When the opportunity presented itself to join Western Michigan before the 2023-24 season, it was a place that “felt like home,” and a place where Bump believed those dreams could become a reality.

The Prior Lake native got a taste of the tournament last March as the Broncos played in the Maryland Heights Regional, where they fell to Michigan State in overtime.

However, the Broncos are back in the dance again, this time with loftier expectations. WMU won the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champs, won the conference tournament in overtime and the Broncos head into the Fargo Regional as the nation’s No. 4 overall seed.

As he’s done all season, Bump is playing a key role in their success.

“These are the type of games you grow up thinking about playing in yourself one day and everyone’s goal is to be playing games in March,” Bump said. “So I’m really excited for it and want to do my part as a leader and a player, and we just want to take it one game at a time and be the best version of ourselves.”

Alex Bump looks at the puck after he shot it into the net 22 seconds into double overtime to defeat Denver in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on March 22, 2025 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bump and the Broncos are averaging an NCAA-best 4.1 goals per game and allow just 2.1 – which ranks fifth. They’ve lost in regulation just four times all season and WMU is 19-3-0 since the calendar flipped to 2025.

They’ll face Minnesota State at 4 p.m. on Thursday. With a win, WMU will play either Minnesota or UMass on Saturday with a Frozen Four berth on the line. This is WMU’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

“We’re obviously excited to still be playing and believe we have a group that can do something special, but I think we’re all just trying to focus on ourselves right now and control what we can,” Bump said. “We’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves and worry about who we could potentially be playing or anything. We’re just focused on the next day, but we’ve got a really excited group and we’re ready to go.”

As for Bump individually, the sophomore forward leads the team in goals (23), points (46), power-play goals (7) and is a plus-9. The Philadelphia Flyers pick (2022, 5th) also has fired an NCAA-leading 225 shots at opposing goalies – 44 more than the next closest player.

“His numbers are tremendous, but honestly, they’re still way lower than his quality of play, and it’s not even close,” said Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler. “This kid’s been a superstar every game this season and if a few plays here and there got finished, he’d easily have 65 or 70 points, and he’s been spectacular. His shots on goal are off the charts, his vision is excellent, he’s dynamic with the puck on his stick and has dynamic hands, and he just thinks the game at such a high level.

“I think the most important thing he’s done this year though is take his compete to an entirely different level. He was a great player last year as a freshman, but he’s taken so many steps in year two and it’s been incredible to watch.”

Bump is impressive in many ways
Ferschweiler added that Bump’s personality immediately impressed him on the recruiting trail and he’s continued to emerge as a leader. He’s wearing a letter this winter as an assistant captain. The numbers speak for themselves, too, and the left-shot forward offers his team skill, play-making ability and an elite hockey IQ.

Bump has also scored several timely goals of late. He netted the overtime winner last Saturday at Xcel Energy Center and scored three times at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, which landed him MVP honors.

He has 16 points (11-5-16) over his past 12 games.

“He’s played the same way the entire year,” Ferschweiler said. “Some more pucks have started to go in the second half of the year and his linemates have elevated their games too, but he’s been the same player since the start. If you watched our first three or four games, he could’ve easily left those games with 15 points. It just didn’t go in for him.

“He came into camp ready and his play showed that, and he just stuck with it. He had zero frustration, just determination, and the quality of play has been there all season.”

Alex Bump leads Western Michigan in goals, points and power-play goals this season. He was defended during the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship by Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium from the University of Denver. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bump’s 2024-25 season follows a 2023-24 campaign that yielded 14 goals, 36 points and a spot on the NCHC All-Rookie Team.

“Last year was an adjustment, but I think I’ve made a big jump this year and just try to keep getting better every day,” Bump said. “You expect to get better each year as a player and the coaching staff does such a great job putting you in a spot to do so, and there’s so many great people to listen to and learn from here so you can be successful.”

So what’s led to that success?

“I’ve played with two great linemates and they’ve made it easy for me, and I think that’s been a big part of it,” Bump said. “We’re a fast line and we like to get up and down the ice, and we use our transition game well.

“I think my transition is one of the strengths of my game, so that’s been a big piece of it too, and I’ve had a lot of confidence shooting the puck. But I know I’ve put in the work to be here and get to this point, and my confidence has only kept growing throughout the year.”

Now the hope is Bump can do more of the same and lead Western Michigan on a deep postseason run.

“He comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face and he just loves hockey,” Ferschweiler said. “You probably think every kid loves hockey but the reality is they don’t. Alex is someone that plays because he loves the sport and he’s always determined to get better.

