Anyone watching could undoubtedly see, and Wild defenseman Jake Middleton confirmed it after the game: The Wild (13-4-4) came out flying to start the game. They created scoring chances, pounced on rebounds and quickly turned the shots-on-goal category into a lopsided number.

The Jets (18-4-0) capitalized for a 4-1 victory that was not as lopsided as the score would indicate.

Here are five rules recapping Monday’s game:

1. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stole the show.

The Wild could have easily taken a multi-goal lead only minutes into the game, but Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck didn’t let that happen. The Wild put up 22 shots on Hellebuyck in the first period, including a goal off the rebound from Middleton for a 1-0 lead. The Wild’s 22 shots on goal in the first period was the team’s highest single-period shot total this season. But the Jets tied the game 1 minute, 26 seconds later to create a stalemate that lasted until nearly halfway through the game.

The Wild were disappointed to not put a couple more pucks past Hellebuyck.

“But we threw a lot at him,” Middleton said. “That was probably the best first period we played all year, as far as not giving up shot opportunities and funneling pucks to the net.

“Tip your cap to Connor. He played really well, but we didn’t play the same game in the third.”

Hellebuyck improved to 14-10-2 in 29 career games against the Wild.

Connor Hellebuyck denies a shot from Wild defenseman Brock Faber. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

2. The Wild dominated play in the first two periods and shots on goal.

Unfortunately for the Wild, it doesn’t matter how many shots on goal you produce if they’re not going past the goal line.

“We threw the kitchen sink at him,” Middleton said, referring to Hellebuyck. “It’s disappointing. But there’s positives we can take from it.”

After peppering Hellebuyck with 39 shots through two periods, things tightened up in the third as the Jets held onto a one-goal lead. The Wild had only five shots on goal in the final period, finishing with a season-high 44. Sixteen of the Wild’s 18 skaters finished with at least one shot on goal.

“We had a lot of Grade-As, shot attempts, zone time, all those things,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “It kind of turned on a couple quick plays. Their second goal was something like that, and they got the power play later.

“That’s the story of the game.”

3. Kirill Kaprizov returned after missing a game in Calgary over the weekend.

Kirill Kaprizov returned to the lineup Monday after missing Saturday’s game in Calgary with a lower-body injury. He took a knee-to-knee, open-ice hit in last Thursday’s second period in Edmonton, although he returned to play the third period.

Kaprizov was back although he was held off the scoresheet for only the fourth time this season – twice now against the Jets. Kaprizov (13 goals, 21 assists this season) recorded five shots on goal in his 23 minutes on the ice, and he also had five shot attempts blocked.

“That’s what we expect when you have a guy like him in your lineup every night,” said Wild forward Matt Boldy.  “They’re going to put their best guys out there, and they did a good job tonight, but we’ve got to score goals.”

With the game tied 1-1 in the middle of the second period, Boldy fed Kaprizov a beautiful cross-ice pass while on the power play. Kaprizov fired a shot on goal but, as was the story of the night, was denied by Hellebuyck.

The Wild’s top player has garnered recent attention as one of the top points producers in the NHL so far this season. He came into Monday night’s game with a league-leading 12 multi-point games and 1.79 points per game.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin get tangled up with Alex Iafallo in the Winnipeg zone, just before the Jets took a 2-1 lead at the other end. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

4. Nino Niederreiter continues to crush his former team.

Nino Niederreiter popped the game-winning goal in the second period for a 2-1 Jets lead. He also scored in the first meeting between the teams this year, a 2-1 Jets win in overtime back on Oct. 13. So, two of his eight goals this season have come against his former team where he spent parts of six seasons.

Niederreiter scored 110 goals and 228 points in 434 games wearing a Wild sweater from 2013-19. Including the two games this season and going back to the 2022-23 campaign, Niederrreiter has scored goals in seven of his last nine games against the Wild. He’s scored eight times and added two assists for 10 points in those nine games.

5. Jets fourth-liner Alex Iafallo reaches 100 career goals.

The University of Minnesota Duluth product, Jets winger Alex Iafallo, doubled his season goal total on Monday. First, he tied the game in the first period. On the Niederreiter goal, Iafallo didn’t show up on the scoresheet, but he tangled with Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin at the other end of the ice. That left the Wild shorthanded during play, giving room for the Jets to take advantage.

Iafallo scored again with a power-play goal in the third period to give the Jets a two-goal lead. He deflected Neal Pionk’s shot through traffic.

“I barely touched it,” Pionk said. “That’s a great shot from up top, because we’re just talking about getting pucks to the net on power play right there, especially at the end. We need a goal to keep the momentum going.”

Iafallo reached the 100 career goals milestone and has four goals and eight points this season.

The post Rink Rule: Jets vs. Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

“Dan loved to throw the puck behind his back, and I’ll just say I wasn’t a huge fan,” Ward said, with a laugh. “I remember his first year he gave the puck right to the other team a few times, and he’d come back to the bench with this look on his face that he knew I was gonna bark at him a little bit, and I did. But that was part of his maturation process as a player.

“I would tell him to save that move for men’s league in the future and I’m sure he’s still tried it a couple times since, but he got better with time. We still laugh about it today and Daniel Shlaine is one of my favorite kids that’s ever played here.”

However, eliminating those passes was just one part of what’s been a tremendous growing process, both as a hockey player and a person.

Shlaine first moved from Moscow, Russia to Faribault at 13 years old with his parents, Ekaterina and Dmitri, to join his older brother, Artem – who is currently a grad student at Arizona State. Artem, who also attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s, split his first four NCAA seasons between UCONN and Northern Michigan and is a New Jersey Devils draft pick (2020, fifth-round).

As for Daniel, he spent five years at Shattuck and the past two seasons with the U18 Prep Team, scoring 42 goals and racking up 146 points over 110 games. He also registered 44 points (19-25-44) over 57 games with the 16U AAA team in 2021-22.

While there have certainly been adjustments on the ice, living in North America was an adjustment in itself, especially early on.

“I was very fortunate to be at Shattuck because everyone knew what they were doing and everyone was so helpful,” Shlaine said. “I didn’t really know much English my freshman year, and I didn’t really know anybody or have many friends, and the size of the rink was different from the European sheet. So, it was just a lot different. But after probably three or four months I was able to adapt and felt comfortable.

