Monday, November 05, 2012

UND Record against SCSU since 2001-02

       WINSLOSSESTIES 
13/15/2012St. Cloud State1North Dakota4North Dakota100100%
21/21/2012North Dakota3St. Cloud State2North Dakota200100%
31/20/2012North Dakota1St. Cloud State3St. Cloud State21067%
410/29/2011St. Cloud State1North Dakota3North Dakota31075%
510/28/2011St. Cloud State4North Dakota0St. Cloud State32060%
 2010-2011         
62/19/2011North Dakota3St. Cloud State2North Dakota42067%
72/18/2011North Dakota3St. Cloud State3 (ot)Tie42164%
812/4/2010St. Cloud State2North Dakota6North Dakota52169%
912/3/2010St. Cloud State1North Dakota3North Dakota62172%
 2009-2010         
103/20/2010North Dakota5St. Cloud State3North Dakota72175%
112/13/2010North Dakota8St. Cloud State1North Dakota82177%
122/12/2010North Dakota3St. Cloud State4St. Cloud State83171%
1311/14/2009St. Cloud State3North Dakota2St. Cloud State84165%
1411/13/2009St. Cloud State2North Dakota4North Dakota94168%
 2008-2009         
151/31/2009North Dakota4St. Cloud State2North Dakota104170%
161/30/2009North Dakota0St. Cloud State3St. Cloud State105166%
1712/13/2008St. Cloud State4North Dakota7North Dakota115168%
1812/12/2008St. Cloud State2North Dakota3North Dakota125169%
 2007-2008         
193/8/2008St. Cloud State2North Dakota2 (ot)Tie125268%
203/7/2008St. Cloud State1North Dakota1 (ot)Tie125368%
211/5/2008North Dakota6St. Cloud State2North Dakota135369%
221/4/2008North Dakota2St. Cloud State3St. Cloud State136366%
 2006-2007         
233/16/2007North Dakota6St. Cloud State2North Dakota146367%
243/3/2007North Dakota7St. Cloud State2North Dakota156369%
253/2/2007North Dakota3St. Cloud State3 (ot)Tie156468%
2611/4/2006St. Cloud State2North Dakota2 (ot)Tie156567%
2711/3/2006St. Cloud State1North Dakota3North Dakota166569%
 2005-2006         
283/18/2006St. Cloud State3North Dakota5North Dakota176570%
291/28/2006St. Cloud State2North Dakota1 (ot)St. Cloud State177567%
301/27/2006St. Cloud State2North Dakota1St. Cloud State178565%
3111/19/2005North Dakota3St. Cloud State2North Dakota188566%
3211/18/2005North Dakota2St. Cloud State3St. Cloud State189564%
 2004-2005         
333/5/2005North Dakota2St. Cloud State0North Dakota199565%
343/4/2005North Dakota2St. Cloud State2 (ot)Tie199665%
3511/20/2004St. Cloud State1North Dakota3North Dakota209666%
3611/19/2004St. Cloud State1North Dakota4North Dakota219667%
 2003-2004         
371/3/2004North Dakota3St. Cloud State1North Dakota229668%
381/2/2004North Dakota4St. Cloud State4 (ot)Tie229767%
3911/15/2003St. Cloud State1North Dakota2North Dakota239768%
4011/14/2003St. Cloud State2North Dakota1St. Cloud State2310766%
 2002-2003         
4112/7/2002St. Cloud State4North Dakota5North Dakota2410767%
4212/6/2002St. Cloud State3North Dakota4North Dakota2510768%
4311/9/2002North Dakota3St. Cloud State2 (ot)North Dakota2610769%
4411/8/2002North Dakota3St. Cloud State7St. Cloud State2611767%

UND has a 26-11-7 record against the SCSU Huskies since 2002-03.

The last 10 years, UND has a 0-6-4 record against SCSU on Friday night's and a 10-0-0 record on Saturday nights.

