Game 862: Denver at UMD

It is the last game at the DECC on this Saturday night. The Bulldogs lost a 5-4 heartbreaker in overtime on Friday, as Denver scored three bad-angle goals and took advantage of a bad line change and a defensive lapse.

Hopefully, none of that happens again. It's an exciting night, with many UMD alumni and pro scouts expected to be here. Also a sold-out crowd that should be plenty loud.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Connolly (Mike) - Connolly (Jack) - Fontaine
Schmidt - Oleksuk - Brown
DeLisle - Flaherty - Seidel
Basaraba - Hendrickson - Grun

Olson - Montgomery
Bergman - Lamb
Olsen - Faulk

Reiter - Crandall - Gaffy

DU
Zucker - Shore (Drew) - Salazar
Ostrow (Kyle) - Shore (Nick) - Maiani
Knowlton - Dewhurst - Jackson
Mermis - Ostrow (Shawn)

Donovan - Nutini
Ryder - Makowski
Phillips - Wrenn
Lee

Brittain - Murray

My Favorite DECC Games

Everyone has their favorite DECC stories ... the games that they'll never forget. Here are my five favorites.

5. UMD advances to Final Five (2003).

UMD hadn't been to the WCHA Final Five in a while. And the 2002-2003 season didn't start with a ton of promise. Third-year coach Scott Sandelin got them to improve, though, and by the end of the season, they were good enough to earn a home-ice playoff berth for the first time since 1998 (more on that later).

They split the first two games against St. Cloud State, winning the Friday game 5-4 before dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime on Saturday thanks to a Mike Doyle winner from Ryan Malone.

(UMD fans hated Ryan Malone, but we all knew he was good, and it's not shocking he's made a few dollars playing pro hockey since.)

Sunday night, UMD just laid the wood to St. Cloud State. The Bulldogs never trailed in a 7-3 game that wouldn't have been that memorable at all had UMD been to the Final Five recently, or if the UMD student section -- in full throat all night -- not beaked SCSU starting goalie Jake Moreland to the point that he was talking to himself and banging his stick on his crossbar in frustration.

You don't think players can hear the fans? Jake Moreland is living proof they certainly can.

Fans celebrated the Final Five berth after the game, and UMD would ride the wave of that late-season run to a third-place finish in St. Paul, followed by a Frozen Four berth the following season.

4. Fast start, right result (2004).

UMD finished in the upper tier of the WCHA again in 2003-2004, propelled by a 14-game unbeaten streak that carried them into February.

Someone forgot to tell Minnesota State.

The Mavericks shocked UMD in overtime to open a best-of-three playoff series, then absorbed a 6-2 thrashing on Saturday thanks to a Junior Lessard hat trick.

Sunday started pretty well for UMD, as they took a 5-0 lead in the first period. It went downhill from there, as the Mavericks rallied. After UMD made it 6-2 on an Evan Schwabe goal, MSU scored two before the second period was over.

They added one more in the third before UMD put the clamps on the Mavericks, holding them to just four shots in the third period in a 6-5 win that sent them to a second straight Final Five. Eventually, the magic carried the Bulldogs to the Frozen Four in Boston, but no further, as Denver ended the dream in a Thursday semifinal.

3. Patrick White Shines (2007).
2. David Brown's Big Morning (2008).

In 2007, Grand Rapids had adorned themselves once again in the old-school orange. The artists formerly known as the Indians changed to the Thunderhawks in the name of political correctness, but the Halloween Machine had returned in 2006, when Rapids made a hell of a run to the state Class AA championship game.

Many of the principle players were back for Grand Rapids in 2007, including Minnesota recruit Patrick White, Sam Rendle, and Joe Stejskal. They made it to the Section 7AA semifinals for an afternoon affair against Duluth East. In the previous semifinal, a limited Tyler Johnson scored in the final minutes to give Cloquet an upset win over top-seed Elk River. Rapids and East topped that game with a stellar high-school hockey game.

