11/10 Post Game Wrapup: SCSU 5, UND 2 (RW77)

This was night and day from yesterday.  The Huskies looked pretty good but fairly flat on Friday.  Tonight, they came out roaring in the first period and UND, honestly, was lucky to escape the first period knotted at one.

The big calls in the first period were the no-goal on Stephane Pattyn and the Checking from Behind on Schmaltz.  First, the no-goal.  I actually got the webcast tonight and I saw it.  What I saw was one of the most incredible saves I've ever seen.  No one could believe that Pattyn's open net shot didn't go in except Farragher and the goal judge.  They did a lengthy review and judged it no goal.  I saw the replays and the call was 100% correct.

13 seconds from the end of the period, UND Freshman Jordan Schmaltz checked Drew Leblanc from behind into the sideboards.  The hit was not very violent and Leblanc's head did not hit the boards very hard (it appeared to hit forearm first).  Nevertheless, the refs HAD to call it as checking from behind.  The ironic part is that Don Adam called the penalty that he played a key role in creating.

Second Period and Third Period

The second period saw one of the worst periods of UND hockey this season.  It started out well, with UND killing off the five minute major.  However, after that, Drew Leblanc scored two straight goals and UND started a parade to the box culminating with Coach Hakstol getting a 2 minute minor for misconduct for trying to talk to Don Adam after the period had ended.  This probably resulted from a rather dubious embellishment call on Danny Kristo after being tripped.

The Third period only differed from the second period by the fact that the scoreboard said the number "3" where the number "2" was in the second period.  SCSU was all over the ice with crisp passing and just unlucky bounces and some timely saves by Saunders preventing it becoming a laugher.  It was even close until 6 minutes into the third when Garrett Milan (SCSU) got a rather weak goal on Saunders.  We did try a little bit but no good came of it. With 2:30 left in the game, Saunders let a point shot get past him and that's all she wrote.

The Goaltending

Again, Roller Coaster... sortof.  If you are Ryan Farragher, then it was a roller coaster that never seemed to go down the slope.  It just climbed the hill and stayed at the top.  Saunders really had a bad night for the most part..  The first goal SCSU scored he didn't see.  The third goal was a tic tac toe Power Play goal.  The final goal was a point shot.  Can't blame him much for those.  However, the second and the fourth goals were WEAK.  On the second goal, the puck came right to him after making two great saves and he paddled the puck right to Leblanc's stick blade.  Goal.  The fourth went five hole and just seemed to slowly inch past the red line.

 I'm also not sure if Gothberg would have done any better.  I don't blame Hakstol for going with the hot hand, but just like Saturday vs. BU, UND lost this game because they didn't play solid fundamental hockey for 60 minutes.  The thing that made it worse than the BU loss is that UND never even had one solid period of good hockey tonight.  They played ok in the first and got worse and worse as the game progressed.

So I guess Saunders played pretty well, and even Saunders at his best wouldn't have prevented UND from losing, but a game going into the end of the 3rd period down 3-2 looks much differently than entering the final minute down 5-2. 

The officiating

Roller coaster city.  They actually were doing a pretty decent job until the second period when they started missing calls and making bad calls.  The first call I recall was when they missed a pretty overt slashing call that Corbin Knight committed on Ethan Prow.  They made up for it by calling a weak version of it on Mark MacMillan.  He stick checked an SCSU player and the player waited a full second before dropping the stick.  No matter.  The next thing you know, Danny Kristo gets tripped and gets called for embellishment when he did not act like he was shot.  He slid along the ice before getting up and finding out he's sitting two.  The third period starts and UND actually does legitimately slash an SCSU stick and no call.  What awful calling.

Why UND lost

Top 3 reasons:
1.  Sloppy passing.  UND cannot pass even to open guys.  SCSU can.  It was AMAZING to watch.  It got to the point where SCSU didn't even have to clog the lanes, UND did it for them!  I cannot remember worse passing.  They couldn't set anything up because UND kept missing the puck. 
2.  Races to the puck.  UND was out skated all night long.
3.  Corners.  SCSU won almost ALL the battles along the boards.

