Jayson Moy has UND in the Xcel Center

Jayson Moy of USCHO fame does a weekly column on NCAA hockey bracketology and UND fans will like this week's brackets.  This week Moy now predicts that UND traveling south to St. Paul to play in the West Regional. 

East Regional (Albany):
13 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 4 Providence
12 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 5 Boston College

Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Robert Morris vs. 2 Quinnipiac
10 Notre Dame vs 7 Yale

Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
14 Michigan Tech vs. 3 St. Cloud State
11 Harvard vs. 6 Denver

West Regional (St. Paul):
15 Minnesota vs. 1 North Dakota
9 Boston University vs. 8 Michigan

(Link to USCHO)

(Video) UND 8, WMU 1 (Penrose Cup Champs)

First, last night was a total team effort.

Also, the CBS Line was dialed in. That line accounted for three of UND’s eight goals and scored (3g-6a—9pts) and were a (+12). During the first period, Boeser and Schmaltz again added two more goals to the highlight reel collection.

The story of the game was the play of the fourth line. Coach Berry put Shane Gersich, Coltyn Sanderson, and Chris Wilkie on the fourth line and they showed a lot of chemistry together. That line had a banner night on the score sheet (4g-3a—7pts).

“There’s obviously other stuff out there for us for sure,” Sanderson said. “It’s obviously a huge accomplish especially with the league that we play in. It’s tough every night to get wins. Anybody can beat anybody.

“Obviously, that makes it much more difficult to win a championship. At the same time, we can be happy about that, but this program hasn’t won a national championship for a long time. I think that been on our minds. I know for the last four of my career and now with the opportunity and the skill in the room. I think that’s the only thing that we will be satisfied with.”

North Dakota Brock Boeser (Troy Stecher, Nick Schmaltz) 12:20
North Dakota Nick Schmaltz (Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser) 14:07
2nd Period
North Dakota Brock Boeser (Nick Schmaltz, Tucker Poolman) 0:30
North Dakota PP Chris Wilkie (Rhett Gardner) 2:43
North Dakota Paul LaDue (Brock Boeser, Nick Schmaltz) 7:04
Western Mich. PP Sheldon Dries (Corey Schueneman, Frederik Tiffels) 12:43
North Dakota Coltyn Sanderson (Hayden Shaw, Chris Wilkie) 19:09
3rd Period
North Dakota Chris Wilkie (Rhett Gardner, Shane Gersich) 16:47
North Dakota Coltyn Sanderson (Hayden Shaw, Chris Wilkie) 18:34

UND vs. WMU Game 3 Lines

Not a lot of changes from last game. Colten St. Clair is still out. One new change, Trevor Olson is also out. Freshman forwards Shane Gersich and Chris Wilkie are on the fourth line with Coltyn Sanderson.

Austin Poganski, Making an Impact at UND https://t.co/eUfWYeRLKD #THW

— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) March 4, 2016

This week's Brackets from USCHO

Here are this week’s brackets from USCHO's Jason Moy. Finally, this week, Moy has UND in the Xcel Center. That works well for UND fans that would like to make the short trip to St. Paul. I am also shocked that he doesn't have the Boston College Eagles in Worcester yet.

East Regional (Albany):
13 Omaha vs. 4 Providence
11 Harvard vs. 5 Boston College

Northeast Regional (Worcester):
16 Minnesota State vs. 1 Quinnipiac
10 Boston University vs 8 Yale

Midwest Regional (Cincinnati):
15 Robert Morris vs. 3 St. Cloud State
9 Notre Dame vs. 6 Michigan

West Regional (St. Paul):
14 Minnesota vs. 2 North Dakota
12 Massachusetts-Lowell vs. 7 Denver

Conference breakdowns

Hockey East — 5
NCHC — 4
ECAC Hockey — 3
Big Ten — 2
WCHA — 1
Atlantic Hockey — 1