“I ended up spending my whole five years of high school there and played with some of the best kids in the country, and the coaching staff is unbelievable. It’s easy to say yes when you have the opportunity to go there and they have everything for you to succeed. You just have to take advantage of it.”

Daniel Shlaine started figure skating as a 3-year-old kid in Russia and shifted to hockey a year later, eventually moving to the United States and Minnesota at age 13. “He quickly became a rink rat, and he was at the rink every day skating and working on his game,” said SSM coach Tom Ward. “He spent a lot of time in the weight room, too and just took advantage of all the perks we have here at Shattuck, and it paid off for him.” (Photo courtesy of Sammy Miller / Lincoln Stars)

Those last four words are exactly what Shlaine did.

“He was a kid that came here with his older brother and his family and honestly, he was just an average player,” Ward said. “He was nothing special as a young player, and he was always Arty’s little brother, but he started to break out his 16-year-old year and put the work in.

“He started to understand how he could be the best version of himself and he just continued to grow, and it was really fun to watch him.”

That growth certainly raised some eyebrows last season as Shlaine received plenty of college interest and ultimately committed to Minnesota Duluth in March. He cited the coaching staff, specifically Scott Sandelin, and UMD’s tradition as his biggest reasons for picking the Bulldogs.

A leader on the Stars
Shlaine had conversations with a number of junior teams last season, too, and was selected by the Lincoln Stars in the USHL Phase II Draft (fourth overall) last May.

He’s made an immediate impact with his new club.

“I was excited to get drafted this past summer and get started, obviously new faces and new coaches, but my time (in Lincoln) has been great so far,” Shlaine said. “Everyone has helped me out a lot and I’ve been able to feel really comfortable, and we’re having a pretty good start to the season too. So, hopefully we can keep it going.”

The UMD commit is averaging more than a point per game to open his USHL career and leads the Stars in points (13) and assists (8). His five goals and plus-7 rating are also tied for the team lead, and Shlaine already has four multi-point games.

Lincoln (9-2-0) currently owns the USHL’s best record and has outscored its opponents 43-25 through 11 games. It’s been a collective team effort.

However, Shlaine has been one of Lincoln’s individual standouts, and he’s certainly impressed head coach Rocky Russo and his staff.

“He’s so talented and you can tell he wants to be successful, and he certainly doesn’t look like a first-year player in our league,” Russo said. “He’s a little bit of an older guy as an ’05, but it’s still an extremely hard league, and it goes to show his hockey IQ and work ethic.

“He’s a great skater, he moves laterally so well, he’s good on the dots and he can play both power play and (penalty kill). He’s got a great brain, and he’s not afraid to advance pucks up the ice either, and he just wants to do whatever to help his team win.”

Daniel Shlaine was Lincoln’s first-round pick in the 2024 USHL Phase II Draft. “It’s kind of funny, but I talked to almost every other USHL team except Lincoln leading up to the draft,” Shlaine said. “I remember I was on my phone watching the draft and we were eating at the dining hall (at Shattuck), and when the Stars were on the clock, I put my phone down for a minute and got up. When I came back the guys started congratulating me, and I saw my name on the screen, and it’s worked out really well so far.” (Photo courtesy of Sammy Miller / Lincoln Stars)

It’s a continuation of what Shlaine showed in Faribault.

“He’s always been an intelligent kid, and he’s no different as a hockey player,” Ward said. “He’s a cerebral guy, and he sees what’s going on on the ice. He plays with vision, he understands how to play the team game, he’s a 200-foot player, and I think he’s a very solid defensive player. He’s just a true centerman and he can play in any situation, and you’re seeing that offensive side of his game too.

“I think you’ve seen his confidence grow and as he’s become more of a counted-on player, his personality has grown so much too. He’s a keeper of a kid.”

While Shlaine hopes to continue producing, he’s also aware the 62-game season will include its share of ups and downs – a challenge he’s ready to embrace.

His goals are to round out the little details of his game and be a consistent 200-foot center, along with winning the Clark Cup. Lincoln last did so in 2003.

However, it’s hard to ignore Shlaine’s start to the 2024-25 campaign.

“It’s been a good start, but there’s still a lot of season left and room to grow,” Shlaine said. “The USHL is a fast league and the guys are obviously bigger and stronger, so you know that you’re going against the best every night. So you just know you’ve got to work twice as hard and I’m excited for that challenge.

“But I think that prepares you well for college, and I’m excited to keep learning and developing my game. You don’t want to look too far ahead, but I’m excited to keep working towards and making that jump to college.”

The post Shattuck-St. Mary’s Shlaine Shines appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

John Gilbert recaps the 2023-24 season for the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men’s hockey team.

This story was originally published in the April 2024 Year In Review College/Frozen Four digital issue.

The post Minnesota Duluth: Down Year For The ‘Dogs appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

That, and the advancement of the concept that you should never pick against Patrick Mahomes when the Super Bowl itself comes down to the closing seconds with everything on the line. Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs — for those who might have been in seclusion for the last week — came through with a vital little touchdown pass with 3 seconds left in overtime to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in a game that droned on as a defensive showdown for three quarters.

Showdowns will become more prevalent in men’s college hockey in the next few weeks in the Big Ten, NCHC, and CCHA. But the future is now for the WCHA’s women, who have only two weekends remaining before league playoffs.

WCHA women’s hockey battles down the stretch
The University of Minnesota is in the thick of two huge rivalries to end the regular season, as they battle to find consistency against the top contenders. Ohio State continues to dominate the standings with a leading 23-1 record, good for the runaway No. 1 rank in the nation as well. Wisconsin is second with a 20-4 record that would be spectacular if the Buckeyes weren’t around. The Golden Gophers are third at 18-5-1.

The spotlight of the weekend, though, finds Minnesota at Wisconsin, with a shot at sneaking past the Badgers with a sweep. If that wasn’t enough drama, the Gophers return home next week and face Minnesota Duluth, which is not in contention but is perhaps Minnesota’s most fierce rival.

