Sioux in the Pros Update

Here's an update on how some of the Sioux alums playing professionally are faring early on this season:

• Brandon Bochenski (Astana) is currently second in the KHL with 11 goals and fifth with 19 points through 19 games. Additionally, his three game winning goals are tied for third and his +14 rating is fifth best.
• Rastislav Spirko leads Spartak Moscow (KHL) with 14 points (6G, 8A) in 18 games.
• Danny Kristo (Hartford) is second among AHL rookies with 7 points (4G, 3A) in six games.
• Kristo and Brad Malone are among the AHL's leading goals scorers with 4 each.
• Corban Knight is tied for second on Abbotsford (AHL) with five points (1G, 4A) through seven games. His five points are also sixth most among AHL rookies.
• The Ulmer brothers are off to strong starts in the Austrian elite league. Jeff leads Ljubljana with 14 points (7G, 7A) in 14 games while Jason leads Linz with 21 points (7G, 14A) in 15 games. Andrew Kozek (6G, 4A) and Curtis Murphy (3G, 7A) are also among the top scorers for Linz.
• Jake Marto and Jason Gregoire are each among the top four scorers for Sodertalje (Sweden tier 2). Marto has nine points (2G, 7A) in 13 games while Gregoire has eight (2G, 6A) in eight.
• Ryan Bayda's eight points (5G, 3A) are tied for the Augsburger (Germany tier 1) team lead.
• Carter Rowney was signed by the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers and has two assists through two games.
• Aaron Dell has signed a Professional Try-Out (PTO) contract with the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) but has yet to see game action. Earlier this fall Dell signed an ECHL contract with the Utah Grizzlies.

Thursday Morning Post

• A number of Sioux alums will be hitting the ice for the 2013-14 season this week as NHL rookie/prospect camps and tournaments kick into gear. Toronto's Rookie Tournament will feature four Sioux alums as the Maple Leafs (Andrew MacWilliam), Ottawa (Ben Blood), Chicago (Joe Gleason), and Penguins (Carter Rowney) will compete in a round robin tournament beginning today and running through the weekend. Danny Kristo will be part of the New York Ranger contingent competing at the Traverse City Tournament while Corban Knight and the Calgary Flames will be participating in the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, BC (Flames games will be streamed on their website). Derek Forbort will be attending the Los Angeles King rookie camp, which includes a pair of games against Anaheim, and Brock Nelson will participate in the New York Islanders rookie camp.
• Leading into the rookie tournaments, The Calgary Herald detailed Knight's unusually busy summer, while Blueshirts United featured Kristo in this nice interview:

• Hockey Prospectus recently ranked the Rangers' top prospects, and Kristo came in at number two while freshman forward Adam Tambellini was ranked fifteenth. Meanwhile, CBS New York says Kristo will be given every opportunity to crack the Ranger lineup. 
• Forbort checks in at number six amongst the Mayor's Manor top LA King prospects.
• Also from Mayor's Manor, Matt Frattin is fitting in nicely in Los Angeles following his offseason trade from Toronto.
• Following a strong performance at a tryout camp, Sioux alum Tate Maris earned an invite to the St. Charles Chill (CHL) training camp.
• David Toews has signed with the Reading Royals (ECHL) for the 2013-14 season.
• Former Sioux defenseman and Grand Forks native Nick Fuher has joined the Winkler Flyers (MJHL) staff as an assistant coach.
• The Hockey Guys have ranked the top recruiting classes for the next two seasons, and North Dakota's are ranked number two for 2013 and number one for 2014.
• Nick Schmaltz is a key cog in UND's 2014 freshman class, and TSN's Craig Button has him slotted at number 25 in his initial rankings for the 2014 NHL Draft.
• Sioux alum Phil Jackson recently did a Q&A with the LA Kings, and he mentions his time spent playing hockey as a youth with former Sioux All-American Terry Casey. Jackson and Casey were neighborhood friends in Great Falls, MT prior to Jackson's family moving to Williston, ND.

