Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Notes from the Wednesday press conference

English: Ralph Engelstadt Arena at the Univers...


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. 
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Doug Woog in a Tigger Suit



Oh my! Check out former Gopher head coach Doug Woog who posed for a pictured dressed in a Tigger suit, this was just too good to pass up. You have to give the Wooger credit... I got to give him the stick tap as well for that one.
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Highlights goals from the UND vs UAA series



Here are three of the goals from last weekend's series that I thought were the best goals. Two of the goals are ones that UND freshman Rocco Grimaldi had his hand in directly. Even to the untrained eye, you can see that Grimaldi is an exciting player and I think that we will see him weekly topping the last weeks goals.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Former DU forward Tyler Bozak's Halloween costume tweet





This is a picture that former Denver University and current Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak put into one of his tweets tonight about his Halloween costume, which is a picture of him dressing up as Michael Jackson. I can tell you that Bozak's Halloween Costume is not going to be well received. Actually the picture has gone kind of viral and Bozak has gotten beaten up pretty bad.





Here is Bozak's response to the twitter picture that he has since deleted. I agree with the tweet below, I am going to mark this one up as a horrible mistake on Bozak's part.

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More lockout humor?

I am not sure that there is anything humorous about this picture.

BU to fly to Grand Forks on Thursday



There is some good news, there was some speculation on whether BU would be able to make it out of Boston because of the Hurricane Sandy. Luckily this will not be the case and BU will be flying out of Boston on Thursday as scheduled. This is good news.

Also, Terriers head coach Jack Parker sat out last weekend's series against UMass because of back injury/pain. Parker will be behind the Terriers bench this weekend.




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Winter Classic to be cancelled soon...



If you have been following your twitter feed or glancing at your favorite NHL and college hockey sites, you will see that the NHL is close to cancelling the Winter Classic, actually it sounded like the Hurricane Sandy might have actually postponed the cancelling of the Winter Classic.



Since rejecting the union's trio of proposals, the league has made two rounds of game cancellations. The latest, announced on Friday, wiped out the regular-season schedule for November. A source familiar with the league's plan told ESPNNewYork.com that the league is expected to cancel the Winter Classic on Thursday, the source said.[Katie Strang, ESPN.COM]
So if the NHL cancels the Winter Classic, that would mean all the other events that were supposed to take place during that time frame will also be cancelled or moved to other venues as well.
The bigger loss to the city of Detroit is the Winter Festival, a two-week event set to start in late December at Comerica Park and featuring a slew of hockey games ranging from high school to juniors to college to a Wings' alumni doubleheader.

While it may seem like that could still be held regardless of the state of the NHL, it is the NHL that would be building and funding an ice rink at Comerica, a trade-off the Wings agreed to in exchange for having the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor rather than Detroit.
So here is the schedule of everything that is supposed to take place during the Winter Classic. There is a full slate of game from the NCAA, OHL, AHL and the NHL scheduled. That is set to be cancelled on Thursday if no agreement is reached.


DEC. 15-26: Celebration of Hockey featuring amateur games, corporate outings and open skates. Information on booking ice time can be obtained by visiting DetroitRedWings.com/icetime.

DEC. 27-31: Outdoor Festival featuring interactive games, autograph signings, face painting and ice sculpture exhibits as well as musical performances and entertainment.

DEC. 27-28: Great Lakes Invitational featuring the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Western Michigan Broncos and Michigan Tech Huskies all competing for the 2012 MacInnes Cup.

DEC. 29: Ontario Hockey League doubleheader featuring the Windsor Spitfires taking on the Saginaw Spirit, and the Plymouth Whalers battling the J. Ross Robertson Cup champion London Knights.

DEC. 30: American Hockey League Game featuring the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies, AHL affiliates of the Red Wings and Maple Leafs, respectively.

DEC. 31: Red Wings-Maple Leafs Alumni Showdown featuring legendary players from two of the National Hockey League’s most storied franchises going head-to-head.



