WCHA News breaking this afternoon at 4:30

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a big WCHA news conference this afternoon at 4:30 and you can watch it live from this web link. Word has it that there is announcement about the Minnesota Cup, the World Junior Coach and the WCHA’s conference tourney next year. 

What: Joint Press Conference featuring Special Announcements from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, USA Hockey, Inc., and University of Minnesota

and  Bruce McLeod, WCHA Commissioner, Richard MacKeigan, Regional General Manager, DeVos Place & Van Andel Arena, Katy Tigchelaar, Events Manager, West Michigan Sports Commissioner, Jack Larson, Vice-President & General Manager, Xcel Energy Center, Jake Spano, Marketing Director, City of Saint Paul Jennifer Heppel, Associate Commissioner, Big 10 Conference, Dave Fischer, Senior Director of Communications, USA Hockey, Inc. Tom McGinnis, Associate Athletic Director, University of Minnesota.

Saturday, March 23 4:30 pm CT

Press Interview Room, Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, MN

Video Stream link:

http://www.foxsportsnorth.com/livestream

Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five

SAINT PAUL, Minnesota – After winning three consecutive Broadmoor Trophies in a row, UND saw their hopes of winning a fourth come crashing down when they lost in 4-3 overtime yesterday to the upstart Colorado College Tigers.

This isn’t how the UND hockey team had planned it, according to senior forward Danny Kristo.

“I have never felt like this before,” Kristo said. “Obviously we won the last three [Final Fives]. That was our goal coming in this year. Obviously, we wanted to four peat, or what not. You just go day-by-day. I thought we took about 20 minutes off there, between the second and third period and kind of got lulled to sleep, maybe we deserved to win the game, but we didn’t play to our potential, so at this time of the year you’re not going to win games. You can’t leave the game to a bounce of the puck.”

In college hockey, much like other sports, you have to have a short memory. UND Coach Dave Hakstol agreed, “Tough ending tonight, that’s our fate, we’ll regroup and get back to Grand Forks and work on our next project.”

No matter how you slice it, UND had a good season, however, UND is going to have to tighten it up defensively a little bit if they want to advance in the NCAA tourney. There have been times when UND’s been a bit shaky on defense, but most of their miscues appear to be ones that are easy to fix.

One area that I think they’re are lacking in; they need to have forwards that are going hard to the net and getting to the blue paint. More greasy goals and forwards getting to the greasy areas.

“We kind wanted to wear out their D; we found out that they weren’t the fastest, Tiger forwardRylan Schwartz said.

I found these comments by Tiger forward Rylan Schwartz to be interesting, but not shocking. The Tigers have given UND fits this season. UND has a record of 2-3 in five games against the Tigers this season.

Second half surge?

UND is a team that is traditionally known for its second half surges, this year has been a little different. This season, UND’s record before Christmas was 10-5-3 (.639) and so far, after Christmas UND’s record has been 11-7-4 (.590). UND has somewhere between 1-4 more games.

Badgers advance to the Championship game

Wisconsin wins 4-1, advances to the WCHA Final Five Championship game. What’s even more remarkable is that the Badger “were” averaging 2.55 goals per game coming into the tourney and have scored 11 goals in two games.

That’s not a typo.

In the last 10 games, the Badgers have scored 40 goals for an average of 4 goals per game. During the same time period, the Badgers have a 8-2-0 record.

Surging Badgers

After starting out the season 1-7-3 (.227), the Badgers have gone 20-5-4 (.758). That’s an impressive run in anyone’s book. The weird part is that it might not be enough for the Badgers to make the NCAA tourney. They might have to win the NCAA tourney to get in.

SCSU Huskies are not in the NCAA tourney yet

The SCSU Huskies are in dire straits and could end up missing the NCAA tourney, this goes back to their non-conference record. The Huskies are an NCAA bubble team and they don’t need there to be any more surprises this weekend in the other conference tourneys. The Huskies are going to be at home watching the results of the other conference tourneys that are taking place this weekend, and holding their breath.

When asked about his teams prospects for making the NCAA tourney, “Bubble Trouble, Saint Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko said.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine

UND’s Knight, Kristo among Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – University of North Dakota senior forwards Corban Knight and Danny Kristo are among the 10 national finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

The 2013 Hobey Baker Award finalists are (alphabetically): Greg Carey, St. Lawrence; Carsen Chubak, Niagara; Johnny Gaudreau, Boston College; Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac; Corban Knight, North Dakota; Danny Kristo, North Dakota; Drew LeBlanc, St. Cloud State; Ryan Walters, Nebraska Omaha.

