(Video) Brendan O'Donnell goal that was waved off.

You have to feel for UND forward Brendan O'Donnell. This is about as close as it gets, looks like Mitch MacMillan on the left wing, was just a step ahead. Wow!!! So, the goalies best friend is the linesman? None-the-less, close call at the blue line. I would be love to see the boys in "Green and White" hang a six spot on this goalie tonight. Luck does run out for goalies... In all of the years that I have watched hockey, I have never seen a goalie that gets as lucky as the Denver Pioneer's goalie Juho Olkinuora.

UND skates past DU 6-3

Grand Forks, ND – Last night after the game freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi took the blame for not scoring the game winning goal when he missed a wide open net in the waning minutes of the third period.

While hockey is a team game, the talented forward Grimaldi has high expectations for himself as he stepped forward to shoulder the blame for the rest of teammates.

“For me I have to put that in that in the empty net,” Grimaldi said. “I don’t know how I missed the net – I hit the post whatever… so I have to bear down, so I basically lost the game. He [Juho Olkinuora] won it and I lost it for our team so.”

Tonight, it appeared that Grimaldi had an extra gear, but also a little extra pep in his step – as did the rest of his line mates. UND’s forward line of Grimaldi (1g-3a—4pts), Carter Rowney (2g-2a—4pts) and Drake Caggiula (0a-2g—2pts) slashed through the Denver defense like a hot knife through butter and burned the Pioneers back end for an eye popping 10 points.

After the game, a relieved Rocco Grimaldi had this to say 24 hours later after UND’s disappointing finish on Friday night.

“I was pretty upset with myself yesterday,” Grimaldi said.  “I thought if I would have put that in obviously we would have had the win. A couple of chances; I just didn’t bury it. Then first period I get a break away – I don’t know what I was thinking – it was a terrible move. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a terrible move. Then I am thinking; you know what - I starting thinking about myself… ah it’s not going to happen. Whenever I rely on myself I can never get it done. I have to trust in the Lord to do that. I started leaning on him today and great things happen and it was a big win for our hockey club today and hopefully I am going to continue to do that.”

Carter Rowney who had been on a bit of a scoring slump as of late was also relieved about his performance to night. Seems as if scoring goals makes everything alright.

“The last couple of weekends I was having my chances but they were going into the back of the net,” Rowney said.  On Friday night I did get that one, it was a greasy one – but you know I will take it. I kind of felt like I got the monkey off of my back, then today they started rolling in bunches.”

UND is 2-2-3 when having the first goal scored against them. Make that 3-2-3 after tonight’s 6-3 win over the first place Denver Pioneers.

Tonight, Denver again scored the first goal of the game when DU forward Grant Arnold took a UND turnover in the defensive zone and blasted the puck past UND goalie Clarke Saunders to give the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead at the 01:25 mark of the first period.

UND didn’t let the early goal rattle them as the Green and White quickly rebounded and took the play to the Denver Pioneers. UND would finally even the score at the 17:10 mark of the first period with a goal from Rocco Grimaldi. Assisting on Grimaldi’s goal was Drake Caggiula and Carter Rowney.

In the second period, UND would race to a 4-1 lead with goals by Derek Forbort and Carter Rowney.

Then things changed quickly, UND forward Dan Senkbeil was assessed a five minute major for checking from behind and given a game misconduct.

Denver would score two quick goals on the power play by Ty Loney and Joey LaLeggia to bring the score to 4-3.

That was all of the scoring that DU would get the rest of the way.

After giving up two quick goals on the five minute major penalty – UND didn't panic – they recovered and in the third period would again gain the upper hand on the Denver Pioneers. UND would ice the game with two more goals by senior forwards Danny Kristo and Corban Knight.

After last night’s game, UND head coach Dave Hakstol seem less than pleased with the effort of his squad. Again what a difference 24 hours made. Even with giving up two goals on the five minute power play, the head coaches seemed pleased with his team’s effort tonight.

“Well we put ourselves in a good position in that point and time,” Hakstol said. We haven’t given up that much. We found a way to gain the momentum but we gave that back pretty quickly with an unfortunately play.”

