A week after the onslaught

Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After taking some time to let last weekend’s Frozen Four sink in; the first comment I want to make is that there is no shame in the Gophers or the Ferris State Bulldogs losing to the Boston College Eagles. The 2011-12 version of the Boston College Eagles is one of the best NCAA championship teams that I have seen for a very long time.

I was eviscerated by Gopher fans for my prediction that the Boston College Eagles would beat the Golden Gophers 5-1, I know I was off; the final score ended up being 6-1; silly me. 

Losing to the Boston College Eagles should never be looked at as a "chock job" either, I think we can put that to bed right now.

Let’s also not forget that Jerry York “will” be in the U.S. Hockey Hall of fame when he is done coaching, I would bet my next pay check on that.

Let’s break York’s impressive record down further.

Currently, coach York is the winingest active division I college hockey coach and he has been coaching for 40 seasons and started coaching during the 1972-73 season with the Clarkson Knights.

Coach York with 913 career wins and has a coaching record of 913-557-94 and an impressive record of 446-222-60 at Boston College.

York’s has led Boston College to ten Frozen Fours while he was the coach of the Eagles – 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012. York’s Eagles have four Frozen Fours at Boston College since the 2000-01 season.

Overall, York’s teams have also won an impressive 5 NCAA championships.

As a fan of team that has been beaten by the Eagles, let me just say I seen this act before and I really didn’t enjoy it very much. I am sure the Ferris State and Minnesota fans felt the same way a week later.

Let me just say that, the Boston College Eagles are a very good hockey team that plays well in all three zones on the ice and we need to give credit where credit. There is no shame losing to the Eagles.

This season’s version of the Boston College Eagles won an unprecedented 19 games in a row and during that winning streak the Eagles didn’t give up more than three goals in any game. That’s impressive in any hockey league.

The last game the Eagles lost was when they were swept by the Maine Black Bears back on January 27-28 when the Eagles lost both games of a weekend series in Orono, Maine (3-4 L, 4-7 L).  Since the late January display of mediocrity the Eagles were flawless.

After being swept by the Black Bears, the Eagles record stood at 14-10-1 and looked like they were an average bubble team and they were in the Pairwise Rankings. We all know how that turned out. 

My question is, will team’s finally change the way they recruit (fast forwards, some of them under sized and a very mobile defense corps, that play both ends of the ice well) based on the way the Eagles have steamrolled the opposition when they get to the Frozen Four?

Just for the record, Boston College only had 9 NHL draft choices on their team as opposed to the Minnesota Gophers who had 17.

Related articles

• My prediction for the Frozen Four (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

The tale of two periods.

If you look at the shots charts from last Saturday’s game between the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and the University of Maine Black Bears you will see that the Fighting Sioux gave up a lot of quality shots from the slot in the second period.

In the third period, the Fighting Sioux limited the Black Bears to three quality shots in the slot but unfortunately gave up a power play goal by Maine defenseman Ryan Hegarty.

So far this season the second period has been unkind to the Fighting Sioux as they have been out scored 5-8 in the middle frame.

Sioux tie Black Bears 3-3

Cross Posted at Inside Hockey.
Image via WikipediaGrand Forks, ND — The Fighting Sioux hockey players that played on last season’s squad, have been looking forward to a rematch with the Maine Black Bears for some time. Last Season the Fighting Sioux left Orono, Maine with a bad taste in their mouth. After they were swept handedly by the Black Bears on October 23, 2010, the Fighting Sioux hoped they would get one more crack at the Black Bears during the NCAA tourney. That didn’t happen. The Fighting Sioux went on to the Frozen Four and the Black Bears went home after they lost in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. Fast forward to this season. This weekend’s theme has been about looking for a little revenge against the Black Bears.

The Black Bears took over where they left off from last night’s game and again proved to be a miserable team to play against. The first break went to the Black Bears, as they went on the power play at the 3:05 mark of the first period.

Brock Nelson took a minor penalty for interference and the Maine Black Bears scored less than a minute later at the 4:02 mark of the second period on a power play goal by Black Bears forward Bryan Flynn. Assisting on the goal was Will O’Neal and Spencer Abbott.

The Black Bears outshot the Fighting Sioux 7-9 and did a good job getting in the passing lanes and taking away the Fighting Sioux’s time and space.

The second period proved to be a wild one as the Maine Black Bears came out on fire and wasted little time as they scored 46 seconds into the period. The goal was a thing of beauty, as Maine Defenseman Will O’Neil took a nice pass from Kyle Beatie and shot the puck into the net, as Fighting Sioux goalie as Aaron Dell was trying to get over and cover the post.