“So when you combine that determination with his play-making ability, work ethic and his compete level, he checks a lot of boxes. He’s someone that thrives in these types of environments and big games too, so we’re excited to see what he can do the rest of the way.”

The post Bump Leads The Broncos appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Don Brose, the architect of the Minnesota State hockey program, its father who raised it from its outdoor infancy to the pinnacle of Division II and guided it into its current Division I era, proudly witnessed his baby exorcise its postseason demons from a bar in Mankato.

“That game against the Gophers was textbook, the way they took away chances,” Brose said of the Mavericks who advanced in the Division I NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven tries. “I don’t think many people gave us a chance.”

While the balance of college hockey power within Minnesota’s borders has shifted considerably across the decades, the Gophers have long been, and continue to be, the dragon everyone wants to slay, even taking Minnesota Duluth’s massive success in recent years into consideration.

Did that make this win that much sweeter for Brose?

“Very much so because, let’s face it, people tend to look down on our league,” Brose said of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. “I think that gives a lot of credence to our league so I’m very happy for our league besides being very happy for coach Hastings and our players.”

MSU’s foray into the Frozen Four marks a first for the program but the last for the WCHA as a conference after all members, with the exception of the Alaska schools and Alabama-Huntsville, opted to leave the league for the re-born Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) under the leadership of former Minnesota coach Don Lucia as its commissioner.

While he would love to see the Mavericks send the league out in a blaze of glory, Brose has mixed feelings on the matter.

“It really makes me ill for what happened to the WCHA, how it broke up,” Brose said. “Because the [John] Mayasiches and the Red Berensons, you know, their historic pride in the league, what they did to build up the league and make it so strong, and now they have nowhere to hang their hat.”

Don Brose is flanked by captain Steve Forliti (left) and Steve Loomis (right) as the trio poses with Minnesota State’s 1980 NCAA Division II men’s hockey trophy.
Photo courtesy of Minnesota State University Athletics

The Mavericks in the Frozen Four is something Brose admitted he never could have imagined as a 29-year-old first-year coach flooding the outdoor rink for his upstart program to play on. Minnesota State was a split campus in those days with most of the athletic facilities located on the upper campus. The Mavericks played on a rink built on the lower campus football field which was already equipped with lights.

Brose was also an assistant baseball coach for nine years at Minnesota State and says it was sometimes colder playing baseball than it was to make ice for hockey.

“You never knew what kind of ice you were going to have,” Brose said. “If All-Seasons Arena wasn’t built, we probably wouldn’t have a program.”

Which would have been a shame considering Brose amassed a 536-335-79 record in his 30 seasons behind the MSU bench, including a Division II national championship to conclude the 1979-80 season. Brose would later steer the Mavericks into Division I in 1996, leading them through three seasons as an independent before making Minnesota State’s first season as a member for the WCHA (1999-00) his last behind the MSU bench.

The Mavericks, obviously, never trailed the Gophers in Loveland but history would not allow Brose to take anything for granted until the game’s latter stages.

“Well, I tell you what, I hated to play with a two-goal lead again,” Brose said. “When they got ahead two to zero, in the back of my mind, I thought, ‘Are we going through this again?’”

Brose can be forgiven for the fact it was actually a three-goal cushion barely 11 minutes into the game that got away from the Mavericks in 2019 before allowing six unanswered goals to Providence in their most recent NCAA tournament appearance.

Only most recent, though, because Minnesota State, like every other program in the country, had its NCAA postseason dreams dashed when the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak forced the NCAA to cancel its tournaments. The 2020 Mavericks might have been the program’s strongest ever, going 31-5-2 (.842) through the first round of WCHA tournament play before having the plugged pulled on its season.

As thrilled has Brose is for this year’s team, he can’t help but wonder what could have been.

“It’s sort of bittersweet because last year’s team was just a magnificent team,” Brose said. “To not have them get a chance was very bitter but to see this team make up for it and carry through was very good.”

We’ll never know if the 2020 team, and its gaudy record would have gotten Minnesota State over the hump of its 0-6 record all-time in NCAA Tournament games but the 2021 version, now sitting 22-4-1 (.833), flattened it, despite nearly being one-and-done themselves.

“It didn’t look good for a seventh time either when you get behind,” Brose said.

The Mavericks opened the NCAA West Regional against Quinnipiac and trailed the Bobcats 3-1 deep into the third period. But MSU scored twice in the final six minutes to send the game to overtime where Ryan Sandelin completed the comeback win at the 1:25 mark. 

