If you were looking for the moment where UMD’s schedule lightened up a bit, you’ll need to keep looking.
Maybe a bye week will get that done.
After playing Cornell and Minnesota over the last two weekends of non-conference play (teams UMD coach Scott Sandelin has effusively praised, saying they are “two of the better teams”), the Bulldogs jump into the NCHC meat-grinder this weekend with a home series against North Dakota.
Buckle up.
8 THOUGHTS
1. Before we dive into the business of league play, a thank you to everyone who has supported the program in the wake of Adam Johnson’s tragic passing nearly two weeks ago. If all you’ve done is send up a prayer for Adam’s family and close friends, know that it’s appreciated.
There were probably more than 3,000 people in the Hibbing Memorial Arena on Monday for a celebration of life. If you didn’t see it, you can still watch it on YouTube.
You can also read some tremendous stories about the service and those who spoke during it.
Christa Lawler was there for the Star Tribune, Matt Wellens for the Duluth News Tribune, and Michael Russo wrote on it for The Athletic. I know there are paywalls involved here, but I hope you’re able to check these out, as they are all tremendous.
On Thursday, the Nottingham Panthers announced they will return to the ice on Nov. 18 for the Adam Johnson Memorial Game against Manchester. Get full details here.
If you missed the news, it was announced during the celebration of life on Monday that Hibbing/Chisholm will retire Johnson’s No. 7 on Dec. 5 before its home opener against Duluth Denfeld. I’d suggest arriving early for that one.
Adam Johnson’s family, friends, teammates, and all affected by his tragic passing remain in our hearts.
2. You could feel the emotion inside Amsoil Arena Saturday night. In 19 years of this racket and years as a season ticket holder prior to that, I honestly don’t remember a night quite like this one.
Yes, the adversary played a role, as the crowd in Duluth is always up to see Minnesota. But the swirling emotions surrounding Adam’s horrible passing unquestionably played a role. Sandelin felt like the 5-1 loss Friday in Minneapolis did as well. He said the Bulldogs weren’t good enough that night, a point made very clear to the players Saturday morning, and that may have added some juice to the building as well. UMD hadn’t lost to Minnesota since 2018, and you have to go all the way back to 2013 to find the last time UMD lost the first game of a series to the Gophers (UMD won the second game that time).
“I think the atmosphere was really good,” said Sandelin. “I think it was a combination of a lot of those things. It was kind of a fun building to be in. The game was a pretty exciting game. I think all those things played a factor.”
“With everything that’s happened from when we found out about the news after the games at Cornell,” said goalie Matthew Thiessen, “to last weekend and the beautiful ceremony to pay tribute to him before the game, it was something that was definitely in the back of everyone’s mind. And it’s something that we’re going to hold with us for the rest of the season, playing for him and trying to honor him the best of our abilities.”
3. “Honesty is the best policy” is apparently a mantra for Thiessen. Given a chance to talk about the sprawling save he made on Minnesota’s Sam Rinzel late in overtime Saturday, preserving the 3-3 draw, Thiessen instead revealed that he had some assistance on that stop.
“I just kind of put my head down and tried to find the puck and dive over there,” said Thiessen. “And thankfully Owen Gallatin was able to get in the way of that shot as well. I think he got most of that one. So he deserves a lot more the credit for that save than I do.”
It goes in the books as a save for Thiessen, whether Gallatin got most of it or not. It’s one of those statistical things, because the shot still got to the net and had to be stopped by the goalie, no one will be able to see on the stat sheet that Gallatin blocked it. It’s a shot by Rinzel and a save by Thiessen.
You could argue it’s fitting in a way, because UMD’s skaters have made a point to sell out for pucks all season, to the point that UMD is in the top ten nationally with 120 official shot blocks in nine games.
“We have guys that are willing to go out there and lay their bodies on the line,” Thiessen said. “They’re playing for the team, trying to help the team do whatever to win. That’s a big part of it, getting in front of shots, having good sticks. All those little details go a long way.”
4. Despite a better game Saturday, Sandelin is far from satisfied heading into league play. Asked where his team is at in terms of the necessary progress, he said “a third of the way there.”
“I think our consistency to all areas of our game needs to be a little bit better. We’ve had some areas that have been good. I think our power play has been good. I think our penalty kill has been really good lately. Krausey’s (associate coach Adam Krause) working hard on that.”
Calling the season a “process,” Sandelin said there are players who are playing well. He singled out Cole Spicer, who has handled his business quite well since moving to UMD’s top line in the absence of Dominic James. Spicer has shown marked improvement in the faceoff circle, while also taking on additional power play and penalty kill duties. Sandelin said they’re mindful of Spicer’s ice time, but the team’s youngest player (he turned 19 this past June) hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down yet.
5. Luke Bast insists he’s excited. The junior defenseman transferred to UMD from North Dakota last spring and will face UND for the first time this weekend.
“Honestly, just excited,” said Bast when asked about his emotions heading into the weekend. “I think it’s a great opportunity for our group. Obviously they’re a good hockey club coming in here, and I think we’ll be ready for that.”
