UND vs. UW game 4 lines

UND’s Forward lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
Stephane Pattyn 28 –9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 – Joe Gleason  – 14 Taylor Dickin

Defense Parings

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) –5 Nick Mattson
22 Andrew Panzarella - 4 Derek Forbort


UND Goalies

31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell


Out: Derrick Rodwell, Roco Grimaldi, Brendan O'Donnel

UND Players Stats

Tentative Badger Forward lines

21 Brendan Woods–9 Mark Zengerle–7 Tyler Barnes
20 Ryan Little–16 Joseph LaBate–25 Michael Mersch
8 Matt Paape–14 Jefferson Dahl–18 Sean Little
26 Brad Navin–12 Keegan Meuer–13 Gavin Hartzog

Badgers Defensive Paring 

27 Frankie Simonelli - 6 Justin Schultz (A)
19 Jake McCabe - 55 John Ramage (C)
4 Eric Springer - 24 Joe Faust

Badger Goalies   

33 Joel Rumpel
30 Landon Peterson

Referees: for tonight's game:  Jonathan Morrison, Tom Sterns
Linesemen: Nathan Freeman, Justin Hill

Television: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FCS Pacific, DirecTV 623 (Sat.), FSN+.

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox and for Wisconsin Badger fans on 1310 WIBA AM locally
in Madison or for free online at BadgerSportsNetwork.com.

Internet:  Both games at UNDSports.com.

Related articles

• Series Notes: UND vs. UW (insidehockey.com)
• Birthday boy wins it for UND versus UW (insidehockey.com)

Wisconsin Player Stats

Birthday boy wins it for UND versus UW

Grand Forks, ND – A UND student held up a sign that said, "If you don't squirt, you won't get hurt." That sign was in reference to a game that took place between these same two teams almost thirty years ago.

Over the years Wisconsin and North Dakota have played in some historic battles. The two teams have played against each other for League and an NCAA title.

The two teams have played in many games that were highly contested. Over the years there have been a few punches thrown, some good scrums after the whistle, and a few all out brawls.

Tonight’s game wasn’t quite as exciting as some of the epic battles of the past, but UND was able to grind out a 5-3 victory at the Ralph. It wasn’t really that exciting of a game to watch and was really a chess match. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for either team to score.

The head coach for UND, Dave Hakstol, kind of saw it the same way.

“Both teams played it real tight and close to the vest and looking for a power play opportunity or a power play goal, or one opportunity to win it", Coach Hakstol said. “Fortunately we came up with that opportunities, it was a good play by our captain Mario Lamoureux.”

At times the game was a bit boring as a good share of the play was spent in the neutral zone.

The game winning goal was scored by freshman forward Stephane Pattyn who was incidentally celebrating his 21^st birthday. It was the first career goal for the freshman forward.

When Pattyn was asked about his game winning goal, this is what he had to say. “That was really nice. Mario [Lamoureux] made an unbelievable play. It all started with Joe [Gleason] using his speed. I guess Mario just saw me back door I was wide open and the goalie was nowhere to be seen, and all I had to do was tap it in. That just shows how hard of a worker Mario is, his leadership and his poise on that play. I will take credit for it, but that was all Mario for sure.”

Brock Nelson was able to cement the win by scoring an empty net goal for UND. Nelson, with that goal would finish the night with 2 goals.

As the WCHA, in its current form, winds down after the 2012-13 season, UND and UW will no longer play in league games anymore. North Dakota and Wisconsin will leave the WCHA and go to the NCHC and the B1G respectively. This means that once again, there will be no more historic WCHA battles between UND and UW after 2012-13 season.

Another weekend, another historic match up in the WCHA. This seems to be the story line this season.
Coming into the weekend, UND’s power play had been less than spectacular, having scored only two goals on 17 opportunities. UND was able to break out of that power play funk and score on its first two power plays of the game.

While the UND defense did give up three goals on the night, UND was able to keep Wisconsin's pre-season All-WCHA defenseman Justin Schultz off the score sheet. That is no small task, as Schultz has points in 19 of 25 games played this season.

With the loss, the Badgers dropped to 1-7-1 on the road this season. Wisconsin is 11-4-1 at home. Coming into the game, Wisconsin had lost only one time in the last seven games.

With the win, UND improved its record to 14-10-2, 10-9-0 in the WCHA. The two teams play again tomorrow night.

