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.

After further review: The ECAC doesn't really equate to the EZAC after at all

ECAC Hockey logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So as we sit here on Saturday, waiting for the championship game of the Frozen Four, and I have to admit that there are no “sexy” traditional match-ups, in the 2013 Frozen Four.

So what?

What else are we going to do today? It’s not like it’s nice outside.

That’s not saying that the hockey hasn’t been good this year, because it has. There are just no traditional matchups between historical powers like Michigan vs. Minnesota or North Dakota versus Boston College.  

Does it really matter? Nope!

Tonight, a couple of brainiac schools from Connecticut, that are about 8 miles apart, according to USCHO’s Brian Sullivan, are going to show case their conferences skills, in "pinnacle" of college hockey’s season. 

For the First time in 23 years, a school from the ECAC is going to win the national championship in division I college hockey.

Wait, what?

So in case you’re confused, two teams from the ECAC will take center stage tonight, one of them are going to be National Champions.

In the final game of the 2012-13 NCAA Division I College Hockey season, Yale takes on Quinnipiac University to determine who the best team is for the 2012-13 season. They've earned, and I must offer my congratulations.

While their playing hockey the naysayers will be eating some crow. I will take Caribbean Jerk on my crow.

The Weather map for North Dakota... 

Derek Forbort to sign with Kings soon

Source says Derek Forbort signing with Kings is imminent. Could happen as soon as today. Three-year deal.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 5, 2013

I don't think this is a big shock to any of us that follow the UND hockey team, first round draft choices don't usually stay more than two to three seasons. As Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman had said in a recent blog post, the Kings don't want to take the risk of losing their first round draft choice.


The Mass exodus continues in Minneapolis.

So far the Gophers have lost Alt, Bjugstad, Schmidt, Budish to the pros and Larson who is transferring out.… Haula is most likely next.
— GPL (@GopherPuckLive) April 5, 2013

Related articles

• Some interesting tweets from today - early departures and signings (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

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)

Some interesting tweets from today - early departures and signings

#LAKings GM Dean Lombardi confirms the plan is to try and get 2010 first rd pick defenseman Derek Forbort inked in the next few days.
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) April 3, 2013

Lombardi not talking SCSU players, they're still playing in NCAA tourney.
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) April 3, 2013

#LAKings Lombardi also says he'll be mtg w/ several other college prospects- namely Michael Mersch and Nick Shore- to see about signing.
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) April 3, 2013

Nick Bjugstad has signed with the @flapanthers. Mass exodus from the U right now #gophers. As of yesterday, Erik Haula wasn't imminent
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) April 3, 2013

#Gophers RT @flapanthers: Tallon spoke to media. Said @nbjugstad72 will practice with #FlaPanthers Friday and make NHL debut Saturday.
— Gopher Hockey (@GopherHockey) April 3, 2013

Leafs very high on this guy RT @koshtorontosun: #Leafs sign D Andrew MacWilliam, chosen 188th overall in 2008. 4 seasons at North Dakota
— Kevin McGran (@kevin_mcgran) April 3, 2013

MacWilliam, Kristo sign NHL deals with rivals Leafs, Habs bit.ly/14P9gLD
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 4, 2013

Kristo's cap hit will be $875,000 ($65,000 AHL salary). Signing bonus of $87,500. Other bonuses possible as well.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 3, 2013

Related articles

• UND 2012-13 hockey season post-mortem (thehockeywriters.com)

UND’s Hakstol: “regionals pinnacle of our season and should be played in a great atmosphere.”

und v. usa (Photo credit: intersubjectiv)

This past weekend, UND played in the NCAAWest Regional tourney in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you watched the games you will see that the games were sparsely attended,just like I had predicted.

So the NCAA wants the teams to play in empty arena’s posing as quite mausoleums during prayer time.

Come to think of it, I have probably been to churches that are louder than last week’s West and Midwest regionals.

The announced attendance for Friday’s game between Niagara and UND was 2289 and for Saturday’s game, the announced attendance was 1918 fans.

Seriously!

If mathematically challenged, that’s a grand total for 4207 fans to see the NCAA West Regional hockey games for the weekend. My words, “that’s pathetic.” The NCAA should be ashamed. There are high school hockey tourneys in North Dakota that have more people attend them then this regional.

Today was the last press conference of the year for UND hockey head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about his thought on the NCAA tourney being played in building with atmospheres like last weekend’s regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan?

