MASHING THE MULLETS

Game 7: UMD 5, St. Cloud State 1

UMD goals
Matt Greer 1 (Andrew Carroll, Trent Palm), 4:54 1st period. Palm took a shot from the blue line that St. Cloud State goalie Jase Weslosky stopped. The rebound was free for Carroll, who was also stopped, but Weslosky paid for not controlling the rebounds when Greer got one past him to get UMD on the board.

Nick Kemp 2 (MacGregor Sharp, Mike Connolly), 1:35 2nd period. Connolly (Mike) and Sharp did some good work to keep the puck in the offensive zone after a failed odd-man rush. Sharp fed the puck to Kemp in the right faceoff circle, and Kemp ripped a wrister past Weslosky.

Josh Meyers 3 (Evan Oberg, Jack Connolly), 13:39 2nd period (4X3 power play). Connolly (Jack) worked the puck free along the wing, and Oberg got it across the top to Meyers, who was open for a one-timer. He used Justin Fontaine as a screen, meaning all four UMD players on the ice had a hand in the goal.

Mike Connolly 3 (MacGregor Sharp, Josh Meyers), 19:06 2nd period (power play). Meyers came on off the bench after Palm broke his stick, and he fed Sharp, whose pass/shot was deflected in by Connolly (Mike).

Drew Akins 3 (Jack Connolly, Justin Fontaine), 9:21 3rd period (power play). Just good old-fashioned hard work by Akins in front of the net. He spun after getting a feed from Connolly (Jack) and jammed at the puck before he was able to tuck it inside the right post.

Thoughts

Wow. That might have been better than the Northern Michigan game. St. Cloud's lethal power play was almost a complete non-factor, and the Bulldogs got after Garrett Roe and Ryan Lasch to the point of frustration. Weslosky played well in goal for St. Cloud, but he didn't get a lot of help. UMD had 45 shots, many of good quality, and they put on relentless pressure at times.

The tone for the game was set early. The Huskies had good puck possession and offensive zone time over the first 90 seconds or so, but they couldn't capitalize with any quality scoring chances. UMD was able to weather whatever storm was offered, they got the early goal from Greer, and they were easily the better team for 60 minutes.

It's a virtual lock that the St. Cloud State team we see at the DECC November 29 will be better than this one was, but UMD has to feel pretty good about how they played. It's a good way to go into a tough trip to Denver this weekend.

More from Denver beginning Thursday. Hope the weather's nice.