Miami University (Ohio) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Minneapolis, MN – Coming into the
National Collegiate Hockey Conferences Frozen Faceoff, three of the four teams
needed to win the tourney to continue their season.
The University of North Dakota came into Friday’s game as an NCAA bubble team. At a minimum, they need to win at least one game this weekend.
The University of North Dakota came into Friday’s game as an NCAA bubble team. At a minimum, they need to win at least one game this weekend.
After being shutout 3-0 by Miami University, UND has one more
chance to extend their season. They must get a win tomorrow against Western
Michigan if they’re going to have a chance. They also will be scoreboard
watching.
Again, for those asking, it appears if UND, UW & Lowell win, UND is in. If not, UND is out.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) March 22, 2014
The game was closer than the score, UND outshot Miami 32 to 28,
but they weren’t able to get anything past Miami sophomore goalie Ryan McKay, who was very solid and stopped 32-of-32 shots. UND goalie Zane Gothberg stopped
25-of-28 shots, but struggled with the puck at times.
One of the big concerns coming into the tourney was the
condition of the Target Center ice. The ice appeared to be a little soft, but
it didn’t look like the ice was a factor in the game.
“It improved from yesterday,” UND senior defenseman Dillon Simpson said.
“It’s tough place for the game of hockey, where it isn’t usually played. I
think they did a good job trying to make it as good especially after practicing
on it yesterday. All in all, it was okay. It was a little soft, but at the end
of the day it was fine.”
Over the last four games, UND has made a habit of falling behind.
In three of the last four games, UND has given up a two goal lead twice and a
three goal once (against Miami). UND is 1-2-0 in those three games. Miami
would get goals from Blake Coleman, Austin Czarnik and Anthony Louis. Coleman
would lead Miami with (1g-1a—2pts).
After the game, UND head coach Dave Hakstol was
very complimentary to the RedHawks.
“Hats off to Miami University, they played a great game
tonight,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “They played hard, as did our team.
Both teams battled hard. They scored the first goal of the game – got a
critical one in the second period and we couldn’t fight our way back into it.
This one is over, it’s in the past. Our focus is now moves to tomorrow at three
thirty in the afternoon.”
On February 15, 2014, UND ran over the Miami RedHawks 9-2, at
Ralph Engelstad Arena. At the time, Miami didn’t have the services of Coleman,
who was injured. This time around, Miami was a much different team with the
junior from Plano, Texas.
“They’re a lot better team than we played a month ago, junior
forward Mark MacMillan said. “Obviously they got (Blake) Coleman back from
injury and I think that he put a spark in their team. They went in and swept
Saint Cloud last weekend and came in and played a great game against us
tonight. Much different team than we faced last time.”
With the loss to the RedHawks, UND (22-13-3) is currently
sitting at 15th in the Pairwise. They need to win the third place game to
extend their season, but they also need help. The UND captain was asked what
his team needed to do, to get the win tomorrow.
“I think first and foremost, it starts with myself, handling
things the right way,” Simpson said. We got a young team and we have good group
of guys. We all know the task at hand, they now what needs to be done.”
The Miami University head coach Enrico Blasi seem
relieved that his RedHawk team (15-19-3) was one game away from going to the
NCAA playoffs after finishing eight in the NCHC standings.
“Obviously, a real good game for us,” Enrico Blasi said. I
thought Ryan (McKay) made some really huge saves when we needed them. Timely
goals, and timely bounces. I thought we did a good job keeping them on
the outside for the most part.”
Blasi continued, “I was thinking on the bench that sometimes you
have to have a little bit of faith in your team. About a month ago I don’t
think any of you guys would have picked us to be here in this position. I
always say everything happens for a reason. Guys stayed with each other. They
played hard. They practiced hard. They stayed positive. We’re going to the
championship game tomorrow night.”
UND faces off against the Western Michigan Broncos in the third
place game at 3:38 p.m. Central, tomorrow at the Target Center.
The NCHC announced that 9,113 fans attended today’s games at the
Target Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment