COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It could probably just be an ongoing theme for the blog.
The NCHC is hard. College hockey is hard.
But if you still don’t believe us, look at what happened last weekend. The top two teams in the NCHC going into the weekend — North Dakota and UMD — both won their Friday games 5-2 at home.
Then came Saturday.
North Dakota outshot Arizona State 41-15 and fell 4-2. UMD outshot Omaha 32-21 and lost 2-0. Both teams were denied sweeps after winning with relative ease the night before.
And as you’ll read later, “everything earned, nothing given” has multiple themes this week.
9 THOUGHTS
1. Before we get into what’s to come, congratulations to UMD alum Justin Faulk. The St. Louis Blues defenseman played in career game 1,000 Tuesday night in Toronto.
Fox 21’s Neil Vierzba asked UMD coach Scott Sandelin about Faulk’s accomplishment.
“I still remember him being here in the recruiting process to get him,” Sandelin said, “and I think we started with giving him this much money, but we had to turn around and give more, otherwise he wasn’t coming. It was a good decision to give him more. Even his year here, I kind of felt at Christmas he wasn’t going to be here longer than one or two years. He was really strong, tremendous freshman year.
“I just think if you watch his career, I think his last few years, three, four years here have been some of his best years, and I think that’s just that experience. But the thing I love about Faulker is he played here one year, and you would have thought he played here four years. He’s always been a tremendous supporter. He’s given back to the program. This was the first year he missed the golf thing. He had a wedding, but he comes back every year. Always in communication. He’s a true alum, right? And it’s pretty cool that he only was here for a year, winning a championship with that group. It was pretty special, but awesome guy. Happy for him. What a great family.”
2. To overly nitpick UMD’s game Saturday would be, at least to an extent, a discredit to Omaha. The Mavericks did what a lot of teams in this league do. They made the Saturday game exceptionally hard after losing on Friday.
UMD’s top line of Zam Plante, Max Plante, and Jayson Shaugabay was held in check, both at five-on-five and on the power play. Omaha withstood a lot of pressure, playing a smart defensive game and limiting UMD’s quality scoring chances. Dawson Cowan was good when he needed to be, though Sandelin lamented at his Wednesday media conference that he didn’t think his group pressured Cowan enough as he posted a 32-save shutout.
“We got to start figuring out Saturdays,” Sandelin said. “Saturdays have been a little bit of a nemesis right now (all three UMD losses have come in Saturday games). It’s not like we’ve played poorly, but we need to step up and match the other team’s intensity and determination.
“That was kind of the case Saturday. I think we were just OK. Our execution wasn’t as good as it needs to be. We didn’t win a lot of races or battles. When you do that, you put yourself in not a great spot. Omaha, they worked. They took advantage of a couple of opportunities, and that was the difference.”
3. Still, at 11-3, there’s a lot to like about UMD, and there is some sustainability to what is going on.
UMD ranks high nationally in goal differential at even strength (10th) and shot percentage at even strength (13th). When games are “close” (defined as a one- or two-goal game in the first two periods, or a tie game in the third), UMD has a goal share of almost 70 percent that ranks seventh in the country.
The top line is the top line, but UMD is doing a lot of other things well in the first half of the season to get where it is right now.
“I know the top line gets a ton of credit, and rightfully so,” said Colorado College head coach Kris Mayotte. “They are dynamic. The way they find each other reminds me of when (Jackson) Blake was at North Dakota, and he would just hang out on the weak side, and all of sudden the puck’s on his stick. They have the ability to do that, but I think they also have the ability to play inside the dots and play down low and make it hard and possess pucks. They’re certainly a load, but I think the biggest thing is that it doesn’t stop there. The Gaffney line is playing well. The top pair is dynamic with (Ty) Hanson and (Adam) Kleber. And when they’re on the ice with the top line, it’s positionless hockey. They’re just out there doing their thing. It’s fun to watch on film, probably not as fun to watch it on the opposing bench.
“It’s about their depth. It’s just a really well-built team, there isn’t a drop-off there. Everybody understands their role, and even if you get through all that, the goalie (Adam Gajan) is playing outstanding and lights out. He was taken 35th overall (in the NHL Draft) for a reason.
“Special teams are clicking on all cylinders. They have a dynamic top pair, they have a dynamic top line, they have great depth and they have a really good goalie right now. So when you draw it up on how you win championships and how you build a team, they executed to a ‘T’. There’s a reason that they’re 11-3. There’s a reason they’re winning all the games. And there’s a reason they’re top five in the country.”