UMD has its own mini-drama, because the Bulldogs are battling to move into contention but also to free themselves of the new threat to their status of fourth-best in the league, coming from St. Cloud State. The Huskies lost two tough games to Minnesota last weekend, while UMD swept two games at St. Thomas, which vaulted UMD ahead of the Huskies and into a five-point lead for fourth place and the final home-ice spot in the first round of the WCHA tournament.

This weekend, St. Cloud State goes to Duluth to face the Bulldogs, and the interesting thing about that series at AMSOIL Arena is that one victory by UMD will assure them of the fourth spot and home-ice advantage. But in the first round of playoffs, the fourth-place team plays fifth place, so after this weekend’s series, both teams know they are going to be facing each in the best-of-three first round, with the only question being which will be the home team. On the final weekend next week, UMD goes to Minnesota while St. Cloud State plays at Bemidji State, and the highlight series will be Ohio State at Wisconsin.

The WCHA Women’s tournament is always a season treasure with close, tough, single-elimination games — usually an overtime of two — at Ridder Arena on the Gophers campus in Minneapolis. So, after all the posturing for playoff position, whoever wins between UMD and St. Cloud State gets the honor, undoubtedly, of taking on No. 1 Ohio State in the league semifinal.

Hunt has productive weekend vs. UST 
Last weekend, UMD’s sweep at St. Thomas was pretty much because of the presence of Reece Hunt. She played four years at Bemidji State, and with no sniff of playoff advancement, she jumped into the transfer portal and went to UMD as a graduate student for her fifth year.

How effective was she at St. Thomas last weekend? Well, completed a natural hat trick and scored all four UMD goals by the second intermission in the eventual 4-1 victory. Rylee Bartz scored the UST goal in the second period. 

The next night, Hunt scored to open the second period and break a 1-1 tie, with what stood up as the game-winner in a 5-1 victory. For the weekend, Hunt scored five goals and she also assisted on Olivia Wallin’s third-period goal for a six-point series.

“Reece Hunt is a massive addition to our program, and a great person,” said UMD coach Maura Crowell. “I never care who scores; whoever scores, I’m happy. But Reece always knows where to go and how to finish.”

Hunt was asked which of her four Friday goals was her favorite.

“The first three, because all three of us on our line were involved,” Hunt said.

UMD stands 1-1 against St. Cloud State this season, and the Bulldogs have a perfect 12-0 record against the bottom three teams in the league, but are 1-9 against the top three — Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

As compelling as the UMD-St. Cloud State series is, both games will start at 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at AMSOIL Arena, because the prime-time night schedule has the UMD men hosting preseason-favorite Denver both nights at AMSOIL.

High school sections, St. Scholastica splits, Rivalry Series
It’s altogether fitting and proper that we watch the girls high school hockey sections get decided this week with some outstanding games, and their ever-increasing skill level makes the games and the sections more competitive than ever. The same holds true for Division III college hockey, where St. Scholastica split two captivating games against St. Mary’s last weekend. Despite the heavy emphasis on Division I college hockey, the caliber of Division III has risen amazingly, both in skill and tempo.

The Saints split two games with St. Mary’s, losing 2-1 in overtime Friday after the Saints saw a 1-0 lead disappear with 1:19 remaining. But then the Saints came back against the favored Cardinals on Saturday night at Mars-Lakeview Arena. It was a tough game, and thankfully the Saints had sophomore Makenzie Cole, from Grand Rapids-Greenway, in the nets. She stopped 60 shots in the first game, and was just as spectacular in blunting the St. Mary’s attack on Saturday afternoon. The Saints won a highly emotional shootout victory.

After the series, which drew a hearty and loud crowd, Saints coach Julianne Vasichek, who is originally from Montana, made a quick trip to St. Paul to watch former teammates play on both sides in the seventh and deciding game of the Rivalry Tour, won 6-1 by Canada over Team USA at Xcel Energy Center. The United States won the first three games in the series, but Canada stormed back to win the next three, including the game seven blowout.

It was a deserving celebration for Vasichek. It was her birthday, as well as nine years since she survived a liver transplant at the Mayo Clinic. Last week, she was announced as a member of UMD’s all-time 25-year all-star team. Vasichek was a two-time NCAA champion and All-America for the Bulldogs and remains in contact with former UMD coach Shannon Miller, who now lives in Palm Springs, Calif.

Not a bad way to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports week.

UMD men’s coach looking for urgency vs. Denver
Denver is not exactly dominating NCHC after a strong start. The Pioneers have slipped to fifth behind North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Western Michigan and Colorado College in the tightly bunched NCHC.

“Denver has strong lines, and they play with continuity and don’t give up the puck,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We have to take care of the puck because they’re a good transition team, and a strong defensive team. They don’t turn pucks over, and if you’ve got the puck, they get on you and can frustrate you.

“Just like every team in our league. We’ve got eight games left, and we need some guys to play better. I’ve been waiting for that for quite a while now. We need overachievers, not underachievers, and any contributions we get from anybody means a lot.

“If you don’t have urgency now, you’ll never have it.”

In the Super Bowl, Mahomes won the MVP award, for the back-to-back Super Bowl wins. But despite the assembled gang of television analysts that insisted on spewing endless superlatives as if they were unique in their opinions, they all agreed that a victory would mean the Chiefs were a dynasty. But let’s get one thing straight: This modern-day NFL doesn’t have room for dynasties. Parity dominates, and on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other, and even the Vikings could take down the 49ers in the right circumstance.

But while I thought the Detroit Lions lost to the 49ers in a day of botched officials calls, and Baltimore, Buffalo and Dallas were all extremely strong, we can declare that the Chiefs and the 49ers were the best two survivors, and when the big trophy was on the line, Mahomes proved again that he is the best survivor of them all. Very Brett Favre-like.

The post Hockey outlasts Super Bowl Weekend 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.

Hockey fans are the same as normal people. We don’t ever get enough hockey, so we don’t need a Christmas break from, for example, the tension and pressures of college hockey races. But the teams definitely could use a pause, and all the major Division I conferences take a Christmas break, just to recharge the systems and take a deep, collective breath to get ready for what is sure to be a wild and crazy second half.

