Wes Walz explains the Hockey Code: Chris Stewart fights Cody McLeod

FSN hockey analyst and former NHLer Wes Walz breaks down the Hockey code after Chris Stewart fights Cody McLeod. I am very excited the Minnesota Wild picked up a tough guy that can actually fight and play the game.

NCHC Final Standings

The second season in the NCHC is over, the final standings are now set. The second season now begins.

The NCHC playoff matchups are all set. I included a screen shot of last season's final standings so you can compare them. The stat that sticks out the most for me is that UND is only 10 goals short of last season's total.

UND Clinches the Penrose Cup

I have covered this team for four years, I couldn't be more proud of them. They work hard and take nothing for granted. We march on to the playoffs. This was a big win tonight. UND wins the Penrose Cup outright and plays Colorado College next weekend in Grand Forks, ND.

Gar line hungry for some Penne Rosa

A photo posted by Coltyn Sanderson (@coltyn_sanderson) on Mar 6, 2015 at 6:29pm PST

Hard not to be there playing with them, but extremely proud of the boys for clinching outright #PenRose #siouxbuiis
— Mark MacMillan (@EasyMac_16) March 7, 2015

UND vs. Miami Lines

FRIDAY @ MIAMI TV: @CBSSportsNet, DirecTV 221, DISH Network 158 WEB: None RADIO: 96.1 FM (flagship), UND Sports Radio Network
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDmhockey) March 6, 2015

In-Zane Run has UND thinking Hobey Baker for McIntyre - http://t.co/nKuWnbEB6N #hockey #THW pic.twitter.com/nkwl0gAr2Z
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) March 6, 2015

FRIDAY LINKS: Let's Overdose on Hockey

Good day. To quote the late Bob Johnson, "Today is a great day for hockey."

What a weekend of hockey ahead. The men are in Miami and tonight's game is on CBSSN, game time 5:30 p.m.. That is not a misprint, there's a double header on CBSSN tonight.

The women's team play Saturday and hopefully on Sunday. I will be at the Ralph for the Women's WCHA Final Faceoff.

Finding her home away from home: Playing hockey at UND has been a great fit for Winnipegger Meghan Dufault

Can Poolman be another Buff? Jets draft pick blossoms into Mr. Versatile for top-ranked UND

In-Zane Run has UND thinking Hobey Baker for McIntyre

Dave Berger: Weekend Preview: UND at Miami

UND Looks to Clinch Title Outright against Miami

Friday Gameday: Burn the Ships

THA Schloss predicts a split as well. Let's hope his prediction is wrong again this week. Last week, he predicted that SCSU and UND would split.

USCHO: NCHC picks: March 5... Both Candance and Matt predict a series split as well.

Weekend Predictions- ‘Welcome to Miami’

Yep, Zane McIntyre Is a Good Goal Tender

That's a lot of words to say that Zane McIntyre is a good goaltender. Seriously. I guess Lambert is done predicting a UNO meltdown?

Ryan Lambert, Puck Daddy -- Where North Dakota differs, and which comes as no surprise, is that they have both the highest shooting percentage and save percentage in the league. Looking at the roster, you'd have to say that maybe shooting 8.8 percent at evens is a little bit high even for a team that talented — and with Mark MacMillan potentially done for the year, even more so — but Zane McIntyre was always going to be stopping about .940 at evens. He's just that good, and given the fact that his team concedes an inordinate number of shot attempts (42.3 per game, third-most in the conference) he's utterly crucial to their ongoing success. If he was even a little worse, let's say he allowed an extra five goals in 32 games this season, we're not having a discussion about North Dakota being the top team in the country; their shot generation is decidedly middle of the pack on a national level, so the fact that they have 73 even-strength goals goes a long way.

