In writing about North Dakota’s struggles with giving up goals off the rush and pointing out that UND spends the least time in its zone than any team in Division I, Friend of the Blog Brad Schlossman also unearthed the following:
While North Dakota is first in that stat, four of the top five are in the NCHC, with UMD fourth and Miami fifth.
(Third is Western Michigan, which is in Grand Forks this weekend.)
So my point, and I do have one, is that these are two teams that are — so far — elite at keeping their adversaries from getting set up for long stretches in the offensive zone. It’s going to be fascinating to watch this weekend and see if either can establish a forecheck and grind the other team down a little bit.
We did see UMD spend some stretches in its zone last weekend in Colorado Springs, but the Bulldogs did a really nice job of preventing Colorado College from generating a lot of great scoring chances. That kind of defensive hockey would help the Bulldogs go far, especially if Max Plante’s eventual return sparks the offense at all.
Lines are jumbled up from last weekend, not completely so if you were paying attention in the third period.
Carl Axelsson vs Matteo Drobac.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Anderson – Plante (Zam) – Shaugabay
Hall – Platter – Bechen
Plante (Victor) – Arnott – Kohanski
Bibby – Fischer – Bentz
UMD defense
Hanson – Siepmann
Pionk – Kleber
Cleveland – Murphy
McInnis
UMD goalies
Axelsson – Dahlmeir – Sheffield
Miami forwards
Delic – Kucharcik – Deputy
Smith – Morozov – Giampa
Seelinger – Baker – Grimes
Loomer – Hay – Walker
Miami defense
Lukashevich – Huston
McEwen – Runtso
Helledy – Vukas
Thompson
Miami goalies
Drobac – Yegorov – Motew
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