“The pinnacle of our season should be played in a great atmosphere,” Hakstol said. “I think the players that are involved in the national tournament deserve that. “I think It’s something that has garnered a fair amount of discussion over the last couple of year, but no action.” We have to fix things. We’re not doing this the right way at the regional level – to play in front of… I saw a stat within out program we had 5500 people on a live chat, and there was maybe 1500 people in a building watching a great hockey game between Yale and North Dakota on Saturday night. That’s not right. That’s the pinnacle and that’s the spotlight of our season. Yeah, we have to change things. Certainly, I would like to work towards doing that, sooner, rather than later. The best regionals that I have been involved in, that I can remember, atmosphere wise, was here, in 05-06, where we hosted, competitive environment. The regional in Minnesota; last year at the Xcel Energy Center; in front of 10,000 people, we came up one game short. Great atmosphere to play in, spotlight event, the way the national tournament game should feel. Third one would have been; at the Kohl Center, where the University of Wisconsin hosted. We had the good fortune of coming out of that regional. That was a tough game, there was about 15,000 people cheering against us and 1,000 of our fans with us, but that was atmosphere, and that’s the stage that our national tournament should be played on, we need to get back to one shape or form. “

It’s pretty clear that the UND’s head coach would rather play in a raucous, loud arena filled with passionate fans, even if they’re another fan bases’  than an empty arena, in a nameless town with empty seats posing as fans for the sake of having a regional championship at a neutral site, in an empty building on Saturday in March.  I agree.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers-Combine.

Danny Kristo News

Hamilton Bulldogs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is some Danny Kristo news that I found on a Montreal Canadian's blog, I had to use Google Translate because most of us "don't" speak french. [click for the link]

Season that second-round pick in 2008 and ends in the NCAA if we are to believe his remarks in an interview with Radio-Canada, Kristo wants to take his career in the organization of Canadians. Negotiations have even begun. We guess he will join the Hamilton Bulldogs to finish the season there.

In 38 games this season in North Dakota, Kristo has 51 points, including 25 goals. He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker awarded to the player by college excellence in the United States.

And do not go into a criminal because at age 21 and he offered beer to his teammates 18, 19 years in a party

Related articles

• UND's Knight, Kristo among Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• 2012-2013 Hobey Baker Award Preview (thehockeywriters.com)
• Stoykewych shocks UND in OT. (getrealhockey.com)
• UND Hockey: What Happened, day 2 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Funny you should mention that coach Jackson

Also, in his post-game presser, ND coach Jeff Jackson says something must be done about 1st-2nd rd NCAA sites. No atmosphere here or GR.
— Mike Eidelbes (@INCH) March 30, 2013

Funny that he should mention that, but I think I have been saying that all season long. I think I might have wrote about it as well.

Related articles

• NCAA hockey attendance 'adequate' (toledoblade.com)
• UND Hockey: What Happened, day 2 (thehockeywriters.com)

Epic fail by ESPNU

Come on espn.... twitter.com/cHRISTIANbRO10…
— Sam Christian (@cHRISTIANbRO10) March 29, 2013

s/t to@cHRISTIANbRO10 ... Epic fail to @ESPNU for this screw up. Unsatisfactory, this is not acceptable. Of course ESPN wouldn't screw up Notre Dame or Boston College or even Cornell for that matter, but it's okay to disrespect North Dakota.

UND vs. Niagara Lines West Region

UND vs. Niagara Lines West Region

UND’s Forward lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell – 10 Corban Knight (A) – 7 Danny Kristo (A)

9 Drake Caggiula– 27 Carter Rowney (A) –19 Rocco Grimaldi

29 Bryn Chyzyk – 16 Mark MacMillan – 15 Michael Parks

13 Connor Gaarder – 28 Steph Pattyn – 17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defense Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 18 Dillon Simpson

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

5 Nick Mattson – 20 Joe Gleason

UND Goalies

31 Zane Gothberg

33 Clarke Saunders

35 Tate Maris

Not in lineup: 25 Mitch MacMillian, 8 Dan Senkbeil, 22 Andrew Panzarella, 11 Derek Rodwell, 26 Coltyn Sanderson.

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

Time to move the NCAA Hockey Tourney back on campus

It’s that time a year again, Division I college hockey soon will be taking center stage in the NCAA regionals playing in half empty arenas, in venues in cities across the USA.

It’s a yearly occurrence for college hockey, because we can’t have anymore regionals on campus. God forbid, we can’t have playoff games in rowdy arenas stuffed with rabid fans.