This was one of the worst played games UND has played this season.  I'm glad this seems anomalous because if it wasn't, UND is going to lose... A LOT.

The America One Webcast

This is the Webcast company SCSU went through for the game.  I'm not sure if it is NESN camera work or what but this webcast's quality was FAR FAR superior to that of the UND Webcast.  The oddity?  SCSU's commentators weren't as big of a homer than I thought they would.  The only negative is that they didn't do their legwork.  They never figured out how to pronounce our players' names (like Rowney's for example). 

My 3 stars:

Third Star:  Joe Rehkamp (SCSU) - He wasn't talked about much during the game on the SCSU broadcast but he is credited with 3 assists on the night.  Not too shabby.

Second Star:  Ryan Farragher (SCSU) - Hard not to give him the first star.  He probably is 1a in this list.  He made some great saves including the best save of the season off of Pattyn's shot in the first period, but despite it looking otherwise, he wasn't really overtaxed in net tonight.

First Star:  Drew Leblanc (SCSU) - 2 goals 1 assist.  He was all over the place tonight.

Honorable Mentions:  Derek Forbort and Drake Caggiula (both acquitted themselves pretty well tonight), Nick Oliver (SCSU), Cory Thorson (SCSU)

EDIT:  I should add:  I am not saying the world is coming to an end.  Nor am I saying Fire Hakstol or that this team isn't special.  I'm saying this was one of the hardest games to watch because of how poorly we played and how much better I know we are capable of playing.

11/10 Game Day SCSU vs. UND

UND has same lines as last night.

For SCSU, Daly is out and Johnson is in.

UND’s lines

7 Danny Kristo–10 Corban Knight–27 Carter Rowney
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
9 Drake Caggiula–19 Rocco Grimaldi–29 Bryn Chyzyk
28 Stephane Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair–11 Derek Rodwell

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

33 Clarke Saunders
31 Zane Gothberg

SCSU’s lines

11 Kalle Kossila–19 Drew LeBlanc–22 Jonny Brodzinski
16 Jimmy Murray–26 Nic Dowd–13 David Morley
27 Nick Oliver–8 Cory Thorson–21 Brooks Bertsch
18 Garrett Milan–37 Joe Rehkamp–17 Joey Holka

28 Andrew Prochno–14 Nick Jensen
7 Kevin Gravel–12 Ethan Prow
2 Jarrod Rabey–4 Taylor Johnson

29 Ryan Faragher
33 Joseph Phillippi
35 Rasmus Reijola

Saunders Sinks Huskies 3 - 0 (RW77)

I have said it before and I'm saying it again:  I love what our goaltenders are doing this season thus far.  Tonight, Saunders nails shut an amazing performance shutting out the Huskies while posting 32 saves.  Many of the saves were outstanding scoring opportunities by the Huskies.

The Huskies

The Huskies were without Hanowski so they weren't at full strength, but nevertheless I thought their main downfall was inconsistent play and special teams.  It seemed like SCSU had the edge on Special Teams time tonight but they couldn't make it count.  Ryan Farragher again played a solid game against UND but the Huskies just couldn't get it going.  I also think that Nick Jensen had a pretty solid game despite muffing the puck that set up the final goal of the game. 

The Scoring

Brendan O'Donnell started the scoring just 48 seconds into the game by deflecting a centering pass by Connor Gaarder.

Carter Rowney was next to hit the back of the net, but it wouldn't come until 43 seconds into the second period.  Rowney was left open and Knight won a battle along the boards, centered to Rowney, who buried it.

The final goal occurred in the third period and it was UND's first shorthanded goal of the season at 17:33 mark.  It was made by Mark MacMillan and it appeared it was a breakaway.  Not all that surprising because at that point SCSU was trying to do anything to get something going and got burnt.

