Sioux Sports Talk

Maybe you remember Ben Cherski, Bill Reichart, and Jim Cahoon. Or you started watching Sioux hockey when Mark Taylor, Doug Smail, Phil Sykes, and Troy Murray were on the ice. Who can forget Bob Joyce, Steve Johnson, and Tony Hrkac? Perhaps your hockey heroes are Greg Johnson, Dixon Ward, and Lee Davidson? Jason Blake? Ryan Bayda? Brandon Bochenski? Zach Parise?

All of these hockey greats have one thing in common: they belong to UND’s most exclusive club. Not only are they members of the Fighting Sioux Century Club (100 career points), but they all scored more than one point per game during their time at UND.

And it’s time to make room for one more: T.J. Oshie.

T.J. Oshie became the 47th player to join the Century Club while averaging more than one point per contest (and the 76th Century Club member overall) by notching his third career hat trick in leading North Dakota past Michigan Tech, 6-0. Oshie now boasts career totals of 45 goals and 56 assists in his first 92 games.

And Ryan Duncan isn’t far behind. Duncan notched three assists on the night, and his 48 goals and 50 assists in 94 games leave him 2 points shy of joining Oshie in that exclusive company.

And this after the two junior forwards had notched just three points combined during their first four games of the season.

Oh, and by the way, in his first five games, senior goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has posted four shutouts to go along with a .983 save percentage and a goals-against average of 0.43. Lamoureux had four career shutouts in his first three seasons at UND.

The biggest difference in this game, to me, was the way this game was officiated. And, yes, it was officiated differently than Friday night’s contest. Interference, hooking, and holding were called as they should be called. And it worked both ways. But that allowed the skill players from both teams to create offense or draw penalties in the process.

UND went 3 for 8 on the power play tonight, while MTU went 0 for 7.

Chris VandeVelde (1 goal, 1 assist), Taylor Chorney (2 assists), and Robbie Bina (2 assists) also had multiple point nights for the Fighting Sioux.

VandeVelde with Oshie and Duncan seems to be working. When Oshie plays along the wall, and has fewer defensive responsibilities, it frees him up to create more up the ice. Look for this line to continue playing together.

Andrew Kozek notched his fourth goal of the season, and is showing signs of breaking out this year.

In his first game in a long time, Michael Forney showed poise and made a good first step toward cracking this lineup.

My three stars tonight would be Oshie, Duncan, and Lamoureux, but it would be a nice night to have 6 or 7 stars to give, as UND played well up and down the lineup.

UND moves to 3-1-1 (1-1-0 WCHA) on the season. Michigan Tech falls to 4-2-0 (3-1-0 WCHA). UND hosts Colorado College next weekend in WCHA action.

Thank you for reading. I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Well, as I said here, a split in this series was likely, although I ended up predicting a win and a tie for UND due largely to the play of Jean-Philippe Lamoureux.

As it turns out, Michigan Tech has a shot at a sweep due to the play of its goaltender, Michael-Lee Teslak.

Clearly the player of the game, Teslak stopped all 14 shots that came his way in the third period, and made 26 out of 27 saves on the evening, as Michigan Tech downed UND 3-1 (empty net).

The Sioux peppered Michigan Tech in the last five minutes of the contest, but couldn’t solve the junior netminder, who moves to 2-1-0 on the season, with marks of 1.33 GAA and .942 SV.

The Huskies have won the last three meetings between the teams.

Andrew Kozek scored the lone goal for UND, his third of the season. He was assisted by defensemen Taylor Chorney and Chay Genoway.

In the post-game show, UND head coach Dave Hakstol made mention of the fact that in games like this, the team needs someone to step up and make a play.

Ryan Duncan and T.J. Oshie have 2 goals and 1 assist combined through the first four games of the season.

UND junior defenseman Taylor Chorney was named the number-two star of the game. UND senior defenseman Robbie Bina was named the number-three star.

Michigan Tech moves to 4-1-0 on the season, and is 3-0-0 in the WCHA. UND falls to 2-1-1 (0-1-0 WCHA). The two teams battle again tomorrow night. For more on the matchup between the two teams, click here.

