Monday Musings: Bulldogs Explode in Second for Exhibition Win

Those in attendance Sunday night saw a UMD team that steadily improved as the game wore on, and ended up wearing down an overmatched Lakehead University group that was playing its third game in three days.

The 6-1 final was largely indicative of how the game was played, as UMD overwhelmed Lakehead from about the ten minute mark of the first period to its conclusion. The Thunderwolves used a first period power play goal to take the lead into intermission, but two significant Bulldog flurries late in the period really showed what was to come.

Power play goals by Tony Cameranesi and Nick McCormack -- Cameranesi scored on a five-on-three -- came 45 seconds apart and gave UMD the lead for good early in the second. Lakehead pulled effective starting goalie Jeff Bosch (24 saves on 26 shots) about halfway through the second, and UMD teed off on backup Justin McDonald, a former Midget teammate of UMD sophomore Blake Young. Austyn Young, Bill Exell, Alex Iafallo, and Blake Young scored goals 3:22 apart just after McDonald came into the game. That blew the game open, and UMD never looked back from there.

Shots ended up 50-11, with freshman goalie Nick Deery stopping four in the third after sophomore Kasimir Kaskisuo and senior Matt McNeely each stopped three in their respective 20 minutes of work.

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I hate to be "that guy," but I learned very little from Sunday's game.

Worse yet, I'm not sure what I expected to learn.

Sometimes, there's a line to get a look at, or a newfangled defensive pairing. But even though the top line and top defensive pairing both feature freshmen, I had a pretty good idea what to expect from Adam Johnson and Neal Pionk. Wasn't disappointed by either of them.

This isn't a bad thing. It's a product of the team returning 21 letterwinners from a team that damn near made the Frozen Four.

The power play generated chances and moved the puck well. As frustrating as it can be when guys aren't shooting, reality is that possession is such an important part of a power play. Win the faceoff, establish possession in the offensive zone, and then it's all about generating opportunities by finding the spots on the ice where you can outnumber the opponent and execute your plan. Shooting for the sake of shooting isn't a good idea. It's a recipe for losing possession and chasing the puck down in your own zone.

The penalty kill got victimized by a goofy bounce for the Lakehead goal. Otherwise they were solid in limited work. Lakehead only got two shot attempts off during three power plays. I'm thinking the coaches will take that.

The freshmen all looked good. Johnson got extended playing time on the top line with Dominic Toninato and Iafallo, and Pionk played with Welinski, as expected. The "fifth line" came on in the second half of the game, eventually taking the spot of the top line on the bench, and Exell, Parker Mackay, and Blake Young had a good night, chipping in a couple goals. 

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Had a few people at the rink and on Twitter ask why UMD decided against an experimental three-on-three. While I understand why some did it (Denver tried it after a 4-0 win over Calgary last night), ultimately UMD's call was to let the game dictate if there was overtime, and further if there would be a three-on-three period.

Why? What we were told is the decision was made because of the feeling that playing overtime -- even a fake, experimental overtime -- was not right after a regulation win of any kind. UMD has done experimental shootouts since that concept was introduced, but they came after convincing victories and made little sense in context.

Win a game 6-1, and now it's time of overtime? Nah, no need for that.

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Bemidji is next. As I mentioned on the air, UMD owes the Beavers one. Last January at the North Star College Cup, Bemidji State put a pretty thorough 4-0 whipping on UMD. It was the low point of the season for the Bulldogs, one that spurred a bit of a turnaround starting the next afternoon against Minnesota in the consolation game.

That means nothing now, but it was a really impressive performance by the Beavers that afternoon, and I have to imagine UMD hasn't forgotten about it, especially with the aforementioned 21 players back from that team. Bemidji should be improved in the WCHA yet again, and this is a sneaky good matchup on the "Week 1" docket in college hockey. The atmosphere at both games -- especially Saturday's game in Bemidji -- should be very good. I expect the hockey will be, too.

By the way, this will be a regular Monday feature on the blog, recapping the weekend series and occasionally exploring other NCHC notes of interest. Hopefully you'll check back regularly.