Of course, only about 25 or 30 percent of most games is played at 5-on-5, so you have to consider special teams quality as well. Here too, North Dakota doesn't exactly impress in comparison with its conference rivals; its 20.9 percent conversion rate on power plays is fourth in the conference behind St. Cloud, Denver, and Colorado College (somehow). Its PK is, not surprisingly, the best by a decent margin, because McIntyre has an .872 save percentage when down a man. The NCHC average is .863. But North Dakota takes a lot of penalties (second-most in the conference) and draws the the third-most. Their power play opportunity differential for the season is plus-1.

All season long, I keep hearing how UND isn't as good as their record. Their record is inflated by their out of conference record. So, what about the other 22 games they have played so far? I guess UND winning the Penrose Cup is a mirage, didn't happen, right

Also, we heard from the SBN College Hockey experts that once UND got into the meat of their schedule they would come back down to earth a bit. That hasn't happened yet, either.

Let's not forget that UND has only lost twice in 2015. Breaking it down further, UND has won four games in a row and five-of-six games. They have a 3-1-0 record against SCSU, 2-0 record against WMU, 2-1-1 record against UNO and DU. They currently have a 1-1 record against UMD and MU.

Let's review, UND went tot he NCAA tourney last year. Of course, they were the last team in NCAA tournament, and  then promptly went to the Frozen Four. That was a fluke I guess. UND returns most of the team from last year and some of the pundits are shocked.

I think the NCHC is a tough conference and UND has proven they deserve the recognition they have gotten this year. I also don't think the UND hockey team is afraid to play anyone in the country. Not this team.

Grand Forks Herald: New UND nickname committee announced

According to the Grand Forks Herald, the new nickname committee has been released. And the envelope please.

Here are the names of the people that are on the nickname committee.
Committee members: 

• Karl Goehring, UND alumnus and former men’s hockey goaltender, investment consultant at Alerus Securities, committee chair (Goehring also served on the previous task force, which recommended that the task force be represented on the new Committee)
• Jazmyn Friesz, UND health sciences student, Student Body chief of staff, committee vice chair
• Landon Bahl, UND entrepreneurship and marketing student
• John Bridewell, UND professor of aviation
• Carla Christofferson, UND alumna, executive vice president and general counsel at AECOM, Los Angeles.
• Diane Hillebrand, certified research administrator, UND alumna, grant and contract officer for UND’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, current past president of Staff Senate and Chair of the Bylaws/Elections Committee
• Dayo Idowu, UND Chemical Engineering student and current men’s football student athlete
• Dr. Leander “Russ” McDonald, three-time UND alumnus and president of United Tribes Technical College
• Chelsea Moser, UND accountancy student and current women’s volleyball student athlete
• Lowell Schweigert, UND alumnus and football letter winner, longtime Champions Club member, former UND Booster chairman, financial consultant and business owner of Northern Plains Financial
• Dave St. Peter, UND alumnus and president of the Minnesota Twins

UPDATED: Mark MacMillan to have surgery

Per Brad Schlossman, via UND sports chat and twitter today. Not very good new, but it was kind of expected.

UND announces Mark MacMillan will have surgery tomorrow and is "out indefinitely." UND not ruling him out for the year yet.

So you're saying there's a chance... UPDATE: Here's the official word from UND.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol announced today that senior forward and assistant captain Mark MacMillan will undergo surgery on Wednesday, March 4, to repair a lower body injury and will be out indefinitely. MacMillan suffered the injury during North Dakota’s 3-1 victory over St. Cloud State last Saturday in Grand Forks. The Penticton, British Columbia, native leads top-ranked UND with a career-high 16 goals in 29 games this season and ranks third on the team in scoring with 25 points. He also leads UND in faceoff percentage (57.2) and his 13 goals during conference play lead the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).

A fourth-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2010, MacMillan leads all active North Dakota skaters with 99 points (46 goals, 53 assists) in 151 career games. He is a finalist for both the 2015 Hockey Humanitarian Award and the 2015 Senior CLASS Award.

North Dakota closes out the regular season on Friday and Saturday at Miami in Oxford, Ohio. UND clinched at least a share of the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champion last Saturday and can claim the Cup outright with one point in the series against the RedHawks.