The teams went back and forth all the way to overtime. Earlier in the season, I had scorned White for scoring a goal in the final seconds of a blowout loss to East and hot-dogging. On this day, there would be no blowout, and White had every right to enjoy his achievement, as he buried the overtime winner for the Thunderhawks. Grand Rapids then beat Cloquet for the section title, and they finished state runner-up to Roseau.

Meanwhile, Feb. 23, 2008 was a long day at the DECC. Not only were there two Section 7AA semifinal games, but the UMD women hosted St. Cloud State, and the men were scheduled to host Colorado College. That's a busy day at the rink, especially when you're covering all four games.

The first Section 7AA game was played at 10AM, as Cloquet/Esko/Carlton battled Duluth East. The Lumberjacks were the underdog, and they fell behind in the first period. A four-goal second period had CEC up a pair going into the third, but Rob Johnson almost single-handedly willed East back into the game. Johnson gave East a 5-4 lead in the third, but it wasn't meant to last long.

Senior defenseman David Brown completed a hat trick to tie it, and then CEC got a late power play.

Brown's fourth goal of the game came with just 12 seconds to go, and gave the Lumberjacks an improbable 6-5 win over Duluth East. It was the third straight year East was bounced in the section semifinals, and these two were heartbreaking.

1. The Comeback (1998).

To this day, this is the only DECC game I own on DVD. It was March 15, 1998.

Minnesota and UMD split the first two games in a best-of-three playoff series, each winning convincingly. The Gophers shut UMD out in the Saturday game, and they took a 3-0 lead into the third period of the deciding game on that Sunday night. After Minnesota made it 4-0 in the third, many of the 3,000 or so in attendance began heading to the exits. That would be a regrettable decision.

UMD got one from Duluthian Ryan Coole before the midway point of the third to make it 4-1, then Curtis Bois popped one in with under eight minutes to go to make it 4-2. It stayed that way until the final four minutes of regulation. Off a crazy scramble in front of the Minnesota net, Curtis Doell -- who had suffered a rather ugly-looking-but-not-at-all-serious-apparently leg injury earlier -- shoved the puck into an open net at 16:32.

The old house went berzerk less than a minute later, as Bert Gilling got open at the top of the left circle and beat Steve DeBus through two screening teammates for the equalizer.

Only then did Doug Woog wake up and call his timeout, which was enough to settle the game down and get it to overtime.

"I'm a little bit surprised that didn't come earlier," said Frank Mazzocco, who called the game with Tom Reid on what was then called Midwest Sports Channel and is now Fox Sports North.

"We talked about that. Sometimes, a one minute thing can really get the guys refocused and readjusted, and we were surprised by that," former UMD coach Mike Sertich told me this week.

In overtime, each team had some chances, but UMD's Brant Nicklin and DeBus held their own until the midway point. Off a faceoff in the Minnesota zone, the puck popped free behind the Minnesota net. Two UMD players got to it and got it to the front of the net, where it went into the air off a shot on goal. Mike Peluso flashed in front of the net and knocked the puck out of the air, into the goal. Joe Rybar took the initial shot, and Ken Dzikowski helped set the play up with his work behind the UMTC net.

DeBus protested, saying Peluso played the puck with a high stick, but it's clear on the DVD -- made by an acquaintance using the tape he had of the game -- that Peluso's goal would have stood had replay been in use in 1998.

It was a good date night for the future Mrs. Ciskie and me. It was one of our first, and it was one of those moments where you realize you're on the right track with someone. After all, we had a date at a hockey game. How does anything get better than that?

We've had numerous dates at hockey games since -- including a Valentine's Day Gopher-UMD game at some point -- and I have her to thank for my current obsession with the sport.

To this day, people in Duluth talk about that game as if they were there. Had they all been there, it would have required the DECC seat 25,000 people instead of 5,000.

And it wasn't even full.

Friday and Saturday, it will be.

Goodbye, old friend. We move on to a new building, but we'll never forget the old one.

UMD Bids A Final Farewell to the DECC

Since opening in 1966, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center has hosted 860 UMD men's hockey games. Over 4 million fans have attended the games, of which UMD has won 56 percent (458 wins and 51 ties to 351 losses).

