Men's Division I Hockey Inter-Conference Records: 2014-2015

Men's Division I Hockey Inter-Conference Records:2014-2015

vs.	Atlantic Hockey	Big Ten	ECAC	Hockey East	NCHC	WCHA	OOC Record
Atlantic Hockey	—	0-1-0 (.000)	3-7-0 (.300)	1-6-0 (.143)	1-1-0 (.500)	2-2-0 (.500)	7-17-0 (.292)
Big Ten	1-0-0 (1.000)	—	1-0-0 (1.000)	5-6-1 (.458)	1-2-0 (.333)	2-6-1 (.278)	10-14-2 (.423)
ECAC	7-3-0 (.700)	0-1-0 (.000)	—	6-4-1 (.591)	3-5-0 (.375)	1-2-1 (.375)	17-15-2 (.529)
Hockey East	6-1-0 (.857)	6-5-1 (.542)	4-6-1 (.409)	—	2-2-1 (.500)	3-2-1 (.583)	21-16-4 (.561)
NCHC	1-1-0 (.500)	2-1-0 (.667)	5-3-0 (.625)	2-2-1 (.500)	—	7-5-0 (.583)	17-12-1 (.583)
WCHA	2-2-0 (.500)	6-2-1 (.722)	2-1-1 (.625)	2-3-1 (.417)	5-7-0 (.417)	—	17-15-3 (.529)

 

One of the concerns last season was the NCHC’s non-conference record. As you can see, so far, the NCHC has the best non-conference record. Obviously, that could change.

UND vs. Providence Game Two Lines

UND Forward Lines

28 Stephane Pattyn (C)– 27 Luke Johnson–15 Michael Parks(A)
21 Brendan O’Donnell–13 Connor Gaarder (A) – 7 Wade Murphy
9 Drake Caggiula–8 Nick Schmaltz–11 Trevor Olson
29 Bryn Chyzyk–10 Johnny Simonson–14 Austin Poganski

UND Defensive Pairing

6 Paul LaDue–24 Jordan Schmaltz
20 Gage Ausmus–2 Troy Stecher
5 Nick Mattson–3 Tucker Poolman

UND Goalies

31 Zane McIntyre
33 Cam Johnson
30 Matt Hrynkiw

Providence Forward Lines

22 Brandon Tanev–24 Noel Acciari (C) –15 Steven McParland
12 Stefan Demopoulos–14 Ross Mauermann (C)–26 Brian Pinho
29 Conor MacPhee–21 Kevin Rooney–11 Niko Rufo
20 Shane Luke–18 Nick Saracino–9 Trevor Mingoia

Providence Defensive Parings

5 Kyle McKenzie–16 Anthony Florentino
19 Jake Walman–4 Mark Adams
3 John Gilmour–27 Josh Monk

Providence Goalies

32 Jon Gillies
35 Nick Ellis

Mark MacMillan out indefinitely following wrist surgery

The UND hockey team received some bad news today. 

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota head men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol announced today that senior forward Mark MacMillan will be out indefinitely after undergoing wrist surgery on Saturday morning in Grand Forks.

MacMillan, a native of Penticton, British Columbia, was injured late in the second period of Friday’s game against Providence when a skate blade came into contact with his left arm causing a laceration to the wrist.

A fourth-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2010, MacMillan leads UND with five goals in five games and is tied for the team scoring lead with seven points. He has appeared in 127 career games and leads all active UND skaters in goals (35), assists (46) and points (81).

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UND Blitzes Providence College 6-1

After being run out of their own building two weeks earlier, UND used a balanced attack and scored six goals by six different players to beat the Providence College Friars 6-1 at Ralph Englestad Arena. 

UND's penalty-kill set the tone as the Friars went 0-for-9 on the man advantage and gave up a short-hand goal.

This game was supposed to be a goaltending battle between Zane McIntyre and Jon Gillies. However, UND chased the Friars All-American goalie after two periods of play, putting four pucks past him. Sophomore goalie Nick Ellis relieved Gillies at the start of the third period and UND put two more pucks past him as well. 

Head coach Dave Hakstol was asked how UND was able to get four goals past Gillies.

“We got a little bit of traffic (in front of him) and scored a couple of rebound goals,” Hakstol said. "Nothing fancy at all. We were in the right spot at the right time. Did the right things and fortunate to get a couple by him.”