Thank you for reading. Check back tomorrow night for post-game reaction and a recap of scores and happenings from around the league. As always, I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

These are some things that jumped out at me about the UND/BC game and the CSTV coverage:

Dave Starman knows his college hockey.

BC’s skated five forwards on its first power play unit.

It’s a little early for Boston College fans to be chanting “Myoooooooose” every time Eagles’ freshman goaltender John Muse touches the puck.

Derrick LaPoint looks right at home on the power play, and his slap shot from the point is on target more times than not.

The CSTV announcers stated that Robbie Bina will be a pro next year. I’m not certain of that.

Using “NoDak” as a term to describe North Dakota has to go. UND is fine. ND is ok, but a bit confusing (Notre Dame). NoDak is right out.

I don’t know why it’s surprising that UND recruits in Canada, but the announcers made mention of it yet again on Friday night. It was said that half of the Eagles’ roster was made up of players from Boston, while half of North Dakota’s was made up of Canadian players. Let’s see, where should we recruit? Montana? South Dakota? Minnesota? Yes, there are five Minnesota players on UND’s roster, but with 5 Division I teams in the state of Minnesota, we’ve got to look north of the border, too. Oh, and by the way, there are four North Dakota natives on the Fighting Sioux roster. With our population, that’s not too bad.

The team benches were on opposite sides of the rink from each other. I’m not sure how often I’ve seen that.

After one period, shots were 11-11. It was a tale of two halves, as UND really didn’t get going until the midway point. BC was winning the majority of the draws (16-10), a trend that would continue in the second period. Oshie, Kaip, VandeVelde, and Zajac normally don’t lose the face-off battle.

Ah, yes, the second power outage. With just over a minute gone in the second period, the lights go off. For 22 minutes. The weather outside created what officials described as a “perfect storm”. 71 degrees, 100% humidity, and rain, combined with a packed building which does not have air conditioning, created fog on the ice. At times in the second, from the ice level cameras, the viewer could not see the bottom half of the players.

Lamoureux was compared to Mike Richter during this telecast. I’m not sure about that, either.

With 7 minutes to play, we almost had another “Bina goal”. While playing short-handed, a BC player cleared the puck from his own circle and Lamoureux never saw it through the fog. Luckily, it skipped and went wide of the net.

Shots ended up 28-24 in UND’s favor, although face-offs favored BC, 31-22.

With those ice and weather conditions, I’m happy the game ended in a tie. In other words, for as evenly matched as the two teams were, this was the best possible outcome. It would have been a shame for a fluky goal through the fog to decide this contest.

Last question mark of the night: why did the Eagles circle up at center ice and give a stick salute to their fans after a two-period, 0-0 draw?

Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.

December 15th and 16th, 2006. The last home hockey series before the Christmas break. The Fighting Sioux held a 5-6-1 record in conference play, and hoped to improve on that mark against the Michigan Tech Huskies.

Jamie Russell’s Huskies had other plans.

Michigan Tech swept UND, 3-1 and 3-2, at Ralph Engelstad Arena to send the Sioux home for Christmas to do some soul-searching.

“What we did tonight was not enough,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol after Saturday night’s contest, “but there’s a lot of fight left in this dog.”

A lot of fight, indeed. After the break, UND posted a 17-4-4 record the rest of the way in advancing to its third consecutive Frozen Four.

This season, both teams are off to good starts. Michigan Tech (3-1-0), hoping to build on last season’s successes, swept Minnesota-State Mankato last weekend in the WCHA opener for both schools. The Huskies outscored the Mavericks 9-1 on the weekend. UND (2-0-1) has faced both national championship teams from last season (Boston College and Michigan State), and in three games, the Sioux have yet to give up a goal.

