Yep, Zane McIntyre Is a Good Goal Tender

That's a lot of words to say that Zane McIntyre is a good goaltender. Seriously. I guess Lambert is done predicting a UNO meltdown?

Ryan Lambert, Puck Daddy -- Where North Dakota differs, and which comes as no surprise, is that they have both the highest shooting percentage and save percentage in the league. Looking at the roster, you'd have to say that maybe shooting 8.8 percent at evens is a little bit high even for a team that talented — and with Mark MacMillan potentially done for the year, even more so — but Zane McIntyre was always going to be stopping about .940 at evens. He's just that good, and given the fact that his team concedes an inordinate number of shot attempts (42.3 per game, third-most in the conference) he's utterly crucial to their ongoing success. If he was even a little worse, let's say he allowed an extra five goals in 32 games this season, we're not having a discussion about North Dakota being the top team in the country; their shot generation is decidedly middle of the pack on a national level, so the fact that they have 73 even-strength goals goes a long way.

Of course, only about 25 or 30 percent of most games is played at 5-on-5, so you have to consider special teams quality as well. Here too, North Dakota doesn't exactly impress in comparison with its conference rivals; its 20.9 percent conversion rate on power plays is fourth in the conference behind St. Cloud, Denver, and Colorado College (somehow). Its PK is, not surprisingly, the best by a decent margin, because McIntyre has an .872 save percentage when down a man. The NCHC average is .863. But North Dakota takes a lot of penalties (second-most in the conference) and draws the the third-most. Their power play opportunity differential for the season is plus-1.

All season long, I keep hearing how UND isn't as good as their record. Their record is inflated by their out of conference record. So, what about the other 22 games they have played so far? I guess UND winning the Penrose Cup is a mirage, didn't happen, right

Also, we heard from the SBN College Hockey experts that once UND got into the meat of their schedule they would come back down to earth a bit. That hasn't happened yet, either.

Let's not forget that UND has only lost twice in 2015. Breaking it down further, UND has won four games in a row and five-of-six games. They have a 3-1-0 record against SCSU, 2-0 record against WMU, 2-1-1 record against UNO and DU. They currently have a 1-1 record against UMD and MU.

Let's review, UND went tot he NCAA tourney last year. Of course, they were the last team in NCAA tournament, and  then promptly went to the Frozen Four. That was a fluke I guess. UND returns most of the team from last year and some of the pundits are shocked.

I think the NCHC is a tough conference and UND has proven they deserve the recognition they have gotten this year. I also don't think the UND hockey team is afraid to play anyone in the country. Not this team.

WHKY: North Dakota outlasts Ohio State in triple overtime

Grand Forks, N.D. -- Fans who attended North Dakota's Saturday afternoon game against Ohio State got more than their money's worth in a triple overtime game that ended allowing North Dakota an advancement to the WCHA Final Face-Off.

Saturday's score was more indicative of the play between the two teams more so than North Dakota's 5-2 Friday win.

The goals that drove the teams into overtime play happened in second period. North Dakota's Samantha Hanson broke the scoreless stalemate around halfway through the second. The Buckeyes were able to rally the tying goal with 38 seconds remaining in the period

After OSU's tying goal at the end of the second period. It would take another 63 minutes for North Dakota to complete the sweep and punch their ticket to play, at least, one more game at home. "It was a super grind; start to finish," head coach Brian Idalski said.

The game ended 3:17 seconds into triple overtime when Becca Kohler made a transition play that sent Megan Dufault up ice. Dufault passed the puck cutting through two OSU defense to Amy Menke who put it top shelf on UND's 41st shot on goal.

North Dakota will take a couple days off before they start preparing for the WCHA Final Face-Off that is being hosted at The Ralph on Saturday and Sunday. "The one thing we knew for sure we didn't want was to do was watch other teams play in our rink," Amy Menke said.

Taking a page out of the UND men's hockey program's playbook, the women's team is 22-2-2 sine mid-January.

North Dakota plans to take the next couple days off before preparing for face-off against the Wisconsin Badgers at 5:00 on Saturday, March 7. Tickets are available for the WCHA Final Face-Off at The Ralph box office and online.

WHKY Weekend Preview: Green & White meets Orange

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- UND women's hockey returns to play against Syracuse this weekend at the Ralph Engelstad Arena for an afternoon Saturday-Sunday series. The non-conference series will be the first time the teams have met in program history.