While the UND versus Denver Pioneer series traditionally can be a blood bath, this weekend’s series was relatively tame.

Originally post at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

Related articles

• Drake Caggiula turning heads at North Dakota (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND and DU skate to a 2-2 tie. (thehockeywriters.com)

Through these doors episode 19

This should get you in the mood for the NCAA regional championship this weekend. No matter how this season ends, it has been an exciting group to follow and cover. This team started out 4-7-1 and 1-5 in the WCHA and ended on a hot streak that covered almost three months that saw them go 21-5-2, that's a pretty impressive run in any league. 

Related articles

• NCAA West Regional Capsules (insidehockey.com)
• NCAA Midwest Regional Capsules (insidehockey.com)
• Goon's predictions for the Final Five (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Dell backstops Sioux to 4-0 victory over the Pioneers (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• 2011-12 All-WCHA Blogger Ballot (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

George Gwozdecky on Jason Zucker

Denver hockey head coach George Gwozdecky  addressed the media after the Denver and Michigan Tech quarter final game and fields a question from Bruce Brothers of the Pioneer Press at the 4:15 mark of the video about the possibility of Zucker leaving  for the professional ranks.

“I will tell you one thing Bruce [Brothers]; Gwozdecky said, "I have never, ever in my 30 plus years and my 18 years at Denver. I have never ever talked to anyone that regretting staying another year. But I have certainly talked to a lot of guys that said that they regret leaving early and so there is never anything wrong with leaving if you’re ready.  There is never anything wrong with staying, to be able to get one more extra year to be able to give yourself a better chance to be able play at the top level.  What that decision for Jason or for any of our guys, is hard to say right now.”

Related articles

• Denver slips past Michigan Tech (insidehockey.com)
• Thursday at the Final Five (insidehockey.com)

Dell backstops Sioux to 4-0 victory over the Pioneers

Image via Wikipedia

St. Paul Minn. –  Back in November, who would have thought that the Fighting Sioux would face off against Denver University and win the championship game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five?

Especially on Sunday the 20th of November 2011. The Fighting Sioux had just suffered an unimpressive 1-0 loss to the Bemidji State Beavers at the Sandford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota.  After that loss, the Fighting Sioux had a lackluster record of 4-7-1 overall and 1-5 in the WCHA. That record was good for 11th place in the WCHA standings.

After the game, the Fighting Sioux took the two hour bus trip down highway two back to Grand Forks, they regrouped and on Monday morning the Fighting Sioux coaching staff conducted a bag skate on the Fighting Sioux hockey team at six o’clock.

Since that early morning bag skate, the Fighting Sioux have gone an impressive 21-5-2. That is the best overall record in Divison I hockey since November 26 , 2011.

Coming into the game, the Denver Pioneers had played five games in eight days and there was the question of fatigue, the last three games the Pioneers played in, had gone to overtime including yesterday’s double overtime win against the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. You had to wonder how much was left in the tank for the Pioneers.

The Sioux would test the Pioneers tired legs early and often.

The Fighting Sioux got on the board first and broke the 0-0 dead lock at the 17:43 mark of the first period when sophomore Brock Nelson scored his 27th goal on the power play.

Before the public address could announce the first goal, the Fighting Sioux would score again with a goal from junior forward Carter Rowney at the 18:29 mark of the first period. That was the 18th goal of the season for Rowney.

The Fighting Sioux never looked back as they added a power play goal by Michael Parks in the second period and a shorthanded goal in the third period by Mark MacMillan.

Pioneers Head Coach George Gwozdecky was very complimentary of the Fighting Sioux after the game.

“Congratulations to North Dakota,” Gwozdecky said. “They did a nice job tonight, they are a good defending champion, they took advantage of a couple of leg weary defensemen and they did a nice job. They were better than us, pretty much in every area of the game and they are a good champion.”
The Sioux took advantage of the Denver Pioneers being a step slower and they kept moving their feet and making plays.

In the third period, the Fighting Sioux didn’t miss a beat, with Carter Rowney in the box for cross checking the Sioux cashed in shorthanded as well with a goal from Mark MacMillan to seal the game for the Fighting Sioux.

