NCHC Suspends Minnesota Duluth’s Krause (With Vine)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) has issued a one-game suspension to Minnesota Duluth senior forward Adam Krause, in accordance with the conference’s supplemental discipline policy, the NCHC announced Tuesday, March 10. The suspension stems from an illegal hit during the Bulldogs game at Western Michigan on Saturday, March 7.

Krause was suspended after a review of a play in which illegal knee-on-knee contact was made with a Western Michigan player at 8:51 of the third period of Saturday’s game at Lawson Ice Arena. Krause was assessed a five-minute major penalty for kneeing and given a game misconduct on the play.

Krause will be required to serve the suspension during the Bulldogs’ next game on Friday, March 13 at Denver in the opening game of their best-of-three quarterfinal series. Krause is eligible to return for game two of the quarterfinal series with the Pioneers on Saturday, March 14.

NCHC Playoff First Round Preview and Predictions

The regular season is now over, and the playoff brackets are now set. Most of the seeding wasn't final until the last day of the regular season, however seeds 1 (North Dakota), 7 (Western Michigan), and 8 (Colorado College) were set last Friday when North Dakota took the Penrose Cup outright. The top four seeds in the NCHC have their quarterfinal best of three series at home against the bottom four seeds. This year the match-ups are 1 North Dakota vs. 8 Colorado College, 2 Miami vs. 7 Western Michigan, 3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 6 St. Cloud State and 4 Denver vs. 5 Minnesota-Duluth. 

1 North Dakota vs. 8 Colorado College

These two teams met four times this season with North Dakota winning all four contests, one of which while in Colorado Springs by a 7-2 score and a Mark MacMillan hat trick. When CC came to Grand Forks for a second half series, the story was much different. In two very tightly contested battles, CC would be the thorn in UND's side, making it seem like it was a battle of top five teams in the country. UND would prevail on the weekend with a sweep, but maybe the most well earned sweep of the season. 

Who to Watch:

UND: With MacMillan out, probably for the rest of the season, Focus for the offense will go to Senior Michael Parks, who likes to spend most of his time behind the goal line, Junior highlight reel Drake Caggiula, and master playmaker Freshman Nick Schmaltz. However this is a roster that seems to have someone different step up each night and in the second half their top producer has been Senior defender Nick Mattson. Finally, you look to Hobey Baker finalist Zane McIntryre. Zane leads the country in wins with 25, tied with Michigan Tech goalie Jamie Phillips, is 8th in save percentage at .931 and 14th in goals against average at 1.99. 

CC: Junior center Cody Bradley is the only Tiger with 10 goals this season, and is also the only Tiger with over 20 points as well. The junior center has been the sole hope for offensive production for the season, but Senior forward Scott Wamsganz is on the 20 point threshold sitting at 19 points for the season. Never count out Sophomore defender Jacob Slavin for making some plays from the point either. Slavin is probably their best defenseman.

Who Wins?

UND should win the best of three series in two games Friday and Saturday, but I think one of these games will be within a goal or two and a very tight defensive battle. UND wins Friday 3-1 and Saturday 5-2, however if UND sits back any, which I don't think will happen, but if they do, look for CC to take advantage and try to force a third game this weekend. 

2 Miami vs. 7 Western Michigan

Miami took 11 out of a possible 12 points against the Broncos this season with one overtime tie and shootout victory when they went to Kalamazoo for a series during the second half. The series that took place in Oxford was not as tightly contested, especially during the Saturday night contest with Miami winning by a score of 5-2. 

Who to Watch:

Miami: Senior assist machine Austin Czarnik has 31 assists on the season for the RedHawks and a team leading 36 points.Junior Riley Barber shares the team lead in goals with Junior Sean Kuraly who both are at 17 goals for the season. With Seniors Cody Murphy and Blake Coleman both over the 10 goal mark for the season as well, you can't count those two out when it comes to scoring either. 

WMU: Although the season ended somewhere they didn't want it to, Sophomore Sheldon Dries and Junior Colton Hargrove both are tied for the team lead in points with 25. Senior Justin Kovacs is not far behind with 24 points this season with 18 of those being helpers. 

Who Wins?

I can't see this series ending any other way then a Miami sweep, but if you remember last year, the only home ice team to advance to the Frozen Faceoff last year was North Dakota. For that reason, I think this series goes the distance and WMU wins Friday 2-1 with Miami coming back with a Saturday win of 4-2 and Sunday 3-1.

3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 6 St. Cloud State

This is the series that I am most looking forward to. With Omaha falling off late in the season to lose the number one spot to North Dakota, and St. Cloud being a thorn in everybodys side this season despite being below the 500 mark, this series has classic written all over it. With both teams getting sweeps this season on their home ice, and the late season sweep of Omaha in St. Cloud a couple weeks ago being the catalyst in Omaha falling in the standings, look for the Mavericks to come out guns a blazing and look to gain some revenge. 

Who to Watch:

UNO: Sophomore Austin Ortega set the NCAA record for game winning goals in a season last weekend when he netted his 11th game winner. He is the leader with 18 goals on the season and tied with fellow Sophomore Jake Guentzel with points at 33, the youth movement in Omaha is on. Three of the top five in points for the Mavericks are freshman, Jake Randolph, Tyler Vesel, and Avery Peterson. Also look for Sophomore Justin Parizek to be a threat to score some goals as well. 

SCSU: Junior Johnny Brodzinski and Junior Joey Benik lead this team who's power play is top 5 in the NCAA. The top power play unit has combined for over 70 points this season with the extra man, so look for the Huskies to take advantage of every man advantage they are able to get this weekend. 

Who Wins?