UND heads into second-half action after a road sweep of RIT.  "We finished stronger than we started. Hopefully we can carry that and be stronger when the play-offs come around," Andrea Dalen said.

This weekend they will focus on containing Syracuse Orange's leading scorers Stephanie Grossi and, fellow freshman, Alysha Burriss. Prior to Saturday's series opener, the Orange are coming off of a 2-0 loss to Colgate.

Look for North Dakota to attempt to carry some momentum and building blocks from the first half of the season. "We want to see a lot more wins, obviously," head coach Brian Idalski said. "I think structurally we're much better. Talent wise, development of some of our younger kids being comfortable within their role."

North Dakota gets underway tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.. Live audio can be heard (free) at UND Sports Tickets are available at the REA box office: adults $7, youth $5 and UND students free with student ID.

UND Hockey: Providence vs. UND Links

Here's a couple of good reviews on this weekend's matchup with Providence College. This should be an exciting series this weekend.

Brian Sullivan, Cox Hub -- No. 5 Providence at No. 3 North Dakota (Friday and Saturday): The most elite college hockey match-up of the weekend finds the Friars on their longest trip of the year, and also their last trip out of the Eastern time zone (Notre Dame is just this side of the boundary). North Dakota has only played one regular-season home game this year, and it ended in a stunning 5-1 loss to Bemidji State on opening night... rest assured, UND is salivating to get back at it on home ice. The Friars will apparently be without the services of junior center Mark Jankowski, who is not traveling with the team due to an upper body injury. Big loss for Nate Leaman & Co

From USCHO: North Dakota ready for national spotlight with home series against Providence.

Matthew Semisch, USCHO --Third-ranked North Dakota is well aware of this, and it’s also cognizant of the fact that the national spotlight will be on Ralph Engelstad Arena this Friday and Saturday. No. 5 Providence is coming to Grand Forks, N.D., for a two-game set, and UND will be hoping to get the armchair NCAA selection committee on UND’s side.

Going into the series, however, UND coach Dave Hakstol isn’t taking a lot of stock in UND’s and the Friars’ places in the national polls.

“It’s just two good teams, and I guess you can just throw rankings out the window,” Hakstol said. “I know both teams are pretty good, and obviously we’re going to be hungry as we get into a long stretch of nonconference games, and these are extremely important.

Read more:

Related articles

• Providence Forward Mark Jankowski Won't Travel to North Dakota

UND Hockey: Popular anthem singer Lindquist retained full-time (Video)

This is very good news and a smart move by UND. Mark Lindquist sang a few national anthems last year and he was simply amazing.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – UND Athletics and the Ralph Engelstad Arena are pleased to announce that Mark J. Lindquist has been retained as the full-time national anthem singer at UND men’s hockey games for the 2014-15 season. 

Lindquist’s talents were on display at multiple UND Athletics events during the 2013-14 season and his rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” has become an anticipated portion of the North Dakota hockey game experience. With a significant amount of positive feedback from fans, as well as the desire to add to the unique experience of UND men’s hockey games at “The Ralph,” the decision was made to ensure a consistent performance of the national anthem.

Lindquist is a nationally-recognized speaker and world-touring entertainer who has performed live for over a half-a-million people throughout his career. As an actor, he has appeared in ABC’s “Lost,” CBS’ “Hawaii Five-O” and the Universal Studios movie “Battleship.” 

Currently, Mark travels the country performing the national anthem for collegiate and professional sports teams, delivers keynote addresses for businesses, associations, conferences and school assemblies, as well as educational financial seminars in cities across America. 

This summer, Mark has performed at the College World Series and will be performing at Fargo Redhawks and Minnesota Twins games in July, as well as for the Los Angeles Dodgers in August.

“It's such an honor to become a consistent part of such a storied hockey program. The national anthem is my favorite song to sing and I am proud to bring my rendition to UND Athletics and the Ralph Engelstad Arena,” said Lindquist.

Lindquist makes his home in Fargo, N.D., and co-founded Breath Is Limited Motivational Speaking LLC as his way of bringing a message of hope, passion, perseverance and joy to people all over the world (www.BreathIsLimited.com). He is also a partner at The 7 Mindsets out of Atlanta, Ga. 

Lindquist is a former sergeant in the United States Air Force and an Afghanistan war veteran who grew up in Ortonville, Minn.

