Game 2: UMD at Northern Michigan

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The final game of this Upper Peninsula road trip -- the first of two this season -- is set for about an hour and change from now.

The Bulldogs try to get in the win column after last night's 6-6 tie against Lake Superior State, as they battle Northern Michigan.

Here are the lines:

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

Olsen - Montgomery
Bergman - Lamb
Faulk - Palm

Reiter - Crandall

NMU
Higby - Florek - Cherniwchan
Hanson - Vigier - Gron
Seckel - Brown - Fox
Muchalla - Kosinski - Pietila

Follmer - Ludwig
Macaulay - Spady
Fernandez - Kesti

Ellingson - Coreau - Hartigan

Wild Night

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- Last night was crazy. The only thing that wasn't crazy was the drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette. Since not a ton went right at Taffy Abel Arena -- obviously, we had problems with our broadcast, which I will address in a moment, and UMD was much leakier on defense than anyone could have expected.

“Our penalty killing and our goaltending will need to improve, and we can’t be so inconsistent," UMD coach Scott Sandelin told Kevin Pates after the game. "In the first period our defense was horrid and in the second period we took too many penalties."

The only notable event on the drive over was when someone mistook a roadside "Vote For" sign that was shaped oddly for a deer and slammed on the brakes for a brief moment.

Anyway, the game was weird. UMD hasn't played a 6-6 tie since 1992, and they haven't failed to win a game in which they scored at least six goals since the final home game of the 1998-99 season (a 10-7 loss to Minnesota).

So, yeah, it was weird.

Justin Fontaine scored two goals and had two assists, marking the first four-point game by a UMD player in a season opener since I-don't-know-when.

(Our records that are readily available go back to 1999, and I'm venturing that a busy UMD sports information director Bob Nygaard won't be able to dig that up while three UMD teams are playing home games on a beautiful Saturday in Duluth.)

Fontaine had three points at home against Lake Superior State last year, so that makes seven points in two years. They won't miss having to deal with him.

Mike Connolly had three points, and UMD do-everything-behind-the-scenes-guy Christian Koelling says Jack Connolly should have had three points, too. Koelling told us Jack should have received a second assist on Mike's game-tying goal late in the third period, but instead Fontaine got the only assist on the goal.

Fontaine was plus-three, as was Jack. Those two are going to make quite an impact on the Bulldogs' penalty kill this year. Mike was a mere plus-two.

Obviously, there are defensive issues. I'm guessing Kenny Reiter won't carry a 5.54 goals against and poor save percentage through the entire season. Biggest thing? UMD has to tighten up in their own zone, and they have to avoid those prolonged lapses where the opponent is possessing the puck and buzzing Kenny.

Northern Michigan isn't likely to lie down tonight. They lost to rival Michigan Tech Friday in overtime. They're going to be ready for UMD.

We'll see what personnel changes are coming for the Bulldogs, who had one extra forward and four defensemen in the stands Friday. I doubt much will change with the forward lines, outside of Max Tardy likely playing tonight. The questions are on defense. I would guess all ten will have at least one game played by the end of next weekend, but I don't have a good guess on what the plan is for Saturday.

As for the broadcast, I apologize. We had unforeseen and (from our standpoint) unavoidable technical problems with the setup in Sault Ste. Marie. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we weren't able to test any equipment because of bad information provided to us at the arena (had a wrong phone number on a line we needed to use). It set us back in getting on the air, and it made it impossible for us to diagnose something we normally would have diagnosed 20-30 minutes before going on the air.

Were it not for that, we would have been on the air on time and stayed on the air the whole game. Granted, the sound quality wouldn't have been ideal (it would have been the way it was by the end of the second period and for the rest of the game from there), but we would have been on the air.

Tonight, I can't make any promises, because I don't know if we'll run into the same phone line problems. But I can promise that we'll be on the air on time, and we won't have the same on-and-off hiccups-turned-catastrophes that we dealt with last night.

We'll be on the air at 6 p.m. with the pregame show. The online feed is available at www.94xrocks.com.

Game 1: UMD at Lake Superior State

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. -- Greetings from Taffy Abel Arena, where the UMD Bulldogs embark on their 67th year of varsity college men's hockey with a game against Lake Superior State.