Knight, a native of High River, Alberta, is tied for seventh in the national scoring race with a career-high 48 points, including a career-high 33 assists. He is tied for second nationally in assists and leads the country with 24 first assists. Knight has reached the scoresheet in 31 games, more than any other player. The national player of the month in December, Knight has also won more than 58 percent of his faceoffs and leads the nation with 571 faceoff wins, 78 more than any other player. Earlier this season, Knight put together a 19-game point streak that was UND’s longest in 25 years and the fourth-longest in school history. He led all 77 national candidates in fan voting during Phase I of ‘Vote for Hobey,’ receiving more than twice as many votes as the next-closest player.

A physical education, exercise science and wellness major, Knight received the team’s Archie Krum Memorial Athletics Scholarship last season as the player who “demonstrates leadership qualities, high academic standards and athletic excellence. He is also a two-time recipient of the Ken and Marcia Nelson Impact Scholarship. Knight has logged more than 50 hours of community service in his career, including 40 over the past two seasons alone with organizations such as Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Altru Health System, and Grand Forks Park District.

Kristo, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., ranks third nationally in scoring with a career-high 50 points, including a WCHA-leading 24 goals. He leads the nation in points (36), goals (19) and points per game (1.50) since Dec. 8 and led the WCHA with three goals in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, all coming in the third period. A two-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, Kristo is tied for the WCHA lead with two shorthanded goals and is tied for second with five game-winning goals. He has six games of 3-plus points this season, tied for third-most in the nation, and leads the team with 14 multi-point games. He enters the WCHA Final Five having reached the scoresheet in 12 of his last four games.

A recreation and tourism studies major, Kristo leads all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players in career points (159) and goals (66, tied). He has also logged approximately 50 hours of community service in his career to organizations such Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Mortar Board, Grand Forks Public Library and the Empire Arts Center.

Knight and Kristo are UND’s 22^nd and 23^rd finalists since the award's inception in 1979-80, and the first since Matt Frattin was a Hobey Hat Trick (top three) finalist two years ago. It is the third time UND has had two finalists in the same season. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and T.J. Oshie were finalists in 2007-08, and Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski were finalists in 2003-04.

The ten finalists were selected by voting from all 59 Division I college hockey head coaches and by online fan balloting at www.hobeybakeraward.com. Next, the 23-member Selection Committee and an additional round of fan balloting (at www.hobeybakeraward.com from March 21-31) will determine this year’s Hobey Baker winner. Criteria for the award include: displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.

The Hobey Hat Trick (three finalists) will be announced on April 3, 2013 and the Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced Friday, April 12, 2013 from Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA during the NCAA Frozen Four. The award announcement will be televised live on NHL Network or live on the Hobey Baker website at 6:00 p.m. ET.

  

For more information, visit the Hobey Baker website at: www.hobeybakeraward.com

UND's Hobey Baker Award Finalists

James Patrick (1982-83)
Jon Casey (1983-84)
Scott Sandelin (1985-86)
Tony Hrkac (1986-87)
Steve Johnson (1987-88)
Russ Parent (1989-90)
Greg Johnson (1990-91, 1991-91 & 1992-93)
Jason Blake (1996-97, 1997-98)
Curtis Murphy (1997-98)
Jeff Panzer (1999-2000, 2000-01)
Zach Parise (2002-03, 2003-04)
Brandon Bochenski (2003-04)
Ryan Duncan (2006-07)
Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (2007-08)
T.J. Oshie (2007-08)
Matt Frattin (2010-11)
Corban Knight (2012-13)
Danny Kristo (2012-13)
*Bold indicates Hobey Baker Award winner

UND vs. C.C. lines Final Five

UND Forward Lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)
19 Rocco Grimaldi–27 Carter Rowney (A)–15 Michael Parks
25 Mitch MacMillan–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder

Drake Caggiula 9–28 Stephane Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defensive Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C)–18 Dillon Simpson
4 Derek Forbort–24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson –20 Joe Gleason

UND goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg
35 Tate Maris

Not In the lineup: 11 Derek Rodwell , Andrew Panzarella (22), Dan Senkbeil (8), Coltyln Sanderson (26),  Bryn Chyzyk (29).

