Month: December 2012

Last season was Mel Pearson’s first as head coach of the Michigan Tech Huskies, and by all accounts, his rookie campaign was a success. Pearson brought energy, enthusiasm, and a new brand of hockey to Houghton, and his team responded with a 6-2-1 start. MTU ended the season by dispatching Colorado College in two games to join its band at the WCHA Final Five for the first time since 2007.

The year before Pearson arrived at MacInnes Ice Arena, the Huskies won four games (4-30-4). Last season, Michigan Tech posted a respectable 16-19-4 record and earned the eighth spot in the league standings, just two points out of the final home ice spot held by St. Cloud State. MTU has never hosted the first round of the WCHA playoffs under the current format.

For the record, Mel Pearson spent the 23 seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan and was behind the bench for the Wolverines 2-0 Frozen Four victory over North Dakota in April 2011 (St. Paul, MN). MTU assistant coach Bill Muckalt and goaltending coach Steve Shields are former Michigan players. Pearson played his college hockey at Michigan Tech.

UND fans may not recognize this year’s version of the Huskies, as Brett Olson (93 points in 127 career games) and Jordan Baker (82 points in 146 games) have both graduated after seemingly playing at MTU forever. Michigan Tech is very young up front, as their top five scoring forwards are first or second year players.

After this season, it is unclear whether North Dakota and Michigan Tech will continue their storied rivalry. UND will move to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, while MTU will remain in the WCHA and maintain ownership of the historic MacNaughton Cup.

Michigan Tech Team Profile

Head Coach: Mel Pearson (2nd season at MTU, 20-27-7, .435)
Pairwise Ranking: NR
National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 4-8-3 overall, 3-6-3 WCHA (t-8th)
Last Season: 16-9-4 overall, 11-13-4 WCHA (8th)

Team Offense: 2.87 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 3.53 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.9% (12 of 67)
Penalty Kill: 75.8% (50 of 66)

Key Players: Freshman F Alex Petan (4-9-13), Sophomore F Blake Pietila (9-2-11), Sophomore F David Johnstone (3-8-11), Senior D Steven Seigo (4-4-8), Junior D Brad Stebner (1-4-5), Senior G Kevin Genoe (3-1-3, 2.83 GAA, .909 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (9th season at UND, 221-111-33, .651)
Pairwise Ranking: 10th
National Rankings: #8/#8
This Season: 8-5-3 overall, 5-2-3 WCHA (t-5th)
Last Season: 26-13-3 overall (NCAA West Regional Finalist), 16-11-1 WCHA (4th)

Team Offense: 3.12 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.62 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 15.6% (10 of 64)
Penalty Kill: 84.5% (49 of 58)

Key Players: Senior F Danny Kristo (6-9-15), Sophomore F Mark MacMillan (6-6-12), Senior F Corban Knight (5-12-17), Freshman F Rocco Grimaldi (6-9-15), Junior D Derek Forbort (4-5-9), Sophomore D Nick Mattson (1-6-7), Junior G Clarke Saunders (6-3-3, 2.39 GAA, .916 SV%, 2 SO)

By The Numbers

Last meeting: February 18, 2012 (Grand Forks, ND). The two squads had to settle for a 1-1 tie one night after North Dakota won the opener 4-2. Michigan Tech’s Jordan Baker scored a lucky goal off his chest midway through the third period that gave the Huskies one point. MTU rang three shots off the post in the opening frame, while UND forward Corban Knight potted the lone goal for the Green and White early in the third period.

Last meeting in Houghton: March 5, 2011. North Dakota absolutely destroyed MTU on consecutive nights, winning 6-1 and 11-2. Friday night’s win clinched the MacNaughton Cup for visiting UND, but there was no letdown in Saturday’s finale or in the first round playoff games between the schools in Grand Forks the following weekend (8-0 and 3-1 victories). The Malone-Frattin-Trupp line collected six goals and eight assists in the weekend series.

Most Important Meeting: The Sioux and Huskies have never met in the NCAA tournament, so I will go with the most important meeting that never was: in 1965, the Sioux lost to Boston College, 4-3, one game short of the national championship game, where they would have faced the Michigan Tech Huskies, who won the second of their three titles by defeating the Eagles. UND settled for third place that season, downing Brown University, 9-5. North Dakota went 13-3-0 in the regular season in 1964-65, with two of those three losses coming at the hands of Michigan Tech.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 145-93-10 (.605), including a slight 61-55-5 (.525) edge in games played in Houghton. The teams first met in 1948.