No question in my mind this one goes the distance. I am taking St. Cloud to take the series and get the "upset" over Omaha as they have been struggling as of late, who is 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. St. Cloud wins Friday 3-2, Omaha Wins Saturday 4-3, St. Cloud wins 2-0.

4 Denver vs. 5 Minnesota-Duluth

With the season series seeing two splits, this series should also be very tightly contested, possibly the tightest of the four series. Duluth does hold the biggest victory this season with a 6-1 victory, but that came in Duluth. Every other game had a two goal or less margin, which is how I expect this to turn out. 

Who to Watch:

Denver: Freshman Danton Heinen leads the team with an amazing 42 points this season and Sophomore Trevor Moore is close behind at 39 points. Moore is the team leader in goals this year at 19 goals on the season. However, you can't talk about Denver without talking about Senior defenseman Joey LaLeggia. His puck moving ability and willingness to take it up on the rush has him tagged as one of the top offensive-defensemen in the NCAA. 

UMD: The usual suspects Tony Cameranesi, Alex Iafallo and Austin Farley are at it again this season and are leading this team on the helper side of things. the three are all at just 8 goals on the season and look to Dominic Toninato who leads the Bulldogs at 16 goals followed by Justin Crandall who has 12. 

Who Wins?

This should be a very close series, but Denver comes out on top. Their firepower will be too much for this UMD team. Denver wins Friday 3-1 and Saturday 4-3.

WHKY: A letter to WCHA women's hockey

Dear WCHA Women’s Hockey,

We’ve been friends for several years now and it’s been wonderful watching some of the best and most dominant women’s hockey teams in the country under the umbrella of the WCHA. But this weekend’s Final Face-Off left me a little blue.

I spent my Saturday at the Ralph Engelstad Arena watching a two quality women’s hockey games, but I was still left wanting something a little more.  During intermission I wondered why there weren’t any intermission games. No videos before or after honoring previous winners or highlighting the successes or WCHA alumni, coaching staff or programs. How about highlighting the WCHA nominees for the Patty Kaz award? WCHA women’s hockey has so much to be proud of. Why not showcase it?

If you walked around the arena, it didn’t make you feel as if you were in a tournament atmosphere. I know these are little things that might cost a little money and time, but I think it’s worth creating a fan atmosphere.

Maybe the lack of fan engagement is a dollar and cents situation. And I get it, the Final Face-Off can’t be compared to the money or atmosphere of the WCHA Final Five, but the WCHA can do better for women’s hockey. It has to do better. You should strive to be like the Final Five of yester-year even if it seems like an impossible goal. In the same way you ask student-athletes to elevate their game on ice and in the classroom, I’m asking you to do the same for the fan experience.

I applaud the effort to offer the free youth clinic on Saturday morning. I can appreciate the fact that this was an excellent opportunity to advance girls’ hockey. I hope the attendees had an unforgettable experience.

An event such as the Final Face-Off has two opportunities: help grow girls’ hockey and increase and sustain the fan base. You have an exceptional product on the ice. Make the event unforgettable for fans, not just the players.

Sincerely,

Jackie – a WCHA women’s hockey fan

Grand Forks Herald: UND nickname committee faces time crunch

Here's the latest from the nickname issue. Not really anything new, we probably going to end up with some nickname recommendations by May. One of the options is going to be no nickname. I included the part of the article that jumped out the most to me. Obviously, we know that Fighting Sioux isn't an option.

Grand Forks Herald -- But by December, Kelley was more clear and said going back to playing under the Fighting Sioux flag wasn't a possibility because of NCAA rules. He told the Herald he had been looking at how to address the issue as far back as the end of the special legislative session in November 2011 that repealed a law requiring the use of the Fighting Sioux name.

"We were put in a holding pattern, and as time moved along we got to a point where we could move out of that holding pattern, and that's where we are now," Kelley said in a December interview.

After gathering input from more than 7,600 people through a survey and town hall meetings, the task force ultimately recommended a plan with the caveat of keeping "UND/North Dakota" as an option for a permanent name, which the school has been playing as anyway since the Fighting Sioux's retirement.

The new committee, which will meet for the first time Tuesday, is the result of that plan.

But the task force did have to extend its original December 2014 deadline by a month, and university officials Susan Walton and Peter Johnson said the details of how this new committee will operate, gather information and ultimately narrow down possible nicknames will be decided once the group meets.

"We know it will be a public process and we will announce more details about that soon ... but it will be important for the committee to meet first and see how they'd like that process to work," Walton, the university's vice president for university and public affairs, said.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll

March 09, 2015

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	North Dakota	(43)	25- 7-3	988	1
2	Minnesota State	( 2)	25- 7-3	928	2
3	Boston University	( 4)	21- 7-5	870	3
4	Michigan Tech	( 1)	26- 8-2	848	4
5	Miami		21-12-1	809	5
6	Minnesota-Duluth		20-13-3	739	6
7	Denver		20-12-2	683	7
8	Nebraska-Omaha		18-10-6	661	8
9	Boston College		20-11-3	583	9
10	Providence		21-11-2	552	10
11	Quinnipiac		21- 9-4	525	11
12	Yale		17- 7-5	447	12
13	Bowling Green		21-10-5	412	13
14	Massachusetts-Lowell		18-10-6	344	14
15	Minnesota		19-12-3	273	15
16	Colgate		19-11-4	182	18
17	Vermont		20-13-4	177	17
18	Harvard		17-11-3	127	19
19	Michigan		19-13-0	113	16
20	Robert Morris		22- 7-5	73	20
Others receiving votes: St. Cloud State 65, St. Lawrence 39, Bemidji State 26, Dartmouth 22, Penn State 5, Rochester Institute of Technology 3, Alaska 2, Canisius 2, Michigan State 2.

 

UND remains number one in the Pairwise and the USCHO poll.

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.