Michigan Tech Team Profile
National Rankings: #14/#15
Head Coach: Jamie Russell (5th season at MTU, 44-93-20, .344)
This Season: 3-1-0, 2-0-0 WCHA
Last Season: 18-17-5, 11-12-5 WCHA (6th)
Key Returning Players: Senior F Peter Rouleau (1-3-4), Senior F Tyler Shelast (3-0-3), Junior D Geoff Kinrade (0-4-4), Junior G Michael-Lee Teslak (1-1-0, 1.50 GAA, .929 SV)

North Dakota Team Profile
National Rankings: #1/#1
Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (4th season at UND, 81-45-12, .630)
This Season: 2-0-1, 0-0-0 WCHA
Last Season: 24-14-5 (Frozen Four semifinalist), 13-10-5 WCHA (3rd)
Key Returning Players: Junior F Ryan Duncan (1-1-2), Junior F T.J. Oshie (1-0-1), Junior D Taylor Chorney (0-3-3), Senior D Robbie Bina (0-2-2), Senior G Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (2-0-1, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV)

By The Numbers
Last Meeting: December 15-16, 2006. Michigan Tech sweeps the series in Grand Forks, 3-1 and 3-2, for its first sweep over North Dakota in 14 years.
Last Meeting in Houghton: December 2-3, 2005. UND sweeps the series, 6-1 and 8-2.
All-time: UND leads the all-time series, 128-87-8 (.592). The teams first met in 1948.

Game News and Notes
In its last 22 games in Houghton, the Fighting Sioux have collected 20 wins against 1 loss and 1 tie. Last Friday’s game against Boston College was just the second 0-0 tie in Fighting Sioux hockey history. UND and Michigan Tech played to a 0-0 (no OT) tie in the first game of a two-game, total goals series in the 1968 WCHA playoffs. This weekend’s series will mark the first time in 20 years that the Fighting Sioux have opened up their WCHA schedule at Michigan Tech. UND Junior F T.J. Oshie needs two points to reach the century mark for his career.

The Prediction
I have a feeling that the Huskies will be ready for this weekend’s series. A split is likely, although I will go with three points for UND based on the play of Lamoureux. UND 2-1 Friday, 1-1 tie Saturday.

Click here for Friday post-game reaction. Click here for reaction and commentary from Saturday’s game action. Thanks for reading, and, as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

The Boston College Eagles seem to be getting all of the attention this week, for their matchup with North Dakota and for their “roster updates”. And Northeastern is used to playing second fiddle (or third, or fourth) in Beantown, with Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard stealing most of the hockey headlines.

But Northeastern is making strides. The 2005-06 Huskies posted just 3 wins in head coach Greg Cronin’s first season, and improved to 13 wins last year. Cronin is cautiously optimistic about his team’s chances against the powerhouses in Boston and beyond.

“People are getting excited about Northeastern because we had some success last year; there were some really stunning victories at Michigan, at Maine, against BC, against BU, but I’m guarded because I’m in the trenches here working through it,” Cronin said. “We only have one senior. We’re still in that phase where we’re asking our freshmen to play significant roles.”

For the Sioux, there are a few question marks surrounding this contest with Northeastern: After two high-profile games against Frozen Four participants from last season (Michigan State and Boston College), will the Sioux suffer any sort of let-down? Will Anthony Greico start on Saturday night, giving senior goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux his first game off after starting 27 games in a row? Will any of this matter with a team that seems loaded, prepared, and driven to return to the Frozen Four for the fourth consecutive season?

Northeastern Team Profile

Head Coach: Greg Cronin (3rd season at NU, 16-42-12, .314)
This Season: 0-0-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East
Last Season: 13-18-5, 9-13-5 Hockey East (7th)
Key Returning Players: Sophomore F Chad Costello (11-11-22), Sophomore F Kyle Kraemer (7-12-19), Junior F Joe Vitale (7-9-16), Junior F Ryan Ginand (6-8-14), Sophomore G Brad Thiessen (11-17-5, 2.48 GAA, .921 save percentage, 4 shutouts)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (4th season at UND, 80-45-11, .629)
This Season: 1-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA
Last Season: 24-14-5 (Frozen Four semifinalist), 13-10-5 WCHA (3rd)
Key Returning Players: Junior F Ryan Duncan (31-26-57 last season; 2007 Hobey Baker Award winner), Junior F T.J. Oshie (17-35-52), Junior D Taylor Chorney (8-23-31), Senior D Robbie Bina (10-22-32), Senior G Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (21-12-4, 2.42 GAA, .913 SV)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 14-15, 2005 (Grand Forks, North Dakota). UND sweeps the non-conference series, 6-0 and 2-1, as freshman forwards Ryan Duncan (2 goals, 1 assist) and T.J. Oshie (4 assists) have breakout weekends. NU head coach Greg Cronin blasts the officiating crew (headed by referee Bill Mason) after Saturday’s defeat. “Honest to God, I’ve coached in the National Hockey League, the American Hockey League, the OHL, international, WCHA, Hockey East, and that was the worst officiating I’ve ever seen in my life,” Cronin said. “All three of them — Moe, Larry and Curly — were sniffing glue. It was embarrassing. If I was the league, I’d be embarrassed by that.”
Last Meeting in Boston: October 30, 2004. The teams skate to a 3-3 tie in non-conference play. Northeastern Junior F Brian Swiniarski pots two third-period goals to force overtime.
Most important meeting: March 25, 1982 (Providence, Rhode Island). UND defeats Northeastern 6-2 in the NCAA semifinals, and goes on to claim its 4th national championship with a 5-2 victory over Wisconsin.
All-time: UND leads the all-time series with 8 wins against 5 losses and 3 ties (.594). The series record on Huskies’ home ice is 2-2-3.

