sioux Falls, where the Gophers got a couple of incredibly lucky breaks to score goals and subdue Omaha 3-2 in the semifinal, only to fall 6-3 to Boston University.

At Springfield, Mass., Denver escaped Massachusetts 2-1 in overtime after Cornell came back and whipped Maine 3-1 in the semifinals. In that final, Cornell banged Denver around with speed and strength, and the Pioneers — who spent the season banging around NCHC rivals — were fortunate to win 2-1 to gain the Frozen Four in the slot against BU.

At Providence, Boston College had a tough opener against upstart Michigan Tech from the CCHA before erupting in the third period for a 6-1 victory. Defending NCAA champ Quinnipiac rallied to stun Wisconsin 3-2 in overtime. Quinnipiac then gave BC all it could handle before the Eagles battled from behind four times to catch the Bobcats and only gained the lead once — in overtime, for a 5-4 victory.

That left Maryland Heights, Mo., where Big Ten arch-rivals Michigan State and Michigan battled through a classic championship game before Michigan got third-period goals 12 seconds apart, from Dylan Duke and Gavin Brindley, and beat the Big Ten champion Spartans 5-2.

We’ve got another week to let the ice chips land where they might and ponder the Denver-BU game and the BC-Michigan match. What will astound the NCAA is that this year, instead of brushing off the hockey finals, the men’s basketball final will serve as the appetizer for what should be a fantastic Frozen Four.

And the NCAA women’s basketball finals will put on a show that may attract more attention than the men get — or deserve.

Final Fours in men’s, women’s hoops set with intriguing matchups
What could save the men’s Final Four is that UConn — the driving force in women’s basketball — will also be in the men’s field, and faces Alabama in the second semifinal on Saturday (7:49 p.m. CT). The first semifinal, at 5:09 p.m., features two Cinderella stories when Purdue, from the Big Ten, makes its first Final Four appearance against North Carolina State.

The story of the NC State Wolfpack men’s team means that institution also has both men’s and women’s teams in the Final Four, but NC State spent most of the winter sputtering and struggling to finish 10th in the Atlantic Coast Conference. NC State lost its final four games of the regular season. But everybody gets into the conference tournament and, for no apparent reason, the Wolfpack took off — and hasn’t lost since!

NC State won the South Region by blitzing arch-rival Duke 76-64, and the Wolfpack extended their winning streak to nine games, through the playoffs. How refreshing to not have the usual high-end basketball powers dominating the headlines this year. Purdue would be Cinderella if NC State didn’t also have glass sneakers.

In the women’s Final Four, NC State and UConn also made those fields, and NC State gets to take on South Carolina, which comes in behind the steamroller of a 36-0 record. The field became solidified Monday night when Iowa got a 41-point performance from Caitlin Clark to outlast defending national champion LSU. In the other game that night, UConn blew a 12-point third-quarter lead to allow the University of Southern California to catch up. But former Hopkins High School star Paige Bueckers finished a brilliant 28-point performance to lead the UConn Huskies to a 80-73 victory over USC.

As hype goes, nothing in men’s or women’s basketball can approach the Clark-Bueckers showdown between two of the best guards ever in women’s basketball.

The upset-filled men’s and women’s basketball have been exceptional, and they had to be to coax us to suspend our evaluation of the Frozen Four for another week. Warm up the TV and fill the popcorn bowls with fresh stuff, and enjoy yourselves.

No, none of the six Minnesota teams reached the Frozen Four, so we’ll have to be content to bask in the glow of holding the Frozen Four in our “State of Hockey” palace on West Seventh Street in St. Paul. We just have to wait a week.

The post Hockey Goes On Hold While Basketball Shines appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

There have been times when Xcel Energy Center has been abuzz with activity with three or four of the nation’s top-ranked teams gathering to fight it out for a guaranteed bid into the NCAA tournament. This spring, league champion North Dakota and pre-season favorite Denver are among the nation’s elite, while Omaha and St. Cloud State are battling for that level of prestige.

At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, St. Cloud State — which is on the outside of the NCAA’s PairWise-based top 16 — will take on powerful Denver in the second NCHC semifinal, after North Dakota takes on Omaha in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The two winners will advance to Saturday night, where they will clash for the playoff title and the automatic NCAA berth, and will have the unique benefit of playing after the Minnesota Wild play at 1 p.m. that afternoon at the X.