Goaltending was the story in this game as Fighting Sioux junior goalie Aaron Dell was the difference stopping all 22 shots that he faced, to record his second shutout of the season. Dell ended up securing a spot on the all-tournament team and was also awarded the WCHA Final Five tournament MVP.
With tonight’s win, the Fighting Sioux have won three Broadmoor Trophies in a row for the Fighting Sioux. No other WCHA team has ever done that.

Overall, Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol seemed pleased his team’s effort after the game.
“I am really proud of my team,” Hakstol said. “We tried to come into today and play a complete hockey game, right from the drop of the puck, try and play 60 minutes, third game in three days, energy levels aren’t going to be necessarily at the top end. We won the game through small details, plus one, five on five, we score two power play goals and a short hander, and we got very good goaltending. That’s a pretty good formula for a playoff time especially going in to a championship game.

“Denver has been one heck of a run here, in terms of the battles they have been through; maybe they ran out of gas just a little bit with the amount of hockey that they played. That was one of the things that we had try to exploit if we possibly could by being a really tough team to play against. We are proud to be Broadmoor Cup Champions.”

With the win tonight, the Fighting Sioux improve to 25-12-3 and will find out where they are going in the first round of the WCHA tourney.

Related articles

• Sioux vs. Pioneers Final Five championship game notes (insidehockey.com)
• Sioux dismantle Gophers 6-3 in St. Paul (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Sioux vs. Pioneers Final Five championship game notes

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The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux will play the Denver Pioneers in the WCHA Final Five Championship game tonight. This is the rematch of last years Final Five Championship game where the Fighting Sioux beat the Pioneers 3-2 in double overtime.

Game Time: 7:07 pm CT

Records and Rankings: 

University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (24-12-3); ranked 12th in both the USCHO and USA Today polls. The Fighting Sioux beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers 6-3 in the semifinals of the Final Five on Friday night. Ranked 4^th in the Pairwise Rankings.

The Denver University Pioneers (25-12-4) are ranked 9^th in both the USCHO Poll and USA Today Poll. The Pioneers beat the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 4-3 in double O.T. in the semifinals of the Final Five on Friday afternoon. Tied for 8^th in the Pairwise rankings

Series History:  The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux lead the all-time series against the Denver Pioneers 131-116-8. Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol’s teams have a 12-15-1 record against the Denver Pioneers. The Fighting Sioux have won five of the last seven games the Pioneers.  The Fighting Sioux and the Pioneers split the season series (4-3 W and 3-5 L).

Radio:  UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM) – The Fox.

Webcast Audio: WCHA.COM and Fighting Sioux.com

TV Saturday: Fox Sports North – 668 DirecTV

Players to Watch: 

North Dakota: Forwards: Danny Kristo (18-25a—43pts), Corbin Knight (15g-23a—38pts) and Brock Nelson (26g-17a—43pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (6g-13a—19pts), Dillon Simpson, (2g-15a—17pts), Ben Blood (3g-17a—20pts), Andrew MacWilliam (2g-5a—7pts). Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .898 save percentage and a 2.74 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .920 save percentage and a 2.17 goals against average.

North Dakota injuries: Taylor Dickin (lower-body injury), forward Rocco Grimaldi (season, knee surgery), Brendan O’Donnell (season-ending surgery) and Derek Rodwell (season, shoulder surgery) are all out of the lineup.

For DU  Forwards: Jason Zucker (22g-24a—46pts), Drew Shore (21g-31a—52pts), Nick Shore (13g-28a—41pts) Luke Salazar (12g-17a—29pts) Defense: Joey LaLeggia (11g-27a—38pts), Jon Lee (3g-11a—14pts)   Goaltenders: Sam Brittain .931 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average, Juho Olkinuora .928 save percentage and  a 2.39 goals against average.