It also gives us the perfect opportunity to evaluate the way the late, great country songwriter Guy Clark would put it: ‘Wondering what it’s coming to, and how we got this far.’

The best guess is that the final standings will bear little resemblance to what the various conference standings show now at the midpoint. But looking at the six mens Division I college hockey teams in Minnesota, we can see into three of the country’s top college hockey conferences. We all think “our” conference is the best, and they all have their moments, but which one has been the biggest surprise so far? Which teams? Which players? You decide.

St. Thomas leads CCHA standings
My nomination is the CCHA, the league that had retained the best name in the game as the WCHA but wasn’t satisfied and switched it to another regenerated name for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. That conference has been dominated from its current incarnation by Minnesota State Mankato. There was no reason the Mavericks couldn’t do the same again, even though living legend coach Mike Hastings took the money and ran to take over the Wisconsin program in the Big Ten. Unfortunately for the Mavs, some of their top players followed along and went with him.

So after 10 or 12 games, who is leading the CCHA? As top candidates we have the usual suspects — Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Bemidji State, MSU-Mankato, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan and Bowling Green. Oh, and don’t forget the new guys on the block, St. Thomas.

You’d better not forget the Tommies, because they are in first place, leaders at Christmas break with a 7-5 record and 21 points. Second is Michigan Tech, 6-4 with 19 points, then comes MSU-Mankato at 5-4-1 with 17 points in third place, with Bemidji State, 5-5 with 16 points, a surprise in fourth place. Bemidji State is feeling the heat from a three-way tie for fifth at 15 points with Lake Superior State at 5-6-1, Bowling Green 5-5 and Northern Michigan 5-5. Ferris State is eighth at 3-7 with 8 points.

NCHC is full of surprises, Bulldogs struggle
For just last weekend, though, nobody pulled off bigger surprises than the NCHC, where Denver and North Dakota had switched off being ranked No. 1 in the nation, and both seemed primed to fight off the surprising challenge of St. Cloud State.

But Colorado College made what must be an historic trip to Grand Forks, stunning the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 3-2 in overtime. The Tigers finished the weekend with an improbable sweep of the Fighting Hawks, who had just been voted No. 1 in the country a week earlier. 

The shocker of the weekend, though, was in Kalamazoo, Mich., where Western Michigan broke from a 3-3 tie eight minutes into the third period in the first game, and whipped the University of Denver 7-3. The next night, Western Michigan almost struck for a sweep but lost 6-5 in overtime. 

St. Cloud State seized its opportunity, winning 4-1 at Omaha to strengthen their hold on first place. Omaha won the second game in a shootout to prevent a St. Cloud State sweep.

One of the bigger surprises in a less-positive scope is that Minnesota Duluth struggled to score goals despite being projected as a contender in the NCHC. In recent weeks, the Bulldogs had been playing better and better, but still without the rewards their determination seemed to have earned. In their final weekend before the break, the Bulldogs hit the road to Oxford, Ohio, where they faced the Miami Redhawks in a series that determined who would escape last place.

The Bulldogs took a shootout victory it so desperately needed in the first game before taking a 3-1 victory the next day after adjusting lines. Blake Biondi spent some time at center and scored in the second period. 

The NCHC standings show St. Cloud State leading at 7-0-1 with 22 points, which certainly qualifies as a surprise. North Dakota is second at 5-3 with 18 points, followed by Western Michigan (4-4) with 14 points, Denver 5-3 with 13 points, Colorado College (4-4) with 10 points, Omaha (3-4-1) with 9 points and tied with UMD (2-5-1) with 9, and Miami 0-7-1 with 1 point.

Big Ten had surprising results; WCHA women’s hockey adventures
The Big Ten also had some surprises last weekend, as Minnesota went to Columbus and claimed a 5-4 victory over last-place Ohio State, but it was a battle. The Gophers rallied for a 1-1 tie in the second game, but the Buckeyes stole the extra point in the shootout. The result dropped the Gophers to 0-3 in games decided by shootouts this season. 

But the Gophers still have work to do to get to the top, where Michigan State swept Notre Dame 5-2 and 2-1 in East Lansing to claim first place with a 7-1-2 record and 25 points. That’s ahead of Wisconsin (8-2) with 24 points, after the Badgers swept Penn State 6-3 and 4-1 in Madison. Minnesota follows at 5-4-3 with 17 points, then comes Notre Dame (4-4-2) with 15 points, Michigan (3-5-1) for 11 points, Penn State (2-5-3) with 11 points, and Ohio State (0-8-1) for 1 point.

The women, not to be left out, had their own adventures in the WCHA last weekend, as Minnesota knocked off Wisconsin 5-3 in Minneapolis before the Badgers responded with a 5-1 win in the second game. First-place Ohio State extended its lead by sweeping MSU-Mankato 6-1 and 4-1 in Columbus. And St. Cloud State proved the seriousness of its intentions by splitting a series with Minnesota Duluth at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

So, the Buckeyes are first at 13-1 for a whopping 37 points, followed by Minnesota (10-3-1) with 33 points, Wisconsin (10-4) with 31 points, St. Cloud State (8-5-1) with 25 points, UMD (8-6) with 24 points, MSU-Mankato (3-11) with 9 points, Bemidji State (2-12) with 6 points, and St. Thomas (1-13) with 3 points.

The correct answer, therefore, to the question of which conference had the most and biggest surprises through the first half of this season is — all of them! Ho-Ho-Ho! But all that does is make us certain that after a welcome pass for Christmas, the surprises will just keep on coming in the second half.

The post College Standings At Christmas appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But wait. For the current 2023-24 season a sixth Minnesota Division I program has vaulted into immediate contention, with the University of St. Thomas opening the season with a startling split with St. Cloud State and taking the then-No. 1 ranked Gophers to overtime before falling 6-5 before more than 11,000 fans at Xcel Energy Center.

The WCHA is, of course, no longer in operation. It shattered when Minnesota went off to help start a Big Ten hockey conference, prompting Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State to start up with the new, and supremely powerful, National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) and leaving MSU-Mankato and Bemidji State in what was left of the WCHA. That league changed its name to the CCHA, recapturing the Central Collegiate Hockey Association call letters forced by Michigan when it branched off from the WCHA to form its “bus league.”

