Knight’s four points leads UND past Holy Cross 5-2

Grand Forks, ND – The last time the Holy Cross Crusaders came to town, they knocked off the top ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 2006 NCAA West Regional.

Tonight, history did not repeat itself as the Holy Cross Crusaders found the host team to be less than hospitable. UND handily beat the Crusader 5-2, in the opening game, of an important two game, nonconference series.

Coming into the weekend – fresh off being named National College Hockey Player of the Month – Corban Knight was sizzling, in fact he’s smoking hot right now. That hot streak would continue tonight.

How hot is Corban Knight?

The senior forward entered tonight’s game, against the Holy Cross Crusaders, riding a 13 game scoring streak. When the night was over, Knight would leave the building riding a torrid fourteen game scoring streak.  Breaking it down further, Knight has scored 10 points in the last three games (5g-5a—10pts) and has scored four points in two of the last three games that he has played in. Knight also has seven multi point games so far this season.

The Green and White much like the sizzling Knight, came out of the gates like a team possessed. UND would rush to a 3-0 in the first period, led by Knight’s two markers.  UND would out-shoot the Crusaders 18-4 in the first period.

I don’t’ think we can downplay Knight’s accomplishments; 14 game scoring streaks don’t happen very often in college hockey – per the UND Sports Information Director Jayson Hajdu; Corban Knight’s 14-game point streak is the longest in a decade for a UND hockey player.

After the game, Knight attempted to downplay his accomplishments and his current offensive streak.

“I have been on the good end of a lot of nice plays – by my line mates and other teammates,” Knight said. “It’s not just me, I think our whole team is playing well and I have been getting on the good end of some good plays.”

The senior forward Knight also thought that the focus on his hot streak might have been blown a bit out proportion, and it was more of his teammates also playing well. UND head coach Dave Hakstol had this to say about his senior forward’s modesty.

“Corban’s a humble person,” Hakstol said.  “That’s one of the great qualities, that’s what makes him a great leader, such a presence in our looker room.”

Knight on the fast start to the game for UND… “Yeah, I think that’s what our plan was,” Knight said. “Coming out after break, I think it’s important to try and get as much rust off as we could.  I think with the start we had – I think we’re all pretty happy with it – we came out and we were changing quick and getting everyone involved. “

UND head coach Dave Hakstol was also impressed with his team’s start to the game.

“It was the right start for us to get a couple of power play goals,” Hakstol said. “It was probably the ideal start for us. I thought a workman like 60 minutes.”

UND would continue the trashing in the second period, as they put two more goals behind the Holy Cross goaltender Matt Ginn to make the score 5-0.  UND outshot Holy Cross 10-6 in the second period.

The Crusaders would get two goals from Mike MaNamara and Castan Sommer in the third period to make the final score 5-2, but the game wasn't as close at the score would indicate. UND absolutely dominated the Crusaders through two and a half periods of hockey and might have let up a bit at the end of the game.

Tonight marked the return of sophomore forward Michael Parks. Parks had missed all but one period of hockey this season, due to a lower body injury.  Parks seemed relieved to play his first complete game, 19 games into the season.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to me to finally be back,” Parks said. “The first 15 to 20 minutes felt kind of slow and rusty. As I thought I would. I think I got back into by the second period.”

Parks played on a line with Danny Kristo and Knight and he enjoyed playing on that line.

“It’s a privilege to play with those two guys,” Parks said.  “I mean they’re pretty special players. With my first game back it made my job a lot easier, playing with guys like that. So definitely, I like playing with those guys.”

Tonight, was also the debut of junior forward Mitch MacMillan, who had to sit out for a year after transferring from Saint Cloud State. MacMillan played on a line with his brother Mark and Brendan O’Donnell. While Mitch didn't figure in on the score sheet, his speed and offensive prowess was noticeable.

Cross posted at The Hockey Writers - Combine...

