Monday Musings: Seniors, Kaskisuo Secure Sweep

Fitting, I must say, that UMD's Senior Night ceremony led to some unheralded seniors making huge contributions in the Bulldogs' latest key victory.

Pregame, head coach Scott Sandelin lauded his eight-man class, saying "Some have been great contributors. Some maybe don't feel like they have been but they have. Every guy's a valuable member."

Even better: This wasn't their last home game. UMD's win Friday guaranteed one more series on home ice, which we'll talk about in a smidge.

In UMD's 3-1 win Saturday, senior defenseman Willie Corrin opened the scoring with his first goal of the season in the first period, and classmate Charlie Sampair gave UMD the lead for good early in the third.

Corrin has been more confident in the offensive zone as of late, and on his goal, he drove down the left boards with the puck and cut to the front, where his initial shot was stopped by Miami goalie Jay Williams before he put the rebound home. 

Miami was able to assert itself defensively more on Saturday than Friday. The RedHawks did a very good job cutting down on scoring chances, holding UMD to just 21 shots on the night and pestering the Bulldogs throughout the night.

I thought captain Sean Kuraly led the way for Miami from the start. He was strong in all three zones, and was a beast on the penalty kill for Miami as UMD was held to one shot in two scoreless power plays in the first period. Freshman Jack Roslovic was very good as well, after being hard to find for a chunk of Friday's affair.

Miami tied the game in the second period, as Kiefer Sherwood was set up at the doorstep by Kuraly and Roslovic. That goal came in the final two minutes of the second period, but it wasn't tied for long.

Less than two and a half minutes into the third, Tony Cameranesi stole a puck near the blue line and got a shot on Williams, who made the initial save but kicked the rebound into the left circle, where Sampair was able to drive it home for a 2-1 lead. Sampair is close to his 100th career game (96 after Saturday), and it'd be great to get him there. He struggled to get in the lineup as a freshman, and suffered a season-ending injury as he was really gaining traction in his sophomore season. 100 might not be a ton of games for a four-year guy, but for Sampair, I believe it's a meaningful accomplishment.

Sophomore goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo made that lead stand up, making a great save on Kuraly late when Miami went with six skaters. He made 20 saves on the night and 40 on 41 shots in the series, securing the NCHC goaltending title with a 1.69 goals against, edging out North Dakota's Cam Johnson, who finished with a 1.80 goals against in league play after allowing three goals on four shots in the first 12 minutes of UND's eventual 5-4 win over Western Michigan Saturday.

Kaskisuo is up to a .926 save percentage on the season, including .932 in 23 NCHC games. He is currently two-thousandths of a percentage point ahead of Alex Stalock (.924 in 2008-09) for the best save percentage in a single season in program history.

(His .917 from last year ranks third, behind Stalock and Josh Johnson, who was a .922 goalie as a senior in 2006-07).

I'm checking with UMD on this, but the Bulldogs' team save percentage of .922 is likely a single-season record as well (.920 in 2008-2009 is the highest I can find).

By the way, Kaskisuo's last six starts: 4-2 record, 1.16 goals against, .959 save percentage.

Seems that's pretty good.

******

The mission last week was to get home ice. That's accomplished, but there is a lot more work to be done.

The math wizards at College Hockey News say UMD is better than a 50/50 shot to make the national tournament, but I guarantee you that chance reduces to near zero if UMD doesn't win this weekend.

It's Miami again, and this time it's a best of three to move on to Target Center and the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. If UMD wins the series in two straight, I believe the Bulldogs would need only one win at Target Center to secure an NCAA bid, but that depends on who else advances in the tournament.

(The home teams in this weekends' playoff series are 14-0-2 against the visiting teams, including UMD's 3-0-1 mark against Miami. Normally, I'd be inclined to pick some upsets this weekend, but I don't know where I would start on that venture.)

The Bulldogs have gotten hot here, but the hole they were in was pretty deep. To keep playing beyond this weekend, UMD must stay hot.