UND dominated the Hockey East preseason favorite, but the UND head coach was quick to give his opponent credit. 

“They’re a good hockey team and they’re going to make plays and they did that,” Hakstol said. “Our guys showed up tonight and played hard tonight.”

The story of the game was the play of junior forward Drake Caggiula who scored a short-handed goal and three assists. After the game, Caggiula broke down UND's game plan.  

“We just played our game,” Caggiula said. “UND hockey is playing fast, playing physical, and just overall being hard to play against and that’s what we did all night long.”     

When Caggiula was asked about UND's success on the penalty-kill and why they have scored four short-handed goals in five games, he had this to say. 

“That’s the way we penalty kill,” Caggiula said. “We’re aggressive, and when the opportunity is there we’re more than welcome to take that opportunity. They always preach if the opportunity is there to take it. When we’re so aggressive we just create turnovers and we have been lucky so far and got a couple of short-handed goals off of it. We have to keep doing that.”  

Junior forward Bryn Chyzyk likes playing on the penalty-kill and gave his explanation on why UND is scoring so many short-handed goals. 

“We’re getting a couple of bounces, and getting some odd man rushes,” Chyzyk said. “We’re always pressuring pucks up at the blue line. We’re just pressuring pucks and a couple of bounces are hopping over their D-men and were taking advantage of that. Hopefully that will continue.” 

With the Win UND improves to 4-1-0. The loss drops Providence to 1-2-0 on the season. 

Same two teams tomorrow night at 7:07 pm CT. 

(Box Score) 

UND vs Providence College Lines - Links

UND Forward Lines

28 Stephane Pattyn (C)–16 Mark MacMillan (A) –15 Michael Parks(A)
21 Brendan O’Donnell–13 Connor Gaarder (A) –27 Luke Johnson
9 Drake Caggiula–8 Nick Schmaltz–11 Trevor Olson
29 Bryn Chyzyk–10 Johnny Simonson–17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defensive Pairing

6 Paul LaDue–24 Jordan Schmaltz
20 Gage Ausmus–2 Troy Stecher
5 Nick Mattson–3 Tucker Poolman

UND Goalies

31 Zane McIntyre
33 Cam Johnson
30 Matt Hrynkiw

Providence Forward Lines

22 Brandon Tanev–24 Noel Acciari (C) –15 Steven McParland
12 Stefan Demopoulos–14 Ross Mauermann (C)–26 Brian Pinho
29 Conor MacPhee–21 Kevin Rooney–11 Niko Rufo
20 Shane Luke–18 Nick Saracino–9 Trevor Mingoia

Providence Defensive Parings

5 Kyle McKenzie–16 Anthony Florentino
19 Jake Walman–4 Mark Adams
3 John Gilmour–27 Josh Monk

Providence Goalies

32 Jon Gillies
35 Nick Ellis

NCAA Women's Hockey Morning Skate: October 24th, 2014 - http://t.co/69us2LhN8Q #hockey #THW pic.twitter.com/KYLsWQlg99
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) October 24, 2014

North Dakota and Providence Take Center Stage http://t.co/iecafIVFAl #THW
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) October 24, 2014

UND getting much more than it bargained for with the Providence series http://t.co/jUI54Bs0D3
— Brad E. Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) October 24, 2014

Game Day: Friday Morning Pontifications

First, it's early in the season, I get that. However, last season, the NCHC had a dreadful inter-conference record, (40-34-16, .533). As you can see from the chart, the NCHC has started out much better this season.

Men's Division I Hockey Inter-Conference Records:2014-2015

vs.	Atlantic Hockey	Big Ten	ECAC	Hockey East	NCHC	WCHA	OOC Record
Atlantic Hockey	—	0-0-0 (.000)	1-5-0 (.167)	0-3-0 (.000)	1-1-0 (.500)	2-2-0 (.500)	4-11-0 (.267)
Big Ten	0-0-0 (.000)	—	1-0-0 (1.000)	4-3-1 (.562)	1-2-0 (.333)	0-6-1 (.071)	6-11-2 (.368)
ECAC	5-1-0 (.833)	0-1-0 (.000)	—	6-4-1 (.591)	1-3-0 (.250)	1-1-0 (.500)	13-10-1 (.562)
Hockey East	3-0-0 (1.000)	3-4-1 (.438)	4-6-1 (.409)	—	0-1-0 (.000)	2-2-0 (.500)	12-13-2 (.481)
NCHC	1-1-0 (.500)	2-1-0 (.667)	3-1-0 (.750)	1-0-0 (1.000)	—	6-4-0 (.600)	13-7-0 (.650)
WCHA	2-2-0 (.500)	6-0-1 (.929)	1-1-0 (.500)	2-2-0 (.500)	4-6-0 (.400)	—	15-11-1 (.574)

 
(UND vs. P.C. , Series Preview)     

Apparently, UND has a few new players.

