A bit of randomness from RW77

University of Alaska Anchorage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ok, it's been a while since I posted here and there's a few random things I'm going to mini-rant about.  Before I do, however, I freely acknowledge that I'm no expert and that these are MY OPINIONS ONLY.

Ok....

Sure, I'll take on a job that's sure to be a lost cause...

That's my take on what a coach would have to think about when accepting the UAA Head Coaching gig.  As a UND fan, you don't get much insight into the internals and the atmosphere around the UAA program in Anchorage, but over the period of time from the end of Hill's tenure until now, it seems like it's just one bad year after another.  Sure, there were a few "ups" along the way but comon...

Now everyone, including alumni and former players, are giving the vote of No Confidence to UAA AD Steve Cobb.  I find myself wondering if Cobb is behind all of it, or is it above even him?

I can't imagine trying to sell UAA to a player from...say... Massachusetts, California, or even the Midwest.  It's so far away and isolated (even if it is a wonderful place...at least that's how I remember Anchorage anyhow).  I remember thinking during the coaching search after Hill left that whoever gets that job will inherit the toughest coaching gig in the WCHA and certainly among the hardest in all of DI hockey.

It seems that NO ONE wants to go to Anchorage.  So, if you keep on dreaming of diamonds being found in the rough that you convince to come to campus, how can you not have bad years year after year?

I don't think UAA should fold their program.  I do think they have something to bring to the table, but UAA is a big time dependent upon institutional support.  If it doesn't get it, it goes under.  I'd venture the same thing goes for MTU and even UNO (living in Omaha, I can tell you if the Husker football team is playing, no one gives a flying bleep about UNO hockey).  UNO gets it.  I believe MTU has gotten it as well.  UAA definitely does not... at least not totally.  If it goes completely, then it will follow the math UAH did but succeed and go the way of Findlay, Iona, and Wayne State.

Submariners on Skates

I despise diving.  I also despise officials that take forever to get the game going again after reviewing it but....  I think that's what's going to have to happen.  I am convinced that on ice officials do not call diving as much as they should because they cannot recognize diving when they see it in real time.  The truth is that diving has become a part of the game.  Not just because the refs don't call it when it happens, but because the coaches (at best) ignore it when players do it or, even worse, condone such acts.  Even the media at times refers to a clever dive as "Drawing a penalty."  (Though I admit freely that not every time a player draws a penalty is he diving).

I think the only ways to eliminate diving are long term or unacceptable solutions.  The long term is simply to replace all the coaches in amateur hockey with hockey coaches that have a heavy hand against diving.  They teach that it is wrong and do something about it when they see it (with or without their rose colored glasses).  There's nothing to say that this is even possible, either.

Secondly, use the replay system... post game.  If the head office spots a dive by another player, that player is brought in for a conduct review and a 1 or 2 game suspension gets handed out for diving after the fact. 

Related articles

• UAA Suspends Search For Head Hockey Coach (minnesota.cbslocal.com)
• Hockey alums give AD a no-confidence vote (sfgate.com)
• UNO Hockey: Ryan Walters to return for senior year (thehockeywriters.com)
• UAA arena to be called Alaska Airlines Center (sfgate.com)
• AD Steve Cobb Interview on UAA Firing/New Arena (thearu.com)

The UNO Mavericks get some good news, Ryan Walters to return for senior year

@zigfracassi At his year end meeting this week with Coach Blais he told him and his teammates he is returning for his senior year.#frozen4
— Ken Walters (@UM86) April 26, 2013

It’s always good news when a top players announces that he’s coming back for his senior year, especially with the amount of players that bolt for the professional ranks each spring, after their college seasons are over. This week, the UNO Mavericks got some very good news, when they found out that forward Ryan Walters is going to return to the Mavericks for his senior year.

The Hobey Baker Finalist Walters, was second in scoring in the WCHA and the NCAA last season scoring (22g-30a—52pts). Walters will be the top returning scorer in the newly formed NCHC (43g-57a—100pts).

