UND Drops to 7th in USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

November 19, 2012

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Boston College	(47)	9- 1-0	996	1
2	Denver	( 2)	9- 1-0	948	2
3	New Hampshire	( 1)	8- 1-1	865	5
4	Minnesota		7- 2-2	853	3
5	Miami		7- 2-3	781	4
6	Notre Dame		8- 3-0	731	8
7	North Dakota		5- 3-2	705	6
8	Union		6- 2-1	664	7
9	Western Michigan		6- 3-1	543	9
10	Boston University		6- 4-0	536	11
11	Dartmouth		5- 1-2	462	12
12	St. Cloud State		6- 4-0	377	15
13	Cornell		3- 3-2	322	10
14	Colorado College		7- 5-0	287	14
15	Nebraska-Omaha		6- 3-1	260	18
16	Ferris State		6- 4-2	211	20
17	Harvard		4- 3-0	201	17
18	Quinnipiac		7- 3-1	187	NR
19	Michigan		4- 6-1	160	13
20	Niagara		8- 2-3	112	NR
Others receiving votes: Alaska 79, Yale 66, St. Lawrence 57, Holy Cross 34, Providence 23, Massachusetts-Lowell 14, Northern Michigan 12, Ohio State 9, Northeastern 2, Colgate 1, Merrimack 1, Minnesota State 1.

Ian White calls Bettman an Idiot

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am sure that my buddy Redwing77 will be happy to see than one of the players from his favorite team called Gary Bettman an idiot.

Personally I agree with White, when I see Bettman's face it reminds of all of the bad things that have happened to the NHL.

 Lets think about this for a minute. Bettman is the NHL commissioner that under his reign of terror has had three labor disagreements that have led to work stoppages. Also, Bettman is threatening to cancel his second season in eight years. Marvelous!!! Let's not forget the fiasco in the desert.

The Detroit News — Ian White has been one of the more vocal and frustrated players during this NHL lockout.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has caught most of White's verbal frustration the past two months, the length of this lockout thus far.

After learning of Bettman's suggestion for a two-week moratorium in negotiations, White called Bettman "an idiot.

"I personally think he's an idiot," said White Friday after a group of locked out Red Wings finished a workout. "Since he's come in, he's done nothing but damaged the game.

It will be interesting to see how long this plays out. Will we see more players speak out against the NHL Commissioner?  One also has to wonder if there are NHL owners that agree with White but aren't allowed to speak up at the current time.

Check out these unis... Karvinen goes off.

RT: @und_wih It's game time here at the Sandford Center, UND take on the BSU Beavers. Looking fresh in the new jerseys! twitter.com/UND_WIH/status…
— Stay A Sioux (@StayaSioux) November 18, 2012

The UND women broke out their black jersey's as well. They look a lot like the Men's black business suits as well. UND had their first road sweep of they season as they beat BSU 7-3. This weekend Michelle Karvinen returned from injury and went off scoring five points (1g-4a—5pts).

After one weekend of play Karvinen (2g-4a—6pts) is fourth on the team in scoring and missed 10/12 games so far this season.

Related articles

• Michelle Karvinen Returning to UND Lineup (insidehockey.com)
• North Dakota Women Outlast St. Cloud (insidehockey.com)

WCHA Power Rankings: 11/18/2012

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.

I think that the WCHA is very balanced this season and there is a “little” distinction between teams 6-12.

After watching the UMD Bulldogs this past weekend. I am not sold that the Bulldogs are a last place team or even an 11^th place team, in the WCHA. I am not sure anyone would be thrilled about the prospects of their favorite team having to play the Bulldogs in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. Nothing good can come from that matchup.

I am also not ready to bury the Wisconsin Badgers in the Bottom of the WCHA standings either, let’s see how they respond once they get Nic Kerdiles (NCAA suspension) and Mark Zangerle (injury) back in the lineup.

I also think that you could swap any of the top four teams in the league as well. The Power Rankings are a snap shot of the WCHA teams on this date in the season. I think that the Denver Pioneers are “currently” the best team in the WCHA.

1. Denver University – (9-1-0, WCHA 7-1-0) – This weekend, the Denver Pioneers swept (6-5 W – 6-2 W) their cross-state rival the Colorado College Tigers. This weekend, the Pioneers entertain Yale and New Hampshire at the Magness Arena.

