Obviously, two significant (and historic) non-conference games loom before November ends, but now the UMD men’s hockey team starts playing games for conference points.
The NCHC is widely-regarded as the best league in the country, and nothing that’s happened in the month of October should make anyone think otherwise. The NCHC is the only league that goes into its conference schedule with an aggregate non-conference winning percentage over .600 (the Big Ten and Hockey East are both not far under .600).
Now we get to start watching these teams beat the hell out of each other. May the best team win the Penrose, and maybe another natty along the way.
10 THOUGHTS
1. UMD has played 75 percent of its games (six of eight) without its best player, as junior forward Max Plante continues nursing an upper-body injury. Things are about to get harder with the conference schedule getting cranked up, but so far it’s hard to argue the Bulldogs haven’t handled Plante’s absence well.
Yes, 5-1-2 is a bit of a clunky record. And it probably doesn’t sound all that impressive. But UMD has not lost a game in regulation through its first eight.
“Obviously not having your best player or one of your best players is a huge hurdle,” associate coach Adam Krause said. “But getting some guys into some positions they probably wouldn’t be in right now is hopefully going to be a real positive. Now this early, yes, there’s some, some situations where you probably let some guys ease into it a little bit more, but at the end of the day, it’s a good opportunity for guys. We’re getting into our league play. It’s going to challenge us even more.”
“I think our team is big on just the next man up mentality,” said junior forward Callum Arnott. “Obviously, Max is a huge loss for us. But I think certain guys that have got an opportunity have done very well.”
2. We’ve also seen clear growth from UMD. For example, since that ugly overtime sequence against Augustana, UMD has played two overtimes to a stalemate. The Bulldogs have been gradually better in each one, to the point that they arguably deserved a better fate in overtime against the Gophers.
We saw it again over the weekend.
Scott Sandelin was not happy with his team’s play in a 4-1 home win Friday against Bemidji State. It goes beyond the goal given up with 22 seconds left, where a bad pinch led to a Bemidji three-on-one, but Sandelin was pretty blunt about that, both Saturday before the rematch and then again Wednesday at his weekly media conference.
“I felt like we lost the game,” Sandelin said of allowing that goal. “I really did. Like number one, we didn’t play great through a couple periods. It was a better third period. But to give up that and we’ve been, and this isn’t the pick on any player, we talked about it with five minutes to go. We got enough goals. Just keep pucks in front of you. Keep the play in front of you. Keep it down there and play zone to zone to zone. And we just made a bad decision. If that’s first period, I could live with it.”
Presented a similar situation Saturday, UMD kept Bemidji State off the board and only let the Beavers get two shots through to freshman goalie Carl Axelsson, who stopped them both.
“We’re trying to coach the process,” Krause said, “and understanding the result. Some nights you’re going to play great and lose and some nights you’re going to play terrible and win. And so at the end of the day, giving yourself the best chance to win no matter if we’re up by four down by four, one minute into the game, one minute left in the game, just try to play the same way every time. Let’s try to play the right way. And so that was probably a little bit of a bitter end to a good Friday night win. (It’s an) opportunity for us to talk about it Saturday, learn from it and move on from it. And hopefully we don’t see that moving forward.”
3. One of the reasons UMD is not just surviving, but thriving, without Max Plante is the play of fellow co-captain Ty Hanson.
The junior defenseman leads the team with seven goals, he’s tied with Jayson Shaugabay for the points lead at 11, and his play has been that of an exceptionally driven, competitive guy who badly wants to lead this team to its goals.
“He’s the most consistent competitor I’ve probably seen maybe outside of Max to be honest in the last few years,” Krause said of Hanson. “It’s really impressive what he brings. He’s a shift away from making a difference in a game. He drives, he wants to make a difference every play and I think it’s obviously really rewarding for him to be rewarded on the stat sheet like that. He’s very important part of our team on the back end. He’s hard to play against. I think leading in goals was probably not on my bingo card either, but I’m really excited for him. He’s a guy that just deserves it because what he puts into it.”
“He sets that tone even in practice every day when it’s needed and he plays that game too,” Sandelin said. “Sometimes he wants to make something happen in a game or he has that feel or and sometimes it gets him in trouble like any player. But you never want to take that out of players. I think he’s done a better job of kind of picking those spots. He plays the most minutes, kills penalties, blocks shots, runs a power play, and plays against everybody’s best players. He’s hard to play against.”