Related articles

• Goon's 2012-13 Blogger All-WCHA Awards Poll (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• My 2012-2013 All-WCHA Ballot (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey Awards (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

NCAA Hockey: The more things change, the more they won't be the same

Photo from Brian Sullivan, USCHO

This morning, I was reading the Grand Forks Herald, when I came across another great article; Change may-or may not-be coming for college hockey, written by Hall of Fame sports writer Virg Foss. Check it out.

Virg Foss, Grand Forks Herald — Of course more change is already upon us as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as we’ve known it all our lives breaks apart.

As Minnesota and Wisconsin head to the Big Ten and North Dakota, Duluth, St. Cloud State, Colorado College and Denver land in the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference, more change is coming, like it or not.

We’re already seen that college hockey’s most intense rivalry, that of North Dakota and Minnesota, won’t continue on a yearly basis, at least as long as Don Lucia is coaching the Gophers.

It’s Lucia’s decision to limit that rivalry, against the expressed wishes of past and current UND and Gopher players and fans of all ages. It’s a decision I do not understand and for reasons given by Lucia that are questionable at best.

I am with Virg, I’ve never really understood, why one team would kill a very popular and lucrative college hockey rivalry, but maybe college hockey will go on without it. I am sure that Ohio State and Penn State will fill the void though. Yeah right!  This past spring, when it seemed like there might be a chance to have a mulligan on this historic series, the hockey God’s didn’t allow the rivalry to happen, so maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

Maybe it’s time that we embrace change?

I am almost certain, that Miami and Western Michigan fans will soon hate the team from the University of North Dakota with no-name. Probably, after the second time, the two teams play on the ice.

Moving forward.

After watching 2012-13 college hockey season, nothing really made sense this season. The traditional “sexy” teams (Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Dakota, Boston College, Boston University) weren’t in the Frozen Four.  ECAC teams Yale and Quinnipiac proved that you don’t have to have a roster full of NHL first round draft choices to win the NCAA title either.

That doesn’t mean that these teams didn’t have talent, because they had some great talent. Yale had talented guys that bought into a system and played a great team game. Yale was a miserable team to play against, defensively. Yale also got hot at the right time and was the best team for the last four games of the season, when it mattered the most.

The list of teams the Yale Bulldogs beat was impressive, because they beat some of the best teams in the country, to win the NCAA title, erasing any doubts who the best team in the country was.

During that time frame, the Yale Bulldogs took down Minnesota no. 1 seed, North Dakota no. 2 seed, UMass-Lowell no. 1 seed and Quinnipiac no. 1 overall seed. That’s a pretty good hockey resume, it also proved that their season wasn’t a fluke.  If you’re still not a believer, Yale also went 4-0 against the WCHA, a league that sent six teams to the NCAA tourney.

What has happened is the college hockey world has changed, the other schools have found a way to persevere and they overcome some of the self-perceived advantages that the bigger schools thought they had. Apparently  big television contracts and cathedrals  posing as hockey arena’s doesn’t always equate to wins and NCAA titles.

Maybe these teams flew under the radar a bit, while other teams were patting themselves on the back. That being said, the rest of the college hockey world was put back on notice last weekend. There are no gimmes in college hockey, not any more.

Finally, I think what also caught people’s eye, was Yale head coach Keith Allain celebrating a win with his team and enjoying the moment.

UND Hockey: Knight and Kristo are All-Americans

Congratulations to our own Danny Kristo (1st team) and Corban Knight (2nd), who have both been named 2012-13 CCM All-Americans. @undmhockey
— Jayson Hajdu (@UNDSID) April 12, 2013

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota senior linemates Danny Kristo and Corban Knight have been named 2012-13 CCM Division I All-Americans by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA). The announcement was made today at the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

Kristo was named to the All-America West First Team, while Knight garnered All-American West Second Team honors.

A native of Eden Prairie, Minn., Kristo was named a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 finalist and the College Hockey News Player of the Year in 2012-13 after leading the WCHA in goals (26) and ranking second nationally in points (52). Both totals were career highs, as was his team-leading +17 plus/minus rating. He also matched his career high in assists (26), becoming UND’s first player since Jeff Panzer (1997-2001) to record 20-plus assists in each of his four seasons.