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My take on the FCS Hockey broadcasts



Back in the summer, UND signed an agreement with Midco-Sports Network to broadcast around 40 games including all of the home games for UND Men’s Hockey, in addition will broadcast games from other sports to include, football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball. This agreement with MIDCO severed a relationship that the school had with WDAZ and the Fighting Sioux Sports Network. 

For this season, next season the games will no longer be on FCS because of the exclusivity deal that was signed between the NCHC and CBSN, all of the UND Men’s Hockey home games are going to be shown on FCS, just like they were under the former television deal. 

This means that you can watch UND Hockey where ever you are in the United States if you have Fox College Sports on your local cable package or if you have the sports pack on your DirecTV package. Also, Dish Network doesn’t carry Fox College Sports as of this time. 

I have heard a lot of comments on the quality of the UND Hockey Broadcast on FCS this season so far and till this past Sunday night, I hadn’t see any of the broadcasts on Fox College Sports.   
             
On Sunday night, I kind of blew up twitter with this comment – this was the first time that I had seen the broadcasts on FCS – because I attended the games in person. Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the picture that was coming across my television screen. 



I want to be clear, this isn’t meant to be a slam on the University of North Dakota, I am just saying the broadcasts that is coming across the FCS television channels isn’t up to par, just yet. Currently, there are people working on this issue, so I would imagine that there will be adjustments made in the near future.



It would also appear that this issue is on the back end – in other words – it’s on FCS’s side and that needs to be clean up before this issue will be fixed. This is what @UNDSID Jayson Hajdu had this to say yesterday on Sioux Sports.

"I looked into the issue some of you have reported regarding the audio not synching properly, and by all accounts everything checks out fine on the front end when the signal is sent out from Midco's uplink truck. So obviously there is an issue on the back end that needs to be solved.

We had already been in contact with Midco earlier this morning, and both parties have regular communication with FOX College Sports, so hopefully this particular issue can be rectified in short order."
If I hear anything I will pass it on.
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Tuesday Morning ponderings

I haven’t really been following the CBA lack of a negation’s as closely as I was before the college hockey season started. It’s becoming evident that the NHL owners are trying to see if the NHLPA’s resolve will develop fissures and start to fall apart. It doesn’t really appear to be happening just yet, although according to Michael Russo, “there are some players that are starting to fret over lost wages.”

I suppose, if you’re an older veteran NHL player like former SCSU Husky forward Matt Cullen, you only have a finite number of years to play before in the professional ranks before you become too old to play in the NHL anymore.

The thing that really bugs me is that this is the third lockout of Gary Bettman’s 19 year tenure as the NHL commissioner – so in my opinion he will go down in NHL history books as being the lockout commissioner. Bettman is highly unpopular with the NHL fans and the players – but he isn’t going anyway fast according to Christopher Botta of the Sporting News.
Octagon agent Allan Walsh, a persistent critic of Bettman’s, struck a similar chord last week. “The writing is on the wall,” said Walsh, whose clients include Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. “Every sports commissioner has a certain shelf life, and Bettman’s has expired. We all know the lockout will end at some point, but Bettman has become such a toxic commodity for the game, it’s untenable after three lockouts that he be the person to grow revenues in partnership with the players going forward.”

ut unlike Logan, Bettman—who answers to the owners of a 30-team league and has the support of an overwhelming majority of them—is not going anywhere.

“Gary’s in this for the long term,” said Harvey Schiller, the former president of the Atlanta Thrashers and now chairman and CEO of GlobalOptions Group, a risk management and business solution company in New York. “He has majority support of ownership. Gary has made a commitment to them and they have made one to him.”
I consider myself a big time NHL fan and I watch at least 5-6 NHL games every week on the NHL Center Ice package, “when” the NHL is playing and not locked out. While I am saving myself $170.00 by not having the NHL this season, I would much rather spend the money.

So I find myself at a loss to find anything decent to watch on the television most nights. I guess I would rather watch the NHL than Broke Girls and Revolution, even though I do think both are decent shows.Personally, I would much rather watch the Minnesota Wild and the Boston Bruins, however, we don’t have that option right now.