 Box Score

Related articles

• Series Notes: UND vs. UW (insidehockey.com)
• North Dakota edges Minnesota (insidehockey.com)
• UND Freshman Connor Gaarder named WCHA Rookie of the Week (mvn.com)

UND vs. UW game 3 lines

UND’s Forward lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
Stephane Pattyn 28 –9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 - No Center – 14 Taylor Dickin

Defense Parings

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) –5 Nick Mattson
22 Andrew Panzarella- Joe Gleason
4 Derek Forbort

UND Goalies

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness

Out: Derek Forbort, Derrick Rodwell, Roco Grimaldi, Brendan O'Donnel

UND Players Stats

Tentative Badger Forward lines

F   16  Joseph LaBate - 9 Zengerle -  7 Tyler Barnes
F    8 Matt Paape - 23 Derek Lee - 25 Michael Mersch
F    26 Brad Navin - 14 Jefferson Dahl - 18 Sean Little
F    21 Brendan Woods - 12 Keegan Meuer - 20 Ryan Little (A)


Badgers Defensive Paring 

D   27 Frankie Simonelli - 6 Justin Schultz (A)
D    19 Jake McCabe - 55 John Ramage (C)

D    4 Eric Springer - 24 Joe Faust

Badger Goalies   

33 Joel Rumpel
30 Landon Peterson

Referees: for tonight's game:  Jonathan Morrison, Tom Sterns
Linesemen: Nathan Freeman, Justin Hill

Television: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FCS Central (Fri.), FCS Pacific (Sat.), DirecTV 617 (Fri.), DirecTV 623 (Sat.), FSN+, theScore (Fri. game tape delayed on Sat.).

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox and for Wisconsin Badger fans on 1310 WIBA AM locally
in Madison or for free online at BadgerSportsNetwork.com.

Internet:  Both games at UNDSports.com.

Related articles

• Series Notes: UND vs. UW (insidehockey.com)

Wisconsin Player Stats

A few things...

In case you haven't seen this video, it's the Justin Schultz Highlight video that someone posted on Youtube. Schultz is one of the best defensemen in the country and would be my pick for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award if I had a vote. Schultz would probably be playing in the NHL right now if he had decided to for-go his junior year of eligibility.

You can bet that UND will be aware of Schultz whenever he's on the ice and will probably have someone checking him at all times. Obviously, it will be hard to shut down Schultz's offensive production, but you can bet that UND will put their best players on Schultz to slow him down. 

Speaking of Justin Schultz – the Junior Defenseman from the Wisconsin Badgers was named the Red Baron® WCHA Defensive Player of the Week this past week. Schultz scored (1g-4a—5pts) in helping his team beat the UAA Seawolves (4-0 W, 3-2 W) in Madison Wisconsin. Schultz is second on the Badgers in scoring with (12g-25a—37pts).

Coming into this weekend’s series the Wisconsin Badgers lead the all-time series against UND 86-62-11 (.575). UND has had some tough sledding as of late against the Badgers as they have only won three times in the last 10 games going an unimpressive 3-6-1.

It looks like this will probably be the top two forward lines for the Wisconsin Badgers and they have been together for four games; LW 16 Joseph LaBate (5g-13a—18pts)- C 9 Mark Zengerle (10g-28a—38pst) RW 7 Tyler Barnes (8g-12a—20pts) and from looking at the line sheets this appears to be the second line for the Badgers - LW 8 Matt Paape (4g-4a—8pts) - C 23 Derek Lee (4g-6a—10pts) - RW 25 Michael Mersch (8g-12—20tps)

Compare and contrast this was what the top line for UND has been most of the season; LW 29 Brock Nelson (17g-10a—27pts) - C 10 Corban Knight (8g-16a—24pts)- RW 7 Danny Kristo (12g-15a—27pts) and this was the second line last weekend LW 16 Mark MacMillan (4g-6a—10pts) - C 27 Carter Rowney (8g-7a—15pts) - RW 15 Michael Parks (4g-3a—7pts).

Who is hot for UND; freshman forward Michael Parks has points in four out of his last six games. Corbin Knight broke a five game scoreless streak by recording a (2g-1a—3 pts) in Saturday's game against Saint Cloud.

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings: 1/22/12 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - January 8 (insidehockey.com)

UND vs. SCSU

UND’s Forward lines


29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
13 Connor Gaarder–9 Mario Lamoureux (C) –20 Joe Gleason
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–14 Taylor Dickin

Defense Parings

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) –5 Nick Mattson
22 Andrew Panzarella
UND Goalies
31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell

UND Starting goalie: Brad Eidsness with the start, 3-1-0 record with a 2.48 GAA,  and .915 SV%.


UND Scratches: Rcco Grimaldi, Derek Forbort, Brendan O’Donnell, Derek Rodwell

WCHA officials: Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd, Tony Czech and Jeff Schultz


UND player stats 

SCSU Forward lines

10 Ben Hanowski–12 Travis Novak–11 Jared Festler
8 Cory Thorson–26 Nic Dowd–22 David Eddy
27 Nick Oliver–13 Jordy Christian–21 Brooks Bertsch
18 Garrett Milan–16 Joe Rehkamp–17 Joey Holka

SCSU Defense Pairings 

28 Andrew Prochno–14 Nick Jensen
7 Kevin Gravel–40 Tim Daly
4 Taylor Johnson–2 Jarrod Rabey
SCSU Goalies

29 Ryan Faragher
33 Joe Phillippi
36 Nate Hardy

SCSU Starting Goalie: Ryan Faragher (7-9-3, 2.83 GAA, .909 SV%)

SCSU Players stats 

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: Charter (Channel 87 in St. Cloud viewing area), Comcast St. Paul (Channel 13), Comcast Minneapolis (Channel 23). No local TV in Grand Forks, ND.