Last Ten: North Dakota is 9-0-1 (.950) in the last ten meetings between the schools and undefeated in the last 14 (12-0-2). The Green and White have outscored the Huskies 49-13 in the last ten games. The last time Michigan Tech defeated UND was in the first round of the WCHA playoffs in March 2008 (Grand Forks, ND). MTU took the middle game of the three-game series, but North Dakota came back to win on Sunday night to advance to the Final Five.

Game News and Notes

UND head coach Dave Hakstol is 23-5-2 (.800) in his coaching career against Michigan Tech. Either North Dakota or the University of Denver has ended the Huskies’ year each of the past five seasons. UND senior forward Corban Knight is riding an eleven game point streak. Saturday’s rematch will mark the 250th game played between the two storied programs.

The Prediction

Everything points to a UND sweep in this one, but both games will be closer than recent history suggests. Dave Hakstol has his team playing its best hockey of the season, but North Dakota will need to come back late in at least one of these tilts. UND 4-2, 3-2.

Even though it feels like we’re headed to the halfway point of the season, we’re really just over a third of the way through our league games. UND has played ten conference games (out of 28), and sits at 5-2-3 (.650).

The league standings show North Dakota in a tie for fifth place, but that’s misleading since UND (as well as three other teams) has played two fewer games than the majority of the WCHA. A closer look at the top teams reveals that North Dakota is the only program with only two losses in conference play (DU, Minnesota, and UNO have three), and by winning percentage order, UND is tied for 2nd place with Nebraska-Omaha, behind only Denver. The Pioneers have earned three more league points in one extra weekend of WCHA action.

After the games at Michigan Tech this weekend, North Dakota has a tough WCHA road schedule moving forward. The Green and White travel to Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha, Denver, and MSU-Mankato in the second half. Four points in Houghton is an absolute must, as I see UND earning nine or ten points from the other four series.

At home, it’s a bit easier. After a non-conference series with Holy Cross, North Dakota will host Colorado College, St. Cloud State, Wisconsin, and Bemidji State in league play. Sweeps against the Badgers and Beavers are possible, but I see five or six points against the Tigers and Huskies.

Those results would put UND in the 39-41 point range at the end of the race for the MacNaughton Cup. Over the past five years, the WCHA champion has averaged 41.2 points, with only North Dakota’s 2008-09 league championship (17-7-4, 38 points) coming in under 40 points.

There are some who would say “if only UND had tied Colorado College on Friday night” or “North Dakota deserved to beat Denver in the first game”, but there are also instances where the Green and White stole an extra point or two out of the weekend (Minnesota-Duluth comes to mind), so I think that UND’s current conference mark feels about right for the way they have played to date.

The most encouraging aspect of North Dakota’s first half is that they’ve played their best hockey over the past two weekends, the lines appear to be coming together, and the team is closer to healthy than they’ve been in a long time. As we’ve seen so many times in the past, the second half is going to be quite a ride.

In the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota will be at the top of the league rivalries.

The two schools clearly do not like each other, and the feud goes all the way back to Geoff Paukovitch’ illegal check on Sioux forward Robbie Bina during the 2005 WCHA Final Five.

Since that game (a Denver victory), the two teams have met six times in tournament play. Denver won the 2005 NCAA title with a victory over North Dakota and claimed a 2008 WCHA Final Five win as well. UND has won the last four playoff games between the schools, including three consecutive victories in the WCHA Final Five (2010-2012) and the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional final which sent the Fighting Sioux to the Frozen Four.

Along the way, we’ve had dasher dances, brawls, illegal checks, devastating hits, and a certain coach losing his way to the visiting locker room.

Both schools seem to get hit by the “early departure” bug each off-season. For North Dakota, forward Brock Nelson (36-32-68 in 84 games) left after his sophomore campaign while goaltender Aaron Dell (49-20-5, 2.15 GAA, .912 SV%, 9 SO) gave up his final season of eligibility. On the Denver side of the ledger, three Pioneers opted not to return: Drew Shore (50-68-118 in 123 games) gave up his senior season, while fellow forwards Jason Zucker (45-46-91 in 78 games) and Beau Bennett (13-25-38 in 47 games) left two years of eligibility on the table.

For North Dakota, the headline is the emergence of Drake Caggiula. The freshman forward has collected six points (four goals, two assists) in his last seven games, including the overtime winner at Colorado College last Saturday night. Caggiula has been skating on a line with fellow freshman Rocco Grimaldi and sophomore forward Mark McMillan.