4. Riley Bodnarchuk is college hockey. We’ve seen a lot of things change. And this isn’t a complaint. Players have a semblance of freedom when it comes to finding the right fit and the right experience for them is a good thing more than it’s a bad thing. I’ll die on that hill.
But there’s still something to be said for a player spending his four years figuring out life and college and hockey and putting their best foot forward. It’s what college hockey — hell, college sports as a whole — should be all about.
Riley Bodnarchuk is that dude for UMD. The native of Okotoks, Alberta, played in 19 games as a freshman, 30 as a sophomore, and 13 last season. He was often relegated to seventh defenseman duty, with the occasional five-on-five shift or a spot on the penalty kill. There were games where he didn’t play at all, but got credit for playing because he was in the lineup.
So far this season, it’s been a different story for Bodnarchuk.
He’s played in 11 games, and he hasn’t been a bit player. He’s on the penalty kill, and he’s getting more regular five-on-five shifts than he has at any other point in college.
None of that was handed to him. He earned it.
“It’s been awesome,” Sandelin said last weekend. “He’s a guy that struggled with, even at the end of last year, a lot of his teammates left and he chose to come back, which we were excited about because he is that type of guy and he’s provided some great leadership. When we were going through June and August and part of September and we had named captains, he’s along with a few guys in that room, in the weight room, on the ice, who provided that leadership.
“His time here, he hasn’t necessarily been a full-time guy. We asked him last year to do some things to improve his game. Typical Riley, he goes to work and does it. He’s a much better player right now. He’s been great for us. Even when he’s in that (seventh defenseman) role or a couple of Saturdays where he played Friday, didn’t play Saturday, he comes to work on Monday and has good week and prepares himself to play the next game.
“When you have guys like that, it makes the group really fun and it also should rub off on other guys, too. And so I’m happy to see him getting some opportunities here and doing well, especially with it being his last year.”
5. Bodnarchuk could have gone into the portal, honestly after any of his first three seasons, and no one would have questioned his motives.
He wouldn’t have been alone. From his freshman class, only captain Joey Pierce remains. Isaac Howard went in the portal after one season. Ben Steeves signed pro after two. Cole Spicer didn’t play the second half of his sophomore season before moving on. Luke Johnson went in the portal after his second year. Jack Smith, Kyle Bettens, Aiden Dubinsky, and Zach Sandy went in the portal after three years.
So many guys moved on, many of them seeking bigger roles than they had at UMD. Why stay?
“I like the guys here,” he said. “I like the city. The fans are great. The coaches are great.”
Bodnarchuk said he didn’t feel any extra pressure from a leadership standpoint through this past offseason.
“I feel like we have a couple of young guys who I think are very mature. And obviously you see that in the leadership group this year. I didn’t think that there was too much kind of placed on me and Joe in that aspect. It was a little a little tough watching all the guys that I’ve three years with leave.
“I think we had a lot of guys step up in a positive way.”
Associate coach Adam Krause couldn’t have been stronger in his praise of Bodnarchuk.
“Just a really special person,” he said, “and … these are types of stories and players that you don’t maybe get to see as much as you did you know before all those changes. A guy continuing to put the work in, continuing to earn the trust of the staff and his teammates, it’s really special. It’s what makes college hockey great. It’s what I think is lost a little bit now with players having the opportunity to try to go find opportunity elsewhere instead of digging in.
“Bods is an unbelievable example of just sticking with something and being a good person and being a good teammate. And I just can’t say enough good things about him. He should be an example. I know we talk about Zam, Max, Ty, and all these guys and they’re very well worth it, but guys like Riley Bodnarchuk sends a message throughout our locker room saying, you can earn things through hard work and sticking with it. It’s a very special message, and I’m very proud of him. He’s been great so far for us and a great teammate, a great person, a great student. Just can’t say enough about him.”
6. The Bulldogs make the first of two trips to Colorado this season, this time to Colorado Springs for two games against Colorado College.
The Tigers sit at 6-5-1, but Mayotte’s team has been a darling in terms of analytics. They win lots of faceoffs, and they turn that into gobs of puck possession. What they haven’t turned that into is a lot of actual goals.
Per College Hockey News, Colorado College enters the weekend with 47 expected goals over 12 games, nearly four per game. The Tigers have scored 37. For perspective, UMD has scored 49 goals on 39.1 expected goals over 14 games.