Colorado College’s Tigers forward lines

16 Alexander Krushelnyski–13 Rylan Schwartz (A)–17 Charlie Taft
12 Archie Skalbeck–25 Scott Winkler–27 William Rapuzzin (C) 
11 Hunter Fejes–10 Cody Bradley–15 Andrew Hamburg
22 Peter Maric–21 Jeff Collett–24 Jared Hanson

Colorado College Tigers defense pairings

6 Peter Stoykewych–28 Mike Boivin
5 Aaron Harstad–7 Eamonn McDermott
20 Ian Young–4 Joe Marciano

Colorado College Tiger goalies

31 Joe Howe
39 Josh Thorimbert
29 Courtney Lockwood

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Linesmen: Nick Bradshaw (94), Sam Shikowsky (81)

Tiger's Taft scores the game winning goal against DU, with help from DU goalie

This is the goal in question, I was finally able to get my hand on it. Colorado College forward Charlie Taft will probably never score a more fluky goal than this one. This was also the goal, that everyone was talking about on Monday morning that vaulted the Tigers to the Final Five and left the Denver Pioneers scratching their heads. I am sure there are some that aren't feeling sorry for the Pioneers, it's just one of those things.

The goal in question is at the 2:18 mark. s/t to Joe Paisley sending me the video. DU's Juho Olkinuora is a great goalie, but stuff happens in games that has no explanation sometimes.

Final 5 Match-Ups (by Donn)

This is it, the last WCHA Final 5 as we have known it for decades.  Three out of last weekend’s first round series went to three games, which is not too surprising, given the depth and talent of the conference as a whole.  I’m looking forward to this long weekend of hockey and hopefully will take a lot of good memories from it. Most of the teams that are not going to St. Paul are done for the year, with the exception of DU.  The Pioneers could get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament; they are currently sitting at #13 in the pairwise.

WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2012-2013

Team………………………W-L-T………Points

1. St. Cloud St……………18-9-1.……….37
2. Minnesota……………...16-7-2……..…37
3. North Dakota.………….14-7-7………..35
4. Denver…………..……..14-9-5..….......33
5. Wisconsin…....………..13-8-7………...33
6. Minnesota State………16-11-1....…….33
7. Nebraska-Omaha…......14-12-2…....…30
8. Colorado College …….11-13-4..….….26
9. Minnesota-Duluth….….10-13-5……….25
10. Michigan Tech………..8-16-4…..…..20
11. Bemidji State……..…..6-15-7......…..17
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....2-20-6.....…..10

The # numbers below are now the PAIRWISE rankings.

Thursday Games

Colorado College @ #6 North Dakota

Last weekend NoDak ended MTU’s season in three games (5-3W, 2-1L, 6-0W) in Grand Forks and the Tigers beat their archrival Pioneers in three games (5-3L, 2-1W, 4-3W) in Denver.

2012-13 series – Tied wins 2-2-0

The first series was in Colorado Springs Nov30/Dec1 with the Tigers winning the first game (5-3) and UND winning the second in overtime (3-2).  They met for the second series in Grand Forks in mid-January with the Tigers again winning the opening game (4-3) and UND winning the finale (5-3).

UND has a chance to be the first four-peat champion this weekend and it starts with a stiff test in CC.  The Tigers have the offensive power to compete with anyone in the league; the big question is their defense and goaltending.  The same could be said about UND, they too have has some blips in their own zone too.  Both have a short week after playing three games (Fri/Sat/Sun) and then a short rest and travel before this Thursday night game.  The Tigers need to keep winning to extend their season, UND could lose and still make the NCAA tournament.  I’m going with UND in this game, since they have been getting more consistent play in the net.  NODAK WINS

(I also want them to win so we all get to see another UND/UM game.)

#9 Minnesota State @ #16 Wisconsin

Last weekend the Mavericks took out the UNO Mavericks in three games (4-3Wot, 2-1L, 3-1W) in Mankato and the Badgers ended the UMD Bulldogs season by sweeping them (3-1, 4-1) in Madison.

2012-13 series – Tied 2-2-0

The first series was in Madison on Nov23/24 with the Mavericks sweeping the series (4-2, 4-2).  They met for the second series in Mankato in mid-January with the Badgers returning the favor in dramatic fashion, by sweeping the Mavericks in overtime in both games (4-3ot, 2-1ot).