I have seen some of the people that I follow on twitter say that they won’t be watching the NHL once the lockout is over – myself I will be crawling back the minute they solve this mess.

I do think that blame is on the NHL owners, I am with Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter who said.
“If you can't afford to (sign contracts) then you shouldn't do it. (Owner Craig Leipold) signed us to contracts. At the time he said everything was fine. Yeah, it's disappointing. A couple months before, everything is fine, and now they want to take money out of our contracts that we already signed.”
So for the time being – a fair number of us just have our college hockey – I know that’s how I am going continue to fill my NHL void with NCAA hockey until the NHL owners and the NHLPA come up with a solution. There have been a few other options that popup from time-to-time, I currently have a KHL game to watch on my DVR at home and there is going to be another KHL game on MSG on October 31st.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Results of the WCHA Web Media Poll: Week 3

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo
Each week I participate in a WCHA Web Media Poll that is put on by the Tech Hockey Guide with 11 other people that represent both the print media as well as the hockey blogosphere. Here is the week three results of the WCHA Web Media Poll.

As you can see by the standings, 11 of 12 teams moved places this week. Only the University of North Dakota remained in third place spot. The Wisconsin Badgers were the biggest mover as they moved four spots to sixth place after coming in at 10th the week before. The UMD Bulldogs fell from fourth place to eighth place.

Here are the results of the WCHA Web Media Poll for Week 3:
 TeamPtsPreviousRecordHighLow
1)Denver (7)13824-0-013
2)Minnesota (5)13614-1-013
3)North Dakota12032-1-124
4)St. Cloud State10974-2-025
5)Colorado College7463-3-0410
6)Wisconsin72101-2-1511
7)Michigan Tech6952-4-0610
8)Minnesota Duluth6442-3-1511
9)Bemidji State55112-1-1511
10)Nebraska Omaha5282-3-1610
11)Alaska Anchorage29122-2-2612
12)Minnesota State1892-2-21012


Representing Name Publication Twitter
Alaska-Anchorage, Taylor Hall College Hockey News @thall907
Bemidji State, Troy Mills The Beaver Pond
Colorado College, Joe Paisley, Paisley Hockey @Paisleyhockey
Denver, Mike ChambersDenver Post @MChambersDP
Michigan Tech, Tim Braun, Tech Hockey Guide @TBraunTHG
Minnesota, Dan Myers, Minnesota Hockey Magazine @1DanMyers
Minnesota Duluth, Bruce Ciskie, The Ciskie Blog @BruceCiskie
Minnesota State, Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey @ChrisDilks
Nebraska-Omaha, Matt Semisch, Radio Free Omaha @matthewsemisch
North Dakota, Eric Burton The Hockey Writers Combine and Goon’s World @goon48
St. Cloud State, Jeremy Larson, Husky Hockey Time @jclarson02
Wisconsin, Andy Johnson, Bucky’s 5th Quarter @andyjohnsonB5Q
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UND drops to fifth place in USCHO Poll...

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

October 29, 2012

Team(First Place Votes)RecordPointsLast Poll
1Boston College(38)4- 1-09811
2Minnesota( 3)4- 1-09242
3Denver( 6)4- 0-08625
4Miami4- 1-17923
5North Dakota2- 1-17694
6Cornell2- 0-07397
7Notre Dame5- 1-06779
8Michigan3- 2-06636
9New Hampshire( 2)4- 0-159712
10Union( 1)3- 1-15968
11Western Michigan3- 1-052910
12Boston University3- 1-048713
13Harvard1- 0-029117
14Massachusetts-Lowell1- 3-123911
15Northeastern2- 2-122715
16St. Lawrence3- 1-0180NR
17Minnesota-Duluth2- 3-117214
18St. Cloud State4- 2-0162NR
19Ferris State2- 2-214618
20Northern Michigan3- 3-013116
Others receiving votes: Providence 66, Colorado College 53, Quinnipiac 45, Wisconsin 44, Yale 27, Holy Cross 23, Alaska 16, Dartmouth 15, Bemidji State 12, Lake Superior 7, Ohio State 5, Michigan State 4, Michigan Tech 3, Nebraska-Omaha 3, Colgate 1.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Dave Shyiak's post game comments



