UND Women’s Hockey the day after

From Sioux Sports this morning on the UND Women’s Hockey team losing a two goal lead and the game against the MSUM Mavericks… @pucknut9 on last night’s loss, “looks like the women have been reading too many headlines as they lose 3-2 to MSU.” Mea Culpa.  

Also, another good point from @pucknut9 “hell of a comeback for sure, I mean give credit where credit is due instead of some of these posters blaming the refs.”

Good words of advice from a guy that I have a lot of respect for – winners will look answers and not excuses… In this case the UND women will regroup and make the proper adjustments and you didn't hear any excuses last night for their performance.

I am not going to kid anyone – I have to admit that I thought the officiating was questionable at times myself, someone from my twitter account might have tweeted something along those lines as well last night.

But I digress.

I don’t think the officiating is the reason the UND women lost the game last night… I blame a plethora of things… I saw young players try to force pucks in instances where later in the season they wouldn’t make that pass. There also many opportunities in the blue paint and in the slot that weren’t capitalized on.

When the refs are calling the game tight last night – what’s new?  It’s the player’s responsibility to make adjustments to how the game is called – that didn’t happened last night.

Also, the MSUM defenders were relentless and this was actually the first time that I have ever seen the “trap” played at a women’s game – the Mavericks were miserable team to play against.

Let’s give credit where credit is due the Mavericks got into the shooting zones – pressured the defenseman and their goaltender Danielle Butters was very good and made the big saves and stopping 18 out of 20 shots and she was big late in the game when she had to be… Luck was also on her side and one of the twins had her beat glove side late in the game only to see it puck clank off of the iron.

I can tell you based on the head coaches’ body language and by his comments last night during the postgame conference that Brian Idalski was “less” than pleased about his team’s play during their game.

“I thought we were a little sloppy and I thought we were way too cute and down the stretch we made some poor decision defensively that ending up costing us pretty big,”

I don’t think that any of us are worried though because Brian Idalski is a good hockey coach and he will make adjustments and I expect the team to be much better this afternoon against the Mavericks.

There were some positive points to take out of last night’s game.

Freshman forward Becca Kohler from St. Thomas Ontario is going to be a big time forward and she showed glimpses of greatness.

Freshman goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was very good in her debut and I predict that we will see her again between the pipes very soon.

Freshman Leah Jensen didn’t look out of place and seemed to do well in the pressure position playing on the wing with Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux.

Minnesota State slips past North Dakota 3-2

Grand Forks, ND – “I thought we were a little sloppy and I thought we were way too cute and down the stretch we made some poor decision defensively that ending up costing us pretty big,” UND head coach Brian Idalski on tonight’s game.

Coming into this season, there is a lot of positive energy surrounding the UND women’s hockey team based on the personnel they have coming back and some of the new recruits they have coming in.on’s post season run that included their first ever bid to the NCAA tourney. UND would go on to lose their quarterfinal game to Minnesota Gophers who would end up being the national champion.

UND has aspirations of hanging a banner of their own this season – “the ultimate goal is to put a national championship banner up in our rink,” Monique Lamoureux said during an interview on UND hockey media day.

While it’s probably too early to be about thinking about hanging banners and there is a lot of hockey to be played – the future for UND looks bright – UND will have to play more disciplined hockey if they’re going to be successful this season.

Tonight, UND came out of the gates with a lot of energy and definitely had the upper hand in play against the Mavericks during the first period taking a 1-0 lead in to the locker room after one period with a highlight reel goal by Jocelyn Lamoureux.

UND also led in the shots after one period of hockey outshooting the Mavericks 8-3 and could have had more goals but Mavericks Junior goalie Danielle Butters shut UND down.

UND took a 2-0 lead during the second period with a goal by Andrea Dalen at the 2:48 mark – that was all of the scoring that UND would get as Butters shut the door the rest of the way.

“Butters played well,” Idalski said. I thought for most of the night especially that second [period] we made her job real easy and she saw a lot of things and if she can see it she can save.”