Denver started the season white-hot (9-1-0) but has since gone 0-3-1 against Yale, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin. North Dakota has split four of its last six series (vs. Boston University, at St. Cloud State, at Notre Dame, at Colorado College) and picked up three points in the other two (vs. Alaska-Anchorage, vs. Minnesota-Duluth).

Because only eight WCHA teams have played ten conference games (UND, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, and Alaska-Anchorage have played just eight), the league standings can appear out of balance. But here’s the important thing: the top six teams in the standings (by winning percentage) are facing off against each other this weekend:

Denver (1st) at North Dakota (t-3rd)
Nebraska-Omaha (2nd) at St. Cloud State (t-5th)
Minnesota (t-5th) at Colorado College (t-3rd)

Expect some movement as the top three or four teams begin to rise to the top.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: George Gwozdecky (19th season at DU, 432-257-60 .617)
Pairwise Ranking: 11th
National Rankings: #6/#6
This Season: 9-4-1 overall, 7-2-1 WCHA (1st)
Last Season: 25-14-4 Overall (NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinalist), 16-8-4 WCHA (3rd)

Team Offense: 3.71 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.43 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 18.6% (11 of 59)
Penalty Kill: 86.4% (51 of 59)

Key Players: Junior F Nick Shore (6-12-18), Senior F Chris Knowlton (8-7-15), Senior F Shawn Ostrow (4-6-10), Sophomore D Joey LaLeggia (6-8-14), Junior D David Makowski (5-5-10), Sophomore G Juho Olkinuora (3-1-1, 2.15 GAA, .934 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (9th season at UND, 220-111-32, .650)
Pairwise Ranking: 13th
National Rankings: #9/#9
This Season: 7-5-2 overall, 4-2-2 WCHA (t-5th)
Last Season: 26-13-3 overall (NCAA West Regional Finalist), 16-11-1 WCHA (4th)

Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.64 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 15.1% (8 of 53)
Penalty Kill: 87.5% (42 of 48)

Key Players: Senior F Danny Kristo (5-9-14), Sophomore F Mark MacMillan (6-5-11), Senior F Corban Knight (3-11-14), Freshman F Rocco Grimaldi (5-6-11), Junior D Derek Forbort (3-5-8), Sophomore D Nick Mattson (1-5-6), Junior G Clarke Saunders (5-3-2, 2.38 GAA, .921 SV%, 2 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 17, 2012 (St Paul, MN). It was a good day to be wearing green, as North Dakota dispatched Denver 4-0 to become the first team to win three consecutive Broadmoor trophies (WCHA Final Five champions). UND scored the last ten goals in the postseason tournament after netting six straight against Minnesota in the semifinals.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: October 30, 2010. One night before Halloween, it was a scary scene on the ice at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Pioneers senior center Jesse Martin was taken off the ice on a stretcher after receiving a crushing hit from UND’s Brad Malone. DU scored just after the major penalty expired and put the game out of reach with a shorthanded tally and an empty net goal. UND won the series opener by a final of 4-3.

Most Important Meeting: It’s hard to pick just one game, as the two teams have played four times for the national title. Denver defeated UND for the national championship in 1958, 1968, and 2005, while the Sioux downed the Pioneers in 1963. And just last season, North Dakota defeated Denver in the WCHA Final Five championship game.

Last Ten Games: North Dakota has had a slight edge lately, going 6-4-0 (.600) in the last ten meetings between the schools. Only four of the last ten games between the teams have taken place in Grand Forks, with the Pioneers claiming a victory in three of the four contests. The two teams have also met three times in the WCHA Final Five (St. Paul) during this most recent stretch, with UND winning all three games.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 135-116-8 (.537), including a stellar 80-42-5 (.650) mark in games played in Grand Forks.

Game News and Notes

UND has only lost once in six home games this season (3-1-2). DU has only played three games this season away from home, winning all three. North Dakota’s Corban Knight is riding a nine game point streak, the longest streak by a UND player in three years. Denver head coach George Gwozdecky just might squat on the dasher in front of his team’s bench.

The Prediction

Everything on paper points to a split, but the way both teams played last weekend, I have a feeling that North Dakota will earn three points. The teams will battle all weekend long, with a parade to the penalty box slowing down at least one game in the series. 3-3 tie, UND 4-3.