UND Number One in USCHO Poll

December 01, 2014

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	North Dakota	(29)	10- 3-2	957	2
2	Minnesota State	( 5)	11- 3-0	830	7
3	Boston University	( 4)	9- 3-1	826	1
4	Miami		10- 4-0	789	5
5	Michigan Tech		12- 2-0	781	6
6	Minnesota	( 2)	8- 4-0	758	3
7	Massachusetts-Lowell	( 1)	8- 3-3	667	4
8	Minnesota-Duluth	( 3)	9- 5-0	652	8
9	Harvard	( 6)	7- 1-2	587	18
10	Denver		8- 3-0	564	10
11	Vermont		11- 3-1	562	13
12	Nebraska-Omaha		7- 3-2	456	11
13	Colgate		9- 5-1	397	9
14	Bowling Green		10- 3-1	366	15
15	Quinnipiac		9- 4-1	286	14
16	Providence		7- 5-1	221	20
17	Boston College		7- 7-0	159	12
18	Merrimack		10- 4-1	128	NR
19	Northern Michigan		8- 3-1	109	19
20	Robert Morris		8- 1-3	107	NR
Others receiving votes: St. Cloud State 104, Union 67, Yale 61, St. Lawrence 39, Michigan 9, Ferris State 7, Dartmouth 5, Penn State 4, Alaska 2.

 

A Little Humor on Sunday

Austin Ortega made an interesting statement last Saturday night after the Mavericks beat the Bulldogs. So, I thought we would review the young man's weekend.

0 goals.
0 assists
3 Shots on Goal
4 PIM
Minus-3

Someone asked me who caught my eye from the UNO Mavericks. I was impressed with Mavericks freshman forward Tyler Vesel has scored (3g-5a—8tps) in 12 games. Vesel has nine points in the last eight games and was named the rookie of the week in the NCHC, last week. This past weekend, the talented forward scored a (1g-1a—2pts).

WHKY: North Dakota takes advantage of St. Cloud's woes

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- St. Cloud State University's Lexi Slattery scored late in the third ending the longest scoreless streak in program history. It was too late. North Dakota put up five goals before the shutout ended and tacked on another 21 seconds after Slattery's goal.

Gracen Hirschy, who had two goals on the night, started the scoring around six minutes into the first on an even strength goal. "[We] wanted to play with a lead. That's been very important to us; to get a bit of a cushion and have teams have to open up," head coach Brian Idalski said.

During the second Jakobsen ended her own 11-game scoreless streak by scoring a pair of goals before the game ended. "That's someone that we needed to produce and we're looking for to carry us a little bit," Idalski said. "Getting her to shoot the puck and have her playing with confidence is huge for us going forward."

UND finished yesterday with a dominating 6-1 win, holding St. Cloud to three shots on goal during the first and five in the second. UND carried most of the play throughout the entire game keeping the Huskies in defensive territory.

"I think winning gives you confidence and a lot of things are clicking for us. Systems wise and execution wise we're really doing what we need to do," sophomore defense Halli Krzyaniak said.

North Dakota hopes to carry that momentum into today's game while looking for its first home sweep of the season. UND will host the Huskies in the series finale today at 2:00 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

UND vs. UNO - Game 2 Lines

North Dakota Forward Lines

9 Drake Caggiula–16 Mark MacMillan (A)–15 Michael Parks (A)

3 Tucker Poolman –27 Luke Johnson–8 Nick Schmaltz
28 Stephane Pattyn (C)– 10 Johnny Simonson  – 17 Colten St. Clair

11 Trevor Olson– 13 Connor Gaarder (A) –14 Austin Poganski

North Dakota Defense Pairings

20 Gage Ausmus–2 Troy Stecher

Paul LaDue–24 Jordan Schmaltz
4 Keaton Thompson –22 Andrew Panzarella

North Dakota Goalies  

31 Zane McIntyre
33 Cam Johnson

Omaha-Nebraska Forward Lines

13 Jake Randolph–10 Tyler Vesel–25 Justin Parizek

12 David Pope–Avery Peterson–18 Jono Davis
20 Jake Guentzel–14 Dominic Zombo–16 Austin Ortega
17 Luke Nogard–19 Tanner Lane–23 Grant Gallo

Nebraska-Omaha Defense Pairings

2 Brian Cooper–5 Joel Messner

4 Luc Snuggerud–28 Brian O’Rourke
3 Brian Rideout—24 Ian Brady

Nebraska-Omaha Goalies

31 Ryan Massa

29 Kirk Thompson

NCHC Shootout Records

While the NCHC has the ability to use the shootout to break ties for league points, there haven't been a lot of games decided by the shootout. Through 244 games there’s been only 11 games decided by a shootout. That means through a season and a quarter only 4.5 percent of the games have gone to a shootout.