UND drops one spot in USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

November 05, 2012

Team(First Place Votes)RecordPointsLast Poll
1Boston College(48)6- 1-09981
2Minnesota5- 2-08962
3Denver( 1)5- 1-08783
4Cornell3- 0-17906
5Miami5- 2-17654
6North Dakota3- 2-17495
7Notre Dame6- 2-07027
8Union( 1)5- 1-166110
9New Hampshire5- 1-16259
10Western Michigan4- 2-053211
11Boston University4- 2-051312
12Michigan3- 3-14808
13St. Lawrence5- 1-030016
14Harvard2- 1-025713
15St. Cloud State5- 3-025618
16Northern Michigan4- 3-121720
17Massachusetts-Lowell1- 3-116914
18Ferris State3- 3-216319
19Colorado College5- 3-0143NR
20Minnesota-Duluth2- 3-112017
Others receiving votes: Dartmouth 102, Providence 35, Northeastern 28, Yale 24, Nebraska-Omaha 23, Merrimack 21, Quinnipiac 15, Holy Cross 9, Alaska 7, Bemidji State 7, Ohio State 4, Minnesota State 3, Niagara 3, Lake Superior 2, Massachusetts 2, Colgate 1.

 

Sunday, November 04, 2012

WCHA Power Rankings (11/04/2012)

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo
Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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.

It’s apparent the last few weeks that there is a lot of parity in the WCHA. I believe that there are five or six teams at the top of the league standings that we will refer to as the first tier.  You also have the second tier; these are the 6-12 teams.

1. Saint Cloud State – (5-3-0, WCHA 3-1-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies split their series with the Denver Pioneers (3-0 W – 1-6 L) at Magness Arena in Denver.  This weekend, the Huskies return home to entertain UND in an important WCHA series at the National Hockey Center.

 2. University of North Dakota – (3-2-1, WCHA 1-0-1) – This past weekend, UND split their important nonconference series (4-2 W – 2-4 L) with the Boston University at Ralph Englestad Arena.  This weekend, UND travels to Saint Cloud for a very important WCHA series with the Huskies

3. Denver University – (5-1-0, WCHA 3-1-0) – This weekend, the Denver Pioneers split their weekend series with the Saint Cloud State Huskies (0-3 L – 6-1 W) at Magness Arena. This weekend, the Pioneers travel to Mankato, Minnesota to play the Minnesota State Mavericks.

4. Minnesota Gophers – (5-2-0, WCHA 2-2-0) – This past weekend, the Minnesota Gophers split their home and home series with the Minnesota State Mankato (3-2 W – 3-5 L). This weekend, the Gophers travel to Anchorage to for a two game series with the UAA Seawolves in Anchorage, Alaska.  This is the second time that the Gophers have split a series with a team in the lower half of the standings.

5. Colorado College – (5-3-0, WCHA 2-0-0) – This past weekend, the Colorado College Tigers swept The Wisconsin Badgers (5-4 O.T. W – 2-0 W) in Madison, Wisconsin. This weekend, the Tigers entertain the Bemidji State Beavers in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

6. Nebraska Omaha – (4-3-1, WCHA 2-1-1) – This past weekend, the Red Mavericks swept (2-1 W – 5-3 W) the Michigan Tech Huskies in Houghton, Michigan.  This weekend, the Mavericks return home to entertain the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in a Saturday 7:07 pm and Sunday 2:07 pm series.

7. Minnesota Duluth – (2-3-1, WCHA 0-1-1) – This past weekend, UMD Bulldogs were idle. This weekend, the Bulldogs travel to Nebraska Omaha to play the Red Mavericks in a Saturday 7:07 pm and Sunday 2:07 pm series.

8. Bemidji State – (2-1-1, WCHA 1-0-1) – This past weekend, the Bemidji State Beavers were off. This weekend, the Beavers travel to play the Colorado College Tigers in Colorado Springs.