While St. Thomas, under proven mastermind Rico Blasi as head coach, raised all its sports to Division I status, nobody expected the Tommies to be the surprise of the state’s college hockey stalwarts this quickly.

Sophomore Ben Steeves scored a shootout goal as UMD solved a 2-2 tie with Michigan Tech. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Regardless, we have to turn back to Minnesota Duluth to find the new king of bargain promotions in college hockey. The Bulldogs started off this season unbeaten through three games, while giving their fans the benefit of a bargain for their ticket prices. In two of their first three games, the Bulldogs skated to ties, then through scoreless overtimes, and then through shootouts before prevailing to turn those deadlocks into symbolic victories.

A young student, new to big-time hockey, saw the teams prepare for the shootout after UMD and Michigan Tech tied 2-2 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game and asked: “Do they get a point if they win the shootout?” He was told no, that there was no tangible benefit, no points, no indication of winning, but only giving the fans the satisfaction of seeing the game end in something other than a tie.

He was unimpressed at the answer, but as the shootout saw Ben Steeves score a goal, and then freshman Anthony Menghini clinch it 2-1, the fans, all of whom stood in their AMSOIL Arena seats, erupted with a roar that would do a league playoff championship proud. The young man acknowledged, “OK, now I get it.”

A week later, in their first official non-conference game against Northern Michigan, UMD started with a 3-0 lead before allowing three unanswered goals and needing to rally to go back ahead 4-3 on Steeve’s second goal of the night, then fell behind 5-4. That left it up to Menghini, the freshman, to score another pivotal goal, tying the game 5-5 with 2:58 remaining. Then the Bulldogs and Wildcats sparred through six rounds of the shootout before Matthew Perkins, another freshman, scored to claim another 2-1 shutout victory. Again, however, it was not a victory, just an official tie. But don’t tell the 5,947 screaming fans that!

They went home happy and, thanks to the return of a previous promotional deal with area Culver’s restaurants, every fan turning in a ticket stub whenever UMD scores five goals or more gets a free scoop of frozen custard. How can you beat having extra-time hockey and free frozen custard after your team won the game — as far as you’re concerned.

The next night, UMD kept rolling through Northern Michigan in a second penalty-fest that saw a repeat of double-digit penalty calls with each team scoring three power-play goals and the Bulldogs getting an 8-5 victory and a sweep.

“These are games that test your inner strength,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said afterward. “I thought we handled the adversity a little better tonight than in the first game, and fortunately our power play was clicking.”

Fears of struggling to score were washed away in that series sweep, thanks to Steeves and a couple of freshmen, starting a trend that seems to have engaged the whole team, which Sandelin will welcome as he tries to take his team off to the NCAA tournament in quest of his fourth national title at UMD.

Snuggerud is back for the Gophers
Down Interstate 35 a couple of hours, Bob Motzko has assembled a flashy crop of talent led by Jimmy Snuggerud, who started off hot after several of his classmates turned pro after last season’s near miss at NCAA time. Motzko got his way by narrowing the Olympic-sized, 200-by-100-foot ice sheet at 3M Arena at Mariucci to a hybrid width, now 200-by-89 feet. With an inability to use the wider ice surface favored by the late Herb Brooks and Doug Woog to win his first national title with a dressing room filled with NHL draft choices, maybe a narrower rink will help.

At the start, Snuggerud made the plan work. After scoring the overtime winner against upstart St. Thomas to climax a rally from a 4-2 deficit in the third period, Snuggerud brought his teammates back to Mariucci for the second game and scored twice for a 2-0 lead that the Gophers expanded with an empty-net goal for a 3-0 victory and a sweep.

The media-heavy Twin Cities promotional backing may have helped the Gophers gain the No 1 ranking in the nation despite losing four players to early NHL contracts. But Snuggerud makes it appear they won’t be missed as the Gophers try to repeat as Big Ten champions.

Early adversity for St. Cloud State 
The St. Cloud State Huskies, who rose up from a disappointing season to make a run at the NCAA tournament last spring, lost some big scorers. But coach Brett Larson has proven to be a master at fashioning his talent into contenders as the season progresses. The Huskies were the first victim of St. Thomas, losing 5-4 in overtime, and had to go to the Mendota Heights home of the Tommies to battle for a 1-0 victory and a split.

But next came a huge rivalry series against MSU Mankato, which spotted the Huskies the first two goals before roaring back to tie the game 2-2 in the second period and beat St. Cloud 3-2 on Adam Eisele’s overtime goal. The next night, Mankato stung the Huskies 5-1 for a sweep.

New coach leads Minnesota State Mankato
Minnesota State Mankato suffered what seemed like crushing setbacks when Mike Hastings left to become head coach at Wisconsin, and several of his top Mavericks entered the transfer portal to go with him. New head coach Luke Strand, however, has regenerated the Mavericks right from the start.

They were heartened by the return to form of Sam Morton, a fifth-year captain who went out after only 10 games with a knee injury last season. Alex Tracy looks solid in goal. The Mavericks have retained a great tradition, as they blocked 23 shots in the 5-1 game against St. Cloud State.

Beavers host Ice Breaker Tournament
Bemidji State is another team joining Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech in trying to unseat MSU Mankato as CCHA champion, and the Beavers got an early taste of the competition by co-hosting the Ice Breaker Tournament with North Dakota to open the season. That came after losing 5-2 at Minnesota in an exhibition opener. Back home, Bemidji State dropped a 4-3 overtime game to Wisconsin and the reappearance of old rival Hastings on the visiting bench.

The next night, Army came to Bemidji’s sparkling Sanford Center and the Beavers made a determined rally to tie the Cadets 2-2 on Eric Pohlkamp’s goal at 7:30 of the third period. Lleyton Roed scored the game-winner at 0:59 of overtime for a 3-2 triumph. Roed also had a goal against Wisconsin, when the Badgers outshot Bemidji 61-19 and only the 57 saves by goaltender Mattias Scholl kept the Beavers in the game.