Saturday night, the DECC will have its lights on for UMD for the last time.

The No. 1 Bulldogs host Denver this weekend for the final games at the DECC after 45 years of hockey. Considering UMD is 30-12-3 there since the start of the 2008-2009 season, it's not going to be an easy building to replace, but Amsoil Arena will try its best starting Dec. 30.

Before we get there, we have what should be a special weekend.

On the ice, UMD and Denver are a great pair of teams to have play games of this magnitude. The Bulldogs match up well with DU, and they have produced some quality hockey over the years. This won't be slow-down, clutch-and-grab hockey like we've seen from many of UMD's first few opponents this season. Instead, Denver will force UMD to play a high-tempo, skating game, something the Bulldogs are very good at.

Denver has some top young players, including forwards Drew Shore and Jason Zucker, defensemen Matt Donovan and David Makowski, and freshman goalie Sam "Great" Brittain.

With guys like Donovan and Makowski in front of Brittain, the goalie has found a way to look very sharp. While it doesn't sound like a really hard job with quality play in front of him, Brittain still looks like a very good young goalie who has stepped in and earned more playing time than virtually anyone could have expected.

Steering the ship is longtime coach George Gwozdecky, one of the best in the business. Indeed, it's a formidable and superb opponent for UMD to deal with in their final games of their time at the DECC.

Denver will be a stiff test for UMD's improving defense. Sophomore Dylan Olsen and freshman Justin Faulk are having all-WCHA seasons, and sophomore Wade Bergman is one of the team's more consistent players. The Pioneers will also test UMD's work ethic, and their forwards will have to play a solid two-way game. Failure to do so will lead to odd-man rushes and general ugliness.

The DECC has been a great building for UMD hockey. The Bulldogs have in excess of 100 more wins than losses in the building, and a sweep this weekend would take them to 460 wins total in the arena. More than that, the facility has played host to some of the all-time greats of UMD sports.

Guys like Huffer Christiansen, Derek Plante, Chris Marinucci, Tom Kurvers, Walt Ledingham, Rick Kosti, Curt Giles, Junior Lessard, Beau Geisler, MacGregor Sharp, Dan Lempe, Jeff Scissons, Dale Jago, Brett Hull, and many more called the DECC home. Many of them will be back this weekend, and no matter who takes the ice before the fans, the feelings will be very special.

Nearly 11,000 fans will take a seat or a standing spot for the games, and many of them will have their own special story to tell about a game at the DECC.

It might be one of Bill Watson's big nights, one of Hull's hat tricks, or the night Junior Lessard scored a hat trick in the WCHA playoffs. Maybe it was the game where Thomas Vanek missed an empty net, allowing Jon Francisco to score the game-tying goal with 11 seconds left, then the overtime goal that beat Minnesota.

You might remember a high school game, like David Brown's four goal night afternoon morning that beat Duluth East in 2008. Or the night Josh Johnson shut out the 'Hounds and led CEC to state. Perhaps, it's a more glorious Duluth East memory, as they certainly have won a few section titles in the DECC. If you're a Class A fan, maybe it's the night Hibbing and Virginia played a section final before a packed house, and Matt Niskanen led the Blue Devils to their first state tournament appearance. Or undefeated Hermantown toppling Hibbing to go to a state tournament they would manage to win.

While these great athletes have taken to the ice, they've had the fortune of so many high-class, superbly-talented broadcasters and writers keeping close tabs. The DECC has hosted so many great names in media ... guys like Marsh Nelson, Bruce Bennett, Tom Hansen, Mark Fleischer, Kerry Rodd, Rik Jordan, Kevin Pates, and Steve Jezierski, and more.

The DECC is done hosting UMD and high school hockey, but the facility isn't going away just yet. It's not getting the wrecking ball treatment. It won't be imploded. It will still be used, in fact, for some youth hockey.

Of course, that doesn't limit or curtail the great memories that will be talked about this weekend. Even if there were no hockey games scheduled, the opportunity to see and talk to so many Northland hockey legends makes it worth the trip.