Don Brose greets former Mavericks star Aaron Fox on his way to the ice.
Photo courtesy of Minnesota State University Athletics

Awaiting the Mavericks in Pittsburgh is St. Cloud State, one of Minnesota State’s oldest rivals going all the way back to the inaugural 1969-70 season. It’s the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the two schools separated by a little more than 100 miles and the Mavericks own a 63-56-13 all-time advantage over the Huskies in Division I and II play.

The matchup could not be more appropriate for Minnesota State’s virgin venture to the Frozen Four.

“That was one team that would play us all the way throughout the years; they gave us a chance our first season,” Brose said. “I look back to all the games we played against (long-time SCSU coach) Charlie Basch. He and I are very close friends. We would get together and play golf in the summer and we’re both Concordia (Minn.) graduates so I look at that a really being neat.”

While Brose passed the Minnesota State coaching torch on long ago, first to his assistant Troy Jutting before Mike Hastings arrived in 2012, he remains close to the program he birthed and believes it could not be in better hands.

“I think he’s the best coach in the United States,” Brose said of Hastings. “I think he can coach anywhere and I’m glad he’s coaching at our place.

“He demands a lot of the kids but he gives a lot back and he’s been a winner everywhere he’s been.”

Brose said he has never watched a practice in his going on 21 years of retirement, but prior to COVID he enjoyed congratulating the coaches and players personally after a win at home and he and Hastings exchange texts after big road wins. He envisions big things ahead for his beloved Mavericks under Hastings.

“I might have been part of setting the blocks, building the foundation for the program, but he is certainly the person that’s putting the skyscrapers on top of that foundation.”

The post Founding Father appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In a record-breaking year for success, all five Division 1 college teams in Minnesota made the 16-teams selected by the NCAA to play in four regionals, with two-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth forced to play in Fargo at the Midwest Regional where No. 1 ranked North Dakota was top seed, while Big Ten playoff champion Minnesota was the No. 1 seed at the West Region in Loveland, Colo., where WCHA season champ Minnesota State-Mankato was also positioned and won the final. In the Northeast Region, Bemidji State earned the right to play from the WCHA, as the fifth team from Minnesota.

The only interloper is Massachusetts, better known as UMass, in a return to the Frozen Four where they lost a 3-0 final to UMD two years ago in the last Frozen Four before the pandemic shut things down a year ago.

In an amazing display, all five Minnesota teams won their opening regional semifinal games, including Bemidji State’s huge 6-3 upset over Big Ten regular-season champion Wisconsin. The game was 5-1 midway through the third period before the stunned Badgers got two late goals. That sent the Beavers into the Bridgeport, Conn., region final, where they were struck down 4-0 on a pure hat trick by Carson Gicewicz and the shutout goaltending of Filip Lindberg.

In a cruel twist, Gicewicz and Lindberg were among four UMass players ruled out of the Frozen Four by positive tests for COVID-19, so they will be unable to help their team against UMD.

In the West regional, Minnesota jumped to a 3-0 first-period lead and cruised past Nebraska Omaha 7-2 behind two goals from Mason Nevers, while MSU-Mankato needed a sensational finishing rally to squeeze past Quinnipiac 4-3 in overtime in the other semifinal. Mankato trailed 2-0 after one, cut it to 2-1 on a goal by Jake Jaremko in the second, but fell back behind 3-1 midway through the third. Nathan Smith cut it to 3-2 with a goal for the Mavericks at 14:54 of the third, and with star goaltender Dryden McKay pulled for a sixth attacker, Cade Borchardt tied it with 1:02 remaining. The game went to overtime, and after 11:13 had elapsed, Ryan Sandelin — son of UMD coach Scott Sandelin — battled to the crease to score after spotting a loose rebound, for a 4-3 triumph.

On Sunday, MSU-Mankato, the pride of the WCHA, took on Minnesota, the last remaining hope of the Big Ten, which has yet to convince other college leagues that it has reached parity. That quest remains, because Mankato completely squelched the Gophers in Loveland, Colo., scoring two minutes apart in the first period as Ryan Sandelin set up Sam Morton’s opening goal, then scored himself for the 2-0 jump-start. There was no scoring in the second period, but goaltender Dryden McKay kept the Gophers off the board, and goals by Nathan Smith and Dallas Gerads in the third carried the Mavericks to a shocking 4-0 triumph.

It’s fitting, in a way, that the proud WCHA and all its 37 NCAA champions since 1951 will end its days as the top men’s conference in the country with one last representative heading for the Frozen Four. The league will cease to operate men’s hockey next season as a third uprising will see the formation of the “new” CCHA, following departures that started the Big Ten and NCHC operations.