Kristo was also named to the All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) First Team and the NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team, earned his second straight UND Virg Foss 3-Star Award, was a two-time WCHA Player of the Week, and was a national player of the month honorable mention in February.

Knight, a native of High River, Alberta, was also named a Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalist after achieving career highs in points (49), goals (16) and assists (33). His 33 assists, which rank third nationally, made him UND’s first player to put together back-to-back 30-assist seasons since current Minnesota Wild star Zach Parise (2002-04).

Knight also earned All-WCHA Second Team honors and was named to the NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team. He led the nation with a career-high 623 assists, 120 more than any other player and second-most in UND single-season history. A two-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week and the national player of the month in December, Knight put together a 19-game point streak that was UND’s longest in 25 years.

Kristo and Knight are the 70^th and 71^st All-Americans in UND men’s hockey history and the ninth and 10^th under current head coach Dave Hakstol. It also marks the 19^th different year in which UND has had multiple All-Americans in the same season.

TSN.CA NCAA PLAYER RANKINGS

Over the TSN.CA web site, they have the NCAA Hockey Player rankings. Seven of the top 20 players are WCHA players and two of the top 20 are from UND. It's also interesting, that there are a lot of free agent goalies in the top 20 as well. I would expect Eric Hartzell from QU to get a free agent offer as soon as his team is done with the Frozen Four.

Dillon Simpson to return for his senior season

For the number of you who seem to think I may be planning on leaving UND, I'm not going anywhere #senioryear
— Dillon Simpson (@Simmer18) April 4, 2013

UND Hockey fans breathed a sigh of relief today, as they got some really good news, soon to be senior defenseman Dillon Simpson tweeted that he will return for his senior year on his twitter account today. I  would have to think that Simpson would be a good candidate to wear a letter for UND next season. Simpson was the leading point scorer for defensmen last season with (5g-19a—24pts). In 114 games at North Dakota Simpson has scored (9g-43a—52pts).

Related articles

• Goon's 2012-13 Blogger All-WCHA Awards Poll (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

DU fires George Gwozdecky

Grade-A source says George Gwozdecky did not resign. Forced out, terminated, for lack of NCAA success and failure to come to terms 4 ext
— Mike Chambers (@MChambersDP) April 1, 2013

I have to say that I am in an utter state of shock. I can't imagine not seeing Gwoz behind the DU bench next season or standing on the dasher. People that watch college hockey, know that George Gwozdecky is the face of the Pioneer program.

Gwozdecky vs. DU. He told me 2 weeks ago an extension was coming. Blow-up 2day at school in mtg. Only coach to win 20 games last 12 years
— Mike Chambers (@MChambersDP) April 1, 2013

DU's Nick Shore hit to the head of UNH Kevin Goumas

In all of my day's of watching hockey, on any level, I have never seen anything like this. If you watch the video you will see that neither on-ice officials had their arm up on the play.

In other words, there was no penalty called on the play. However, after the officials went to the UNH players box and talked to the UNH coach Dick Umile, they officials then went to the penalty box reviewed the play and called a penalty on Nick Shore.

So the line on Shore was a five minute major for contact to the head and a game misconduct for his hit to the head of UNH forward Kevin Goumas. Seems reasonable to some right, it's not in the NCAA Hockey Rule book.

The line from Manchester is that the linesman or assistant ref made the call, but does anyone see his hand in the air either. I don't think so. No where on the video, is there any evidence of any one wearing stripes making a call on the play.

@coachstarman If you go back and watch the video, none of the refs had their arms in the air on the play. ndgoon.blogspot.com/2013/03/dus-ni…
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) March 30, 2013

A few things.... NCAA Hockey

Question for UND fans. If you had to choose someone OTHER than North Dakota to win the national title this year, who would it be? Why?
— Sioux Tradition (@SiouxTradition) March 28, 2013

Chad from a Tradition of Execellence posted this question on Twitter and this was my answer.

