BUFFALO, N.Y. — While Lake Superior prepares to get whipped into a frenzy Thursday (check the top of this page for a link to the updated weather alerts), the UMD Bulldogs are at the other end of the Great Lakes, looking to do what no program in college hockey has done in nearly a decade and a half.
Actually, UMD has already done that, simply by getting to the Frozen Four. No defending champion had done that since Denver in 2005, when the Pioneers became the last team to repeat as champions.
“The parity has certainly become very evident, I think,” UMD head coach Scott Sandelin said. “The thing right now is there's not a staff out there that doesn't work hard. We have a lot of tremendous coaches throughout college hockey, like I said, real hard-working assistant coaches. Recruiting, we evened out a little bit, too. You see some of the other teams, some teams are going to lose more players early. Everybody builds their team differently. I think some teams are older, some are younger, some have a good mix.
“There's so many hard-working staffs. Nobody is lazy any more. You can't be in this game. I just think we got a lot of good coaches. Like I said, you recruit to your needs, you recruit to the style you want to play. Everybody has their niche. I think a lot of guys are just sticking with that. You're seeing a lot more teams continue to get better and develop. Even the teams that aren't here, everyone talks about, they'll be back. They're good programs. They always have been. You're going to have cycles.”
But yet, here are the Bulldogs, for a third straight year, competing at the Frozen Four. And UMD isn't resting on its laurels, just hoping its past experiences are enough to lift it past Providence in the first of two national semifinals here Thursday.
“I think we definitely know what to expect,” said UMD captain Parker Mackay. “Obviously the other three teams here are very experienced as well. They're all very good hockey teams. We respect them a lot. We know how hard it's going to be.
“We just got to focus on Thursday night. We can't look by that at any point here. We're just focused on (Thursday) afternoon, late afternoon. We're excited for it. But yeah, I think experience draws a huge factor into that.”
Mackay is playing in his 13th NCAA Tournament game Thursday. Just to piggyback on
my Monday blog
, Mackay is close to pretty elite company in the history of college hockey. According to Nate Ewell of College Hockey, Inc., only four players have ever played in 14 NCAA Tournament games in their college careers. Those four — Dan Bertram, Mike Brennan, Pat Gannon, Matt Greene — were all members of Boston College's class of 2008, a group that played in four straight NCAA Tournaments, like Mackay has.
He's not the only Bulldogs who has hit double digits in NCAA Tournament games. Senior Billy Exell and juniors Nick Wolff and Riley Tufte will play in their 11th tourney games Thursday. Hunter Shepard is 6-0 in the NCAA Tournament, having allowed seven goals (just two of them at even-strength) in those six games.
(You read that correctly. In 360-plus minutes with Hunter Shepard as the UMD goalie in the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs have conceded two goals at level manpower. Probably good to remind everyone of that in case you forgot how UMD got here.)
Meanwhile, Providence isn't a bunch of noobs. The Friars bring nine players to this semifinal game who have over 100 games of college experience.
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The challenge Thursday is a Providence team that might feel like it has destiny on its side. The Friars squeaked into the NCAAs after a Hockey East quarterfinal loss to Boston College left them on the bubble for a tense weekend as conference championships were decided.
How did they respond? By rallying from 3-0 down to beat Minnesota State 6-3 in the East Regional March 30, and then shutting down Cornell 4-0 the next day to take the regional championship and return to the Frozen Four.
Co-captain Kaspar Bjorkqvist has really stepped up down the stretch. Sabres draft pick Jacob Bryson is a smart, mobile defender who was on the ice for all six goals in their regional semifinal win over Minnesota State. Vimal Sukumaran was listed as the 13th forward for the regional games, but he will play a much more significant role than that with his nose for the net. Goalie Hayden Hawkey has 124 starts to his credit and won't be an easy guy for UMD to solve.
It brought back memories of a 2015 national title run by Providence that started with the Friars being the last team to get into the NCAAs as an at-large.
“The similarities have been that both teams had really high expectations,” said eighth-year Providence head coach Nate Leaman. “I don't think either team developed the chip on their shoulder, the desperation they needed until it got to the NCAA tournament. I think that comes with every article that's been written about us this year has been, 'The Friars are great. All their analytics are terrific. Second half, it's going to be all Friars, all Friars.'
“I think we didn't develop the chip on our shoulder, the desperation we needed until the tournament. I thought the same way with the 2015 team. So that would be the similarity.
“I think both teams have developed toughness throughout the year. I think that's important for this time of year. I think if everything goes smooth sailing, you can get in trouble this time of year. I think adversity is actually a good thing.”
Sandelin has a pretty good idea what to expect.
“Fast-starting team, very aggressive,” he said. “I go back to the game we had with them a few years ago. I thought it was an unbelievable hockey game. I think it was in Worcester (he's right, by the way) when it was double overtime (2-1 UMD win in 2016 on a winning goal by Karson Kuhlman). I thought it was great pace, just hard ice all over. We were fortunate to win that game.
“You mentioned the power play. It was outstanding against Mankato and Cornell. They were probably riding with a lot of confidence.
“But they get hard to the net.
We have to find a way to get to theirs. Both teams have to solve pretty good goalies, too. I just think it's going to be another close, hard-fought, not a lot of room, physical, maybe a bounce here or there. I'm expecting a very, very hard, heavy game.”
Leaman, like many opposing coaches, is impressed with what he sees from UMD.
“I think Duluth is one of the best-coached teams that I've watched on film in a long time. So I think they're heavy, they work as a group of five, they're good on the specialty teams.
“As I told our guys this week, if you look at the major statistics across NCAA Division I, it's Providence and Duluth are almost right next to each other on every stat, scoring offense, scoring defense, power play, penalty kill, save percentage, both of them are .920. Not a big difference between the teams.”
Leaman is right. Look at these numbers.
Scoring offense: Providence 3.22 goals per game (9th), UMD 3.15 goals per game (11th).
Scoring defense: Providence 1.951 goals per game (5th), UMD 1.950 goals per game (4th).
Power play: Providence 22.2 percent (13th), UMD 22.0 percent (14th).
Penalty kill: Providence 86.8 percent (5th), UMD 85.7 percent (10th).
Even-strength Corsi: Providence 57.8 percent (3rd), UMD 60.2 percent (1st).
Total Corsi: Providence 56.3 percent (T-4th), UMD 58.9 percent (1st).
Shots percentage (as simple as it sounds, percentage of total shots in a game that belong to a team): Providence 59.4 percent (2nd), UMD 60.0 percent (1st).
Then again, it's the Frozen Four. Even if the stats weren't close, it would be wise to expect a tight game. That's how it usually goes.
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Should be a fun game Thursday at KeyBank Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres. A little more than two decades old, but a very nice arena.
3:30pm pregame on KDAL, 4pm faceoff. I'll be on all the morning shows like usual, and The Bruce Ciskie Show will come from the hotel this time (Thursday pregame skates are closed to the media at the Frozen Four).
Wherever you'll be taking in the game from, hope you enjoy. Back with lines pregame.
