UND Hockey: Another Circle of Sticks and More Inner Geek

With the sweep against Minnesota Duluth, UND now has five series sweeps for the 2013-14 season. Last year, UND had three series sweeps (Holy Cross, Michigan Tech and Nebraska-Omaha).

That’s definitely an improvement. UND (18-9-3, 13-7-0 NCHC) is tied for first place in the NCHC with Saint Cloud State University. Breaking down UND’s record, they’re 11-5-1 at home and 7-4-2 on the road. With the win last night, UND clinches home ice for the NCHC playoffs. That’s the 12th season in a row that UND has qualified for home ice for the playoffs.

UND is smoking hot right now, they’re currently on a 14-2-1 (.853) run. It all started on November 29, 2013. UND had just lost 5-2 to St. Lawrence University, and owned a subpar 4-7-2 record. It was gloom and doom in the UND Nation.  After a closed door players meeting, UND would win 3-2 on Saturday night and start the current hot streak. After the Saturday night's 3-2 win against SLU, alternate captain Stephane Pattyn explained.

“Yesterday was kind of just an open floor,” Pattyn said. “Everyone talked, and gave their thoughts about what we needed to do. We had some great conversations. We definitely grew up as a team last night, and I think today’s (win) helped, too.”

Since November 30, 2013, UND has been a very good hockey team. Pattyn was right; they’ve grown up as a hockey team. During the current run, UND has scored 61 goals (3.67 GPG), and only given up 35 goals against (2.07 GA). UND has a goal differential of +26 during the hot streak. UND’s last four games have been better. The past two weekends UND has scored an eye popping 21 goals (5.25 GPG) and given up a stingy 6 goals against (1.50 GA). That’s a goal differential of +15. Talk about playing your best hockey at the end of the season.

Who’s Hot for UND

Sophomore forward Rocco Grimaldi has scored (2g-5a—7pts) his last three games.

Junior forward Michael Parks is smoking hot, and has scored (7g-10a—17pts) in the last 14 games.

Since his return from injury, junior forward Mark MacMillan has scored (5g-8a—13pts).

Senior defenseman Dillon Simpson (7g-13a—20pts) has scored 14 of his 20 points since November 30, 2013.

Sophomore defenseman Jordan Schmaltz has scored at least a point in seven of the last nine games (2g-6a—8pts).

Sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg is having a great second half. How hot is Gothberg? He’s unbeaten (10-0-1) in his last 11 games. He also owns a 1.66 GAA and a .934 save percentage. Yeah, that’s pretty good.

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Another Circle of Sticks and More Inner Geek (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND Hockey: Discovering your "Inner Geek" (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND Pounds Miami (insidehockey.com)
• UND vs UND: Series preview (hockeywilderness.com)
• UND Takes Bite OUt of Bulldogs (insidehockey.com)
• North Dakota Slips Past St. Lawrence (insidehockey.com)
• UND Hockey: Dynamic Duo Bright Spot for UND (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: The Weekend in Review (thehockeywriters.com)

UND Hockey: Discovering your “Inner Geek”

Since starting the season 4-7-2, the UND hockey has been on a roll going 13-2-1 (.843%). During the streak, UND has scored 55 goals (3.44) and given up 33 goals against (2.06), that’s a goal differential of +22.

Last night Brad Schlossman tweeted: Best Records since November 30, 2014, B.C. (17-0-1), UND (13-2-1), Union (15-3-2), Minnesota (11-2-4), Wisconsin (13-5-1).

Who’s hot for UND: Rocco Grimaldi (2g-4a—6pts) last two games. In the last 11 games Mike Parks has scored (6g-8a—14pts). During the same time, Mark MacMillan has scored (5g-8a—13pts). Junior defenseman Nick Mattson (2g-3a—5pts) last four games. Freshman defenseman Keaton Thompson (3g-3a—6pts) and is leading UND in (+/-) department with 11+ in 14 games this season. Parks, Paul LaDue and Troy Stecher are second with +10.