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Long Video Review Confirms Goal
• UND Hockey: UND to Host 2015 West Regional at Scheels Arena
• UND Hockey: Remembering the 'Old Ralph' Engelstad Arena
• UND Women Complete Sweep of OSU
• UND Pounds Miami

Miami blanks UND 3-0

Miami University (Ohio) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Minneapolis, MN – Coming into the National Collegiate Hockey Conferences Frozen Faceoff, three of the four teams needed to win the tourney to continue their season. 

The University of North Dakota came into Friday’s game as an NCAA bubble team. At a minimum, they need to win at least one game this weekend.

After being shutout 3-0 by Miami University, UND has one more chance to extend their season. They must get a win tomorrow against Western Michigan if they’re going to have a chance. They also will be scoreboard watching.

Again, for those asking, it appears if UND, UW & Lowell win, UND is in. If not, UND is out.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) March 22, 2014

The game was closer than the score, UND outshot Miami 32 to 28, but they weren’t able to get anything past Miami sophomore goalie Ryan McKay, who was very solid and stopped 32-of-32 shots. UND goalie Zane Gothberg stopped 25-of-28 shots, but struggled with the puck at times.

One of the big concerns coming into the tourney was the condition of the Target Center ice. The ice appeared to be a little soft, but it didn’t look like the ice was a factor in the game.

“It improved from yesterday,” UND senior defenseman Dillon Simpson said. “It’s tough place for the game of hockey, where it isn’t usually played. I think they did a good job trying to make it as good especially after practicing on it yesterday. All in all, it was okay. It was a little soft, but at the end of the day it was fine.”

Over the last four games, UND has made a habit of falling behind. In three of the last four games, UND has given up a two goal lead twice and a three goal once (against Miami).  UND is 1-2-0 in those three games. Miami would get goals from Blake Coleman, Austin Czarnik and Anthony Louis. Coleman would lead Miami with (1g-1a—2pts).

After the game, UND head coach Dave Hakstol was very complimentary to the RedHawks.

“Hats off to Miami University, they played a great game tonight,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “They played hard, as did our team. Both teams battled hard. They scored the first goal of the game – got a critical one in the second period and we couldn’t fight our way back into it. This one is over, it’s in the past. Our focus is now moves to tomorrow at three thirty in the afternoon.”

On February 15, 2014, UND ran over the Miami RedHawks 9-2, at Ralph Engelstad Arena. At the time, Miami didn’t have the services of Coleman, who was injured. This time around, Miami was a much different team with the junior from Plano, Texas.

“They’re a lot better team than we played a month ago, junior forward Mark MacMillan said. “Obviously they got (Blake) Coleman back from injury and I think that he put a spark in their team. They went in and swept Saint Cloud last weekend and came in and played a great game against us tonight. Much different team than we faced last time.”

With the loss to the RedHawks, UND (22-13-3) is currently sitting at 15th in the Pairwise. They need to win the third place game to extend their season, but they also need help. The UND captain was asked what his team needed to do, to get the win tomorrow.

“I think first and foremost, it starts with myself, handling things the right way,” Simpson said. We got a young team and we have good group of guys. We all know the task at hand, they now what needs to be done.”

The Miami University head coach Enrico Blasi seem relieved that his RedHawk team (15-19-3) was one game away from going to the NCAA playoffs after finishing eight in the NCHC standings.

“Obviously, a real good game for us,” Enrico Blasi said. I thought Ryan (McKay) made some really huge saves when we needed them. Timely goals, and timely bounces.  I thought we did a good job keeping them on the outside for the most part.”

Blasi continued, “I was thinking on the bench that sometimes you have to have a little bit of faith in your team. About a month ago I don’t think any of you guys would have picked us to be here in this position. I always say everything happens for a reason. Guys stayed with each other. They played hard. They practiced hard. They stayed positive. We’re going to the championship game tomorrow night.”

UND faces off against the Western Michigan Broncos in the third place game at 3:38 p.m. Central, tomorrow at the Target Center.

The NCHC announced that 9,113 fans attended today’s games at the Target Center.

(Box Score)

Western Spoils Senior night for UND

Grand Forks, ND – On Saturday night, UND honored four seniors for their commitment to the University of North Dakota Hockey program.

The stage was set. Coming into Saturday’s game, there was a lot on the line. UND had a chance to win the Penrose Trophy for the regular season champion National Collegiate Hockey Conference. All UND had to do was beat the Western Michigan University Broncos to capture at least a tie for the regular-season title.

Sounds simple, right?

That’s no easy task. Standing in their way, the Broncos who are coached by former NHL head coach Andy Murray. The Broncos proved to be a miserable team to play against. They limited UND’s time and space and didn’t give them an opportunity to set up in the offensive zone in the later stages of the game.