Game 34: Miami at UMD

Before this series finale, UMD will honor its eight-member senior class. All eight are dressed for the game, and we know for sure seven of them will play.

Forwards Tony Cameranesi, Cal Decowski, Austin Farley, Charlie Sampair, and Austyn Young are joined by defensemen Willie Corrin and Andy Welinski, and goalie Matt McNeely. McNeely is dressed as the backup, the other seven are in the lineup.

No changes from Friday for UMD. One possible change for Miami, which I'll explain.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Johnson
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Mackay
Sampair - Decowski - Young (Austyn)

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely - Deery

Miami
Lemirande - Mooney - Schmit
Morris - Greenberg - LaValle
Sherwood - Kuraly - Roslovic
Louis - Melnick - Gacek

Hutton - Richart
Belpedio - Joyaux
Dornbrock - Sullivan

Williams - McCarthy

(For Miami, senior forward Andrew Schmit is in the lineup, but freshman Ryan Siroky, whom Schmit replaces, will take the warmup. If Siroky plays, someone will draw out of the lineup. I'll update on Twitter pregame.)

Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Bulldogs Blitz Miami, Clinch Home Ice for NCHC First Round

Remember the movie "Major League," when Jake Taylor distracts the Oakland hitter and induces a pop-up, allowing Rick Vaughn to complete his first major-league win after Roger Dorn tanked a grounder that would have been the last out? Lou Brown turns to his bench coach and utters nine words that are completely appropriate for the moment.



It certainly is coming together for UMD. And in a season where things went south a couple different times, the Bulldogs have definitely picked a good time to find that extra one percent.

Five different UMD players found the back of the net Friday night, and UMD blew by Miami 5-0 at Amsoil Arena to clinch home ice for a first round series in the NCHC playoffs next weekend. Against Miami.

Possibly more impressive than outscoring foes 11-2 in a three-game winning streak, UMD has continued to play the game from its own zone out. There were a couple times Friday where the Bulldogs tried to get fancy on breakouts, and got hemmed in their own zone as a result, but UMD kept working, and Kasimir Kaskisuo made some massive stops among his 20 on the night. Kaskisuo also picked up an assist on Karson Kuhlman's third-period goal, the first point of the season for the sophomore goalie, and the third of his career.

Possibly even more impressive is how UMD shook off another controversial call that went the way of the adversary. Willie Raskob appeared to have scored a great power play goal to stake his team to a 3-0 lead in the second period. Officials ruled that Austin Farley interfered with the goalie with his stick. While there may have been contact, it didn't appear to be enough to overturn the call on the ice, but alas it was. Instead of pouting about it, the Bulldogs went back to work in the offensive zone, drew a penalty a couple minutes later, and had legitimately taken a 3-0 lead on Neal Pionk's power play goal in the final minute of the second period.

By no means am I saying this team was immature at any point, but it was really good to see the quick and positive response. I'd say the same thing about the events of two Fridays ago in Grand Forks. At no point did I think it was adversely affecting UMD's game the next night, and it would have been really easy to get down after losing on an overtime penalty shot like that.

Now, these negative events -- UMD hit two crossbars, a goalpost, had what should probably have been a good goal disallowed, and watched Miami goalie Jay Williams rob Jared Thomas blind on a great first-period chance -- get blown off. It's just another positive step.

Bad shifts get blown off, too. UMD had a couple of them, one early in the second period not long after Brenden Kotyk gave his team a 2-0 lead with his second goal in three games. The Bulldogs tried to get a bit cute on a breakout and got pinned for a while. After an icing, UMD won a faceoff and worked it up the rink the right way.

In the second and third periods, Miami attempted 18 shots, nine in each stanza. In the third, the RedHawks were the ones constantly hemmed in their own zone, unable to generate enough possession or complete enough passes to create offensive chances or even get the puck to the red line for a dump-in and change.