They will all want to get comfortable in the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, because the NCAA Frozen Four will be held there April 11-13.

The UMD Bulldogs had both the highest of hopes and the longest of long-shots as they headed west to contend with a mountain snowstorm and get to Denver’s Magness Arena, where the powerful Denver Pioneers had no mercy and not a lot of patience in whipping the Bulldogs 4-0. The next game was closer than the final score of 5-2 indicated but still a Denver victory, ending the Bulldogs’ season.

St. Cloud State had to go to Sunday and win the third game of a best-of-three series to subdue Western Michigan, leaving behind NCHC rival Minnesota Duluth, along with Minnesota State Mankato. St. Cloud State will serve as Minnesota host for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

Beyond the NCHC
Bemidji State still is in good position to advance, having beaten Lake Superior State 4-1 on Saturday to gain the CCHA championship playoff game against Michigan Tech, which eliminated MSU Mankato with a 4-3 Tech victory. 

Minnesota had high hopes of repeating as Big Ten tournament champion but first had to get past Michigan, its quarterfinal foe, and the rival who had knocked out the Gophers in the two previous seasons. The Wolverines, who had beaten the Gophers two weeks earlier in a wild 6-5 overtime battle, gained a 1-0 lead and stretched it to 2-0 in the second period, then held off the Golden Gophers 2-1 after Jimmy Snuggerud scored to cut into the deficit in the third.

In normal circumstances, that defeat would have ended Minnesota’s season, but the Gophers have managed to hold their high rank in the PairWise and in the national rankings even while falling in the Big Ten standings. So, while Michigan advances to face league champion Michigan State this weekend, with the tournament winner getting an automatic invitation to the NCAA party, the Gophers are virtually certain to be awarded an NCAA at-large bid and sneak in the back door.

The four NCAA regionals are scheduled for Sioux Falls, S.D., Maryland Heights, Mo., Springfield, Mass., and Providence, R.I. Undoubtedly, if the Gophers get an at-large invitation, they will be sent on the road to an Eastern regional, or get a lower seed to stay in the west, both of which will be more difficult to win.

Much as all of us in Minnesota would love to see another playoff match with Minnesota against anybody, and things won’t seem normal to have NCAA tournaments without UMD or MSU Mankato, you have to consider the big picture and know that if you’ve ever been anywhere between East Lansing and Ann Arbor, Mich., then you have some idea how every sports competition between Michigan and Michigan State becomes the biggest rivalry in the country.

With Michigan State as big a surprise conference champion as Michigan was finishing fourth, the single-game elimination between the Spartans and Wolverines will be well worth watching on t he Big Ten Network, when they collide at a sold-out Munn Arena in East Lansing on Saturday night.

When the shooting finally stops in each conference championship, the survivors will be scattered among four regionals around the country, each playing semifinals and finals to determine one Frozen Four team for the NCAA semifinals and finals back in St. Paul at Xcel Energy Center.

“Go, Buzzy, Go!”
Back in 1966, I had recently pulled out of the University of Minnesota to accept a sportswriting job at the Duluth News Tribune. It was a fascinating time, because UMD had just made the move to begin shifting to Division I in hockey and into the WCHA as a conference. Ralph Romano was coach, athletic director, ticket manager and sports information director at UMD, and he did an amazing job of manipulating all of those tasks at once.

My wife, Joan, and I found an apartment that could house us and our young son, Jack, and we were very close to Romano and his operation. So, when he invited us to meet him for a recruiting rip to his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, it was high adventure. We drove up the North Shore, got a hotel room, and met Romano at the arena to watch a junior hockey game where a young prospect named Ron Busniuk was the top attraction.

A stocky counterman with quick moves and a hard-nosed willingness to mix it up in the corners, Busniuk — universally called “Buzzy” in the region — caught our attention right away. Our toddler son chanted “Go, Buzzy, Go…” every time Buzzy touched the puck. Romano was successful in recruiting Busniuk, who came to UMD and never forgot our closeness. Freshmen were ineligible to play varsity hockey in those days, and we had Buzzy over to our apartment for dinner. Joan remembers him with a tiny souvenir hockey stick, playing floor hockey with Jack on the living room floor.