WMU also has goaltender Lukas Hafner (7-6-2, .922 SV% and a 2.12 GAA).   Tonight, Hafner was very good. The Toledo, Ohio product stopped 28-of-29 shots.

Ironically, standing in the way of UND winning the inaugural Penrose was the last two teams invited to join the NCHC, Western Michigan and Saint Cloud State.

“It sucks,” junior defenseman Nick Mattson said. “You can’t really sugar coat that one. That was an opportunity that we worked our butts off all year, to put ourselves in that spot. Tough to let it slip away.”

With the loss to the Broncos and the Saint Cloud State win, UND (20-11-3, 15-9-0 NCHC) will host seventh place Colorado College (6-22-6, 6-13-5 NCHC) in the first round of the NCHC playoffs. The focus now turns to the ultimate prize, the conference playoffs, a league title and an NCAA title.

“At the end of the day, that one stings,” senior captain Dillon Simpson said. “There was a lot on the line. It being senior night for me and my classmates. That was one we definitely wanted. Like I said in that dressing room, we missed out on a white banner, but our angle is still the same. We have to move forward towards that.”

“I am looking at the big picture, head coach Dave Hakstol said. “How good of a job the guys in that locker room have done, coming together. Pushing hard to be a good team – we are a good team. It stings. At this time of year, you have to have a short memory.”

UND thought they had gotten a break. With the game tied 1-1, Bronco forward Josh Pitt was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for contact to the head at the 05:53 mark of the third period.  Western forward Colton Hargrove would score the game winning goal,  shorthanded, two minutes later.

“Even after giving up the shorthanded goal, we just couldn’t get enough going in the offensive zone, possession wise or offensively,” Hakstol said.

UND will host the Best-of-three, first-round series at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The series starts Friday March 14, 2014, at 7:38 p.m. Central.

Stats of interest

On November 30, 2013, UND was 4-7-2 UND. Since that time, UND has gone 16-4-1.

Since November 30, 2013, Zane Gothberg is 13-2-1, with a .935 save percentage and a 1.63 goals against average.

UND goalie Zane Gothberg finished first in the NCHC with a 2.02 Goals Against Average. Gothberg was also tied for second with Lukas Hafner with a 2.24 Save Percentage

Related articles

• UND Slips Past WMU (insidehockey.com)
• Saturday Morning Pontifications: Is there a Penrose Trophy in the Future? (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

UND beats WMU 2-0

Grand Forks, ND –  University of North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol has won 20 games in each of the 10 seasons  that he’s coached. No other active Division I hockey coach can make that claim.

North Dakota started the season 4-7-2, and since November 30, 2013, has gone on a 16-3-1 run. Tonight, UND got the 20th win of their season by shutting out a scrappy Western Michigan 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

In the second period, UND scored two goals 18 seconds apart by forwards Stephane Patty and Luke Johnson to break the game open. Sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg preserved the win, recording his second shutout of the season stopping 18-of-18 shots.

“Obviously it starts with our coaching staff,” Gothberg said. “They’ve been through the ropes. They’ve been through everything, throughout the years. And I think it just kind of came down from them.”

Gothberg continued, “Once we figured out how to play our game, each guy bought in. It was a simple mentality change, just a little bit before Christmas break. It was kind of cool to see what happened. You know what, we’re going out and proving ourselves every night, still. Proving to ourselves and to our team that we can be even better.”

After the game, Western Michigan head coach Andrew Murray was asked about his thoughts on his team’s play.

“I give North Dakota a lot of credit,” Western Michigan head coach Andy Murray said. “I actually thought our game in the first 15 minutes was pretty darn good.  We had two or three great chances in front of (Zane) Gothberg, and he made some good saves.”

“North Dakota was hungry and they were sniffing blood, and they came after us. They played hard, and we weren’t as good as they were.”

Coach Murray was asked what his team needed to do to get the win on Saturday night.

“There are a number of things that we need to do differently,” Murray said. “Coach needs to be better. We’re playing against a very good North Dakota team. I think you could tell we were ready to play tonight, the way we can, in the first 15 minutes. In reality, we could have been up by a couple of goals, here. They’re a good team and their coaches do a very good job. I think both teams play very similar. They just played better.”

After the game the UND players shared their thoughts.

“It was a good game,” sophomore forward Luke Johnson said. “I thought we played really well. I thought we played with a lot of pace. We played pretty fast, and they did too.”