This quaint facility seats around 4,000 people, and it's a big alumni weekend on campus, so we should have a decent crowd tonight.

Lines?

Lines.

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

Olsen - Montgomery
Bergman - Lamb
Olson - Faulk

Reiter - Crandall

LSSU
Acton - Schofield - Monardo
Cassiani - Lain - Campbell
Jean - Radke - Nehring
McParland - Barczuk - Shkreli

Haines - Pobur
Perrault - Trotman
Cowie - Stonehouse

Mahoney-Wilson - Ravn - Kapalka

For UMD, all players made the trip, so there are a number of players (seven) who are scratched. Those are forwards Cody Danberg and Max Tardy, defensemen Chad Huttel, Trent Palm, Luke McManus, and Scott Kishel, and goalie Christian Gaffy.

All but Danberg (knee) are healthy.

Gametime is 6:05 p.m. Central, and the broadcast is available online here.

Full NHL Season Predictions

This is likely an exercise in futility, because I'm terrible at this stuff, but let's take a shot.

You can read the NHL FanHouse staff's predictions by going here for our division picks, here for playoff picks, or here for awards picks.

What we didn't do was lay out our thoughts on each team in the league. I have a few, though, so here goes a probably worthless attempt at picking the order of finish in each conference. These lists were completed before yesterday's games, by the way, and I'm not going to change them based on one night of hockey.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
15. Columbus ... There's hope, but they still need goaltending and defense to step up.
14. Dallas ... Not enough depth and their goaltending is a major question.
13. Calgary ... Tough call, but not the kind of offensive depth to keep up.
12. Edmonton ... Youngsters will lead improvement. But it won't happen that fast.
11. Anaheim ... Captain Getzlaf out in front now, but not enough depth.
10. Minnesota ... Some talent and a hot-seat coach. They aren't very good on defense.
9. Colorado ... Talent-wise, they're as good as last year. They will contend for a spot.
8. Nashville ... Don't count these guys out. The Lombardi signing could be huge for them.
7. Phoenix ... That wasn't just dumb luck last year, and this team is better.
6. Chicago ... Too many losses of depth players to stay on top in a tough conference.
5. St. Louis ... Ready to make The Leap and become a contender. It starts this year.
4. Los Angeles ... Last year, they were in the Blues' position. Now, they're going to threaten for a division crown.
3. Detroit ... As good as they've been in years, the question surrounds ability to stay healthy.
2. San Jose ... Still plenty of veterans, leadership, and scoring ability. Niemi will be fine.
1. Vancouver ... A deserved favorite because they'll be better on defense and are as good as anyone offensively.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
15. Florida ... Not ready to do anything notable, but Dale Tallon will get it going.
14. N.Y. Rangers ... Tough to pick them here, but I don't like their depth or defense.
13. Carolina ... Building with youth, the right way. They won't stay down here very long.
12. Toronto ... Brian Burke says he's done "a poor job" as GM. I won't argue, at least not now.
11. N.Y. Islanders ... Tavares and Co. aren't ready to make the playoffs yet.
10. Atlanta ... Chicago South doesn't have enough offensive depth to be taken seriously.
9. Montreal ... Yeah, that Carey Price decision might hurt them before we're done.
8. Ottawa ... If the big guns can get healthy, stay healthy, and play well, they're a darkhorse.
7. Tampa Bay ... How can you not love the work Steve Yzerman has done in a short time as GM?
6. Philadelphia ... If the goaltending holds up, look out for this team, because they have most everything else.
5. Buffalo ... Ryan Miller, good defense, rabid fans, and not much else.
4. Pittsburgh ... New building and still a very talented team. Maybe a chip on the ol' shoulder after the way it ended last year.
3. Boston ... A little more offensive punch than division rival Buffalo, and Tuukka Rask is a quality goalie.
2. New Jersey ... They will score a ton of goals and possess the puck, making Martin Brodeur's life easier.
1. Washington ... Learned a lesson last year. It won't be repeated again anytime soon.

College Football Picks

I'm on the road. Here are a few picks for this weekend ... home team in CAPS:

OHIO STATE over Indiana
WISCONSIN over Minnesota
PENN STATE over Illinois
MICHIGAN over Michigan State
NORTHWESTERN over Purdue
Alabama over SOUTH CAROLINA
Arkansas over TEXAS A&M
MISSOURI over Colorado
FLORIDA over LSU
STANFORD over USC

Last week: 10-0
Season: 71-10

Bulldogs Lift the Lid

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. -- Welcome to the 2010-11 hockey season!

