No way to get around the bad news, so let’s just jump right in.
1. Dominic James will be out for the rest of the season. The junior forward suffered said season-ending injury on a faceoff in the second period of Friday’s game against Northern Michigan. James told Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune ($ which you should spend IMO) he separated the shoulder and tore his labrum.
Yuck.
So first things first: Best to Dominic James. This is a very difficult injury and a long recovery. He’s in great hands with the UMD and Essentia teams that will take care of him, and hopefully he is able to recoup mentally. Not being able to be a part of the team can be very taxing on guys (Matt actually wrote a really good story on Blake Biondi and Kyler Kleven, their surgeries/recoveries, and the bond that formed during them). Those two, along with the rest of James’ teammates, have to carry on without James while doing what they can to make sure he isn’t rehabbing completely by himself.
The on-ice impact is obvious. James has been centering UMD’s top line since the start of last season, and the line he formed with Quinn Olson and Biondi in 2021-22 was the Bulldogs’ top line in terms of consistent production for most of the regular season, even though it was listed as the “third line.”
In addition, James is easily UMD’s top faceoff guy, the only center over 50 percent (53.4) last season, and he was off to a great start this season. James won 23 of 32 draws he took over a game and change, including six of seven in the Northern game. He even won the draw when he was injured.
“It’s a hard thing for any player to go through,” said head coach Scott Sandelin. “It seems like we’ve gone through that every year here for the last three years. We’re losing a player for the year, and certainly, the role that he plays on our team will be tough to replace.”
2. There’s also an off-ice component to James’ absence. He is an assistant captain (Sandelin was asked about replacing him in that role, and said they are “having discussions” about that this week) and a high-character member of the locker room.
“Since his freshman year,” said Sandelin, “he was the guy who got guys like (Olson) and (Biondi) talking, because those guys don’t talk a lot, right? Dom came in his freshman year and he played with them. He was always communicating, got those guys talking. I remember telling a couple of pro teams, I said, this guy, I’ve never seen this out of a freshman. He’s come in and kind of taking command and showing a little bit of that leadership role. He was still younger, just vocally and getting his line mates on the same page. Aside from that, in the locker room, he’s a fun guy to be around. He’s always got a smile on his face and plays with a lot of passion.”
Sandelin made it clear that other players will need to step up into that role, which is an important one.
“As a team, you want to show up to the rink every day and have guys that want to be there,,” said graduate transfer forward Connor McMenamin, who served as a captain in juniors at Tri-City and wore a letter for two of his four years at Penn State. “To have a guy like Dom come in and, and just make everyone laugh, that makes guys want to get out of bed and want to go to the rink, to lose that is tough. That’s where we’re going to have to have some other guys step up and find a new prankster or a new joke guy in the locker room.”
3. On the ice, Cole Spicer got the first call to replace James on UMD’s top line. And after a tough game Friday, Spicer picked up the ball and started running Saturday. Sandelin said the coaches challenged the 19-year-old sophomore after Friday, and they liked what they saw in response.
“I thought he responded in a really good way, but hopefully there’s more with him,” said Sandelin. “There’s opportunities for guys like that.
“He played good. I thought he had a strong game, great in the face-off circle. Nice to see him score, set up a goal. Anybody that’s over 70 % in the face -off circle, I like. Hopefully, we can continue to see him build off that game.”
Spicer had a career night on faceoffs, at least to this point. He went 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) on draws, the best performance by a UMD center (in terms of total wins and percentage) while taking at least 20 faceoffs since James won 19 of 24 (79.2 percent) against Cornell on Oct. 29, 2022.
“Losing Dom sucks, but it’s a good opportunity for me,” Spicer said. “Hopefully I can rise up and take a spot.”
4. Bemidji State is, well, Bemidji State. The Beavers uncharacteristically were outshot 61-19 in their season opener against Wisconsin on Friday, part of the Ice Breaker that BSU co-hosted with North Dakota. Mattias Sholl made a program-record 57 saves, but Chaz Lucius’ second goal of the game was an overtime winner for the Badgers.
“They ran us up and down,” said longtime Beavers coach Tom Serratore of the UW game.
Bemidji played a much tighter game Saturday and took down Army 3-2 in overtime on a winner from Lleyton Roed, who had 31 points as a freshman last year and is poised for a big year this winter.
“They get up to play us,” said Sandelin. “We’ve had a little success against them last year. They had most of it before that. It’s always a very strong defensive team from the net out. I think their top two lines are very good.”