Busniuk stepped in and led the team in goals and points as a sophomore and junior. When he was a senior, Romano shifted him back to defense, where he not only led the Bulldogs in goals and points but also earned All-WCHA and All-America honors in 1970.

After leaving UMD, Busniuk signed with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, and after two seasons, he signed with the Minnesota Fighting Saints, where he was a highly valued asset as a puck-moving defenseman. for two seasons. He later played several more years with the New England Whalers and Edmonton Oilers of the WHA, before retiring back home to Thunder Bay, where he coached the Thunder Bay Twins to two Allan Cup national senior men’s championships.

I had lost touch with Buzzy, after writing about him for most of a decade, and I never heard that he was ill. So it was a jolt to me when I read that Ron Busniuk had died earlier this month at age 75 at a residence in Thunder Bay.

They’ve already held the services up there, and while it may be traditional to wish “Godspeed” to a close and highly respected friend who has died, our family prefers to send him off with one final “Go, Buzzy, Go!”

The post A Pause In Puck Playoff Frenzy appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The scattering of various college conferences has made it more difficult to keep track of all the action, but this is the week when it blossoms. And it happens among both the men’s and women’s leagues.

The disparity in how leagues run their playoffs is a drawback, because they don’t all do the same thing to get to the same objective — which is the NCAA tournament itself.
‘
For example, the NCHC has had a long, rugged season. But in the closing weeks, North Dakota captured the championship, finishing 15-8-1, to narrowly edge preseason favorite Denver (15-7-2), season upstart Colorado College (14-8-2) and sputtering but potent St. Cloud State (11-9-4).

To end the regular season, fifth-place Omaha swept North Dakota, while seventh-place UMD swept St. Cloud State and Western Michigan secured sixth place ahead of UMD. But NCHC plays its quarterfinals as a best-of-three series, which pretty much assures upsets will be at a premium, if evident at all.

Winter wonderland in Denver, not Duluth
One of the most ironic parts about the system is that UMD — from the usual winter wonderland of Northern Minnesota — has not had a single snowstorm this year and the brown grass and fields look more like mid-October than March. So, as the Bulldogs gathered for their flight to Denver to play the team that looked like the NCHC’s best when they swept UMD in Duluth a few weeks ago, they were unprepared for an 11-hour delay and an overnight stay in a Minneapolis hotel before finishing their trip.

The reason was a near-foot-deep snowstorm that hit Denver recently, closing businesses, closing freeways and shutting down the airport. In a normal season, the Denver players and staff may look apprehensively to an upcoming trip to Duluth because of possible blizzards, but this time, it is the Duluth traveling party that had to fly to Denver in order to experience winter!

UMD’s sweep of rival St. Cloud State may have been more timely than the snows of Denver, because UMD snapped a losing streak in the process and seem poised to prove that if they are on their game they can beat anybody.

North Dakota shouldn’t expect any problems with last-place Miami, and could easily prove their last-series losses were just resting up their top guns for this weekend’s series at Grand Forks. Omaha, which has been tough to beat for all NCHC foes all season, is also fighting this week’s wintry weather to make it to Colorado Springs for the three-game series against CC. And the most competitive and intriguing series of the whole first round could well be Western Michigan’s trip to St. Cloud to play the Huskies.

The winners of those four NCHC series will advance to St. Paul and take over Xcel Energy Center — home of the Minnesota Wild — for the last convening of the Final Faceoff for NCHC semifinals and finals before the teams scatter to play at higher home sites. There are some who already miss the chance to show their stuff to the major Twin Cities media and population centers, which have proven so popular over the years.

Big Ten, CCHA playoff status
The Big Ten has only Minnesota among state teams, and the Gophers face a major challenge in a one-game showdown against Michigan. After winning the last two titles, Minnesota finished third (13-7-4) behind Michigan State (16-6-2) and Wisconsin (16-7-1), and ahead of fourth-place Michigan (11-11-2), which has a disappointing record for such a talent-laden team. It is Michigan that returns to 3M Arena at Mariucci to face Minnesota this weekend, and the Wolverines blew a big lead before subduing Minnesota in overtime two weeks ago in the second game of their season.