North Dakota vs. UAA: Notes & Links

North Dakota vs. Alaska-Anchorage - Notes & Links

• North Dakota: 1-1-0 Overall (0-0-0 WCHA)
• Alaska-Anchorage: 2-1-1 Overall (0-0-0 WCHA)
• Gametime: Friday 7:37 CDT/Saturday 7:07 CDT
• Both games will be broadcast across the region on a variety of media outlets and as always, here's the standard broadcast information. For the DirecTV folks, Friday's game can be found on channel 623 while the Saturday matchup will air on channel 626.
• Series Notes (PDF): North Dakota and Alaska-Anchorage
• For all of the GF Herald stories, check out Brad Schlossman's Friday Morning Reading.
• Anchorage Daily News: UAA Encouraged By UND's First-Half History
• Anchorage Daily News: Scott Allen Making the Most of His Chances
• Anchorage Daily News: UAA Has Odd Early-Season Schedule
• Series Numbers: North Dakota is unbeaten in its last six games against UAA dating back to the 2010-11 season, outscoring the Seawolves 28-10 while going 5-0-1 over that span. UND holds the all-time edge with a 45-17-4 mark while going 26-3-3 at home. Heading into this weekend, UND's 32 home games against UAA are split evenly between the old and new Ralph Engelstad Arenas, having played 16 games at each venue. UND never lost to the Seawolves at the Old REA, having gone a perfect 16-0-0. In the new Engelstad Arena, North Dakota is 10-3-3.
• Senior Danny Kristo, who will be making his regular season debut this weekend, is the lone active member of the UND Century Club with 109 career points. Corban Knight was held without a point last Saturday night against Alaska-Fairbanks, thus he remains on the Century Club doorstep with 97 career points. It will take a three point weekend, but expect him to be in the club by Saturday night. Carter Rowney, by the way, is third on the active list with 46.
• Michael Parks will not play this weekend due to the lower body injury he suffered in the exhibition game against Manitoba. He is still at least a few weeks away from returning to the UND lineup.
• Several players will be reuniting with former teammates this weekend. Dillon Simpson was a teammate of UAA's Bret Cameron and Scott Allen with the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints, Corban Knight and UAA's Quinn Sproles were teammates on the AJHL's Okotoks Oilers, and Andrew MacWilliam and Austin Sevelrud were Camrose Kodiak teammates in the AJHL.
• UAA's Blake Tatchell was featured in TOE's WCHA Instant Impact series prior to the season, and thus far he has not disappointed. In four games the freshman has produced three points (2G, 1A) while centering a line that includes freshman Hayden Trupp and senior Alex Gellert. Hayden, of course, is the younger brother of former Sioux star Evan Trupp.
• USCHO's This Week in the WCHA
• USCHO's Weekend Picks
• USCHO's Three Things We Learned
• CHN's Tale of the Tape
• CHN's WCHA Power Rankings
• CHN's WCHA 3 Up, 3 Down
• CHN: WCHA Three Things
• WCHB Weekly WCHA Preview
• WCHA Weekly Press Release
• The Hockey Writer's Combine: UND vs. UAA Game Notes
• Sioux Sports Series Preview
• Episode 2.04 of Through These Doors:

North Dakota vs. UAA/UA: Goal Rush Notes & Links

North Dakota vs. Alaska-Anchorage/Alaska - Brice Alaska Goal Rush Notes & Links

• Gametime: Friday vs UAA 8:05 CDT/Saturday vs. Alaska 10:05 CDT
• Both games will be broadcast on regional radio across the UND Radio Network as well as across the web via UND Insider. Webcasts for the games are available for purchase on a single game basis or as a four game package.
• Series Notes (PDF): North Dakota and Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska
• Brice Alaska Goal Rush Tournament Central
• Brad Schlossman's Friday Morning Reading
• Anchorage Daily News: UAA Brimming With Confidence
• Anchorage Daily News: North Dakota to be Seriously Shorthanded vs. UAA Friday
• Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: North Dakota in Town for Goal Rush
• Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Seawolves Aim For Third Brice Goal Rush Prize
• Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Nanooks Vie For Third Goal Rush Crown
• Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Teams Make Big Trips For Goal Rush
• TOE: Corban Knight is a Center of Attention
• Alaska Nanooks Hockey Blog: A Look at the 2012 Goal Rush
• Senior Danny Kristo, who will not be playing this weekend due to suspension, is the lone active member of the UND Century Club with 109 career points. Corban Knight could join the club with a big night Saturday. Knight, who will be sitting out Friday's game due to suspension, enters the season with 97 career points. Carter Rowney is third on the active list with 46.
• Michael Parks will not play this weekend due to a lower body injury suffered in the exhibition game against Manitoba. As for the full list of suspensions, sitting out Friday's game against Alaska-Anchorage are Kristo, Knight, Rowney, Andrew MacWilliam, and Brendan O'Donnell. Saturday's absentees will be Kristo, Connor Gaarder, Stephane Pattyn, and Andrew Panzarella.
• UND freshman Jordan Schmaltz is a highly-touted offensive defenseman who should see a lot of special teams play. Nick Naumenko's UND record for points by a freshman defenseman is 34, set in 1992-93, and that's a number Schmaltz could approach this season. Naumenko, Jason Herter, and James Patrick all hold the freshman defenseman record for assists with 24, and that's a number Schmaltz could challenge as well.
• Alaska-Anchorage's roster features Hayden Trupp, the younger brother of former Sioux star Evan Trupp.
• A player to watch during Saturday's matchup against Alaska-Fairbanks is Andy Taranto. Taranto, who starred for the Fargo Force in 2008-09, is a senior who has been one of Alaska's top offensive threats throughout his career in Fairbanks.
• USCHO's This Week in the WCHA
• USCHO's Weekend Picks Thursday Edition and Regular Edition
• CHN's Tale of the Tape vs. UAA and Tale of the Tape vs. UA
• CHN's WCHA Power Rankings
• CHN's WCHA 3 Up, 3 Down
• CHN: WCHA's Final Regular Season As We Know It Begins Tonight
• WCHB Weekly WCHA Preview
• WCHA Weekly Press Release
• The Hockey Writer's Combine: Brice Alaska Goal Rush Game Notes
• Sioux Sports Weekend Preview
• Episode 2.03 of Through These Doors:

Weekend Musings

A few thoughts on this past weekend's hockey action at REA. First for the men (to be taken with one, maybe two grains of salt considering it was an exhibition game):

• Danny Kristo and Corban Knight have developed some great chemistry. The top line is going to be really tough to stop considering what those two bring to the table, and it will be interesting to see who becomes the regular left winger. Freshman Drake Caggiula performed admirably in flanking Knight’s left-side against Manitoba, but my guess is that we will see someone else get that assignment Friday night against Team USA.
• Kristo was the best player on the ice Saturday night and he appears poised for a monster season. He is electric and he seems to have gotten stronger over the summer as Manitoba was unable to move him off the puck. He is going to be very difficult for opposing teams to contain this year.
• This weekend marked the much anticipated return to the lineup for Rocco Grimaldi, and he did not disappoint. He had the crowd buzzing on numerous occasions with his playmaking and creativity, and it didn’t take long to realize that he is a very special talent. Just how good will he be this year? My guess is that he is going to have the most productive offensive season by a North Dakota freshman since Zach Parise.
• The RPM Line was in effect for the exhibition opener. I'm a big fan of keeping this line together considering how they played down the stretch last season. Of course, the enthusiasm was dampened when Michael Parks left the ice with an apparent lower body injury, but Mark MacMillan, Carter Rowney, and Parks all looked really good.
• As expected, defenseman Joe Gleason returned to his natural position. He did a very nice job filling in upfront last season for a shorthanded team, but he is more of a difference maker on the backend.