@siouxtradition NO ONE!!! :)
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) March 29, 2013

Here is the link to the WDAZ Story on the UND trip the Grand Rapids. Corey from WDAZ will be with the team as they play in the Regional

UND Ready for West Regional after WCHA Final Five Loss to CC | WDAZ | Grand Forks, ND shar.es/dpC6b via @sharethis
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) March 29, 2013

Another Epic Fail, this time by the Niagara University SID office. It's really not all that hard, A simple search on www.google.com could have cleared this up. I am also sure that SID from UND Jayson Hajdu could have answered any questions that the SID Niagara could have had, as well.

For the geographically challenged, NDSU is in Fargo, ND and doesn't have Division I college hockey. UND is Grand Forks, ND and is the seven time NCAA Division I Champion. NDSU is a football school, UND is a hockey school and an up an coming school in FCS football.

A quick flight to Grand Rapids.Check out Niagara game notes.Sioux logos and "North Dakota State University" twitter.com/Hamsbrew/statu…
— Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 27, 2013

CC's Joe Marciano hits Minnesota's Tom Serratore from behind

Colorado College Tiger defenseman Joe Marciano received a five minute major for this cross-check on Minnesota Gopher forward Tom Serratore. I think Marciano was lucky to remain in the game and I am not sure what he was upset with. These are the kind of hits that I would like to see gone from "all" levels of hockey.

Related articles

• Tom Serratore the heart and sole of the Beavers (thehockeywriters.com)
• Gophers ruin Beavers senior night (thehockeywriters.com)

Wisconsin sophomore goalie Joel Rumpel throws his stick makes save

Wisconsin sophomore goalie Joel Rumpel made this miraculous save on the Huskies forward Jimmy Murray at the 02:05 mark of the first period that prevented the Huskies from taking an early 2-1 lead. From there the Huskies never did get the lead and the Badgers would win the game 4-1.

Some thought that Rumpel should have actually gotten a penalty for throwing his goalie stick.

After the game the sophomore goalie was asked if he has thrown his stick at the puck. “It was a weird play,” Rumpel said. “I made the first save and then went to come across the crease and the stick got knocked out of my hands and it squirted wide,” Rumpel said. Yeah, okay.

Related articles

• C.C. vs. UW: winner to the NCAA tourney (thehockeywriters.com)

Badgers defenseman John Ramage destroys Mavericks forward Teddy Blueger

“That’s contact to the head, that’s a no brainer,” FSN television analyst Kevin Gorg said on viewing the hit by  Wisconsin defenseman John Ramage on Minnesota State Maverick Teddy Blueger. The funny thing with Gorg, he’s supposed to know hockey, but every time he opens his mouth he removes all doubt. I haven’t seen many guys that get hit in the head grab their shoulder.

Look at the video, Teddy Blueger is holding his shoulder.

In the press box, we had the luxury of getting a few good looks at this hit, to me this appears to be another legal shoulder-to-shoulder hit that was called a major penalty. For those people that want to call penalties for hard hits, they're going to call foul, but hockey is a physical game. I don't think John Ramage who plays the game straight up should be penalized for being a physical player.

[Click to watch video]

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

WCHA unveils questionable marketing strategy

Yesterday, I attended the WCHA press conference that was held in the basement of the Xcel Energy Center before the Broadmoor Championship game, and one of the interesting participants at the press conference was Jennifer Heppel, Associate Commissioner, Big Ten Conference.

I am not sure if I am the only one I found it odd that she would be in attendance at the WCHA press conference. Apparently, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod and Ms. Heppel are pushing a partnership between the Big Ten Hockey Conference, and the WCHA. Which I found odd, since two of the Big Ten Schools are leaving the WCHA for another conference.  Why would you invite them to your press conference?

What you’re going to find odder, is their brilliant new marketing strategy.

You have to give Rachel Blount beat writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune a lot of credit, when they opened the press conference up for questions, the first thing  MS. Blount did was ask a great follow up question of Jennifer Heppel of the Big Ten. In what I would classify as an awkward moment, it went kind of like this.

Rachel Blount asked, “Can you explain exactly how the Big Ten and the WCHA will be working together and what kinds of things you will be working together on and how you will be partnered?”