9. Michigan Tech – (2-6-0, WCHA 1-5-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies were swept (1-2 L – 3-5 L) in the weekend series against the UNO Mavericks at MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Michigan.  This weekend, the Huskies are off. Currently, the Huskies are mired in a five game losing streak dating back to Saturday October 20, 2012.  All five loses were against conference foes.

10. Wisconsin – (1-4-1, WCHA 1-2-1) – This past weekend, the Badgers were swept (4-5 O.T. L – 0-3 L) by the Colorado College Tigers at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. This weekend, the Badgers have a well-deserved weekend off. The Badgers also got some very bad news that they’ve lost one of their top scoring forward Mark Zengerle (2g-4a—6pts) for 5-6 weeks with a broken finger. The Badgers are now without top forwards Nic Kerdiles and Mark Zengerle.

11. Minnesota State Mankato – (3-3-2, WCHA 1-3-0) – This past weekend, the Purple Mavericks split (2-3 L – 5-3W) their 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 8 games and have the worst penalty kill in the WCHA killing 69.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays.

12.  Alaska Anchorage – (2-1-1, WCHA 0-1-1) – This past weekend, the Seawolves were off. This weekend the Seawolves entertain the Minnesota Gophers at Sullivan Arena.

Taylor Seibel  WCHA Power Rankings

1. Denver – (5-1-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) – The Pioneers had a rough night Friday, losing to St. Cloud 3-0.  The Pioneers bounced back on Saturday and crushed the Huskies.  Denver is playing very strong hockey early in the season, and they look to continue their hot streak next weekend in Mankato.

2. St. Cloud State – (5-3-0, 3-1-0 WCHA) – The Huskies struggled out of the gate this season, but they have come back with a force winning 5 of their last 6.  This weekend they went to Denver and walked away with a split.  Next weekend, SCSU will again be tested by UND in a WCHA series in St. Cloud.

3. North Dakota – (3-2-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) – North Dakota remained somewhat inconsistent this weekend, as they looked very strong against BU in a 4-2 victory on Friday, before getting gassed and struggling somewhat on Saturday in a 4-2 loss against the Terriers.  UND travels to St. Cloud to take on the Huskies next weekend in a key WCHA matchup.

4. Minnesota – (5-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) – The Gophers have had some early season struggles, as they barely defeated Canisius last Sunday; then, they squeaked out a 1-goal victory on Friday against Mankato before falling to the Mavs on Saturday.  The Gophers travel to Anchorage this weekend, and they look to get back on track and back up in the rankings.

5. Colorado College – (5-3-0, 2-0-0 WCHA) – The Tigers looked very impressive in their sweep of Wisconsin this past weekend.  CC won in OT on Friday, and they followed that up with a 3-0 victory on Saturday.  The Tigers host the Bemidji State Beavers in WCHA action next weekend.

6. Nebraska Omaha – (4-3-1, 2-1-1 WCHA) – The Mavericks went into a difficult place to play (Houghton), and came away with a sweep over Michigan Tech.  Omaha has been a very inconsistent team this season, but they look to keep their strong play going next weekend as they host Minnesota Duluth in a Saturday/Sunday series.

7. Bemidji State – (2-1-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) – Bemidji State didn’t play this past weekend, but benefit from a few of the teams in front of them falling to go up a spot in my power rankings.  The Beavers have the heart to compete for home ice, but they will be tested next weekend when they travel to Colorado to take on CC.

8. Wisconsin – (1-4-1, 1-2-1 WCHA) – The Badgers have continued to struggle early on this season, but could have easily taken 2 points this past weekend against CC.  It didn’t happen, so they drop 3 spots.  The Badgers have a weekend off to regroup.  They’ll need to because their next series is Nov. 16/17 at Minnesota.

9. Minnesota Duluth – (2-3-1, 0-1-1 WCHA) – The Bulldogs were off last weekend, and they stay at the #9 spot in my rankings.  There appears to be a significant amount of parity from about #5 down to #12 this season, so the Bulldogs will certainly have the chance at home ice this year.  Next weekend the Bulldogs play a Saturday/Sunday series against Omaha.