2. Saint Cloud State – (6-4-0, WCHA 4-2-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies are idle. This weekend, the Huskies travel to Duluth to play the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at Amsoil Arena.

3. University of North Dakota – (5-3-2, WCHA 3-1-2) – This past weekend, UND took three points (4-4 T – 4-3 O.T. W) in their series with University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at Ralph Englestad Arena. This weekend, the Green and White travel to South Bend, Indiana to play the Fighting Irish in a nonconference series at Compton Family Arena.

4. Minnesota Gophers – (7-2-2, WCHA 4-2-2) – This past weekend, the Minnesota Gophers took three points (2-2 T – 3-1 W) from the Wisconsin Badgers at Marriucci Arena. This weekend, the Gophers go on “rare” nonconference road trip to play the Vermont Catamounts.

5. Nebraska Omaha – (6-3-1, WCHA 4-1-1) – This past weekend, Mavericks were off. This weekend, the Mavericks entertain the Alabama Huntsville Chargers in a nonconference series at Century Link Center.

6. Colorado College – (7-5-0, WCHA 4-2-0) – This past weekend, the Colorado College Tigers swept (5-6 L – 2-6 L) by their cross-state rivals the Denver Pioneers. This weekend, the Tigers entertain New Hampshire and Yale at the World Arena.

7. Michigan Tech – (4-6-0, WCHA 3-5-0) – This past weekend, the Huskies swept the Bemidji State Beavers at the Sandford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota. This weekend, the Huskies are off.

8. Bemidji State – (2-5-1, WCHA 1-4-1) – This past weekend, the Bemidji State Beavers were swept (4-5 O.T. L – 1-2 O.T. L) by the Michigan Tech Huskies at the Sanford Center. This weekend, the Beavers entertain the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.

9.  Alaska Anchorage – (2-3-3, WCHA 0-2-2) – This past weekend, the Seawolves were off. This weekend, the Seawolves travel to Bemidji to take on the Beavers at the Sanford Center.

10. Wisconsin – (1-5-2, WCHA 1-3-2) – This past weekend, the Badgers took one point (2-2 T – 1-3 L) against their arch rivals the Minnesota Gophers at Marriucci Arena. This weekend, the Badgers return home to entertain the Minnesota State Mavericks at the Kohl Center.

11. Minnesota Duluth – (2-6-1, WCHA 0-4-2) – This past weekend, the UMD Bulldogs took a single point (4-4 T – 3-4 O.T. L) against the University of North Dakota at Ralph Englestad Arena. This weekend, the Bulldogs entertain the Saint Cloud State Huskies at Amsoil Arena in the battle of the dogs.

12.   Minnesota State Mankato – (3-5-2, WCHA 1-5-0) – This past weekend, the Purple Mavericks were off. This weekend, the Mavericks travel to Madison, Wisconsin to play the Wisconsin Badgers.

Taylor Seibel’s WCHA Power Rankings

 

1. Denver – (9-1-0, 7-1-0 WCHA) – The Pioneers once again used a blistering offense to gain a WCHA sweep, beating arch-rival Colorado College 6-5 and 6-2 this weekend.  Denver leads the country in goals/game at 4.50.  If they keep that up, they’ll likely walk away with the MacNaughton this season.  DU hosts Yale and New Hampshire in non-conference play next weekend.

2. North Dakota – (5-3-2, 3-1-2 WCHA) – UND struggled against Minnesota Duluth this weekend, but managed to walk away with 3 points.  North Dakota has shown flashes of brilliance, but they have also struggled mightily at times.  UND will have to become a more consistent team if they have ideas of winning the WCHA this season.  North Dakota travels to Notre Dame in non-conference play next weekend.

3. St. Cloud State – (6-4-0, 4-2-0 WCHA) – The Huskies were off this past weekend, and maintain the #3 spot in my WCHA rankings.  SCSU is battling some injuries right now, but they have all the pieces of a championship caliber team.  The Huskies square off against Minnesota Duluth in Duluth next weekend in WCHA action.

4. Minnesota – (7-2-2, 4-2-2 WCHA) – Minnesota fans can thank Adam Wilcox for a tremendous performance this past weekend, as the Gophers took 3 points from their arch-rival Wisconsin.  Minnesota struggled on the powerplay this weekend, but looked better on 5x5 against the Badgers.  The Gophers make the trip to Hockey East foe Vermont in non-conference play next weekend.

5. Nebraska Omaha – (6-3-1, 4-1-1 WCHA) – The Mavericks had this past weekend off.  Under Coach Blais, UNO is capable of beating any team in the league.  However, they are prone to inconsistency.  How consistent they are will likely determine how high they go in the rankings.  The Mavericks take on Alabama Huntsville in Omaha next weekend in non-conference action.

6. Colorado College – (7-5-0, 4-2-0 WCHA) – The Tigers took their lumps this weekend, allowing 12 goals to Denver in getting swept this weekend, CC’s first losses in WCHA action this season.  Denver might be just that good, but CC will need to play better if they want to contend for any hardware this season.  CC takes on New Hampshire and Yale in non-conference action down in the Springs next weekend.

7. Michigan Tech – (4-6-0, 3-5-0 WCHA) – Michigan Tech used two overtime victories to get their first ever wins in Bemidji this weekend, winning 5-4 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday.  The Huskies are capable of being a top-half team, but have only shown that in flashes early in the season.  Perhaps this sweep will be what this team needs to get back on track.  Tech is off next weekend.

8. Alaska Anchorage – (2-3-3, 0-2-2 WCHA) – The Seawolves jump up a spot in my rankings, thanks in large part to the bottom-half teams not performing well this weekend.  Anchorage has surprised me this season, but will need to continue their strong play if they want to contend for home ice this season.  UAA travels to Bemidji State next weekend in WCHA play.

9. Bemidji State – (2-5-1, 1-4-1 WCHA) – The Beavers were in excellent position on Friday to notch their 2^nd WCHA win and move to .500 on the season and in conference play.  Then Michigan Tech stormed back and won in overtime.  Another similar defeat on Saturday, and Bemidji finds themselves falling in the WCHA standings.  BSU hosts Anchorage next weekend in WCHA action.

10. Wisconsin – (1-5-2, 1-3-2 WCHA) – Wisconsin was able to stifle the Minnesota offensive attack this past weekend, but the Badgers still walked away from Mariucci with only 1 point.  Wisconsin was without star forward Mark Zengerle, and top recruit Nic Kerdiles.  Given that, there is still some reason for optimism in Wisconsin circles.  The Badgers host Mankato next weekend in WCHA play.

11. Minnesota Duluth – (2-6-2, 0-4-2 WCHA) – The Bulldogs played well enough against North Dakota to win both games, but were unable to convert either opportunity into wins, managing only a draw on Friday.  Duluth has a potent offense, but take way too many penalties to be a top-half squad.  Minnesota Duluth hosts in-state rival St. Cloud State in WCHA play next weekend.

12. Minnesota State – (3-5-2, 1-5-0 WCHA) – The Mavericks had last weekend off, and fall to the cellar as a result of Duluth’s performance this weekend.  Mankato is capable of contending for a top-half spot, but have struggled to play a full 60 minutes.  The Mavericks take on Wisconsin in WCHA play next weekend in Madison.

Shot charts UMD and UND game 2

Tap of the stick to @statsoncrack ... This past weekend senior forward Corbin Knight had another stellar night going 20-12 and 38-23 on the weekend in the faceoff circle. Freshman Rocco Grimaldi was also pretty good in the faceoff dot as well going 24-17 on the weekend.

After last night’s game where both teams combined for 66 minutes in penalties, UMD moved from second to first over-all in penalty minutes. North Dakota jumped from 48th over-all to 31st.

Last night former UND goalie Brad Eidsness was the voice of reason when he posted this on the on-line game chat. I have met a lot of athletes over the years and Brad is one of the smartest that I have ever met. Eids also comes off as one of the most level head of people too. When most of us were ready for Sanders to come in and relieve Gothberg Brad posted this.

“I think a dose of patience is needed all with both the team and Gothberg. With a win tonight the team would have a better start (5-3-2) then the 2010-11 team. This is Gothberg's 3rd Career start. He is going to get more comfortable with time. He as the tools and will put it together. In order to do that however he must play meaningful minutes.”

This weekend UND Hockey travels to South Bend, Indiana to play the Fighting Irish. You can check this page this week. When UMD played Notre Dame in hockey back in October they had an on-line broadcast that was really high quality. You can find that web page at this link [Click to view]

It will be interesting to see if their on-line broadcast can take thousands of UND hockey fans logging on to see their favorite team play hockey. Only time will tell right?