Monday Musings: Bulldogs Tune Up For Second Half

The second half of the season is officially underway for UMD. The Bulldogs opened with exhibition games in Thunder Bay over the weekend, sweeping the series from Lakehead with an 8-4 win Saturday night.

It was a good chance for the players to shake off rust from a two-week holiday break before NCHC play resumes at North Dakota this weekend. More on that in a bit.

As for Saturday's game, UMD started a bit slowly, though it wasn't disastrous because Matt McNeely made a couple key saves and kept the game scoreless. Once Blake Young struck past the halfway mark of the first to give UMD a 1-0 lead, the Bulldogs took it to the Thunderwolves for most of the next 30 or so minutes. The lead swelled to 5-0 through two periods.

At that point, Lakehead started to rally on UMD third-string goalie Alex Fons, getting the score as close as 6-3. But after that third Thunderwolves goal, UMD coach Scott Sandelin called his timeout, and Tony Cameranesi had UMD back on the board less than two minutes later for a 7-3 lead. Jared Thomas added one more and UMD ended up winning by four.

On the night, Willie Raskob scored twice, Cal Decowski had three assists, and UMD got two points each from Carson Soucy, Austin Farley, and Austyn Young.

Outside of getting a little leaky in the third period, it was a pretty good performance by the visitors. Leaves the coaches with things they'll want to clean up, but they got out of the series healthy and everyone who played got enough ice time to shake off the rust after the long layoff.

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UMD's depth was tested in the first half, and the Bulldogs passed that test with flying colors.

However, the team faces a different kind of test now. Entering a stretch of 18 games in nine straight weekends, UMD already knew it was down to 14 forwards, with sophomore Sammy Spurrell lost for the season after back surgery.

Now it's down to 13.

Freshman Brett Boehm left the team and returned to his former junior team, the Flin Flon (Sask.) Bombers of the SJHL. Boehm debuted there Sunday night and had an assist in a 2-1 win over Humboldt. He maintains his NCAA eligibility in juniors and will be able to play for a different Division I school in 2016, if he so desires. Boehm had no points in five games, but I don't know if playing time was an issue or if there was something else afoot. Reality is that it looked like Boehm was struggling, especially with his play away from the puck.

We'll hear from Sandelin this week on this, but it certainly puts the Bulldogs in a tough spot going into a long stretch where there are no weekends off, neither literally nor figuratively.

With only one extra forward, UMD has to hope for good fortune from a health standpoint. It's not like Division I forwards grow on trees.

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North Dakota is up next, with both teams part of a jumbled mess atop the NCHC. UND is fourth with 19 points, just two points back of UMD and Miami with 21. Omaha is third with 20 points. Denver is fifth with 12 points, which sounds like a big gap, but the Pioneers have three games in hand on the top four, so they can close the gap on their own.

UND is known for slow starts, but this year should debunk the notion that it's an annual bit. At 13-4-2, North Dakota is -- like UMD -- in a good position coming out of break.

In what is a difficult second half for travel, this will be UMD's easiest NCHC road trip until the league playoffs. The other conference roadies take UMD to Denver, Miami, and Western Michigan.

I'll give you more on the series later in the week. But anyone who was listening Saturday knows I am not well. Going to go home and steal some Zs and take care of myself so I don't sound like that again Friday in Grand Forks.

Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Welinski Beats Buzzer to Give UMD Exhibition Win

THUNDER BAY, Ont. -- For UMD, staying healthy and setting a solid starting point for the second half of the season are big keys this weekend.

Yes, wins are nice, but let's be honest: With 20 games in ten weekends between now and the end of the regular season, and up to nine more games in five weekends after that, this team has to keep its best players upright and on the ice.

A very physical exhibition game started UMD's second half here Friday night, as the Bulldogs ralled from a pair of deficits to win 3-2 on Andy Welinski's rebound goal with six tenths of a second left in overtime.

For UMD, it wasn't a perfect performance, but the Bulldogs managed to put 51 pucks on Lakehead goalie Jeff Bosch, and they managed to rally from 1-0 and 2-1 down to win another tight hockey game.