Players of the Game:

Third Star:  Derek Forbort - Ok, I could've given it to Rowney, Gaarder, O'Donnell, Mattson, Grimaldi, the entire fourth line, Knight.....I had to go with Forbort because he was ALWAYS around the puck when SCSU was pushing (and he was on the ice).  He always got timely clears on the PK. 

Second Star:  Mark MacMillan - 1 goal, 1 assist.  Helped on the first goal of the game and potted the last goal of the game.  Really good game.

First Star:  Clarke Saunders - DUH.  Shutout.  32 saves.  ULTRA Solid in net.  Do I need to go on?

The Key:

I think the key to this game wasn't really one person on offense.  Overall, I think the entire team played well.  Any opportunities SCSU got was handled by Saunders, Forbort, or Grimaldi (with a nice diving block).  I think the bonus was the shutout, but I think that if UND plays like this every night then us fans can expect great things every night because we won't be losing very often.

Where are they Now? Former SCSU Husky Ryan Lasch Interview

Iltasanomat Photo

Cross posted at Inside Hockey.

Former Saint Cloud State University Husky Star Ryan Lasch who played at SCSU from 2006-10 agreed to answer a few questions of mine as part of a where are they now feature. Lasch is currently playing in Finland with the Lahti Pelicans of the SM-liiga. Lasch is also currently the leading scorer of the Pelicans and tied for fifth in the league for scoring as well.

Q: What influenced your decision to attend SCSU? Where there any other schools or major junior hockey teams that were recruiting you?  

Ryan: It came down to Northeastern and St. Cloud. And what influenced me the most was when I took the visit to St.Cloud. Right away I was hooked with the atmosphere and direction Coach Motzko wanted to take this program. Other factors were that St. Cloud played in the WCHA, which I consider the best conference in college hockey and we played out west so it was much closer to home and easier for my parents to come watch me play 

Q: Being from Lake Forest, CA, how did you end up playing hockey?

Ryan: My dad use to speed skate for fun when he was younger, so one day he just took me to a local rink when I was 3 years old. Hockey wasn’t that popular in California at that time, but it was something I loved doing and never considered anything else.

Q: How did you end up choosing college hockey?

Ryan: I’ve always watched college hockey growing up on T.V. and thought it would fit my style of play and it was important for my family and I to get that college degree.  I felt playing college hockey for 4 years I was able to better develop as a hockey player, but also mature as a person. College hockey worked out well for me and I’m happy with the path I took.

Q: What was your most exciting memory at SCSU?

Ryan: The most exciting memory at SCSU right away that comes to mind was beating Northern Michigan in OT at the West regional to get our first ever NCAA tournament victory in school history. It’s something you can always look back on being a part of. It was big step in the right direction for the hockey program at St. Cloud.

Q: Which team did you enjoy playing the most while you were a member of the SCSU Huskies?

Ryan: The team I enjoyed playing the most was the Minnesota Gophers. They were an hour away from us right down the I-94 and considered our big rival. I think we played them 4 times a year. Every game was a packed house. I know when the schedule came out every year the first thing I would look for was when we were playing the Gophers.  The games were always exciting and our fans were crazy!

Q: Which team did you consider your most hated/heated rival as a member of the Huskies? Why?

Ryan: The most heated rival while being part of the Huskies was when we played the North Dakota Sioux. It was a physical game every time we played them a lot more hitting and talking back in forth than normal. It felt like both teams hated each other on the ice more than any other team we played in the league. 

Q: Who was the hardest team(s) to play against in college hockey, WCHA?

Ryan: I don’t know if it was the hardest team to play against, but they weren’t fun to play against and that was Denver.  They played more of a defensive game and sat back and waited for your mistakes. Especially when they were at home it felt like every time we played them it was a low scoring game.

Q: What was your favorite opposition logo?

Ryan: My favorite logo had to be Wisconsin. I like the badger logo, but the big W on the front of their jersey and colors were sweet.

Q: What was your favorite road trip in the WCHA or college hockey?

