Two years ago, I was sitting down and looking at the makeup of future UND teams.

I looked at the 2012-13 squad and said, “That team is going to be really, really good.”

I figured it would win the MacNaughton Cup. Figured they would be poised for a run at the national championship. Figured they might be just as dominant as the 2010-11 squad, and as long as they didn’t run into Shawn Hunwick, this would be the team to beat.

Who was going to compete with their depth?

Top line: Brock Nelson, Corban Knight, Danny Kristo.

Second line: Stefan Matteau, J.T. Miller, Rocco Grimaldi.

Third line: Mark MacMillan, Carter Rowney, Michael Parks.

Best line in college hockey? Heck, that may have been the best two lines in college hockey.

But then, some dominoes fell the wrong way.

Miller got drafted by the wrong team — one that wanted to sign him immediately. He signed and played for the New York Rangers this year.

Matteau, after repeatedly telling the staff (and others around the country) that he’s coming to UND, changed his mind to go play major juniors. He also signed out of high school and played for the New Jersey Devils this year.

Nelson, who most (myself included) thought would stay for his junior year, signed with the New York Islanders and played this season for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the AHL.

And with that, UND lost three first-round picks that were scheduled to be on this year’s team. That changes things.

They recruited Connor Gaarder and Bryn Chyzyk to fill Miller and Matteau’s spots late in the game. They are solid contributors, but they are not 6-foot-2, NHL-ready power forwards with soft hands.

Yes, losing players unexpectedly is the name of the game in this age of college hockey. That’s why everyone outside of UND has missed the NCAA tournament at least once in the last 10 years — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Boston College, Michigan… everyone. That’s why none of the above-mentioned teams have a shot at winning the title this year.

You have to adjust to it and move on without them. And UND did its best.

They were still a pretty good team this season. They were a post away from winning the MacNaughton Cup (remember the OT in Mankato?). Another post away from going to the Frozen Four (one of three posts, actually). Average teams don’t get that close to those achievements.

They still won 20 games, got home ice, got to the Final Five for the 11th straight year (when nobody else has been there more than two years in a row) and reached the NCAA tournament once again (winning a game there).

Considering all of that, you have to classify this team as a good team.

But they weren’t a great team.

What kept them from being great? It’s hard not to go back and look what was penciled in for this season.

After Nelson signed, UND never found a left winger for Knight and Kristo. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Just about everyone got a chance up there — Grimaldi, Rowney, Parks, Mark MacMillan, Mitch MacMillan, Brendan O’Donnell and Drake Caggiula. They even tried moving Kristo to his off wing and Player X to right wing. Nothing ever clicked the way Nelson did on that unit. Simply, UND was never able to replace him.

Interestingly, it didn’t really affect the production of Knight and Kristo; they were still two of the top scorers in the nation. But it’s scary to think that they might have been able to do even more with Nelson (or if someone else clicked).

They also seemed to have trouble finding the right mix for Grimaldi. He played left wing, right wing and center with a bunch of different players. Again, it’s hard not to look at the above-listed potential line combination with Grimaldi and Miller, who clicked on the same line for two years at the NTDP and dominated the World Under-18 tournament together in 2011.

I’m certain that the coaches and players don’t want to hear about Miller and Matteau. They moved on long ago without them, and they aren’t in the business of “what ifs.” They were happy with the team they had.

But there’s no denying that their de-commitments — and the loss of Nelson — had a big impact on this season. You can try to plan for guys to leave after three years in college (they were prepared for Aaron Dell’s early signing after last season), but there’s no way to plan for guys not showing up at the last minute, especially in this day and age when all the top players are committed years in advance. It can catch up to you.

As for the loss to Yale, it wasn’t for a “lack of heart” or a “lack of effort” or that they “didn’t want it.” Trust me, they wanted it bad. The team just didn’t play well enough to win. They certainly didn’t catch any breaks along the way (all three of UND’s posts went out, Yale’s one post went in, disallowed goal, etc.), but that’s beside the point, because UND didn’t play well enough against a Yale team that has NHL-bound players.