Radio: he games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox and on KNSI FM 103.3/AM 1450 

Internet:  America One Broadcast

Related articles

• UND Races Past Harvard on New Year's Eve (insidehockey.com)
• Shot charts from UMN vs. UND game one (mvn.com)
• North Dakota edges Minnesota (insidehockey.com)
• Minnesota pastes North Dakota (insidehockey.com)

UND versus SCSU Series Notes

The University of North Dakota travels to Saint Cloud State University to play the Huskies at the National Hockey Center, January 20-21, 2012.

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: Charter (Channel 87 in St. Cloud viewing area), Comcast St. Paul (Channel 13), Comcast Minneapolis (Channel 23). No local TV in Grand Forks, ND.

Radio: he games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox and on KNSI FM 103.3/AM 1450 

Internet:  http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=28

Records and Rankings: UND (12-9-2 overall, 8-8-0 WCHA); UND is ranked 17^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota split with the Gophers last weekend (2-1 W, 2-6 L). University of North Dakota Official Release.

Saint Cloud State University (9-11-4, 6-7-3 WCHA);  unranked in the latest USCHO poll. Saint Cloud State University split with Colorado College last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado (1-3 L, 5-4 W). Saint Cloud State University Official release.

Series History:  The University of North Dakota is 57-30-11 (.638) against the SCSU Huskies in the all-time series.

Players to Watch: 

For UND: Forwards: Danny Kristo (12-13a—24pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21pts) and Brock Nelson (16g-9a—25pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (5g-8a—13pts), Dillion Simpson, (0g-11a—11pts), Ben Blood (2g-9a—11pts).  Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .892 save percentage and a 2.84 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .915 save percentage and a 2.48 goals against average.

UND Injuries: Forward Rocco Grimaldi is out, Brendan O’Donnell out, defenseman Derek Forbort out, Michael Parks is questionable, Derek Rodwell is out (season shoulder).

For the Huskies: Forwards: Ben Hanowski (12g-13—25pts), Jared Festler (10g-8a—18pts), Travis Novak (7g-10a—17pts). Defense: Nick Jensen (5g-14a—19pts). Goalie: Ryan Faragher .909 save percentage and a 2.82 goals against average.

SCSU  Injuries and departures: Mike Lee is out, Drew LeBlanc is out, Mitch MacMillian transfer to UND, Cam Reid left school for the Western Hockey League.

Other games in the WCHA: Alaska Anchorage at Wisconsin, Minnesota State at Nebraska Omaha, Colorado at Minnesota, Alabama Huntsville at Minnesota Duluth,  Northern Michigan at Michigan Tech (Friday).

Cost Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY.

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings - January 15 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - January 8 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - December 12 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - December 5 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - November 21 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - November 13 (insidehockey.com)

UND vs. UMN game two

UND Forward Lines 

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 27 Carter Rowney – 14 Taylor Dickin
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–15 Michael Parks

UND Defense Paring

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
20 Joe Gleason–22 Andrew Panzarella


UND Goalies 

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Scratches: Derek Rodwell (shoulder), Roco Grimaldi (Knee) 4 Derek Forbort (undisclosed).

UND Players Stats

UMN  Forward Lines

7 Kyle Rau–27 Nick Bjugstad–24 Zach Budish
15 Joe Miller–19 Erik Haula–21 Jake Hansen
16 Nate Condon–9 Taylor Matson–17 Seth Ambroz


14 Tom Serratore–22 Travis Boyd–18 Nick Larson

UMN Defense Parings 

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt


UMN Goalies 

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

UMN Stats 

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh  Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

Related articles

• North Dakota vs. Minnesota Series Notes (insidehockey.com)
• Danny Kristo hit on Ben Marshall (mvn.com)
• North Dakota edges Minnesota (insidehockey.com)

North Dakota edges Minnesota 2-1

Grand Forks, ND – North Dakota and Minnesota have played in some epic battles over the years. One could compare UND vs. UMN Hockey to the famous Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud, every game is highly contested and usually has a lot of drama.  Tonight was no different, as the UND hockey team beat the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 2-1. 

Historically, when the two team’s face off the score sheets tend to fill up with penalty minutes, this game would prove to be highly contested, but not quite as many penalty minutes were called tonight. The games between Minnesota and North Dakota tend to be close games and even series and over 45 seasons of hockey between UND vs. UMN, there have only been five season series sweeps. 

Adding to the epic battles over the years, this weekend’s series is also historic; because it will be the last time that UND and UMN will play in a WCHA regular season series in the Ralph Englestad Arena. 