Ryan:  My favorite road trip would have to be Denver. I just think the city is awesome and our Thursday team dinner would always be at the Denver Chophouse across the street from Coors Field where the Rockies play.

Q; What was your favorite arena in the WCHA to play in?

Ryan: I actually have two arenas that I liked to play in. They were Wisconsin and North Dakota. Those rinks had great energy in them every night. It was exciting to play in front and I look forward to it every year.

Q: What was it like to play on a line with Garret Roe?

Ryan: It was really fun to play alongside Roe. Roe is such a creative player who is always working hit butt off all over the ice to win the one on one battles and loose pucks. Every time he was on the ice he was a threat to score or make something happen.

Q: As a fan of another WCHA team; when our team played the Huskies it seemed like Roe and Lasch were always on the ice together.   

Ryan: Roe and I worked together on the Power play a lot through our husky career. Him being a left shot and me a right shot we complemented each other very well. We were able to have multiple plays from both sides that we could use and it ended up being really effective for us.

Q: You were on the first SCSU team in the history of your program to win an NCAA game; did pyou guys talk about the streak?  

Ryan: We were all aware of the streak going into the NCAA tournament every year. But it was nothing that was ever brought up in the lock room. All that matter to us was how we would go out and play as a team. This streak started way back when so we felt like it was nothing to serious that we had to worry about.

Q: How did you end up playing hockey in Finland?

Ryan: After the season Last year I had a few offers. One was to stay in Sweden and play the other option was to come back to America and then this offer came from Finland. Playing with a few Finnish guys last year I knew about the league and knew it was a tough league very similar to the North American style of hockey. I also that a few college players came to this league after their college careers and have done well like Tim Stapleton, Brian Rafalski, Tim Thomas, and Lee Sweat.

Q: I noticed that you’re currently the top scorer on your team the Lahti Pelicans.

Ryan: I have got off to a great start thus far and we have a really good team that sits in first place right now. I’m just really happy with the opportunity that they have provided me over here. Hopefully this team success can continue and the rest will come into place.

Q: Looking at the roster of your team it appears that you are one of the few players that aren’t from Sweden or Finland; is there a language barrier on your team?

Ryan: There really isn’t a language barrier on the team. For the most part everyone can speak English pretty well. When the coaches talk it was mostly in Swedish or Finnish, but you always had someone on the team right next to you translating the important information.

Q: Were you drafted by an NHL team?

Ryan: I was never drafted, but I don’t look at that as a negative thing. It just made me want it that much more and work harder to get where I want to be.

Q: Do you think someday you will get a chance to play in the NHL?  Is that a personal goal?

Ryan: I hope one day I will be able to have that chance. It’s for sure a personal goal of mine.  Something I’ve worked hard for my whole life and will continue to do until I get that chance.  The best I can do is wake up every day and give it my 100% and hope someone takes notice. Until then I just have to keep playing my style of hockey and prove people wrong.

Former Sioux Dave Christian on SCSU opening day roster. :)

All in good fun... SCSU should be really good this season when former Fighting Sioux and 1980 Olympian Dave Christian laces up the skates for the Huskies. I am sure that Mick Hatten meant to say Jordy Christian who is from  Moorhead, MN. [Link to the article]

Notre Dame not going to the NCHC.

Dame Image via WikipediaWell it's official the NCHC will not be adding the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Like I have said in the past I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal for the NCHC. For the naysayers that think this a fatal blow to the newly formed NCHC are delusional, the NCHC is going to be a top league in college hockey and is home to 17 national titles (UND 7, DU 7, C.C. 2, UMD 1).

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced today that it will launch its inaugural season in 2013-14 as an eight-team conference.
The eight institutions in the new Division 1 men's hockey conference are Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Nebraska Omaha, University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University and Western Michigan University.  St. Cloud State and Western Michigan accepted invitations to join the Conference on September 22 following a comprehensive process to identify additional members.  