The Badgers have clawed their way back in the NCAA tournament picture, now they are firmly on the bubble with their #16 rank.  The Mavericks would be in the NCAA tournament if it started this weekend, but if get some wins this weekend they can move up the rankings and improve their seeding. 

This game I’m not sure about who is going to win, I don’t have a feeling right away for one team or the other.  Both are playing well and need/want to advance to Friday’s game against SCSU.  Even with UW being the “home” team in this game, I’m going to go with the “visitors” for the win, in overtime.  MAVERICKS WIN

Friday Games

#12 St. Could St.

Last weekend the Huskies swept the Seawolves (6-1, 5-1) in St. Cloud.

Season Series
vs MSUM – SCSU wins 2-0-0
vs UW – Tied 1-1-0

Since the Huskies are the top seed they will “host” the winner from Thursday’s MSUM/UW play-in game.

If my prediction from Thursday hold true, the Huskies will be facing in-state foe Mankato for the right to advance to the championship game.  SCSU had to settle for “sharing” the MacNaughton Cup and now will want the Broadmoor Trophy all to themselves.  The Huskies have not captured the playoff title since 2001 and the Mavericks have never hoisted either piece of hardware.  HUSKIES WIN

#2 Minnesota

Last weekend the Gophers swept the Beavers (2-1ot, 4-3) in Minneapolis.

Since the Gophers are the second seed they will “host” the winner of the CC/UND from Thursday’s play-in game.

Season Series

vs UND – UM wins 1-0-1
vs CC – UM wins 1-0-1

Again, if my Thursday predictions hold true, the Gophers will face long, long, time rival UND in the evening tilt at the Xcel Center.  Last year these team clashed in a semi-final game, remember… the Gophers staked themselves to a 3-0 lead, UND called a time out, and then rattled off 6 unanswered goals for a 6-3 win.  (Then UM and UND met a week later again at the Xcel Center in the NCAA tournament with the UM winning.)  I don’t think we will get that kind of game this time around, but who knows, that’s why they play the games.  I’m inclined this time around to give the nod to the Gophers in this game, to set-up a rubber match with the Huskies.  GOPHERS WIN

Saturday - CHAMPIONSHIP Game

Well this as far as I’m allowed to stretch my predictions.  We’ll know by the end of Friday if I’m even close to correct.  But if I am, it’s a SCSU/UM game for the Broadmoor trophy, a title that cannot be shared, and the auto-bid for the NCAA tournament.  I’m thinking the Gophers might be spent emotionally if they beat UND the evening before.  The Gophers are a pretty solid lock on a number one seed, whereas the Huskies could use another quality win to solidify their spot in the tourney.  HUSKIES WIN

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings: Week 22 (thehockeywriters.com)

College Hockey’s March Madness: This weekend’s NCAA Division one television schedule (3/21 – 3/24)

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is this weekend’s National College Hockey television schedule. There is a full slate of college hockey on television again this weekend. It’s conference tournament time, college hockey’s version of March Madness.

In my opinion, this is most wonderful time of the year.

Check your television guide for times in your local area. As with any schedule, channels will change and have in the past. There may also be games on in your local area that may not be on nationally.

Even with the NHL ending it’s lockout and making it back to our television dials, there has is still been a lot of watchable college hockey on television. Some fans actually prefer College hockey to the NHL.

This weekend, the CCHA Championship game will be on television in Canada, and that game will be on The Score.

Day		Game	Channel	Time	DTV/DISH
Thu.	Mar. 21	WCHA Quarterfinal	FS North	2:00 p.m.	668/ 436
Thu.	Mar. 21	WCHA Quarterfinal	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Fri.	Mar. 22	WCHA Semifinal	FS North	2:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Fri.	Mar. 22	ECAC Hockey Semifinal	FOX College	3:00 p.m.	TBD
Fri.	Mar. 22	Hockey East Semifinal	NBC Sports Net.	3:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Fri.	Mar. 22	Hockey East Semifinal	NBC Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Fri.	Mar. 22	ECAC Hockey Semifinal	FOX College	6:30 p.m.	TBD
Fri.	Mar. 22	WCHA Semifinal	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Sat.	Mar. 23	CCHA Semifinal	FS Detroit	12:00 p.m.	663 / 430
Sat.	Mar. 23	CCHA Semifinal	FS Detroit	3:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Sat.	Mar. 23	ECAC Hockey Champ.	FOX College	6:00 p.m.	TBD
Sat.	Mar. 23	Hockey East Championship	NBC Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Sat.	Mar. 23	WCHA Championship	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Sun.	Mar. 24	CCHA Championship	FS Detroit	12:00 p.m.	663 / 430
Sun.	Mar. 24	NCAA Selection Show (C)	ESPNU	8:00 p.m.	208 / 141

