Friday morning reading

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

The most famous brawl in UND hockey history — the Water Bottle Game — turns 30 years old on Monday. And coincidentally enough, the University of Wisconsin is in town this weekend.

With those stars lining up, I couldn’t help but write about the Water Bottle Game. After all, any time you mention UND vs. Wisconsin, that game/incident is the first thing that comes to mind for people. I chatted with UND associate coach Cary Eades, who played a large role. Read that story here.

Eades says maybe it’s time to bury that game. He mentioned that he seems to be remembered more for that one incident than for his offensive production — and he was one of the program’s most prolific scorers ever (85 goals, 164 points).

Virg Foss, who covered that game for the Herald, mentioned to me that the history between Eades and John Newberry (who squirted Eades with the water bottle) went back to their days in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

Anyway, for those who were around, that story should be a stroll down memory lane. And for those who weren’t, maybe there’s some new info there.

This weekend’s series features some of the league’s top players. My story in Thursday’s paper talks about how much UND relies on that top line to produce. There’s a clear-cut difference in their production when UND wins versus when UND loses.

That story also touches on Wisconsin, a team similar to UND in that regard. Wisconsin relies on Hobey Baker Award frontrunner (at least in my mind) Justin Schultz and sophomore forward Mark Zengerle to produce. UND will be aware of those guys.

This week’s Q&A is with Brad Eidsness, who has just a couple of months left in his college career. We’ll see if he can add anything else to his already-impressive resume: Two-time all-WCHA, two MacNaughton Cups, two Broadmoor Trophies, a Frozen Four, an undergraduate degree in business and a master’s in business administration (which he will finish May 15). Yes, he accomplished a bit more than I did in four years of college.

This week’s episode of Through These Doors is posted here.

Elsewhere around the WCHA…

Michigan Tech at Minnesota-Duluth: Jack Connolly will continue his pursuit of the Hobey Baker Award this weekend against Michigan Tech in AmsOil Arena, where Connolly has become larger than life.

St. Cloud State at/vs. Minnesota: St. Cloud State doesn’t want to have to pull-a-UND and play fewer than 18 skaters this weekend, so it appears that defenseman Jarrod Rabey will be playing up front. The Gophers will likely continue to rely on Jake Parenteau to be a solid, consistent defenseman.

MSU-Mankato at Bemidji State: The Beavers host a team that has given them fits over the years in Mankato. The Free Press has a feature on Johnny McInnis, who says he’s losing his Boston accent and enjoying the Midwest.

Denver at Alaska-Anchorage: Denver starting goalie Sam Brittain, who had surgery over the summer and missed the first half of the season, is on the trip to Anchorage and may start one of the games. Defenseman John Ryder also is back after missing 13 games. Those additions should make Denver even tougher down the stretch.

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Toews named to Power 100 list

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

Former UND star Jonathan Toews is the most powerful hockey player in the world, says Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.

Bloomberg Businessweek made its annual list of the 100 most powerful athletes based on statistics, the popularity and viewing audience of the sport, endorsement earnings and their reach on social media.

Toews is ranked No. 69 overall and is the top hockey player on the list.

The only other hockey players on the list are Daniel Sedin and Tim Thomas.

Check out Toews’ profile and the entire list here.

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Johnson, Schmaltz play in USHL prospect game

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

A pair of UND recruits — forward Luke Johnson and defenseman Jordan Schmaltz — played in the first-ever USHL Top Prospects Game on Tuesday in Michigan.

Johnson had a pair of assists for Team West, which dropped the game 5-3. Johnson also had two shots on goal.

Schmaltz had two shots on goal and registered a minus-one rating.

After the game, Johnson tweeted: “Great experience at the prospects game, even though we lost.”

The United States of Hockey blog posted some thoughts on each player, including Johnson and Schmaltz.

Schmaltz will be at UND in the fall. Johnson is a 2013 recruit.

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Weekly Wednesday update

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

At today’s weekly meeting with the local media, UND coach Dave Hakstol said that the injury situation remains much the same.

In addition to the “out for the season crew,” freshman forward Brendan O’Donnell will remain out with an upper-body injury and sophomore defenseman Derek Forbort continues to practice (without contact) but is questionable for the weekend.

Hakstol also seemed to indicate that there are others who are nicked and may be questionable but said they will keep that internal (and everyone was at practice today).

Derek Rodwell has his shoulder surgery this morning and it was a success. Rodwell wrote on Twitter today: “Thanks for the thoughts and prayers, surgery went well.”