It just turns out that UMD and Denver are so good that they won't get lost in the crowd or the hype surrounding the weekend. They're only going to make it more enjoyable.

UMD Hockey Notes

With everything going on this week, I haven't made it down to the DECC. Of course, that doesn't mean things aren't happening.

Defenseman Dylan Olsen was named to Canada's World Junior team tryout camp. Olsen tried out for last year's silver-medal team, but Hockey Canada hates college hockey players chose to send Olsen back to Duluth. Olsen struggled a bit in the second half of the season, and it's been theorized that the snub affected his play.

So far, Olsen's been a monster this season. He leads UMD defensemen in scoring, and when you watch him play, you almost automatically conclude that he's a goner to pro hockey after this season.

Making the Canadian team would be a nice feather in Olsen's cap. He will miss time for UMD regardless, because the camp is Dec. 12-15 in Toronto, and the Bulldogs play at Minnesota Dec. 10-11. If he makes the team, he'll be gone for the Amsoil Arena opener Dec. 30, as well as the Clarkson series Jan. 3-4.

If that's not bad enough, Justin Faulk might be joining him. Well, at the tournament in Buffalo Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Faulk is going to be on the U.S. camp roster, and while he's not a shoo-in for the U.S. roster, it seems more likely than not.

(This seems like a really good time to remind you that Team USA won the gold last year in this tournament. So suck on that, Canada.)

That would leave UMD without -- arguably -- their top two defensemen for a huge game against North Dakota. Assistant coaches Derek Plante and Brett Larson both brought this up as a great opportunity for the other defensemen on this roster. UMD has ten, and five of them have been in a never-ending struggle for ice time. The competition has been fun to watch in practice, and things could get really interesting if someone steps up and plays well while Olsen and Faulk are (presumably) gone at the WJC.

Will he or won't he? Must be something about guys named Brett.

Kevin Pates notes that we don't know for sure yet if Brett Hull will make it to Saturday's final game at the DECC. I was told the same thing by a couple people earlier this week.

It almost reads like we are being duped in hopes that there's a surprise in store for fans Saturday night. If that's the case, it's both genius and aggravating at the same time.

If it's seriously that Hull hasn't or can't make up his mind, then maybe there is something about being named Brett that renders the person indecisive by nature.

Of course, Hull -- who starred at UMD for two stellar years in the 1980s -- can do whatever he wants. He's earned that right with those 700-plus goals and two Stanley Cups, one of which I hoisted over my head at Grandma's Sports Garden in 1999.

UMD Unveils All-DECC Team

As we get ready to close the door on the DECC for the final time as a UMD hockey venue, UMD is preparing for a very special night Dec. 4.

That's the day of the DECC's final men's hockey game, as UMD hosts Denver. While fans fight for the right to unbolt their seats and take them home, a number of UMD hockey legends will be honored and (hopefully) we'll get to see a few of them in the flesh.

Ahead of that big night, UMD has announced its All-DECC team, chosen by a group of UMD alumni.

As you can expect, there are some great names on the list, representing a lot of UMD hockey history. Read all about it after the jump.

UMD Conducting Special Season Ticket Sale

If you haven't yet picked up UMD men's hockey season tickets at Amsoil Arena, you still have an opportunity to get tickets and pick your seats.

This chance will come on Sunday afternoon at the new facility.

The university has announced a special one-day sale that will take place Sunday, less than two months before the rink hosts its first game on Dec. 30.

Details are available after the jump.

Meetings on New DECC Arena

Courtesy of UMD:

The University of Minnesota Duluth Athletic Department will hold two meetings this week covering the Bulldogs' transition to the new DECC hockey arena next December. UMD athletic administrators will discuss the various seating options and the priority points system which will be used in the move to the new facility.

The events, which are open to the public, will be held this Sunday (Oct. 11) at 6:15 p.m. at the DECC's Paulucci Hall and on Monay (Oct. 12) at 5:30 p.m. at the Skyline Lounge in Hermantown. For more information, please contact the UMD ticket office at 218-726-8595.

Obviously, there are questions that linger about how things will work in the new arena. If you have some questions, this is a great opportunity to get them answered.