UND balance: UND has 11 players with 10 or more points. With their next point, Stephane Pattyn (3g-6a—pts) and Stecher (1g-8a—9pts) will join the 10+ club.

Per @UNDSID: UND goalie Zane Gothberg is (10-0-1), 1.62 GAA and 933 save percentage in his last 11 starts.

UND 11th in both National Polls

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

Rk. School (1st place) Record Pts. PR
1. Boston College (49) 24-4-3 999 1
2. Minnesota (1) 21-4-5 948 2
3. Union 20-6-4 884 3
4. St. Cloud State 17-6-5 832 6
5. Quinnipiac 21-6-5 778 4
6. Ferris State 21-7-3 755 4
7. Massachusetts-Lowell 20-7-3 740 7
8. Wisconsin 17-9-2 655 8
9. Northeastern 17-10-3 563 12
10. Michigan 14-9-3 487 10
11. North Dakota 16-9-3 435 17
12. Providence 15-9-6 428 9
13. Cornell 12-7-5 411 11
14. Yale 13-8-4 336 13
15. Notre Dame 17-12-2 255 20
16. Vermont 15-11-3 205 15
17. Maine 15-10-3 175 NR
18. Denver 14-10-6 157 18
19. Colgate 14-11-5 138 19
20. Minnesota Duluth 13-11-4 112 16
Others receiving votes: Clarkson 95, Minnesota State 65, Ohio State 29, New Hampshire 6, Air Force 5, Western Michigan 4, Nebraska Omaha 2, Mercyhurst 1.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll    

1. Boston College (33) 24-4-3 509 1
2. Minnesota (1) 21-4-5 477 2
3. Union 20-6-4 411 3
4. St. Cloud State 17-6-5 398 6
5. Ferris State 21-7-3 360 4
6. Quinnipiac 21-6-5 356 5
7. Massachusetts-Lowell 20-7-3 309 7
8. Wisconsin 17-9-2 281 8
9. Northeastern 17-10-3 217 12
10. Michigan 14-9-3 168 11
11. North Dakota 16-9-3 144 NR
12. Providence 15-9-6 129 9
13. Cornell 12-7-5 110 10
14. Yale 13-8-4 82 13
15. Maine 15-10-3 43 NR

UND vs. UMD TV programming note

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – With the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) race going down to the wire, fans can see both games of North Dakota’s critical Feb. 21-22 series at Minnesota Duluth on live television.

Friday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on FOX Sports North Plus, which is also available on DirecTV channels 652-1 (HD) and 652 (SD) and DISH Network channels 9515 (HD) and 445 (SD).

Saturday’s game can be seen live regionally on Midco Sports Network channel 622 (HD) and 26 (SD).

Coverage from UMD’s AMSOIL Arena begins both nights at 7 p.m. Central. Tom Hansen will handle the play-by-play duties alongside former Minnesota Duluth player Judd Medak.

North Dakota will enter the series tied for second place, three points ahead of third place  Nebraska-Omaha, just three points behind league-leading St. Cloud State and five points ahead of Minnesota Duluth, which is tied for fifth place.

Note: It was originally announced earlier this month that Midco Sports Network would televise both games of the series. With FOX Sports North Plus now carrying Friday’s game, Midco Sports Network will pick up Saturday’s game only.

UND Hockey: Discovering Your Inner Geek

UND is 15-2-1 when they score three or more goals and is 0-7-2 when score two or less.

Junior forward Mark MacMillan is red hot right now, scoring (5g-6a—11pts) in his last nine games.

Mike Parks has (2g-4a—6pts) in the last three game. During the last 11 games he has scored 14 points (6g-8a—14pts).

With a (1g-1a—2pts) Last night, Mike Parks is now ranked second in “league points” in the NCHC. Parks has (8g-10a—18pts).