After the 2012-13 season, North Dakota will leave the WCHA for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.  Minnesota will leave the WCHA for the Big Ten Hockey Conference.  Starting during the 2013-14 season WCHA will look very different than it does today. With the reshuffling of the hockey conferences its unknown how much the two teams will play each other in the future after next season.  The UND and UMN hockey series is one of the best college hockey series. 

At the 18:59 mark of the first period the Gophers would get a five minute power play, UND  junior forward Danny Kristo hit Gopher defenseman Ben Marshall  from behind into the boards with an elbow to the back of the head and Marshall would crumple to the ice.  

Coach Hakstol was asked about how his team responded to the Kristo penalty, "we responded as we have to any bit of adversity that we have run into in the last couple of months, you suck it up and find a way to do the job.” “Mike Parks went up with Knight and Nelson and did a solid job and Taylor Dickin stepped into the fourth line role and did a solid job with his line mates and that’s what guys are expected to do.” 

UND would kill off the Kristo major penalty as Minnesota was unable to generate any good scoring opportunities on the power play. North Dakota was able to generate a scoring opportunity shorthanded, but Brock Nelson was stopped by Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson.  

Minnesota and North Dakota would trade goals in the second period as Minnesota’s Kyle Rau scored on a nice pass from his line mate Zach Budish. 

UND answer the Minnesota goal with nine seconds remaining in the second period. UND defenseman Andrew MacWillam would score the first goal of his UND Hockey career, in his 102nd game, with a howitzer from the point Mario Lamoureux drew the assist on MacWilliams goal.  

After the game UND captain Mario Lamoureux was asked about Andrew MacWilliam’s goal, “I always knew Mac would come up with a big time [goal].  I was just glad that I was the one that passed it to him and he buried it, and I was pretty ecstatic when it went in, and it couldn’t have came to a better guy, he is a heart and soul guy and he plays on the edge every single night and brings it every 100 percent effort, pretty proud to see him get it especially in game like this.” 

Brock Nelson would get the game winning goal at the 16:25 mark of the third period.  After the game Brock Nelson was asked about the game winning goal and had this to say, "[Michael] Parks started it off with a one on one battle in the corner, the puck kind of bounced out, I just wanted to get a puck on net, I had a couple of chances earlier in the game that didn’t go in, so I was just trying to create a chance, saw a couple guys out front and luckily it went in."

North Dakota head hockey coach Dave Hakstol had this to say after the game about the win against the rival, “it was a high energy, hard fought hockey game, obviously when you come out on the good side of those, it was a great win for our team, it was an entertaining high paced game”

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia had this to say about the game, “like all three of the games it was hard fought, they made a play tonight late in the game to win it.” “There wasn’t much space on the rink tonight, both teams battled hard and goaltenders played well and made some timely saves and there wasn’t a lot of offensive chances tonight and it became a cautious game.”

When asked about his team’s trouble scoring against UND on the power play.  Lucia said, “They’re a good team, their goaltender played well and we didn’t have a lot of rhythm on the power play. “  

Both teams play again tomorrow night at 07:07 pm as UND will look to get the series sweep and attempt to tie the season series 2-2.

Box Score

Cross Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY.

Related articles

• A battle between two states; Minnesota vs. North Dakota? (mvn.com)
• North Dakota vs. Minnesota Series Notes (insidehockey.com)

UND vs. UMN game one

UND Forward Lines 

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 27 Carter Rowney – 14 Taylor Dickin
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–15 Michael Parks

UND Defense Paring

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
20 Joe Gleason–22 Andrew Panzarella


UND Goalies 

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Scratches: Derek Rodwell (shoulder), Roco Grimaldi (Knee) 4 Derek Forbort (undisclosed).

UND Players Stats

UMN  Forward Lines

16 Nate Condon–9 Taylor Matson–17 Seth Ambroz
14 Tom Serratore–22 Travis Boyd–18 Nick Larson
11 Sam Warning–19 Erik Haula–21 Jake Hansen
7 Kyle Rau–27 Nick Bjugstad–24 Zach Budish

UMN Defense Parings 

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt

UMN Goalies 

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

UMN Stats 

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh  Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

Related articles

• North Dakota vs. Minnesota Series Notes (insidehockey.com)
• UND Freshman Connor Gaarder named WCHA Rookie of the Week (mvn.com)

UND vs. UMN series notes

Cross Posted @ INSIDE HOCKEY...

The University of North Dakota entertains the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena.

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: TV: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FOX College Sports Central,
FOX Sports North, DirecTV 617 and 668.

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: UNDSports.com

Records and Rankings: UND (11-8-2 overall, 7-7-0 WCHA) UND is ranked 17^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota Beat Clarkson (3-1) in the College Hockey Classic.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-7-1, 10-4-0 WCHA);  ranked 5^th in the latest USCHO poll. Minnesota lost to Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame Game (4-3) last weekend.