One thing UND wanted to limit this season is the amount of penalties that they take as a team – unfortunately they started a parade to the penalty box during the second period when they took four minor for eight minutes in penalties.

That march to the penalty box continued during the third period as UND continued to take more undisciplined penalties and ended up squandering a 2 goal lead giving up three unanswered goals in about a 10 minute time period.  Minnesota State senior Lauren Smith paced the Mavericks with two goals during the third period scoring on the power play and even strength.

While Butters paced the Mavericks with 16 saves – on the other end of the ice a rookie goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was making her first career start UND but wasn’t able to get the win for despite making 20 saves, many  of them difficult and during the latter half of the game when the Mavericks were pressing.

When asked about his rookie goalie's effort the head coach had this to say, “quite honestly I thought Shelby was going to get the shutout,” Idalski said.

"She was playing really well and she kind of held us in there through the second, unfortunately I thought she deserved a little fate than what we gave her down the stretch.”

UND captain Jocelyne Lamoureux agreed with the head coaches’ comments, “she played good and she made some big saves when it was 1-0.”

Mankato would score three unanswered goals in the third period to ice the game, spoiling UND’s home opener.

The same two teams play tomorrow at 2:07 PM

Related articles

• UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

UND Women versus MSU-M Mavericks Lines

UND Forward Lines 

LW Monique Lamoureux (A) 18 – C Jocelyne Lmoureux © 17 – R Leah Jensen 25

LW Meghan Dufault 19 – C Josefine Jakobsen 63 – R Becca Kohler 51

LW Andrea Dalen 10 – C Mary Loken 2 – R Megan Gilbert Kohler 15

LW No player – C Shannon Kaiser 11 – R Allison Parizek 6 

UND Defense Pairing

Sam LaShomb 4 – Kayla Berg(A)  9

Tanja Eisenschmid 22 – Ashley Furia 91

Tori Willaims 16 – Jordan Slavin 7  

UND Goalies 

Shelby Amsley-Benzie 1

Jorid Dagfinrud 30

Michelle Bonapace-Potvin 33

Minnesota State Minnesota-Mankato Mavericks

Maverick Forward lines 

LW Tract McCann 15 – C Lauren Smith (A) 25 – R Nichole Germaine 18

LW Krystal Baumann 19 – Kari Lundberg © 26 – R Lauren Zrust 3

LW Melissa Klippenstein 23 – C Lauren Barnes 5 – R Natalie Stoltz 11 

Maverick Defense Pairings 

Emilla Andersson 20 – Danielle Scholzen 28

Erika Magnusson 14 – Shelby Moteyunas 27

Haley Northcote 21 – Giulianna Pallotta 9 

Maverick Goalies

Danielle Butters 37

Erin Krichiver 33

Brianna Quade 30  

UND game chat [Click to link]

   

Related articles

• UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

College Hockey takes center stage

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine

Obviously, the NHL Lockout has been a major buzz kill for NHL hockey fans so far this fall and there doesn’t seem to be a solution coming anytime soon – nor does either side seem like they have any incentive to reach a deal.

For most, the NHL has become the no hockey league where both sides don’t appear to be doing what any of us would consider serious negotiating.

This afternoon, I read a tweet on twitter from a ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun that the NHL owners are strongly suggesting that the NHLPA put forth some kind of a counter proposal to the NHL Owners –  not to be outdone of course  – the NHLPA asked the owners to come up with sometime as well. I just don’t think we’re going to get any kind of an agreement in the near future.

Pierre LeBrun

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@Real_ESPNLeBrun

Told that NHL strongly urged NHLPA in meeting today to come up with new offer. In turn, NHLPA also asked league to come up with new offer...

5 Oct 12

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While the NHL owners and the NHLPA continue with their childish shenanigans  – the NCAA Division I college hockey season is upon us and starting this weekend there will be quite a few NCAA teams that will be playing their exhibition games against Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

While none of these games count in the standings, it’s a good way for  head coachs to evaluate their teams. Also, these game can serve as a measuring stick for the CIS teams that want to see how their teams compare against the NCAA Division I teams. The CIS teams also have many ex-CHL’s on their rosters that play in the CIS after they are done with their junior hockey eligibility.