The NCAA wants regional games played in arenas posing as quite emotionless mausoleums, all under the guise of  the regional being held at “neutral” sites.

But some of the sites really aren’t that neutral, for some of the schools.

Midsized towns like Grand Rapids, Michigan, Manchester, New Hampshire, Providence, Rhode Island and Toledo, Ohio, will be hosting this year 2013 NCAA Division I college hockey regionals.

There is a good chance in one or two of these regional, will sparsely attended.

This year, you can pretty much guess that Midwest Regional being held in Toledo, Ohio will be that regional that will be played in front of an empty arena or arena seats posing as fans.

Going on past history, I am betting that this will be that regional that very few fans will see live, unless it’s being watched on television. According to The Blade, a Toledo, Ohio newspaper, tickets remain for the regional. You can get your tickets to the regional for a cool $75.00. Really, tickets remain. I can’t imagine why? That’s way too pricey.

Anyone want to lay odds on the attendance numbers for that regional? If they get 2,000-3,000 fans for the weekend, they will be lucky. That’s what the NCAA want’s half empty arena’s at neutral sites.

The other western regional, the “West” regional, is east of the Mississippi River. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how anything in the Eastern Time zone is considered the Western part of the USA, at least by my standards, but whatever.

For the West Region, tickets are still available and a little bit cheaper, there going for $65.00.  Want to lay odds, that there will be a fair number of empty seats at this regional as well. Sure, North Dakota and Minnesota are in this regional and their fans travel well.

But let’s get real.

Grand Rapids is 649 miles from the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota is 582 away from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

With the cable/satellite television, one doesn’t need to spend money on a expensive last minute plane ticket or gas for 14 hour car trip, hotel room, and ticket package.

Of course, on the flip side of this equation, the Boston College eagles will get to travel a strenuous 50 miles south to Providence, Rhode Island.

Let’s not forget, New Hampshire has an exhausting 45 minute bus trip to the North East Regional in Manchester, New Hampshire.

For the most part the NCAA won’t make the eastern teams travel.

According to Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman, “BU and BC have got on a plane 3 times for a regional in the last 13 years. The teams lost by four goals in 1st round each time.”

Last time Boston College was sent west they got rolled 8-4 by the Colorado College Tigers.

So in essence, yearly, the NCAA is giving the eastern teams in the NCAA Division I hockey tournament home games. It’s no wonder they don’t want to move the regionals back on campus. Why should they? They might have to play a Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Denver at their home arena. We can’t have that, they might not have an easier path to the Frozen Four.

I believe it’s time for the NCAA regionals to move back on campus, soon. Of course, there is not a lot of support for moving the regionals back on campus. I don’t, however, think that’s going to happen, anytime soon.

This year, if anything, I think brings to light, a reason to at least explore that option.

After Notre Dame beat Michigan 3-1, to win the CCHA title, it looked like UND was headed to the East regional. Think again. Instead of going by the Pairwise numbers and putting UND in the East Regional with Quinnipiac, Canisius and Union, the NCAA instead put the Boston College in the easier bracket and doubled up two WCHA teams in the West Regional, all under the guise of Minnesota and North Dakota will sell tickets.

After an all WCHA Frozen Four in 2005, the NCAA didn’t want to have a repeat of that even again. In some fans opinion, the NCAA has pretty much handed Boston College a easy route to the Frozen Four with that regional draw.

According to Tom Nevala, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and senior associate athletics director at Notre Dame, it doesn’t sound like the regionals are going to be moving back to campus anytime soon.

According to Tom Nevala, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and senior associate athletics director at Notre Dame, it doesn’t sound like the regionals are going to be moving back to campus anytime soon.

Personally, I would like to see us move to an on-campus best-of-three series format for the first round,” Nevala said. “The top seeds would host regardless of size of its building. Right now we do it at the conference level and it works very well. There are upsets even with the home ice advantage and the atmosphere for everyone involved would be better. We have such great campus facilities that are such a part of the fabric of college hockey, it’s a shame that the national tourney isn’t played in them.”

So does Nevala see it happening any time soon?

“The coaching body is so set on having the regional games at neutral sites that before the committee would ever propose something like this we would need to work with them to try and get everyone on board,” Nevala said. “Hopefully we can put something together that they would feel comfortable with. It’s really hard for anyone with an objective view to say what we are doing now at our regionals is great,  so we need to try and do something with them because a great tournament should be our goal.”