Toms roll in game one
The state’s newest DI team, the St. Thomas Tommies, served notice of their intentions not only against in-state rivals like Minnesota and St. Cloud State, but challenging the CCHA as a legitimate contender. Blasi established his skills in building Miami of Ohio into a solid team in the NCHC. After he was let go by Miami he was a natural choice to lead the Tommies into DI. So, his team’s early successes this year shouldn’t be a surprise.

Benefitting by the transfer portal, Blasi has assembled speed and talent that went on display in the season-opener at St. Cloud State. Goals by Jake Braccini, Cameron Recchi, Luke Manning and Matthew Gleason got the Tommies into overtime, where former Duluth East star Ryder Donovan scored at 1:11 to win it 5-4. It won’t be easy for St. Thomas to keep knocking off powerful rivals, but Blasi has made a name for himself by sending tough, tenacious teams over the boards.

Now that St. Thomas is planning a new arena for its future, about all they need is to find an ice cream shop — or maybe a St. Paul pizza joint — and come up with a promotion whenever they score five goals.

The post DI College Hockey Preview appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The next time we stopped there, we weren’t starving, so we asked if there was any way he could duplicate that salad — just the salad — as our lunch. He hesitated and said, “I have no idea what I put in that one.”

He’s working in the Twin Cities now, and my new nomination for the best chef in the region is Scott Sandelin. Yes, the coach of the UMD hockey team. I have no idea if he is a master on the outdoor grill or poaching an egg, but his master-chef status is assured each season, when he creates a hockey salad out of assorted players in a work of art that is different enough from previous seasons to take the full season to prepare. He must pick the ingredients, sometimes by trial and error, always by hunches and instincts, then sprinkle in some spices and herbs, and tossing the whole thing onto the NCAA Hockey Tournament platter, where it always comes out as a masterpiece.

If you ask Sandelin how he assembled this year’s Bulldogs and got them to knock off No. 1 ranked North Dakota to advance to their fourth consecutive NCAA Frozen Four, he might have no idea how he attempted to duplicate last year’s team — which might have been his best team, knocked out of a bid for a third straight championship by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and the immediate shutdown of all events nationwide.

Undeterred, the Bulldogs are making an unprecedented fourth consecutive trip to the Frozen Four, a feat that has caused college coaches all over the country to declare UMD as having the premier hockey program in the country. This spring, two other Minnesota teams — St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato — will challenge that claim, and try to prove that they, too, have created the best entree.

UMD goalie Zach Stejskal makes one of his 57 saves the hard way in the Bulldogs’ 3-2 5-OT Midwest Regional Final win over North Dakota on March 27, 2021 at Scheels Arena in Fargo, N.D.
Photo by Russell Hons

Among the new ingredients at UMD this season, Sandelin had to find a replacement for goaltender Hunter Shepard, who anchored the 2019 and 2019 championship teams and was at his best in 2019-2020. He did it with a pair of goalies, Ryan Fanti from Thunder Bay and Zach Stejskal, former Grand Rapids state tournament star. Sometimes it seemed Sandelin was blindfolded while reaching for salt or pepper, and whichever he chose made the salad work.

The early signing of Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Perunovich, the spectacular defenseman from Hibbing who signed with the St. Louis Blues after last season, left an irreplaceable hole. Sandelin calmly plugged in Wyatt Kaiser, right out of Andover High School and right into the most important and pivotal roles on defense.

Up front, Sandelin put some line combinations together and almost stubbornly kept them intact, with captain Noah Cates centering Quinn Olson and Nick Swaney on the first line, while brother Jackson Cates centered Cole Koepke and Tanner Laderoute on the second unit. That left Hermantown junior Jesse Jacques to center seniors Koby Bender and Kobe Roth on the third line, and about six skaters rotating in and out on the fourth line. By playoff time, that line had sophomore Luke Loheit centering freshman Blake Biondi, another of the Hermantown contingent, and Luke Mylymok, who hadn’t played for a month and scored only once in eight games.

When Sandelin saw a drop in production, he might move some of those forwards around, but they pretty much returned to his preconceived recipe. Often, an explosive rush by the speedy Bender, from Cloquet, or a brilliant set-up from Bender to Roth, from Warroad, would be the play of the game to inspire the Bulldogs. Or Koepke, an assistant captain as a junior from Hermantown, might prove how he can beat you with speed, with force, with a neat stick handling move, or, mostly, with a hard and deadly shot. Swaney, a senior from Lakeville, got his first collegiate hat trick in a 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State in perhaps the best Bulldog performance in his final game at AMSOIL Arena, and in the rematch at St. Cloud a week later, the revised third line, with Jackson Cates centering Roth and Bender, scored twice in a spirited rally from a 3-0 deficit, before third-unit freshman defenseman Connor Kelley from Maple Grove whistled in the third-period goal that forced overtime in a 4-3 loss to the Huskies to close the regular season and determine second place in the NCHC.

The point of such a varied display of game-breaking big plays was the key part of Sandelin’s winning recipe. Virtually every game, somebody different might rise up to make the game-winning play. That actually is the same formula that carried the Bulldogs to the 2017 Frozen Four and a championship game heartbreaking loss to Denver. One year later, Sandelin boldly sent five freshmen out to play defense, along with sophomore Nick Wolff, and then-sophomore Shepard in goal, and instead of being a problem, they led the Bulldogs to the 2018 championship, just because Sandelin’s trust flushed them with confidence. It happened again to capture the 2019 title, with a dominant 3-0 victory over UMass — the same foe in this Thursday night’s semifinals.

Frozen Four time, so it must be time for the UMD Bulldogs to hit an unbeatable peak. UMD will take on the University of Massachusetts in the second semifinal at Pittsburgh on Thursday, April 8, after St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato meet in the all Minnesota first semifinal. In the days leading up to the Frozen Four, UMD was the beneficiary for the second time of a COVID-19 outbreak, this one costing UMass its star goaltender and its leading goal-scorer among four players scratched from its roster.

 Nonetheless, UMD will take nothing for granted and will be hard-pressed to match its own  standard established in the Midwest Regional title game in Fargo, where the Bulldogs beat No. 1 ranked North Dakota 3-2 in a 5-overtime marathon.