Series History:  UND is 15-11-3 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers since head coach Dave Hastol took over the coaching reigns at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. The Gophers swept UND (2-0 and 3-2) earlier back in November.  The Minnesota Gophers lead the all-time series against UND by a 135-128-14 record.

Players to Watch:

For UND: Forwards: Danny Kristo (11-13a—24pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21pts) and Brock Nelson (15g-9a—24pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (5g-8a—13pts), Dillion Simpson, (0g-11a—11pts), Ben Blood (2g-8a—10pts).  Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .894 save percentage and a  2.77 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .918 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average.

UND Injuries: Forward Rocco Grimaldi is out, forward Corban Knight and defenseman Derek Forbort are questionable for this weekend, forward Derek Rodwell is out for the season (shoulder surgery).

For the Gophers: Forwards: Kyle Rau (12g-10a—22pts), Nick Bjugstad 17g-11a—28pts), Erik Haula (10g-17a—28pts), Zach Budish (6g-14a—20pts). Defense: Nate Schmidt (1g-23a—24pts), Mark Alt (4g-10a—14pts). Goalie: Kent Patterson .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average.

Key Numbers:

1 – UND goalie Aaron Dell has one shutout so far this season.

1 – UMN forward Kyle Rau is tied for first nationally in game winning goal with 5.

1 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked first in the nation for shutouts with 6.

1 – UMN is ranked first in scoring nationally.

3 – UMN is ranked third in the WCHA for penalty minutes.

4 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked fourth in the nation in goals per game .81.

6 – UMN is ranked sixth nationally in defense.

7 – UMN is ranked seventh on the power play

8 – UND forward Brock Nelson is ranked eight in the nation for goals per game .71.

9 – UND forward Danny Kristo is ranked ninth in the nation for game winning goals with three.

9 – UND forward Brock Nelson has nine power play goals for UND to lead the nation.

10 – UMN has 10 conference wins so far this season.

11 – UND is ranked 11^th in penalty minutes in the WCHA.

11 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked 11^th nationally for points per game.

12 – UND is ranked 12^th on the power play nationally.

13 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 13^th in the nation for assists per game with 0.83.

13 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked 13 nationally in goals against average.

18 – UND is ranked 18^th in the Pairwise Rankings.

21 – UND is ranked 21^st in scoring nationally.

23 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 23^rd nationally for points per game.

25 – UND forwards Danny Kristo and Brock Nelson are ranked nationally for points per game.

29 – UND is ranked 29^th nationally in defense.

Other games in the WCHA: Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech, Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha, Wisconsin at Minnesota State, Bemidji State at Denver, Saint Cloud State at Colorado College

North Dakota vs. Harvard game two shot charts

The Fighting Sioux end the first half of the season with a 10-8-2 record overall and 7-7-0 WCHA. On November 5th 2011 the Fighting Sioux were sitting at 3-6-1 and had been swept by UMN and UW. Since that low spot in the season, the Fighting Sioux have gone an impressive 7-2-1. The Fighting Sioux have gone 3-1-3 in their non-conference match ups and have one more game against the Clarkson Knights next Saturday Night in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Fighting Sioux are currently sitting in 18th or 19th place in the all important Pairwise Rankings; depending on which site you look at. Contrary to what some of our friends to the south say, *cough, cough* choke*, Silly Minnesota Gopher Fans, UND’s season is far from over and they aren’t out of the running for a bid in the NCAA tourney. Like I said before, there is no throphy for finishing first at the half way point on the season. Hockey is a body of work and over the course of a season, you want to be playing your best at the end of the season.

The depleted UND Hockey team went into last night’s game with 11 forwards and 5 defensemen. UND heach hockey coach Dave Hakstol said this the last night after his team pasted the Harvard Crimson 7-3,  “We weren’t real happy about our finish last night, the way we came out in the third period and squandered a two-goal lead. I think that stuck with us through the day. I don’t think the lineup was an issue at all. Our mindset was about how important this game was and how critical it was.”

I think one thing that got lost in the shuffle last night was how well Aaron Dell played. Dell Stopped 29/32 shots and held the Harvard Crimson at bay in the third period. Harvard out shot UND 20-10 during the last two periods.

Looking at the official WCHA stats page here are a few of the numbers

• UND is no longer a bunch of knuckle dragging Nethanderals Goons, UND is ranked 11^th out of 12 teams in the WCHA for Penalty Minutes. UND is averaging 11.6 minutes a game.
• UND is scoring 3.10 goals per game, good for 7^th overall.
• UND is tied for 4^th with Denver in the WCHA for Defense, UND is giving up 2.86 goals per game.
• UND’s power play is ranked 4^th in the WCHA scoring 22 power play goals on  100 power plays, that’s good for 22%.
• Colorado College has had 7 short handed goals scored against them, that is the most in the WCHA.
• Colorado College’s power play is ranked number 1 in the WCHA scoring 21 power play goals on 83 power plays, that’s good for 25.3%.  
• UND is ranked 4^th on the Penalty Kill, killing 69/85 of their opponents power plays.
• UND has scored 15 goals in the third period, that is ranked 9^th in the WCHA.
• The Knight line, Danny Kristo (11g-12a—23pts), Brock Nelson (15g-8a—23pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—23pts) is one of the top scoring lines in the WCHA.