C.C. 2-0

Denver 2-1

Miami 1-0

UMD 2-0

Omaha 2-1

UND 0-1

Western Michigan 3-0

SCSU 0-4

UND vs. UNO - Game One Lines

North Dakota Forward Lines

9 Drake Caggiula–16 Mark MacMillan (A)–15 Michael Parks (A)
17 Colten St. Clair–27 Luke Johnson–8 Nick Schmaltz
28 Stephane Pattyn (C)–13 Connor Gaarder (A)–3 Tucker Poolman
11 Trevor Olson–10 Johnny Simonson–14 Austin Poganski

 North Dakota Defense Pairings

20 Gage Ausmus–2 Troy Stecher
4 Keaton Thompson–24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson–6 Paul LaDue

North Dakota Goalies  

31 Zane McIntyre
33 Cam Johnson

Omaha-Nebraska Forward Lines

20 Jake Guentzel–14 Dominic Zombo–16 Austin Ortega
13 Jake Randolph–10 Tyler Vesel–25 Justin Parizek
12 David Pope–Avery Peterson–18 Jono Davis
17 Luke Nogard–19 Tanner Lane–9 James Polk

Nebraska-Omaha Defense Pairings

2 Brian Cooper–5 Joel Messner

4 Luc Snuggerud–28 Brian O’Rourke
24 Ian Brady–23 Grant Gallo

Nebraska-Omaha Goalies

31 Ryan Massa

29 Kirk Thompson

Related articles

• North Dakota vs. Nebraska-Omaha, Series Preview(thehockeywriters.com)

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USCHO: 'A few deep breaths for all ready to condemn the Big Ten to mediocrity'

I was reading this article over on USCHO and I think it’s worth a read. I thought it was thought provoking. It’s kind of funny, but a lot of the same things were being said about the NCHC last season after they had a poor out of conference record. Traditionally, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin  and Minnesota are strong hockey programs. I am thinking the two Michigan schools might be in line for a new head coach.

Paula C. Weston, USCHO.COM -- Relax. It’s the end of November. It’s the second week of conference play. For the love of all that is Hobey, it’s the second year of the league itself.

Yes, the Big Ten has a losing record (23-30-3) in its early play against nonconference opponents, and that doesn’t include the league’s 1-1 record against the U.S. Under-18 Team. Minnesota’s 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting youngsters last Friday prompted the Twitter discussion that resulted in the “fairly awful” proclamation. After all, the Golden Gophers had been swept the week before by Minnesota-Duluth, swept and kept to one goal in the series after having begun 2014-15 with one loss in eight games and entering that weekend with Duluth second in the nation in scoring offense, averaging close to four goals per game.

An exhibition loss to a highly touted and well-coached team with a roster full of young players that nearly every NCAA Division I program would at least take a glance at while recruiting was surely the end of the world for Minnesota hockey and a harbinger of bad things to come for the Big Ten, right?

I think it's too early to start kicking dirt on the Big Ten Hockey Conference, just yet. Right now, they're in line for one or two bids to the NCAA tourney, but there a lot of hockey to played between now and selection Sunday. There's also a good chance that someone could make a run in the B1G tourney. What's to say that Michigan, or Wisconsin couldn't get hot at the right time. All they have to do is win three games at the Joe.

NHL Quarter Awards

With the season already a quarter over, lets take a look at who should win the Hart, Vezina, Norris, Calder, and Jack Adams trophies if the season were to end right now.

Hart: Sidney Crosby
Well no surprise here as Crosby is tops in the NHL in Points and second in assists. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain is leading the charge in the NHL and showing off the superstar like player we have all come to know very well, like him or hate him. Crosby is on pace for 119 points this season, scoring at 1.45 points per game. Scoring at this rate, Crosby, and Pittsburgh will be very tough to beat.

Norris: Ryan Suter
The league's top work horse is proving once again on why he is one of the elite NHL defenders. Suter leads all defenders in plus/minus at +13, which is also third in the NHL, and is a +6 in his last five games. Even though Mark Giordano leads all NHL defenders in points, Suter's 11 is still nothing to sneeze at for a defenseman at the quarter point. Give it time and the points will come for Ryan Suter.

Vezina: Pekka Rinne
Probably on one of the biggest surprise teams this season, Rinne is putting up the best numbers between the pipes in the NHL this season. He tops the
league with 14 wins. His 1.97 goals against average and .927 save percent also find him in the top five in the NHL among his fellow goalies. In 18 games played, Rinne is 14-3-1 and looks to remain among the NHL elite goaltenders for the remainder of the season.

Calder: Filip Forsberg
The 2012 first rounder for Nashville has turned heads in the early season and has become a big part to the Preds success so far. His +18 rating is tops in the NHL and his 22 points find him leading all NHL rookies as well, this is also good enough for 12th in the NHL too. Forsberg is in the top 20 in all major statistical categories in the NHL and leads all rookies in them as well.

Jack Adams: Jack Capuano
The Islanders coach has had one of the toughest coaching jobs since taking over a sinking New York Islanders in 2010 and last season was no different. Making the playoffs just one time since taking over, 2012-2013 first round loss to Pittsburgh, the Islanders have established their young talent and have found themselves sixth in the NHL in total points right now. Capuano has done a wonderful job turning this team around this season, and if the
success continues, look for a nice playoff run for the boys on Long Island.