After the halfway mark of the period, Miami coach Enrico Blasi chose to change goalies at a stoppage, putting freshman Evan McCarthy in for the senior Williams, who allowed three goals on 22 shots faced but honestly had a better night than the stats show. He made a great save on Thomas in the first, and another off a Kuhlman deflection in the third period. It's easy to see why he's been the goalie of choice in the second half, with a .929 save percentage since Jan. 1 before Friday's game. McCarthy made just three saves on five shots, beaten by Kuhlman on a great shot and Kyle Osterberg on a net drive from the right corner.

Blasi appeared pretty upset with what he was seeing late in the third period, and whether we're reading too much into his body language and facial expressions on the bench or not, you can bet Miami will be better in the rematch on Saturday. UMD was never really in a perilous position in the conference standings, but Miami was hovering in the sixth- and seventh-place spots for a while. Since the break, the RedHawks have gone from battling Western Michigan and Colorado College for standings position to getting back in the mix for home ice in the first round. They got back in the mix for a reason, and it's in part because Blasi is a hell of a coach who knows what buttons to push to get the most out of his team. Miami has seen some tough losses this season, including one in North Dakota where it almost stole a game (sound familiar?), so we know the RedHawks can play with anyone.

Blasi talked with me this week about how it was getting more consistency out of his largely young group. The skill is there, no doubt. Freshmen Jack Roslovic and Josh Melnick are going to be very good players, and senior captain Sean Kuraly has developed into a pro-style forward who I think is capable of making it at the next level. They'll all be better in the Saturday game.

To add to it, Saturday's game is far from meaningless for both teams. Miami dropped to 22nd in the PairWise rankings with the Friday loss, but it could get back into the teens by splitting the series, while also dropping UMD farther from the at-large bubble line. The teams meet again next week regardless, but UMD really needs this one to finish off a sweep. The St. Cloud sweep did, I believe, give this team some margin for error, but this isn't the time to test that theory.

Also, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but arrive early if you have tickets for Saturday so you can catch the pregame Senior Night ceremony.

One more thing: I'll be on Beyond The Pond on KFAN FM 100.3 and its statewide network (92.1 The Fan in Duluth) with Brandon Mileski and Nate Miller at 10:40.

Game 33: Miami at UMD

Back home for the first time since Feb. 9, UMD has an opportunity this weekend to not only secure home ice in the NCHC playoffs (first priority), but to put itself in better position to make the NCAA Tournament. The fact that this is still a conversation after UMD lost three games to mid-pack WCHA teams is amazing, but the Bulldogs "jumped ten spots" in the PWR after last weekend's sweep of St. Cloud State.

Now, the Bulldogs need to capitalize. I like what I saw the last two weekends, and it seems like it did indeed carry over in practice this week. Now it needs to carry into the games against a similarly desperate opponent that will pack it in and play a strong defensive game.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Johnson
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Mackay
Sampair - Decowski - Young (Austyn)

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely - Deery

Miami
Lemirande - Siroky - Mooney
Morris - Greenberg - LaValle
Sherwood - Kuraly - Roslovic
Louis - Melnick - Gacek

Hutton - Richart
Belpedio - Joyaux
Dornbrock - Sullivan

Williams - McCarthy

Monday Musings: Sweep Puts UMD in Better Position

Not sure you could have scripted a better weekend for UMD hockey. Both the men and women swept their road series, with the men likely staying alive for an NCAA at-large bid while the women kept their season alive in the WCHA playoffs.

(Great weekend for UMD junior Lara Stalder -- a goal and two assists Friday and one and one Saturday including the overtime game-winning goal -- and for senior goalie Kayla Black, who stopped 79 of 81 Bemidji State shots. The reward? No. 1 seed Wisconsin in a semifinal on Saturday afternoon. UMD needs to win Saturday and again Sunday to get the automatic bid. No at-large shot for the Bulldogs this year.)

The men needed wins. It wasn't just about the NCAA Tournament. We've beaten the horse beyond recognition this season. UMD was playing good hockey for the most part, but couldn't catch a break, and the Bulldogs were running out of time to turn things around.

Two wins in St. Cloud might not mean things are turned around, but it's as good a sign as anything we've seen since the Minnesota series in October, if we've seen those signs at all.