It's Time to Move on from "Fighting Sioux"

By Zach Hawkins -- For roughly 80 years, the University of North Dakota embraced the nickname of "Fighting Sioux" for their athletics program as a tribute and an honor to all of the Sioux tribes as the university saw them as great warriors and strong willed people.

Four years ago, the NCAA made serious threats to the university stating that if the nickname of Fighting Sioux was not retired, or honored by all three Sioux tribes in North and South Dakota, then severe consequences would be taken against the athletics department which would ultimately diminish the competitive nature of it.

With the University making the transition then to become full division one President Robert Kelley and Athletic Director Brian Faison had no choice but be the "bad guys" and retire the Sioux name as of January 1st, 2012. However, at the same time, the North Dakota legislature was in the process of making a state law where the university could not drop the nickname and logo. So with being just the University of North Dakota for three weeks at the start of 2012, the Fighting Sioux name was back, or so all of us thought.

With the NCAA implying many sanctions against the university's athletics program if they did not change the name, it simply needed to be done. If the Fighting Sioux name was to continue to be recognized, the university would not be able to grant any athletic scholarships to any athlete playing for, or coming into the university. Along with that, this year's NCAA men's hockey regional in Fargo would never be able to happen. The NCAA would not allow UND to participate in any NCAA sanction tournaments or host any NCAA sanctioned events like this year's regional in Fargo.

It wasn't until the NCAA tournament that year where losing the name became a reality. New hockey jerseys were unveiled, which are the team's current jerseys right now. From that point on, it was simply the University of North Dakota. It was an ear sore for everyone at first, but as I look around the Ralph and many other places I see UND fans, they have accepted this and realize that the

university is still the university and they are still the same athletic teams on the ice, field, and court. It is still the Kelly Green and White we are all used to seeing every weekend, every game, every season. Just because there isn't a name or a logo anymore, doesn't mean the history and tradition of it is dead.
You can hear that during the end of the National Anthem at every home hockey game.

Fans for many generations will be upset about everything that happened with the name and logo, but these fans should be happy that they had the greatest name and logo in college sports and that they are fortunate enough to watch these great teams play, or for the athletes, play for these great teams.

As for now, it is in the best interest of the university to move on from the nickname and logo, but do not jump to find a new one just because the sanctions have finally been lifted. Simply being the University of North Dakota is probably the only thing that will ever be accepted and I think it is time for the university to realize that.

Avalanche's McLeod, Landeskog fined by the NHL

Looking at the schedule. The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche play again on March 8, 2015, at the Xcel Energy center. This has the possibilities of being a very interesting game.

This time, the Wild will have some added muscle with newly acquired forward Christ Stewart who was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres.

NEW YORK -- Colorado Avalanche forwards Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog each have been fined the maximum amounts allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for their respective actions during the final seconds of NHL Game No. 930 in Denver on Saturday, February 28, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today.

McLeod has been fined $3,091.40 for entering the game on a legal line change for the purpose of starting an altercation with 8.1 seconds remaining in regulation. Directly off a face-off at center ice, McLeod launched into a bodycheck against Minnesota center Mikael Granlund and then engaged in a fight with Wild forward Charlie Coyle. McLeod was assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, a major penalty for fighting and a misconduct penalty.

Landeskog has been fined $5,000 for throwing a punch at Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu while both players were on their respective benches with 3.3 seconds remaining in regulation. Landeskog was assessed a misconduct penalty.

The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Differing Opinions of the Wild Dismantling the Av's

As I mentioned yesterday, I am not anti-fighting. I understand the hockey code and I don't think fighting should be taken out of the NHL game. I recently covered this subject in another post at the Hockey Writers.

the NHL game is evolving, and fighting is becoming less prevalent. That’s a positive development. In today’s game, there’s not a lot of room on an NHL roster for a five shift, four-minute player that can only fight.

Okay, in Scott’s defense, over the past five games that he’s played in, the Sharks behemoth has averaged about six minutes a game. That being said, the Sharks have seen little if any production from him. He’s taking up space in the lineup.

