UMD is not the 1,000-day reigning national champion in college hockey by accident. The Bulldogs have done this by consistently playing to their identity as a program, which surrounds strong neutral zone play, puck possession, and wearing down opponents with depth. Hockey analyst Pat Micheletti once told me a hallmark of Scott Sandelin’s teams over the last eight to ten years is that you wouldn’t know what line is on the ice if you didn’t have a chart in your hand to tell you. In other words, when UMD is going, the fourth line plays like the top line, and vice versa.
Look at the back-to-back championship teams. In 2018, UMD got to the Frozen Four with a fourth line that included Kobe Roth, who had already proven he could play on just about any line effectively, smart center Jade Miller, and Billy Exell, a speed demon and hard worker who did everything he was asked to the best of his ability. In 2019, the same three eventually comprised that same fourth line, playing key minutes and chipping in huge goals on UMD’s run to a second straight title.
Miller, Roth, and Exell could have played higher up the depth chart for many programs and done so very well, but UMD had the depth, and the three embraced their roles.
There are signs, even in the midst of a 1-4-2 “slump” by UMD here in 2020-21, that this type of depth is developing. More on that in a bit. That certainly would be a gigantic piece toward this Bulldog team competing for whatever the national championship tournament will look like in a couple months.
However, there are other problems that are creeping to the surface, other significant pieces of UMD’s identity that need to be embraced on a more consistent basis for this to ultimately happen.
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UMD built a winner, as I mentioned, on puck possession teams that were beasts on the boards and hard to play against down low in both offensive zones.
This team has players capable of that type of style, but the execution has not been there as much as one might expect through the first 12 games. It’s part of why the Bulldogs have slid a bit since a 5-0-1 start. Last season, UMD played 34 games and outshot opponents 872-667 at even strength, an average of plus-seven shots per game. The per-game average was plus-TEN in 2018-19. Playing the kind of defense UMD has shown the ability to play over the years, combined with how much UMD can wear adversaries down at the other end of the rink, translates to a lot of success.
The Bulldogs have ridden some timely offense and big performances by goalie Ryan Fanti to a good record through 12 games, but UMD has not played to its past identity enough. At even strength, UMD has outshot opponents 276-232 through 12 games, an average of plus-3 1/2 shots per game, basically half last season’s margin. It’s only one piece of evidence, but points to the larger issue that the Bulldogs need to get back to what will be successful for them.
This is not a group that full of snipers. Yes, players like Nick Swaney, Cole Koepke, and others can absolutely shoot the puck, and there’s a case some of them should let ‘er rip more often than they do. However, Sandelin has built a program that consistently contends for championships by getting players who will go to the tough areas, generate puck possession, get to the front of the net, and score goals the hard way. There hasn’t been enough of that, which is admittedly a little frustrating because the Bulldogs have been good when they’ve played that way, even on Friday night.
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In the first period, UMD shook off an early goal by Jami Krannila and strung together some quality offensive zone shifts, generating gobs of puck possession and even forcing Brett Larson to burn his timeout after a particularly long sequence led to a St. Cloud State icing. Did UMD score? No, but you have to trust the process, and even after SCSU got a snipe from Chase Brand to take a 2-0 lead in the final minute of the period, things weren’t trending in a poor direction for UMD.
Shot attempts were 17-6 UMD in the first period. The Bulldogs owned the puck. Give it time, things will turn your way. Well, they did. Quickly.
UMD’s fourth line, effective throughout the first period, cashed in early in the second period when Luke Mylymok put his own rebound home to cut the lead in half. 38 seconds later, fellow freshman Blake Biondi stole a puck at the UMD line, used his speed to spring a 2-on-1 with Mylymok, and ripped a shot home from the left circle for his first career goal. Just like that, it was 2-2 and the home bench had life.
Mylymok was ejected for a hit from behind on SCSU’s Brendan Bushy two minutes later, and while UMD didn’t concede on the long power play, it did lose some of its momentum.
https://twitter.com/UMDHockeygifs/status/1347735574002737152
(Tough call for a guy who had been playing really well, but it appears to have been the correct one. Bushy was down for a bit, but thankfully did return to the game.)
It’s nice to see Biondi and Mylymok both get rewarded. Along with Luke Loheit, that line looked very good in the first 25 minutes of the game, and it would have been cool to see if they could keep that going for the whole evening. That kind of spark could have made a huge difference, so while UMD wasn’t directly burned by this penalty, the overall damage is hard to ignore.
Swaney tipped in a Koepke pass with just over five minutes left in the second for a 3-2 lead, but UMD’s occasional issues with puck management came back to haunt the home team late in the period. A neutral zone turnover during an ill-timed line change gave St. Cloud State a rush late in the second, and when Micah Miller’s initial shot wasn’t cleanly corralled by Fanti, it led to a mad scramble and a Nolan Walker tying goal. The play was reviewed for possible goalie interference, but the goal stood with not enough clear evidence available to overturn the call on the ice.
(Much like the Mylymok hit, referee Cameron Voss announced a call on the ice before the review process started. It was actually refreshing, and a sign NCHC officiating czar Don Adam actually reads the blog. Thanks, Don! 😁)
(In all seriousness, this is an issue I’ve ranted about, both here and during games. I think it’s important that officials, who are wearing microphones and therefore have an open line of communication with everyone in the building, be as clear and concise as possible about what they’re reviewing and what the call on the ice is. Otherwise, what’s the point of having referees wearing microphones?)
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As we embark on the final 12 games of this weird, truncated regular season, UMD knows what its mission is. The Bulldogs figured things out along the way last season, eventually getting back to their strengths and going on a heater before the playoffs were canceled by the still-raging pandemic.
The talent is there to do the same thing here, but it has to start soon. Even in a normal season, they are running out of time to wait on things happening.
Even in a tough defeat like Friday, the blueprint is there. As wrestling legend-turned-podcaster Jim Cornette is wont to say, do more of the good (um, stuff) and less of the bad (um, stuff). That basic principle applies here. Sure, it stunk out loud being down 2-0 after one period of play Friday. But it wasn’t a bad period for UMD. It was a bad result. If you believe in and trust the process, one bad 20-minute result can’t change the overall mission.
But an ill-advised and ill-timed penalty, combined with a bad turnover and line change, helped corrupt what had been a strong response in the middle stanza, which led in part to St. Cloud State’s strong push to start the third and eventually its game-winning goal from Kevin Fitzgerald.
Good teams kick the door down when you leave it open for them, and UMD did that for St. Cloud State. The Huskies took advantage, to their credit. UMD needs to button some things up in the rematch at 6pm (5:30pm pregame on KDAL). Build on the good and eliminate the bad. It’s dang close to go time, and we know this team knows how to go. Time to make it so.
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In the only other NCHC game Friday, Western Michigan won 4-1 at Miami, outshooting the RedHawks 37-17 and getting 16 saves from freshman goalie Alex Aslandis in his first career start.
North Dakota visits Colorado College in a series that will be played Sunday and Monday after Omaha (UND) and Denver (CC) were deemed unavailable to play this weekend because of COVID protocols. Kudos to UND, CC, and the NCHC for the quick adjustment that allows these kids to play when they normally wouldn’t have been able to.
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