Since being put together three games ago, Mark MacMillan (4g-3a—7pts) – Michael Park (2g-4a—6pts) – Drake Caggiula (1g-2a—3pts)have combined for (6g-9a—15pts).

“Real American Hero’s are wearing camo, that’s not me,” Former UND forward T.J. Oshie

UND Holds on to Beat Miami 3-2

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota hockey team has been on a tear during the second half of the season. With the 3-2 win on Friday night against the Miami RedHawks, they improve their record to 11-2-1 in the last 14 games and (15-9-3, 10-7 NCHC) overall. UND is now tied with Nebraska-Omaha for second place in the NCHC with 30 points.

Junior forward Mark MacMillan has been on a hot streak for UND, the junior forward from Penticton, British Columbia, chipped in two goals and an assist to lead UND. During the last nine games, MacMillan has scored (5g-6a—11pts). When asked about his junior forward, head coach Dave Hakstol has this to say.

“He played a good hockey game,” Hakstol said. “He was moving his feet. He used his linemates well. I thought he played a good hockey game. I don’t think there was anything spectacular, but he played a real good hockey.”

Coming into the game, the UND power-play has been ice cold, and hadn’t scored a power-play goal since January, 24, 2014.  On Friday night, UND finally broke through on the power-play going 1-for-6.  After the game, coach Hakstol had this to say about UND’s struggling power-play.

“You guys are making a big deal about it, not me,’ Hakstol said. “We had a bad weekend last weekend, that’s all. You can put that behind you. We did a good job tonight. Tonight’s a new night.”

This past week, UND made some adjustments on their power-play. The coaching staff moved junior forward Stephane Pattyn to the power-play and it seemed to work.

“One of the areas where I thought we were better tonight was gaining possession in the offensive zone,” Hakstol said. “That’s one of the things that Steph Pattyn is pretty good at.  He’s a big body and a strong guy that can go to the front of the net. Maybe that’s something he can bring as well. Probably first thing is getting in and getting that initial possession.

UND’s lone power-play goal wasn’t a thing of beauty, but that didn’t seem to matter to the burly assistant captain.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it counts,” Pattyn said. “We have put a lot of work on power-play and made a couple of changes, so we’ll take it.”

Coming into the game, Clarke Saunders had been lights out on Friday nights and not so good on Saturday nights. Last night, Saunders stopped 31-of-33 shots (.939%). Even with the bad game last Saturday, Saunder’s teammates never lost confidence in their starting goalie.

“He had a good game night tonight, Hakstol said. “Especially when the game was 3-1, I thought he made two or three key saves to keep the game at 3-1. I thought he did a good job tonight.”

“Not at all, He was great all week in practice,” Pattyn said. “We have faith in him. We knew he was going come back and have a great game and if he’s in tomorrow he will do the same thing.”

With the win, the UND head coach surpassed the 250 win mark. After the game, coach Hakstol was asked about his thoughts on getting his 250th win tonight.

“I didn’t know that,” Hakstol said. “No comment. It was a good team win for us. I thought we had some good play out of all of our lines. We’ve got to get ready for a battle tomorrow.”

UND will try to push his win total to 251 when they play the second game of the two-game serious tonight at 7:00 P.M. Central at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

(Official Box Score)

Through These Doors 310 Educated Guess

Another great job by the Through These Doors crew.