4. When his team needed a goal Saturday, Hanson delivered. UMD ran a set play during a power play that saw Hanson gain possession in the UMD zone, drop the puck to Shaugabay, and start zooming up the ice. Instead of skating it up to gain the line, Shaugabay zoomed a pass to the Bemidji blue line, where Arnott was waiting to tap the puck to Hanson and spring him on a breakaway as the Beaver back line got caught flat-footed.
It’s a play UMD’s run a few times, and without giving a lot away, Hanson said it’s based on the look they get from the opposing penalty kill, and it’s not necessarily something they’ve predetermined.
“It’s more so if we see something,” Hanson said, “on the first break out or two, the first couple of reps, and we think it can work. It doesn’t really change depending on team. It’s kind of just, if we think it’s there, then we just do it.”
“I’m not going to say too much about it because we’d like to run it more,” Arnott said. “But we kind of just feel out when is the right time, when is not right time. And most of the time we catch teams sleeping, which is nice.”
It’s not often that you see a defenseman break in by himself on a power play. Hanson isn’t going to miss much.
“It’s different,” Hanson said. “I don’t get very much in a breakaway, but we scored on it three or four times now. It’s cool. It’s fun.”
5. Shaugabay has now played seven games at center. His ability to adapt to that position has given UMD a lot of flexibility with its lineup, and it doesn’t appear to have hampered Shaugabay’s offensive game at all.
“I think I’ve been getting more more comfortable in the middle,” he said, “and I’ve been playing with really good players throughout the whole year, so it makes it easy for me.”
“Obviously that’s a lot to do with the type of player he is,” Krause said. “Very smart player. He’s got some experience. But I think it gave him an opportunity to drive his own line. When he’s a part of (a line with) Zam (Plante) and Max, it’s very special, but I think this gives him a little bit more of ownership in what his line does. I think it’s a great part of his development.”
In our long conversation Wednesday, Krause did hint to the possibility of Shaugabay moving back to wing in the future. When Max returns, after all, there will be some options for the staff to consider.
6. One of the reasons UMD will have options is the play of junior center Peyton Platter, who is currently on the Bulldogs’ fourth line, a line that last weekend included junior Blake Bechen and senior Braden Fischer.
The trio might not have scored last weekend against Bemidji State, but they did a good job frustrating whatever group they were playing against. It was even more noticeable against Minnesota the previous weekend, where their work on the cycle wore the Gophers down time after time.
Platter is a big, strong center who has done a great job on faceoffs. He’s earning more time on the penalty kill, and he’s a recent addition to the Bulldogs’ second power play unit.
“He’s done a nice job there,” Krause said. “I think we’re in a really good spot. I think part of it is learning him too and him learning us and learning our system and he’s done an unbelievable job. He probably has exceeded my expectations in terms of what he does every single day. The consistency has been pretty impressive. His effort, the way he stays on pucks, he just makes it hard for other teams. I think a lot of teams and lot of coaching staffs have complimented his play and just what a presence he is. Everybody wants to be rewarded production wise. I think that will come. We’ve been reminding him how great he’s been in other areas. I think he’ll continue to do that. He’s been great on the penalty kill. And so I think opportunity to move up our lineup will be great for us having some flexibility with what we do in the middle of the ice.”
7. The steadiest presence for UMD has been in goal. Axelsson has been nothing short of outstanding, with four wins, two ties, a .961 save percentage, and a goals against under 1.00 through six starts.
Axelsson has been busier than the UMD staff would like at times, but he’s also looked really good when not seeing a lot of action for long stretches. His overall demeanor has been tremendous.
“His demeanor is probably one of the things that we liked the most about him through the process of watching him and his development is he’s very calm in the net,” Krause said. “It feels like he’s in control. Again, we’ve got to limit our some of the chances that he’s had to save. Those are certainly not acceptable in some regards. We’ve been here before where it’s nice to know that you can probably not be perfect and you’ve got a guy back there, but we’re hoping to tighten some things up where we put him in some situations. It’s been nice to know that he’s been put in some situations, he’s come out the other side, and he’s been really good.”