Jennifer Heppel responded back with this, “What we have done so far is again the WCHA and the Xcel Energy Center since the time the facility has opened has really built a tradition with the fan base here. We recognize the support the fans in this area have given to college hockey. We have for the last month made available the opportunity to purchase tickets in advance for those fans in this area that supported the WCHA tournament. Tickets for the general public go on sale on Monday. We wanted to extend that opportunity. We worked out some initial joint marketing efforts and we will continue to do that. Again, this community has a lot of fans of specific schools, but you also have just incredible support for hockey and college hockey.  The WCHA and the Big Ten want it to be a seamless transition from year-to-year for those that support college hockey and the “X” has been on that same page, and they don’t want there to be any drop-off in the tradition that has been created.”

So after Jennifer Heppel gave us her canned answer, WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod jumped in and said this.

“Rachel… we set a record this year in our packages [tickets]. We sold pre-tournament wise, I would have to check, almost 13,000 [tickets]. I think. That was a record for us. All of those ticket bases; those email addresses have been shared with the Big Ten people, and hopefully as Jen said the end result is, everyone benefits.  We’re working on the same, you know, kind of the same [fan] base, and sharing all of those names, and I think the basic idea of what Jen says if we can provide, I don’t know what you’re going to call it eventually, the collegiate hockey weekend, or something like that. One year it’s the Big Ten Hockey weekend, the next year it’s the WCHA. The more we can get that across, the better off we’re going to be.”

You got that? Those people that bought tickets to the Red Baron Final Five will get a first crack at next year’s Big Ten Hockey tourney.  So the Big Ten is hoping that you will decide to not go to the WCHA conference tourney in Grand Rapids and instead go the Xcel next season.

That’s absolutely brilliant.

First off, shouldn't the WCHA be marketing it’s conference tourney in Grand Rapids, Michigan next season? The Big Ten will be in better shape than the WCHA and they really don’t need the WCHA to share it’s email addresses and names with the Big Ten.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

Related articles

• WCHA Hockey: What are we doing here? (getrealhockey.com)
• WCHA Hockey: What are we doing here? (thehockeywriters.com)

The Brackets are set, UND going to Grand Rapids

UND's West Region semifinal vs. Niagara on Friday will air live on ESPNU at 4:30 pm Central.
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) March 25, 2013

UND is 4-0-0 all-time vs. Niagara, most recently a 3-1 win on Jan. 2, 2010 at the Notre Dame Shillelagh Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) March 25, 2013

Nice to know that the NCAA went straight by the math and put UND in the East region with Quinnipiac. Uh, wait a minute. Oh course, the NCAA doesn't want to have another all WCHA Frozen Four like they did in 2005, so they doubled up a bunch of WCHA teams in three regionals. Again, giving B.C. an easy shot to the NCAA Frozen Four. B.C. again will travel a grand total of 57 miles.

The only previous NCAA postseason meeting between UND and Niagara was UND's 4-1 win in the 2000 West Region final in Minneapolis.
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) March 25, 2013

Related articles

• Stoykewych shocks UND in OT (insidehockey.com)

WCHA Hockey: What are we doing here?

Saint Paul, Minnesota – Recently, I was listening to a weekly podcast of College Hockey Tonight, and the host Scott Williams and Moose Richards were talking about the break of and reformation of the WCHA.

Shameless plug department. First, if you’re not listening to the College Hockey Tonight on KBUN, I highly recommend that you give them a listen. They both know the game of hockey very well and their podcast sound very good, quality wise. You can listen to their podcast by going to KBUN.COM  and all of their podcast from this season are archived on the site.

You can also listen to the podcasts on you smart phone. I listen to most of their podcasts when I work out at the gym or in the car on longer trips.

The gist of the conversation during the podcast in question, “what are we doing here,” host Moose Richards said.

Come to think of it, that is a really good question.

I mean we can go on and on about the B1G and the NCHC and point fingers, but that discussion is probably counter-productive. I understand that the by-laws of the Big Ten require that Minnesota and Wisconsin join their league once they had a sixth hockey team. I just wish there was a way to preserve what we have now.