When UMD was assigned to the Midwest Regional, it seemed unfair for the NCAA selection committee to pair the two long-time NCHC rivals in the same region. North Dakota beat American International 5-1, while UMD had the task of getting by Michigan to get to the regional final. The NCAA used to strive to avoid interconference matchups in the regionals, but now it seems more concerned about having three teams from one conference reaching the Frozen Four.

That scenario happened, but not exactly by design. Michigan dropped out of the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19, giving UMD a free pass to the final. Because of their intense rivalry, the final looked intriguing, even though North Dakota had won the league title and built a 22-5-1 overall record, while UMD finished third and was 14-10-2 overall.

The matchup lived up to its billing: North Dakota is the best team in the country and fully deserving of the No. 1 rank, but UMD simply doesn’t lose at NCAA tournament time.

True, in the last four years, UMD has made it to all three NCAA tournament Frozen Fours, with last year being cancelled, of course. In those three years, the Bulldogs seemed to spend much of the season smoothing out their balanced team concept and saving their best for last, when they recorded a cumulative 11-1 record in NCAA tournament games.

Why should this season be any different? Nobody knew if Sandelin’s final recipe would work against powerful North Dakota in the Fargo Regional, but that elusive Sandelin magic still prevailed.

Junior forward Coale Koepke (17) and senior Nick Swaney celebrate Koepke’s third period goal in UMD’s 3-2 Midwest Regional Final win over North Dakota on March 27, 2021 at Scheels Arena in Fargo, ND.
Photo by Russell Hons

In a game best suited to a time capsule, UMD broke a scoreless tie when Jackson Cates deflected one in at 3:21 of the third period, and barely a minute later, Cole Koepke broke free and, at speed, drilled a perfect 25-footer in off the left pipe. Stejskal was brilliant at the other end, holding the Fighting Hawks off the scoresheet. When the Hawks pulled goaltender Adam Scheel at the end, UMD made two uncharacteristic mistakes at a most critical time — the final two minutes. Not once, but twice the Bulldogs withstood the pressure of North Dakota’s forecheck but gave in to the temptation of firing the puck at the waiting empty net 150 feet away. Both times they missed, for icing calls. The face-offs came back to UMD’s end, and both times the puck didn’t leave the zone until they were picked out of the UMD net. The first one was a fluke ricochet by Collin Adams from the end boards, off the goaltender and in with 1:41 remaining, and the second when a shot from the left point deflected wide to the right, where North Dakota sniper Jordan Kawaguchi had a wide-open net to hit with 57 seconds left.

Then the game turned into a marathon. They played one overtime, then another, then a third and a fourth, but all failed to produce a winning goal, although throughout both teams sped back and forth, attacking and back checking as if unaware they should be too exhausted to continue. UMD’s third line, which had been a trigger throughout the last few weeks, came through for an apparent winner in the first overtime when Koby Bender raced up the left side, cut toward the middle, and fed a perfect pass across the slot where Kobe Roth one-timed his shot into the net. As the Bulldogs mobbed Roth, and the Fighting Hawks consoled goaltender Adam Scheel, the officials reviewed all aspects of the goal. They decided that when Bender rushed into the Hawk zone, he carried the puck on his left side, and an ever-so-slight bobble as he crossed the line meant, in their view, he didn’t have full control, as his back skate cleared the blue line about a millimeter or two before the puck did.

The play was ruled offside. No goal.

It was hard to imagine the Bulldogs were able to follow Sandelin’s demeanor, stay calm, and play on. They did that. In the fourth overtime, Stejskal went down near the goal and summoned help. No matter how much liquid he consumed, his body was cramping from dehydration, and Sandelin sent Fanti in. ESPN announcers sympathized with him for going in cold but because of Sandelin’s random hunch-playing, Fanti had played in UMD’s last previous game, so he wasn’t far from his best rhythm, which showed when he made a slick glove save immediately. He followed with several more over the final 17:36, as the teams went into the fifth overtime — making it the longest NCAA tournament game in college hockey history.

“He played great,” said Sandelin. “They both played great.”

Sandelin also defied gravity a bit when he didn’t use his full roster until late in the marathon. The fourth line, with Loheit centering little-used freshman Mylymok on the left and fellow freshman Biondi on the right, hadn’t hit the ice together through the first two “games” worth of ice time. Mylymok, in fact, hadn’t dressed for a game for a month.

“I sent them a player or two out there a couple times late in the third,” Sandelin said, “Then I thought, ‘They’re fresh,’ so I decided to use all four lines in the fourth overtime, and started getting them in there.”

Freshman forward Luke Mylymok (left) and fellow freshman Blake Biondi celebrate Mylymok’s game-winning goal in the fifth overtime of UMD’s 3-2 Midwest Regional Final win over North Dakota on March 27, 2021 at Scheels Arena in Fargo, ND.
Photo by Russell Hons

That, too, paid off in the fifth overtime. On the line’s, first turn, Mylymok, who had scored one goal all season, got the puck in his own zone and broke up the left boards. On fresh legs, he sped into the North Dakota zone, veered toward the slot and in one deft motion pulled the puck in toward his feet and shot, low and hard — through the legs of the screening defenseman and through the legs of Scheel in goal. This time the celebration didn’t stop. It came at 2:13 of the fifth overtime, after the teams had pushed the longest-game record to 142 minutes and 13 seconds.

Sandelin and North Dakota coach Brad Berry were teammates at North Dakota and later in pro hockey, and they share respect for each other and their coaching philosophies, and it carries over to their teams. There were no cheap hits or chippy penalties as the teams sped back and forth, and when it finally ended an hour or so into Sunday morning, Berry mingled on the ice with the celebrating UMD players to congratulate them. Fanti, UMD’s relief goalie, skated over into the North Dakota team gathering to congratulate Scheel.

That was a game for the ages, and a perfect sendoff for UMD’s fourth consecutive trip to the Frozen Four, where the Bulldogs will try for their third consecutive championship. Every team in the NCAA playoffs is determined to win, and UMD is no different. But Sandelin and the Bulldogs also have found the secret ingredient in the winning recipe: finding a way to avoid losing at tournament time.