The strange thing is that Minnesota-Michigan is a one-game showdown, just as the other semifinal series when Ohio State plays at Michigan State, having already upset second-place Wisconsin, although the Badgers will surely get voted back into the NCAA field. Instead, the Badgers get a week’s rest.

The biggest turmoil is happening in the CCHA, where the whole season has been a wonderful, storybook twist. Bemidji State won the league (15-7-2) ahead of St. Thomas (12-11-1) and the deadkick for third between Michigan Tech (12-10-2) and Minnesota State Mankato (12-10-2). Lake Superior State finished seventh at (11-12-1), tied with Bowling Green, before the Lakers went to St. Thomas and ruined the Tommies season by splitting 4-1 victories in their best-of-three and then Lake Superior State stunned St. Thomas 3-2 in overtime in game 3.

That reversal sends Lake Superior State to Bemidji State, while MSU-Mankato plays at Michigan Tech.

When all the league playoff shooting subsides, we can dust ourselves off, put the snowshovels aside, and get ready for what is certain to be controversial NCAA selections.

But for now, the league playoff theory remains intact as the most exciting, we just have to stay alert to find out if our favorite league playoff ends this week, or ends net week, or overlaps to encompass both this weekend and next. All we know is they will be exciting.,

The post College Hockey Playoffs Are The Best appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It was the end of the first season as Gophers head coach Herb Brooks, who had lifted the faltering program from a 10th-place, 7-21 season, to sixth-place with a 12-13-3 record. Minnesota lost 8-6 in the first game of the total-goal set. The team gathered for a group breakfast down a massive winding staircase at the Edgewater, for the obligatory scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and fried potatoes.

“I remember walking down that art deco staircase,” said Brad Shelstad, a junior goaltender who rode the bench that weekend while Brooks sent Doug Hastings into the nets, despite Shelstad’s better goals-against average and save percentage. “As we were all sitting at our table, there was another group gathered off to one side, and they looked sort of extra casual, with long hair. A couple of our guys made subtle comments about how they looked, but we went ahead with our breakfast.”

The Gophers season ended a few hours later, in a 6-4 playoff loss to finish the 1972-73 season 15-16-3 overall.

“Later on, I checked and found out that the other group in the room was a rock band called Pink Floyd, and they were performing their new album, ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ in Madison that same weekend,” Shelstad said. “I ended up being a huge Pink Floyd fan, and fan of that album — which I still play all the time.”

That oddity, and that legendary album, might well have gone down as the highlight of Shelstad’s Gophers goaltending career, because there was nothing that spring that foretold what could possibly happen one season later, in the 1973-74 season. Nor could any fans of all the other Minnesota-based college hockey teams appreciate what was coming next.

The University of Minnesota Duluth had just moved up to expand into a Division I program. While St. Cloud State, Mankato State and Bemidji State were all comfortable playing at the Division II level, with reduced scholarship and financial requirements and their own minor-league network. While UMD was striving to reach Minnesota’s stature, the Gophers had never attained proper financial stature with, say, Michigan, which dominated the Big Ten and stood the best chance of competing with the national powers at Denver, North Dakota, Colorado College and the Eastern powers of Boston University, Cornell, RPI and others.

Michigan was the envy of John Mariucci at Minnesota because it enjoyed rivalries with Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, and later Lake Superior State — five Division I teams compared to Minnesota’s one, or two.

Mariucci stubbornly promoted his homestate high school products, which were trickling out to other schools offering better scholarships. Still, with no junior hockey network to develop prospects up to age 20, Minnesota continued to recruit high school players entering as 18- or 19-year-old freshmen.

Against them, Michigan, Michigan Tech, North Dakota, Denver and Colorado College were all watching Canadian junior players age and develop up to age 20, and those who didn’t get drafted by NHL teams might consider coming to school as 21-year-old freshmen. So, Minnesota’s seniors were sometimes younger than the freshmen brought in post-junior by the other Western college powers.