Poll Monday, UND 17th

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

February 10, 2014

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Boston College	(47)	21- 4-3	997	2
2	Minnesota	( 3)	19- 4-5	917	1
3	Union		19- 6-3	889	4
4	Ferris State		20- 6-3	817	5
4	Quinnipiac		20- 5-5	817	3
6	St. Cloud State		15- 6-5	746	6
7	Massachusetts-Lowell		19- 7-3	715	7
8	Wisconsin		16- 8-2	646	12
9	Providence		15- 7-5	618	8
10	Michigan		14- 7-3	509	10
11	Cornell		12- 5-5	493	9
12	Northeastern		16- 9-3	474	11
13	Yale		12- 7-4	344	13
14	Clarkson		17-11-2	267	14
15	Vermont		15- 9-3	262	19
16	Minnesota-Duluth		13- 9-4	254	17
17	North Dakota		14- 9-3	209	16
18	Denver		13- 9-6	201	15
19	Colgate		14-11-3	105	NR
20	Notre Dame		16-12-1	92	18
Others receiving votes: Maine 64, Western Michigan 25, Minnesota State 15, Ohio State 14, Air Force 8, Nebraska-Omaha 1, New Hampshire 1.

Sunday afternoon randomness

Just for comparison sake, I thought I would take a look at a few of the top players in our league as well as a few nationally… I think sometimes we don’t give our opponents enough credit, but there’s some good players in division I college hockey.

In the NCHC, the forwards for SCSU, Miami and UNO are very good. Also, I included SLU because UND played them and split with them. That series actually started UND’s good run. I also put the players national rank next to their name.

While there’s a lot of gloom and doom today, Since UND started the season 4-7-1, UND has 10-2-1 record over the last 13 games. That’s not too bad in my opinion.

Boston College – just because

1 Johnny Gaudreau, B.C. (24g-32a—56pts)
2 Kevin Hayes, B.C. (20g-27a—47pts)
4 Bill Arnold, B.C. (11g-30a—41pts)

SLU, because UND played them

3 Greg Carey, SLU (14g-32a—46pts)
28 Matt Carey, SLU (16g-16a—32pts)
40 Jeremy Wick, (13g-15a—28pts)
51 Justin Baker, SLU (8g-19a—27pts)
51 Gavin Bayreuther, SLU (7g-20a—27pts)

Former league opponent

18 Jean-Paul Lafontaine, MSU-M (18g-18a—36pts)
20 Matt Leitner, MSU-M (9g-24a—33pts)

Next Week’s opponent

6 Riley Barber, MU (17g-19a---36pts)
7 Austin Czarnik, MU (10g-24a—34pts)
- Sean Kuraly, MU (6g-12a—18pts)

SCSU league member

37 Nic Dowd, SCSU (15g-12a—27pts)
37 Jonny Brodzinski SCSU (14g-13a—27pts)
40 David Morley, SCSU (8g-18a—26pts)
60 Kalle Kossila, SCSU (12g-13a—25pts)

UNO Mavericks
16 Josh Archibald, UNO, (21g-11a—32pts)
71 Ryan Walters, UNO (6g-18a—24pts)
71 Dominic Zombo, UNO, (13g-11a—24pts)
98 Brock Montpetit, UNO, (10g-12a—22pts)
98 Jake Guentzel, UNO, (3g-19a—22pts)

One of ours

98 Rocco Grimaldi, UND (10g-12a—22pts)

I am sure all of us are frustrated with the results this past weekend... Saturday night was an utter disappointment to the fans, the coaching staff and the players... I don't think one person in the UND locker room was satisfied with the results of that game... Hate to break it to the Hakstol haters, but Hakstol isn’t going anywhere... I would bet even money on it. Even if the UND doesn't make the playoffs, he's going back behind the bench next season.

First, Hakstol is a proven coach that has one of the best coaching records in the NCAA over the last 10-years. Also, he's got a big contract and it would take a lot of money to buy him out.

Second, UND isn't going to fire him, it’s not going to happen, unless he did something criminal. Do any of us think that's going to happen? I don’t. I think Hak is a good coach and will continue to get the job done.

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota set to Battle (thehockeywriters.com)
• NCHC Hockey: Breaking Down the Numbers Half Way Point (thehockeywriters.com)

Tale of two Clarke Saunders

Coming to Saturday’s game, Clarke Saunders has been rock solid in net, posting a 2-1-0 record, with a 2.03 goals against average and a 933 save percentage. In Friday night’s game against Nebraska-Omaha, Saunders was very good, stopping 31-of-33 shots in route to a 4-2 victory.