Teams no longer can afford to have a tough guy taking up space on the player’s bench. One dimensional players like Scott are a dying breed. So why is a player like Scott still in the NHL?

That being said, what Cody McLeod did at the end of Saturday's game needs to be addressed further. It was a bush league move that should cause him to be fined and or suspended. I predict nothing will happen to Mr. McLeod. According to Michael Russo, the NHL will announce today the Colorado fines for Patrick Roy, Gabriel Landeskog and Cody McLeod.

For those that think that Sean Bergenheim hit on Nathan Mackinnon was dirty, go back and watch the video of Bergenheim's hit on Nathan Mackinnon. This was a textbook example of a clean shoulder-to-chest. Nothing more, nothing less.

I found this blog post on Mile High City and this paragraph is worth reading just to get the other side of the argument. I also found it comical that Avs fans are calling Minnesota a dirty team. The Wild don't even have a designated pugilist and their agitator Matt Cooke is currently on the IR. I have watched 85-90 percent of the Wild's games this season and they are not a dirty team. Especially with Cooke out of the Wild lineup.

If you’re keeping track at home, Kyle Brodziak (4) and Ryan Carter (3) lead the Wild in fighting majors. Those two are hardly heavy weights.

MacKinnon just got elbowed in the face and is bleeding all over the ice. Heads straight to the locker room. No call because these refs are completely overwhelmed by this game. Avs do get a call in their favor...somewhere but I missed it completely. Avs on the PP. Avs PP continues to be more flaccid than a stale banana. Barrie taking all kinds of chances pinching and Iggy does a great job getting back to help mitigate a Wild 2-on-1. Avs running out of time real quick now. (PS on second look, MacKinnon looks to have received a shoulder to the face, not an elbow. I retract my officiating complaints, sort of). (Mile High Hockey)

Maybe the refs didn't call it because it was a legal hit.

Hockey is a physical game and injuries happen as are result of physical contact. Again, this was a legal textbook shoulder-to-chest hit. The players own stick breaks his nose. How does this act warrant McLeod jumping two of the Wild's star players? It doesn't. Also, goons taking a run at star players that don't fight breaks the hockey code. It's a bush league act.

I also think that the NHL doesn't want neanderthal goons taking runs at star players because one of the players was hurt with a legal check or because the other team doesn't want to fight. That's not the Wild game.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

March 02, 2015

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	North Dakota	(49)	24- 6-3	999	1
2	Minnesota State	( 1)	24- 6-3	948	2
3	Boston University		21- 7-5	849	4
4	Michigan Tech		24- 8-2	823	3
5	Miami		20-11-1	807	5
6	Minnesota-Duluth		19-12-3	736	6
7	Denver		19-11-2	679	7
8	Nebraska-Omaha		17-10-5	672	8
9	Boston College		20-11-3	579	9
10	Providence		21-11-2	521	13
11	Quinnipiac		21- 9-4	511	10
12	Yale		17- 7-5	461	12
13	Bowling Green		19-10-5	388	11
14	Massachusetts-Lowell		18-10-6	346	14
15	Minnesota		18-11-3	303	15
16	Michigan		19-11-0	302	17
17	Vermont		18-12-4	157	18
18	Colgate		19-11-4	107	NR
19	Harvard		15-11-3	95	16
20	Robert Morris		22- 7-5	77	20
Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence 43, St. Cloud State 36, Northeastern 26, Bemidji State 19, Dartmouth 6, Notre Dame 5, Canisius 3, Rochester Institute of Technology 2.

With their sweep this past weekend, UND remains in the top spot of the USCHO Poll. Cue the fans from a certain team that will say that the poll is wrong because they're third in the PWR.

WHKY: North Dakota outlasts Ohio State in triple overtime

Grand Forks, N.D. -- Fans who attended North Dakota's Saturday afternoon game against Ohio State got more than their money's worth in a triple overtime game that ended allowing North Dakota an advancement to the WCHA Final Face-Off.