Here is what UAA Head coach Dave Shyiak had to say following Saturday's game between the University of North Dakota and the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves that ended in a 3-3 tie.
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EDIT: Easton - The Art of Scoring Series: Meet Scott Bjugstad



Some familiar faces in this video. Zach Parise, former Fighting Sioux forward and current Minnesota Wild forward, if they ever end the lockout. Scott Bjugstad is the uncle of Gopher forward Nick Bjugstad. The kid in the video, is Anthony Walsh who has been profiled on this blog twice.
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WCHA Power Rankings (10/28/12)

Here’s this week’s WCHA Power Rankings. This season, I will be doing the WCHA Power Rankings with Taylor Seibel who is a contributor of College Hockey Weekly.

1.  Minnesota Gophers – (3-1-0, WCHA 1-1-0) – This past weekend, the Minnesota Gophers tied their exhibition game with the US National Development Under-18 team (2-2). As this week’s power rankings were being put up, Minnesota was playing Canisius College, who Minnesota on paper, should have no trouble beating. This weekend, the Minnesota Gophers have a home and home series with the Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks.

2. Denver University – (4-0-0, WCHA 2-0-0) – This weekend, the Denver Pioneers stayed hot as they swept the Michigan Tech Huskies (5-1 W – 5-2) at home. This weekend, the undefeated Denver Pioneers entertain the Saint Cloud State Huskies at Magness Arena. Junior goalie Sam Brittain’s numbers are eye popping to say the least (2-0-0, 1.00 GAA, 0.970 save percentage).

3. University of North Dakota – (2-1-1, WCHA 1-0-1) – This past weekend, the Green and While took three points from the UAA Seawolves (4-1 W – 3-3 T). This weekend, the University of North Dakota plays the Boston University Terriers in an important nonconference series at Ralph Englestad Arena. Freshman Rocco Grimaldi (2g-2a—4pts) and senior Danny Kristo (0g-4a—4pts) lead UND in points.

4. Saint Cloud State – (4-2-0, WCHA 2-0-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies swept the Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks (5-1 W – 5-1 W) at the National Hockey Center.  This weekend, the Huskies travel to Denver, Colorado to play the Denver University Pioneers in a weekend series at Magness Arena. It should be an exciting series because both teams hung 10 goals on their opponents this past weekend. Huskies forwards Nick Dowd (4g-6a—10pts) and Drew LeBlanc (3g-7a—10pts) lead their team in scoring.

5. Colorado College – (3-3-0, WCHA 0-0-0) – This past weekend, the Colorado College Tigers were swept (0-2 L – 2-3 L) by the Cornell Big Red of the ECAC in Ithaca, New York. This weekend, the Tigers travel to Madison Wisconsin to begin WCHA play against the Wisconsin Badger in the Kohl Center.

6. Michigan Tech – (2-4-0, WCHA 1-3-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies were swept in the weekend series against the Denver Pioneers (1-5 L – 2-5 L) at Magness Arena. This weekend, the Huskies entertain the UNO Mavericks in a two game set at MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Michigan.

7. Nebraska Omaha – (2-3-1, WCHA 0-1-1) – This past weekend, the Red Mavericks took one point against the Bemidji State Beavers (3-3 T – 2-3 L). Since the 2010-11 season; the Mavericks have played 12 games against the Beavers and have a horrid 1-7-4 record. That includes a 0-5-3 record at home against the Beavers. This weekend the Mavericks travel to Houghton, Michigan to play the Tech Huskies at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Michigan.

8. Wisconsin – (1-2-1, WCHA 1-0-1) – This past weekend, the Badgers traveled to Duluth, Minnesota where they took three points against the Bulldogs (2-0 W – 2-2 T). This weekend, the Badgers entertain the Colorado College Tigers at the Kohl Center. Badgers junior goalie Joel Rumpel (1-1-1, GAA 1.30, 0.954 save percentage) recorded a 2-0 shutout on Friday night against the Bulldogs.  Rumpel stopped all 29 shots he faced.