“Probably the only people who believed in us was ourselves in that locker room,” junior forward Stephane Pattyn said. “We had a bit of a rough start there, it was ugly. We just stuck together. Everyone just nutted up and got the job done. We’re just going to have to keep doing the same thing.”

Tonight’s game was a hard fought game, and was a tie game until the 17:21 mark of the second period.  UND finally broke the game over with a couple of quick goals 18 seconds apart.

“It was nice that we got rewarded,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “I thought we had a pretty good period. Then at 17 minutes (of the second period) or whatever it was, we didn’t have a lot to show for it. A nice power-play goal followed up with another quick one was critical for that period.”

With the win, North Dakota (20-10-3, 15-8-3 NCHC) has a chance to win the Penrose Trophy on the final night of the regular season.

With the loss, Western Michigan (16-14-5, 10-11-2 NCHC) will be on the road for the first round of the NCHC playoffs.

On Saturday night, the same two teams play again at 07:00 p.m. Central.

A few statistics from the game

UND out shot WMU 38-18 for the game.

Friday night’s game, was the first time UND has beaten a team when it scored two goals or fewer, UND is  now 1-8-2  (.181).

UND has killed 20 of the last 21 opponents power-plays.

[Box Score]

UND pounds Miami 9-2 in Grand Forks

Grand Forks, ND – The first shot on net by the University of North Dakota went into the Miami net. Unfortunately for UND, the referee ruled that junior forward Mark MacMillan interfered with the Miami goalie Ryan McKay. Video replay confirmed that MacMillan caught the McKay with a forearm, in the head, knocking his goalie mask off– you can’t do that.

The next shot by sophomore defenseman Jordan Schmaltz went in the net, this time it counted. UND would have another goal waved off in the first period, but it didn’t seem to faze UND all that much.

“It didn’t seem to matter,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “We were ready to play. We had a great start. Couple of disallowed goals through the first period, but it really didn’t matter.  We were ready to play the next shift. Everybody was ready to play.”

UND would push the lead to 2-0, when sophomore forward Colton St. Clair scored his second goal of the season to make it 2-0. That was St. Clair’s first goal since October 19, 2013, when he scored against Miami.

Rocco Grimaldi and Keaton Thompson scored four minutes apart to push the lead to 4-0 after one period of hockey, and the route was on.

UND would score four more goals in the second period, and add a single goal on the power-play in the closing seconds of the third period. Yeah, you heard that right, UND scored two power-play goals on Saturday night. On Saturday night, UND was 2-5 on the much maligned power-play. After coming to the series going 3-for-38 on the power-play, UND was 3-11 (27.3%) for the weekend on the man advantage.

North Dakota had two goals waved off in the first period, but it didn’t seem to matter, as UND took Miami to the proverbial woodshed, winning 9-2. That was most goals that UND had scored at the Ralph Engelstad Arena since December 31, 2011, when UND beat Havard 7-3.

“I thought we had great jump from the start. all the way through the first period,” Rocco Grimaldi said. “I thought that every line was building momentum, every time they were on the ice. The power-play was clicking. Things were just going our way. It was a total team effort.”

While Grimaldi led UND with a goal and three assists, he was quick to credit his fellow teammates who played a sold 60-minute game.

“It was total team effort, every guy did his part,” Grimaldi said. “Every guy played his heart out, and was just motivated to get the three points. Especially looking at last weekend, we had Omaha on the ropes on Saturday night, and let it slip away and let them score five unanswered (goals). It was a message that was preached a lot.”

There were a lot of positives for UND tonight and the head coach seemed pleased with his team’s effort, 14 players recorded at least a point, and five players record two or more points.

“I thought our third period, other than probably two or three shifts where I thought we were happy to play defense in our own zone," Hakstol said. "We played on our toes. Guys were having fun.  Again, nobody stepped outside the box. They just went out and played well, played hard."

Sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg returned from injury, and continued his torrid streak. Over his last 10 starts, Gothberg is 9-0-1 with a 1.79 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.

UND now has two of its three remaining series on the road. Next weekend, UND travels to Minnesota Duluth, to play the Bulldogs in an important two-game NCHC series. With the win, UND improves to (16-9-3 and 10-7 NCHC).

Related articles

• UND Hockey: The Weekend in Review (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Completes Comeback Against Vermont (insidehockey.com)
• UND Hockey: Dynamic Duo Bright Spot for UND (thehockeywriters.com)

UNO's Ryan Walters predicts UNO Sweep against UND this weekend.