As for the matchup against Wisconsin, Hakstol said that the team will be aware of Justin Schultz and Mark Zengerle. There may be some line matching, but not enough to where it could take UND out of its game.

Hakstol also didn’t commit to playing Joe Gleason either at forward or defense. He played both last weekend.

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Toews won’t play in All-Star Game

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

Jonathan Toews has been selected to his third NHL All-Star Game, but he won’t play in it because of an injury.

The former UND standout is ailing from what’s being called a “left arm injury.” Toews won’t play in tonight’s game for the Blackhawks and will sit out the All-Star Game. He’s expected to come back soon after that.

Toews currently is in the race for the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP. He ranks second in the league with 27 goals. He has 50 points in 49 games.

Here’s a recent story in the Edmonton paper saying that Toews should win MVP.

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Poll time

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

This week’s polls, starting with the only one that matters…

Pairwise Rankings

1. Boston University
2. Minnesota-Duluth
3. UMass-Lowell
4. Ohio State
5. Notre Dame
6. Michigan
7. Ferris State
8. Merrimack
9. Boston College
10. Northern Michigan
11. Cornell
12. Denver
13. Minnesota
14. Michigan State
15. Miami
16. Colorado College
17. Western Michigan
18. Maine
19. North Dakota
20. Lake Superior
21. Union
22. Nebraska-Omaha
23. Wisconsin
24. UMass
25. Quinnipiac

USCHO poll

1 Minnesota-Duluth          (45)   17-4-3   995     1
2 Boston University         ( 5)   15-6-1   952     2
3 Minnesota                        17-9-1   790     4
4 Notre Dame                       14-9-3   750     7
5 Merrimack                        13-5-5   720     6
6 Ohio State                       14-7-4   703     5
7 Boston College                   14-10-1   680     3
8 Michigan                         15-9-4   675    10
9 Cornell                          11-4-4   654     9
10 Ferris State                     15-8-3   532    13
11 Massachusetts-Lowell             14-6-0   526    14
12 Colorado College                 14-9-1   518    11
13 Western Michigan                 12-9-5   360     8
14 Union                            13-6-6   349    12
15 Denver                           13-8-3   319    15
16 Michigan State                   13-9-4   250    16
17 Miami                            14-10-2   242    20
18 North Dakota                     13-10-2   133    17
19 Northern Michigan                11-8-5   103    NR
20 Maine                            12-8-3   101    NR

Others receiving votes: Lake Superior 47, Colgate 43,
Quinnipiac 24, Nebraska-Omaha 17, Harvard 8, RIT 7, St.
Cloud State 2.

USA Today poll

1     University of Minnesota Duluth, 507 (31)
2     Boston University, 479 (3)
3     University of Minnesota, 420
4     University of Notre Dame, 375
5     Merrimack College, 333
6     Cornell University, 320
7     Ohio State University, 292
8     Boston College, 261
9     University of Michigan, 239
10     Colorado College, 199
11     UMass Lowell, 183
12     Ferris State University, 154
13     Union College, 104
14     Western Michigan University, 103
15     University of Denver, 51

Others receiving votes: Miami University, 30; Michigan State University, 12; University of Maine, 10; Northern Michigan University, 6; Rochester Institute of Technology, 1; University of North Dakota, 1.

INCH power rankings

1. Minnesota-Duluth
2. Boston University
3. Minnesota
4. Merrimack
5. Cornell
6. Notre Dame
7. Union
8. Ohio State
9. Boston College
10. UMass-Lowell
11. Colorado College
12. Denver
13. Michigan
14. Miami
15. Western Michigan
16. Ferris State
17. Maine
18. North Dakota
19. Nebraska-Omaha
20. Quinnipiac

USCHO women’s poll

1 Wisconsin                 (13)   22-2-2   148     1
2 Cornell                   ( 2)   18-2-0   130     3
3 Minnesota                        20-4-2   124     2
4 Boston College                   18-6-2   101     4
 5 North Dakota                     15-8-2    80     6
6 Northeastern                     17-5-2    73     7
7 Mercyhurst                       18-5-1    68     5
8 Minnesota-Duluth                 12-11-1    34     8
9 Harvard                          12-6-1    33     9
10 Dartmouth                        12-6-2    20    10

Others receiving votes: Bemidji State 7, St. Lawrence 7.