The power play was decent. The penalty kill had a pretty good night (the only Lakehead power play goal came off a crazy scramble right as a five-on-three ended). Those are good jumping-off points for those units after an up-and-down first half of the season.

After getting pulled from UMD's last game before break at Michigan Tech, freshman goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo got back in the groove with a steady 26-save performance. UMD did a good job clearing lanes for "Kas" to see pucks, and he did a good job controlling rebounds. There was a hairy rebound in the first period, but UMD's defensive work around the net rendered it meaningless.

(This was something I mentioned on the air during the postgame of the Michigan Tech loss Dec. 13. Instead of coming back and playing the next night, UMD had two weeks to forget the painful loss to the Huskies. Kaskisuo had two weeks to forget the worst start he's had for our colors.)

UMD's top line of Dominic Toninato, Alex Iafallo, and Adam Krause buzzed throughout. Iafallo's assist on Austin Farley's power play goal was the only point from that line, but they were good. Farley, Tony Cameranesi, and Karson Kuhlman had another very strong game. Kuhlman scored the first UMD goal on a great individual effort, beating Bosch through the five hole after he was taken down by a Lakehead defender. Farley's wicked wrister tied the game 2-2 after Lakehead had taken the lead for the second time.

Depth guys like Blake and Austyn Young contributed to the offensive cause, even though they didn't score.

UMD owned the puck a good chunk of this game and forced Lakehead to do a lot of chasing. The Bulldogs hit at least three and possibly four goalposts/crossbars and were robbed a few times by Bosch, who was sharp as a tack in his first game since October (concussion symptoms).

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There were multiple skirmishes in the game, none bigger than a near-brawl not long after Lakehead opened the scoring in the second period. It happened in the Thunderwolves zone after a Bosch save and stoppage. All ten skaters on the ice were involved, with UMD's Brenden Kotyk and Lakehead's Carson Dubchak getting ten-minute misconducts and roughing minors, while two other players got roughing minors.

It led me to believe we'd see a fight at some point, but after a couple more post-whistle fracases (fracasi?) in the second, things cooled a bit in the third.

The biggest issue was all the facemasking, an ejection in NCAA hockey but not even worth talking about in Canada, or so it seemed based on Friday.

Goes back to how much I've prioritized health in this weekend series. It doesn't mean you sit your best players, or you tell guys to go half-speed. But I'd like to see Saturday's game played cleanly. No need for the kind of garbage we saw on Friday, and while Lakehead initiated a fair amount of it, things work both ways (in fairness).

Get in, do more good things, do a better job winning faceoffs and getting traffic to the net, and win another game before the Great North Dakota Freeze Out next weekend.

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Elsewhere, former Duluth Marshall star Judd Peterson's goal early in the third stood as the game-winner as St. Cloud State stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Quinnipiac 3-2. Also, Denver tied Dartmouth 1-1 at the Ledyard Bank Classic. Miami got two from Riley Barber in a 3-2 win at RPI.

UMD remains third in the PairWise rankings, behind Minnesota State and Harvard. Remember, the polls don't matter.

Exhibition Game 1: UMD at Lakehead

THUNDER BAY, Ont. -- Greeting and salutations from Thunder Bay, where UMD opens the second half with an exhibition series against Lakehead University.

The Bulldogs beat the Thunderwolves 4-2 in Duluth back in October, but since then, a tough Lakehead outfit has been decimated by injuries, dressing as few as three healthy defensemen for some games.

Goalie Jeff Bosch, who made 57 saves against UMD in that earlier meeting, has barely played since because of concussion issues. It was thought he could return this weekend, but we won't know for sure until warmups if he's playing.

(EDIT: He's playing.)

Lakehead does not provide a line chart. Here is UMD's, followed by Lakehead.