In the end, we saw a pretty good team this season with a very good senior class. But we were never able to see the exceptional team that the coaches had lined up for this year.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Niagara gave UND everything it could handle Friday night in Van Andel Arena, but thanks to a key save by Zane Gothberg, two big plays by seniors and a shut down defensive corps, UND was able to sneak one out against the Purple Eagles in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald gamer

Grand Forks Herald notebook (random items)

Grand Forks Herald column on Hakstol’s line changes

Buffalo News

USCHO gamer

USCHO sidebar on Carsen Chubak

College Hockey News

Other notes:

• UND is advancing to the regional final for the eighth time in the last 10 years and for the seventh time in nine years under coach Dave Hakstol. UND’s seniors will play in their third regional championship game.
• Yale also is accustomed to being in this game. This is the Bulldogs’ third trip in the last four years to the regional final. In 2011, they lost to eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth. In 2010, they lost to eventual national champion Boston College.
• The big question will be about who you put with Corban Knight and Danny Kristo on the top line. A remarkable seven guys have had chances to play on their line, including Brendan O’Donnell, Rocco Grimaldi, Carter Rowney, Michael Parks, Mark MacMillan, Mitch MacMillan and Drake Caggiula. O’Donnell started up there, but was moved off of the line in the third. Grimaldi finished up there. Read Miller’s column to hear comments on that.
• Kristo continues to come up huge for UND. He now has five goals in five playoff games. Four in the third period. He’s second nationally with 26 goals — 18 of them have come with UND trailing or the game tied. He’s definitely making a case for Hobey.
• Prior to tonight, Niagara had just one loss in 17 games when leading after two periods.
• I originally thought Andrew MacWilliam’s point shot hit a Niagara player in front of the net and went in, but Chubak said it went in clean. He blamed himself for not stopping it and said he should have had it. Niagara coach Dave Burkholder interrupted and mentioned how many bodies were in front
• UND’s power play is 0-for-its-last-18, but threw 13 shots on goal during its six power-play chances against Niagara. The power plays didn’t struggle as much as they did in the Final Five. Maybe they are about to break through there?
• On the other side, UND has only allowed three power-play goals in the last nine games (27 for 30).
• The underrated play of the game is Zane Gothberg’s save on Ryan Murphy’s breakaway late in the second period. If that goes in, that might be it for UND. Gothberg got a piece of it and sent it wide of the net. Burkholder said Murphy has scored five goals on that move this year.
• There’s little to no atmosphere in the building, which is strange. The press box is way up by the roof, yet we can hear the players and coaches yelling clearly. There were only 2,289 in attendance for the day (while we had 3,811 on our live chat). With Minnesota losing, there might be fewer fans for the regional championship.
• With that in mind, I thought Niagara played the game it needed to a T. They kept the scoring to a minimum, made life difficult offensively for UND, got a great performance out of the goalie and scored the first goal of the game.
• Yale’s players weren’t all that giddy about the win over Minnesota. As Yale coach Keith Allain said, they came here to win the regional, not just beat Minnesota.
• Yale’s top forwards are very good and will get scoring chances. Kenny Agostino was involved in the Jarome Iginla trade this week. He was the best player on the ice in the Gophers-Bulldogs game. Andrew Miller is exceptional and Antoine Laganiere is believed to be one of the most coveted college free agents.

For the first time since the Broadmoor Trophy was redesigned following the 2008-09 season, it will be going somewhere other than North Dakota. UND’s three-year reign as WCHA postseason champion ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to Colorado College in the WCHA quarterfinals. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Grand Forks Herald column

Colorado Springs Gazette

USCHO

USCHO sidebar

College Hockey News

Other notes:

• UND moved to No. 11 in the Pairwise and will now watch the rankings move during the weekend to find out what seed it will be and who the opponent in the NCAA tournament may be. UND will be either a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed.
• The loss came on the four-year anniversary of UND’s last loss in the Final Five. UND had won eight straight Final Five games.
• One of the big storylines out of this is that UND will not be playing a marathon of games this weekend before the NCAAs as it did in 2010 and 2012. Will it help? Who knows. The last time UND only played one game at the Final Five was 2003. That year, the team ended up losing to Ferris State in the first round. Two years ago, Duluth lost in the OT in the Thursday game to Bemidji State and ended up winning it all.
• The other big question mark will be who UND plays in goal. I don’t ever remember UND going into the NCAAs without knowing who the guy in net is going to be. Clarke Saunders will want Goal No. 3 against CC back and that opens the door for Zane Gothberg again.
• One of the storylines of this season will be goaltending. Both guys have showed the capability of taking over games. We probably saw Saunders steal one in Notre Dame and Gothberg do the same at Minnesota State. Yet both have allowed some tough goals. It just hasn’t been real consistent.
• The goalie on the other end, meanwhile, played a pretty good game. Joe Howe continued his strong play that he showed in stealing a couple games from Denver. He stopped 29 shots and seemed to read a lot of plays well.
• UND has lost two overtime games in the last three weeks. Had UND won those two, it would be MacNaughton Cup champion and in position for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
• UND has been playing quite a few close games recently, but hasn’t been on the winning end in a lot. The last time UND lost a game by more than two goals was two months ago to St. Cloud State. Since that game, UND is 2-4 in one-goal games and 6-0 in games decided by more than a goal.
• The biggest positive for UND was the play of the fourth line. Drake Caggiula got back on the board with two game-tying goals. Colten St. Clair also had a nice game.
• UND’s power play went 0-for-6 in the game. They moved the puck really well on a couple of the power plays, but it deteriorated late in the game. The shorthanded goal was crucial. Had UND scored on that power play for a 3-1 lead, I think it would have won.
• I’ll be driving back to Grand Forks today, but will try to update possible NCAA scenarios when I can.

UND is heading back to the Final Five. It may not seem like a big deal to most fans since the team has gone there 11 years in a row, but when you consider that the second-longest streak is two years, that’s pretty impressive. Yes, UND has more consecutive Final Five titles than any other team has consecutive Final Five appearances.

UND got there with a 6-0 win over Michigan Tech in Game 3 of the series — arguably UND’s most complete game of the season. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Grand Forks Herald column on Tate Maris

USCHO

UNDsports.com

Other notes:

• UND is No. 7 in the Pairwise after the weekend and has secured, at minimum, an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.
• UND handed Michigan Tech its most lopsided defeat under second-year coach Mel Pearson. The last time Tech lost by six-plus goals was March 2011 — against the same UND team. UND beat the Huskies 11-2 and 8-0 in back-to-back games.
• UND reached the six-goal mark, without the help of a power-play tally, for the first time since Feb. 11, 2011, when it beat Anchorage 6-1.
• UND dominated from the start, throwing 18 shots at the Huskies in the opening frame. That tied the most shots in a period for the team this season.
• A couple of players were able to break long goal droughts. Colten St. Clair got his first since December and Brendan O’Donnell got his first since November. Corban Knight’s tally broke a seven-game goal drought.
• Clarke Saunders and Tate Maris posted the third combined shutout in UND history. The last was Jake Brandt and Jordan Parise, who did it in 2003 against Yale.
• UND enters the Final Five with a 44-16 postseason (WCHA and NCAA) record under ninth-year coach Dave Hakstol. That’s 17 more postseason wins than anyone else in the league during that span, which is ridiculous.
• For the third time in four years, UND will be playing in the Thursday game at the Final Five, meaning it will need to win three games to win the tournament. Thursday will be UND’s fourth game in seven days.

So, we have one last trip to Ralph Engelstad Arena this season. Michigan Tech forced a Game 3 with a late goal, just as the team did five years earlier in 2008. This time, it was speedster C.J. Eick with a highlight reel play to score the winner with 2:02 left. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Grand Forks Herald column on Grimaldi

USCHO

UNDsports.com

Other notes:

• UND dropped to No. 8 in the Pairwise with the loss. If it loses the series finale, it will likely fall to No. 11 or No. 12 according to SiouxSports.com. UND would likely be in the NCAAs if it stayed there over conference championship weekend, but it’s not guaranteed and it would be an uneasy weekend of scoreboard watching for sure.
• UND has won seven straight Game 3s. For a recent summary of those, go here.
• Pheonix Copley obviously had, by far, the most success of any Tech goaltender against UND this season and I’m sure he will start in the series finale.
• Clarke Saunders was solid for UND, only allowing a tipped shot and a highlight play by Eick. Saunders made 29 saves for the game.
• Speaking of Eick, it has been apparent in the four times I’ve seen Tech this year that he has absolutely blazing speed. I have no idea how he only has three goals on the year with those wheels.
• I’m curious whether there will be any lineup changes for the series finale. UND coach Dave Hakstol indicated earlier in the week that there won’t be any overhauls at this time of year, but we could see one or two.
• UND’s only home sweep this year was over Holy Cross. This was the first time since 1974-75 that UND did not sweep a WCHA foe at home, in large part because of the high number of ties. UND did have four three-point weekends at home. In 2006-07, UND didn’t get a home sweep of a WCHA team until the playoffs.
• Michigan Tech’s Milos Gordic, who was not a factor at all in December, has been much more active this series. He has a huge frame and when he starts cycling with linemate Jujhar Khaira, they can be tough to take off the puck.
• The first goal of the game tonight is going to be a huge key. I think that was a big advantage for UND on Friday – to play with the lead – and a disadvantage on Saturday – to play from behind.
• This is the final game in Ralph Engelstad Arena for the seniors and they say that they are aware of that.

Chalk up Game 1 as an ugly game that Danny Kristo wouldn’t let UND lose. Kristo’s big-time plays helped UND escape with a 5-3 victory in a game that had several road blocks. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Grand Forks Herald column on Rodwell

Mining Gazette

UNDsports.com

Other notes:

• UND is in fifth in the Pairwise after Friday night. If UND closes out the series, I think it can feel confident it has secured an NCAA tournament spot.
• UND coach Dave Hakstol is now 9-for-9 in 20-win seasons. UND is 31-8 in WCHA playoffs under Hakstol and has a chance to go to an 11th straight Final Five.
• Home teams went 6-0 in Game 1s of the WCHA playoffs.
• For video and discussion on Andrew MacWilliam’s hit on David Johnstone, go to this post.
• The biggest talking point of this game has to be goaltending. Zane Gothberg has been playing outstanding, and we’ve seen how he’s capable of taking over games as he did last weekend against Mankato. But he gave up two bad ones on Friday and we’ve seen him allow soft ones on four occasions now. If he can get rid of those from his game, he’s almost surely the No. 1 guy and a big-time goalie. But those goals can be hard to swallow, especially at this time of year.
• The coaches have a tough decision in net going forward. Do you get Gothberg right back in and have him shake off the tough ones? Or are the soft ones too big of a risk right now and go with Clarke Saunders? I have no clue. Glad I don’t have to make that decision. Whatever happens, it will be debated.
• I thought one big mistake Tech made was getting involved with scrums and taking bad penalties. The way to beat UND is to lull the place to sleep. All they did during those scrums was get The Ralph riled up.
• Jujhar Khaira took a bad penalty behind the play while Tech was on a two-on-one. He was prone to those early in the year but actually has done a very nice job cutting down on PIMs in the second half.
• Danny Kristo now has 48 points for the season, two shy of 50. UND’s only 50-point guys of the last decade? Matt Frattin, T.J. Oshie, Ryan Duncan, Brandon Bochenski and Zach Parise. All Hobey finalists. Kristo has had a three-point game in all three matchups against the Huskies.
• Tech went with Jamie Phillips in net. I don’t know if you can fault him on any of the goals. If any, maybe he wants Derek Rodwell’s back? But that was a rocket off the crossbar and in. Even so, I think the Huskies will go with Pheonix Copley in Game 2. UND has not seen Copley yet this season.
• UND had outshot Tech 12 times in a row. This is the first time the Huskies outshot UND since Game 2 of the 2009 playoffs. Tech outshot UND by 10 on Friday, though I’m not sure if the Huskies had more Grade A chances.
• Rocco Grimaldi continues to be snakebit. Once he gets one to fall, there might be a waterfall of goals. He was buzzing again Friday.
• Since opening weekend, Colorado College is the only unranked team to beat UND.
• Tough night for Derek Shepherd and Marco Hunt, beginning with the MacWilliam call. Greg Shepherd was in the house watching. One hot topic this summer is bound to be deciding whether refs can look at replay when determining whether to call a major or not. I think it would be OK. I mean, it’s not like they are saving time right now discussing the call for five minutes when they could be reviewing it.
• It was a thin crowd because of the poor weather and travel conditions. We heard Interstate 29 was brutal coming up and there were a number of cars in the ditch and accidents. If you are coming up for Game 2, drive safely.