It's not about the PairWise, instead about what's between the ears.

Assistant coach Jason Herter bluntly said last week that he's "run out of speeches" for the team. So the timing of this is certainly good.

How did it happen? Well, I'm glad you asked.

******

On Friday night, UMD started its top line -- Dominic Toninato centering Alex Iafallo and Adam Johnson -- and St. Cloud State opted to go with its second line, centered by David Morley. 39 seconds later, UMD led 1-0 on a rebound goal by Johnson.

For much of the remainder of the weekend, Toninato's line was matched against Kalle Kossila's top line of SCSU. I thought Toninato's group did a fantastic job when given that opportunity. And they played a lot of minutes, part of the reason for the matchup.

(Dom got destroyed in the faceoff circle this past weekend, but the line still did a good job defensively. Also, Toninato's line was probably the best on the team at pushing the puck out of the defensive zone. Despite big minutes against top SCSU players, they were rarely hemmed in for an extended period of time, and they were much more efficient than others on the weekend when given chances to clear pucks, even it meant taking an icing.)

That's not the only way UMD won. Far from it.

No matter who was on the ice, the Bulldogs played a smart, competitive, committed defensive game on Saturday, after admittedly being a bit too loose in Friday's win and getting bailed out by goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (career high 49 saves Friday). UMD kept SCSU's prime scoring chances to a minimum on Saturday, keeping Kaskisuo clean for the most part and allowing him to see the puck.

(The Huskies' power play goal was an exception to this rule, but it was about the only exception.)

And it's hard to lose when you never trail (0:00 in 120:00 against St. Cloud State) and are rarely tied (29:00 of 120:00). That leaves UMD with a lead for 91 of 120 minutes in a weekend series, and that's okay.

(It's actually better than that.)

Karson Kuhlman had a huge weekend with three goals -- including the eventual winner Saturday on a great tip -- and an assist. The UMD defense was outstanding, especially Andy Welinski and Neal Pionk, who played big minutes against all of SCSU's top guys and acquitted themselves very well.

Defense is a five-man bit, but every blue-liner in the lineup made a big play at some point on the weekend, and when you have that and not many mistakes at the other end, you're not going to lose a lot of hockey games.

******

One weekend remains in the regular season, as UMD battles Miami this weekend in Duluth. The teams are tied at 31 points, but UMD holds the tiebreaker edge. That means UMD needs to just split the series somehow to get home ice. And it's more than likely the Bulldogs will play Miami again the following weekend, unless the UMD-Miami series ends in a sweep and Omaha sweeps Denver (unlikely, I'd say).

UMD took four points at Miami in January, tying 1-1 (losing in three-on-three) before winning 5-2. The Bulldogs only tallied once all weekend, however, against red-hot RedHawks goalie Jay Williams, who won twice over the weekend against Colorado College to continue his strong play as of late. Williams has allowed two or fewer goals in ten of his last 14 starts, including back-to-back shutouts of the Tigers over the weekend.

It's just another goaltending code for UMD to crack in a league full of very good goalies.

(Think about it: Half the NCHC's goalies are up for the Mike Richter Award, and none of them are Williams, who has started 12 straight games since Ryan McKay got the start in the Saturday game against UMD and faltered.)

It'll be an interesting weekend for sure, largely because it's another in a series of better-win games for UMD that sets up an absolute must-win the following weekend, likely against the same team and quite possibly in the same building.

If UMD can win twice this weekend and get by whoever (Miami or UNO) in the first round of the NCHC playoffs the following weekend, it might not need to win the NCHC title to make the NCAAs. That's what this SCSU series may very well have provided UMD: Margin for error.

That and some much needed confidence. I know it's a tacky word to some, but seeing rewards for hard work means something when you've seen as few this year as UMD has. Now, we get to see if there is any carry-over to another huge weekend.

Game 32: UMD at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Tremendous opportunity in front of UMD. Not only can the Bulldogs pick up their fourth NCHC sweep of the season, but UMD can present itself with a (very small) bit of margin for error over the rest of the season.