The Fighting Sioux fortunes changed at 3:32 mark of the second period. The Fighting Sioux got a much needed break, as Black Bears forward Kyle Beattie was penalized (boarding), and defenseman Mark Nemec (high sticking) were sent to the penalty box, giving the Fighting Sioux a two-man advantage. Fighting Sioux defenseman Nick Mattson wasted little time making the Black Bears pay when he scored a powerplay goal from the left point just 43 seconds later.

The Maine Black Bears took another untimely penalty at the 5:17 mark of the second period, when Ryan Hegarty was penalized for hooking. The Sioux wasted little time again making the Black Bears pay, as Danny Kristo scored a power play goal just 10 seconds later at the 5:27 mark, with a howitzer from the left point to tie the game.

The Fighting Sioux got another goal on the power play at the 17:25 mark of the second period with a goal from Kristo, as he blasted another hard shot from the left point through traffic. That was the third point of the third period for Kristo and the third power play goal for the Fighting Sioux.

Things got more interesting for the Sioux during the third period. Fighting Sioux defenseman Andrew MacWilliam was called for interference. On the power play, the Black Bears tied the game with a goal at the 12:18 mark of the third period. Ryan Hegarty deflected a pass from Spencer Abbott past Aaron Dell through the five hole. The Fighting Sioux outshot the Black Bears during the third period 8-6.

The game was tied at the end of regulation and went to overtime. The Sioux outshot the Black Bears 3-1 in overtime, and Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell had to come up with a huge save at the end of the game on a breakaway by Spencer Abbott to preserve the tie for the Fighting Sioux.

There were a lot of bright spots for the Fighting Sioux on the weekend, junior forward Corbin Knight went an impressive 37-11 in face-offs for the weekend. While the Fighting Sioux were outshot 31 to 21 on Friday night, the Sioux managed to close the game as they were only outshot 28-27 by the Black Bears on Saturday. The Fighting power play who went 0-6 on the power play on Friday night went impressive 3-5 for five on the power play on Saturday. Fighting Sioux junior forward Danny Kristo has four points on the weekend (2g-2a-4pts).

Box Score

Fighting Sioux Stop Black Bears 3-1

Cross Posted at Inside Hockey.
Image via WikipediaGrand Forks, ND — Going into this series the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux had lost four games in a row to the Maine Black Bears and they were swept last October in Orono, Maine by a score of 7-3 and 4-2. This week one could describe the theme for the Fighting Sioux as looking for a little revenge against the Black Bears.

On the other side of the ice the Maine Black Bears knew that the Fighting Sioux were going to be looking to even the score and wouldn’t be looking past the Black Bears, especially after last season results.  Tonight the Fighting Sioux’s fortunes changed against the Black Bears, the Fighting Sioux lead by Corbin Knight and Ben Blood (a goal and an assist each); combined with a goaltending gem by Brad Eidsness gutted out a hard fought 3-1 win.

The First period started out slow for the Fighting Sioux as they had to kill two Maine power plays in the early going. After killing the two Black Bears power plays the Fighting Sioux had trouble getting on track as the Black Bears did a good job of limiting the Fighting Sioux’s time and space. The Fighting Sioux were out shot by the Black Bears 11-6 in the first period.

Goaltending coming into the week was one of the major question marks for the Fighting Sioux. Last year’s first team All WCHA first team goalie Aaron Dell was shaky last weekend in two games during the Ice Breaker Tourney against Air Force Academy Boston College. Dell was pulled in the second period against the Boston College Eagles and senior goalie Brad Eidsness relieved Dell in the second period and stopped the bleeding for the Fighting Sioux. Eidsness looked sharp against the Eagles stopping seven of eight shots, after the game against the B.C. Eagles some questioned if there was a goaltending battle brewing in Grand Forks.

After tonight it appears that some of those goaltending questions have been answered as Brad Eidsness stopped 30 of 31 shots, many of those shots were close in from the slot as the Maine Black Bears were all over the Fighting Sioux through two periods of hockey.

I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that Brad Eidsness stopped at least five very difficult shots from close in during the first period and second periods keeping the Fighting Sioux in the game, if Eidsness had not been sharp the game could have gotten out of hand. In retrospect, this was probably one of Eidsness’ best game in a Fighting Sioux uniform.