Denver University Injuries: Paul Phillips, Beau Bennett (wrist)

Related articles

• Sioux dismantle Gophers 6-3 in St. Paul (insidehockey.com)
• North Dakota-Minnesota game notes (insidehockey.com)

The Final Five is set

Image via Wikipedia

Thursday 03/15/12
Michigan Tech vs Denver 2:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Quarterfinal (St. Paul, MN)
St. Cloud State vs North Dakota 7:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Quarterfinal (St. Paul, MN)

Friday  03/16/12 
MichTech/Denver vs Minnesota Duluth 2:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Semifinal (St. Paul, MN)
St Cloud/N Dakota vs Minnesota 7:07 p.m. CT WCHA Final Five Semifinal (St. Paul, MN

With the Denver Pioneers winning 3-2 in overtime the Fighting Sioux will play the Saint Cloud State Huskies Thursday Night at 7:00 pm  All the games should be on Fox Sports North which is also channel 668 on DirecTV.

Related articles

• Sioux slip past Beavers 4-1 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings: March 8, 2012 (insidehockey.com)
• Fighting Sioux Finish off the Bemidji State Beavers 4-3 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Ben Hanowski's Beard

Wow!!! This video is really funny... Stick Tap to Rachel Lenzi, she had this on her daily internet newspaper, the Rachel Lenzi Daily. I mean seriously, check out Saint Cloud State forward Ben Hanowski's playoff beard, you could have animals living in that thing and he might not ever know it.

Related articles

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• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 3/04/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
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• WCHA Power Rankings: 2/28/12 (insidehockey.com)
• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 2/26/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Here we are, the regular season has ended and we begin the WCHA playoffs. Congratulations to the Gophers, who captured their 12th WCHA regular season title by beating their arch-rival, the Badgers, on Saturday night. The Bulldogs fell just a little short of a fourth league title and will have to settle for second this year. However, this weekend starts a new season for everyone, now it's do or do not, win two move on, lose two and your playoff season is over (for most teams).

Let’s look back at last year and compare it to this season. This year it took 28pts go get home ice and last year it also took 28 points to get home ice. Last year CC finished in 6th place with an even record too, 13-13-2, very similar to SCSU record of 12-12-4 this year. Both this year and last the 2nd place team had 37 points, and 3rd place had 36 points. It is funny how some things seem to stay the same.


WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2011-2012

Team………………………W-L-T………Points
1. Minnesota………………20-8-0…..…….40
2. Minnesota-Duluth……..16-7-5….……..37
3. Denver…………..………16-8-4………...36
4. North Dakota.……….….16-11-1….……33
5. Colorado College ……..15-12-1……….31
6. St. Cloud St……………. 12-12-4………28

7. Nebraska-Omaha………11-12-5……....27
8. Michigan Tech………….11-13-4………26
9. Bemidji State……..……..11-14-3.……...25
10. Wisconsin…....……….11-15-2...…..…24
11. Minnesota State……..…8-18-2...……..18
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....5-22-1………..11


(#’s are current Pair Wise Rankings)

Michigan Tech @ #19 Colorado College
(season series - CC wins 2-0)

Last weekend these teams played each other with the Tigers sweeping the Huskies in Colorado Springs, 5-2 and 2-0.

With the sweep last weekend the Tigers improved their home record to 11-5-2 this season. The Huskies fell to 5-10-2 on the road last weekend in Colorado Springs. This series should be a tough fought one. It is hard to sweep the same team back to back weekends, and I don’t think it is going to happen. MTU has fought to hard this season to let it end on a four game losing skid to the same team. The Huskies need to score first in these games to take the crowd out of the equation. Also that will allow MTU to dictate the pace of the game. In the end, I think the Tigers will prevail, but it won’t be easy. TIGERS IN 3


Nebraska-Omaha @ #25 St. Cloud State
(season series - UNO wins 1-0-1)

Last weekend the UNO Mavericks were swept by the Pioneers in Omaha and the Huskies took three points from the Bulldogs in St. Cloud.