Beat St. Cloud State to sweep the series, and UMD possibly won't need to win the league tournament to be in at-large position. Also, the Bulldogs will -- no matter what -- enter the season's final weekend in a home-ice position in the NCHC.

All that stands in their way tonight? The third-ranked team in the country, on Senior Night with a large senior class and all their families in attendance as part of an expected standing-room only crowd, probably pissed off to have lost at home Friday night.

No big deal, right?

A UMD win would give it four straight wins at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, believed to be the longest UMD win streak in St. Cloud since SCSU went Division I.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Johnson
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Mackay
Sampair - Decowski - Exell

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely

SCSU
Eyssimont - Kossila - Russell
Benik - Morley - Newell
Murray - Peterson - Tedesco
Jackson - Winiecki - Benson

Schuldt - Prow
Widman - Borgen
Nevalainen - Lizotte

Lindgren - Reijola - Zevnik

Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Jumps St. Cloud State Early, Rides Kaskisuo to Upset Win

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- A college hockey game is 60 minutes in length.

It is the rarest of things when something bad happens to a team that leads for 59:21 of the possible 60:00. And not even some of the rotten luck UMD has dealt with this season was going to change that Friday night.

Adam Johnson scored a greasy goal 39 seconds into the game, and UMD led the rest of the way in winning 4-1 here over No. 3 St. Cloud State. The win might not make a big dent in UMD's PairWise deficit, and it won't put the Bulldogs in the NCHC title race or anything like that, but what it does is give this team some confidence that it has been desperately seeking for a while.

UMD got rewarded for good hard work early in the game, overcoming an SCSU power play when Jimmy Murray took an interference penalty in the neutral zone. On the delayed penalty, Tony Cameranesi set up Brenden Kotyk to make it 2-0. Then Karson Kuhlman went through St. Cloud's defense like a knife through hot butter and beat goalie Charlie Lindgren to make it a 3-0 game through one period.

Justifiably, most of the over 4,800 in attendance were in shock at this point. UMD hadn't scored three goals in a road period since Nov. 20, and you have to go back to last year's Northeast Regional semifinal against Minnesota to find the last time UMD scored three goals in a first period.

An a'ight road period, I'd say.

I'm not going to say UMD cruised from there. St. Cloud State threw the kitchen sink at UMD goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, and the sophomore didn't even flinch. The Huskies peppered the UMD net throughout the night, but only a wicked shot by freshman Mikey Eyssimont got behind Kaskisuo. That goal made 3-1 in the second period, but Kaskisuo permitted the adversary to get no closer on this night.

The last time UMD played St. Cloud State, I felt Kaskisuo conceded a couple "Man, I bet he'd like to have that one back" goals. And while I don't think I've been critical of Kaskisuo, it was clear that he wasn't stealing points for UMD. He was solid, but hadn't been able to pull off a spectacular performance when his team needed him to.

Until Friday. Any need for redemption on his part -- which in my opinion was minimal -- is erased after his performance. He was outstanding, and you can safely say Kaskisuo stole these three points. The team in front of him wasn't bad, which probably helped the goalie's cause. But St. Cloud State likely out-chanced UMD in the game and it could be argued the home side deserved a better fate.

UMD is familiar. It's happened a lot this season, and even if one were to look at this game as a case of outright thievery, I doubt an apology or gift basket will be coming St. Cloud State's way.

A few things stood out.

Alex Iafallo (3-5-8 his last eight games, two assists Friday) was great. He's really stepped to the forefront, looking more like the player I know he can be here. His speed is game-changing and he's really been moving lately.

Kuhlman (three point night) was fantastic in all phases. Officially, he was credited with three blocked shots, but he's a disruptive player without the puck who played confidently with it Friday. Well, outside of the two-on-zero where he tried to pass to Cameranesi and there ended up not being any shots taken by either player in the sequence. We'll just forget that play happened.

Kotyk used his body effectively to win a couple puck battles, blocked two shots, and scored that second goal off Cameranesi's dish to the slot.