Game News and Notes

In 2005-06 (Greg Cronin’s first season as head coach), the Huskies posted a 3-24-7 (.191) overall record. Last year, they improved to 13-18-5 (.431), and hope to make a similar improvement this season. Hockey East coaches picked Northeastern to finish 7th this season. Sophomore G Brad Thieseen played over 90% of his team’s goaltending minutes last season. UND opens its conference schedule with a two-game series at Michigan Tech (Houghton, MI) on October 26-27.

The Prediction

Matthews Arena will be buzzing, Coach Cronin will have his Huskies ready to play, and it won’t matter. The Sioux are too deep and too talented to drop this game. Sioux 4-1.

Check back after Saturday’s game for news, commentary, and analysis. Thanks for reading, and, as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Well, it took a little digging, but here is the official word from the Boston College media relations office: “Junior defenseman Brett Motherwell and senior defenseman Brian O’Hanley will be out of the lineup indefinitely for a violation of team rules.”

Note that this one-sentence explanation does not even appear on the main page. I took a look at the Game Notes in PDF Format, scrolled down to page 2, and found my way to “Roster Updates”.

Now, this may sound cynical, but two players suspended indefinitely is more than a “roster update” to me.

Here’s what we know:

Both Motherwell and O’Hanley played in last Friday’s opening game of the IceBreaker Tournament (St. Paul, Minnesota). O’Hanley recorded one assist, while Motherwell did not figure in the scoring. The Eagles lost to Michigan, 4-3 in overtime.

Neither player was in the lineup for Saturday’s 4-1 win at the Icebreaker against Rensselaer.

BC hosts top-ranked North Dakota this Friday in non-conference action. For a complete preview of the matchup, click here.

Brett Motherwell led all Hockey East defensemen last season with 28 points on 3 goals and 25 assists, and has 51 points in 82 career games with the Eagles. Inside College Hockey named Motherwell to its preseason All-American second team.

Brian O’Hanley, a senior, has played 112 career games for the Eagles, with career totals of 6 goals and 19 assists. He is playoff-tested, having appeared in four Frozen Four games and six other NCAA tournament contests at Boston College.

With this “roster update”, Boston College has six eligible defensemen listed on its roster for this weekend’s action. Junior defensemen Tim Kunes and Anthony Aeillo replaced the two suspended players for last Saturday’s game against Rensselaer.

I will post further updates as they become available. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

April 5, 2007. St. Louis, Missouri. The NCAA Frozen Four semifinal. Yet another in a seemingly endless string of bouts between two heavyweights. Arguably the two hottest teams in the tournament: Boston College, winners of 12 straight games, versus North Dakota, winners of 19 of their last 21 contests. A furious final seven minutes turns a 2-2 tie into a 6-4 Eagles victory.

This type of game has become almost commonplace for these two clubs. Over the last nine seasons, Boston College and North Dakota have met six times in the NCAA tournament, including 4 times in the Frozen Four and twice for the National Championship.

Before we look forward to this Friday’s matchup, let’s look back at some memorable moments in what has become an intense rivalry….

