Wisconsin Recap

Being on the outside looking in with regard to the national tournament picture, North Dakota came into the weekend knowing that it must defend its home arena during the stretch run if it hopes to earn an NCAA tournament berth. By way of 5-3 and 4-2 victories, the Sioux defended Engelstad Arena and avenged a Badger sweep in Madison earlier this season. Here are a few observations:

• North Dakota is now 11-3-1 since the Sunday game of the Bemidji State series. Through that game the Sioux were scoring 2.42 goals per game while allowing 3.00. Since then they are scoring 3.53 while allowing 2.60. 
• Michael Parks was very good this weekend. As a whole he's been very solid all season long, but it appears as though he's finding the form that allowed him to score the sixth most goals in the USHL last season. He had four points (3G, 1A) through the first 21 games, but since then he's produced five points (3G, 2A) in six games.
• Stephane Pattyn celebrated his 21st birthday in style by scoring his first career goal Friday night. On what was the game-winning goal, he strongly held his position in front of the net and Mario Lamoureux rewarded his efforts by slipping him a pass that Pattyn neatly tucked home.
• One obvious key to limiting the damage caused by Wisconsin's top guns is to keep the puck off their sticks. UND won 58% of the faceoffs this weekend while holding Justin Schultz and Mark Zengerle, two of the top point producers in the nation, to a combined two points (0G, 2A) and a -4 rating. North Dakota's overall team defense was very good this weekend as well. Wisconsin had a difficult time generating quality scoring chances.
• Joe Gleason is settling into his forward role quite nicely. He's been very good over the past few games at gaining the offensive zone with speed, and when that happens it really puts the opposing team on its heels. He's a tremendous skater with the invaluable ability to play either defense or forward effectively, but he's really becoming a difference maker while playing up front.
• Derek Forbort returned to the lineup this weekend, seeing his first action since getting injured during the World Junior Championships. He seemed confident, he played with a bit of an edge, and he had a very nice series. With the upcoming off-week, the team now has two weeks to try and get everyone as healthy as possible for the last month of the regular season and playoffs.
• The top line of Brock Nelson, Danny Kristo, and Corban Knight picked up where it left off last Saturday. After being held off the scoresheet last Friday in St. Cloud, "The KnightLine" has produced 17 points (7G, 10A) during the team's three game win streak.
• With Brock Nelson scoring a goal each night, the Fighting Sioux are now 12-2-0 when he scores, 3-8-2 when he does not.
• Andrew MacWilliam appears to be breaking out offensively. In 20 games prior to flipping the calendar, the junior defenseman had one assist. In the seven games played in 2012, MacWilliam has recorded five points (2G, 3A), including last night's bomb from beyond the blue line. As a unit, North Dakota's defensemen contributed eight points (2G, 6A) against Wisconsin.
• Based on the play of the goaltenders this weekend, I'd expect the goalie rotation to continue in Duluth. There were several weird, flukey goals scored this weekend, but both Aaron Dell and Brad Eidsness did what they had to do in order to give the team a chance to win.
• The Sioux are now tied with Colorado College for fourth place in the conference standings. However, the two teams immediately below them in the standings (Michigan Tech and Nebraska-Omaha) have two games in hand on the Sioux. UND is off next weekend, while Michigan Tech travels to Minnesota State and UNO hosts Bemidji State. The following week UNO travels to Michigan Tech while North Dakota takes to the road against Minnesota-Duluth.

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.

Minnesota Recap

North Dakota was looking to exact a measure of revenge this weekend after being swept by the University of Minnesota earlier this season. After producing a thrilling 2-1 victory Friday night in an electrified Ralph Engelstad Arena, UND's hopes of a sweep were dashed by way of Saturday's 6-2 Minnesota win. Here are a few thoughts:

• Aaron Dell played very well Friday night, but he allowed some goals Saturday that we've come to expect him to save, eventually being replaced by Brad Eidsness to start the third period. Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson also didn't seem to be himself early on Saturday, but he settled down and was solid down the stretch.
• Outside of Danny Kristo's checking from behind penalty, the Sioux played with a lot of poise Friday as the young lineup did not seem to have any problem adjusting to the intensity of the rivalry. Saturday was a different story however, as North Dakota suffered let downs in several key areas. The passing was not as crisp, the power play struggled in maintaining possession, there were too many odd-man chances, and, as mentioned earlier, the goaltending was not as solid. Ups and downs tend to happen on a night to night basis, and Minnesota did what good teams do, which is to capitalize on the opportunities presented to them.
• Minnesota's fifth goal on Saturday, coming late in the second period, was a back-breaker. After falling behind 4-0 the Sioux were able to scratch back to within a couple of goals, and in doing so they brought the crowd back to life, which seemed to rattle the Gophers. A third unanswered goal by North Dakota would have blown the roof off the place, but Minnesota was able to stymie the comeback with a deflating goal that came with under a minute to play in the period.
• Brendan O'Donnell skated off the ice Saturday night with what appeared to be an upper-body injury, but no update on his status has been reported. 
• Brock Nelson was a treat to watch this weekend. His hands and instincts are tremendous, and he has a deceptively quick shot that he can release from a variety of angles. 
• Things got ugly at the end of Saturday's game as Ben Blood was tripped while the teams mingled in front of the benches after the final horn sounded. Then, in the handshake line Blood took a shot at Minnesota's Kyle Rau and eventually wound up engaging in a brief tussle with Seth Ambroz. The teams were eventually separated and ushered into their locker rooms with no further issue. The intensity of the series and the agitating style with which Rau chooses to play obviously spurred Blood, and it is unfortunate that a handshake skirmish was the end result. Here's to hoping these two teams meet again in this year's Final Five.

Harvard Recap

The Fighting Sioux entered a non-conference series needing a big weekend to bolster their national tournament hopes, and with a short bench they took three out of four points against a solid Harvard Crimson squad. Friday night saw the two teams battle to a 4-4 draw, while the Fighting Sioux sent their revered nickname out in style New Year's Eve by blowing by Harvard 7-3 in the final game in which a North Dakota athletic team will officially be known as the Fighting Sioux.

• Friday night the Sioux started out slow, played a good second period, and finished with an uncharacteristic third period in which they relinquished a two goal lead. Saturday night was a different story, as they had jump from the get-go and played a strong 60 minutes. There appeared to be some tired legs late Saturday, but considering the injuries this team is dealing with, that is very understandable.
• The freshmen are really starting to come into their own. A lot of very young players are playing an awful lot of minutes, and they are performing admirably. The team has had an awful lot of personnel issues this season and a lot of players have been thrust into roles that were not expected of them, and they have risen to the occasion and then some. Already short on skaters when fully healthy due to the pre-season eligibility issues of Colten St. Clair and Michael Di Puma, North Dakota played every healthy player on their roster and still was short a forward and a defenseman due to the unavailability of Corban Knight, Mario Lamoureux, Derek Rodwell, Derek Forbort, and Rocco Grimaldi. The fact that the shorthanded Sioux were able to post a seven-spot on a respectable Harvard team is a testament to this team's ability to adapt and evolve when faced with difficult situations. Saturday's victory was a signature win, and it could become a defining moment for this team.
• Scoring came from all over the lineup this weekend, with the top line not getting into the scoring column until Saturday night. Freshmen Nick Mattson and Brendan O'Donnell provided some spark Friday while Connor Gaarder continued his strong play by scoring his first collegiate goal Friday and following it up with a big three-point night Saturday. Six freshmen produced points in the Saturday night victory.
• On the injury front, it sounds like Grimaldi is still a couple weeks away from knowing how well the shut-down helped his knee heal. Knight, Lamoureux, and Forbort will be evaluated as the week goes on and may or may not be ready for the Clarkson game Saturday night while Rodwell is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury.  
• In browsing through some stats New Year's Day, a few interesting numbers jumped out. I sent them out yesterday via Twitter as I came across them, but here they are for those of you who do not use Twitter: 
• Freshmen accounted for 16 (8G, 8A) of the 30 points the Sioux tallied this weekend
• The Sioux are 8-2-1 with Connor Gaarder in the lineup, 2-6-1 with him out.
• Dillon Simpson had 0 points the first nine games of the season. He's now had at least one point in eight of his last 11 games.
• Danny Kristo has factored in on seven of UND's ten game-winning goal this season.