*NESN = New England Sports Network, FCS = Fox College Sports, FSN+ = Fox Sports North-Plus, NBCSN = NBC Sports Network, DirecTV requires the “Sports Pack” to view the Regional sports Networks. All times are Central Standard Time.

UND Hockey makes the Final Five for a 11th year in a row with win over Tech

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

Grand Forks, ND – With the win tonight, the University of North Dakota (21-11-7) hockey team has made the WCHA Final Five in each of Dave Hakstol’s nine seasons.

What’s even more impressive with UND’s 6-0 win over Michigan Tech, UND has made the Final Five for the 11th-straight year in a row, that’s the longest current streak in the WCHA.

Since coach Hakstol took over the reins in 2004-05, the University of North Dakota hockey team has never lost a first round WCHA playoff series and currently holds 18-4 (.818) record.

Hakstol also holds an impressive 32-9 record in the WCHA playoff games.

After last night’s 2-1 loss to the Michigan Tech Huskies, that streak appeared to be in jeopardy.  In last night’s game, the Michigan Tech Huskies were a miserable team to play against; they clogged up the neutral zone up and gave North Dakota little time and space. Huskies also beat UND to the puck all night long.

Tonight was a different story, the Green and White left little doubt as they were the better team all night long and beat the Huskies to the puck all night long and the Huskies defenders had no answer for UND team speed as they entered the neutral zone with speed and when the Huskies got a chance on Clarke Saunders the UND defense was there to clear the puck.

In the end, UND blew out the Michigan Tech Huskies (13-20-4) and actually ended up pulling the  starting goalie Clarke Saunders with 4:02 left and inserted the backup goalie Tate Maris who’s a very popular third string goalie with his teammates and with the fans as well.

Think about this, Clarke Saunders had a 27 save shutout, when the ever popular Tate Maris entered the game to a standing ovation. That happened. It was a very classy move by the head coach Dave Hakstol.

“I thought the level of play was our most complete of the year, without a question,” Head coach Dave Hakstol said of his team’s 6-0 win over the Michigan Tech Huskies. “We played at a playoff level for three periods tonight and it started right from the drop of the puck.”

An emotional Tate Maris explained what it was like to finally get a taste of game action in the last home game of his college hockey career. “it’s kind of indescribable I guess,” Maris said. I don’t know. I guess I am kind of at a loss for words for it. It’s kind of four years pushed into one night in four minutes there at the end. Pretty surreal, to say the least, it’s just amazing to be out there with your fellow teammates. To be surrounded by those fans, it’s kind of indescribable, just amazing to say the least.”

According to senior forward Corban Knight, tonight was a statement game for the UND hockey team and the head coach challenged the team to be better for 60 minutes tonight.

“We set the bar pretty high tonight with the way we played,” senior forward Corban Knight said. “In order for us to be successful like you said, we need to keep that bar high and make sure we’re working hard to get to that every night, because we’re only going to be playing better teams from here on in.”

Up next for UND is Colorado College who beat DU 4-3. That game will be next Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. central time. UND and Colorado College split the season series 2-2.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

College Hockey: On ice officials have to be better

Match penalty (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some college hockey officials incorrectly assume that if a college hockey player is a heavy hitter and dishes out “legal” heavy hits, he is somehow a dirty player and worthy of a major penalty even when it was a legal hit.

Hence, said player is incorrectly called for a major penalty.

It’s almost like the onus is on the player instead of the referee. I don’t understand this flawed line of thinking.

If anything the on ice officials need to do a better job calling the game of hockey.

Hockey like football is a physical sport – this is not up for debate – physicality is part of the game. This is a fact, there’s going to be injuries as a result of legal checks.

If I am not mistaken, one NHL player hurt himself eating a stack of pancakes last season.

If you could develop a light set of pads that was 100% able to prevent injuries you could make millions of dollars. There is no such thing.

