The story on a night like this should be a solid 5-1 non-conference win for UMD over visiting Alaska.
Unfortunately, as you’ve probably become familiar with, this is not a conventional season for the Bulldogs. Or, as it seems, anyone in college hockey.
While the Bulldogs were closing out Friday’s win at Amsoil Arena, they did so with a jumbled mess of forward lines, thanks to more players going out, presumably with injuries. UMD was already playing without graduate transfer Casey Gilling (illness) up front, while Luke Mylymok remains out long-term with an injury suffered in preseason.
Then UMD lost junior forward Luke Loheit in the second period. We aren’t sure what happened and won’t speculate, but Loheit was verrrrry slow to the UMD bench after a verrrrry long shift in the second period. Just back from an injury suffered Oct. 22 against Minnesota that cost him five games, Loheit did not return to Friday’s game, leaving UMD short a forward. That meant guys like Tanner Laderoute and Blake Biondi, along with Koby Bender, were taking extra shifts rotating in as the right wing with Ben Almquist and Kyler Kleven.
It got worse. No one I talked to in the press box knows what happened, but it was clear as day that freshman Dominic James did not return for the last five-ish minutes of the game, not long after setting up UMD’s fourth goal of the night, scored by Blake Biondi. UMD had a power play around that time, where Biondi and Quinn Olson were on the ice but James was not, something we haven’t seen much, if at all, this season. Head coach Scott Sandelin had no updates on either player after the game.
(This doesn’t even cover the fact that Laderoute was tended to for a few minutes by ATHLETIC trainer Sarah Miller on the UMD bench late in the game. He appeared to be in some pain, but did take a shift in the final two minutes of the game as UMD ran out the win.)
Jarrett Lee was the only forward healthy scratched on Friday, so if more than one forward who played Friday can’t play Saturday, the Bulldogs will very likely be short a forward. If that happens, we can expect senior Jake Rosenbaum to move from defense to forward and draw into the Saturday lineup on the fourth line.
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Gilling and Wyatt Kaiser both were listed as out with illness. UMD is not disclosing the nature of the illnesses, but here’s what we know. There’s a nasty flu bug going around Division I college hockey. It beat the hell out of Western Michigan the last two weekends (the Broncos are healthier now), and got to North Dakota last week (that actually continued into this weekend, as well). It has also affected Minnesota State, which lost to Lake Superior State 1-0 Friday while goalie Dryden McKay, forward Julian Napravnik and defenseman Akito Hirose all sat out, and head coach Mike Hastings told longtime MSU radio voice Mike Sullivan that there is a flu bug going around the team.
I’m not a doctor, but I can connect these dots. Also, I’m sure you’re all sick of needles. But this is clearly a really aggressive flu, and there are shots available (got mine in September). I do not know if these players who are getting sick have been vaccinated against the flu, but like with COVID, all the information available indicates that symptoms are much more mild for those who get vaccinated and then catch the flu.
If it’s serious enough to knock this many able-bodied college athletes on their ass, it’s not something I feel like playing games with. Hopefully, UMD has been able to curtail this and conditions improve as the first half of the season continues.
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Oh, the game.
UMD took control late in the second period, and piled on three goals in the third. But it wasn’t easy at all. The Bulldogs struggled to do much of anything well for a chunk of the second period, plagued by turnovers and overall sloppy play. Some of this coincided with Loheit’s disappearance, and we’ve seen times where teams struggle to get back in a rhythm when lines get discombobulated.
Either way, there’s no doubt that captain Noah Cates’ top-shelf snipe with 1:16 left in the second period sparked his team. It gave UMD a 2-1 lead, and the Bulldogs rode that momentum into the third. UMD outshot Alaska 13-3 in the third period, got goals from Kobe Roth, Biondi, and Ben Almquist, and cruised to its ninth win of the season, despite all the injuries and illness happening around the team.
The injury bug didn’t just strike UMD. Alaska lost starting goalie Gustavs Grigals in the second period after he was run into by Olson on a UMD rush. Olson was hooked by a Nanooks defenseman and bumped into Grigals while he was sprawled out to make a save after stopping an initial shot by Biondi. He left the game dragging his right arm to his side and did not return, and we can only hope for the best there.
It was great to see freshman Will Francis, a cancer survivor, make his college debut, playing in a regular season game for the first time in more than two years. He got to play a few shifts as the seventh defenseman. While I thought he looked nervous at times, he settled in and had a fine evening. Again, if there are more absences up front and Rosenbaum is pressed into duty as a forward, Francis would likely dress once again Saturday.
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Elsewhere in the NCHC, Minnesota went into Grand Forks and thumped North Dakota 5-1. Also, Long Island won 7-4 at Miami, while Western Michigan routed St. Lawrence 8-2. So, not a super night for the NCHC in non-conference play. Rematches in all three of those series on Saturday.
One hour earlier for UMD on Saturday, a 6pm start. 5:30pm pregame on KDAL. I’ll be back here beforehand with the lines, and we’ll update what we can on the injury/illness front after our 4:30 meeting with Sandelin.