"We are very confident with our decision and excited to move forward as a strong eight-team conference," said Brian Faison, Director of Athletics at North Dakota and the spokesperson for the Conference's Athletic Directors Committee.  "As we have stated many times, it is our goal to establish the National Collegiate Hockey Conference as the premier conference in men's hockey and there's no question in our minds that we are well positioned to do so with our membership.  We conducted a deliberate and exhaustive process that included consideration of adding more institutions.  In the end, we determined it is in the best interest of the Conference to proceed with our eight outstanding programs."

Dating back to the year 2000, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference boasts four NCAA National Champions, 14 NCAA Frozen Four appearances, 12 conference regular-season championships and 10 conference tournament championships.  All eight members were participants in the NCAA Ice Hockey Championship tournament in one or both of the last two seasons.

In addition to completing its membership, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has been conducting a national search for its first commissioner and expects to have its top executive in place by the end of the calendar year.   

Related articles

• NCHC picks conference HQ... (mvn.com)
• What's up SCSU? (mvn.com)
• Waiting to Exhale, the WCHA is Back (mvn.com)
• LSSU Lakers face crucial decisions... (mvn.com)
• So it's UND's fault? (mvn.com)
• College Hockey re-alignment affecting recruitment? (mvn.com)
• Will the Gophers want to duck the Sioux? (mvn.com)
• Gophers want to play state teams (mvn.com)
• WCHA to expand... (mvn.com)

UPDATE: Video from the St. Cloud State presser

Watch live streaming video from

Here is the video from the SCSU press conference that was held earlier today. The press conference starts at about 26 minutes.

St. Cloud, Minn. - St. Cloud State University has accepted an invitation to join the National Collegiate Hockey Conference beginning with the 2013-14 season. The acceptance of this invitation for St. Cloud State’s hockey program was announced today by University President Dr. Earl H. Potter III.

“We are delighted to join the National Collegiate Hockey Conference,” Potter said. “We believe that the conference’s strength of play and commitment to college hockey and student athletes is strong and deep and we look forward to an exciting future with The National.”

The Huskies along with Western Michigan University were extended invitations to join the The National on Sept. 21. The Huskies will join current league members Colorado College, University of Denver, Miami University, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Nebraska-Omaha and the University of North Dakota when the league begins play in 2013-14.

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• RW77′s Take on Conference Realignment Part 2 (mvn.com)

RW77's Take on Conference Realignment Part 2

Ok, Conference Realignment is the 2011 Storyline of the Year. It's all over the place in Football, basketball (by default due to schools switching in one sport usually go in all sports), and hockey. Ok, all college sports, but I could care less about DI basket weaving.

The latest is that the NCHC invited WMU and SCSU to join its conference (scroll down to read the story). WMU is one of the purely financial and exposure based moves we've come to expect from an NC$$ entity, so I am not going to say much more than I don't think WMU is going to be as bad as everyone thinks and I think with current coaching and the competition level the other teams provide, WMU will improve as well.

I will say that inviting SCSU is a VERY bad move. I know I'll get flamed for it, but I do not care. Why am I against it? Not because of what the hockey team has or has not done over its tenure in DI. I think Motzko is a good coach and though they are on what seems like a downward spiral at the moment, they do seem to be competitive in hockey since Motzko's hiring. I'm against SCSU joining the NCHC due to institutional reasoning. Here's a few reasons:

1. Entitlement Attitude: This summer SCSU's President Potter III, came out and flamed the NCHC and acted what could only be described as a spoiled child who believed he deserved better though he did not earn such a privilege. It has always been a joke (at least since I got into College Hockey) that SCSU was derogatively called "Jan Brady State University" or "JBSU" for its attitude of being the red headed stepchild of Minnesota hockey who is always and forever jealous of UMTC (among other WCHA teams). They (especially the fans) hate this attribution because it is not flattering to SCSU. Uh, that's obvious folks. It's not supposed to be flattering. The problem is, they've never once did anything to try to distance themselves from the attribute through institutional actions. They always seemed to be the ones who felt just as entitled to whatever it is as UMTC and, what seems to really grind their gears, that UND gets afforded the courtesy they feel they should have gotten when it comes to the whole rivalry and intra-conference respect that UMTC garnered towards UND. And I know what you are thinking: "UMTC always goes out of its way to put down UND." True, but they also have shown respect at times to UND as well. SCSU, to my knowledge, has never been that much of a team player... unless you consider teaming up with MSUM, MTU, and UAA against the schools like UMTC, UND, DU, CC, and UW to be a team player.