Bonus Hockey

Starting tomorrow night, there is also going to be three official Division I hockey games. All three games are out east,  the Maine Black Bears of Hockey East take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats of Atlantic Hockey Association at Alfond Arena, Orno Maine.

Moving down the coast and west, the Falcons of  Bowling Green plays the Niagara Purple Eagles of the Atlantic Hockey Association in Dwyer Arena in Niagara New York and finally, Merrimack College of Hockey East plays against last season’s Frozen Four team Union College of the ECAC at the Achilles Center in Schenectady, N.Y. unfortunately, none of these games are on TV this weekend.

The only game that will be on this weekend is the University of North Dakota takes on the Manitoba Bison of CIS at the Ralph Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota – that game is on FCS you can check your local listings for the channel,  the game is also on DirecTV 626  at  7:07  PM Central Standard Time – unfortunately Fox College Sports isn’t on Dish Network.

Related articles

• Sunday Evening Humor and CBA discussions. (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• NHL, union meet Friday, plan for more talks (espn.go.com)

DU suspends two players

Low and behold this morning we find out that a little karma has finally swung the other direction. I was under the impression that only certain teams and programs have issues and players that get suspended – it appears that another WCHA program has suspended two players for a total of eight games. Funny, in checking my favorite DU fan blog there is nary a word of these suspensions. I am sure we’re going to see a bad boyz post on this matter soon though?

Michael Chambers; Denver Post --- University of Denver hockey players Larkin Jacobson and Juho Olkinuora have been suspended for four games for violating team rules, Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. The suspensions stem from separate incidents and will include Saturday's exhibition game against the University of British Columbia at the Pepsi Center.

Jacobson played in 22 of 43 games last season as a fourth-line forward. He did not produce a point. Olkinuora was outstanding in goal, leading the team in starts (19), minutes played (1,236), goals-against average (.924) and shutouts (two).

oth players will continue to practice with the team. Both are sophomores.

Depth is not a concern at goalie, with senior Adam Murray and junior Sam Brittain.

I am wondering if we will see some fan retract their statements or finally grab some perspective that from time-to-time college athletes get into trouble and pay for their transgressions via suspension. No one college sports program is immune from this.

Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7)

Ready… Get Set… GO…  And they’re off.

The good news, the regular season is starting, the bad news, there is the last season of the WCHA as we know it.  This is it.  Everyone has a chance to start their run to capture the big, shiny, MacNaughton Cup.

I hope everyone enjoyed the extremely hot and dry summer we had in the northern Great Plains.  I hope you are as anxious as I am for college hockey to get underway.  I try to improve my prognostication skills this season as it is the last WCHA season for many of the current teams.  Hopefully, you will enjoy reading my weakly (get it) attempts to make some type of educated guess as to who will win their games each week.

Just so we are all on the same page, here is a little refresher of how things ended last season…

WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2011-2012

Team………………………W-L-T………Points

1. Minnesota………………20-8-0…..…….40
2. Minnesota-Duluth……..16-7-5….……..37
3. Denver…………..………16-8-4………...36
4. North Dakota.……….….16-11-1….……33
5. Colorado College ……..15-12-1……….31
6. St. Cloud St……………. 12-12-4………28
7. Nebraska-Omaha………11-12-5……....27
8. Michigan Tech………….11-13-4………26
9. Bemidji State……..……..11-14-3.……...25
10. Wisconsin…....……….11-15-2...…..…24
11. Minnesota State……..…8-18-2...……..18
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....5-22-1………..11

2012 final 5 in St. Paul – recap

The Final 5 in St. Paul featured MTU, SCSU, UND, DU, UMD, and UM. 

The WCHA tournament went like this – Thursday, DU defeated MTU 3-2 in OT, and UND defeated SCSU 4-1 – Friday DU beat UMD 4-3 in a 2-ot thriller, and UND defeat UM in an exciting 6-3 comeback win – Saturday UND defeated DU 4-0, to claim their 3^rd consecutive Broadmoor Trophy.