Related articles

• Shot Charts UMD vs. UND game one (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND beats UMD in Overtime 4-3 (thehockeywriters.com)
• Friday night in the WCHA (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND: The Weekend Ahead (11/16-11-17) (insidehockey.com)

UND and UMD dust up...

Oh no, they have done it again... I am sure we will hear from the fans to the south about the mean goon's from North Dakota and how they like to goon it up and get rough with their guests.

UND beats UMD in Overtime 4-3

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team through nine games of the 2012-13 season. UND has a 4-0-1 record on Friday Nights and a less than impressive record of 0-3-1 record on Saturday Night’s.

Tonight, UND improved that record on Saturdays to 1-3-1 with a 4-3 overtime win.

This was the first win for UND in overtime since March 1, 2009 when Darcy Zajac scored in overtime to beat Colorado College 4-3.

If last night’s game wasn’t wild enough for you; tonight’s game didn’t disappoint either.

Tonight’s game was like a 10 round heavy weight title fight where neither fighter was able to put the other away until the end of the fight.

During the opening five minutes of the first period, it looked like the game was going to be a track meet where strong goalie and defensive play was optional.

UMD senior forward Jake Hendrickson scored his first goal of the year and before the public address announcer could announce UMD’s he first goal – UND senior forward Danny Kristo was burying the puck in the Duluth goal for his 5^th goal of the year and his third goal on the weekend.

Kristo would finish the weekend with three goals and two assist for five points.

But we weren’t done yet; UMD would score again 32 seconds later with a goal from UMD senior forward Mike Seidel. If you’re bad at math – like I am – that’s 3 goals in forty five seconds.

UND would go into the first intermission down 3-1 and the easy choice would have been to pull the freshman goalie Zane Gothberg  and go with the veteran junior goalie Clarke Saunders but head coach Dave Hakstol stuck with his freshman goalie Gothberg and it proved to be the right move, as Gothberg would settle down and stop 28 of 31 shots to improve his record to 2-1-0.

Hakstol was asked if he had considered pulling the young goaltender after the first period.

“You know… the goals that were scored on if you really evaluate it – it’s hard to fault our goaltender,” Hakstol said. "I know the second one kind of took the wind out of the building a little bit but it was a tip play in front – yeah maybe you would like to see a goaltender down and big and have that – but it was tipped directly in front of him down between his legs. So, there were three tough plays for him – he battled through that the remainder of that period – he made some good saves through the remainder of the period and obviously settled in the rest of the game.”

Tonight, UND head coach Dave Hakstol moved sophomore forward Mark MacMilan up to the top line with Danny Kristo and Corbin Knight.

That move would pay off as MacMilan would score the equalizer 05:53 mark of the third period and then would get the game winning goal 04:26 mark of overtime to ice the win for UND.

“They made some plays,” Hakstol said. “Chemistry is hard to explain. They showed that they had a little bit tonight. The plays that they made – the goals that they scored – they were good solid hockey plays, Hakstol said. They didn’t cheat for any of their offense tonight; they made a lot of good plays that resulted in some good positive results. I thought that they’re the ones that are on the score sheet the most, but I thought we had a good four line effort tonight. Were everybody grabbed hold of the rope and did a little bit and resulted in a good win for our team.”

After the game the sophomore forward looked exhausted but seemed to savored moment as he described the game winning goal.

“I don’t really know what happened, MacMilan said. Dan got the puck right around at the top of the circle and it kind of opened up. Dan made a great play to me and I just tried to get it off as quick as I could and it just happened to go in.

Danny Kristo described what he saw on the game winning goal.

“Just a chip in,” Kristo said.  “Just kind of read the play to the Duluth d – rimmed it – beat the guy to the puck and luckily beat the guy off of the wall. Originally, looked shot then I saw Mark out of the corner of my eye and he was opened up for a one-timer so just tried to make a good pass and it went through and he buried it.

Next weekend, North Dakota travels to South Bend, Indiana to play the Notre Dame FIghting Irish in a two game series.

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine

Related articles

• UMD and UND gut out hard fought 4-4 tie (thehockeywriters.com)
• Friday night in the WCHA (thehockeywriters.com)

UND vs. UMD Lines games 2

UND’s Forward lines

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

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

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

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

UND Defense Parings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Jordan Schmaltz

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C) – 5 Nick Mattson

18 Dillon Simpson–22-Andrew Panzarella

UND Goalies

31 Zane Gothberg

33 Clarke Saunders

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

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

Bulldog Forward lines

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

Bulldog Defense Pairings

8 Drew Olson–7 Andy Welinski

28 Wade Bergman–6 Derik Johnson

16 Tim Smith–5 Chris Casto

Bulldog Goalies

36 Matt McNeely

31 Aaron Crandall

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

Grimaldi hit from behind....

I wrote earlier, that UND freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi was checked into the boards by UMD forward Justin Crandall. [Click to view video] There was no call on the play; I think that’s the wrong call, but not surprising based on who was reffing this game. Grimaldi was in a vulnerable position and Crandall drove him into the boards while he was facing the boards. Luckily Grmialdi wasn't hurt so move on. The video was shot with my iPhone so I apologize about the quality.

Friday night in the WCHA

Last night, was an interesting night of college hockey in the WCHA, to say the least. Three out of four games went to overtime with the fourth game coming close.

Two of the three games ended in a tie. Bemidji State squandered a 4-1 lead and lost 5-4 in overtime to the Michigan Tech Huskies. Here's what the Beavers head coach Tom Serratore had to say about last night's game.

“It’s a tough loss, it’s a demoralizing loss,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “I’d be lying if I said any different. I feel bad for our fans. We had a lead right there and had a meltdown. They converted on a couple power-play goals there, and they basically outworked our penalty kill. And that’s all you can say right there.” [Jack Hittinger, Bemidji Pioneer]

Out in the west, a fight broke out at the end of last night’s game between the Colorado College Tigers and Denver Pioneers last night.  Pioneers sophomore goalie Jussi Olkinuora (game disqualification for fighting) and Tigers senior center Rylan Schwartz (disqualification for contact to head) will miss game two tonight in Denver as a result of their one game disqualification’s.

 There were also some controversial calls as well, I will put links to the video to let you decide if the ref made the right call or not.

I can say with complete confidence that the officiating crew of Todd Anderson and Brad Shepherd was absolutely brutal last nigth, you've have to think that there is no way these two officials could do any worse. We will see tonight.

But I digress.

The good thing for both teams is that the on ice officials were consistently bad for both sides, so I wouldn’t blame the officials for the result of last night’s game. Bad officiating is just one aspect that the teams have to make adjustments for and both UMD and UND did that.

Not to beat a dead horse but the men in stripes in other games had a tough night as well, as you will be able to see from some of the examples that I have posted here.

UND freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi was checked into the boards by UMD forward Justin Crandall. [Click to view video] There was no call on the play; I think that’s the wrong call, but not surprising based on who was reffing this game. Grimaldi was in a vulnerable position and Crandall drove him into the boards while he was facing the boards.

Grimaldi would go down the tunnel and return to the bench a short time later. I think this hit is just as bad as the one that Jordan Schmaltz put on Saint Cloud State Huskies forward Drew Leblanc last weekend that cost Schmaltz a game misconduct.  I think the refs need to be more consistent with their calling of the games.

 Here is the video of a hit that UND senior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam put on UMD Bulldog freshman forward Tony Cameranesi. Apparently, UMD Bulldog radio announcer Bruce Ciskie had originally took issue with the MacWilliam hit but later changed his mind. In this case I think the on ice officials made the right call. [click to view]

Here is one from the weak call department – Wisconsin’s Joseph LaBate's checked on Minnesota's Erik while it was technically a check from behind, it shouldn’t have been more than a 2 minute minor in my opinion. I also don’t blame Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves for being upset with this call.  What do you think? [click to view]

Asked if he thought the major penalties were warranted, Eaves responded by saying he’d asked to speak with Greg Shepherd, the WCHA supervisor of officials. They did meet in a nearby hallway for roughly 5 minutes, Eaves’ exasperated voice easy to hear [Andy Baggot, Madison.com].

 Here is a hit from the ref made the right call department. Wisconsin Badgers forward Tyler Barnes hits Tom Serratore in the head. [Click to view] Barnes was given a five minute major and a game misconduct.

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers – Combine.