9. Minnesota Duluth – (2-3-1, WCHA 0-1-1) – This past weekend, UMD Bulldogs took one point in their weekend series against the Wisconsin Badgers (0-2 L – 2-2 T). This weekend, the Bull Dogs have a bye week.

10. Bemidji State – (2-1-1, WCHA 1-0-1) – This past weekend, the Bemidji State Beavers took three points against the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks (3-3 T – 3-2 W), in Omaha Nebraska. No Dan Bakala – no problem, the Beavers continued their obscene dominance of the 7-1-4 against the Mavericks since the 2010-11 season, that includes a 5-0-3 record in Omaha. While the Beavers have been dominant against the Mavericks, it hasn’t translated to the rest of their games as the Beavers record during that same time frame is 16-31-5. This weekend, the Beavers are off.

11. Alaska Anchorage – (2-1-1, WCHA 0-1-1) – This past weekend, the Seawolves took a point against the University of North Dakota (1-4 L – 3-3 T) at Ralph Englestad Arena.  This weekend, the Seawolves are off.

12. Minnesota State Mankato – (2-2-2, WCHA 0-2-0) – This past weekend, the Purple Mavericks were swept by the Saint Cloud State Huskies at the National Hockey Center (1-5 L – 1-5 L).   This weekend, Mavericks play a home and home series with the Minnesota Gophers. The Mavericks are having trouble staying out of the penalty box and are ranked 3rd in penalty minutes after 6 games.

 Taylor Seibel  WCHA Power Rankings

1. Minnesota – (3-1-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) – The Gophers did not play in the WCHA this weekend, but drew with the USA U-18 Team.  I wouldn’t read too much into that result, but if the Gophers struggle next weekend, they may be in jeopardy of dropping in my rankings.  Minnesota takes on Minnesota State in a home/away series next weekend.

2. Denver – (4-0-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) – The Pioneers jump up my rankings thanks in part to their offensive outbursts.  This squad was expected to struggle to score goals.  With their goaltending, Denver is a scary team if they can continue their prowess with the puck.  DU will face another test next weekend as the Pios take on SCSU in Denver next weekend.

3. North Dakota – (2-1-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) – North Dakota was a dominating team on Friday, taking down UAA 4-1, but struggled at times on Saturday for the second weekend in a row in a 3-3 draw.  North Dakota has the talent to be the top team in the league, but they will need to play more consistently than they are right now.  UND takes on BU in non-conference action next weekend.

4. St. Cloud State – (4-2-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) – The Huskies dominated Minnesota State this weekend, winning both of their contests with the Mavericks by a 5-1 score.  If SCSU continues to play defense like they are capable of, they will be a difficult matchup with anyone in the conference.  Next weekend, SCSU travels to Denver in what could be the series of the week in the WCHA.

5. Wisconsin – (1-2-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) – Wisconsin went into Duluth and were able to take 3 points from the hometown Bulldogs this weekend.  The Badgers used timely scoring and great goaltending and defense to take a win on Friday (2-0) and a draw on Saturday (2-2).  Next Weekend the Badgers host the Colorado College Tigers.

6. Michigan Tech – (2-4-0, 1-3-0 WCHA) – The Huskies struggled to solve Denver this weekend, but that could be a common theme for everyone in the league this season.  Michigan Tech will look to get back on track next weekend as the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks make the trek to Houghton, MI in WCHA action.

7. Colorado College – (3-3-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) – The Tigers are the only team that has yet to play a conference game, and CC traveled out to Cornell to take on the Big Red this past weekend.  CC played with a top-notch team, but were unable to score victories.  CC finally gets back into the mix this weekend as the Tigers travel to Madison to take on the Badgers.