Defensemen John Gilmour (lower body) and Kyle McKenzie (disciplinary reasons) are expected to be in the lineup for the first time this season. Also due to return is Nick Saracino, who was held out of last week’s exhibition game against the U.S. National Team Developent Program U-18s for precautionary reasons.

The series pits two of the top goaltenders in the nation against each other in PC junior Jon Gillies, a Calgary draft choice, and North Dakota junior Zach McIntyre, a Boston Bruins pick. North Dakota has 14 NHL draft picks on its roster to 7 for PC.

North Dakota swept Colorado College on the road last weekend. They went 5-for-7 on the power play and scored two shorthanded goals in Saturday’s 7-2 rout. Montreal pick Mark MacWilliams leads the team in scoring with five goals and seven points.

Providence Journal: #5 Friars ready for rough-and-tumble series at #3 North Dakota

#482003271 / gettyimages.com

Interesting take on what the Providence College Friars are expecting from UND. I think this is going to be a highly entertaining series between two talented teams.

Honestly, I don't see UND checking the Friars out of the building, but UND does seem to play more of physical game than they did last season.

Mark Divver, Providence Journal -- Fifth-ranked Providence College (1-1) is expecting a very physical two-game series when it visits third-ranked North Dakota (3-1) this weekend for the first time since President Reagan’s second term in office.

Playing in front of a big crowd in a hostile environment will be a test for the Friars.

“I always think you want to challenge yourself. We’ve done that every year. It’s going to be a great environment. We know it’s going to be great hockey. We want to make sure we’re playing our best,’’ coach Nate Leaman said.

The Friars – who were beaten, 6-4, in November 1987 on their last visit to Grand Forks — will be without center Mark Jankowski (shoulder) and defenseman Tom Parisi (shoulder), neither of whom made the trip. Co-captain Noel Acciari (ribs) is questionable, though he did travel with the team.

Defensemen John Gilmour (lower body) and Kyle McKenzie (disciplinary reasons) are expected to be in the lineup for the first time this season. Also due to return is Nick Saracino, who was held out of last week’s exhibition game against the U.S. National Team Developent Program U-18s for precautionary reasons.

Friars set for weekend series at #3 North Dakota http://t.co/PTFisOaJdC pic.twitter.com/Gdmlu1R97f
— PC Men's Hockey (@FriarsHockey) October 23, 2014

Boston Bruins: Zdeno Chara Hurt After Checking John Tavares (video)

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara blasts New York Islanders forward John Tavares with a good, hard, clean check. Incidentally, Chara would go to the dressing room after the hit and wouldn't return to the Bruins bench.

Svedberg under pressure - he makes the stops; Chara lands a big hit on Tavares. 8:42 left in the first. Shots 10-5 Isles ^CS
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 23, 2014

UPDATE: Chara hurt and will not return.

UPDATE: Zdeno Chara will not return to tonight's game ^BB
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 24, 2014

Johnny Boychuk Returns to Boston

One of my favorite former Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk makes his return to Boston. Boychuk is now a teammate of former Fighting Sioux defenseman Brock Nelson. Boychuk is famously known for his deadly, heavy, accurate slap shot, which is known as a Johnny Rocket.

Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.COM – Johnny Boychuk texted every member of the Bruins team after learning he’d been traded to the New York Islanders. It was the affable B’s defenseman’s way of saying goodbye to his teammates knowing they’d be hopping on the runaway train known as the NHL regular season and Boychuk would be spending the next day packing his equipment and heading to Long Island.

It’s not at all surprising to know that the goodbye texts were about having a few last laughs, still friends but no longer teammates. Some of his old B’s teammates were thinking about those conversations on Wednesday as they ready to host Boychuk and his new-look Islanders on Thursday night at TD Garden.