The game was a scoreless tie until Fighting Sioux freshman winger Michael Parks was called for interference penalty at the 01:58 mark of the Second period. The Maine Black Bears didn’t take long to capitalize on the power play as they scored five second later on a goal by Maine forward Spencer Abbot took a shot from the point that blew past Eidsness. That’s all the Black Bears would get past Eidsness who stoned the Black Bears the rest of the way.

The Fighting Sioux evened the score about three minutes later when Parks made up for his miscue and scored his first goal of his Fighting Sioux career at the 5:01 mark of the second period to tie the game.
The Sioux went into the third period being out shot 26 – 14 by the Black Bears, did manage to out shot the Black Bears 7-5 during he third period. Fighting Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness continued to stand tall in the early minutes of the third when he stopped Maine forward Abbott close in to keep the game at 1-1, that save by Eidsness would prove to be a game saver for the Fighting Sioux.

The Sioux finally started getting the better of the Black Bears and in the third period and took the game over. Black Bear forward Joey Diamond took three ill advised penalties in the third period and at the 14:32 mark planted Fighting Sioux defenseman Ben Blood into the boards.

Blood enjoyed the best revenge three seconds later when  he took the feed from Corbin Knight off the face off and blasted the puck past Maine Goalie Martin Ouellette.  After the game Black Bears head coach Tim Whitehead said that Diamond would be watching tomorrow night’s game from the stands after taking three penalties in the third period.

The Fighting Sioux closed out the scoring at the 18:35 mark when Blood returned the favor and fed Corbin Knight a nice pass who was standing at the goal mouth and shot the puck past Ouellette who was out of position. The Sioux and the Black Bears play game two Saturday night at 7:07 pm.

Box Score

Friday morning reading...

Image via WikipediaThe Boston College Eagles are back up and running and are going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. Check out the classic quote by Eagles head coach Jerry York. One think I learned from last weekend is that York always has something witty to say. You have to love the quote about playing cupcakes.

ESPN Boston ---- Last weekend, Boston College sat at No. 5 in the two major national hockey polls. That was before the Eagles swept through the annual Ice Breaker Tournament, downing Michigan State (5-2) and then No. 3 North Dakota (6-2). Coupled with losses by Miami and Notre Dame, those results made the Eagles the overwhelming choice as the nation's No. 1 team in both polls.

"It was a good start for us, but we emphasized all week that it's just a start," said BC coach Jerry York. "We've always tried to schedule teams like Denver or North Dakota early. If you put a cupcake schedule in front of your kids, it can create a sense of false manhood, because they think 'Hey, we're really good, because we're undefeated.' You've got to be tested."

The Eagles passed their first-week exams with flying colors. But things don't get any easier for York's crew, as they host WCHA heavyweight Denver, sitting at No. 3 in both polls, on Friday night, and then travel to No. 15/16 New Hampshire on Saturday. Of course, the same can be said for the Pioneers, who open their 2011-12 campaign with a Northeast swing through the iron of Hockey East, playing at Boston University on Saturday after their stop at BC.

Here is what Rachel Lenzi beat writer of the Maine Black Bears has to say in today's Portland Press Herald. Looks like both teams know what is on the line this weekend when they face off in the Ralph.

Portland Press Herald --- In last Friday's 2-1 loss to Merrimack, the Black Bears (1-1) believed they put forth the effort but didn't assert themselves in front of the opposing goal.

In Sunday's 6-3 win over Northeastern, Maine captain Will O'Neill said his team brought a certain attitude and edge to its game, one that the Black Bears, ranked 17th in the USCHO.com top 20 poll, will have to sustain not just this weekend against North Dakota (1-1) but through the season.

"When we came out Friday night, we thought we were ready," O'Neill said. "We thought we were prepared. We thought we were going to go out there and work. The effort was there Friday night, but we needed to work hard in the right areas.

"On Sunday, we had more focus and we utilized our hard work and our tenacity. It's very difficult to sustain that in sports, but that's what good teams do. Good teams show up every night and very rarely do they lay an egg. That's where we want to be."

The Fighting Sioux represent that standard. The Sioux have won seven national championships and when they face the Black Bears at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., will return 14 players from last year's team that reached the Frozen Four, losing 2-0 to Michigan in a national semifinal.