10. Minnesota State – (3-3-2, 1-3-0 WCHA) – The Mavericks bounced back from a disappointing sweep against St. Cloud to manage a split against Minnesota.  MSU needs to work on their penalty killing, but they appear to have the talent in place to make a push for the top half of the league.  Next weekend the Mavs face another tough opponent as Denver makes their way up to Mankato.

11. Michigan Tech – (2-6-0, 1-5-0 WCHA) – After starting the season 2-1-0, Michigan Tech has dropped 5 consecutive games, all of which were in WCHA play.  Tech certainly has the talent to compete for home ice, but they have to be able to get points at home, which they didn’t this past weekend.  Tech is off next weekend.

12. Alaska Anchorage – (2-2-2, 0-1-1 WCHA) – The Seawolves were off this past weekend.  Anchorage is a gritty team capable of picking points off of anyone in the league.  While I don’t see them getting home ice this season, I think they are much stronger than most expected them to be.  The Seawolves host Minnesota this weekend in WCHA play.
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EDIT: The Sky is falling; not hardly...



A couple of things, I have reading the message boards this morning and obviously it hurts to see your favorite team lose a game where they had the lead with five minutes to go and looked like they were going to get the series sweep against the Terriers and let the lead slip away. Let’s also give credit where credit is due. BU is a very good hockey team and there is no shame splitting with them either.

Let’s not forget these numbers, UND is a traditionally slow starter that peaks during the second half of the season. The First column is the win total for Coach Hakstol before the Christmas break. The second column is Hakstol’s win total after the Christmas break.

2004-05: 13-7-2 (.636) - 12-8-3 (.587)
2005-06: 12-7-1 (.625) - 17-9-0 (.654)
2006-07: 7-10-1 (.417) - 17-4-4 (.760)
2007-08: 8-6-1 (.567) - 20-5-3 (.768)
2008-09: 9-8-1 (.528) - 15-7-3 (.660)
2009-10: 9-6-3 (.583) - 16-7-2 (.680)
2010-11: 13-5-2 (.700) - 19-4-1 (.813)
2011-12: 9-8-1 (.528) - 17-5-2 (.750)
2012-13: 3-2-1 (.583) - ?
Totals 83-59-13 (.577) - 133-49-18 (.710)
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Goon’s Pontifications and Shot Charts from (11/3/2012)



s/t to Stats On Crack... This weekend’s series against Boston University had the feel of the NCAA playoffs. “Yeah I think you know a university like Boston University coming in, it’s a big program and nonconference games are so crucial in the NCAA,” Knight said. “I think after last night I think the blood was pretty high between the two teams there, it definitely think it was a playoff atmosphere out there tonight.”

I have read some comments on how fans are disappointed that UND lost to the Terriers. I think many are because UND blew a 2-1 lead, but you have to give credit where credit is due. Late in the game, UND made two glaring mistakes in the defensive zone that lead to puck ending up in the back of the net. I think we also have to give credit where credit where credit is due, BU is a good hockey team and their goalie Matt O’Connor is the real deal.




Corbin Knight recorded his 100th point (38g-62a—100pts) with an assist on Danny’s Kristo’s first goal of the season. Knight continued his mastery in the faceoff circle as he went 14-8. For the Boston University Terriers Cason Hohmann was 12-7 in the faceoff circle.

I was impressed with the play of Boston University freshman goalie Matt O’Connor (Toronto, Ontario) who was very good in last night’s game. If you look at the shot chart for the first period you will see that UND had five shots down low in the shot that O’C stopped. O’Connor has been impressive so far this season, he has a 4-0-0 record 1.81 GAA and a save percentage of 0.942, those are pretty good numbers for a freshman goaltender.

On the other side of the net, I thought that Zane Gothberg (1-1-0, 1.73 GAA, 0.902 SV %) played okay last night. I was kind of surprised that Coach Hakstol didn’t come back with Clarke Saunders Saturday night after as well as he played in the first game.

