ALBANY, N.Y. — For an old dude like me, nothing is quite as nightmarish as seeing a 9pm local time game delayed ten minutes by a glass issue, then giving us the serious threat of overtime.
Hunter Anderson to the rescue. His goal with just over five minutes left put UMD in front for good.
From there, UMD held on to beat Penn State 3-1 here Friday night, improving to 13-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (since it went to a single-elimination format).
Up next? Top overall seed Michigan, a loaded team ranked atop the polls for most of the season.
9 THOUGHTS
1. Before the game, UMD coach Scott Sandelin said he felt his team had to start the game better than it did last week in Denver. He didn’t exactly get what he was looking for. Penn State likes to play more of an up-and-down style, often content to trade chances because the Nittany Lions know they have the skill to convert on those.
The first eight-plus minutes looked more like Penn State’s game, and it was no accident that Shea Van Olm got the Nittany Lions on the board first. Early on, it was more of a Penn State game than a UMD game, after all.
“Thought we started a little slow,” Sandelin said, “but I thought we kind of found our game as it went on.”
The turning point wasn’t necessarily far away.
2. “I’ve always told you we can always put them back together.” That’s what Sandelin said after the game when asked by Matt Wellens about the decision to reunite Jayson Shaugabay with the brothers Plante.
The move came with a little more than eight minutes left in the first period and UMD trailing 1-0. The Bulldogs coaching staff had some time to ponder what to do, as a glass issue along one of the corners caused about a ten-minute delay in the game out of a media timeout.
“I talked with Krausey (associate coach Adam Krause) and Chupper (assistant coach Cody Chupp) and Brant (assistant coach Brant Nicklin) and just felt it was a good time to try it.”
Sandelin said he wasn’t initially planning on sticking with the three of them the rest of the game.
“I just had a little bit of a hunch and we talked about it and I wanted to see if my staff agreed with me,” Sandelin said. “At first I was just going to try for the rest of the period. But I liked it, so I kept it.”
3. The results were almost immediate. On their second shift together, Shaugabay won a puck on the right wing boards, got it to Ty Hanson up high, then Hanson found Zam, who fed Max for a tap in goal in front. The play happened multiple times faster than I just described it.
“Unbelievable pass,” Max Plante said. “I just happened to get a stick on and went five hole, but Zam’s been making big plays all playoffs, so he’s been a lot of fun to play with.”
Speaking postgame at the podium, Max Plante made it clear that their input wasn’t needed when the coaches decided to mix up the lines during that glass delay.
“We just go play,” he said. “Shaugs, I thought, was probably our best player tonight. Honestly, the way he used his stick, he popped so many pucks loose for us, even in the D-zone too. Was fun to play with him again.”
Shaugabay was happy to be put back on that line.
“I had lot of fun playing with Cal (Arnott) and Bibbs (Luke Bibby),” he said, “but getting the nod to go up with those two again was pretty exciting, because I knew we were going to probably play pretty well and I think we did, so it was fun.”
How did Zam Plante find out that Shaugabay was back on the top line?
“To be honest,” he said, “I really didn’t realize it until we got on the ice. I’m like, oh, Shaugs is out there. So yeah, but it was great. I mean, Bentzy (Harper Bentz), he’s a great player, but Shaugs is a great player too. So having them both out there make plays, and Shaugs made some great plays to us yesterday. So it was a lot of fun.”
Sandelin said Shaugabay’s stickwork is something they’ve seen all season, and from all three of them when they’ve been together.
“Their stick detail and how they disrupt plays,” Sandelin said in talking about that line. “It’s not only stripping pucks, but it’s getting sticks on pucks to keep plays alive. And obviously, we know that they got the talent and ability to make the plays. But I think that’s what makes those three special. It’s what extends their ozone time a lot. They take great angles, they get above and they have great stick detail.”
Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky didn’t seem surprised when the Bulldogs put that dynamic top line back together.
“We obviously took note of that,” he said. “They’ve obviously been a very successful line, and we took note when they got back together for sure. It worked. Give Sandy credit for making the change.”
4. One of the reasons this game was five-plus minutes away from overtime was the play of both goalies. Josh Fleming for Penn State made 36 saves, a number of them on high-danger chances. Adam Gajan of UMD stopped 29 of 30, and while he “only” made 13 saves between the second and third periods, it felt like a lot of those were on more dangerous plays made by some really talented Penn State players.
“He was unbelievable,” said Penn State junior Reece Laubach of Fleming. “He faced a lot of grade As tonight. And he kept all of them out for the most part. He’s an unbelievable goalie, unbelievable guy. Tonight we just couldn’t get one more. That’s really all it was, but Flem was awesome.”
UMD sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson was similarly complimentary of his guy, classmate Adam Gajan.
“If we just do our job and keep them to the outside and don’t really allow any grade As in middle of the slot, he’s been great for us all year. He’s kind of been our backbone, especially through a lot of these games recently where we could go down a couple of goals and he makes one big save and it just gets us right back into the game.”
(Gajan, by the way, told Anthony Travalgia of College Hockey News that the goal he allowed Friday was one of the worst he’s given up all year. High level athletes are incredibly competitive people, often harder on themselves than anyone on the outside could ever imagine.)
5. Friday’s game was basically a five-on-five game. Each team had one power play that did not score.
When you think about it quickly, it probably comes to mind that UMD’s special teams are really good. No. 2 power play and penalty kill in the country, both units ended No. 1 in the NCHC.