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Saturday night rewind

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

It has now been a decade of Saturday-night dominance for UND at the National Hockey Center. The team improved to 10-0 in the last 10 Saturday nights in the building by grabbing a 3-2 win in the series finale in an intense, entertaining game. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

St. Cloud Times

UNDsports.com

USCHO

Other notes:

  • UND played a great first period Saturday and was rewarded with an early lead. It was a big turnaround from a lackluster first period on Friday night.
  • Ryan Faragher played great once again for St. Cloud State. He robbed UND on several great scoring chances, including a couple of breakaways.
  • It appears that Mark MacMillan didn’t get any good tips from his big brother on Faragher. MacMillan was robbed three times by Faragher, once that left MacMillan with his hands on his head, looking to the sky.
  • UND’s top line was dominant throughout the game. St. Cloud State really struggled with them. They scored three times and could have doubled that with all of the Grade A chances they had.
  • The underrated player of the game award goes to Carter Rowney, who came up with a big-time shifts at the end of the game that helped UND hang on. Rowney made several plays in sequence that helped UND get the puck out and maintain it in St. Cloud State’s zone.
  • UND coach Dave Hakstol called it a “three-line game” at the end. That’s because UND stopped playing Dan Senkbeil and Taylor Dickin and shortened its bench, while the Huskies lost forwards Cory Thorson and Jordy Christian to injuries. Hakstol said he thought both teams showed impressive effort and will at the end.
  • Because UND used the fourth line so little in the previous game, the coaches decided to move Joe Gleason back to defense. UND then double-shifted centers and went with six defensemen instead of five. Gleason was very good. I wonder if that might be something we see more of, especially if Derek Forbort remains out.
  • Ben Hanowski was all over the ice for St. Cloud State in the series finale. He had a game-high eight shots on goal and nearly tied the game on a shot that hit the post.
  • UND goalie Aaron Dell said that Hanowski’s post shot went off of his glove, then off the post, then off his mask. He credited his defensemen with getting the puck out of the danger zone after that.
  • All of the UND players said they knew right away that St. Cloud State’s apparent tying goal would be disallowed because it was kicked in.
  • UND had very good goaltending both nights. Brad Eidsness certainly did enough to give UND a chance to win Friday and Dell did the same on Saturday.
  • St. Cloud State’s power play moved the puck very well both nights but went 0-for-7 on the weekend. UND only had one power play on Saturday and went 0-for-4 on the weekend.
  • There are 10 games left in the regular season. Wisconsin comes to town this weekend, then UND has a week off. After that, it’s the stretch run.
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Gameday final: UND 3, St. Cloud State 2

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

TO ENTER THE LIVE CHAT, click here.

Viewing options: The game is NOT on TV in Grand Forks. It is on Channel 87 in St. Cloud and is on Comcast in the Twin Cities (23 in Minneapolis, 13 in St. Paul). Webcast is available at www.b2livetv.com.

First period

UND 1, St. Cloud State 0 — Corban Knight (Danny Kristo, Brock Nelson) 1:57. Kristo grabs the puck in the corner and sends a feed to Knight who is alone in the slot. Knight picks the glove-side corner of the net. The goal snapped a seven-game drought for Knight.

UND 1, St. Cloud State 1 — Andrew Prochno (Nic Dowd, David Eddy) 2:50. Prochno is uncovered at the left point, walks in and throws a shot through traffic in the crease and it goes in to tie the game.

UND 2, St. Cloud State 1 — Corban Knight (Joe Gleason, Dillon Simpson) 6:07. Gleason rushed the puck up the left wing and threw a shot on net as Knight went hard. Faragher was unable to cover the rebound and Knight knocked it in with his backhand.

Second period

UND 3, St. Cloud State 1 — Brock Nelson (Corban Knight, Danny Kristo) 2:50. UND’s top line puts on the pressure and gets Faragher leaning one way as the puck goes behind the net. Nelson wraps it on the other side for the goal.

UND 3, St. Cloud State 2 — David Eddy (Jared Festler, Andrew Prochno) 14:44. Right after UND has several chances to make it a three-goal game, the Huskies come down and score when Festler speeds through the right circle and sends a backhand feed to Eddy in the slot for a goal.

Third period

No scoring.