Right now, in my opinion, I think that Saunders (2-1-1, 1.73 GAA, 0.933 SV%) is definitely the better of the two goaltenders. I think Gothberg has a lot of talent and will be a good goalie for UND, but right now he’s a freshman goaltender in a league full of older players.

Diving and other Random Observations (RW77)

We lost last night.  That's too bad.  But we did see something last night that I have only seen perhaps 4 times since I can remember:  A diving call.

Yes, there have been many times where diving was called by WCHA officials, but this one was different because it wasn't an offsetting penalty.  And before you get all up in arms, yes, it was a VERY obvious dive.  The truth is, I'm surprised the WCHA officials recognized what a dive even was.

We see dives happen all the time in the WCHA because diving isn't called.  Some players made careers out of it (Robbie Earl for example).  But any way you take it, this form of poor sportsmanship is starting to infest all of sports.  Just now sport administrators are realizing that there are football players and basketball players who are faking injury or acting like they've been shot when they felt the barest wisp of the opponent's body or jersey.  And it has to stop.

The truth is, though:  why call out players as chumps when they do it?  Look, UND has had its share of divers (Chris Porter and JP Lamoreaux come to mind), but are they chumps?  Their job is to play the game the way it is called and put their team in position to win.  If Robbie Earl can make a simple check look life threatening which gets an opposing player kicked out of the game, is it his fault?

My claim is that players can practice bad sportsmanship all they want without repercussions if the officials decide that sportsmanship isn't something worth calling.  It is up to the officials to defend the integrity of the game and safety of the players through simple enforcement of the rulebook.  If they see a dive and don't call it, then they've determined that diving is now legal.  And the players should not be blamed for it.

We saw this on Friday when MacWilliam crushed that BU player.  It was a brutal hit.  There may have been contact to the head but there was no replay angle that gave conclusive evidence of it.  Yet he hit the ice holding his head and peeking through his fingers to find the ref.  He got what he wanted.  Diving was legal.  So now fast forward to last night and imagine the surprise of BU's #13 when he got called for diving.  It was legal last night so why isn't it legal tonight?

Oh well.  It's not like we expect our officials to be competent.  We applaud halfway competence because that's about the best we can get.  But at least in this case, Sheptard and #unt made the correct call.  Guess every once in a while they guess correctly.

Quick Hits and Other Notes:

-- I like our goaltending situation.  Both Gothberg and Saunders have played well and I hope they continue to rotate.  Yeah, I know Gothberg gave up 4 last night but they were as much the D's fault as his.

-- It was nice to see Kristo bury one.  Between Kristo and Knight's shot attempts I was beginning to think that they both prepared their sticks wrong.  Too much curve.

-- Grimaldi is good.  LOVE the physical play too.

-- We lost last night.  I've now started the ticker to the "FIRE HAKSTOL" thread.

--  The disallowed goal:  Intent to Whistle is one of the biggest BS calls in sports, but the only way to fix it would be worse:  replay.  In order to fix it they'd have to call the game as it is played out, go up to the booth and time how long the goaltender had possession of the puck.  Then come back and wave off the goal.  Seems good right?  Look at the disallowed goal on Saunders then.  He was sticked and pushed and beaten up until the whistle (not dirty.  Players are coached to do that. Play until the whistle).  If this goes to replay, then our goaltenders are going to end up getting mauled and beaten.  It could even promote running the goaltender.  So, yeah, the waved off goal shouldn't have been waved off.  But in the scheme of things, it's just one more blow against the officials.

I'll leave you guys with a conspiracy theory:  Friday night the refs blow that call on the goal.  On the next powerplay for UND they call a BU player for a penalty to make it a 2 man advantage....  The only issue is the very same thing occurred in the first powerplay of the night for UND but they didn't call it.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.......  Make up call?  Same thing with Corbin Knight last night going for UND to go up 2 guys for BU.  All's fair.  Sometimes I wonder if the WCHA officials use situational officiating to ensure that the WCHA is a gracious host.