“Carl had a great weekend for us,” Sandelin said of the NCHC Goaltender of the Week. “And he’s had a great start. And hopefully we can keep doing the job in front of him.”
8. While there are only four league series this weekend, all ten teams are playing. Besides UMD and CC, we will see St. Thomas play for its first-ever NCHC points at Miami. The Tommies were swept by Minnesota State last weekend, scoring just one goal despite a gaggle of good opportunities in both ends of that home-and-home series. Miami took two from Alaska-Anchorage at home.
Omaha will travel to Denver, as the Pioneers spend a third straight week at home, fourth in a row sleeping in their own beds when you account for a bye week.
Arizona State and new coach Dave Hakstol are at St. Cloud State. The Sun Devils swept UMass-Lowell, then had a bye week, then introduced Hakstol to local media this week. The Huskies are 2-3 with wins over Michigan Tech and Boston College.
Non-conference, Long Island travels to Western Michigan for a Thursday-Friday series at Lawson Ice Arena, while North Dakota and Michigan State meet in Austin, Texas, in the latest UND destination game.
9. The UMD women will be shorthanded this weekend against Minnesota, perhaps historically so. With five players — goalie Eve Gascon, defenders Ida Karlsson and Tuuli Talinen, and forwards Caitlin Kraemer and Paulina Salonen — on international duty, UMD will have just ten forwards, five defenders and two goalies available. It’s believed to be the smallest gameday roster in the program’s history.
Junior defender Kate Kosobud noted that, with captains in Kraemer and Karlsson and an assistant captain in Gascon all gone, Zoey Krock and Rae Mayer have been picked to help lead the Bulldogs the next two series.
Head coach Laura Schuler is excited to see what some players can do in different roles.
“I think these next three weeks will be able to present that for us because we’re going to have people in different situations,” she said. “Different people PKing, different people on power plays and things like that. So it’s going to look a little different, but still exciting for them to be able to step up.”
Schuler also said they’ve emphasized and will continue to emphasize shift length with such a short bench this weekend, as well as the mid-November series with Ohio State.
“To me, your shifts need to be 30 seconds,” Schuler said, “and they’ll run up into the 40s, 45s, and that’s definitely too long. Just from a physiological standpoint, you got to keep them short. If you want to be at your best, you got to keep them under 30 seconds. I remember an interview with (Sidney) Crosby with the Canadian national team a long time ago. I think his average shift was something like 28 seconds. And they had asked him, how can you keep your shift so short? And he’s like, that’s just what you do when you want to be good. It’s going to be really important for us this weekend.”
“I think it’s going to be specifically important in the second and third period,” Kosobud said, “because everyone’s fresh come first period. Our team is good in the second and third period, and I think it’s because we keep our shift length so short. That’s going to be super important and honestly a good reminder for myself to say something to the team before the games.”
“Our coaches are really big about taking short shifts in every game,” said junior forward Josie St. Martin. “So I think just sticking to our game plan and there’s going to be opportunities for everyone.”
10. It’s Gopher weekend, which is always special. UMD has a bunch of Minnesotans on the roster, including an ex-Gopher in Kosobud. Asked by a reporter if she still keeps in touch with any of her old teammates, Kosobud said she does. The Moorhead native noted she’d gotten to know some of her Minnesota teammates before they got to college. But Kosobud said she’s focused on the Bulldogs.
“I think honestly the team has changed so much and with the new coaching staff that’s in, I haven’t really been too involved with anything that’s going on there,” she said.
St. Martin hails from Stillwater, so she’s definitely excited for the weekend.
“We have a big rivalry with them, so it’s a really important weekend,” she said. “And obviously, we’re missing a couple girls, but so are they. And it’ll be a really good test to see how we do against that team. Obviously, they’ve had a good start, too. So I just think it’ll be a really fun environment. And there’s always a little extra aggression or intensity in the arena when our two teams are playing.”
“We’re excited to play them,” Schuler said. “Obviously last year splitting with them was very exciting, especially finishing off the season with beating them. Excited to take on this challenge again And I think this is an opportunity for us to kind of showcase just how strong our foundation is.”
______
We’ll be in Colorado Springs for the weekend, with both games facing off at 8pm Central. 7:30pm pregames both nights. Back with lines and a few other notes ahead of the Friday tilt.
Comments