When we last left you in March, the UMD Bulldogs were sweating out a weekend in which they had no games to play, and yet had no clue if their season was over.

Sure, it didn't look good mathematically, but there was no need to give up and act like it was over when it might not have been. Once it was actually over, any thought that UMD would lose a lot of players to early departures was quickly set aside.

Yes, Rob Bordson left quickly for the Anaheim Ducks and a free-agent contract. And, yes, goalie Brady Hjelle bolted for the junior ranks and a likely transfer.

But in the end, guys like Mike Montgomery, Justin Fontaine, Brady Lamb, and the Connollies -- all of whom could have found some dollars directed their way under the right circumstances -- all returned to school.

It was a huge win for UMD, and now it's time for the team to reap the benefits.

This year's Bulldogs carry the weight of expectations into their first series this weekend, but it's something they've understood all summer they would be facing.

Now, it's time to start delivering.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that experienced teams -- ones with good senior and junior leadership -- have a great chance to win in NCAA hockey. Everyone has turnover nowadays, and everyone who has a shot at the national title is going to lose a player here and a player there ... sometimes, this will happen when it's not expected.

(To this point, Boston College had a kid quit after the season started last year to go play major junior, and Wisconsin has regularly lost kids early to pro hockey.)

I've already made a case for UMD being a solid No. 2 pick in the WCHA. Instead of repeating that stuff, let's talk instead about what the future holds.

UMD has to show they can score outside of their top line, or that they can score with someone else working with the Connollies on that top line, or that they can score with Jack and Mike not playing on the same line. No matter what, the Bulldogs have to show they can score consistently, something that didn't always happen in the second half last year.

On defense, there's talent, experience, youth, and plenty of depth. A lot of this battle will be mental and involve egos. Can the Ten Angry Men come together and support each other, while working hard in practice and trying to earn playing time? I believe in the leadership of this group, both in terms of the coaches and senior captain Montgomery. Four of these guys are likely to be in the stands for every home game (assuming UMD doesn't dress seven defensemen at any point), so it could be quite a test of players' patience ... something that isn't always very high in college hockey anymore.

In goal, Kenny Reiter is "The Man" now, but don't discount Aaron Crandall here. The coaches have been glowing in their praise of Crandall, who is a redshirt freshman. After a rough go in the USHL, Crandall has done nothing but work his tail off as a Bulldog. That said, this is Reiter's job, and he's earned that perch after his performance in the Final Five loss to North Dakota.

The opponents this weekend -- Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan -- come out of the CCHA. LSSU is a one-time national power who has fallen on hard times as of late. The Lakers haven't posted a winning season since 2006-07, and they haven't made the NCAA Tournament since Jeff Jackson was wandering around the bench in 1996. LSSU is picked ninth in the CCHA preseason polls, but they have a lot of experience back, and it would surprise me if Jim Roque's team didn't make a run at a winning season this year, along with a higher finish in the league standings.

NMU made the NCAAs last year, but lost a heartbreaker in double-overtime to St. Cloud State in the first round. The Wildcats then lost top players Mark Olver and Erik Gustafsson to pro hockey. It's going to be hard for them to stay in the upper half of the CCHA, but they do have some talent.

None of that matters, really. For UMD, this is a great chance to see what they have. Everyone went on the trip, and only senior forward Cody Danberg is known to be unavailable (he's out until around Christmas, it sounds like). There probably wasn't a lot of prep done for the specific opponents. Instead, UMD is focused on UMD.

The games are important, though. The Bulldogs' mediocre 4-4 mark in non-conference games last year cost them an NCAA bid, with losses to Bemidji State (two) and Vermont being the most damaging. There is no reason to think that the same won't happen again in March if the Bulldogs don't take care of these games.

I'm not saying league play isn't important, but remember that Denver finished second in the league standings in 2006, only to have their NCAA hopes sunk by a poor non-conference record. If the second-place team in the nation's best league can miss the tournament because of a bad non-league mark, anyone can.

Don't be that guy.