DU vs. UND lines game 2

UND’s Forward lines

16 Mark MacMillan–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)

9 Drake Caggiula –27 Carter Rowney (A) –19 Rocco Grimaldi

21 Brendan O’Donnell– 17 Colten St. Clair –13 Connor Gaarder

8 Daniel Senkbeil – 28 Steph Pattyn––11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – Andrew Panzarella  22

18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

UND Goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg

Not in lineup: Michael Parks – 15 (injury), 29 Bryn Chyzyk  , Coltyn Sanderson – 26, Nick Mattson– 5.

Referees: Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd

Assistant Referees: Nathan Freeman, Justin Hills

Denver Pioneers Forward Lines

11 Chris Knowlton–23 Nick Shore–19 Daniel Doremus
12 Ty Loney–26 Shawn Ostrow–39 Grant Arnold
9 Gabe Levin–27 Quentin Shore–25 Matt Tabrum
17 Garrett Allen

Denver Pioneers Defensive pairings

6 Dakota Mermis–7 Paul Phillips
21 Joey LaLeggia–2 Scott Mayfield
8 Nolan Zajac–10 David Makowski

Denver Goalies

1 Sam Brittain

31 Juho Olkinuora
33 Adam Murray

Related articles

• UND: The Weekend Ahead (12/7-12/8) (thehockeywriters.com)
• Shot Charts game one DU and UND (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

DU and UND lines games 1

UND’s Forward lines

16 Mark MacMillan–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)

9 Drake Caggiula –27 Carter Rowney (A) –19 Rocco Grimaldi

21 Brendan O’Donnell– 17 Colten St. Clair –13 Connor Gaarder

8 Daniel Senkbeil – 28 Steph Pattyn––11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

UND goalies 

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg

Not in lineup: Michael Parks – 15 (injury), 29 Bryn Chyzyk  , Coltyn Sanderson – 26, Andrew Panzarella – 22.

Referees: Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd

Assistant Referees: Nathan Freeman, Justin Hills

Denver Pioneers Forward Lines

11 Chris Knowlton–23 Nick Shore–19 Daniel Doremus
12 Ty Loney–26 Shawn Ostrow–39 Grant Arnold
9 Gabe Levin–27 Quentin Shore–25 Matt Tabrum
17 Garrett Allen

Denver Pioneers Defensive pairings

6 Dakota Mermis–7 Paul Phillips
21 Joey LaLeggia–2 Scott Mayfield
8 Nolan Zajac–10 David Makowski

Denver Pioneer Goalies

31 Juho Olkinuora
1 Sam Brittain
33 Adam Murray

Related articles

• UND: The Weekend Ahead (12/7-12/8) (thehockeywriters.com)

Wednesday UND Hockey press conference notes

Seal of the University of North Dakota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Originally post the Hockey Writers - Combine

This weekend, the University of North Dakota travels to South Bend, Indiana to play the Fighting Irish in a two game series in Compton Family Arena.

Today was media day for this weekend’s series and these are a few of the points from North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol that caught my attention.

This is what Coach Hakstol had to say about UND’s fans.

“Our students; is the best student section in the country,” Hakastol said. “We leave for the pre-game meal and there’s a thousand students already lined up at two thirty or three in the afternoon and you come back to the game and the student line up out in the cold that wraps halfway around to the back of the arena. That in its self brings excitement right way when you come to the rink and inside the arena – the passion – not just the students but all of our fans bring is second to none. I can compare that to just about any sporting event that I have ever been at. What continually strikes me is new people come into the building – National Hockey League people – hockey people from all-over different parts of north America – come in here and no matter what they have heard about the building – no matter how many positives they have heard about the atmosphere by the end of the hockey game here they’re in disbelief of what they have just witnessed.  That’s all due to the passion and excitement of our fans – their loyalty is second to none.”

This past weekend, UND gave up 70 plus shots to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and Coach Hakstol was asked what he had to do defensively to limit the amount of shots that he team game up in the defensive zone.