Minnesota Duluth’s Kobe Roth (10), Hunter Lellig (8), Jackson Cates (20) and Matt Anderson (3) rejoice in what was thought to be Roth’s game-winning goal in the first overtime of the Midwest Regional Final. The joy was short-lived as the goal was reversed upon review. But the Bulldogs would have the last laugh, however, on Luke Mylymok’s winner four overtimes later.
Photo by Russell Hons

The NCHC, won by North Dakota in both regular season and playoffs, will have great camaraderie as well as solid representation from UMD and St. Cloud State. Scott Sandelin takes his UMD Bulldogs to their unprecedented fourth straight Frozen Four, in quest of their third consecutive championship. St. Cloud State is coached by Brett Larson, who twice assisted Sandelin in building two of those UMD champions.

The Huskies went to the East region and earned their way to the Frozen Four by dispatching Boston’s top two rivals in Albany. St. Cloud State spotted Boston University a 1-0 second-period lead before Micah Miller and Nick Perbix scored retaliatory goals, and after BU tied it 2-2, Easton Brodzinski broke the tie with a goal for a 3-2 St. Cloud lead. In the third period, the Huskies finished off the Terriers with precision, as Finnish imports Jami Krannila and Veeti Miettinen scored goals, sandwiching the second goal of the game by Brodzinski for a 6-2 victory. BU threatened, getting a major power play, but Krannila got hauled down on a short-handed breakaway and scored on the ensuing penalty shot.

That victory sent St. Cloud State back to Times Union Center to face top seeded Boston College, which took a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by Matt Boldy, who was to sign an NHL contract with the Wild a few days later. The Huskies facilitated that move by burying the Eagles under a 3-goal barrage in the second period. Luke Jaycox, Will Hammer and Nolan Walker connected for a 3-1 lead, and Micah Miller scored his second in two days in the third period to clinch a 4-1 victory.

That will send St. Cloud to its first Frozen Four, where the Huskies will face off against Mankato, its biggest rival through the years in all sports, especially basketball and football, until hockey took both programs to Division 1.

UMD got an unexpected boost in Fargo, when Michigan was forced to drop out of the tournament with an outbreak of COVID-19 — leaving UMD without an opponent in the semifinals. North Dakota, meanwhile, crushed American International 5-1 in the semis and stormed back to Scheel’s Arena in Fargo for the showdown against UMD.

The game was called by many the best-played game of the season, and it took on legendary proportions when UMD broke a scoreless tie in the third period with goals by Jackson Cates and Cole Koepke barely a minute apart. Goaltender Zach Stejskal made the 2-0 lead stand until the closing two minutes, when the Fighting Hawks pulled their goalie and scored twice for a 2-2 tie that forced overtime. Make that “overtimes,” because they played into the fifth overtime before little-used freshman Luke Mylymok raced end to end up the left boards and sent a pinpoint shot between the legs of a screening defenseman and through the legs of goaltender Adam School for a 3-2 victory that ended the longest game in NCAA tournament history — 142 minutes and 13 seconds, spanning 6 hours and 12 minutes.

For more storylines, Stejskal made 57 saves before severe cramps knocked him out in the fourth overtime, and fellow-rookie Ryan Fanti stepped in to make six more saves in 17:36 to close out the game.

St. Cloud State teammates Kevin Fitzgerald, Nick Perbix and Seamus Donohue congratulate junior forward Sam Hentges on the Minnesota Wild prospect’s third period goal in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game on March 16, 2021 in Grand Forks, N.D.
Photo by Russell Hons

In St. Cloud’s victory, scoring leader Easton Brodzinski was carrying the puck when a BC player delivered a hard, legal, but blindside hip check that dropped Brodzinski to the ice. He was helped to the bench and the dressing room, and then an Albany hospital where the injury was diagnosed as a fractured leg, to end his senior season on the sidelines. The Huskies vowed to keep going in the name of their fallen senior leader, and whipped BC as evidence.

“The toughest part is for him,” said coach Larson. “Here’s a guy who has poured his heart and soul into our program, and now he can’t be part of it. Our guys all know we want to do it for Easton, and all have bought into it a little bit more.

“Nobody picked us to be in the top 20 at the start of the year,” Larson added. “We knew it would be tough, because the NCHC is the toughest league in college hockey. We played North Dakota when we had our first nine games in the pod, and we played Duluth seven times. All of that helped prepare our resilience, and we didn’t ever get rattled.”