Iafallo - Toninato - Krause
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Sampair - Decowski - Crandall
Young (Blake) - Thomas - Young (Austyn)

Johnson - Welinski
Soucy - Kotyk
McCormack - Corrin
Raskob

Kaskisuo - McNeely - Fons

Lakehead
Wright - Hammond - Grondin
Dubchak (Brennan) - Dubchak (Carson) -  Faust
Alcock - Ainsworth - McDonakd
Magill - Quesnele (Dave) - Cull

Quesnele (Mike) - Sefton
Maw - Gilbert
Fillman - Bruyere

Bosch - McDonald

Rare International Journey Starts Second-Half Grind

The UMD men's hockey team hasn't left the country since 1984, when it went to Russia and split games against the Russian Junior Red Army team in Leningrad and Moscow.

It hasn't played in Canada since 1964, when the Bulldogs traveled to a city that doesn't even exist anymore.

Well, sort of.

UMD's last Canadian trip was to Port Arthur, Ont., on Dec. 26, 1964, for a 6-6 tie against the Port Arthur North Stars.

Port Arthur isn't Port Arthur anymore. Now, it's known as Thunder Bay, and that's where Scott Sandelin takes his team for a Friday-Saturday series against Lakehead University.

The games don't count, but they are still critical for the Bulldogs. After a 12-6 first half of the season, UMD is third in the PairWise and in the top ten of meaningless national polls. Those rankings shouldn't be affected this weekend.

(The PWR definitely won't be affected by these results, but UMD could move one way or the other based on other games that actually do count. To keep things simple, root for success to be experienced by teams UMD has beaten.)

The NCAA allows teams to take "foreign tours" once every four years. As an example, the men's basketball team played games at Lakehead earlier in 2014. UMD's women's soccer team went to Europe for practices, games, and sightseeing before its season started in the fall. The Wisconsin men's basketball team went to Canada last year. There are numerous examples.

Logistically, it isn't a huge deal. Staff went through the process late in the summer and early in the fall to ensure that all players had passports. The team's Canadian-born players obviously were good to go, but many of the others probably weren't.

Outside of that, it's just  booking a hotel, planning meals, and figuring out when to go to Tim Horton's.

Oh, and there's hockey. Like I said, the games don't count. But there is work to be done for UMD. Significant games lie ahead, starting next weekend but continuing through to the end of the season.

"Like when you start the year, you have a starting point," Sandelin said this week. "You come off the break, and it's nice to play and get back into game mode. The opportunity to play two games is good, because we get right into the fire the following weekend at North Dakota."

The Bulldogs will use all healthy players this weekend, and Sandelin said they were going to get playing time for all three goalies: Kasimir Kaskisuo, Matt McNeely, and Alex Fons. The plan was not known as of Wednesday, but while it might seem obvious UMD will ride Kaskisuo as far as possible, Sandelin wants the others to be ready for everything that could happen.

Why Thunder Bay?

UMD played Michigan Tech Dec. 12-13. With no holiday tournament on the docket for 2014-15, the next scheduled games were next weekend, Jan. 9-10 at North Dakota. Wisely, Sandelin didn't want to go into Grand Forks off a 27-day break.

Lakehead, a frequent exhibition opponent for the Bulldogs, was a natural fit. The Thunderwolves had a hole in the schedule, it's not even a four-hour drive in good weather, and UMD could play two exhibition games instead of one, giving more players a chance to play in different situations.

Sandelin says Kyle Osterberg will not play this weekend. Osterberg is nursing an undisclosed injury, but is expected back for North Dakota. Junior Charlie Sampair jumped into Osterberg's spot on the third line in practice this week.

Asked if Sandelin was hoping for some recruiting exposure with this trip, he didn't say no, but he wasn't emphatic about it. The veteran coach noted that his staff recruits in Canada, and UMD's had some notable players from Thunder Bay over the years (Travis and Bill Oleksuk probably chief among them). Many of the city's top midget players end up in the OHL, but it's fertile ground for young hockey players. If UMD can turn some families on to the idea of playing college hockey with this trip, it'll be a win for the sport and the school.

Hopefully it's an enjoyable trip for the team and staff. Me? Looking forward to some Timbits. 6:30 games Friday and Saturday if you're inclined to check them out.