Elsewhere around the league….

MSU-Mankato 4, Omaha 3, OT: Chase Grant scored the OT winner as Mankato won its first playoff game in three years. It is one win away from its first Final Five since 2003. Omaha is now 0-8 in its last eight playoff games and 0-12 in its last 12 games in the month of March.

Minnesota 2, Bemidji State 1, OT: Beaver goalie Andrew Walsh stopped 49 of 51 shots, but it wasn’t enough as Kyle Rau scored the overtime winner to put the Gophers up 1-0 in the series.

St. Cloud State 6, Anchorage 1: The Seawolves have now been outscored 19-3 in the last three games. They played with just 16 skaters tonight and, if that wasn’t bad enough, one got ejected early. Jonny Brodzinski scored twice for SCSU, while David Morley and Joey Benik had 3-point nights.

Wisconsin 3, Duluth 1: The Badgers moved up to No. 16 in the Pairwise Rankings, the last possible spot for an NCAA tournament berth. John Ramage and Nic Kerdiles scored goals for the Badgers, who have not lost back-to-back games since Kerdiles became eligible Nov. 30. That’s bad news for the Dogs.

Denver 5, Colorado College 3: The teams threw 81 shots on goal in an offense-fest. The Pioneers, who played with five defensemen minus Josiah Didier, received goals from each of their top three lines.

Before overtime started, UND found out the news it hoped to hear: St. Cloud State had lost to Wisconsin and a share of the MacNaughton Cup was up for grabs. But after failing to convert on a couple of Grade A chances, Brett Knowles finished the MacNaughton hopes with an overtime winner for the Mavs. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Mankato Free Press

UNDsports.com

Other notes:

• UND is ranked No. 5 in the Pairwise Rankings. The team is probably locked into the NCAA tournament, but I’m guessing would like to beat Tech in the first round of the playoffs just to make sure.
• As noted in the Free Press notebook, Saturday night’s crowd was the seventh-largest in arena history. Six of MSU’s top 13 crowds have come with UND in town.
• Ten of UND’s 36 games this season went to overtime #deadlineproblems
• It marked UND’s first overtime loss since a December game against Omaha last season.
• UND will play Tech in the first round for the fourth time in the last six years.
• I thought Rocco Grimaldi was the best skater on the ice this weekend — either team. He just couldn’t get anything to go. If he’s able to continue playing at that level, it will be big for UND.
• Coach Dave Hakstol was pleased with Brendan O’Donnell’s performance on the top line. It will be interesting to see if he sticks up there for the playoffs.
• Clearly, Stephon Williams is the real deal in goal for the Mavs. He was terrific in both games. UND also received outstanding goaltending both games from Zane Gothberg. UND may have found its guy for the playoff run.
• One of the best signs for UND this weekend was that Carter Rowney has taken another step and was pretty good. If Rowney can continue playing at a high level, it gives UND an additional threat.
• Drake Caggiula, who now has just 1 goal in the last 21 games, was a scratch for the series finale. We know he’s got a lot of talent — we’ve seen it plenty of times this year — he has just hit a tough stretch. He may very well get back in the lineup this season, though.
• Minnesota State snapped a 10-game losing streak against UND with that win.

It wasn’t a thing of beauty by any means, but UND found a way to grab two points against Minnesota State-Mankato on Friday night and secure a top-three seed in the WCHA playoffs.

UND also kept its hopes for a MacNaughton Cup alive. If UND beats the Mavs in the series finale — and UW knocks off St. Cloud State — UND would earn a share of the league championship.

Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Mankato Free Press

UNDsports.com

Other notes:

• UND moved to No. 4 in the Pairwise Rankings with the win, which would get UND a top seed in the NCAA tournament.
• UND is now 18-1-1 in March games in the last three years, a remarkable statistic. That’s especially the case when you consider Omaha is 1-11 in March games during that span and Minnesota State is 1-10.
• There have only been three games all season where both Danny Kristo and Corban Knight were held off the scoresheet. Two of them are the last two games. The other was the 3-1 loss to St. Cloud State in January.
• Drake Caggiula played with Kristo and Knight on Friday. They didn’t really seem to mesh and I’m wondering if they want to try someone else up there tonight. Not sure who that would be. The staff might want to keep Rocco Grimaldi on the second line, which was probably UND’s best.
• I thought Grimaldi was UND’s best skater. He was buzzing all night. He seems to really enjoy the Olympic ice sheets. He has played some of his best games of the year on the big sheet.
• No doubt that Zane Gothberg pretty much stole this game for UND. Gothberg has been very solid for UND in the second half. Since Feb. 1, he leads the league in goals-against average (1.98), save percentage (.935) and winning percentage (.833).
• This game marked the first time in five years — since March 29, 2008 — that UND got outshot by 20 and won the game (shots were 40-20 against the Mavs). The last time it happened, Jean-Philippe Lamoureux stole a game against Princeton in the NCAA tournament when shots were 39-18 Tigers.
• Unsung player of the game is Andrew MacWilliam. UND was desperate to get some line changes late. Instead of making a full change and perhaps letting MSU catch them in a change, MacWilliam stayed on the ice, even though he was gassed. In the waning moments he found enough energy to eliminate a player along the wall, which led to a clear.
• Stephon Williams looks like the real deal for the Mavs. He had several sensational saves in the second period, including one on Grimaldi that looked like it was headed for the back of the net.
• We had a total of 3,671 on the live chat last night. We were told that the webcast quality wasn’t the greatest. So if you don’t feel like purchasing it in the series finale. Tune into Tim Hennessy and join us on the chat and we’ll do our best to keep you updated.

Late Saturday night, we learned that UND clinched home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs for the 11th straight season.

We also know that UND’s first round opponent will be Anchorage, Michigan Tech, Bemidji State, Colorado College, Denver, Omaha or Wisconsin. In other words, we don’t know a whole lot yet.

If UND gets one win against the Mavs, it will guarantee a top-three seed.

Also of note, if multiple teams tie for the MacNaughton Cup, they will be declared co-champions. They will be seeded for the conference tournament and St. Cloud State has the tiebreaker over everyone.

UND grabbed a 2-2 tie with Bemidji State in a game that UND had to play from behind a couple of times. Game stories:

Grand Forks Herald

Grand Forks Herald column on BSU slowing down the top line

Bemidji Pioneer

UNDsports.com

USCHO

Other notes:

• UND dropped to No. 7 in the Pairwise Rankings after the weekend.
• There’s still lots of time for things to change, but right now, there’s potential for a huge mess for the committee to sort out. WCHA teams are current ranked 7, 8, 9 and 10 (typically, 7 plays 10, 8 plays 9). But they don’t want conference matchups in the first round. As I said, there’s enough time for things to change, but that would be a mess.
• Jordan Schmaltz scored the game-tying goal on a blast from the point. Schmaltz’s development has been apparent the last few weeks. He’s really gaining confidence and I can see why he was one of the USHL’s best the last two years.
• Corban Knight became the first player at UND to have two 30-assist seasons since Zach Parise.
• Mitch MacMillan led all players with five shots on goal.
• One of the big keys for Bemidji State was to play with the lead much of the weekend.  They are a team that doesn’t score a ton and would probably struggle to play from behind, so scoring first was huge for the Beavers.
• Grand Forks Central’s Matt Carlson got the call for the Beavs in the series finale and he made a huge play by blocking a Rocco Grimaldi shot with the shaft of his stick early in the first period. If not for the shot deflection, Grimaldi would have easily scored. BSU came down and scored right after that.
• Zane Gothberg maybe came up with the play of the day stoning Ben Kinne on a breakaway in the final seconds of the game. Kinne is one of BSU’s top offensive players.
• The Beavers did a terrific job on UND’s top line. Knight, Grimaldi and Danny Kristo were held without a goal on the weekend, though they all did get assists.