UND’s lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight–7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
28 Stephane Pattyn–9 Mario Lamoureux–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–(no center)–14 Taylor Dickin

24 Ben Blood–22 Andrew Panzarella
2 Andrew MacWilliam–5 Nick Mattson
18 Dillon Simpson–20 Joe Gleason

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness

St. Cloud State’s lines

10 Ben Hanowski–12 Travis Novak–11 Jared Festler
8 Cory Thorson–26 Nic Dowd–22 David Eddy
27 Nick Oliver–13 Jordy Christian–21 Brooks Bertsch
3 Sam Zabkowicz–16 Joe Rehkamp–17 Joey Holka

28 Andrew Prochno–14 Nick Jensen
7 Kevin Gravel–40 Tim Daly
4 Taylor Johnson–2 Jarrod Rabey

29 Ryan Faragher
33 Joe Phillippi
36 Nate Hardy

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Friday night rewind

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

The UND coaching staff decided to give Brad Eidsness a start on Friday night in St. Cloud and the senior delivered for the team. The only problem is that the team did not deliver for Eidsness in a 3-1 loss at the National Hockey Center. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

St. Cloud Times

UNDsports.com

USCHO

Other notes:

  • This may be the forward unit that UND has at its disposal for the rest of the year, so you won’t hear them complaining that they don’t have horses in the stable. But that unit is thin, relatively inexperienced and needs production out of its star players.
  • With the lines used tonight, UND has 85-career goals out of the first line, 20 from the second line, 17 from the third and 2 from the fourth. By comparison, at the end of last year, UND had 137 from the first line, 116 from the second line, 38 from the third and 22 from the fourth.
  • I thought Danny Kristo was probably the most dynamic player on the ice tonight, either team. He skated hard and tried everything, but his line didn’t score. And if they don’t score, it’s going to be difficult for this team to win games.
  • While Eidsness was very, very good in the series opener, I think the team will go with Aaron Dell in the series finale. Don’t be surprised if the goalies split time again next week, though.
  • Ryan Faragher improved to 2-1 against UND. He made more than 40 saves in both wins. On Friday, it was a 41-save performance. In October, he had a 44-save shutout against UND. Injured starting goalie Mike Lee has never beaten UND.
  • I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some shuffling of the forward lines for the series finale. The coaches moved Stephane Pattyn up to the third line with Connor Gaarder and Mario Lamoureux and that unit did some good things in the third period.
  • UND continues to struggle greatly on Friday nights in St. Cloud. The last time UND won a Friday night game here was Nov. 27, 1998. Since then, UND is 0-8-4 on Fridays. UND is 9-0 on Saturdays in the last decade here, though.
  • UND dropped to No. 22 in the Pairwise tonight.
  • If anyone ever doubted the importance of nonconference games, this says it all: If the regular season ended today, WCHA-leading Minnesota would not be in the NCAA tournament, but Duluth, Denver and Colorado College would be in.
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Gameday final: St. Cloud State 3, UND 1

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Brad Elliott Schlossman

TO ENTER THE LIVE CHAT, click here.

Viewing options: No TV in GF. Channel 87 in St. Cloud, available on Comcast in Twin Cities (Minneapolis 23, St. Paul 13). Webcast available at www.b2livetv.com.

First period

UND 1, St. Cloud State 0 — Carter Rowney (Michael Parks, Mark MacMillan) 16:58. Great passing play by the freshmen leads to a UND goal. MacMillan sends Parks in the zone with speed on a long pass, then, Parks sends one through a defenseman to Rowney across the slot and Rowney buries it.

Second period

UND 1, St. Cloud State 1 — Cory Thorson (Andrew Prochno, Nic Dowd) 3:55. Just as an SCSU power play expires, Thorson tips a point shot by Prochno to tie the game.

St. Cloud State 2, UND 1 — Jarrod Rabey (Taylor Johnson, Ben Hanowski) 9:24. Rabey sends a point shot through a ton of traffic into the top corner of the net.

Third period

St. Cloud State 3, UND 1 — Jared Festler (Ben Hanowski, Andrew Prochno) 19:04 (en). Festler skates the puck to the neutral zone and fires it into the open net.

UND’s lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight–7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
13 Connor Gaarder–9 Mario Lamoureux–20 Joe Gleason
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–14 Taylor Dickin

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood
2 Andrew MacWilliam–5 Nick Mattson
22 Andrew Panzarella

31 Brad Eidsness
32 Aaron Dell

St. Cloud State’s lines

10 Ben Hanowski–12 Travis Novak–11 Jared Festler
8 Cory Thorson–26 Nic Dowd–22 David Eddy
27 Nick Oliver–13 Jordy Christian–21 Brooks Bertsch
18 Garrett Milan–16 Joe Rehkamp–17 Joey Holka

28 Andrew Prochno–14 Nick Jensen
7 Kevin Gravel–40 Tim Daly
4 Taylor Johnson–2 Jarrod Rabey

29 Ryan Faragher
33 Joe Phillippi
36 Nate Hardy

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