On our way to Grand Forks and Ralph Engelstad Arena to grab 6. Home of the Mavsssssssssss
— Ryan Walters (@ryan_wally17) February 6, 2014

Someone quick post this on the North Dakota hockey team's bulletin board in the locker room. I am sure that Blaiser is going to be happy that one of his players is posting this stuff on social media as well. Don't worry, I have a screen shot as well, so it will be there for all eternity.

Lets Fill the Bowl for UND Woman's Hockey this weekend.

Sioux vs. Gophers this weekend at the Ralph. Women's hockey...

UND Hockey: Circle of Sticks

For those that didn't get to see it last night, UND swept at home for the second time this season. Last year, UND only had one sweep at home. That's two consecutive sweeps at home in a row. With the sweep at Western Michigan UND now has three of series sweeps on the season.

UND Hockey: UND vs. C.C. Game One Lines

UND Forward Lines

9 Drake Caggiula–19 Rocco Grimaldi–27 Luke Johnson
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–15 Michael Parks (A)
29 Bryn Chyzyk–17 Colten St. Clair–Wade Murphy
28 Stephane Pattyn (A)–13 Connor Gaarder–11 Derek Rodwell

UND Defense Pairings

18 Dillon Simpson ©–24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson–6 Paul LaDue
20 Gage Ausmus–2 Troy Stecher

UND Goalies

31 Zane Gothberg
33 Clarke Saunders

Scratches: 4 –Keaton Thompson, 22 – Andrew Panzarella, 25 – Mitch MacMillan, 26 - Coltyn Sanderson, 30 – Matt Hrynkiw.

Colorado College’s Forward Lines

26 Zach Aman–10 Cody Bradley–17 Charlie Taft
16 Alexander Krushelnyski–9 Sam Rothstein–24 Jared Hanson
18 Scott Wamsganz–21 Jeff Collett–12 Archie Skalbeck
11 Hunter Fejes–14 Jordan GiDiando–28 Alex Roos

Tigers Defense Parings

6 Peter Stoykewych–13 Gustav Olofsson
20 Ian Young–7 Eamonn McDermott
27 Aaron Harstad–5 Jaccob Slavin

Tigers Goalies

39 Josh Thorimbert
29 Courtney Lockwood

On-Ice Officials: 13 – Nick Krebsbach, 33 – Brad Shepherd Lines: 83 – Justin Hills 36 – Brandon Schmidt. 

Looks like We have a split house hold

It's going to be the Civil War at the Slavin house hold tonight #Sioux #Tigers @UNDMHockey @CCTigers pic.twitter.com/GfInrKX1Xa
— Jordan Slavin (@Jslaves7) January 10, 2014

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Adam Tambellini Leaves UND for the WHL (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: The Weekend Ahead (01/10 - 1/11) (insidehockey.com)
• UND Hockey: Paisley Nails it. (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Womens Hockey: USA beats Canada at the Ralph

Grand Forks ND – Tonight felt a reunion; twin sisters Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux played their collegiate hockey at Ralph Engelstad Arena, which sits on the campus of the University of North Dakota.

Actually, it was like they never left.

Before the game, there was a presentation on the big screen honoring the twins and the time they spent at UND. It’s been an emotional week for the Lamoureux’s. Their brother Jacques Lamoureux is in the U.S. Air Force, and he’d just returned from Kuwait.

“Especially to have Jacques home, he just got home from Kuwait, that was really special,” Jocelyne Lamoureux said. “We’re a really close family. So, having him for that – my grandma and my parents – it was pretty cool. This place is home for Monique and I, this community means a lot to us. To share this with our family, was nice.”

Tonight, 5,559 fans came to watch the USA and Canada play in a pre-Olympic match-up. The environment in the arena was awesome, it was electric, at times the noise level was almost deafening.
“I was shocked by how loud the building was, really,” U.S. Women’s National Team head coach
Katey Stone said. “At one point it was going through me. I kept feeling like the thunder was going through me, too. What an environment for these kids to play in, leading up to Sochi.”

The teams traded goals in the first period, before team USA blew open the game in the second period scoring three goals. Team USA’s fore-check was relentless and Canada had no answer for it.

Pacing team USA, was the third line of Monique Lamoureux (1g-1a—2pts), Megan Duggan (0g-2a—2pts) and Jocelyne Lamoureux (1g-1a—2pts). That line was nothing short of amazing racking up a combined six points. The twins would also finish the game with the Gordy Howe hat-trick.