8. Bemidji State – (2-1-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) – The Beavers traveled to Omaha this past weekend, and proved to not only the Mavericks, but the rest of the WCHA as well that they are a team that can do some damage.  Bemidji scored a tie on Friday (3-3) before defeating Omaha on Saturday 3-2.  If the Beavers can keep this type of play up, they could challenge for home ice.  BSU is off next weekend.

9. Minnesota Duluth – (2-3-1, 0-1-1 WCHA) – The Bulldogs were only able to score 1 point this weekend against Wisconsin, but played well enough defensively and in the net to get more than that.  Duluth should challenge for home ice this season, but they will need to find more scoring, especially at home.  The Bulldogs are off next weekend.

10. Nebraska Omaha – (2-3-1, 0-1-1 WCHA) – Inconsistency continued for the Mavericks as they took only 1 point from Bemidji at home this past weekend.  Omaha has the talent to challenge for home ice, but they will need to be more consistent if they hope to host a game in Omaha in mid-March.  Omaha travels to Michigan Tech next weekend in WCHA play.

11. Alaska Anchorage – (2-2-2, 0-1-1 WCHA) – The Seawolves were a little unlucky to come out of Grand Forks with just 1 point, as they led 3-2 with less than 90 seconds on Saturday, but more importantly, UAA showed that they are capable of playing with anyone in the country.  The Seawolves have a weekend off next weekend before hosting Minnesota (Nov. 9/10).

12. Minnesota State – (2-2-2, 0-2-0 WCHA) – The Mavericks ran into the SCSU buzzsaw this past weekend, scoring only 2 goals in the series.  Minnesota State should recoup and move up these rankings in the coming weeks, but right now they are my cellar dweller.  The Mavs take on top-ranked Minnesota next weekend in a home

Putting the finishing touches on last night‘s game… UAA vs UND

Good Sunday Morning to you. I hope all is well with you today.

Last night’s game was very exciting and UAA gave UND one heck of a fight. After the game UAA head coach Dave Shyiak was pleased with his team’s effort and thought it was their best game of the season.

“It was probably our best 65 minutes of the year,” Anchorage coach Dave Shyiak said. “It was a hard-earned tie. It was a great hockey game. What we learned as a hockey team tonight is how we have to play. I thought we pressured the puck. I thought we got good goaltending. And I thought we got contributions from everybody.

“I’m proud of the way we played for 65 minutes against one of the best teams in the country. The lesson is that we have to continue to do that no matter who we’re playing. If we even that out the rest of the year, we’re going to win more games than we lose.”

UND head Coach Dave Hakstol thought his team took a while to get into the game…

“I thought it took us 20 to 30 minutes to work our way in,” Hakstol said. “It wasn’t pretty – we we did work our way in – the were tenacious I thought, throughout the 60 minutes and we gave the lead away in the third period – which put us in a pretty tough spot and we found a way to come back and salvage a point. That’s a positive.”

Corban Knight (36g-63a—99pts) is sitting one point away from surpassing the 100 point mark for his career. Knight has two goals this season.

Every time that Rocco Grimaldi touched the puck last night the crowd was on the edge of their seat and when he broke in on the UAA goal half way through the O.T. period, there wasn’t a fan that wasn’t on their feet. The Ralph was loud, electric and full of positive energy.

In my opinion, Rocco Grimlaldi is one of the most dynamic and probably one of the fastest forwards that I have seen play for UND for a very long time. Rocco is the real deal, a game changer and he is going to turn a lot of heads this season. Grimaldi may be one of the fastest players – maybe – since the Smurfs of the Dean Blais era.

I still think we need a name for the flashy forward Rocco Grimaldi… I have seen a few people refer to him as Holy Rocco, on twitter and in the chats. Personally, I still like the Minister of Offense… I especially liked his version of the Tebow after he scored his goal last night. I like most fans, hope I see that a lot this season.

Here are some of the stories of interest today.

Here is what I had to say about the game. [click to view]

Here is the gamer from the Grand Forks Herald. [click to view]

UND Sports’ view of the game. [click to view]

USCHO and their take on the game. [click to view]

Cross post at the Hockey Writers - Combine...