Bast played two years at North Dakota, but was injured most of the first half last season, only played in nine games after Christmas (13 for the season), and decided to enter the transfer portal. He said his first priority all along was staying in the NCHC.
“When you enter the portal,” he said, “you have really no idea what to expect, what kind of offers you’re going to get and whatnot, but I knew in my heart that I wanted to be in the same conference. And I was fortunate enough that Duluth was a spot that I was able to find.”
When asked about trying to beat North Dakota, Bast said “you have to out-work them.”
“Are we going to win with all our talent? Are we going to out-skill teams? Probably not, which is fine. We’ve got a group that’s willing to win and do the little things to win.”
6. And, yes, you’d better have the ol’ work boots on when you face UND. Forget the eight-man turnover on the Fighting Hawks’ blue line. Yes, it was a really interesting and valid story entering the season, as head coach Brad Berry spent preseason practices looking at the new faces and trying to find combinations that would work for his team.
Clearly, Berry found them.
UND is 5-2-1 against a far-from-easy schedule that’s already included a series at Boston University, a home set with Minnesota (both splits), and the only loss so far for Mike Hastings at Wisconsin (a 2-0 win over the Badgers Oct. 14). UND has been credited with 125 blocked shots in ten games, a pace not far behind UMD so far.
Sandelin offered great detail when asked this week about facing teams that block shots the way the current and recent UMD opponents do.
“Shoot pucks quicker,” he said, then adding “A lot of times we get pucks, and we want to stick handle it once or twice.
“Teams are too good with their sticks and bodies and shot lanes. Sometimes you just got to accept shooting pucks wide. You try and spread teams out. I think for us too, just when we go low to high and D to D, our weak side D has been not where they need to be. I think we’ve made it easy on teams. We need to be a little bit wider. We need to recognize that.
“I think we need to make good decisions. Like, when can you shoot it, if it comes low to high on the strong side, can you shoot it right away? Do we have traffic? Does it have to go D to D? If I don’t have anything, can it go back below? We call them resets. You got to make those decisions as a defenseman early. But shooting pucks, you know, making decisions low to high early to create space is important. Our D need to make good reads, our forwards need to do their job as far as routes to the net, but you got to get pucks past those layers, and if you can’t, you can still shoot pucks wide. You’ve got to get it down there, but I just didn’t think we’ve shot pucks quick enough, and teams have been good with their sticks.”
7. All eight NCHC teams are playing this weekend, with two of them in non-conference. Omaha will finish an eight-game homestand with two games against Long Island, while Denver travels to Arizona State for a big series against a Sun Devils team that has NCAA aspirations this year.
In league play, St. Cloud State plays at Western Michigan, a series that I’ll have eyes on for multiple reasons. 1) SCSU is UMD’s next opponent, and 2) I want to see how this version of the Broncos plays at home against a tough NCHC adversary.
Also, Miami is home to face Colorado College, as both teams look to get off the mat. Denver swept the Tigers by an 11-2 aggregate last weekend. Miami was swept as well, losing by a combined 9-2 at St. Cloud State. Both teams had solid non-conference runs in October, with Miami’s win/tie against ASU the most impressive result from the two.
8. Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald had a really interesting piece this week, talking about the low number of American-born players dotting rosters in the Canadian major junior system.
This year, there were 69 Americans on opening-day CHL rosters — the lowest mark in 21 years.
It is a 55 percent drop from the 2015-16 season, when a record 154 Americans were on opening-day CHL rosters.
The drop is even greater in Minnesota and Massachusetts — two of college hockey’s highest-recruited states. In 2015-16, there were 20 players from those states on opening-day CHL rosters. This year, there’s one.
College Hockey, Inc., was founded in 2009, and it’s clear the organization is gaining traction, and junior players — both from the U.S. and Canada — are taking steps to maintain NCAA eligibility.
As Brad notes in his story, North Dakota lost eight recruits to the CHL (the overarching entity that includes the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL) between 2011-15. UND hasn’t lost a single recruit to major juniors in the eight years since.
Players like Cale Makar, Matty Beniers, Adam Fantilli, Adam Fox, and so many others have made big impacts in the NHL after playing college hockey, and having such high-end talent in the college game has only fed onto itself. Now, you see guys like Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, Jimmy Snuggerud, and a lot of players not mentioned here playing at a really high level in the NCAA ranks.
It doesn’t matter if you’re born in the U.S., Canada, or elsewhere. College hockey has become a major developmental arm for the NHL, and all of us who follow the game are benefiting from it.
_________
6:30pm pregame Friday, 5:30 on Saturday on KDAL.
If you’re attending, Friday is the Teddy Bear Toss, so bring a new teddy bear and throw it on the ice after the first period to help kids in need this holiday season.
Also note that it’s Festival of Trees weekend, which is always a busy event at the DECC. Parking might be an adventure. Use the skywalk if you’d prefer to avoid a potential snarl in the arena lots/ramp.
Back pregame with lines.