Fighting Sioux race past Harvard 7-3

Image via Wikipedia

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota has suffered their fair share of injuries this season, and coming into tonight they didn’t even have enough healthy players on their roster to have 12 forwards and six defenseman playing in the series finale. 

With all of the players out with various ailments, you could field a pretty good forward line with the players that didn’t dress for tonight’s game between the Harvard Crimson and the University of North Dakota. 

Here is the updated breakdown of the injury reserve list for the UND hockey team: Senior forward Mario Lamoureux, upper body injury, Junior forward Corbin Knight, suffered a lower body injury in Friday’s game and is listed as day to day. Freshman forward Roco Grimaldi has been out with an injured knee.  Grimaldi has played in a total of four games out of the 20 games that UND has played in this season.  Sophomore forward Derek Rodwell was injured in last night's game and is out with an upper body injury.  Rodwell is listed as out indefinitely. 

You can see where this is going...the University of North Dakota has four important forwards out of its lineup and no room for error or anymore injuries. It would be an understatement to say that it has been a season of adversity for the UND hockey team. One might assume that they are due some good Karma.

The UND hockey team didn’t use injuries as an excuse and with their shorthanded/depleted line-up.  Junior forward Danny Kristo did his best impression of Kirby Puckett and took the UND hockey team on his shoulders and lead them to victory. Kristo had two goals and an assist to lead the team to a 7-3 win against the Harvard Crimson. 

Kristo was most impressive during the first period where he scored two goals and almost buried his third goal before the first 20 minutes of the game expired. Kristo would added an assist in the third period on Brock Nelson’s 15^th goal of the season. 

After the game, Kristo was asked about the mentality of the team knowing that the team was playing with 11 forwards and five defenseman.  “We didn’t really talk about that too much we just kind of talked about everyone stepping up a little bit.   We kind of gave that game away there yesterday and everyone was pretty upset about it.  Basically the mentality was to come in hard and play Fighting Sioux hockey and come back and get a victory tonight.” 

This season the Fighting Sioux hockey team has had trouble getting scoring from the other forward lines in their lineup. Tonight the all-freshman line of Mark MacMillan (1g-1a—2pts), 21 Brendan O’Donnell (1g-0a—1 pts) , Connor Gaarder (1g-2a—3pts) was a major force on the ice and chipped in three goals on the delayed penalty. 

Connor Gaarder was asked about the mentality of the team, knowing that the team was playing with only 11 forwards and five defenseman.  "We have a lot of guys out of the lineup, its hard to do, a lot of guys came out and stepped up and made some big plays tonight..."   Gaarder also talked about the importance of having a big weekend, “It’s always good to have a big weekend, every weekend I come out and try to play my best and try to get a little bit better come out and it’s nice to back it up a little bit.” The freshman had a very good weekend (2g-2a—4pts), and doubled his point production for the season. On the other end of the ice, Harvard senior forward Alex Killorn had a big weekend for the Crimson as he recorded (2g-2a—4pts) and was a force all weekend. 

 UND Hockey head coach Dave Hakstol was unhappy with his team’s effort on Friday night.  Compare and contrast a difference one night made.

Fast forward to tonight, coach Hakstol was a little more satisfied with the play of his team on the ice and was asked the mentality of his team knowing they were playing with only 11 forwards and five defenseman. Hakstol said, “ I think our mentality was right, we weren’t real happy about our finish last night, the way we came out in the third period last night and squandered the two goal lead, and I think that stuck with us through the day and I don’t think the lineup was really an issue our mind set was focused on how important this game was and how critical it was to get the win. “

The UND hockey team ends the first half of the season with a 10-8-2 record and a 7-7 record in the WCHA. With the loss the Harvard Crimson drop to 4-4-4 and own a 3-3-2 record.

Box Score

Cross Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY...