"He actually texted me after the trade and told me I should give him a goal,” said a smirking Tuukka Rask, who needed a few moments to realize the media was talking about Boychuk rather than Chad Johnson when asked about facing “Johnny” on Thursday. “If its 9-1 or something for us...accidents happen. What can I tell you?

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A Trip Down Memory Lane: UND vs. Providence

The last time North Dakota faced Providence, assistant coach Dane Jackson was a freshman forward at UND. #tbt pic.twitter.com/VerExOtZW8
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) October 23, 2014

Here's a blast from the past. It is weird that UND hasn't played Providence since the 1989 season. Brad Schlossman broke the history of UND vs. P.C. All-Time UND has a 8-5 record against P.C. UND holds the edge against Providence (5-2, .714) in Grand Forks.

UND and Providence haven’t played since the old WCHA-Hockey East scheduling alignment. Their last meeting was 1989 in Providence. The teams have played four times in Grand Forks — 1987, 1986, 1983, 1981.

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UND Hockey: Providence vs. UND Links

Here's a couple of good reviews on this weekend's matchup with Providence College. This should be an exciting series this weekend.

Brian Sullivan, Cox Hub -- No. 5 Providence at No. 3 North Dakota (Friday and Saturday): The most elite college hockey match-up of the weekend finds the Friars on their longest trip of the year, and also their last trip out of the Eastern time zone (Notre Dame is just this side of the boundary). North Dakota has only played one regular-season home game this year, and it ended in a stunning 5-1 loss to Bemidji State on opening night... rest assured, UND is salivating to get back at it on home ice. The Friars will apparently be without the services of junior center Mark Jankowski, who is not traveling with the team due to an upper body injury. Big loss for Nate Leaman & Co

From USCHO: North Dakota ready for national spotlight with home series against Providence.

Matthew Semisch, USCHO --Third-ranked North Dakota is well aware of this, and it’s also cognizant of the fact that the national spotlight will be on Ralph Engelstad Arena this Friday and Saturday. No. 5 Providence is coming to Grand Forks, N.D., for a two-game set, and UND will be hoping to get the armchair NCAA selection committee on UND’s side.

Going into the series, however, UND coach Dave Hakstol isn’t taking a lot of stock in UND’s and the Friars’ places in the national polls.

“It’s just two good teams, and I guess you can just throw rankings out the window,” Hakstol said. “I know both teams are pretty good, and obviously we’re going to be hungry as we get into a long stretch of nonconference games, and these are extremely important.

Read more:

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Simon Despres blows up Sean Couturier, Umberger vs Despres fight

Tonight, I was watching the Flyers and Penguins game. Check out this clean, hard hit.

In my opinion, this is a thing of beauty. Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Simon Despres absolutely blows up Sean Couturier with a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. The video from this angle doesn't do a good job of showing it. Of course you have the obligitory fight between R.J. Umberger and Despres.

Providence Forward Mark Jankowski Won't Travel to North Dakota

The Providence Friars beat writer Mark Divver tweeted that junior center Mark Jankowski won't be making the trip to North Dakota this weekend when UND plays Providence College at the Ralph this weekend. That's a significant loss for Providence College.

During his career at P.C., Jankowski has scored (20g-23a—43pts) in 73 games. Jankowski was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the first round of the 2012 NHL draft.

Jankowski (upper body) won't travel to N. Dakota, per Nate Leaman. Was questionable to play, but had been expected to make trip as of Mon.
— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) October 22, 2014

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Drake Caggiula Is Set to Play This Weekend against Providence

For those that are wondering, junior forward Drake Caggiula will be playing this weekend... Last Saturday, during the third period of UND’s game against Colorado College, Caggiula was hurt (took hit to the head) and went to the locker room with the trainer Mark Poolman. Because of the injury, Caggiula didn't return to the game.

Fast forward to this week. According to UND head coach Dave Hakstol, Caggiula is practicing this weekend and is set to go this weekend against the Providence Friars.

Check out the latest addition to the UND locker room remodel.

More cool improvements to the @UNDMHockey locker roon. pic.twitter.com/yqZ9jjMO7m
— Eric J. Burton THW (@goon48) October 22, 2014

This weekend's series between No. 3 UND and No. 5 Providence will be the first matchup at REA between two top-5 teams since 10/08/11 vs. BC.
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDMHockey) October 20, 2014

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