Putting it simply, the Tigers have struggled to turn great chances into goals.
“We feel like we’re playing pretty good hockey, but needing to find ways to win hockey games,” Mayotte said this week. “Whether it’s just not closing a game out, or whether it’s kind of shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve kind of seen both where we have a lead, we take a penalty at a bad time, or we’re out-playing the team but we just can’t get that next goal. But we’re really happy with how we’ve played.
“If you look at our analytics in terms of our second chance opportunities, we’re top three in the country in terms of shots from the slot. High danger areas, we’re top three in the country. We feel like we’re in the right spots and we’re doing the right things. Ultimately when it comes down to one goal games, you have to find a way to win the specialty teams battle. I haven’t disliked our specialty teams. I think our kill is doing a good job and I think our power play is at least keeping momentum. They’re not losing the momentum with how they go out and execute.”
7. I mean, just look around. Lindenwood beat Denver. Long Island beat Minnesota. Air Force tied Denver. New Hampshire is Michigan State’s only loss so far. This sport is getting harder and harder, because the floor has risen appreciably.
The sport is growing, and the level of play is rising.
“We played Air Force and Bentley,” Mayotte said, “and it was a real hockey game, and no offense to those programs saying that they weren’t able to play hockey before. It’s just the floor is, we talked about it this summer, the ceiling is certainly gonna be impacted, right? There’s more first rounders playing college hockey, but the more significant impact was clearly on the floor of college hockey, not the ceiling of college hockey. We added a handful of first rounders. We’ve already had first overall picks, second overall picks. That’s not new to college hockey. But I think the depth of the talent is so incredible. The games are so fast. The skill that the games are being played with I think is so much more significant. I think it’s turned quickly from a forechecking level to a pace level, playing fast and playing offense.”
“College hockey is better in general,” Sandelin said. “You’re seeing that across the country. We played a really good non conference schedule. We played some difficult teams. (The NCHC) is a step. It’s a step up. It’s always been the case. The intensity goes up. Teams are good. Not a lot of room on the rink.”
8. For the first time this season, St. Cloud State will play games outside of Minnesota. After playing eight of nine at home to start the season (nine of ten if you count an exhibition against Augustana, with Bemidji State the only road game), then playing two at UMD and one at St. Thomas, the Huskies are at Miami this weekend. It’s a RedHawks team that is coming off a tough weekend in Kalamazoo, where Western Michigan got off the mat and picked up a two-game sweep.
Western plays at Omaha this weekend. Based on what we saw from Omaha and know about Western, that could be a big-time weekend for whoever invented the ice bag. Denver heads to Tempe for two against Arizona State. Remember, it was Denver’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal win in March that ended the Sun Devils’ season, and it came after ASU won three of four in the regular season series. That series should be big fun.
North Dakota is off from league play, but will face future Bulldogs Victor Plante and Jackson Marthaler when the U.S. Under 18 Team visits Grand Forks on Friday.
9. Grace Sadura has five goals for the UMD women so far this season, and you could argue no one has found the net at more important times than she has.
Her goal Oct. 18 against Minnesota State Mankato tied the game 1-1 in the third period, a game UMD was dominating but couldn’t get a puck by MSU goalie Hailey Hansen. Sadura’s goal was the first of three in just over three minutes that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead and an eventual series sweep.
Last weekend, Sadura’s goal Friday came 70ish seconds after UMD had taken the 1-0 lead. Saturday, Sadura scored 35 seconds after UMD took a 1-0 lead.
“Not everyone has that,” UMD assistant coach Ashleigh Brykaliuk said of Sadura’s knack for the big moments. “It’s hard to pinpoint it, but certain players do thrive in high-pressure situations. You want as many Graces on your team as you can have.”
“It’s always special,” Sadura said this week when asked about scoring in the clutch for her team a lot lately. “I feel like it’s even better when you get to share with your linemates, too. In the first St. Thomas game, Molly made a great pass over and I was just lucky enough to be there and put it in. My linemates are great. So I just like to celebrate with them and the D pairings too. It feels great to help the team out in any way I can.”
The No. 5 Bulldogs host No. 2 Ohio State this weekend, with Friday’s Teddy Bear Toss game at 6pm, Saturday’s Military Appreciation at 3pm.
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We’ll be on from Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs at 7:30pm Friday, then 6:30pm on Saturday to finish up the pre-Thanksgiving schedule.
Back pregame Friday with lines and a few more notes.
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