Unfortunately, with college hockey, they’re forced to use part time officials; the product on the ice is suffering because of this. In the WCHA, the officiating has gotten worse the last couple of years and the league has shown no interest in improving the quality of their on ice officials. In my opinion, transparency is at an all-time low.

Often times, the wrong call is being made on the ice, under the guise of not wanting to be that ref that made a wrong call, when it comes to hard and often legal hits. This problem would be easy to fix, with the aid of video review.  s/t Bruce Ciskie 

If the referee on the ice is calling a major penalty, why not allow that referee to step into scorer’s table to allow him to take a quick look to confirm that he’s not making an incorrect call.

In NCAA hockey, penalties can be increased but never decreased. That rules is one that never seemed to make much sense to me.  If anything that rule is incoherent and the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee should take a look at changing it, next time they meet.  Even the NHL can rescind a match penalty.

The game of hockey like football is fast and sometimes the officials get the calls on the ice wrong, the refs are human and will make mistakes. Some refs in some leagues seems to make more mistakes than others.

Lately, legal shoulder-to-shoulder hits have been called hits to the head resulting in major penalties and a game misconduct to the player dishing legal checks. This is unacceptable in my opinion and could be easily fixed if the ref was allowed to step into the scorer table to review the hit.

The on ice officials already review numerous legit goals to confirm that they were legal. One must ask, can they really slow down the game anymore?

I mean think about it, it’s not like they couldn’t review the few major penalties that college hockey has already. So why not review a questionable hit before the ref incorrectly throws a player out of a game for legal hit? Does that not seem fair? Wouldn’t that be better than taking legal hits out of the game of hockey? Why not change the refs behavior instead of expecting a player to change the way he plays the game of hockey.

UND senior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam is 6’2” 230 pounds and he plays a physical game and he is UND’s best penalty killer and he plays against all of the opposition’s best players.  MacWilliam is a hard checker, but not a dirty player and he has been incorrectly thrown out of two games this season for legal hits, one against BU’s Ahti Oksanen and one against MTU for hitting David Johnstone last Friday Night.

Both hits were legal shoulder-to-shoulder hits and shouldn’t have resulted in a penalty at all. In both instances, the same referee Marco Hunt made the wrong call and MacWilliam was given a five minute Major and a game misconduct, next time MacWilliam is given a game misconduct, he will also have to sit out a game due to a suspension for three game misconducts.

Last season, MacWIlliam was also given a five minute major and a game misconduct in game against theDenver Pioneers freshman forward Matt Tabrum as well, for this hit.

Do you see a pattern here? The officials need to learn the difference between a legal hit and an illegal hit. Hockey is a physical game and the players and the fans deserve better. The level of officiating does not match the level of play on the ice and it hasn’t for some time now.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

(Edit) MTU No goal, the puck went over the net.

Edit: if this was a goal, the puck wouldn't have shot up into the air. Meaning one thing, the puck in question went over the top of the net. There were also people sitting behind the UND net, that said they saw the puck go over the top of the net as well. So, the right call was made.

In looking at these two images, I don't know, it's hard to say. Like I said earlier, the officiating was equally poor all weekend long for both teams and wasn’t a factor in the game. Both teams will have to play through it tomorrow night, obviously, and one teams is going to advance to the Final Five next week. s/t Tim Boger.

Furne beat Saunders, but had his shot stopped by a defenseman. UND full strength. #mtuhky #followthehuskies
— Michigan Tech Hockey (@mtuhky) March 17, 2013

Related articles

• UND hockey: Time for crunching numbers is over, it's crunch time (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND hockey: Time for crunching numbers is over, it's crunch time (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND finds tough sledding against Tech (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND Slugs Out Win Against Tech (insidehockey.com)

UND Hockey: Slugs out win against Tech

Grand Forks, ND –What a difference a year makes, a year ago it was near 65 degrees sunny and devoid of snow.

Fast forward to March 15, 2013, 10,571 fans braved  near white out conditions to attend  tonight’s game and outside it looked more like a January 15 game; than a game being played in the middle of March.

UND is 14-1-2 when scoring four or more goals this season. Make that 15-1-2 with the 5-3 win tonight.  What is even more impressive, UND has also won 14 straight WCHA playoff game with the win tonight.

That being said, it wasn’t UND best effort tonight.  The win didn’t come easy.

“It was a tough hockey game to find any flow,” UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. “We need to play better and return our focus to doing that tomorrow night.”