What a difference a night makes.

In Saturday’s game against the Mavericks, Saunders gave up six goals on 35 shots (.829). On Saturday nights, Saunders is 0-2-0 with a 4.81 goals against average and a .849 save percentage. That being said, you can’t fault the goalie alone. Defensemen were flat footed and caught out of position all night long.  The power-play was a major factor in Saturday’s poor play.

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Clarke Saunders Holds Off Mavericks (thehockeywriters.com)
• North Dakota Coughs up Two-Goal Lead against UNO (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Clarkes Saunders Fills in for the Injured Zane Gothberg (thehockeywriters.com)

Look who's on top in the NCHC

I know there's a lot of hockey left, but the log jam at the top continues.

Related articles

• NCHC Hockey: Non-Conference Record Should Cause Some Concern for the NCHC. (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• NCHC Hockey: No Second Thoughts or Regrets (thehockeywriters.com)

UND Moves up to 16th in USCHO Poll

USCHO POLL 2/3/2014

Record Points Last Poll
1. Minnesota (40) 19-2-5 989 1
2. Boston College (10) 19-4-3 959 2
3. Quinnipiac 19-4-5 897 3
4. Union 17-6-3 798 4
5. Ferris State 18-6-3 758 6
6. St. Cloud State 14-6-4 745 5
7. Lowell 18-7-2 738 8
8. Providence 15-7-5 621 7
9. Cornell 12-4-5 602 11
10. Michigan 13-6-3 546 12
11. Northeastern 15-8-3 528 10
12. Wisconsin 14-8-2 460 9
13. Yale 11-6-4 342 13
14. Clarkson 16-10-2 291 15
15. Denver 13-8-5 278 16
16. North Dakota 13-8-3 266 17
17. Minnesota-Duluth 12-9-3 166 NR
18. Notre Dame 15-11-1 147 14
19. Vermont 13-9-3 130 19
20. New Hampshire 16-13-1 120 NR
Others receiving votes: Maine 50, Colgate 23, Ohio State 18, Mercyhurst 11, Air Force 6, Nebraska-Omaha 4, Western Michigan 4, Minnesota-Mankato 3.

Hey Diddle Diddle, Look Who's in First Place

Pts	GP	W	L	T	SW	Win%	GF	GA	GP	W	L	T	Win%	GF	GA
North Dakota	NoDak	24	13	8	5	0	0	0.615	39	39	23	13	7	3	0.630	67	62
St. Cloud State	SCSU	23	12	7	3	2	0	0.667	39	28	21	12	5	4	0.667	71	51
Nebraska Omaha	UNO	21	12	6	4	2	1	0.583	36	29	22	9	11	2	0.455	66	70
Denver	DU	21	13	6	5	2	1	0.538	33	32	25	12	8	5	0.580	65	55
Western Michigan	WMU	20	12	6	5	1	1	0.542	38	34	24	12	8	4	0.583	65	57
Minnesota Duluth	UMD	17	12	5	6	1	1	0.458	34	36	21	10	9	2	0.524	60	59
Colorado College	CC	13	13	3	7	3	1	0.346	29	39	23	3	16	4	0.217	43	75
Miami	MIAMI	11	13	3	9	1	1	0.269	30	41	23	9	11	3	0.457	70	65

I didn't think we would be saying this, but look who's in first place in the NCHC. Here's a look at the records the last 10 games.

UND 9-0-1 last 10 games.

SCSU 4-4-2 last 10 games.

UNO 3-5-2 last 10 games.

DU 4-3-3 last 10 games.

WMU 6-3-1 last 10 games.

UMD 5-4-1 last 10 games.

C.C. 2-6-2 last 10 games.

MU 2-6-2 last 10 games.