“It’s what we have to do outside of our defensive zone,” Hakstol said. “Not inside. We’re playing good hockey in our own zone. We have to do a better job taking care of the puck. We have to play to our strengths. In order to do that, we want to play in the opposition’s end of the rink. When we turn pucks over in the neutral zone – when we give up possession easily in the offensive zone that leads to three or four more opportunities that we have to play in our own defensive zone – I think last week that was a bigger issue than our actual performance in terms of defensive zone coverage. It comes down to taking care of the puck and pushing the puck up ice and making it a 200 foot game for our opposition. Give Duluth a lot of credit. I said it a week ago – they’re a quick team – they’re a great fore-checking team – they’re a good transition team. We cannot turn the puck over to them. I think we turned the puck over to them a little bit too much. That’s one area of our game that has to get better because we’re going into a series against another team that’s pretty good in the neutral zone that’s pretty good in transition.”

The games this past weekend were some of the longest teams in UND history and coach Hakstol was asked about the communication with the officials and if there is too much between the officials and the players and coaches during a game.

“No I think we have to reduce the communication,” Hakstol said. “Not the communication but the length of communication between officials and the teams and that includes both the players on the ice – the captions that are communicating with officials – as  well as the amount of time that is spent at the benches talking with the officials. That’s not on any one individual part of the game – that’s on all of us. We have to reduce that amount of time. For those games last week to be some the longest games we have played in 250 games is crazy because there wasn’t really very much going on in terms of extracurricular stuff  that’s on all of us and we have to reduce that over length of game time.”

Coach Hakstol was asked if the rivalry between UMD and UND is heating up.

“I think it’s always been that way,” Hakstol said. “I think if you look at some of the series we have played over the past few years I think it’s always been that way. I think it’s a great rivalry it’s a traditional and historical rival for us – so absolutely – obviously we are both moving into a new league next year and I consider them certainly to be of our… not just proximity wise but they’re one of our closest rivals. I think this games weekend were pretty indicative of that and probably of the healthy rivalry to come.”

Coach Hakstol was asked about the status of injured forward Michael Parks who was injured during the first period of Friday’s game.

“Michael Parks will travel to South Bend this weekend, but will not play,” Hakstol said. “He’s still week to week.”

UND vs. UMD Lines games 2

UND’s Forward lines

16 Mark MacMillan–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)  

9 Drake Caggiula–19 Rocco Grimaldi–17 Colten St. Clair   

21 Brendan O’Donnell–27 Carter Rowney (A) –13 Connor Gaarder

28 Steph Pattyn–29-Bryn Chyzyk – 11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–22-Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

31 Zane Gothberg

33 Clarke Saunders

Scratches: 8-Dan Senkbeil (D/F), 15 Michael Parks (F), 20 Joe Gleason  (D), 25-Mitch MacMillan (F), 26-Coltyn Sanderson

UND is going to the Dogs, this is the third series that UND has played a series against a team named after a canine. 

Bulldog Forward lines

25 Justin Crandall–21 Caleb Herbert–18 Joe Basaraba
11 Austin Farley–13 Tony Cameranesi–17 Mike Seidel
20 Cody Danberg–15 Jake Hendrickson–14 Keegan Flaherty
10 Dan DeLisle–19 Max Tardy–26 Adam Krause

Bulldog Defense Pairings

8 Drew Olson–7 Andy Welinski

28 Wade Bergman–6 Derik Johnson

16 Tim Smith–5 Chris Casto

Bulldog Goalies

36 Matt McNeely

31 Aaron Crandall

Refs: Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd - Assistant Refs: Andy Carton, Nathan Freeman

UMD vs. UND game one

UND’s Forward lines

7 Danny Kristo (A)–10 Corban Knight (A)–27 Carter Rowney (A)

21 Brendan O’Donnell– 16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder

9 Drake Caggiula–19 Rocco Grimaldi– 15 Michael Parks

28 Steph Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair –11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