These teams met back in late November in Omaha with the Mavericks winning the opener 4-3 and tying in the Saturday rematch, 2-2. The Huskies are heating up at the right time. SCSU is 3-1-1 in their last five and are 5-2-1 in their last eight. The Mavericks have been doing the opposite, they have cooled down, and you might say they have even gone cold. Their losses last weekend cost them home ice and now they hit the road. UNO has now hit a season worst four game losing streak, and have been reeling, going 2-8-1 over their last eleven games. The Mavericks have not swept anybody on the road this season, they closest they came was taking three points from BSU in November. The Mavericks might take a game from the Huskies at the National Hockey Center, but I don’t think they will make it to St. Paul. HUSKIES SWEEP


Alaska-Anchorage @ #6t Minnesota
(season series - UM wins 2-0)

Last weekend the Seawolves were swept by the Beavers in Anchorage and the Gophers split with the Badgers in Minneapolis.

These teams met in Minneapolis back at the end of October, with the Gophers winning 5-0 in the opener and 3-1 in the finale. And I’m sure most everyone remembers what happened a year ago with the Gophers hosted the Seawolves in the first round, UAA swept them at Mariucci, 4-3 and 2-0. Since last year, these teams have changed significantly, the Gophers are much better than they were last year. The Seawolves have dropped off some since last season. I can’t recall the top seed in the WCHA losing the first round playoff series to the bottom team. On paper this should be a pair of slaughters, but you still have to play the games. I don’t think the Gophers will be over looking UAA this time around. GOPHERS SWEEP


Minnesota State @ #2t Minnesota-Duluth
(season series - UMD wins 3-0-1)

Last weekend the Mavericks were swept by the Sioux in Grand Forks and the Bulldogs got a point from the SCSU Huskies in St. Cloud.

These teams first played back in mid November in Duluth with the Bulldogs sweeping the games by scores of 5-2 and 7-3. They just played in three weeks ago in Mankato, with UMD winning Friday night 4-2 and then tying Saturday night 4-4. It is fairly obvious that the Mavericks need to hold the Bulldogs to less than four goals a game, if they want to make some noise in the post season. The Mavericks are 6-12-0 away from Mankato this year and the Bulldogs are 12-5-1 in Duluth this year. MSUM has their work cut out for them this weekend, but if they can clamp down defensively and get some timely saves they could make a series out of it. In the end, UMD just has to much fire power up front and the Mavericks cannot stymie them forever. BULLDOGS SWEEP


Bemidji State @ #13 North Dakota
(season series - UND wins 2-0)

Last weekend the Beavers swept the Seawolves in Anchorage and the Sioux swept the MSUM Mavericks in Grand Forks

Edit: These teams split in Bemidji, back in November, with UND winning the first game of the series 5-2 and Bemidji winning the second game 1-0. The Sioux are heating up late in the season they are 8-2-1 in their last eleven games. The Beavers snapped out of four game losing streak by sweeping the Seawolves last weekend. With those pair of wins BSU improved their road record to 6-10-2, meanwhile UND in 14-4-3 in Grand Forks this season. The Beavers need to play some solid defense in front of their net minder, if they hope to extend their season. UND just needs to play their up tempo game style and stay out of the penalty box, in order to prevail this weekend. The Sioux are heating up and that doesn’t bode well for the Beavers. SIOUX SWEEP


Wisconsin @ #11 Denver
(season series - CC wins 2-0)

Last weekend the Badgers split with the Gophers and the Pioneers swept the UNO Mavericks in Omaha.

These teams just played three weeks ago in Madison with the Pioneers winning on Friday 3-0 and the Badgers taking Saturday’s game 5-2. The Pioneers are 12-5-2 at Magness Arena and the Badgers are 4-9-1 away from the Kohl Center. The Badgers just had their four game winning streak snapped on Saturday night, but going 4-1-0 over their last five is a good sign for cardinal and white fans. The Pioneers have won three in a row and six of their last eight games, with the loses to UW and UND. DU was the pre-season favorite to win the league, and as of late they are looking like the team everyone was expecting. UW is playing with a lot of confidence right now and will give DU all they can handle and then some in this series. However, DU has some of the best top end talent in their forwards, which will be the difference maker in this series. PIONEERS IN 3

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings: March 8, 2012 (insidehockey.com)
• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 3/04/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
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• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 2/26/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 2/19/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 2/12/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - February 21 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - February 13 (insidehockey.com)
• Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA Power Rankings - December 5 (insidehockey.com)