March 28, 1999. Madison, Wisconsin. BC defeats UND 3-1 (en) in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Sioux, who received a first-round bye in the NCAA tournament, lose for only the sixth time all season, and finish the year at 32-6-2, one game short of the Frozen Four.

April 8, 2000. Providence, Rhode Island. UND defeats BC 4-2 (en) in the NCAA title game to claim its 7th national championship. The Sioux rally from a 2-1 deficit after two periods.

April 7, 2001. Albany, New York. BC defeats UND 3-2 (OT) to win its first NCAA crown since 1949. Krys Kolanos nets the game-winner at 4:43 of overtime after UND scores twice in the final four minutes of regulation to even the score.

March 26, 2005. Worcester, Massachusetts. UND defeats BC 6-3 in the NCAA East Regional Final to advance to the first of three consecutive Frozen Fours. Colorado College, Denver, and Minnesota also advance, setting up an all-WCHA Frozen Four.

April 6, 2006. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. BC defeats UND 6-5 in the Frozen Four semifinal. North Dakota scores twice in the final five minutes to make it close, but it’s too little, too late.

While the fans love to look back and wonder, the players and coaches are focused on the upcoming weekend. UND junior forward and reigning Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan was asked if he viewed this Friday’s contest as some sort of “revenge game” from the past two years.

“Not at all,” Duncan said. “For us, this is the second game of our season. We want to keep developing as a team. We’re looking at this game as a tremendous challenge against a great opponent. I think both teams are familiar with each other because of our history over the last couple years which should make for a very exciting and competitive game.”

Both teams lose just a handful of players from last season. Boston College will miss Brian Boyle and Joe Rooney. North Dakota will have to do without Jonathan Toews, Brian Lee, and Chris Porter. But the Eagles and Sioux are loaded with offensive talent and defensive experience. UND carries 14 juniors and seniors on its roster; BC 15.

So the difference may very well come down to these names:

Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux and Cory Schneider.

UND’s Lamoureux (21-12-4, 2.42 GAA, .913 SV last year) is back for his senior season between the pipes. BC’s Schneider (29-12-1, 2.15 GAA, .925 SV) departed for the pros, giving up his final season of eligibility.

So while North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol knows what he can expect from his senior netminder, Boston College head coach Jerry York thinks he knows what he has in John Muse and fellow freshmen goaltenders Alex Kremer and Andrew Margolin.

“We have some really top-end offensive players and we’re very solid defensively,” York says of his Eagles squad. “I think Johnny [Muse] is going to give us enough strength in goal.”

Both Boston College and North Dakota faced an early test in non-conference action last weekend. North Dakota downed Michigan State University 6-0 in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game (Grand Forks, North Dakota), while the Eagles fell to Michigan 4-3 in overtime in the opening game of the Ice Breaker Invitational (St. Paul, Minnesota). BC recovered from its opening round loss to defeat RPI 4-1 in the consolation game.

“It’s good for the team,” York said of having to face Michigan and North Dakota in its first three games of the season. “We’ve got to get prepared for Hockey East and the challenges it has.”

Boston College Team Profile

Head Coach: Jerry York (14th season at BC, 312-170-42, .635)
This Season: 1-1-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East
Last Season: 29-12-1 (NCAA runner-up), 18-8-1 Hockey East (2nd)
Key Returning Players: Junior F Nathan Gerbe (25-22-47 last season), Junior F Benn Ferriero (23-23-46), Senior D Mike Brennan (0-11-11). Junior D Brett Motherwell (3-25-28) and Senior D Brian O’Hanley (2-3-5) are out of the lineup indefinitely for a violation of team rules. Junior F Brock Bradford (19-26-45) is on the roster this year but is out ten weeks or so after suffering a broken arm in the second period of Friday’s overtime loss to Michigan.