Serratore said junior forward Donte Lawson (Greenway product) is out this weekend and for a few more weeks after sustaining an upper-body injury against Army. We got more clarity on that Wednesday.
This is now updated to include junior forward Donte Lawson’s injury status. He’ll be out 4-6 weeks with a broken sternum plate. A few details from my chat with him from about a half hour agohttps://t.co/W0lZCgGcfS
— Jared Rubado (@JaredRubadoBP) October 18, 2023
Ouch. Best to him on his recovery.
5. This weekend’s series matches up two of the better freshman defensemen you’ll see, at least in Minnesota. I don’t want to dog the young blue-liners that seem to be prevalent all over the country again this year, but enjoy watching Aaron Pionk of UMD and Eric Pohlkamp of Bemidji State.
Pionk is off to a strong start, with four assists in three games while also logging time on the power play and penalty kill. He’s already a top-four defenseman for UMD.
Pohlkamp has a chance to be really special. The 19-year-old San Jose draft pick tore up the USHL last season, with 16 goals and 51 points at Cedar Rapids. He is a candidate for the U.S. World Junior squad this winter, and he leads the Beavers with ten shots on goal (of the 42 total for the team) over their first two games of the season. He scored his first collegiate goal in Saturday’s win against Army.
“Very good player,” said Sandelin. “He’s in the running to be on the World Junior team. Just watching him on tape. He looks really good and he’s dangerous. He can get up the ice.”
6. Many college hockey eyes will be on Grand Forks this weekend, where North Dakota faces Minnesota in a showdown of top five teams in both national polls. College hockey rivalries don’t come better than this, and it’s even more meaningful when you consider that they aren’t going to play each other next season.
(Gophers coach Bob Motzko said the sides are working on a four-year deal that will start in 2025-26.)
I’m picturing a lot of education going on in both locker rooms this week, but especially UND’s. The Fighting Hawks return only 12 of 26 players from last year’s roster, turning over both main goaltenders and the entire eight-man denfensive corps.
As Brad Schlossman notes, last year’s series in Minneapolis was, um, salty. There were multiple five-minute majors, along with the hilarious scene of Rhett Pitlick throwing his stick in the stands after scoring a goal (the stick, naturally, was caught by a UND fan). He got a misconduct (Pitlick, that is).
7. It’s a busy weekend across the NCHC, and Minnesota-UND isn’t the only marquee matchup. After facing a tough Providence team Friday night, Denver heads into Conte Forum Saturday for a top-five matchup against Boston College. The Pioneers are 2-0, having won Oct. 7-8 at Alaska in their only games so far.
St. Cloud State is home to face Alaska this weekend. This isn’t the “NCHC team vs Independent” matchup you might expect. Alaska was literally a win away from getting into the NCAA Tournament last season, and the Nanooks responded to the Denver sweep by winning and tying at Michigan Tech last weekend. St. Cloud State is trying to rebound after getting swept last weekend in Mankato.
Elsewhere, Western Michigan and Bowling Green play a home and home series that starts Friday in Ohio, while Colorado College hosts Long Island for two at Ed Robson Arena. Omaha and Miami are off this weekend.
8. After a tough weekend at home, the UMD women hit the road for the first time this season. UMD is in Mankato for a pair of games against Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday afternoons. We knew this was a younger team this season, one that had to do a lot of learning. One of the more encouraging signs, head coach Maura Crowell pointed out this week, was how much better the Bulldogs got as the weekend went on.
“To hold that team five on five to zero goals against and to have a chance to win the game the whole way through, I thought was very encouraging,” she said. “We never want to get swept at home. We never want to lose. But it’s early in the season. We have a young group and we’re just going to flush that one away and get ready for the next.”
One of the really encouraging signs was the play of freshman goalie Eve Gascon, who started both games and was tremendous on Saturday. The rookie stopped 71 of 77 shots faced over the weekend, but only conceded two even-strength goals, none on Saturday.
What struck me watching her was how composed she was, and she was in good position way, way more often than not.
“I think she’s a really smart goalie,” Crowell said of Gascon. “She’s played at a lot of different levels, whether it’s women’s or men’s. Reading pucks off player sticks becomes really important when it’s a high -flying offense like OSU.”
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We have both men’s games on KDAL this weekend. 6:30pm pregame from Amsoil on Friday, then we hit the air at 5:30pm Saturday from Sanford Center in Bemidji.
Back pregame Friday with the lines.