And did I mention Kaskisuo made 49 saves, a new career high for him (beating the old mark by 13)? Yeah, he was pretty good.

(It's believed to be the first 50-shot game by a UMD opponent since Omaha put up 53 Jan. 11, 2014, a game UMD won 3-1 behind 52 saves from Aaron Crandall.)

Every SCSU player had at least one shot except Ben Storm and David Morley. Eyssimont had 11. But UMD did what it could to maintain Kaskisuo's ability to see pucks while the Huskies tried their damndest to screen him and tip shots.

It was a fun, cleanly played game, and a much, much-needed Bulldog win.

Game 31: UMD at St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- The Bulldogs know what needs to be done, and they're running out of time to do it.

UMD has just two weekends left in the regular season, and while the nerds say UMD is still in the at-large race (barely), the Bulldogs just need to start winning some games.

I've seen a lot of comparisons made to past Bulldog teams that didn't meet expectations. That's all well and good, guys, but this season is different than any other.

If you've watched this team for any length of time, you can't possibly argue that the effort isn't there, or that players aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. Absent of perfection that no one is able to bring to the table, UMD has not been foiled by a lack of effort. As I said on Twitter after last Saturday's North Dakota game, the Bulldogs have been good to very good in probably 24-26 of 30 games this season.

(The four games I know weren't nearly good enough were the two against Bemidji State, along with Friday home games against Denver and St. Cloud State.)

A team that has shown that kind of consistency in its effort certainly deserves a better fate than this team has seen to this point. Call that whining or whatever you want, I don't care. I'll stand by it as the truth.

And I still believe this can get turned around. I'll believe it until we're completely out of games to play.

For UMD, senior Austin Farley is back. Senior Austyn Young (upper body) is out.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Johnson
Farley - Cameranesi - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Mackay
Sampair - Decowski - Exell

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely

SCSU
Eyssimont - Kossila - Russell
Benik - Morley - Newell
Storm - Peterson - Murray
Jackson - Winiecki - Benson

Schuldt - Prow
Widman - Borgen
Nevalainen - Lizotte

Lindgren - Reijola - Zevnik

Monday Musings on a Tuesday: Bad Things Keep Happening

Very similar to the Saturday puppy blog, I just don't know what to say to you guys. So this will be quick.

I mean, UMD, by my admittedly biased but hopefully not totally inaccurate estimation, played four good to very good/great games against a great North Dakota team. UMD controlled the majority of the four games, including dictating pace this past weekend in a tough place to play.

Two goals on 139 shots, one power-play goal in 16 chances, and more importantly, zero NCHC standings points.

Zero. As in "none," "not any," or maybe "not even one damn point."

Looks so bad, no matter what the product looked like.

UMD played strong defensively (the Brock Boeser winning goal late Saturday was really the only significant mistake UMD made in its own zone all weekend) and had the puck a lot, especially Friday.

Nothing to show for it.

Plainly, it (bleeping) sucks.

******

Two things from the Twitter crowd.

--> Lots of frustration, which is understandable. I'm not going to directly address the "fire the coach" mob, despite them being convinced they have a good case built around what the Wild have done since Mike Yeo was let go. This coach shouldn't be fired. No one has quit on Scott Sandelin, and changing coaches isn't going to magically cure the run of terrible luck this team has endured.

(Find me a team that's hit more goalposts and broken more sticks to ruin offensive zone possessions than UMD has this season. It's uncanny. You see a defenseman find a soft spot in the circle, someone passes it to his wheelhouse, he winds, and his stick explodes.)

--> People want to know what UMD (25th in the PWR) has to do to get back in at-large consideration. I don't pretend to be a math expert, but I'd say at this point it starts with sweeping St. Cloud, which would also give UMD the season series against a really good team. That can't hurt, though I admit to being clueless about how much it would actually help.

--> Lastly, people want to know if this team can get hot. I believe in this team until there are no more games to call. I'm not giving up and I know the team isn't. There are games to play, so hell yes this team can get hot. I freely admit they're running out of time, but it can happen, and the talent is there. Just ask, well, any coach or scout involved in this league.