USA Team captain Megan Duggan was asked what it was like to be paired with the Lamoureux twins.

“They’re dynamic players,” Duggan said. “They make things happen. They’re smart with the puck, and I enjoy it.”

Five players from each team would be assessed five-minute majors for fighting, after a scrum broke out in front of the American net with nine seconds remaining in the game.  Team USA’s head coach didn’t seem all that thrilled with the Canadian’s tactics at the end of the game.

“I am not a proponent of fighting in hockey,” Katey Stone said. “I am proponent of standing up for yourself. If players are going to take cheap shots at our players, there’s going to be answer for that. We will not get pushed around. At the end of the day, we’ll prepare to play any game that we have to play. We’ll go hard, we’ll go clean, if the game gets out of hand, we’ll manage that as well.”

This is what some of the players had to say about the scrum at the end of the game.

“That player (Brianne Jenner) that hit (Josephine) Pucci took her out for a season, two seasons ago,” Monique Lamoureux said. “She took a head shot at her, so were going to stick up for our teammates and were going to protect them. I think Jocelyn obviously body-checked her, but I think it was clean. If you’re going to take a head shot at one of our players there’s consequences for it. Look what happened to me in Burlington (Vermont).”

“You have to protect your own players and you have to protect your own house,” USA forward Brianna Decker said.

Team USA and Canada will play again in St. Paul, Minnesota on December 28, 2013 at the Xcel Energy Center.

Stats of note

USA has now won the last two games in the series, after losing three in a row.
USA outshot team Canada 31-18
Both teams were 0-3 on the power play.
[Official Box Score]

Third period comeback propels North Dakota past Northern Michigan

The front entrance to Ralph Englested Arena in Grand Forks, ND. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grand Forks, ND – Coming into tonight’s game, the University of North Dakota Hockey team had a 0-5-0 record when the opponent is leading after two periods of play. Make that 1-5-0, with the comeback 3-1 win.

One of themes this season has been the lack of discipline and taking untimely penalties.

Tonight, through two periods of play, the UND hockey team took too many undisciplined penalties. Fortunately for UND, Northern Michigan was able to only able to go one-for-four on the man advantage and the UND defense was able to limit the Wildcats to 14 shots on net.  After the first period, UND game the Wildcats nothing.

Tonight’s game was a good ole fashioned hard fought hockey game, and through 50:35 of hockey the Northern Michigan Wildcats held a 1-0 lead. UND would bear down and play disciplined hockey in the third period.

Finally, at the 10:35 mark of the third period, freshman defenseman Gage Ausmus gave the hometown crowd something to cheer about as he picked up the equalizer off a great pass from Michael Parks.

Gage Ausmus described the game tying goal, “I saw Parks coming down the wall and all five of their guys followed him, and I saw an opening on the back side. Parksy got it to me and I beared down and got the goal.”

Game on!

At the 14:12 mark of the third period, Rocco Grimaldi and Drake Caggiula would bring the crowd to their feet with a beautiful give-and-go goal and that was all UND would need.

Derek Rodwell would ice the game at the 19:25 mark of the third period with an empty-net goal.

“A real tight – hard fought game,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “I thought the first ten-minutes was kind of like a jump ball. Nobody really wanted to take control of it. We weren’t sharp on the five-minute power play that put us back on our heels. And from there, it was little bit of a street fight through the rest of the game. That’s the best way I could describe it.”

UND also ends the first half on a positive note, with its first series sweep on home ice since January 4-5, 2013. UND (9-7-2, 5-5-0 NCHC) also ends the first half of the season on a five-game winning streak, and has now won back-to-back series. Since November 11, 2013, UND has a 7-3-1 record.

Do you sense where this is going?

“Personally that was my first time (stick salute),” Rocco Grimaldi said. “I wasn’t here for the one last year. I was overseas. It’s exciting feeling, especially our first this year. Obviously, we had kind of a rough start to the year. The last five games we put together a good streak. A couple of sweeps in a row, I think we’re heading in the right direction. So, it’s great for our team.“

UND is off until January 3-4, 2014, when they travel to travel to Burnaby, British Columbia to play in the Great West Showcase. UND will return to conference play on January 10-11, 2014, when they entertain Colorado college at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

[Box Score]

Stats of Interest

UND goalie Zane Gothberg has a 1.60 GAA and a .938 save percentage during UND’s 5-game winning streak.