Week 10 Recap: Sioux & Mavs Split

In the final series of the first half of the WCHA season, relatively new foes battled like bitter, traditional rivals in what was a slug-fest of a series. Nebraska-Omaha came to Grand Forks in what will be the only series of the regular season between the two teams, and after 120+ minutes of physically taxing hockey, each team limped away with two conference points. Friday night saw the teams battle to a 1-1 deadlock through regulation, with the Mavericks ultimately getting the 2-1 overtime victory. Saturday night was even more of a defensive and goaltending dominated affair that saw North Dakota goaltender Aaron Dell lead his team to a 1-0 shutout victory. Here are a few thoughts:

• The lack of scoring wasn't indicative of poor play or a lack of offensive skill, but more a result of the defensive style of play each team chose to employ. Both teams did a very nice job limiting each other's ability to enter the offensive zone with possession, and that really led to a lack of flow each night. The chances seemed to come in spurts for each team, with neither really able to generate sustained offensive pressure.
• There are several worthy candidates (Schultz, Schmidt, Sova), but Aaron Dell is very much deserving of WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors when the weekly award winners are announced Tuesday afternoon. On the weekend he posted a tidy 0.99 GAA to go along with a 0.966 Save %, and his positioning and rebound control were superb all weekend.
• Both teams were very physical over the weekend, with North Dakota being led by Andrew MacWilliam. He delivered several controlled yet punishing hits and visited the penalty box only after scuffling with Tony Turgeon at the end of Saturday's first period. In the third period Saturday he also made a very nice play to break up a Maverick scoring opportunity with a well-timed slide that came only after one of the referees interfered with MacWilliam in the high-slot area.
• On defense in general the Fighting Sioux did a great job of playing the body, neutralizing a number of potential Maverick opportunities by forcing the play to the boards. Very active sticks also deflected a number of passing attempts and shots. Besides MacWilliam, the defensemen that stood out to me were Nick Mattson and Derek Forbort.
• There may have been a bit of a lapse in the overtime loss that allowed the Mavericks to score the game winner, but the pass that Matt White made to send Ryan Walters in alone on Dell had to be perfect, and it was. It was about as nice of a rink-wide breakout pass as you'll ever see, allowing Walters to enter the zone at full speed, who made a nice move to get the puck up and over Dell's left pad. And who knows, if that play had taken place in regulation the two extra bodies on the ice might very well have taken away the space needed to effectively execute it.
• It was nice to see that freshman Connor Gaarder was awarded the Hard Hat Saturday night. He was very active all weekend, and even earned some power play time Saturday night. 
• The Mavericks came out looking to hit somebody this weekend and Danny Kristo appeared to be one of the main targets, but to his credit he took the hits and kept bouncing back. He further showed his resolve Saturday night by coming out of the lockerrom to start the third period primed to take the game over, and within a minute he had converted a tremendous individual effort into what turned out to be the game's only goal.
• The Sioux were forced to shuffle the lineup a bit Saturday after Corban Knight suffered a lower-body injury the night before. Captain Mario Lamoureux, who did not play Friday, rejoined the lineup Saturday and gave a much-needed tougher-than-nails effort. It was a big win Saturday in that it kept North Dakota right in the thick of the race for playoff home-ice, and it was accomplished with guys playing hurt, playing out of position, and playing expanded roles.
• The mid-season holiday break couldn't come at a better time for the Sioux, as the next four weeks contain just three regular season games. The break in action will hopefully allow the likes of Knight and Lamoureux to heal up a bit and return to full strength sooner rather than later. Also, with a month before the next conference series, we should know more on the health status of Rocco Grimaldi. Conference play resumes when Minnesota pays a visit to Engelstad Arena January 13-14, and that series marks the 8th week of Grimaldi's original 6-8 week injury diagnosis.