MSU-Mankato’s victory over Minnesota was its seventh in a row against the Gophers, spanning the years when the WCHA teams branched off and now the five Minnesota colleges play in three different conferences.

UMass goaltender Filip Lindberg was the seventh-round draft pick of the Wild in 2018, and he finished his senior year with a 9-1-4 record in Hockey East, where he led the league with a 1.33 goals-against average, and he led the league and the nation with a .946 save percentage. Gicewicz, a senior who transferred to UMass from St. Lawrence, wound up with 17 goals and 24 points after his hat trick against Bemidji State. The loss of the quarantined players leaves only senior Matt Murray as a goaltender. He went 9-4 in 13 of the first 15 games, with a .913 save percentage.

Coming out of the NCHC’s season-opening pod in Omaha, UMD faced St. Cloud State in four consecutive games, with UMD winning 4-3 in overtime and losing 3-1 at St. Cloud, then heading North, where St. Cloud State swept, winning 4-3 and then 1-0 in an overtime classic. The teams concluded the regular season with another series, with the Bulldogs winning a 5-1 blowout at AMSOIL Arena before St. Cloud State blew a 3-0 lead but won 4-3 in overtime at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. They weren’t done yet, as they collided again in Grand Forks in the NCHC playoff semifinals, with Chase Brand’s short-handed goal standing up to give the Huskies a 3-2 victory.

They could meet one more time, if St. Cloud State gets past Mankato and UMD can beat UMass, and that would pit coach Sandelin against former assistant Larson. Of course, if UMD beats UMass and Mankato gets past St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs and Mavericks would meet with coach Sandelin against his son, Mankato sophomore Ryan Sandelin.

The post Making a STATEment appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Once he got past his sophomore year and into his junior season, he had a better understanding of where his piece fit into the St. Cloud State puzzle.

“So that was good for me, confidence-wise of knowing that I can fill this fourth-line role,” Hammer said. “And I think it fits the player that I am.”

Hammer, a St. Cloud native, doesn’t have monster offensive numbers. He scored three goals and an assist in 32 games his junior season and has two goals and seven points this year.

But that second goal this year was a big one. It was the eventual game-winner in the NCAA Regional Final in a 4-1 victory over Boston College that helped send St. Cloud State to its second Frozen Four. The Huskies (19-10-0), coached by Brett Larson, face Minnesota State at 4 p.m. CT on Thursday.

The Huskies tied the game 1-1 midway through the second period against Boston College on March 28. About six minutes later, Hammer took an initial shot on goal from the front of the crease. As he and his teammates crashed the net looking for a rebound, Nick Perbix fired another shot on goal. Hammer bounced that rebound into the net for a 2-1 lead.

“It’s not every day that I’m contributing on the scoresheet,” Hammer said. “So it was fun to get that goal, on the team’s behalf. I was the beneficiary of the play.”

He credited his linemates who worked to get the puck and get bodies in front of Boston College goaltender Spencer Knight.

“I just happened to be the one to put it home,” Hammer said. “It was a fun moment. One I’ll never forget, for sure.”

He may have that unforgettable goal, but Hammer’s journey to the Frozen Four with St. Cloud State was filled with plenty of ups and downs.

Will Hammer as a St. Cloud Cathedral Crusader.
Photo by Tim Kolehmainen

Hammer jumpstarted his post-high school hockey career with four years on the St. Cloud Cathedral boys’ team where he scored a total of 65 goals and 145 points. He was the squad’s leading scorer his senior year in 2013-14 with 23 goals and 48 points in 26 regular-season games.

That season ended with a trip to the Minnesota boys’ state hockey tournament. Cathedral beat Totino-Grace 4-3 in overtime in the Class 1A quarterfinals before losing to eventual champ East Grand Forks. The Crusaders, coached at the time by Eric Johnson, took fourth place in the tournament.  

From there, Hammer played two seasons with Aberdeen in the NAHL where he had an “OK” first season and “not the greatest” second season, he said. He scored nine goals and 33 points across 109 games in his two seasons. A new coaching staff came into Aberdeen after his second year, and Hammer was traded to the Minnesota Magicians in Richfield.

“Which was kind of challenging in itself for anyone who’s been traded, it’s not an easy thing to go through,” Hammer said. “You kind of get a little perspective of what the professionals go through on a very small scale.”

Hockey went well for him with the Magicians, where he scored 18 goals and 41 points in 60 games, and he talked with a few colleges along the way. But nothing worked out. Then he was all set to go to Augsburg College, a Division III program, after his time with the Magicians. Luckily, a spot opened up on the St. Cloud State roster instead.