Northern Michigan’s 14 shots on goal were the fewest allowed by UND since giving up 14 in a 5-2 win at Bemidji State on Oct. 15, 2010.

Rocco Grimaldi has a five-game scoring streak and has scored  (2g-4a—6pts) during that time.

With the loss, Northern Michigan dropped to 6-10-2.

Related articles

• North Dakota beats Northern Michigan (insidehockey.com)
• UND Hockey: Dynamic Duo Bright Spot for UND (thehockeywriters.com)
• North Dakota Slips Past St. Lawrence (insidehockey.com)
• UND Hockey: Third Line Making an Impact (thehockeywriters.com)

Stick Salute at Center Ice....

@goon48 a weekend sweep at Church is always worth a salute at the Ralph pic.twitter.com/DrNsy9b1gy
— Scott G (@20gdawg) December 15, 2013

UND with the first sweep at the Ralph since January 4-5, 2013.

UND Hockey: Scheels Arena to host 2015 NCAA West Regional

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced today that it has selected the University of North Dakota to host the 2015 NCAA Men’s Hockey West Regional Championship at Scheels Arena in Fargo.

The sites were selected by the respective sport committees, which are made up of coaches and administrators from NCAA member schools and conferences, and approved by the appropriate divisional championships cabinets/committees.

“We are honored and excited to have been awarded the 2015 NCAA Men’s West Regional,” said UND Director of Athletics Brian Faison. “This hosting opportunity is the result of a great team effort partnering UND with Ralph Engelstad Arena and Scheels Arena.”

Scheels Arena is the home of the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force franchise. It has also previously hosted the 2009 IIHF World U18 Hockey Championship.

“Sheels Arena will be a great venue for the 2015 NCAA West Regional tournament,” said UND head men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol. “It’s a first-class facility that is within driving distance for the fans of several college hockey programs. The atmosphere in the building should be second-to-none within regional competition.”

“We are confident that a NCAA Men’s West Region Tournament will be a huge success in Fargo. Scheels Arena provides a great off-campus location for a regional tournament and we look forward to the tournament returning to North Dakota,” said Ralph Engelstad Arena general manager Jody Hodgson.

“We are extremely excited to host Division I hockey in our venue and in our city,” said Scheels Arena general manager Jon Kram. “Even more than that, we are pleased to be working in conjunction with the University of North Dakota and Ralph Engelstad Arena. It is a testament to the willingness of the organizations to work together to ensure our communities have access to elite events such as this one when so often we are thought of as competitors by the general public. It sets the stage for future partnerships that will continue to enhance the communities in which we live and operate.”

Ticket information, including on-sale dates and pricing, will be announced at a later date

Mark MacMillan on UND hosting the '15 regional in Fargo: It's nice for our fans who usually have to travel all over the country to watch us.
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) December 11, 2013

UND will host the 2015 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Regional at Scheels Arena in Fargo. @UNDMHockey
— Jayson Hajdu (@UNDSID) December 11, 2013

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Will UND get to Host a Regional? (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND Hockey: Long Video Review Confirms Goal (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Making the Case for Dave Hakstol (thehockeywriters.com)
• NCAA Hockey: There Has to Be a Better Way (thehockeywriters.com)
• NCAA Women's Hockey Weekly Round-Up: December 11th, 2013 (thehockeywriters.com)

(Video) North Dakota goals versus Western Michigan; Hakstol interviewed on the bench

CBSSN in-game analyst Shireen Saski interviews UND head coach Dave Hakstol on the player’s bench. I never thought we would see that. I am also not a big fan of that, at all. It's like coming to someone office and interviewing them. It was also kind of funny, Saski couldn't say Hak's name without stumbling. 

UND freshman forward Luke Johnson had a breakout game for UND (2g-0a—2pts). The UND defense continues to rack up the points as well. Sophomore defenseman Jordan Schmaltz had another strong game for UND on the backend as he had (0g-2a—2pts). 

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Jordan Schmaltz Growing Into His Role (thehockeywriters.com)
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• Where's all the antipathy coming from in regards to UND head coach Dave Hakstol (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Refreshing our memories: Hakstol the second half coach

The question UND fans want to know, will there be a second half run?

Related articles

• UND Hockey: Making the Case for Dave Hakstol (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Dynamic Duo Bright Spot for UND (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Hockey: Long Video Review Confirms Goal (thehockeywriters.com)
• St. Lawrence Pastes North Dakota (insidehockey.com)