UND MEN’S HOCKEY: Sioux eager for another shot against Maine [Grand Forks Herald]

How to watch this weekends games

RADIO: 96.1 The Fox (KQHT-FM) • WEBCAST: www.fightingsioux.com
TV: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, Fox College Sports Central, MidcoSN3,
DirecTV 617 (Friday), DirecTV 623 (Saturday)

Sioux Prepping to Battle Black Bears

Cross posted at Inside Hockey. Yesterday I attended the Wednesday Fighting Sioux Hockey press conference at Ralph Englestad Arena and this is what I took away from the press conference. The Fighting Sioux took second place in the Ice Breaker Tourney last weekend beating Air Force Academy 4-3 before losing to the Boston College Eagles 6-2.

University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol talked about last weekend’s Ice Breaker Tournament and also talked about this weekend’s opponent the University of Maine Black Bears. Last October the Maine Black Bears swept the Fighting Sioux in Orno, Maine 7-3 and 4-2, so the Fighting Sioux are going to be looking for some revenge.

Fighting Sioux head coach Dave Hakstol was asked about his two goaltenders and if is there a goaltending battle taking in practice?

“I think there has been a pretty good battle going on in the first, what are were now, we are just over a couple of two weeks in I guess. Ah yeah I think there is a good battle there, you know. I think Aaron [Dell] is still our number one, but that being said, there has been some good competition and some pretty good level of play from both guys in practice. Brad [Eidsness] went in on Saturday and did a good job, he plugged the dam, when we were leaking a little bit in the second period; he did a good job holding the fort. He [Eidsness] has earned himself some more playing time, so he has to keep practicing hard and I will make the decision who starts on Friday. “

Coach Hasktol was asked, what he learned about his team during the last two games?

“We had the chance to learn from good on Friday and we got the chance to learn from some bad on Saturday. That’s the bottom line; I thought Friday we created some of our own problems and we dug ourselves out and made some plays and we were able to come out with a good win. Saturday, I thought we created a lot of our troubles that came back to haunt us later in the game. We took some penalties at the end of the first period and early in the second, that really affected our energy levels and I thought had a great deal to do with leading to some low energy levels and some real sloppy defensive play that over a four minute period that took us absolutely out of the hockey game. So we have got to fix some things, we have to fix those things, we have got to really challenge ourselves to play a complete sixty minute and we have yet to do that in the first two games.”

Coach Hakstol was asked if Maine is similar to last season’s team.

“Yeah. They [Maine] are a veteran team, every key position is occupied by a veteran on their hockey team and by the looks of it they play a very similar style to what they did last year, they have very good team speed and they have good depth and their top line is a very dynamic line, a good line that produces for them, the power play is efficient and is effective. So, I think they are probably similar in the way they play, to the way they were last year, you know and beyond that you probably have to ask their coaching staff that one.”

Were you surprised that Maine didn’t make the NCAA tourney last season?

“Are you trying to get me in trouble here? Let me figure out how to answer that one. Based off of the way that they played there? Yeah, absolutely, I guess I would answer it bluntly, yeah, I am, they’re a good team. I don’t know what they went through injury wise, different things throughout the season, a lot of things come into play, but they sure played well there, they play a great team game, they play with speed, they made plays. Their specialty teams were good, I thought they were a real good hockey team and the factors that went into them not being in the national tournament at the end of the day just speaks to how darn hard it is to get into the national tournament.

Monday Links

Image via WikipediaThis week the Fighting Sioux play the Maine Black Bears and the Sioux have had some bad luck against Maine and Boston College as of late, I broke the numbers down in this article. [Inside Hockey]

The Fighting Sioux have lost 4 games in a row against the University of Maine Black Bears so it's not an understatement to say that the Fighting Sioux are due against the Black Bears. The Fighting Sioux played the Maine Black Bears in Orono, Maine last season and were beaten soundly Friday night (October 22nd, 2010) on national television by a score of  7-4, the Sioux took 10 penalties and had three power play goals scored against them. I think it's safe to that the Fighting Sioux will be looking for  some payback. 

Dan Myer from the College Hockey News previewed the WCHA in a two part series (part one and part two) and had this to say about the Fighting Sioux

Prediction: The Fighting Sioux may struggle early while their kids get used to playing at this level. And, until last season, early season difficulties were sort of the program's M.O. But once guys like Grimaldi and Mattson get going along with the amount of talent and depth always associated with North Dakota hockey, the Sioux will most definitely be a player by season's end. This group will be a tough out in any playoff scenario.

I have to agree with Dan's assessment. I think the Fighting Sioux who played six freshman during the opening weekend are going struggle early and are probably going to take their lumps early. I also predict that the Fighting Sioux will make their patented second half run to set them up for the playoffs.  