2. SCSU enjoys conflict as a means of self promotion. It seems to me that they, over their DI history, have thrived on making themselves known or felt through controversy and conflict. It's not the Anti-Semitic tendencies that they've shown in their academic realm that highlights the fact. It is the fact that SCSU was one of the pioneers in leading the whole racism campaign. This pointed Myles Brand into his second Bobby Knight crusade: The Nickname issue. I'm not sure if they are the point of the proverbial spear in this issue, but they certainly are flag wavers. Originally they made the most noise about this issue about the same time as the Antisemitism issue... interestingly enough. Seems like a political circus maneuver to blow the smoke of disdain away from St. Cloud and pointed somewhere else. Again, the jealous tendencies prevailed and pointed (with the liberal agenda already fanning those flames) to colleges like William and Mary, UND, and a few others.

Goon has claimed that the NCHC is only looking for "like minded" institutions to join the NCHC and he's right... until now. Because SCSU does not have the same minded approach to collegiate athletics altogether let alone hockey as the original six who split. They do not add anything to the NCHC except for a voice of jealous contempt and stubbornness that got us to this point in the first place.

I have nothing against the players and coaches of SCSU. Goon dislikes Aaron Marvin and I can't say that he handled himself very well on the ice, but overall, I thought their program was on the up swing after they fired the Dahl-li Llama.

I just feel that the NCHC should have waited until Notre Dame made its move. SCSU, to me, is an adequate fall back option even with their attitude problems, but they shouldn't have been pursued until Notre Dame decided between the Big 10, Independent (long shot), HEA (long shot apparently), and the NCHC.

Actually, I think they should have also waited until they found a commissioner. With a commissioner in charge, the direction of the NCHC gets further streamlined and then we know for sure if teams like SCSU fit better than a say, BSU or even UAH.

Now, on the other hand, if Notre Dame still decides to come to the NCHC, perhaps the NCHC should investigate throwing a bone to UAH. Sure, they'd surely be a cellar dweller, but every conference has one or two. Even the vaunted SEC in college football has Vanderbilt.

I only wonder if Gino had something to do with it.

SCSU won't join hockey super league

This just in... Honestly I haven't seen a scenario where they were included in the new conference plans but It doesn't make sense to shoot themselves in the foot if they "were" asked.

SC Times ---- St. Cloud State University won’t join a rumored “Super Conference” in college hockey that could include up to five WCHA teams, but will stay in the WCHA and try to secure the conference’s long-term future.

President Earl H. Potter III said today that Gino Gasparini, who has been hired as a special adviser to Potter for athletics, will attend a meeting next week of representatives of the remaining WCHA schools to continue discussions about the conference’s future. Published news reports have said that meeting will be sometime next week in Minnesota.

The Anchorage Daily News today quoted University of Alaska-Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb as saying the meeting was called because there was enough certainty about the formation of the “Super Conference” that the WCHA appears to be breaking up.

Previous published news reports have said that the five teams leaving the WCHA would be North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha. Miami (Ohio) would join them from the CCHA.

That exodus would follow the news earlier this year that Minnesota and Wisconsin are leaving the WCHA after the 2012-13 season to join a newly formed Big Ten hockey conference.

“We expected to be in conversations about being in a new league,” Potter said today “But as we looked at it ... we intended to say ‘no.’ ”

Related articles

• Another WCHA breakup imminent blog post :) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• SCSU won't join hockey super league (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UMD: Also in the Super League mix... (ndgoon.blogspot.com)