Regional sites for the next two years have already been determined so the earliest any change could happen would be for the 2015 championship. The 2013 regionals are at Grand Rapids, Mich., Manchester, N.H., Providence, R.I. and Toledo, Ohio. The 2014 regionals will be held at Bridgeport, Conn., Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Paul, Minn. and Worcester, Mass. [ncaa.com]

I find those comments disappointing, however, maybe there is hope. Being from North Dakota, at least there is some hope in the future. Or at least, UND athletic director Brian Faison is saying some of the things that I like to hear.

“I don’t like the situation we seem to find ourselves in sometimes when we play in empty arenas in regionals,” said North Dakota athletic director Brian Faison, who will join the committee in the fall. “I’d love to be in a situation where you could play on campus sites for the first round. … I’d love to see us get into a different format, and I think it’s better for the sport. It’s a great game.

“And you want that game in the best locations that you can to showcase.” [Lacrosse Tribune]

Don’t count on the NCAA Hockey showcasing the college game in half empty arena’s in towns some have never heard of, nor would ever think of visiting, if it was for the college hockey game. It’s  time to consider moving the NCAA Hockey Regionals back on campus.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

Related articles

• 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)

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

Stoykewych shocks UND in OT

Seal of the University of North Dakota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Saint Paul, Minn. – The University of North Dakota started off the day, by putting two players, senior forwards, Corban Knight and Danny Kristo, among the top 10 national finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The Hobey Baker is given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

Then, it was off to the quarter final game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five where 17,038 fans watched the match-up between the University of North Dakota (21-11-7, No. 3 seed) and the Colorado College Tigers (16-18-5, No. 6 seed) at the Xcel Energy Center.

The University of North Dakota doesn’t get fazed when they give up the first goal of a game, anymore. In fact, it happens a lot.  In 19 games where the opposition scored the first goal, the Green and White are 9-5-5.

Make that­­­­­­ 9-6-5, with the loss to the Colorado College Tigers tonight.

“Here we are. If you would have said that on the fifth of January after we got swept in Omaha that we would be playing and winning game over North Dakota, I would have said that you’re crazy,” Head coach Scott Owens said on beating  North Dakota 4-3 in overtime of the quarterfinal game of the WCHA Final Five.”

The game had a lot of drama and probably didn’t go as planned.

With freshman forward Drake Caggiula in the sin bin for charging, the Colorado College Tigers would get on the board first with a power play goal from senior forward Rylan Schwartz at the 03:06 mark of first period.

That slim one goal lead would last 11:17 as freshman forward Drake Caggiula would make up for his blunder by scoring his seventh goal of the year at the 14:23 mark of the first period. That was Caggiula’s first goal since January 19^th, 2013.

UND would start a parade to the penalty box in the waning moments of the first period, but fortunately UND was able to stop the Tiger power play with a tenacious penalty kill, before the Tigers could do any damage on the power play.

Senior forward Danny Kristo would stop the bleeding at the 19:50 mark of the first period with his 25^th goal of the season.

UND would outshoot C.C. 11-4 in first period.

The second period was more of a grind out kind of period and the Tigers took advantage of a miscue to score shorthanded at the 07:54 mark of the second period as Alex Krushelnyski shot the puck past UND goalie Clark Saunders.

That was all of the scoring either team would generate the rest of the second period. UND would again outshoot C.C. 9-6.

Things would really get interesting for UND. At the 03:42 mark of the third period, Tiger forward Hunter Fejes took a shot from the top the circle that Saunders missed.

Make that 3-2 Tigers.

UND freshman Drake Caggiula would score at the12:45 mark of the third period to knot the game at 3-3, sending the game to overtime.  UND would out Tigers 12-10 in the third period.

At the 04:52 mark of the first overtime, sophomore Tiger defenseman Peter Stoykewych ended UND run for at four consecutive Final Five championships.

When asked how it feels to not be moving on to play for a four WCHA Final Five playoff championship. This is what Danny Kristo had to say. “I have never felt like this before,” Kristo said. “Obviously we won the last three. 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.”

This is what coach Hakstol had to say.

“Congratulations to C.C., UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re grinding out wins. They’re doing a great job. They got the job done tonight. Overall, we played a pretty good hockey game. Pretty good doesn’t get the job doesn’t get it done this time of year against the quality of teams that are here. So, tough ending tonight, that’s our fate, We’ll regroup and get back to Grand Forks and work on our next project.”

Colorado College (17-18-5) moves on to play Minnesota in the 7:00 p.m. game and UND (21-12-7) goes home to find out who they play next weekend in the NCAA regionals.

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