Fighting Sioux rookie forward Roco Grimaldi is also one of five players to watch this season. Roco was held out of Friday's game against Air Force Academy with an undisclosed lower body injury and made his season debut against the Boston College Eagles.

Rocco Grimaldi, North Dakota (Fr., F) — The hands-down favorite for WCHA Rookie of the Year, Grimaldi, spent the past two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Despite his size (5-foot-6, 165 pounds), Grimaldi has a unique scoring ability. Besides, the last time the Fighting Sioux had a 5-foot-6 player on its roster he turned out to be a Hobey Baker Award winner (Ryan Duncan in 2006-07) in his second season. [Joshua Berhow; College Hockey News]

This past Saturday night when the Fighting Sioux were getting beaten by the Boston College Eagles, some Sioux fans didn't take the loss real well. Check out some of the comments on the Fighting Sioux chat. It's a long season and NCAA Championships "are not" won in October, November and December. In fact, NCAA Championships are won in April and the Fighting Sioux could very well be in the mix come tournament time.

None of us like to see the Fighting Sioux get beaten like they were on Saturday night. That being said, there are probably 56 other teams that would like to have the Fighting Sioux's record the past seven seasons and would love to be in the Fighting Sioux's predicament.

I like, most people, are tired of watching the Boston College Eagles dance around the Fighting Sioux defense and score six goals on the Fighting Sioux goaltenders. There is no way to sugar coat it; that sucks.  Eventually things will change for the Sioux against Boston College just for the record, Jerry York is 66 years old, will be in the US Hockey hall of fame some day, and has an impressive record of 882–547–93. So it's safe to say that York has been coaching for a very long time, personally, I would call him the God Father of college hockey. 

On the flip side of that equation, Dave Hakstol is 43 years old (23 years younger than York) and has a record of 187-92-27. I predict that Coach Hakstol's day will eventually come where he leads his team to a national title and the naysayers will be running to jump on the Fighting Sioux bandwagon. 

In their last five games against the Eagles, the Fighting Sioux have gone an unimpressive 0-4-1 and have had six goals scored on them four times (6-2, 6-1, 0-0, 6-4, 6-5). It's also been almost seven years since the Fighting Sioux last beat the Eagles and that was during Dave Hakstol’s first season as head coach (2004-05 season) when the Fighting Sioux had to play in the Bean Pot Regional to make the Frozen four.

. 

Maine, North Dakota hockey programs are similar

I have always liked the University of Maine Black Bears and UND Fighting Sioux hockey rivalry. I also have a lot of respect for the University of Maine Black Bears hockey program. This is a good test that will help the Sioux in the post season. Last time the Black Bears and Sioux met UND was swept at the REA by scores of 6-2 and 3-1.

Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff --- With Black Bear coach Shawn Walsh away in California getting treatment for kidney cancer, which would claim his life less than a year later, UND coach Dean Blais had the names on the backs of his team's jerseys replaced by the name "Walsh" to show his and his team's support for the Maine coach.

It was a classy gesture that will never be forgotten by the Black Bear faithful.

So it was only appropriate that the Fighting Sioux would be on hand at the Alfond Arena four years later under first-year coach Dave Hakstol when Walsh's shamrock was retired and hoisted to the rafters where it sits today.

The two programs resume their rivalry this weekend when North Dakota comes to Orono for a Friday-Saturday night series.

It will be their first meeting since Maine swept the Sioux 6-2 and 3-1 in Grand Forks on Oct. 20-21, 2006. Those wins enabled Maine to overcome a late-season collapse and make the NCAA Tournament and they went on to reach the Frozen Four.

It was the last time Maine participated in the NCAA Tournament.

The programs have a lot in common.

Both have been able to overcome geographic disadvantages to build nationally prominent programs.

They are both in remote locations.

Both have benefited from wealthy donors.

The late Harold Alfond and his family not only made Alfond Arena a reality in 1976, they have continued to donate to the program, including a $3.5 million gift announced last week to renovate the arena.

The late Ralph Engelstad provided the Fighting Sioux with a magnificent, state-of-the-art $110 million arena in his name that opened in 2001.

Both teams are the flagship programs for their respective universities and have rabid followings. The Fighting Sioux have won seven national championships and Maine has won two.

RECENT SCORES
10/21/2006 Maine 3 North Dakota 1 Maine
10/20/2006 Maine 6 North Dakota 2 Maine
2005-2006
2004-2005
10/09/2004 North Dakota 3 Maine 1 North Dakota
10/08/2004 North Dakota 4 Maine 3 (ot) North Dakota

Tweet cast for the game [click for link].