UND Goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg

Scratches: 8-Dan Senkbeil (D/F), 29-Bryn Chyzyk (F), 22-Andrew Panzarella (D), 25-Mitch MacMillan (F), 26-Coltyn Sanderson

Bulldog Forward lines

25 Justin Crandall–21 Caleb Herbert–18 Joe Basaraba
11 Austin Farley–13 Tony Cameranesi–17 Mike Seidel
20 Cody Danberg–15 Jake Hendrickson–14 Keegan Flaherty
10 Dan DeLisle–19 Max Tardy–26 Adam Krause

Bulldog Defense Pairings

8 Drew Olson–7 Andy Welinski

28 Wade Bergman–6 Derik Johnson

16 Tim Smith–5 Chris Casto

Bulldog Goalies

31 Aaron Crandall
36 Matt McNeely

Refs: Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd - Assistant Refs: Andy Carton, Nathan Freeman

UND vs. BU Lines games 1

UND’s Forward lines

7 Danny Kristo (A)–10 Corban Knight (A)–27 Carter Rowney (A)

21 Brendan O’Donnell– 16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder

9 Drake Caggiula–19 Rocco Grimaldi–17 Colten St. Clair

28 Steph Pattyn–29 Bryn Chyzyk–11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

UND Goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg

Not in lineup: Michael Parks – 15 (injury), Daniel Senkbeil – 8, Coltyn Sanderson – 26, Andrew Panzarella – 22.

Refs: Marco Hunt (15) - Derek Shepherd (3) AR: Andy Dokken (70) - Justin Hills (83) 

Boston University Terriers

Terrier Forward lines

18 Wade Megan (C) – 7 Cason Hohmann – 17 Evab Rodrigues

19 Matt Nieto – 10 Danny O’Regan – 28 Sahir Gill

23 Matt Lane – 9 Wesley Myron – 12 Yasin Cisse’

11 Mike Moran – 15 Ryan Santana – 16 Sam Kurker

Terrier Defense Pairings

21 Sean Escobedo – 6 Alexx Privitera

13 Garrett Noonan – 3 Ahti Oksanen

5 Matt Grzelcyk – 2 Ryan Ruikka (A)  

Terrier Goalies

31 Sean Maguire

29 Matt O’Connor 

Healthy: Scratch Ben Rosen 8.

Just landed in North Dakota...nothing out here but 4 points #BUHockey twitter.com/BRosen8/status…
— Ben Rosen (@BRosen8) November 1, 2012

Related articles

• Notes from the UND Hockey Press Conference (thehockeywriters.com)
• Game notes for UND vs. BU (11/2-11/3) (thehockeywriters.com)

Notes from the Wednesday press conference

Here are some of things that I picked up from today’s Wednesday UND hockey press conference for the Men's and Women's teams.

UND Women’s head coach Brian Idalski on his team’s play this past weekend. 

“I think we say a lot – we’re almost good,” Idalski said. “We’ll make a play here – we’ll make a play there and then we just don’t finish it off or something happens, or we’ll make a mistake and it ends up costing us – there is a lot of good things – a lot of things we’re improving on.  But we just can’t seem to put it all together for a full 60 minutes yet. Something we’re working on – I think something that we’re going to get – it’s just going to take a little time… we’re almost really good.”

Coach Idalsk was asked about the status of injured forwards Leah Jensen and Michelle Karvinen.

“I got nothing new on that,” Idalski said. 

UND Freshman Forward Bryn Chyzyk had this to say about playing with Derek Rodwell and Steph Pattyn.  

 “It’s fun,” Chyzyk said. “I am not used to it right now – but I really enjoy it – it’s fun.  I think, I feel like kind of our role is to – maybe when the crowd is sitting down – kind of settled in – to kind of get them on their feet; get them going – to get the guys on the bench – to get them going and scoring some goals for us. So… it’s a fun role to be a part of for sure, I like playing with those two guys and yeah I enjoy it.” 

Chyzyk was asked, how intense of a person is Steph Pattyn. 

