Things we hate talking about: Injuries.
Things we have to talk about: Injuries.
A UMD team that appeared to have improved its center depth going into this season is already having it tested big-time, and the Bulldogs have played all of three games.
That is how we will lead off our first Monday column of the campaign. Sorry it’s not a rosier topic. Or a clearer one.
8 THOUGHTS
1. UMD has some early-season injury issues. As we mentioned with the lines before Saturday’s game, junior forward Dominic James went down with an injury Friday. This is the best clip I’ve seen of what happened.
Tanner Latsch nets his first as a Wildcat from a tight angle! #NMUwildcats pic.twitter.com/A9l4PEPlN1
— Northern Michigan Hockey (@NMUHockey) October 14, 2023
Obvious upper body injury for James, who was — per coach Scott Sandelin — scheduled for an MRI Monday. We get the men’s and women’s coaches for their weekly availability on Wednesday, at which point we may get more clarity on James’ injury and his status going forward.
I’m not about to start speculating now. You see here what I saw. Hopefully good news comes soon, because James is a key player for UMD in all phases.
After talking preseason about the improved depth, the Bulldogs suffered another blow late in the first period when sophomore center Jack Smith was waylaid from behind and crashed hard into the boards. The hit was reviewed and a five-minute major penalty for boarding was assessed. Smith left the ice under his own power but did not return because of an upper body injury. His status going forward is — like James’ — about as clear as mud as I sit here now.
If either or both are out long term, it’s a massive issue for a team that appeared to be taking big steps toward cultivating depth at a key position.
2. If UMD is to improve in the middle — with or without James/Smith — the emergence of Cole Spicer would be a gigantic development.
The 19-year-old sophomore was around 45 percent on his faceoffs last year, mostly centering bottom-six lines. With James’ injury, Sandelin elevated Spicer to the top line with Quinn Olson and Luke Loheit, and he had an outstanding game with a short-handed goal and an assist. Spicer went 16-for-21 on faceoffs, a 76.2 percent success rate that blows away any previous single-game performance. He added four shots on goal and was a plus-two in a game where UMD scored half its goals on the power play.
His short-handed goal gave UMD a 2-1 lead, a lead it would not relinquish on another wild night at Amsoil Arena. Spicer created a turnover at the defensive blue line and took off and, well, just see it for yourself.
How many Bulldog skaters on the ice does it take to score a goal? Only 4⃣ apparently!
2-1 UMD | #UMDvsNMU | #BulldogCountry pic.twitter.com/mFs7AbgHMu
— UMD Men’s Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) October 15, 2023
On a night where Sandelin lauded his team’s improved intensity level, Spicer might have been the biggest revelation.
3. Cody Chupp is going to want to bronze the game tapes from the weekend. The second-year assistant coach is the architect of a UMD power play that went 7-for-15 in the two-game series, and it was a second away from being 8-for-15, as Blake Biondi’s goal in the third period Saturday was deemed to have come one second after the NMU penalty expired.
The Bulldogs only had two power plays the previous weekend against Michigan Tech, so the volume was nice to see, even if some of the calls might have been a bit sketchy. We saw a team that played with some urgency on the man advantage, attacked the net, and had the kind of shot mentality Sandelin looks for in power plays.
It was nice to see them score in different ways. Not all the offense came on one set play or something, they made a few different things work. Promising signs, no doubt.
4. Of course, having Ben Steeves doesn’t hurt. The sophomore was maybe a little quiet against Tech in the Hall of Fame Game, but still made his presence felt with a slick shootout goal that brought the assembled masses to their feet.
Steeves scored four goals on the weekend, three of them coming on the power play. He loaded up his lethal right-circle shot a couple times, scored once off the rush, and scored an even-strength goal after Carter Loney sprung him for a breakaway. He also shot his Cy Young candidacy in the foot with two assists.
“He’s a goal scorer,” said Sandelin of Steeves, who already has 25 career goals at UMD. “He starts finding the net, that’s good.”
There’s certainly a swagger about him. He’s the kind of player that can bring you out of your seat, because it feels like something special can happen every time he touches the puck.
5. Poor Adam Krause might want to burn the tape. Northern Michigan went 6-for-18 on the power play over the weekend, with three goals on nine chances in each game. Tanner Latsch scored five goals for NMU, four of them coming from the left side circle, the Ben Steeves oppo office, I guess.
In Krause’s defense, he lost a key penalty killer in James on Friday, then another in Smith on Saturday. Thankfully, as Krause pointed out to me last week, Sandelin has been willing to try some guys in different spots on special teams, and the work they’ve done to develop a depth of capable killers will hopefully help them work through these injuries.
Goalies on both teams had weekends worth forgetting, as well, which may have done a thing or two to these special teams numbers. As usual, a lot of little things will need to improve for UMD, starting with faceoffs and moving to structure, stick position, and more.
It’s way early yet, and we’ve seen some promising signs, it’s just a matter of bringing it all together.
6. Sandelin liked a lot of Saturday, besides the part about winning. He didn’t mince words before game, saying he was “pissed” about some of the penalties his players took, and talking about them not having a high enough intensity level.
“We talk about staying with games,” he said. “Sometimes, those games are very, very hard to stay in. I thought we played a better game five on five. Power play was clicking all weekend. I’m not expecting us to be in 8-5 games, it was kind of like the old days.
“We challenged our guys a little bit. I thought we were a little better.”
Even though UMD took nine penalties Saturday, Sandelin wasn’t as peeved about them.
“It was chippy all night,” he said. “I thought they had a lot of high hits. I told our guys ‘You’ve got to protect yourself.’”
7. It was a tough weekend for the UMD women, one that unfortunately didn’t lack controversy. Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Ohio State turned on a call that was very difficult to see the WCHA crew on hand make. Ohio State’s Kenzie Hauswirth skated towards the UMD net, colliding with UMD defender Nina Jobst-Smith near the goal line.
Jobst-Smith wasn’t looking at Hauswirth, instead her eyes were in the almost completely opposite direction because the puck was there.
Despite this, not only did a penalty get called, but after a video review it was deemed a major for contact to the head. The replay made available to me in the broadcast booth did not show any direct head contact, and it also did not show Jobst-Smith moving a muscle towards Hauswirth. The OSU player simply skated into a stationary Jobst-Smith.
Of course, Ohio State scored twice in the second half of the major power play, the only two goals of the night.
It’s another in what’s become way too long a line of mysterious, inexplicable calls made by WCHA officials, even with the benefit of video replay. I’m not going to bore you with another rant about this tired topic. I’ll just point you to one from last year after another one of these calls that followed a video review that should have shown referees the obvious, yet they chose to ignore it.
It’s disappointing. These student athletes deserve so much better.
8. The UMD men wrap up their CCHA Tour this weekend with a home and home against Bemidji State, a series that will begin Friday in Duluth and finish at Sanford Center Saturday night. The Beavers split their two Ice Breaker games last weekend, losing to Wisconsin in overtime and beating Army in overtime on a winning goal by Lleyton Roed.
The Bulldogs women will travel for the first time this season, heading to Mankato to face Minnesota State Friday and Saturday afternoons. Minnesota State was swept last weekend at Wisconsin, outscored 15-0 over the two games.
We’ll have the men’s games on KDAL this weekend. Back Thursday with a weekend preview and other notes.