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (4th season at UND, 80-45-11, .629)
This Season: 1-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA
Last Season: 24-14-5 (Frozen Four semifinalist), 13-10-5 WCHA (3rd)
Key Returning Players: Junior F Ryan Duncan (31-26-57 last season; 2007 Hobey Baker Award winner), Junior F T.J. Oshie (17-35-52), Junior D Taylor Chorney (8-23-31), Senior D Robbie Bina (10-22-32), Senior G Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (21-12-4, 2.42 GAA, .913 SV)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: April 5, 2007. Boston College and North Dakota battle in the Frozen Four semifinals, with the Eagles prevailing 6-4.
Last Meeting in Chestnut Hill: October 29, 2004. BC wins 5-3, scoring three times in the first 15 minutes of the game. Jerry York gets career victory number 700.
Most important meetings: The Sioux and Eagles have met twice to decide the National Championship, with UND taking the title in 2000 and BC winning it all in 2001.
All-time: UND leads the all-time series between the schools, 11-9-0 (.550). The teams first met on December 29, 1959, with the Sioux winning 5-3. In addition to the more recent playoff meetings listed above, UND and BC also played in national semifinal games in 1963 and 1965, splitting the two contests. When the newly-formed Hockey East began play in 1984-1985, it created a five-year interlocking schedule with the WCHA. During that time, Boston College and North Dakota met 7 times, with John “Gino” Gasparini’s Fighting Sioux squad going 5-2-0 against Len Ceglarski’s Eagles.

Game News and Notes

UND Senior G Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has started the last 26 games in a row for UND, the fourth longest streak in Sioux history. Boston College head coach Jerry York is in his 36th season of coaching, and holds a career mark of 779-505-76 (.601). The Eagles have made the NCAA tournament the past five seasons and the national championship game the last two. Dave Hakstol joins Jack Parker (Boston University) and Doug Woog (University of Minnesota) as the only coaches to take their first three teams to the Frozen Four. North Dakota and Boston College each have seven NCAA victories over the past three seasons, and are the top two teams over that span. The game will be televised live nationally on CSTV at 7 p.m. Central time. After the game on Friday, UND will battle Northeastern (Boston, MA) on Saturday in non-conference action, while Boston College will head to Burlington, Vermont for a Sunday clash with the University of Vermont Catamounts in the conference opener for both teams. UND opens its conference schedule with a two-game series at Michigan Tech (Houghton, MI) on October 26-27.

The Prediction

Judging from last Friday’s 6-0 shutout of Michigan State, UND will not start slowly this season. Goaltending and special teams play will be keys. Both teams can be lethal on the power play and stifling on the penalty kill. The edge goes to UND and senior netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, who proved last weekend that he can play big in big games. UND 4-2.

Click here for the UND/BC Game React. Thanks for reading, and, as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

I know, I know, I know. You’ve already read the Hall of Fame Game React. You’re all set for Friday’s tilt against Boston College. And you’re wondering, “Why the need for another Hall of Fame Game article?” Well, I’ll tell you: Some of you fans out there are looking for something more. You want to discuss penalty calls, disallowed goals, line combinations, and strategies. You’ve read the recaps and the newspaper articles, but it’s not enough. And it’s not enough for me, either.

I have to admit to something that many people who know me already know. I watch old hockey games all the time. Yes, even when I know who wins. For me, it’s like a favorite movie. I always notice something new or learn something about the team or players every time I watch. Yes, I’m a hockey freak. It’s who I am. And the Game Rewind serves as a second look at this past weekend’s game.

So, anyway, on to the action:

The first thing that occurred to me as I watched Saturday’s game again was how solid the Fighting Sioux are up the middle. Oshie, Kaip, VandeVelde, and Zajac are all formidable on draws and capable of playing sound defensively in their own end.

On to the first big call of the contest: Brad Miller’s goal is disallowed as Kyle Radke is called for interference (7:05, 1st period), Notice I didn’t say Radke was whistled for interference. Seemingly, the penalty was called without a signal or a whistle. Don’t get me wrong here – it WAS a penalty. Radke cleared Michigan State defenseman Mike Ratchuk (#44) out of the slot as the pass came across to Miller.

The problem with this call was two-fold: First, no one had any idea what was going on. The on-air announcers thought the play must have been offside, or that the penalty occurred after the goal was scored. The refs were unclear at every point. The second problem was that the announcement in the arena was also unclear. The public address announcer simply said, “The goal has been disallowed.” And then went on to announce Radke’s penalty as if the two were unrelated to one another.

To make a short story long: it was a penalty, but it was handled poorly.