Dear Charles Woodson

Packer fans love you.

You know that, right?

Well, yeah. They think you're a freak of nature. A beast. The best defensive player in the game.

Oct. 24 will be a special night. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to ensure that this does not happen again.



Thank you.

Sincerely,
Packer Fans

UMD Hockey Opens Friday

The UMD hockey season is set to open up on Friday night, as the Bulldogs travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to battle Lake Superior State.

The team departs on Wednesday, and we'll be heading out there on Thursday, taking the day-long (pretty much) drive of over 400 miles and around eight hours in duration.

It should be a beautiful day for travel, and it'll be a nice drive, as we go along the Lake Superior shoreline (for at least part of the trip) and encounter what should be some awesome fall colors.

With the season opening, this blog largely becomes a hockey site, though we'll occasionally post on other things. During the season, you can look for UMD updates on this blog on a regular basis.

The No. 8 (USCHO)/No. 9 (USA Today) Bulldogs play at 6 p.m. Central Friday, and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. You can stream the games live at umdbulldogs.com, and you can hear them in the Northland on the following stations:

• In Duluth/Superior, games will air on 94.1 FM.
• Around but outside of the Twin Ports -- cities like Cloquet and Two Harbors, for example -- you can listen on 104.3 FM.
• If you live on the western Iron Range -- cities such as Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Virginia, and Chisholm -- you can hear the games on KQ 105.5 FM.
• Finally, if you are in northern Minnesota, you can listen on KQ 106.7, which covers cities such as Babbitt, Ely, and Hoyt Lakes.

Obviously, I'm very excited for the season to start, and talking to some folks at the rink yesterday, there's no question the boys are excited. If nothing else, they're probably ready to stop hitting each other in practice and actually hit an enemy player.

Lake Superior State has a lot of guys back from last year, including leading scorer Rick Schofield and senior goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson.

Saturday's opponent, Northern Michigan, lost senior goalie Brian Stewart and top skaters Mark Olver -- a Hobey finalist -- and Erik Gustafsson. The Wildcats aren't rebuilding -- and former CEC Lumberjack Reid Ellingson is expected to start in goal -- but they are in a bit of a transition mode.

Look out for senior Justin Florek and junior Andrew Cherniwchan as the leaders of the offense.

We'll have more on the Lakers and Wildcats in our weekend preview, which will be posted either Thursday or Friday of every hockey weekend.

Also on the blog will be updates on team news, injuries (when possible), and we'll continue the regular practice of posting the lines before each game.

Finally, I recommend that you follow my Twitter account for regular UMD updates, as well as the latest from around college hockey.

BlogPoll 2010: Week 6 Ballot

Generally, I don't like moving teams around a lot unless given compelling evidence.

I feel that Saturday gave me a lot of that, so here goes.

The Ciskie Blog Ballot - Week 6

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Boise St. Broncos	--
3	Oregon Ducks	2
4	TCU Horned Frogs	--
5	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-2
6	Oklahoma Sooners	1
7	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1
8	Utah Utes	3
9	Auburn Tigers	4
10	LSU Tigers	--
11	Miami Hurricanes	4
12	Arkansas Razorbacks	2
13	Florida Gators	-7
14	Arizona Wildcats	2
15	Michigan St. Spartans	2
16	Michigan Wolverines	2
17	Stanford Cardinal	-8
18	Nevada Wolf Pack	1
19	Iowa Hawkeyes	2
20	South Carolina Gamecocks	3
21	Missouri Tigers	-1
22	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
23	Northwestern Wildcats	--
24	Air Force Falcons	--
25	Wisconsin Badgers	-13
Dropouts: USC Trojans, Texas Longhorns, N.C. State Wolfpack

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Obviously, Oregon benefits a bit in the movement this week. The Ducks move into the top three, and I was tempted to move them ahead of Boise State. I want to see those teams play so badly, but that was last year.

A few other notes:

• I don't think the season is going to go that well for Wisconsin. They showed flashes of being a poorly and stubbornly-coached team against Michigan State, and their defense got absolutely gashed by an offense that I don't think is a top five unit in the Big Ten. If Kirk Cousins, the run game, and those receivers can do that, I cringe at the thought of what Dan Persa, Denard Robinson, and a probably-healthy Terrelle Pryor will be capable of. Not only that, but the Badgers are hurting on offense, where their best player, running back John Clay, has bad ankles. Making matters even worse, the Badgers didn't throw very well Saturday.
  