UND vs Harvard

UND Forward Lines

29 Brock Nelson – 27 Carter Rowney –7 Danny Kristo

16 Mark MacMillan – 21 Brendan O’Donnell – 13 Connor Gaarder
15 Michael Parks – 28 Stephane Pattyn – 20 Joe Gleason
8 Dan Senkbeil –  14 Taylor Dickin

UND defensive Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (A)–5 Nick Mattson
24 Ben Blood (A)  –18 Dillon Simpson
22  Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

UND Hockey Stats

Scratches: Derek Forbort, Mario Lamoureux, Roco Grimaldi, Corban Knight, Derek Rodwell
Referees: Jonathan Morrison, Brian Thul Linesmen: Tom Lund, David Spivey

Harvard Forward Lines

21 Marshall Everson–19 Alex Killorn (A) –16 Alex Fallstrom
63 Colin Blackwell–26 Luke Greiner–22 David Valek
27 Petr Placek – 18 Mike Seward–10 Eric Kroshus
17 Rence Coassin–12 Colin Moore–11 Daniel Moriarty (A)

Harvard Defense Pairings

5 Dan Ford – 9 Danny Biega
8 Patrick McNally – 6 Ryan Grimshaw (C)
44 Max Everson – 7 Danny Fick

Harvard Goalies

34 Steve Michalek
30 Raphael Girard

Harvard Stats 

RADIO: 96.1 The Fox • WEBCAST: http://www.undsports.com/
TV: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Fox College Sports Central, MidcoSN3,
DirecTV 623 

UND vs Harvard

UND Forward Lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A)–7 Danny Kristo
11 Derek Rodwell–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks

21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil – 28 Stephane Pattyn–14 Taylor Dickin

UND defensive Parings

24 Ben Blood (A) –20 Joe Gleason
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A)–5 Nick Mattson
18 Dillon Simpson – 22  Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

UND Hockey Stats

Scratches: Forbort, Lamoureux, Grimaldi
Referees: Jonathan Morrison, Brian Thul Linesmen: Tom Lund, David Spivey

Harvard Forward Lines

21 Marshall Everson–19 Alex Killorn (A) –16 Alex Fallstrom
63 Colin Blackwell–26 Luke Greiner–22 David Valek
13 Tommy O’Regan–18 Mike Seward–10 Eric Kroshus
17 Rence Coassin–12 Colin Moore–11 Daniel Moriarty (A)

Harvard Defense Pairings

5 Dan Ford–9 Danny Biega
8 Patrick McNally–6 Ryan Grimshaw (C)
44 Max Everson–7 Danny Fick

Harvard Goalies

34 Steve Michalek
30 Raphael Girard

Harvard Stats 

RADIO: 96.1 The Fox • WEBCAST: http://www.undsports.com/
TV: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Fox College Sports Central, MidcoSN3,
DirecTV 617 (Friday), DirecTV 623 (Saturday)

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• North Dakota vs. Harvard Series Preview (insidehockey.com)

North Dakota vs. Harvard Series Preview

Cross Posted at INSIDE HOCKEY.

The University of North Dakota entertains  Harvard University at Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend.

Game Times: 7:37 pm Friday and 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: TV: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Fox College Sports Central, DirecTV (Ch. 617 Friday and 623 Saturday).

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: FightingSioux.com

Tickets: There are still tickets available for this series according to the UND Ticket Site.

Records and Rankings: UND – 9-8-1 overall, 7-7-0 WCHA; Ranked 18^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota was idle this past weekend.

Harvard 4-3-3 overall, 3-3-2 ECAC; Unranked in the latest USCHO poll. Harvard was idle this past weekend.

Series History:  UND is 3-1-0 against Harvard and swept the Crimson at Harvard (10-1, 4-3) in 2008.

Players to Watch:

For UND: Forwards Danny Kristo (9g-11a—20pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21) and Brock Nelson (14g-8a—22pts). Goaltenders Aaron Dell .895 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .918 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average.

For the Crimson: Defenseman Danny Biega (3g-11a—14pts), Patrick NcNally (3g-9a—12pts), Forwards Alex Killom (6g-6a—12pts), Alex Fallstrom (3g-6a—9pts). Goaltender Steve Michalek 4-2-2 .898 save percentage 3.10 goals against average.

Key Numbers:

1 – Aaron Dell has one shutout so far this season.

2 – Harvard’s Dany Biega is second in the nation for points per game by a defenseman.

2 – Harvard’s Patrick NcNally is second in the nation for points per game by a rookie.

7 – UND has 7 conference wins so far this season.

8 – Harvard has 8 conference points so far this season.

9 – UND has 9 wins over all so far this season.

9 – Brock Nelson has 9 power play goals for UND to lead the nation.

10 – The Harvard Crimson have played “only” 10 games so far this season.

11 – Harvard’s Dany Biega with 10 assists is leading the nation in assists per game with 1.40.

14 – UND has 14 conference points so far this season.

22 – UND is ranked 2^nd in the Pairwise Rankings.

25 – Harvard is ranked 25^th in the Pairwise Rankings

Other games in the WCHA: Minnesota State vs. USDT U18 team (Friday), Michigan Tech vs. Michigan State on (Thursday) and Michigan/Boston College (Friday) at Great Lakes Invitational, Minnesota vs. Niagara (Friday) and Northeastern/Princeton (Saturday) in Mariucci Classic, Denver vs. Union (Friday), Denver at Air Force (Saturday), Bowling Green at Bemidji State, Colorado College vs. Air Force (Friday) Union at Colorado College (Saturday), Quinnipiac vs. Nebraska Omaha, Western Michigan vs. Saint Cloud.