This season the WCHA starts out with 5 teams ranked in the USCHO poll:

#2 – Minnesota

#4 – North Dakota
#8 – Denver
#12 – Minnesota-Duluth
#18 – Wisconsin
#20 – Colorado College

Exhibition Games   -   Saturday Oct. 6^th  

British Columbia @ Denver

I don’t know much about the guys from UBC, but they are from Canada so they should be a good team.  So I did some looking up on UBC, they are located in Vancouver, established in 1908, have 37,000 undergrads, 9,000 grad students, and they are nicknamed the Thunderbirds.  Since this is an exhibition game I’m sure DU will be playing some of the starters but will also be giving everyone some ice time.  I’m going with the WCHA to start the season and pick the Pioneers to win their first unofficial game of the year.

Brock @ Michigan Tech

Brock?  Who are they?  I had to look these guys up.  Okay here is the info; they are located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (close to Niagara Falls or just north-northwest of Buffalo, New York).  The University opened its doors in 1964, and is named for General Isaac Brock, who died in the War of 1812.  BU has a student body of approx. 17,000. And we all the 411 on Michigan Tech, so I’ll just move on.  Since I don’t know anything about BU, I’m going to pick the Huskies to win over the visiting Brock Badgers.

Regina @ Alaska-Anchorage

Ah Regina, the city that rhymes with fun!  I’ve never been to Saskatchewan, but someday I’ll get there.  They are still a long way from Anchorage, but I’m sure the flight isn’t that bad…  I’m going say the Cougars will blend into the UAA crowd, since their school colors are green/yellow/white.  I’m once again going with the home team Seawolves win.

Lethbridge @ Minnesota

I’ve actually been through Lethbridge!  It is a nice city in the southern part of Alberta, the Oldman river gorge on the west/middle side of town has spectacular views.  I also like their nickname, the Pronghorns (I think UND should be the Antelope or Pronghorns, just my two cents worth.)  UL has appox. 8,000 students and was founded in 1967, and their school colors are blue and gold.  The Gophers should be able to put goals on the board this year, so look for them to “unofficial” open the season with a win.

Manitoba @ North Dakota

The Bisons make their, what seems to be, annual trip to Grand Forks.  They didn’t play last year, but did in October 2010 with the Sioux winning that game 5-2.  I’m going to go with ND to win this game, I also expect to see a few guys playing goalie for ND in this exhibition game.

US U-18 @ Wisconsin

The U-18 team is usually full of talented young hockey players and can give teams older than them problems.  But the Badgers are always stingy on the defensive end of things, so look for them to frustrate the U-18 team.  Badgers win.

Exhibition Games   -   Sunday Oct. 7^th  

Manitoba @ Bemidji State

The Bisons head over to Bemidji, nice 120 mile drive on US-2, after playing in Grand Forks that night before.  This will be a good tune up game for the Beavers to unofficial start the season.  I’m going with Beavers in a squeaker of a game.

British Columbia @ Colorado College
The Thunderbirds head south for Colorado Springs after playing in Denver the previous evening.  The Tigers will have to be ready to since UBC will have played the night before.  I’m going with the Tigers in this tilt.  (UBC also plays Air Force on Monday night.)

Lethbridge @ Minnesota State

This will be the Pronghorns second game in two days, or the middle game of their 3 game road trip to the States.  I’m going with the visitors in this match-up, I just have a feeling that the Mavericks will be trying out their new players and coaching system.

Exhibition Games   -   Monday Oct. 8^th  

Lethbridge @ Nebraska-Omaha

Third game in three days for UL, I’m thinking they might run out of gas in the match-up.  Mavericks win their first exhibition game of the year.

Non Conference Games   -   Thursday Oct. 11^th  

Michigan Tech @ Lake Superior State

This will be the official first game for the Huskies as the face off against another Upper Peninsula team.  Huskies win.