So, Minnesota had never won an NCAA championship. How could they? When Brooks took over the Gophers program, he was determined to carry on Mariucci’s beliefs and concepts, and while the other in-state college programs considered the Gophers their primary adversary and rival, there was no real indication that something huge was looming on the horizon to attain national championship stature.

In fact, as Shelstad recalled, nothing looked more alluring than “The Dark Side of the Moon” to those young Gophers in 1972-73.

Herb Brooks: The miracle man
In the fall of 1973, the Gophers started 0-4-1, losing to UMD, twice to Wisconsin, tying and losing to Michigan. But then, the Brooks magic set in.

His 23-man roster started to click. Shelstad was No. 1 in goal, with Bill Moen and Eric Lockwood backing up. On defense, Brooks had Brad Morrow, Les Auge, John Perpich, Doug Falls and a giant named Dick Spannbauer. But Brooks wanted more versatility, so he took Joe Micheletti, a young center who had fled Hibbing to the state high school championship, and he converted him to defense. Smart, smooth and good with the puck, Micheletti had an outstanding season. Brooks took a similar path with David Christian on his 1980 Miracle on Ice Olympic team.

Up front, a clever center with a quick shot named John Sheridan was joined by Mike Polich, another Hibbing spark plug, and Tom Vannelli, a crafty center from St. Paul Academy, plus wingers Warren Miller, Buzzy Schneider, John Matschke, Cal Cossalter, Tom Dahlheim, Roseau brothers John and Robby Harris, Edina brothers Bruce and Tim Carlson, Roseville brothers Pat and Mike Phippen. A completely diverse group of forwards — possibly none of whom might have invited notice had they been playing junior hockey, but who all accepted partial scholarships to be a part of the Golden Gophers.

The Gophers gained momentum through the tough WCHA season, although they still had trouble with certain teams. They lost a midseason series at Duluth, split a series with Denver and skated to a pair of ties at Wisconsin. In their final series of the regular season, the Gophers made the trip to Houghton, Mich., where John MacInnes’ Huskies swept the Gophers. That left Minnesota sharing the WCHA championship though still technically second in the conference.

It didn’t matter though, because Minnesota was at home in Williams Arena to two-game, total-goal series against Michigan, which the Gophers swept 5-1 and 5-4. That put the Gophers up against Denver, and the teams tied the first game.

“John Harris backhanded in a big goal for us,” Shelstad said.

Then the Gophers won 2-1 to send them to the NCAA Final Four (as it was known in those days) at Boston Garden.

Gophers reach NCAA Final Four
In the home of the Boston Bruins, the Gophers jumped out ahead of Boston University, but coach Jackie Parker’s Terriersrallied in the third period against Shelstad and the Gophers, closing the deficit to set the stage for the most dramatic single goal in Gophers hockey history.

Having tied the game 4-4, Boston went on the power play when Spannbauer was penalized with a minute to go in regulation. It appeared that the Garden rink was tilted toward Shelstad and the Gophers goal, and it seemed inevitable that the Terriers were going to score again and steal the national championship.

But while killing the penalty through the closing half-minute, Polich stole the puck in the neutral zone and raced into the B0ston zone. Terriars goaltender Ed Walsh, who coincidentally later played with Polich on Montreal’s top farm team where the two were roommates, later told Polich that as he skated in toward the goal, Walsh knew he had an open winger on the far side, and he stole a millisecond glance to see where the winger was. In that instant, when he looked back, he didn’t see any puck.

Polich had cut loose with a quick and deadly shot in that moment, and the puck sailed past Walsh and into the goal for a shorthanded goal to win the game 5-4 with 13 seconds remaining in regulation.

The joy of victory, the great relief at surviving — all the possible emotions — spilled over as the Gophers celebrated. But they still had a huge obstacle awaiting in the defending champion Michigan Tech Huskies.

“We had no options,” said Shelstad. “It was our last game as Gophers. I still remember Bill Steele. I don’t know if he ever went into motivational speaking, but he should have, because he sure motivated me! As we were warming up in Boston Garden, he skated down to our end and came up next to me and said something like, ‘It’s all over now, buddy, because we’re going to fill the net.’ It got to me, and I thought, ‘You little…who do you think you are?’”