It’s like having a relationship with someone that works and dumping them and going off with some unknown less attractive option.

The WCHA in its current form is hands down the best league in Division I college hockey. Top to bottom, there is no better league in my opinion. We have a great league here and that’s basically blowing up after this season.

Obviously, none of us can control that, so let’s enjoy the moment.

Last night, I was having a discussion on this subject with person that is fan and media member of a team that’s not moving to another league, his team is staying in the new WCHA. Our conclusion was that they will never be able to replicate what we have currently with the WCHA Final Five, never, not in Detroit with the Big Ten hockey conference tourney, not at the Target Center for the NCHC conference tourney, or even at the Xcel Center for the New WCHA tourney or for the Big Ten hockey conference tourney. I also don’t think that I am going out on a limb by saying, definitely not for the new WCHA tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s not going to happen.

For good or bad, college hockey landscape will change, as we know it.

Speaking of change, the WCHA is also changing the format of their tourney next season as well; the top eight teams in the WCHA make the playoffs, the bottom two teams will not make the playoffs.

Four teams will advance from the first round of the WCHA playoffs and they will play two semifinal games on Friday night and they have a championship game on Saturday. There will be no more Final Five.

The first WCHA tourney will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan starting in 2015. The Xcel Energy Center will host the 2016 WCHA conference tourney. They will rotate between the two sites, for least the foreseeable future.

Former Fighting Sioux and current Wild forward Zach Parise was asked about his thoughts on the changes the WCHA will go through after the season is over.

“I think it’s brutal, if you ask me,” Parise said. “I don’t like it. I was a big fan of that league, and the rivals that were developed in that league; I think it’s a bad idea.”

When asked who he though would win tonight’s Red Baron WCHA Final Five Broadmoor Championship game between Wisconsin and Colorado College. Parise said, “I would say Wisconsin, but I won’t be watching because North Dakota’s not playing.”

So, one more night of one of the best college hockey tourneys and then we all go our separate ways. No UND and Minnesota aren’t playing tonight, but really, does it matter. There no place I would rather be than right here.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine

WCHA News breaking this afternoon at 4:30

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a big WCHA news conference this afternoon at 4:30 and you can watch it live from this web link. Word has it that there is announcement about the Minnesota Cup, the World Junior Coach and the WCHA’s conference tourney next year. 

What: Joint Press Conference featuring Special Announcements from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, USA Hockey, Inc., and University of Minnesota

and  Bruce McLeod, WCHA Commissioner, Richard MacKeigan, Regional General Manager, DeVos Place & Van Andel Arena, Katy Tigchelaar, Events Manager, West Michigan Sports Commissioner, Jack Larson, Vice-President & General Manager, Xcel Energy Center, Jake Spano, Marketing Director, City of Saint Paul Jennifer Heppel, Associate Commissioner, Big 10 Conference, Dave Fischer, Senior Director of Communications, USA Hockey, Inc. Tom McGinnis, Associate Athletic Director, University of Minnesota.

Saturday, March 23 4:30 pm CT

Press Interview Room, Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, MN

Video Stream link:

http://www.foxsportsnorth.com/livestream

Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five

SAINT PAUL, Minnesota – After winning three consecutive Broadmoor Trophies in a row, UND saw their hopes of winning a fourth come crashing down when they lost in 4-3 overtime yesterday to the upstart Colorado College Tigers.

This isn’t how the UND hockey team had planned it, according to senior forward Danny Kristo.

“I have never felt like this before,” Kristo said. “Obviously we won the last three [Final Fives]. That was our goal coming in this year. Obviously, we wanted to four peat, or what not. You just go day-by-day. I thought we took about 20 minutes off there, between the second and third period and kind of got lulled to sleep, maybe we deserved to win the game, but we didn’t play to our potential, so at this time of the year you’re not going to win games. You can’t leave the game to a bounce of the puck.”

In college hockey, much like other sports, you have to have a short memory. UND Coach Dave Hakstol agreed, “Tough ending tonight, that’s our fate, we’ll regroup and get back to Grand Forks and work on our next project.”