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Aaron Dell named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell has been named the WCHA Defensive player of the week. Dell was rock solid last weekend stopping 59 out of 61 shots in a weekend split against the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota junior goalie Aaron Dell has been named Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in UND’s series split with Nebraska Omaha last weekend.

Dell stopped 59 of 61 shots (.967 save percentage) in the series, including a 26-save shutout that earned him the game’s No. 1 star in UND’s 1-0 win on Saturday. It was his first shutout of the season and eighth of his career, which ranks fourth all-time at UND behind only Karl Goehring (15), Jordan Parise (10), and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (10). One night earlier, Dell stopped 33 of 35 shots and was named the No. 2 star in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Mavericks.

Over his last three starts Dell owns a 0.99 goals against average and a .963 save percentage. In 16 games this season (15 starts), the Airdrie, Alberta, native is 6-7-1 with a 2.80 goals against average and an .895 save percentage.

Alaska Anchorage junior forward Mitch Bruijsten and Minnesota sophomore defenseman Mark Alt shared WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Bemidji State freshman goalie Andrew Walsh was named WCHA Rookie of the Week.

UND (9-8-1, 7-7-0 WCHA) closes out the first half of the season on Saturday with an exhibition game against the Russian Red Stars. The puck drops at 7:07 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

UND’s WCHA Players of the Week

November 29. Brock Nelson (Offensive)
Dec. 6: Brock Nelson (Offensive), Brendan O’Donnell (Rookie)
Dec. 13: Aaron Dell (Defensive)

Poll Monday - Sioux move up

The Fighting Sioux move up to 18th in this weeks USCHO Poll and recieved votes in the USA Today poll.

 

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UND vs UNO game 2

Image via WikipediaTelevision: TV: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Fox College Sports Central, DirecTV (Ch. 623).

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: FightingSioux.com


UND Fighting Sioux forward lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell–29 Brock Nelson–7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C)–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder–11 Derek Rodwell
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–20 Joe Gleason

Fighting Sioux defense parings

4 Derek Forbort–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A)–5 Nick Mattson
18 Dillon Simpson–22 Andrew Panzarella

Fighting Sioux goalie(s)

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Fighting Sioux player stats

Scratches: Corban Knight, Roco Grimaldi, Tayler Dickin, Tate Maris
Referees: Adam, Mousseaux Linesemen: Carton, Freeman

Nebraska Omaha Forward lines

17 Terry Broadhurst–11 Jayson Megna–15 Josh Archibald
19 Ryan Walters–12 Brock Montpetit–21 Matt White
23 Johnnie Searfoss–26 Alex Hudson–22 Andrew Schmit
14 Dominic Zombo–25 Brent Gwidt–10 Alex Simonson

Mavericks Defensive Parings

7 Michael Young–24 Bryce Aneloski
8 Jaycob Megna–3 Andrej Sustr
4 Tony Turgeon–5 Kyle Ensign

Maverick Goalie(s)

31 Ryan Massa
29 Dayn Belfour

Mavericks Player Stats

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• Mavericks tip Sioux 2-1 in Overtime (insidehockey.com)

UND’s Nelson, O’Donnell garner WCHA weekly honors

Image via WikipediaGRAND FORKS, N.D. – Outstanding performances by Brock Nelson and Brendan O’Donnell in a sweep at Alaska Anchorage have netted the North Dakota forwards Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) weekly honors, announced today by the conference office.

Nelson was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, while O’Donnell garnered WCHA Rookie of the Week honors. It was the second straight week in which Nelson captured at least a share of the award after being named WCHA co-Offensive Player of the Week one week earlier. A sophomore from Warroad, Minn., Nelson collected four goals and an assist in UND’s two wins at UAA last weekend. In Friday’s 5-2 victory, Nelson potted a pair of power-play goals and led all players with eight shots on goal. In Saturday’s 4-1 win, Nelson had two more goals, including the game-winner, and added an assist.

Nelson leads the WCHA with 12 goals during league games and has a team-leading 14 goals overall. His nine power-play goals lead the nation and are more than halfway to the UND single-season record of 17, shared by Ryan Duncan (2006-07) and Doug Smail (1979-80). A first-round draft pick of the New York Islanders in 2010, Nelson has 11 points (7g, 4a) during a current 4-game point streak and has four 2-goal games in his last six outings.

O’Donnell scored a pair of goals on Friday and was a +2, helping spark the eventual UND win. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native scored twice in the game’s opening minutes, with the second goal holding up as the game-winner. A sixth-round draft pick of Tampa Bay in 2010, O’Donnell now has three goals in six games since returning from a six-game injury absence.

Bemidji State senior defenseman Brad Hunt was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week.

Nelson, O’Donnell and the 19th-ranked Fighting Sioux (8-7-1, 6-6-0 WCHA) host Nebraska Omaha on Friday and Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

MEN’S HOCKEY – DECEMBER 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE