The Huskies were in far better spirits when they returned home Sunday, after they blew a 4-2 lead in the third period to force overtime, then nipped the Pioneers 2-1 in a shootout to come away with a victory, even though the rules note the game is counted as a tie in the standings. 

The game-one loss shows the disparity between national ratings and league standings, because St. Cloud State went into the series ranked No. 14 but led the NCHC with a 7-0-1 record. While Denver ranked No. 6 in the country. So, the Huskies flew home with a 7-1-2 league record, still good for first place. While Denver moved to 5-3-1, and the capacity for splitting NCHC series still alive and well.

St. Cloud State’s schedule doesn’t ease up at all, as the Huskies welcome North Dakota, which risked its 5-4 NCHC standing and No. 4 ranking in last weekend’s split against Omaha in Grand Forks.

More evidence of NCHC parity was obvious in last weekend’s visit by Colorado College to AMSOIL Arena to face UMD in a series that could have elevated one ahead of the other in the middle of the NCHC pack. Instead, the two teams split, and it couldn’t have been more equitable. UMD captured a 3-2 overtime victory Friday night, when Ben Steeves scored his 15th goal for the winner 1:06 into overtime. In the next game, Colorado College CC got the tying goal from Nicklas Andrews with 0:00.2 showing on the clock near the end of the second period. Noah Laba scored the winner for Colorado at 1:39 of overtime. The games also featured goaltending duels between UMD senior Zach Stejskal and CC sophomore Kaidan Mbereko.

Colorado College arrived in Duluth holding fifth place in the NCHC as a reward for coach Kris Mayotte’s rebuilding plan, while the Bulldogs were sixth. Friday night’s victory boosted the Bulldogs into a three-way tie for fifth with Colorado and Omaha.

The rest of the NCHC follows the rules of parity too, as Western Michigan split with Miami, and Omaha surprised North Dakota for a split.

Ohio State still dominates WCHA
Both UMD-CC games were part of a celebratory weekend in Duluth, with Friday’s dedicated to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Saturday night, both the UMD women’s and men’s games were part of the ceremonial tribute to Sophie’s Choice, a mental health foundation originated by UMD’s women’s star, Gabbie Hughes, who is now playing for PWHL Ottawa.

The UMD women made the best of the circumstances, playing Bemidji State through a tough first game Friday afternoon resulting in a 2-0 victory. 

The next night, it rained goals for UMD as the Bulldogs smothered Bemidji State 7-0. Reece Hunt, who transferred to UMD from Bemidji State for her final season, scored at 8:50 and 10:30 of the first period, then completed her hat trick at 8:50 off the second period to make it a 3-0 lead. Grace Sadura, Mannon McMahon and Danielle Burgen added second-period goals before Danielle Brunette added one more at 4:41 of the third period to complete the rout.

With a 10-6 record, UMD rises to fourth in the WCHA, behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and leading St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Bemidi State and St. Thomas. A full WCHA slate is coming up this weekend, with UMD at Ohio State, Wisconsin at Mankato, Minnesota at Bemidji State and St. Thomas at St. Cloud State.

Last weekend’s series between WCHA leader Ohio State and the rebuilt Minnesota Golden Gophers was supposed to be some sort of showdown in Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. But Ohio State settled that issue with a 7-0 rout of the Gophers, followed up by a 6-1 hammering by the Buckeyes.

The high-flying Buckeyes are now 15-1 atop the WCHA, with Wisconsin second at 12-4, Minnesota third at 10-5-1, and UMD fourth at 10-6. St. Cloud State is hot on their heels at 9-6-1 in fifth place.

The post No Sweeps Allowed in Rugged NCHC appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But early results from this season indicate that the northern corner of the state known as Section 7 will continue to be a viable threat at least for the foreseeable future.

The mixup of the area is that Hermantown — a geographical area large in size but small in enrollment, just northwest of Duluth — has emerged as the best team and youth program in the area. But while some of the larger, Class 2A, Section 7 schools fluctuate quite a bit in their good fortune, Hermantown insists on staying in Class 1A, Section 7, to play with the smaller schools where it is most likely to succeed.

While the Hermantown youth teams all play at the highest classification, and win consistently, they feed an expansive high school program that can roll out three or even four balanced forward lines, three sets of defensemen, and depth in goaltending that is usually the best in the region.

If the proof of the pudding is in how successfully players advance to play with college scholarships, and maybe even pro hockey, the Hermantown Hawks are a constant source of amazement. For the past decade, the University of Minnesota Duluth has been criticized for taking so many prospects from Hermantown. But when the Bulldogs won three NCAA championships with teams all strongly flavored by Hawks, the critics started to realize that instead of suggesting UMD had too many Hermantown players, maybe they needed more!

The Winnipeg Jets, for example, have Neal Pionk as the anchor of their defensive corps, and Dylan Samberg is another Jets teammate. Both played together on state tournament teams at Hermantown, then played on the same UMD teams winning NCAA titles before they signed NHL contracts.

This season’s UMD team is led by Blake Biondi, who is captain and second-generation forward following his dad, Joe Biondi, to UMD. Blake, of course, was captain and Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey at Hermantown as a senior, where he was joined by current UMD defensemen from Hermantown, including veterans Darian Gotz and Joey Pierce, and just brought in freshman Aaron Pionk, Neal’s brother, who played forward until this season, when coach Scott Sandelin moved him to defense and put him in charge of running the power play.

At Hermantown this season, coach Pat Andrews had to rebuild from key goal-scoring losses to graduation, and the departure of highly skilled brothers Zam Plante and Max Plante, who played as teammates on a state championship Hermantown team. Both committed to UMD before joining their parents in a move to Chicago. Father Derek Plante, a former UMD standout who played over a decade in the NHL, was hired as assistant coach of the Blackhawks in their rebuilding plan.

Max Plante made the U.S. Development camp’s Under-18 team, and Zam — who is a year older — made the Chicago Steel and was traded to the Fargo Force in the U.S. Hockey League. Both will come to UMD next fall as freshmen, but they left enormous holes in the Hawks high school lineup.

While all the other Class 2A and Class 1A Section 7 teams lost heavily from graduation as well, and perennial powers such as Duluth East, Cloquet-Esko-Carlson, and even Grand Rapids are rebuilding, Hermantown is the only program rich and deep enough to merely reload to find scoring. Against Class 2A foes this season, Hermantown beat Cretin-Derham Hall, tied Hill-Murray and then beat Centennial. It also defeated defending Class 1A champion Mahtomedi 5-1. Then, they faced Duluth Denfeld.

Duluth Denfeld moved up to Class 2A this season, ties Hermantown
Denfeld has an interesting program. Located in the West End, West Duluth and Piedmont Heights youth program region — which produce good players, but without the depth Hermantown enjoys. But the Hunters broke new ground in football during the fall. They also have a strong basketball program. Their hockey team, coached by former UMD defenseman Dale Jago, started off beating teams and establishing what might normally be considered an upset is not an upset when facing this Denfeld team’s swift-skating, puck-skilled players.

In an interesting maneuver, Denfeld made a controversial decision to move up from Class 1A to the larger Class 2A. Many larger schools have traditionally sought to move down, to avoid getting beaten by usual meat-grinder Duluth East. But this year in northern Minnesota, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton moved from Class 2A to Class 1A in Section 7, while Denfeld passed the Lumberjacks going the other direction, moving up a class.

Hermantown’s Jack Slattengren (11) peeled away from the goal after scoring the Dec. 19 game’s first goal against Duluth Denfeld goalie Connor Doyle. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Denfeld and Hermantown played at Essentia Duluth Heritage Center on the Tuesday before Christmas, and the Hunters were definitely swift and skilled enough to take on their heralded rivals. That was evident from the drop of the puck. 

The result was mostly a coming out party for Connor Doyle, Denfeld’s goaltender. The more the Hawks attacked, the better Doyle seemed to play. Jack Slattengren gave Hermantown a 1-0 lead as he raced in on a goal-crashing attempt and redirected a goal-mouth pass.

In the second period, the Hawks outshot Denfeld 17-8 and took a 2-0 lead on a Bradford Skytta goal. Doyle kept the Hawks at bay. Denfeld narrowed the gap with a Brady Wick power-play goal from the right poinot. The Hawks almost seemed content to hold that 2-1 lead over Denfeld through the third period, and maybe that was coach Andrews’ intention — to let the Hawks prove to themselves that then can hold onto a slim lead against a team that was throwing everything they could summon at them.

It almost worked. As Denfeld pulled Doyle for a sixth attacker late in the game, Cory Backstrom scored a power-play goal and the sudden 2-2 tie stunned the Hawks, and the fans, into silence. The eight-minute overtime still ended with a 2-2 result as the final score. Hermantown outshot Denfeld 44-28. Doyle’s 42 saves commanded the spotlight and led the Hunters to center stage.

Maybe that’s what those pushy Class 1A schools get for taking on those proud big-school Class 2A teams!

NCHC to leave Xcel Center for campus sites
While the battle among top Western college hockey conferences continues through its midseason break, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference made a move to catch up to its brethren in the Big Ten and Central Collegiate Hockey Conference by making a sweeping change to its future league playoff structure.

Or, from another standpoint, the NCHC had the best idea and has chosen to abandon it.

Since the NCHC began in the 2013-14 season, it decided to offset the big-city attractiveness enjoyed by Minnesota and the Big Ten, or Detroit and the CCHA and Big Ten, and the Chicago and Milwaukee regions of Wisconsin and the Big Ten. So, the NCHC renamed its league playoff semifinals and finals the Frozen Faceoff, and contracted with the Minnesota Wild to hold the event at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

Since then, the NCHC has always held its tournament at Xcel Center or at Target Center in Minneapolis — the two largest facilities in the state. Meanwhile, the Big Ten capitulated by playing its playoffs at the site of the highest seeded team, and the CCHA did the same. The advantages of taking the biggest games away from the sites where the teams play all season were quickly overlooked when the Frozen Faceoff drew huge crowds of UMD, North Dakota, and St. Cloud State fans, as well as hard-core hockey fans who might still be upset that Minnesota pulled the plug on the old WCHA, the best and most successful hockey conference in men’s hockey history.

In conference meetings during the holiday break this year, the NCHC voted unanimously to change formats and to give those semifinals and finals back to the college sites where the teams have the best records. For the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, the format will remain the same, although Arizona State will join the NCHC officially for 2024-25, when the quarterfinals will be best-of-three at the highest seeds, and the four finalists will return to Xcel Energy Center for their semifinals and finals.

But when the existing contract expires, the NCHC will give up the big-city draw of St. Paul and play at campus sites in 2025-26. Those playoffs will expand to consume three weekends, with Team Nine playing Team Eight at the site of Team One, which will face that winner the next night in single-elimination play. The top two seeds gain the benefit of being host to the semifinals, with the surviving finalists advancing to play for the championship on the third weekend, at the site of the highest remaining seed.

The post Northern Hockey Is Safe appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Despite Divergent Paths, Bulldogs and Huskies Are Bound to Collide

MHM’s Brian Halverson outlines the eventual collision between two major forces in the NCHC.

From our December special print/digital issue on Duluth Area Hockey.

Just click =>HERE.

The post Collision Course appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Former UMD Students Now Hockey Entrepreneurs

Custom State of MN for Brock Boeser, NHL All-Star

Broken sticks, a serious reality of every hockey player that steps on the ice.  For old timers it becomes firewood, and for the young men there’s little to do with shattered graphite but fill the trash.

In comes Duluth, Minnesota-born Great Lakes Hockey.  I know what you’re thinking, oh boy, another hockey brand to saturate the already over-saturated clothing market with clever slogans and fancy social media posts.  Nope, that’s not GLH (Great Lakes Hockey).  GLH creates unique hockey themed pieces of art, handcrafted one at a time.  

Your stick, your colors, your pattern.  Just ask MN superstar of the Vancouver Canucks and already two-time NHL rookie of the month, Brock Boeser, how much he likes his custom state.

Co-Owners of Great Lakes Hockey, Brice Wizner and Mike Swanson

The passion for hockey never leaves a true hockey player, and even if you think it’ll pass, it never does.  That’s what co-owners Brice Wizner and Mike Swanson found out as they hung up their skates and pursued their college degree at the University of Minnesota-Duluth back in fall of 2009.

Coming from two small towns in Wisconsin, it took about a month into the first semester to realize they were submerged in one of the most iconic hockey towns in the USA.  Instantly the skates and gear found its way back to the dorm and under the futon. The previous Wisconsin high school rivals then became club hockey linemates at UMD and even picked up driving the zamboni at a local rink – mainly because chicks dig zamboni drivers, right?