The post Top Chef appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Swaney’s double-overtime winner lifts UMD to Frozen Faceoff title

St. Paul — With their NCAA tournament seeding secured and only Minnesota Duluth’s region placement fate to be determined there would not seem to be much to play for between St. Cloud State and UMD on a late March Saturday night in St. Paul. Don’t tell that to the Huskies and Bulldogs, though, as the two in-state, intra-conference rivals went at each other hard and fast in the first-ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship overtime game at Xcel Energy Center. 

“Anytime you get the top two teams in the country in the same building you know you’re going to have a good game,” UMD forward Billy Exell said. “When you get into these battles both teams are preparing and they don’t want to lose.”

But someone must lose and, in this battle between two NCAA tournament top seeds, Minnesota Wild prospect, and Lakeville native, Nick Swaney scored the game winner at 7:29 of overtime to give Minnesota Duluth a 3-2 win over the Huskies. The Bulldogs captured the school’s second Frozen Faceoff title overall and first since beating North Dakota 4-3 in the 2017 championship game.

“It’s certainly exciting to to win this championship again against a great team,” Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “It didn’t look so good early but our guys just stuck with it and kind of grinded through it and found a way. We’ve played five times this year and we’ve had unbelievable games with them so I have a lot of respect for their team.”

Despite his team coming up short, first-year St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson, who until this season was an assistant under Sandelin at UMD, expressed what most observers of the game would say, regardless of the result.

“For me, being around college hockey for a long time, that was one hell of a hockey game,” St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson said. “Two unbelievable teams getting after it and if you’re a fan college hockey you like that one for sure.” 

The winning play began with UMD freshman forward Jesse Jacques blocking St. Cloud State Hobey Baker Award top 10 finalist Jimmy Schuldt’s shot which sparked a 2-0n-1 featuring fellow freshman Tanner Laderoute and Nick Swaney with SCSU freshman Spencer Meier the lone defenseman back. Laderoute picked the puck up at his own blue line, carried it into the Huskies’ zone and slid a pass to Swaney who lifted a short-side backhand shot past St. Cloud State goaltender David Hrenak.

“He made a great pass and I was fortunate to find the back of the net,” Swaney said of Laderoute. “It was all him.”

Swaney nearly did not get the opportunity to be the hero as the Bulldogs trailed the Huskies 2-1 with less than five minutes to play in regulation and Jacques in the penalty box serving a tripping penalty. But that’s when the UMD penalty kill, which limited SCSU to just one goal on six power-play chances, made its biggest play of the night.

Laderoute took advantage of a poor cross-ice pass by Jack Achan in his own zone, stole the puck and fed Exell between the circles who buried just his second of the year with 4:51 remaining to tie it up and eventually send the game to overtime. 

Even that goal may not have mattered had a bounce not gone UMD’s way in the third period.

After a scoreless second period, the Huskies started the third with 47 seconds of power-play time but only needed 28 seconds of it when Patrick Newell corralled a loose puck in the high slot, spun 180 degrees and fired a shot through traffic which beat Shepard for a 2-1 St. Cloud State lead. 

St. Cloud State nearly made it 3-1 midway through the final period when Blake Lizotte’s shot hit iron and the puck traveled post-to-post without going in. The official behind the net initially ruled it a goal but, after a lengthy review, the goal was overturned.

Newell said the Huskies, winners of 13 straight coming into the game, learned at the right time they are not invincible.

“We came with a 12 or 13 game win streak, two of those games were against that team and credit to them for for a hell of a battle,” Newell said. “Obviously, this one stings and it’s something that we really wanted to get done but, you know, luckily for us there’s more hockey to be played and that’s what we’re going to look forward to this week.”

The familiar foes were all square at 1-1 after 20 minutes with the Huskies applying heavy pressure to the tune of a 15-6 shots on goal advantage while the Bulldogs applied plenty of heavy hitting. Shepard stood tall in the opening period, keeping UMD close with 14 saves despite plenty of traffic in front of him.

“Well we didn’t have the puck in the first period so we had to do something,” Sandelin said of UMD’s physical opening period.

The Huskies struck first on a delayed tripping penalty on UMD’s Peter Krieger when Robby Jackson pounced on a rebound to tap in his 19th goal of the season at the 7:45 mark.

“We loved our jump, we were winning races to puck, we were getting there first.” Larson said.  “We had gone through four line changes before they had gone through two and hemmed them up in their zone pretty good.

“After that first 10, 12 minutes, I thought it was real even, really good hockey game but we really liked the momentum we created with the start.”

Per NCHC rules, Krieger still had to serve his time so SCSU was immediately a man up after Jackson’s goal. UMD’s physical play rolled on through the power play but it ultimately cost them when Louie Roehl was tagged for boarding with four seconds remaining on Krieger’s penalty. The officials reviewed Roehl’s hit but determined it not severe enough to be classified as a major.

With the teams skating 4-on-4 due to an Easton Brodzinski tripping call, St. Cloud State’s Nick Perbix nearly doubled his team’s lead when the freshman defenseman found a lane to the UMD net but was denied by Shepard. Just 14 seconds later, however, Minnesota Duluth picked up the equalizer on sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson’s fifth of the season. 

UMD’s Parker Mackay banked a drop pass off the right wall in the SCSU zone to Scott Perunovich whose backhand pass found Anderson just off the bench and streaking across the blue line. Anderson quickly launched a blast from between the circles past Hrenak’s outstretched glove with 9:11 remaining in the period.

St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth head into the NCAA tournament next week as the top two overall seeds with Minnesota State right behind for a Minnesota top-3 sweep. The Mavericks rallied from a two goal deficit with under two minutes to play at home against Bowling Green on Saturday to win the WCHA championship in overtime as well.

“It was a big win for our guys,” Sandelin said. “It’s really exciting to move into the tournament after a win like this tonight.”

Note:

When the puck dropped to open  Saturday night’s game against St. Cloud State, 2018-19 ALL-NCHC first team goaltender Hunter Shepard made his 77th consecutive start for Minnesota Duluth dating back to Oct. 21, 2017. Shepard eclipses the mark set by current UMD volunteer goalie coach Brant Nicklin from Oct. 12, 1996 to March 15, 1998. 

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