No matter how you slice it, UND had a good season, however, UND is going to have to tighten it up defensively a little bit if they want to advance in the NCAA tourney. There have been times when UND’s been a bit shaky on defense, but most of their miscues appear to be ones that are easy to fix.

One area that I think they’re are lacking in; they need to have forwards that are going hard to the net and getting to the blue paint. More greasy goals and forwards getting to the greasy areas.

“We kind wanted to wear out their D; we found out that they weren’t the fastest, Tiger forwardRylan Schwartz said.

I found these comments by Tiger forward Rylan Schwartz to be interesting, but not shocking. The Tigers have given UND fits this season. UND has a record of 2-3 in five games against the Tigers this season.

Second half surge?

UND is a team that is traditionally known for its second half surges, this year has been a little different. This season, UND’s record before Christmas was 10-5-3 (.639) and so far, after Christmas UND’s record has been 11-7-4 (.590). UND has somewhere between 1-4 more games.

Badgers advance to the Championship game

Wisconsin wins 4-1, advances to the WCHA Final Five Championship game. What’s even more remarkable is that the Badger “were” averaging 2.55 goals per game coming into the tourney and have scored 11 goals in two games.

That’s not a typo.

In the last 10 games, the Badgers have scored 40 goals for an average of 4 goals per game. During the same time period, the Badgers have a 8-2-0 record.

Surging Badgers

After starting out the season 1-7-3 (.227), the Badgers have gone 20-5-4 (.758). That’s an impressive run in anyone’s book. The weird part is that it might not be enough for the Badgers to make the NCAA tourney. They might have to win the NCAA tourney to get in.

SCSU Huskies are not in the NCAA tourney yet

The SCSU Huskies are in dire straits and could end up missing the NCAA tourney, this goes back to their non-conference record. The Huskies are an NCAA bubble team and they don’t need there to be any more surprises this weekend in the other conference tourneys. The Huskies are going to be at home watching the results of the other conference tourneys that are taking place this weekend, and holding their breath.

When asked about his teams prospects for making the NCAA tourney, “Bubble Trouble, Saint Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko said.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine

UND’s Knight, Kristo among Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – University of North Dakota senior forwards Corban Knight and Danny Kristo are among the 10 national finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

The 2013 Hobey Baker Award finalists are (alphabetically): Greg Carey, St. Lawrence; Carsen Chubak, Niagara; Johnny Gaudreau, Boston College; Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac; Corban Knight, North Dakota; Danny Kristo, North Dakota; Drew LeBlanc, St. Cloud State; Ryan Walters, Nebraska Omaha.

Knight, a native of High River, Alberta, is tied for seventh in the national scoring race with a career-high 48 points, including a career-high 33 assists. He is tied for second nationally in assists and leads the country with 24 first assists. Knight has reached the scoresheet in 31 games, more than any other player. The national player of the month in December, Knight has also won more than 58 percent of his faceoffs and leads the nation with 571 faceoff wins, 78 more than any other player. Earlier this season, Knight put together a 19-game point streak that was UND’s longest in 25 years and the fourth-longest in school history. He led all 77 national candidates in fan voting during Phase I of ‘Vote for Hobey,’ receiving more than twice as many votes as the next-closest player.

A physical education, exercise science and wellness major, Knight received the team’s Archie Krum Memorial Athletics Scholarship last season as the player who “demonstrates leadership qualities, high academic standards and athletic excellence. He is also a two-time recipient of the Ken and Marcia Nelson Impact Scholarship. Knight has logged more than 50 hours of community service in his career, including 40 over the past two seasons alone with organizations such as Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Altru Health System, and Grand Forks Park District.

Kristo, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., ranks third nationally in scoring with a career-high 50 points, including a WCHA-leading 24 goals. He leads the nation in points (36), goals (19) and points per game (1.50) since Dec. 8 and led the WCHA with three goals in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, all coming in the third period. A two-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, Kristo is tied for the WCHA lead with two shorthanded goals and is tied for second with five game-winning goals. He has six games of 3-plus points this season, tied for third-most in the nation, and leads the team with 14 multi-point games. He enters the WCHA Final Five having reached the scoresheet in 12 of his last four games.

