UMD captain Noah Cates had eight shots and no points in five games since returning from the Olympics. He was still playing a lot like Noah Cates, engaging in and winning battles on the boards, but he wasn’t the net-front presence we have been accustomed to, making it more difficult to get on the scoresheet.
I don’t worry about a guy like him. Cates is a great human being, a great leader, and he’s the kind of player who raises his game when his team needs him.
And boy did he ever raise his game in St. Cloud.
Cates capped a three-goal weekend with the winning goal past the halfway mark of overtime Saturday night, as UMD came from two goals down to beat St. Cloud State 4-3 and win their first-round NCHC playoff series 2-0.
Cates was at a different level this weekend. He was awesome. His six shots Friday tied a season and career high, and he posted a three-goal weekend for the first time this season, and his two goals Saturday marked the fourth two-goal game of his UMD career.
He’s never been a big volume shooter, but he has always possessed the ability to shoot the puck. His presence throughout the weekend was key for UMD, as the Bulldogs have craved the kind of scoring they got this past weekend. Cates was the ringleader both nights, scoring the first goal Friday, then the Bulldogs’ first and last goals Saturday.
On Friday, Cates was a big part of Koby Bender’s first career hat trick, assisting on two of the three goals with beautiful passes. Coach Scott Sandelin reunited Cates with Casey Gilling and Kobe Roth on Saturday after the early struggles, and it was fitting that the re-reconfigured lines — Cates/Gilling/Roth and Bender/Jesse Jacques/Tanner Laderoute — factored into Saturday’s game with huge goals.
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The Bulldogs didn’t necessarily have to win this series to make the NCAA Tournament. Friday’s victory rendered UMD a virtual lock for the tournament, and now they know they’re 100 percent in the field of 16 for the national tournament. They’ve given themselves a chance to make a patently-absurd fifth straight NCAA Frozen Four.
And now UMD returns to Xcel Energy Center, a building that the Bulldogs have a little history in. Included in that history is the last NCHC Frozen Faceoff held in the building, an event won by UMD in 2019 on a double-overtime goal from Nick Swaney to beat St. Cloud State in one of the best games I’ve called in my 17 years.
St. Cloud State looked like it was going to force a third game in this series, outshooting UMD 15-1 to start Saturday’s game and getting a Nick Perbix goal for a 1-0 lead. It easily could have been worse than 1-0 after the first, but UMD goalie Ryan Fanti, as he has so many times this season, helped the Bulldogs weather the early storm.
Jami Krannila snuck a shot through Fanti 98 seconds into the second period for a 2-0 lead, but UMD did start to generate some offensive push as the second went on. The Bulldogs struggled to get quality chances close to Jaxon Castor, who started a second straight game in goal for an ill David Hrenak. Kobe Roth was stopped on a breakaway in the final seconds of the middle frame for UMD’s best chance of the game to that point.
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Then things turned. A UMD team that had won exactly one time all season when trailing after two periods (March 4 at home against St. Cloud State) found its way back into Saturday’s game with one of its most inconsistent parts from throughout the regular season.
The power play.
UMD had not struck twice on the power play in a single game since Nov. 12 against Colorado College. The Bulldogs thought they had on Friday, but the second of those goals — a long shot from Owen Gallatin that found its way home — was overturned because of a hand pass prior to the goal.
This time, they both counted. Cates started it, letting one go from the high slot 56 seconds into the third period. Less than three minutes later, Blake Biondi appeared to fan on a shot in the slot, but it rolled right to the side of the goal, where Dominic James jammed it in to tie the score.
St. Cloud State regained the lead 11 seconds later when Perbix shot a puck by Fanti that pinballed his way in the slot.
But UMD did not panic. The Bulldogs outshot SCSU 13-1 in the third period, with the goal by Perbix standing up as the Huskies’ only shot. UMD controlled puck possession and eventually found another equalizer. Just inside of three minutes to play, after a clean faceoff win by Jacques, Matt Anderson’s left-point shot was tipped in by Laderoute to level the game at 3-3. UMD had a couple chances before regulation ended, but the game went overtime.
St. Cloud got a power play in overtime on a somewhat dubious tripping call against Darian Gotz, and the Huskies did everything in those two minutes but end the game. Fanti had to stop seven shots, accounting for all but two of St. Cloud’s shots in overtime.
Cates then won the game for UMD past the halfway mark of overtime, letting a shot go from the top of the faceoff circle during a two-on-two rush with Kobe Roth.
GOAL!!!! Cates @cates_noah calls game and UMD wins it in OT! Great comeback win for UMD's first NCHC sweep, and it comes in the playoffs! Onto St. Paul! #UMDmHky pic.twitter.com/Cu6ScLcaow
— UMD Hockey gifs (@UMDHockeygifs) March 13, 2022
The play was briefly reviewed after UMD celebrated to confirm Roth was still onsides when the puck entered the zone, but he was. Barely (they don’t ask “how,” they ask “if”).
Party on.
2015, the last year UMD went on the road for a playoff series before this one, remains the last time the NCHC Frozen Faceoff was contested without UMD’s involvement.
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Up next: NCHC top seed Denver in the semifinals Friday at 4pm. The teams split four games in the regular season, with each series ending in a split. The last game was Feb. 12 in Denver, as UMD won 3-2 with around a dozen players battling illness before and during the game. That was the night Zach Stejskal returned after missing time battling testicular cancer when Fanti had to come out of the game.
Our coverage Friday starts at 3:30, and we will have one eye on the happenings in State College. That’s where the UMD women’s hockey team will play in its second straight Frozen Four, battling Northeastern for the second straight year in the national semifinals. That game starts at 2:30 on ESPN Plus.
UMD advanced by beating Minnesota 2-1 Saturday at Ridder Arena. Gabbie Hughes broke a 1-1 tie with a snipe from the right circle in the third period. Emma Soderberg made it stand up, stopping 37 of 38 shots and keeping the Gophers off the board after Abigail Boreen’s power play goal in the first period. Mannon McMahon had UMD’s first goal, tying the game on a shot that appeared to be mishandled by Gophers goalie Lauren Bench.
This is a thrilling time for UMD hockey. The Bulldogs have placed a team in the Frozen Four every year since 2017, when the men made the first of four straight. This is the sixth Frozen Four played in by a UMD team since that year, an absolutely incredible and ridiculous thing to say out loud.
Also, was Saturday — featuring the women clinching a Frozen Four bid by beating Minnesota in its home rink and the men rallying from a third-period deficit to clinch a playoff series on the road one hour away — the best day in the combined history of UMD hockey? Like, considering a major accomplishment for both teams, not just one. I can’t think of anything else from the past.
Back Thursday with more on both the Frozen Four and Frozen Faceoff.