******

The not-terribly-smart hit by UND defenseman Troy Stecher on UMD senior Tony Cameranesi at 20:00 of the third period Saturday night drew him a one-game suspension from the league.

Troy Stecher's hit on Tony Cameranesi - no replay from UND broadcast, made my own https://t.co/6LL7dGicFL

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 21, 2016

I hated the hit, and I'm glad the league acted. It was pretty cheap, in my estimation, and it came when the game was basically over. There was no "within the context of the game" moment. It was a hit Stecher didn't need to throw, and I'm sure he knows this without some radio hack in Duluth scolding him in a blog.

Stecher's a good player and a trusted leader on his team. He's a better player than he showed on that hit. UND will miss him in Omaha Friday night, and it will welcome him back with open arms on Saturday.

******

From the frying pan to the fire.

UMD heads to St. Cloud State this weekend with one more chance to play spoiler in the league title race. SCSU and UND are tied at 47 points, six points up on Denver, which closes with Western Michigan and Omaha. SCSU finishes with us and then Colorado College, while UND gets Omaha and Western Michigan.

In case you still care about who wins the league.

UMD is tied for fourth with Omaha and Miami. Omaha has the tiebreaker at the moment. Here are the remaining schedules.

Omaha: vs North Dakota, at Denver
UMD: at St. Cloud State, vs Miami
Miami: vs Colorado College, at UMD

And that's it for a brief update. Enjoy the high school hockey section finals this week, and hey the Wild are playing hockey again, so there's that, too. Talk from St. Cloud.

Game 30: UMD at North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- It's not often that I'm genuinely curious how a UMD team is going to respond to something. This is one of those situations.

After Friday's controversial (read: awful) penalty shot call that led to Austin Poganski's overtime winner and a 2-1 North Dakota victory over UMD, I absolutely want to see how the Bulldogs come out in this game.

So much has gone the way of the adversaries this season. UMD hit two more goalposts in Friday's game, outshot another opponent at even strength (25 times in 29 games, including all three against UND), had a lead for a good chunk of the game and never trailed until the winner was scored, and yet gets nothing to show for it but another addition to the "L" column and a drop to 26th (from 23rd starting the night) in the PairWise.

But this is probably the first time that UMD's players can point to a circumstance -- an officiating decision that even a lot of UND press box staff and media were taken aback by -- almost completely out of anyone's control. Could Carson Soucy have made a better defensive play by keeping his feet moving? Maybe, but we'll never know. He did what he felt he had to do to prevent Poganski from cutting to the front of the net by himself, likely never in his wildest dreams thinking it would lead to a penalty shot.

(By the way, as I just told esteemed UND radio voice Tim Hennessy: If that's established as the penalty shot standard and called such consistently, I have zero issues. But I've seen probably a half dozen instances this season -- both for and against UMD -- where guys have had clear breakaways and been fouled from behind with only a minor called. Based on that loose standard, there's no way the Soucy call from Friday comes close. It's undoubtedly a penalty, but that should never be called a penalty shot with how we've defined that in today's game.)

Anyway, the 18 skaters and goalies have to move on. Friday's game was chippy and got quite emotional late. I would expect that with the way it ended and the desperation the visitors have to be feeling at this point, this game might go off the rails in a hurry. Buckle up.

(One lineup change for UMD. Senior forward Austyn Young is out with what is believed to be an upper-body injury. Watch Twitter for updates, as I'll talk to Scott Sandelin in about a half hour.)

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Iafallo - Toninato - Kuhlman
Osterberg - Thomas - Cameranesi
Johnson - Decowski - Mackay
Young (Blake) - Spurrell - Sampair

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Raskob
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely

UND
Caggiula - Schmaltz - Boeser
Janatuinen - Johnson (Luke) - Wilkie
Gersich - Simonson - Poganski
Sanderson - Gardner - Olson

Poolman - LaDue
Ausmus - Stecher
Wolanin - Thompson

Johnson (Cam) - Hrynkiw - Tomek