My Players of the weekend:  Alexx Privatera (BU), Connor Gaarder (UND), Rocco Grimaldi (UND), O'Connor (BU), O'Regan (BU), Danny Kristo (UND)

(Video) Alexx Privitera's post-game comments



s/t to the Boston Hockey blog which is the hockey blog for the Boston University Student News Paper, the Daily Free Press.This is what BU defenseman Alexx Privitera had to say about tonight's game and about an incident that happened in the penalty box of last night's game.
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Saturday, November 03, 2012

Terriers bite North Dakota back 4-2

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers – Combine.

Grand Forks, ND – If there was a message to be taken away from tonight’s game – it was the fact that hockey games are 60 minutes long – not 55 minutes.

We had a good third period going, UND Head coach Dave Hakstol said. But it’s not a 15 minutes period, it’s a 20 minute period and that’s what I will keep coming back to.”

At the 54:38 mark of the game the University of North Dakota held a slim 2-1 lead and looked like there were on their way to sweeping the 12th ranked Boston University Terriers. UND had played a tight checking game and were a tough team to play against and were taking the game to the Terriers.
Then the roof fell in on UND.

Freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi turned a puck over in the UND end along the far wall and Terriers junior forward Matt Nieto buried the puck in the back of the UND net at the 14:39 mark of the third period to tie the game at 2-2.

The Terriers freshman Matt Lane scored the first goal of his college career to give the Terriers a 3-2 lead and before the BU fans had a chance to sit down, freshman forward Danny O’Regan would take a Nick Mattson turn over down low and deposit it in the UND net 11 seconds later to ice the game for the Terriers.

The difference in the game was that he Terriers capitalized on their opponent’s mistakes and miscues. UND senior forward Corbin Knight agreed.

“I think it was just kind of us mentally breaking down a little bit,” Knight said.  “I think that we go sloppy there and kind of took our foot off of the gas pedal and they made some nice plays and were able to capitalize, so… I think it was a little bit of both, but I think it’s defiantly it’s something our team needs to take that credit for and we need to improve that.”

Tonight’s game between the University of North Dakota and Boston University had the feel of a tight checking hard fought playoff game and UND senior forward Corbin Knight agreed.

“Yeah I think you know a university like Boston University coming in, it’s a big program and nonconference games are so crucial in the NCAA,” Knight said. “I think after last night I think the blood was pretty high between the two teams there, it definitely think it was a playoff atmosphere out there tonight.”

UND head coach Dave Hakstol thought tonight’s game was a tight checking hockey game as well.
“It was a close tight hockey game,” Hakstol said.   “Once they got the second goal the equalizer it was a five, six minute hockey game and we didn’t get the job done.”

UND sophomore forward Stephane Pattyn who isn’t known for his goal scoring prowess – shot the puck off the end glass behind the Terrier net, the puck the landed behind the BU freshman goalie Matt O’Connor who inadvertently kicked the puck into his own net, to give UND a 1-0 lead 05:47 into the game.

Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play and the Terriers were able to limit to UND one goal in 10 power play opportunities and after the game Terrier head coach Jack Parker seem to be pleased with that fact.

“We did a good job killing penalties,” Parker said. “We did a good job… they went 0-3 and only got two shots and they only went 1-10 on the power plays this weekend and that’s a pretty good team to do that to. We had a couple of chances on our power play.”
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Eriah Hayes Hit On Kyle Rau



This video was over on the Ciskie blog and this was the other hit that college hockey fans were talking about last night. Minnesota States forward Eriah Hayes was given a two minute minor penalty for charging for this hit on Minnesota forward Kyle Rau.

Just for disclosure... The officials in this game were Tim Walsh and future NCHC head of officials Don Adam. Should this have been a five minute major penalty? I am not so sure. I could see where a five and a game could be called. What do you think?
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