UND was outshot 43-24 by the upstart Huskies and they gave the UND forwards fits by getting in the shooting lanes and taking away UND’s time and space.

At the 12:30 mark of the first period UND defenseman Andrew MacWilliam was assessed a five minute major and a game misconduct for contact to the head of Michigan Tech forward David Johnstone.  After further review of the play, it was apparent that the on ice official Marco Hunt had made the wrong call.  Johnston suffered a broken collar bone on the hit.

The five minute major to MacWilliam threw UND off of their rhythm and it took a while for the Green and White to regain the upper hand. UND coach Dave Hakstol expounded on it a little more after the game.

Michael Parks
Eric Classen, UND Sports

“The five minute major knocked us back,” Hakstol said. “We survived it and recovered. I guess it was the story of the night. We hit a few bumps in the road, but we found a way to win.”

The Tech Huskies took the game to UND until the 15:45 mark of the middle frame when fourth line forward junior forward Derek Rodwell scored his second goal of the year unassisted.

“The Rodwell goal was a big one for us,” Hakstol said.  When the head coach was asked where that goal came from? Hakstol continued, “Derek does that really well. He took the puck wide, drove wide little bit. Pulled it to the middle and snapped it hard at the net. It was well out from, 40-feet out – he put it bar down – it was good timing to get his second (goal) of the year.

Junior forward Derek Rodwell had this to say about his goal. “It was a just kind of a broke play down the center-ice,” Rodwell said. “I saw a little bit room and tried to shoot through the screen, just happened to get a good bounce that happened to go in.”

Senior forward Danny Kristo had a monstrous night on the ice for UND tonight recording (2g-1a—3pts) pushing his season point total to (23g-25a—48pts) three points off of the national leaders Ryan Walters and Greg Carey.

Dillon Simpson
Eric Classen, UND Sports

Danny Kristo was there to answer bell every time the Tech Huskies would score to tighten the game up.  The Senior forward didn’t seemed all that pleased with his team’s effort tonight.

“Friday night is the biggest game of the series,” Kristo said. “I think that we played very average tonight, we didn’t do the things we need to do to keep playing this time of year, but we’re going to move on, and forget this one. We’ll take the win and get ready for tomorrow, it’s going to be tough to end a team’s season, because Tech is playing good hockey – proud of the win – but we got to be better tomorrow.”

Kristo is right, UND is going to have to be better if UND wants to end Tech’s season tomorrow night. Game 2 is set for tomorrow night at the Ralph Engelstad Arena at 7:07 p.m. central.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

(Video) Andrew MacWilliam hit on David Johnstone

s/t to @cjzero UND defenseman Andrew MacWilliam was incorrectly given a five minute major and a game misconduct for this hit on MTU forward David Johnstone. Hopefully the MTU forward Johnstone makes a quick recovery, but word is that he has a separated shoulder.

UND vs. MTU game 1 WCHA playoffs

UND Forward Lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)
19 Rocco Grimaldi–27 Carter Rowney (A)–15 Michael Parks
25 Mitch MacMillan–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
11 Derek Rodwell–28 Stephane Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defensive Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C)–18 Dillon Simpson
4 Derek Forbort–24 Jordan Schmaltz
22 Andrew Panzarella–20 Joe Gleason

UND goalies

31 Zane Gothberg
33 Clarke Saunders
35 Tate Maris

Not In the lineup: Nick Mattson (5), Dan Senkbeil (8), Drake Caggiula (9), Coltyln Sanderson (26),  Bryn Chyzyk (29).

Michigan Tech Huskies Forward lines

19 Blake Pietila–10 Tanner Kero–23 Alex Petan
12 Ryan Furne–8 Jacob Johnstone–14 Chad Pietila
15 David Johnstone–7 Jujhar Khaira–28 Milos Gordic
18 C.J. Eick–9 Dennis Rix–13 Aaron Pietila

Michigan Tech Huskies Defense Pairings

16 Steven Seigo (A) –34 Riley Sweeney
29 Walker Hyland–24 Daniel Sova
3 Bradley Stebner (A) –25 Carl Nielsen (C)

Michigan Tech Goalies

30 Jamie Phillips
31 Pheonix Copley

Refs:  Marco Hunt (15) , Derek Shepherd (3)  Lines Andy Kokken (70) Justin Hill (83).

Head of Officials Greg Shepherd is in the building

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