Oshie’s goal (11:38, 1st period) to make it 1-0 was a very nice shot, but the real play was Duncan’s cross-ice pass that created the space inside the zone. The first of many, I’m sure.

Alright, on to the biggest call of the night: The hitting from behind call on T.J. Oshie. After watching the play countless times, and reading the most current version of the rulebook, the call had to be made.

The rulebook has this to say regarding hitting from behind:

SECTION 23. a. A player shall not push, charge, cross-check, or body check an opponent from behind in open ice.
PENALTY—Minor or major at the discretion of the referee.

So in open ice, the referee uses discretion to determine the penalty.

SECTION 23. b. Hitting from behind into the side boards, end boards or goal cage is a flagrant violation.
PENALTY—Major and game misconduct or disqualification at the discretion of the referee.

In this case, the only decision is whether the player is given a misconduct (and therefore misses only that game) or a disqualification (and misses the following game as well).

In two separate paragraphs, the NCAA Rules Committee addresses concern about players turning in order to draw hitting from behind penalties, but concludes by saying “the positive change in behavior the committee observed (after emphasizing the rule last season) outweighs this issue.” The committee reminds players and coaches (and indirectly, fans) that the responsibility remains with the player approaching an opponent along the boards in this rule. Furthermore, the committee notes that it considered intermediate penalties (e.g., minor and misconduct, major only, game and misconduct) but ultimately decided any lesser option would send the wrong message to officials, players and coaches.

So in Oshie’s case, even though he was simply chasing the puck-carrier and riding him along the boards, he did push with his forearm and Abdelkader (MSU #9) was in that dangerous area, just far enough away from the boards so as to be unprotected. Yes, I know that the penalty is called “hitting from behind” (or mistakenly called “checking from behind”), but the rule includes body checking and pushing.

So, in short: given the current state of the rules, the right call was made. It’s unfortunate that no discretion is allowed in this case, but it’s simply not. And the committee has done its due diligence, weighed all of the factors, and decided that this type of play is too dangerous to mess around with anything less than a major penalty and a game misconduct or disqualification.

Alright, on to the rest of the rewind.

The interference call (goaltender interference?) was clearly of the make-up variety. I’d like someone to crunch the numbers on how many times a team with a five-minute major power play is whistled for a penalty sometime during that span.

Duncan’s goal (16:28, 1st period), an intended pass which deflected off of MSU defenseman Dustin Gazely’s skate and found the far post, was crazy. Even highly skilled players get lucky sometimes!

I love VandeVelde, Zajac, Kaip, and Watkins killing penalties up front.

I did not see Trupp instigating anything. I saw Trupp get cross-checked across the face and fall down.

VandeVelde swatting the puck out of the air and in was beautiful. (6:55, 2nd period)

There were stretches in the second and early in the third where Michigan State sustained offensive pressure, but our defensive zone coverage was very solid.

The back-breaker goal was UND’s fourth (3:02, 3rd period). Michigan State had come out in the third period with purpose and had sustained offensive pressure. The Spartans had created an odd-man rush. Chorney broke up the play and joined the three-on-one the other way. Matt Frattin was given plenty of room down the left wing (Duncan got all of the attention on the other side) and scored on a nice low wrist shot to stem the Spartan tide.

Kozek had a great game. He is playing with purpose, and his goal (15:49, 3rd period) was a result of that. It looks like he realizes how close he is to being on the outside of this lineup looking in. In my opinion, he earned a spot in the lineup Friday night.

Genoway’s tally (17:02, 3rd period) was tipped in the slot, and Lerg had no chance.

The Sioux won their sixth consecutive season opener.

This game was a lot closer than the final score indicates. Lamoureux (23 save shutout) was a difference maker, and the Sioux found a way to finish their chances (6 goals on 22 shots). I don’t think these two teams are that far apart, and I do not believe the Spartans are “overrated”.

All four freshmen in the lineup (Frattin, Malone, Trupp, and LaPoint) played well and did not look out of place at all. All four forward lines and 4 of 6 defensemen figured in the scoring. Those contributions up and down the lineup are key to UND’s success this season.

That does it for this edition of Game Rewind. I welcome your comments and suggestions. Thanks for reading!