The thing is, however, that the other teams UMD is playing have great special teams as well. Michigan’s power play is No. 1 nationally. Yes, the Wolverines’ penalty kill is more pedestrian at 35th, but if you get a bunch of power plays in a game, you can bet the adversary is getting them as well.
The Bulldogs looked more comfortable as the game settled in as one with few penalties in it. Could that be better going forward, despite UMD’s season-long special teams dominance?
“I don’t know,” Sandelin said. “I think Chupper said it best last night. We’re more comfortable probably in a 1-1 game than Penn State was, right? And I think that’s probably true because we were in a lot of them. We’re in a lot of tight games and they’re an offensive team that, certainly I’m sure they’ve been in those games, we’ve probably been in more of them.
“You don’t know. I mean, I thought refs did a good job. You want the calls to be calls that should be made. I thought they let the kids play the game.”
6. We’ve talked all season, basically, about how driven and motivated UMD’s players were after the way last season ended.
(And, in the cases of some of the older guys, the way the last two or three years ended.)
Well, UMD isn’t alone with those feelings.
This year’s No. 1 overall seed, Michigan, ended last season by getting swept at home by Penn State in the Big Ten quarterfinals. No NCAA Tournament for the Wolverines, and it was a motivating factor for them all summer.
“I feel like (it was) a ton of motivation for the staff, for the players,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said Thursday. “One of the members of The Michigan Daily made a comment to me of how much I was smiling on our opening press conference in September. And since the beginning, the personalities, the type of people that we brought in, it’s just the right type of people. The seniors are showing them the way, the freshmen are coming in and showing what they’re all about, but also knowing how to lead in their own way and follow. I think these guys have something to prove.”
“Our season ended a lot sooner than we thought it was going to be last year,” said senior defenseman Tyler Duke. “It was a hard spring. We got after it in the gym. We had a smaller group. We weren’t sure who was coming in and it was hard, just starting this year and all those new guys coming in and just showing them the ropes right off the get go. They fit in great.
“Everyone comes to the rink and they’re having fun. And when you have fun with it, that’s when you’re gonna have success and everyone’s tight.”
7. The Wolverines blew past Bentley, 5-1, in Friday’s first regional semifinal. Michigan grabbed a 1-0 lead on a TJ Hughes goal, as the Hobey Baker finalist took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by the Falcons and scored off a two-on-one rush.
Bentley hung in the game for the rest of the first, but Ben Robertson ripped a puck home from just inside the Bentley blue line as time was about to expire in the first period. That was a back-breaker for the 16th overall seed from Waltham, Mass.
While Bentley outshot Michigan 13-8 in the second, Michigan had much better quality to its looks, converting with goals from Nick Moldenhauer (power play) and Kason Muscott (even strength). Andover’s Garrett Schifsky made it 5-0 in the third before Bentley broke Jack Ivankovic’s shutout bid in the final minute.
Michigan is the Big Ten playoff champion, beating Ohio State 7-3 in last weekend’s title game after the Buckeyes upset one-seed Michigan State in overtime the previous weekend to advance.
8. Sandelin knows his team will have its hands full on Sunday in the regional final.
“We knew we going into the tournament this was a tough region,” he said Saturday. “Obviously played a really good team last night. Obviously we’re playing the number one team in the country. They’re really good. They’re there for a reason. They can score. They’re very deep. A lot of talent. Defensively they’re solid with their goaltender on out.”
Hughes leads a balanced offense with 21 goals and 56 points. Michael Hage, who missed Friday’s game and wasn’t seen on the ice at practice Saturday, has 51 points. North Dakota transfer Jayden Perron is a point away from 40. Will Horcoff, who was on Team USA at the World Juniors, has 24 goals. With Robertson’s goal Friday, Michigan now has nine players with 20 or more points. UMD has six, with freshmen Grayden Siepmann and Anderson both up to 19 after they combined on Friday’s game-winner.
“I think they’ve got three or four defensemen that are really good, that create a lot of offense for them,” Sandelin said. “But their forward group, Perron’s having a great year for them. Hughes is a special player. But they’re just deep. I think their goaltending has been a real strength for them, too, to help them out defensively.
“They play with a lot of confidence and they know they can score. We’re gonna have to find a way to control the neutral zone, not let them get to their game all the time, and find a way to get to their goaltender.”
9. Will UMD’s top line be matched against Michigan’s? It makes sense, if you think about it. Naurato might have control of the matchups, but if Hage can’t play, it really hurts his team’s depth down the middle. And we know the Plante line is going to play a lot (Max Plante’s 22:37 was the lowest ice time among the three of them Friday).
Granted, Michigan won a blowout, but no forward played 20 minutes in the game. We’ll have to see how the Wolverines deploy their players Sunday, and what the lineup looks like.
But Shaugabay and the brothers have relished these chances all season and will not back down now.
“That’s what we play for,” Zam Plante said. “Those challenges. And it’s an honor to able to go out and play against those guys and try to challenge them. Especially last night, we went out there and you could see we frustrated them as the game went on. They started to give pucks to us. We wore them down and ended up coming out on the right side of it.”
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4pm pregame on KDAL and at northlandnewsradio.com. We’re optimistic the Twins game won’t hold us up and we’ll hit the air on time.
4:30pm faceoff for a trip to Vegas. Back pregame with lines.
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