Another thing he’ll never forget? The call asking if he’d like to be part of the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team. He was outside at home.

“I know exactly where I was,” Hammer said. “It was fun being able to tell my family and friends, too, because I felt like they were in the trenches with me.

“It was exciting, not only for me, but for my whole family. Something that we’ve enjoyed and will never forget.”

Though his hockey journey turned out good in the end – and maybe even better with a national championship – Hammer acknowledges it was tough, too. Playing in juniors for three seasons and then moving on to collegiate hockey, it was always a challenge when he’d compare himself to other players, especially with the access of social media seeing where others are in their careers, he said.

“That was a lesson I learned throughout my junior experience is that everybody has their own path,” Hammer said. “Here I am today and playing in the Frozen Four.

“I never would’ve imagined I would be in the Frozen Four here in my senior year in my hometown.”

Photo by Kylie Macziewski

Every player has tough moments in their hockey careers, Hammer said, adding that the trade from Aberdeen was a tough one for him. He also had a health scare during his sophomore year at St. Cloud State, giving him another hurdle to clear before he was good to go and continue playing. He’s thankful to have such a great support system around him, too, with family and friends.

The Huskies are two victories away from a national championship. First up, they need to beat a tough Minnesota State team in Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinal. Hammer knows that every team at this stage of the tournament is good, and the Mavericks are no different with great coaching, a solid forecheck and detailed, structured team.

St. Cloud State will need to focus on themselves, as they have throughout the rest of the playoffs, Hammer said. It will be key to work on the opposing D and own the front of not only the Huskies net but the Mavericks net as well, according to Hammer.

“I think if we do that, then we like our chances,” Hammer said. “So that’s what we’re going to focus on. We’re just going to focus on that first game and trying to play Husky hockey for 60 minutes.”

For Hammer, his ultimate dream was to play college hockey and win a national championship. Still striving to achieve the last part of that dream this week, he also said it will be the end of the road for him, hockey-wise. Outside of the rink, he has an internship with CentraCare, a local hospital in St. Cloud, and hopes to pave a career in health administration.

Even though his hockey path might be coming to an end with this Frozen Four, he’ll be able to look back and recall the adversity he made it through and the confidence he gained.  

“I think, with anything, confidence is over half the battle,” Hammer said. “So I was able to get a little more confidence in my time here at SCSU.”

The post Title Crusade 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.

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Bulldogs ride maturing blueline corps into second straight Frozen Four

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Just a sophomore, Nick Wolff is Minnesota-Duluth’s most experienced guy on a defensive group that was one of the team’s question marks heading into the season.

Assistant captains Carson Soucy and Brendan Kotyk, along with Neal Pionk and Willie Raskob didn’t return to the blue line this year after helping the Bulldogs reach the national championship game in 2017.

UMD sophomore forward Riley Tufte and freshman defenseman Louie Roehl embrace following Minnesota Duluth’s West Region final win over Air Force on Saturday. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Would their replacements be ready to perform? How much would their youth and lack of experience affect UMD’s ability to hang with the skilled and talented teams in the NCHC?

“We lost a lot, but we knew had a lot of great guys coming in,” Wolff said. “I don’t really consider myself the ‘old guy’. I’m just as goofy as they are. I learn off of them and they learn off of me.

“Right now, they’re killing it. (The young guys) just played one of our best weekend series we’ve seen them play.”

The UMD defense has shackled opposing offenses with the nation’s eighth-best scoring defense at 2.14 goals allowed per game all season and in the NCAA tournament when it mattered most.

The Bulldogs punched their ticket to their second straight Frozen Four and sixth in school history after they eliminated Air Force 2-1 in the West Regional final Saturday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Minnesota-Duluth (23-16-3) will face the Denver/Ohio State winner in the Frozen Four semifinals April 5 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“It was a really new team this year and we came together as a group,” UMD sophomore forward Joey Anderson said. “Going to two Frozen Fours is really cool, but we’re not done yet and we want to reach that final goal of winning the national championship.

UMD was able to do what St. Cloud State couldn’t do against Air Force on Friday, and that was to jump on the Falcons early and create chances right from the start, but most of all, suffocate the Falcons with a stifling defense and puck-possession game.

The Bulldogs held their opponents without a shot on goal for an entire period for the second night in a row. Air Force didn’t get its first shot on goal until the fourth minute of the second period.

“From the start, they took us to the woodshed,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We haven’t seen speed like that all year.”