UND 2nd in USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

February 29, 2016

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Quinnipiac	(48)	25- 2-7	998	1
2	North Dakota	( 1)	26- 5-3	931	4
3	Boston College	( 1)	24- 5-5	890	2
4	Providence		25- 5-4	864	5
5	St. Cloud State		25- 8-1	787	3
6	Michigan		20- 5-5	725	6
7	Denver		19- 8-5	703	8
8	Yale		19- 6-4	658	7
9	Boston University		19-10-5	584	9
10	Notre Dame		19- 8-7	559	10
11	Massachusetts-Lowell		21- 8-5	535	11
12	Harvard		16- 9-4	436	12
13	Michigan Tech		19- 8-5	389	14
14	Penn State		19- 9-4	296	15
15	Nebraska-Omaha		18-13-1	293	13
16	Minnesota State		17-10-7	188	18
17	Minnesota		17-14-0	125	20
18	Cornell		13- 9-7	109	16
19	St. Lawrence		17-13-4	97	19
20	Robert Morris		21- 9-4	69	NR
Others receiving votes: Rensselaer 68, Bowling Green 61, Northeastern 40, Clarkson 36, Miami 35, Minnesota-Duluth 22, Air Force 2.

 

UND moves up two spots in the USCHO Poll. In the rankings that matters: UND is second and St. Cloud State is third in the Pairwise Rankings. Denver is seventh, and Nebraska-Omaha is hanging in there at 13th. Minnesota-Duluth is tied for the 14^th spot. UMD has a major problem, they're below .500. So, they would need to go on a winning streak to make the NCAA Tourney.  The Bulldogs need to sweep this weekend, win their NCHC series, too.

 

Things are Looking Much Better

Three weeks ago, the University of North Dakota was swept by the Denver Pioneers (6-4 W, 4-1). There were a few in the Fighting Hawks nation that were a little worried. I said, no need to panic. I guess, I was right. After sweeping (4-1 W, 4-2 W) the Red Mavs. UND is now a two-time Penrose Champion. Since January, UND is 10-3-1. With the road win, UND is 13-3-1 (.794).

College Hockey TV schedule +

Looking at this weekend college hockey television schedule, if you have DirecTV, you’re in luck, there’s a lot of hockey on television this weekend.

Vermont vs. Merrimack	Feb. 26	8:35 ET	(NESN+) DirecTV 628.1
Boston University vs. Notre Dame	Feb. 26	7:35 ET	NBCSN Station Stream
Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State	Feb. 26	8:07 CT	CBSN DirecTV 220
Wisconsin vs. Ohio State	Feb. 26	6:35 ET	BTN DirecTV 610
Michigan vs. Minnesota	Feb. 26	8:05 CT	BTN DirecTV 610
Yale vs. Quinnipiac	Feb. 27	7:00 ET	SNY DirecTV 639
Boston University vs. Notre Dame	Feb. 27	7:05 ET	NBCSN Station Stream
Boston College vs. Mass.-Lowell	Feb. 27	7:00 ET	NESN DirecTV 628
Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State	Feb. 27	7:07 CT	FCS 608 DirecTV
North Dakota vs. Nebraska-Omaha	Feb. 27	7:07 CT	ASN Altitude 681 DirecTV

UND Drops to 4th in USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

February 15, 2016

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Quinnipiac	(32)	22- 2-6	973	1
2	Boston College	(14)	21- 4-5	943	3
3	St. Cloud State	( 4)	23- 6-1	901	4
4	North Dakota		22- 5-3	837	2
5	Providence		21- 5-4	818	5
6	Michigan		18- 4-5	734	6
7	Notre Dame		18- 5-7	679	8
8	Yale		16- 5-4	614	10
9	Boston University		17- 9-4	599	7
10	Denver		15- 8-5	561	13
11	Massachusetts-Lowell		18- 7-5	505	11
12	Nebraska-Omaha		18- 9-1	482	12
13	Harvard		14- 8-3	423	9
14	Michigan Tech		16- 7-5	333	14
15	Penn State		18- 8-4	278	16
16	Cornell		12- 8-5	169	15
17	Rensselaer		15-11-6	141	18
18	St. Lawrence		16-11-3	130	NR
19	Minnesota State		15-10-7	114	17
20	Clarkson		16-11-3	106	20
Others receiving votes: Minnesota 56, Bowling Green 39, Robert Morris 25, Dartmouth 24, Miami 10, Northeastern 6.

 

Looking at this week’s USCHO Poll, I am surprised that UND didn’t drop further. I suppose we will see grumbling from the fans of other teams. Now, let’s have some perspective. In the only poll that matters, UND is no. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings, and they’re tied with SCSU for first in the NCHC standings. UND still controls their destination.  I do expect that Coach Berry and his staff will right the ship.