A few years later after earning UMD Men’s club hockey’s first-ever conference championship, the two went their separate ways. Mike pursued teaching in Alexandria, MN while Brice remained in Duluth as a fisheries biologist.  By their age, the hockey itch should pass right?  Absolutely not.  It took no time before Brice was back on the ice coaching high school hockey.  Mike quickly realized Duluth was home and after accepting a new teaching position there, he too began his coaching career with a U-14 boys team.  Splitting rent downtown, and living mostly at the rink, could life get any better for these two?

Hockey Gloves Off, Work Gloves On

Great Lakes Hockey employee crafts the state of Massachusetts

Christmas 2016 – What started out as a Christmas present for Brice’s father, became an overnight necessity for all true hockey fans, and instantly propelled the launch of Great Lakes Hockey.  GLH’s original and prize creation was, and still is, a simple, but eloquent 24” hand-crafted state-shaped sign, made of broken hockey sticks and reclaimed barn wood.  

Knowing they were onto something with their hand-crafted hockey art, Brice and Mike wanted to launch their company right out of the gate, but not in any standard fashion.  With their website debut in February of 2017, in addition to the custom artwork offering, they released a full collection of lifestyle apparel to complement the hockey life and define their new brand.

Some of you may have seen artwork like this, but that’s why GLH took it up a notch.  States are completely customizable to the point where your stick can be incorporated and a large portion of the reclaimed wood comes from torn down outdoor rinks that were meant for the burn pile, but have ended up continuing to serve a purpose for hockey, so expect puck marks.

Nearly one year after establishment, hundreds of states from the Dakotas to the East Coast have been meticulously hand-crafted and shipped.  

Even old hockey boards don’t go to waste!

As expansion continues, every state from the West Coast to the East Coast, Texas to Canada, will be created.  Along with the artwork, their apparel has taken off leaps and bounds, defining a lifestyle brand for every minute you live the #hockeylife.

Forewarning, your order might be a day or two late.  That’s only because GLH pushes their employees to never give up the noon skate or men’s league barn burner.  Great Lakes Hockey is a representation of the #hockeylife that we all enjoy as passionate players, coaches, and fans of the game.

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Great Lakes Hockey products are currently only available online and at local Duluth shops.  Hockey players and fans can head to the their website at www.greatlakeshockey.com to check out the wide variety of state shaped artwork and hockey themed apparel to join GLH in living the #hockeylife.  

Keep your eyes open at the Minnesota State Hockey Expo for the GLH booth!

The post From The Rink, To The Woodshop appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

[See image gallery at minnesotahockeymag.com]

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No. 14 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 19 Colorado College are the remaining WCHA teams in the top 20 while Minnesota State (39), Nebraska Omaha (28), Michigan Tech (16), St. Cloud State (12), Wisconsin (10) and, yes, Alaska-Anchorage (2) also received votes.

The post Gophers drop out of top spot in USCHO poll appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Dan DeLisle scored his first goal of the season–and seventh of his career–in UMD’s 3-1 win at Notre Dame on Thursday night. (photo: WCHA.com)

The WCHA has a full slate of action on tap on the women’s side tonight while Wisconsin is the only men’s team not taking the ice this weekend. With the exception of the Minnesota series at Michigan Tech, the remaining nine men’s teams will be facing non-conference opponents, including tonight’s North Dakota/Alaska-Anchorage matchup.

Although UND and the Seawolves are conference foes, they are facing each other to open the annual Alaska Goal Rush tournament hosted by Alaska-Fairbanks. North Dakota will face the Nanooks tomorrow night when UAA takes on Merrimack.

The UMD men, by the way, got their weekend started early with a 3-1 win at Notre Dame last night behind goals by Cal Decowski (Andover), Dan DeLisle (Arden Hills), and Justin Crandall (Lakeville) while goaltender Matt McNeely (Burnsville) made 29 saves in his collegiate debut.

The women, on the other hand, will all be engaged in conference games this weekend. Here’s the weekend schedule for both men and women:

WCHA Women

WCHA Men

The post The WCHA weekend ahead appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.