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period when Dylan Samberg left the puck for Riley Tufte and went hard to the net, making contact with Air Force goaltender Billy Christopaulos at the edge of the crease.

UMD’s Joey Anderson (13) and Dylan Samberg (4) watch Anderson’s shot settle in the back of the Air Force net to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the first period of their 2-1 West Regional final win over the Falcons. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

Tufte took a shot from the point and Joey Anderson cleaned up the rebound. Officials determined after a review that Samberg’s contact didn’t prevent Christopaulos from making the save, one night after Samberg interfered with the Minnesota State goalie to overturn a UMD goal in overtime.

Wolff made the score 2-0 a few minutes later with a wrist shot while trailing the play on a rush.

“I thought it was important to go out and get the first goal,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “We were able to carry that momentum through the rest of the period. We talked before the game about starting on time and getting a lead.”

The Falcons started to apply pressure as the second period progressed and finally broke through with 6:16 left in the game. Evan Giesler scored it for the Falcons, trying to make a pass out front from behind the net and the puck deflected off Hunter Shepard and over the goal line.

Shephard and the Bulldogs withstood a late desperation surge by Air Force to seal the trip to St. Paul where UMD won its title in 2011.

“We’re going home (to the ‘X’),” Wolff said. “We’ve all played there before. I played in the state tournament there. It’ll be good to be home.”

Added Sandelin: “It’s great for our program, but I’m more happy for our players. We have a very young group, so we talk about how hard it is to get here. They needed to get here to realize how hard it is to win two games to get to the Frozen Four.”

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Parker Mackay’s goal has UMD a win away from Frozen Four repeat

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — After seven minutes, it looked like Minnesota State was on its way to a history-making night, but by game’s end, Minnesota-Duluth made sure history repeated itself.

The Bulldogs are back in the region final for a second year in a row after a 3-2 overtime win in the West Regional Friday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Parker Mackay scored on a wrist shot from the slot 2:28 into OT to make UMD 9-0 all-time in the first-round games while the Mavericks are still looking for their first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

“We were feeling pretty confident after the third period,” Mackay said. “We didn’t want to get too complacent.”

Third-seeded UMD improves to 22-16-3 and will face No. 4 Air Force at 8 p.m. Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four. MSU finishes the season 29-10-1.

Minnesota State’s Zeb Knutson watches his first-period shot elude Minnesota Duluth goaltender Hunter Shepherd to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead in Friday’s West Regional semifinal. (MHM photo / Jonny Watkins)

The Mavericks scored two quick goals before the seven-minute mark of the first period by Zeb Knutson and Ian Scheid and UMD was punchless out of the gate with just one shot on goal by the time MSU was up 2-0.

“We had a good start,” Knutson said. “Everyone was dialed in and excited for the game.”

Then the Mavericks offense went dormant. No registered shots on goal for roughly 35 minutes, including the entire second period and no goals the rest of the game.

“We’ve played them three times and neither team’s gotten out to tremendous leads,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “I thought we survived the second period.”

UMD began the long road back with an 8-0 shots on goal advantage in the second period, highlighted by Karson Kuhlman’s goal at the 6:38 mark.

“We got the jitters out in the first period and just stuck with it,” UMD’s Nick Swaney said.

MSU made an effort to regroup during the second intermission and get back on the offensive and rebuild its lead. Knutson and Connor Mackey each connected with posts, but that was it.

“We got back in the locker room and we all came together as a team and said ‘hey, we can do this,’” MSU forward and Hobey Baker Award semifinalist C.J. Suess said. “I felt like after coming out of the locker room our spirits were up and that we were ready to go in the third.”

Nick Swaney’s one-timer shot from the low left circle got past Connor LaCouvee with 4:08 left in the third period to send the game to overtime.

It didn’t take long for the back-and-forth overtime fireworks to blast.

Players watch as UMD’s Nick Swaney (23) scored what was thought to be the game winner 55 seconds into overtime before the goal was reversed after review due t goaltender interference. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

UMD’s players jumped over the boards and rushed across the ice to mob Swaney who had just put the puck in the net for the Bulldogs 55 seconds into OT.

“We just called upstairs and asked our guy to take a look at it and we thought there was contact prior to the puck going in,” Hastings said. “I had a pretty good idea it was going to be overturned.”

The video replay showed Dylan Samberg running LaCouvee over in the crease and preventing the MSU goalie from making the stop on Swaney’s rebound shot.

A good goal was the call on the ice, but called off after review.

“I thought the guys did a good job refocusing and going back out there,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “I think all my excitement went out with the (disallowed) goal. I was still excited for second goal but not as excited as the first one.