Now for the women, who bounced back from Friday's heartbreaking loss with a solid overall performance Saturday afternoon:

• In addition to what the top line will be expected to create, North Dakota should have some good offensive depth this season. They will be able to roll out three lines capable of regularly generating offensive opportunities.
• Shelby Amsley-Benzie looked confident in net and played good all weekend.
• Leah Jensen did a nice job playing right-wing with the Lamoureux sisters, picking up her first career goal Saturday by getting to the net and knocking home a rebound.
• It didn’t take too long to realize that freshman winger Becca Kohler has a fantastic shot. She can really unwind on the puck.
• Meghan Dufault is a dynamic player and though she didn’t find her way onto the scoresheet, she created some nice opportunities and was hard to knock off the puck.

Fighting Sioux vs. Michigan Tech: Notes & Links

North Dakota vs. Michigan Tech - Series Notes & Links

• Friday 7:37 CST/Saturday 7:07 CST
• The games will be broadcast on a variety of media outlets across the region. Here's the standard Broadcast Information.
• Brad Schlossman's Friday Morning Reading
• Series Notes: North Dakota and Michigan Tech  
• The Dakota Student: High Stakes vs. MTU
• The Daily Mining Gazette: Tech Sees New Sioux
• A College Hockey News feature from a couple of weeks ago details Michigan Tech's resurgence this season. 
• The Huskies are a well-balanced bunch up front. They have nine forwards who have produced at least 12 points this season. By comparison, the Sioux have five forwards who have reached that mark. On the back-end however, just one Tech player has reached 12 points while five Sioux defensemen have done so. These numbers, by the way, include Joe Gleason as a defenseman even though he has recently been playing up front more often than on the blue line.
• Speaking of Gleason, the junior "jack-of-all-trades" has been on a nice run lately. He has ten points (0G, 10A) in his last ten games after registering just three assists in his first 18.
• After being held to just one point last weekend (a Brock Nelson goal Saturday night), expect UND's Knight Line of Nelson, Corban Knight, and Danny Kristo to have a big series.
• In UND's eleven team games played since the Christmas break, nobody has more points than Carter Rowney's 12 (7G, 5A). Kristo has 11 (5G, 6A) while Nelson (6G, 4A) and Gleason (0G, 10A) each have 10.
• Once the dust settles after this weekend's play we should see some separation in the race for playoff home-ice. Sitting in sixth place with 24 points, North Dakota currently holds a one point edge on seventh place Michigan Tech. Meanwhile, the two teams immediately ahead of UND in the standings, Colorado College and Nebraska-Omaha, are facing-off this weekend in Colorado Springs. Both the Tigers and Mavericks hold a one point edge on the Sioux. Bemidji State (at Minnesota) and St. Cloud State (vs. Alaska-Anchorage) each trail North Dakota by three points.
• Sioux Sports says that UND's national tournament hopes would really be bolstered with a weekend sweep.
• The UND Sports Spotlight was recently shining on freshman winger Mark MacMillan:

• USCHO's This Week in the WCHA
• USCHO's Weekend Picks
• CHN's Tale of the Tape
• CHN's WCHA Power Rankings
• WCHA Weekly Press Release
• Inside Hockey Series Preview
• Sioux Sports Series Preview 
• Episode 15 of Through These Doors:

St. Cloud State Recap

The Fighting Sioux took to the road looking to gain some separation in the chase for home-ice and came away with a split in what was a very entertaining weekend of hockey. St. Cloud State earned a 3-1 victory Friday night behind freshman goaltender Ryan Faragher, while North Dakota bounced back with an exciting 3-2 win Saturday. Here are some observations:

• Friday night the play was a bit sporadic, but the Sioux came back Saturday with a complete 60:00 game. They had jump from the drop of the puck and didn't let up until the final horn, and that effort gave Dake Hakstol his 200th career victory behind the Fighting Sioux bench. He joins Gino Gasparini and Dean Blais as the only North Dakota head coaches with 200 or more victories. 
• The goaltending this weekend was very solid for both teams. Ryan Faragher was masterful in making several brilliant saves, including a larcenous effort on Brock Nelson Saturday night. North Dakota's Brad Eidsness and Aaron Dell were also very good as they too had several big saves on the weekend. It will be interesting to see how the SCSU goaltending situation plays out down the stretch with incumbent Mike Lee soon to return from injury. The old adage says a player doesn't lose a job due to injury, but what Faragher has done in Lee's absence cannot be ignored. Expect a goaltender rotation until one of them is markedly better than the other and establishes himself as the number one guy. Perhaps we will see the same situation play out for the Fighting Sioux, as Eidsness' recent play certainly warrants more time in net.
• Danny Kristo was the best player on the ice this weekend. Saturday night especially he was motoring all over the place in all three zones, and he seemed to have the desire to have the puck on his stick at all times with a willingness to do anything it took to get it there. His puck possession abilities are phenomenal. Corban Knight was also very sharp, as he appears to be getting closer to full-health.
• It was great to see Michael Parks in the lineup. The way that he went into the corners and pressured pucks might not have been indicative of a player suiting up at less than 100%, but there were definitely  moments where his body language and facial expressions communicated his pain and discomfort.
• Carter Rowney played a heck of a game Saturday despite not finding the scoresheet. Key to his performance was his shift with about 4:00 left in the game. He was all over the place in helping the Sioux maintain the offensive zone at a time when SCSU was really ramping up the energy and pressure in looking for the game-tying goal.    
• In the Battle of the Walking (or Skating?) Wounded, it appears as though UND came out of the weekend without adding to their injury list. SCSU wasn't so lucky however. They had two players, Jordy Christian and Cory Thorson, leave and not return during Saturday's game.
• The weekend results leave North Dakota sitting in sixth place in the WCHA standings with 18 points. The Sioux are one point up on both Michigan Tech and SCSU, with Tech having two games in-hand. Wisconsin is two points back of UND with 16, setting up for a key series this coming weekend at Engelstad Arena. Every conference point is critical at this stage of the season as fifth place (Denver) and ninth place (Wisconsin) are separated by just three points.
• As always, it was great to see how well the Fighting Sioux faithful travel, as the cheers supporting the road team were much louder than any home team's fan base ever wants to hear in their own building. This was evidenced by Saturday night's third period roar after the officials overturned what would have been the game-tying goal. I did not see the referee wave off the goal following the review, and the response from the National Hockey Center crowd immediately led me to believe that the goal was going to stand. The roar, of course, was the large UND faction celebrating the no-goal.

Week 8 Recap: Sioux Sweep Colorado College

This is the first weekly recap I've done in a few weeks due to an off-week and a non-televised series (the split at Bemidji State). The plan is to get caught up with all the happenings of Sioux men's hockey over the course of the week, including a host of future and former Sioux updates. Today I offer up the recap of this weekend's Fighting Sioux series, while the updates pertaining to the former Sioux and Sioux commitments will come over the course of the next few days.

North Dakota entered the weekend looking to shake itself of the offensive funk it had been in, and they did just that by scoring 11 goals en route to a sweep of the #4 ranked Colorado College Tigers. Friday night saw the Fighting Sioux hang a touchdown on the Tigers in a wildly entertaining 7-6 victory, while Saturday saw the team complete the sweep with a solidly played 4-3 victory. It was a much-needed conference sweep for the Sioux, and here are a few observations:

• The top line of Brock Nelson, Corban Knight, and Danny Kristo was phenomenal, accounting for 16 points (7G, 9A) on the weekend. Kristo was electrifying all weekend, making plays all over the ice, while Nelson continued his breakout sophomore season with a 6 point (3G, 3A) weekend, showing very nice hands both offensively and defensively. Knight won 35 of 57 faceoffs (61.4%), which was big considering the proven ability of the Tigers to quickly turn faceoff wins into offensive chances.
• Brendan O' Donnell, who I heard was very active during the Bemidji State series, continued his strong play since his return from injury. He was very noticeable this weekend, as was fellow freshman Michael Parks, and the line of O'Donnell-Mark MacMillan-Parks looked very good Saturday even though they were held off the scoresheet. Offense from these three freshman will be key with Rocco Grimaldi sidelined until at least January.
• Derek Rodwell got his first goal of the year Saturday night by deflecting a Ben Blood point shot past CC goaltender Joe Howe with under 18 seconds left in the first period. Rodwell is a tireless worker and it was very nice to see his effort rewarded with a momentum swinging goal.
• Even though CC scored 9 goals this weekend, I didn't think the goaltending of Aaron Dell was all that bad. The goals CC scored were, for the most part, goals you can't always expect a goaltender to stop. That being said, Brad Eidsness relieved Dell after CC's 6th goal Friday night and he helped stymy the Tiger attack. 
• Derek Forbort, with some crisp passing and sharp stick work, was solid this weekend and Joe Gleason continues to put forth strong efforts, whether it be as a forward or a blueliner.
• Some of the opportunistic goals opponents were scoring on the Sioux earlier in the year started going North Dakota's way. The team capitalized on several opportunistic chances this weekend and those goals went an awful long way in securing the sweep.
• As for the Tigers, Rylan Schwartz stole the show with back-to-back hat tricks, but younger brother Jaden was equally fantastic. His puck possession and passing skills are elite, making CC's top line a real treat to watch.

Week 4 Recap (Part 1): Sioux Split

Following their first road trip of the season North Dakota returned home to Engelstad Arena for a weekend pair with St. Cloud State, and the Sioux wound up with a split as SCSU rode a red-hot goaltender to a 4-0 victory Friday night and North Dakota produced its best defensive performance of the season to earn a 3-1 win on Saturday.

• Friday night saw North Dakota throw everything including the kitchen sink at Husky freshman goaltender Ryan Faragher, but he turned away each of the 44 shots he faced in place of the injured Mike Lee. It was the second consecutive game that saw UND offensively dominate yet come away without a conference point. As I was walking away from the Kohl Center following the Saturday night loss to Wisconsin I commented that I'd take that type of offensive performance every game because the Sioux would win 90% of those games. Apparently the hockey gods decided to test (and quickly debunk) my theory the very next game.
• The Sioux outshot SCSU 39-16 through two periods, and though SCSU led 1-0 it certainly felt like the second goal of the game was going to be the dagger. And it was. When the Huskies scored less than three minutes into the third, the arena and everything in it not draped in red & black seemed to instantly deflate. The building was ready to erupt with a NoDak goal, but that energy was sapped when they fell behind 2-0.
• As alluded to earlier, Husky goaltender Ryan Faragher was sensational Friday night. Saturday at Wisconsin Joel Rumpel played a great game that was aided quite a bit by his defense. Faragher's performance, on the other hand, was a case where a goaltender virtually stole a game all on his own as SCSU saddled him with a lot of shorthanded minutes and he responded beautifully.
• Defensive responsibility was much improved this weekend. The forwards did a much better job at getting back defensively and occupying SCSU in transition. One play that really comes to mind was an odd-man chance in the second period of Saturday's game. Mike Parks was leading the Sioux rush, and when SCSU was able to successfully defend and turn the play up-ice, Parks (who ended up behind the net) was the first forward back and helped break up a Husky chance.
• As it turns out, a doubtful Rocco Grimaldi is pretty dang good. He ended up with one assist on the weekend, and he's one of the rare, electric players that leaves you holding your breath whenever he possesses the puck. When he's fully healthy, watch out.
• Saturday night, there were a few cases where the team seemed to have some trouble passing out of the defensive zone, and the third line (MacMillan-Grimaldi-Gleason) got stuck on a couple extended shifts as a result. 
• The goaltending of Aaron Dell was solid and he's showing signs of returning to his sophomore form. However, I sit on the end that the visitors attack twice and at times it seemed as though he might've been struggling with tracking the puck.
• Look for Grimaldi to start seeing some time on the penalty kill as he works his way back into full health and game shape. He has a solid reputation of being a forechecking nuisance/point hound on the PK.
• I really liked the second line on Saturday night. Lamoureux-Rowney-Rodwell went up against the LeBlanc line much of the night and did a great job defensively.

The weekly recap of former Sioux in the pros and Sioux recruits, along with a few other items, will be on the docket for tomorrow. The steady stream of trick-or-treaters severely cut into the writing time tonight.