• I could have dropped Florida more, but 31-6 is not indicative IMHO of those two teams. That was a game that got away from the Gators quickly after Urban Meyer decided to unzip his pants and try to show off his manhood on fourth and goal when a good opening drive by Florida stalled in the red zone. Take the points, Coach, especially with a young team.
• If anyone has seen Stanford's defense, please call Jim Harbaugh. After making some huge plays in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Cardinal defense disappeared into the Eugene night, paving the way for LaMichael James and Darron Thomas to have their national coming-out party.
  

Ken Macha Told to Sleep in Someone Else's Dugout From Now On

The Milwaukee Brewers wasted no time doing the obvious after Sunday's season finale, which was -- naturally -- a loss.

They told manager Ken Macha they would not exercise the club's option on his contract for 2011. Macha was only ten games under .500 in two years, but it seemed evident there was friction between him and the players, especially stars Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.

Macha didn't do many of the little things former manager Ned Yost did right.

When an opposing player threw at Braun or Fielder, Yost made sure there was retaliation. Of course, it was sometimes ill-timed, but it was executed, for crying out loud.

Macha? He didn't believe in that, apparently. Instead, he let guys get hit time after time, and continued to let opposing pitchers off the hook until well after the Brewers were out of it. Incensed, the players didn't bother using it as a rallying point.

Yost used Braun's speed. He used Mike Cameron's speed. He would have used Carlos Gomez' speed.

Macha? Doesn't like making outs on the bases. Apparently, he'd prefer we just made them at the plate and eliminated the middle man.

Yost didn't let his guys get jobbed by an umpire. If it happened, he was in the umpire's grill in a matter of seconds. If he got thrown out of the game, dammit, he got thrown out of the game. It was fine, because he was sticking up for his guys. His players felt good when that happened, because they knew he had their backs. It made them want to play for him.

(The best image of this came in June, when the Brewers played a series at Target Field against the Twins. In the first game, Dave Bush was getting barked at by a crappy home-plate umpire who wouldn't give him anything, including the strikes he was throwing. Macha sat on his hands and only left the dugout when it was time to pull Bush from the game.)

Brewers fans liked to joke that Macha was always sleeping in the dugout. At least I think they were joking. I never saw it actually happen, after all ... even though his mannerisms suggested he was slipping away from consciousness once in a while during games.

Anyway, on his way out the door, Macha woke up long enough to talk about his dismissal, or whatever you want to call what the Brewers have done here.

Macha also acknowledged his trying relationships with stars Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder while noting that several other players he had good relationships with thanked him after yesterday’s season finale, including Corey Hart, Casey McGehee and Wolf among plenty of others.

Still, it was those other two players that he never could develop great rapports with despite his efforts.

“If the effort wasn’t reciprocated, then there’s not a whole lot I can do about it. You can’t force guys to do that,” Macha said. “Some guys were open to discussion and some guys weren’t, I guess, but that’s the same with every club.

“I talked a lot to Ryan, almost every day, but he does his own thing. He’s going to do what he wants to do.

“With Prince, I think he had some issues this year to deal with, the contract probably being the main thing, and at times he was hard to talk to. I don’t know if there were any guys on the staff that talked a whole lot to him this year.

“Those are the two guys, but the rest of the guys it was all positive. I opened up to (Braun and Fielder) but you have to have a back and forth. The faces of the franchise, that’s what they are.”

The bottom line is that he didn't get the job done. Making a connection with Braun and Fielder would have been fine, but it would have involved Macha being different than the way he was. His personality just wasn't going to mesh with these two guys.

Yes, Braun and Fielder should have made more of an effort to get along with their on-field boss. But we live in a society now where the coach has to give some, too. It's not 1966 anymore, when "my way or the highway" coaches won games by scaring the hell out of their players.

Macha managed like it was 1966, and while there are some veteran teams that he could be effective with, this is simply not one of them. It's a younger team that needs a high-energy manager who understands matchups and tactics, and he understands how to relate to his star players.

Without that, no coach or manager can last ... not in 2010. Or 2011.