The Gophers won its first NCAA championship in Minnesota history by a 4-2 score, outshooting Michigan Tech 39-24.

In the 1975 NCAA championship game a year later, Brooks and his Gophers lost to Michigan Tech. But the teams met again in the 1976 title game in Denver, with the Gophers winning that one. So, after having never won a national title in its history, Minnesota suddenly won two-out-of-three during Brooks’ first three years as head coach.

Brooks put together one more championship team, winning the 1979 NCAA title, to give him three championships in his seven years at Minnesota. That was all before he left to create the 1980 gold-medal-winning Olympic team, loaded Minnesota players.

Now, 50 years later, Minnesota is trying to fight off the challenges from five other Division I programs in Minnesota, with UMD, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State Mankato, Bemidji State and St. Thomas all battling for national prominence. But while gazing into the future, it might be the ideal time to pause for a look back at the proud heritage that Mariucci, Glen Sonmor and Brooks created out of the void of no NCAA titles in Minnesota.

The post Flashback: 1st Gophers NCAA Titles appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

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.

The post Hockey Over The Holiday appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – It looked good after 40 minutes. Three unanswered goals for the Minnesota Gophers gave them a shot to repeat as Big Ten Tournament champions.

Instead, their season ended as the Gophers failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.

“Obviously frustrating right now,” said Justin Kloos, Minnesota’s junior top-line center. “It really stings.”

No. 7 ranked Michigan (24-7-5) came away with the 5-3 victory over top-seed and No. 20 ranked Minnesota (20-17-0) Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. The win gave Michigan a Big Ten Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament next week.

Saturday’s game was a rematch of last year’s Big Ten Tournament championship game when Minnesota came out on top with a 4-2 victory over Michigan in Detroit. These two teams have met 15 times in the postseason. The Gophers hold the edge at 8-5-2.

The story of the game was special teams. Michigan went 3-for-4 on the power play. The Gophers were 1-for-2.

“Tonight I thought we played the type of game we needed to play,” said Gophers coach Don Lucia. “In the end, their power play has been on fire.”

That’s for sure. Over the past four games, the Wolverines went 17-for-29 with the extra man, good for 58.6 percent. They’re No. 1 in the nation overall at 30.4 percent.

The game-winning goal for Michigan came on the power play with 4:33 left in the third, on a shot from the point by Zach Werenski, who had a four-point night.

“Unfortunately we took a penalty,” Lucia said. “Give them credit for making a play.”

Michigan’s Tyler Motte added an empty netter for his second goal of the game, giving him 31 for the season. Big Ten Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Tournament MVP Kyle Connor had a goal and three assists.

The goals for each side came in clusters. Once again, the Gophers found themselves playing from behind, down 1-0 after the first period. Just like in Friday’s 4-2 semifinal victory over Ohio State, the Gophers struggled out of the gate. They registered just six shots on goal but had 15 shot attempts in the first period.

Special teams came around just 19 seconds into the second, leading to JT Compher’s power-play goal at 1:31 of the period, good for a 2-0 Michigan lead.

Then the Gophers took over to grab a 3-2 lead after two periods. First it was Leon Bristedt on a pretty behind-the-net feed from Vinni Lettieri. A few minutes later Jake Bischoff got on the board. Then Kloos fired a shot from the circles with 29 seconds left in a power play.

Michigan got what they needed in the third, however, and skated to the Big Ten Tournament title.

“It was a close game, down to the wire,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “Either team could’ve won. I like the way we started, and I like the way we finished.”

Afterward, Gophers Kloos and Bischoff reflected on this past season. It’s frustrating right now, but Kloos called it a “prideful program.” Were said it was a blast this year.

The Gophers won a fifth-straight overall regular-season championship – a school record – boasted the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year in freshman Eric Schierhorn (who had 30 saves Saturday) and had three Second Team All-Big Ten Team members in Kloos, Hudson Fasching and Michael Brodzinski.

“We’ve been through a lot,” Kloos said. “It’s just hard to see it end. We came up short.”

As for next year, Bischoff is confident that the team coming back will be pretty intact and Kloos agreed.

“Either way, there’s going to be a really good Gopher hockey team on the ice next year,” Kloos said.

The post Gophers Season Ends appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.