It’s funny you ask, I played against him up in Manitoba. I was so scared of that guy, he’s a scary guy to play against, but I defiantly like him a lot better on my team.” 

This is what UND freshman goalie Zane Gothberg had to say about getting his first collegiate start and  also his first win of collegiate career. 

“It felt great,” Gothberg said. “It’s been a long time coming I guess, growing up in Thief River you always dreamed about coming out and stepping on the ice in the Ralph it’s kind of a dream come true. Not only to play your first game; but to pick up the win as well.”  

UND head coach Dave Hakstol was asked if we will see the line of Danny Kristo, Corbin Knight and Rocco Grimaldi will be on the same line this weekend. 

Probably it depends on how the games go, I mean… they won’t play together I don’t think, to start the weekend but you know at any time obviously were going to mix things up when we feel that we need to. we stayed really consistent with our lines throughout most of last weekend’s games until we got to that last ten minutes when we were down by a goal I just felt we need to mix it up a little bit to try to get ourselves back in that game. Probably the flow of the game and the tempo of the game and where we’re at different times in the game will dictate whether or not we will see the three.. Any combination of three guys together.”

UND forward Michael Parks will not play this weekend and his status is unchanged. 

UND vs. UAA Lines (10/27/2012)

UND’s Forward lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell – 10 Corban Knight (A) – 7 Danny Kristo (A)

16 Mark MacMillan – 27 Carter Rowney (A) – 13 Connor Gaarder

9 Drake Caggiula – 19 Rocco Grimaldi – 17 Colten St. Clair

28 Steph Pattyn – 29 Bryn Chyzyk – 11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Parings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

UND Goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg

Not in lineup: Michael Parks – 15 (injury), Daniel Senkbeil – 8, Coltyn Sanderson – 26, Andrew Panzarella – 22.

University of Anchorage’s Seawolves Forward Lines

29 Scott Allen – 9 Blake Tatchell – 12 Alex Gellert

23 Kory Roy – 21 Matt Bailey(A) – 17 Jordan Kwas

19 Bobby Murphy – 40 Daniel Naslund – 10 Brett Cameron

20 Hayden Trupp – 26 Tyler Currier – 18 Chris Crowell(C)

UAA Seawolves Defense Pairings

3 Derek Docken – 7 Austin Coldwell

8 Scott Warner – 22 Blake Leask

5 Austin Sevalrud – 37 Chris Williams

UAA Seawolves Goalies

33 Rob Gunderson

35 Chris Kamal

Referees: Butch Mousseaux, Craig Welker
Linesmen: Andy Carton, Nathan Freeman

Related articles

• UND slips past UAA 4-1. (thehockeywriters.com)
• Game Notes for UND versus UAA 10/26-10/27 (thehockeywriters.com)
• Notes from the Wednesday's UND Men's Hockey press conference (thehockeywriters.com)

UND during presidential elections years

I like most am tired of election commercials on my TV... I am also ready for this election to be over... I am also sure that there are many of you that are also tired of of the commercials and the elections mailings that you have to throw away every day as well. So since it’s an election year, I thought that I would see what UND has done in hockey during the presidential election years. 

UND won NCAA titles during the 1980 and 2000 Presidential election years, both years there was a Republican president elected to the presidency, both times UND won the title in Providence, Rhode Island. 

NCAA Tournament Championships

1980       North Dakota     31-8-1   5–2   Northern Michigan     Providence, RI   Providence Civic Center

2000       North Dakota     31-8-5   4–2     Boston College  Providence, RI   Providence Civic Center

UND also won two Broadmoor Trophies during presidential election years as well. 

WCHA Tournament Championships/Broadmoor Trophy

Year       Record  Coach

2000       31-8-5   Dean Blais

2012       25-12-3  Dave Hakstol

UND has also won two MacNaughton Cups during presidential election years where a Republican president was elected to office. 

Regular Season Championships/MacNaughton Cup

1980       31-8-1   John "Gino" Gasparini

2004       30-8-3   Dean Blais