Saturday's score was more indicative of the play between the two teams more so than North Dakota's 5-2 Friday win.

The goals that drove the teams into overtime play happened in second period. North Dakota's Samantha Hanson broke the scoreless stalemate around halfway through the second. The Buckeyes were able to rally the tying goal with 38 seconds remaining in the period

After OSU's tying goal at the end of the second period. It would take another 63 minutes for North Dakota to complete the sweep and punch their ticket to play, at least, one more game at home. "It was a super grind; start to finish," head coach Brian Idalski said.

The game ended 3:17 seconds into triple overtime when Becca Kohler made a transition play that sent Megan Dufault up ice. Dufault passed the puck cutting through two OSU defense to Amy Menke who put it top shelf on UND's 41st shot on goal.

North Dakota will take a couple days off before they start preparing for the WCHA Final Face-Off that is being hosted at The Ralph on Saturday and Sunday. "The one thing we knew for sure we didn't want was to do was watch other teams play in our rink," Amy Menke said.

Taking a page out of the UND men's hockey program's playbook, the women's team is 22-2-2 sine mid-January.

North Dakota plans to take the next couple days off before preparing for face-off against the Wisconsin Badgers at 5:00 on Saturday, March 7. Tickets are available for the WCHA Final Face-Off at The Ralph box office and online.

Cody McLeod Jumps Mikael Granlund and Fights Charlie Coyle

I want to be clear, I am all for fighting and sticking up for your teammates. I get that, but what the heck is Cody McLeod doing? Or better yet, what is Avalanche coach Patrick Roy doing?

My question is: Wouldn't this be an intent to injure? McLeod took a run against an unexpecting player after the faceoff. I don't know?

Second, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund are skilled players, they're not goons. You really don't want to see Coyle or Granlund stuck in this situation.



If you're a Minnesota Wild, you're probably talking about this today. The Minnesota Wild the Colorado Avalanche are at it yet again. In four games against the Wild the Avalanche has scored a grand total of one goal.

There are rules in place to prevent what McLeod did, but you need the refs to actually call it.

“That’s garbage is what it is,” Yeo said of McLeod’s antics. “You feel it was going that way all game long. They were obviously very emotional all game long. In an emotional type of game, we did a good job of keeping our focus and I really think that was the difference in the end.”

Asked what he thought of Roy putting out McLeod, Yeo said, “We’ve seen the league respond to things like this. There’s rules in place to try to prevent things like that and I’m quite certain that they’ll take a good long look at that.”

We’ll see if the league does examine this and determines the only thing that kept this from being an instigator with less than five minutes left is that the refs decided not levy one for some unexplained reason. (Michael Russo, StarTribune)

Apparently, Av's coach Patrick Roy sent their goon out at the end of the game because of a legal shoulder-to-chest hit.



If you don't believe me that this is a legal hit check out the GIFs embedded below.

Shoulder-to-chest hit. RT @ybba2026: @goon48 Bergenheim? pic.twitter.com/t5UTb3INs1
— Eric J. Burton THW (@goon48) March 1, 2015

GIF: Bergenheim hit on Mackinnon, cc @WalterNorris pic.twitter.com/BEdxfRb9M5
— Steph (@myregularface) March 1, 2015

UND Clinches at Least a Share of the Penrose Cup! (Circle of Sticks)

How sweep it is. Traditional circle of sticks.

A photo posted by Eric J. Burton (@eric.burton.94801) on Feb 28, 2015 at 7:33pm PST

UND is the 2015 Penrose Champs. They have clinched at least a tie for the title. With one point next weekend, UND will win it outright.

Warriors for life. #UNDPROUD

A photo posted by Eric J. Burton (@eric.burton.94801) on Feb 28, 2015 at 7:44pm PST

Tonight's win, along with Miami's loss at DU, means UND has clinched at least a share of the Penrose Cup! #UNDproud pic.twitter.com/RggJL0EoOq
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDmhockey) March 1, 2015