A recreation and tourism studies major, Kristo leads all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players in career points (159) and goals (66, tied). He has also logged approximately 50 hours of community service in his career to organizations such Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Mortar Board, Grand Forks Public Library and the Empire Arts Center.

Knight and Kristo are UND’s 22^nd and 23^rd finalists since the award's inception in 1979-80, and the first since Matt Frattin was a Hobey Hat Trick (top three) finalist two years ago. It is the third time UND has had two finalists in the same season. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and T.J. Oshie were finalists in 2007-08, and Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski were finalists in 2003-04.

The ten finalists were selected by voting from all 59 Division I college hockey head coaches and by online fan balloting at www.hobeybakeraward.com. Next, the 23-member Selection Committee and an additional round of fan balloting (at www.hobeybakeraward.com from March 21-31) will determine this year’s Hobey Baker winner. Criteria for the award include: displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.

The Hobey Hat Trick (three finalists) will be announced on April 3, 2013 and the Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced Friday, April 12, 2013 from Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA during the NCAA Frozen Four. The award announcement will be televised live on NHL Network or live on the Hobey Baker website at 6:00 p.m. ET.

  

For more information, visit the Hobey Baker website at: www.hobeybakeraward.com

UND's Hobey Baker Award Finalists

James Patrick (1982-83)
Jon Casey (1983-84)
Scott Sandelin (1985-86)
Tony Hrkac (1986-87)
Steve Johnson (1987-88)
Russ Parent (1989-90)
Greg Johnson (1990-91, 1991-91 & 1992-93)
Jason Blake (1996-97, 1997-98)
Curtis Murphy (1997-98)
Jeff Panzer (1999-2000, 2000-01)
Zach Parise (2002-03, 2003-04)
Brandon Bochenski (2003-04)
Ryan Duncan (2006-07)
Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (2007-08)
T.J. Oshie (2007-08)
Matt Frattin (2010-11)
Corban Knight (2012-13)
Danny Kristo (2012-13)
*Bold indicates Hobey Baker Award winner

UND vs. C.C. lines Final Five

UND Forward Lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)
19 Rocco Grimaldi–27 Carter Rowney (A)–15 Michael Parks
25 Mitch MacMillan–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder

Drake Caggiula 9–28 Stephane Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defensive Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C)–18 Dillon Simpson
4 Derek Forbort–24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson –20 Joe Gleason

UND goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg
35 Tate Maris

Not In the lineup: 11 Derek Rodwell , Andrew Panzarella (22), Dan Senkbeil (8), Coltyln Sanderson (26),  Bryn Chyzyk (29).

Colorado College’s Tigers forward lines

16 Alexander Krushelnyski–13 Rylan Schwartz (A)–17 Charlie Taft
12 Archie Skalbeck–25 Scott Winkler–27 William Rapuzzin (C) 
11 Hunter Fejes–10 Cody Bradley–15 Andrew Hamburg
22 Peter Maric–21 Jeff Collett–24 Jared Hanson

Colorado College Tigers defense pairings

6 Peter Stoykewych–28 Mike Boivin
5 Aaron Harstad–7 Eamonn McDermott
20 Ian Young–4 Joe Marciano

Colorado College Tiger goalies

31 Joe Howe
39 Josh Thorimbert
29 Courtney Lockwood

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Linesmen: Nick Bradshaw (94), Sam Shikowsky (81)

Tiger's Taft scores the game winning goal against DU, with help from DU goalie

This is the goal in question, I was finally able to get my hand on it. Colorado College forward Charlie Taft will probably never score a more fluky goal than this one. This was also the goal, that everyone was talking about on Monday morning that vaulted the Tigers to the Final Five and left the Denver Pioneers scratching their heads. I am sure there are some that aren't feeling sorry for the Pioneers, it's just one of those things.

The goal in question is at the 2:18 mark. s/t to Joe Paisley sending me the video. DU's Juho Olkinuora is a great goalie, but stuff happens in games that has no explanation sometimes.