UMD goaltender Hunter Shepard experienced a flurry in front of his own net after the ensuing faceoff. The puck slid toward the net on a Nick Rivera shot amid the scrum, but MSU’s Brad McClure was knocked into the goal and his breezers prevented the puck from crossing the goal line.

Shepard finished with 19 saves and LaCouvee had 19 for MSU.

Back on the other end, after a defensive-zone turnover, Justin Richards found Mackay gliding down the slot and hit him with a pass. Mackay took a second, head faked and put the puck over LaCouvee’s shoulder.

“They had been blocking shots all game so I was just trying to maybe fake it out and see if there was a shot lane,” Mackay said. “Sure enough, I just tried to get the puck on net and it went in.”

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Regional woes continue for top-seed Huskies

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Those who proudly wear St. Cloud State red and black would like to say this isn’t familiar territory, but lately, it appears to be the truth.

The No. 1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament Huskies fell to Air Force 4-1 in the West Region semifinals Friday afternoon at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

“It’s miserable,” junior forward Robby Jackson said. “I just sucks, man. I don’t even know how to put it into words. We battled tooth and nail, but we couldn’t solve their goalie today.”

Air Force improves to 23-14-5 and will face either Minnesota State or Minnesota-Duluth in the regional final at 8 p.m. Saturday. St. Cloud State finishes the season 25-8-6.

The Falcons, ranked well beyond the top 16 in the PairWise Rankings and qualified by winning the Atlantic Hockey playoff title, struck twice early in the second period on goals by Tyler Ledford after the first 20 minutes went scoreless.

Air Force goaltender Billy Christopoulos makes one of his 39 saves to lead his team over St. Cloud State and into Saturday’s NCAA West Region final. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

The chances SCSU failed to score on or were stopped by Air Force goaltender Billy Christopoulos from that point on will surely haunt the Huskies, who had 18 shots in the second period.

“The second period was crazy, the chances we got,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said.

The Huskies are 1-4 in their last five NCAA tournament games and the only lead they had in any of those was a one-goal lead for a 7 ½ minute stretch early in the 2015 West Region final against North Dakota, which UND won 4-1.

There was the 4-0 loss to Minnesota in the 2014 West Region final, followed by a first-round overtime win against Michigan Tech in 2015 in which SCSU never led until the OT goal.

And then, the overtime loss to Ferris State in the 2016 West Region when the No. 2 overall Huskies rallied to tie the Bulldogs, only to lose in overtime.

“I never thought we’d hurt worse than we did when we lost to Ferris, but here we are,” Jackson said.

The NCAA tournament has been a lot more kind to Air Force, which beat Western Michigan in the 2017 first round and has now won three tournament games in program history.

Air Force scored its first goal three minutes into the second period when Ledford broke up a soft pass from SCSU Jimmy Schuldt and knocked it out of the air and past goalie David Hrenak. Officials went to the monitor to check if Ledford’s stick rose above the plane of the cross bar, but the goal was called good on the ice and evidence of a high stick playing the puck was deemed inconclusive.

“We just watched (the play),” Falcons coach and Coleraine native Frank Serratore said. “It was really close.”

Ledford tipped home a Matt Koch centering pass for another goal and his sixth of the season, and then Christopaulos became the star of the show.

The junior from North Carolina stretched across the crease to reach out and rob the Huskies with his glove in the second and third periods, once on a cross-ice pass from Ryan Poehling that hit Jackson in the skates before he could shoot, allowing Christopaulos time to get over.

“(Christopaulos) is dialed in right now,” Motzko said. “If he stays dialed in, Air Force is going to win tomorrow. Someone’s gotta score on this kid.”

St. Cloud State’s Will Borgen (20), Robby Jackson (23) and Jimmy Schuldt (22) mob teammate Blake Lizotte after his third period goal. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

The Huskies scored with time ticking away on their season with 2:51 left in the third period. Blake Lizotte entered the zone and hit Newell on a pass near the far boards and Lizotte redirected Newell’s shot into the goal.

SCSU pulled Hrenak after the Huskies won the ensuing faceoff, but the Falcons gained possession of the puck as he got to the bench, leaving the net wide open as Air Force skated the puck through the neutral zone.

Jordan Himley sent the puck into the net for Air Force, effectively sucking out of the building whatever steam SCSU had generated and added another empty netter shortly after.

“We played the whole game waiting for that big goal to go in, but it came a little too late,” Motzko said. “We all know now, parity in college hockey has never been greater.”

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