Poll time
UND went up in the Pairwise, down in the polls during the off week.
Pairwise Rankings
1. Miami 20-4-6
2. Denver 18-6-4
3. Wisconsin 16-7-4
4. St. Cloud State 18-8-4
5. Bemidji State 18-6-2
6. Boston College 15-8-2
7. Colorado College 17-10-3
8. Maine 14-9-3
9. Minnesota-Duluth 18-11-1
10. North Dakota 13-10-5
11. UMass 16-11
12. Ferris State 17-9-4
13. Michigan State 17-10-5
14. Vermont 13-9-4
15. Cornell 13-6-3
16. New Hampshire 13-10-4
17. Yale 14-6-3
18. Union 15-7-6
19. Alaska 11-9-8
20. Michigan 16-13-1
21. Boston University 11-11-3
22. Lake Superior 14-11-5
23. Minnesota 13-13-2
24. Northern Michigan 12-10-8
25. UMass-Lowell 14-12-2
USCHO rankings
1. Miami (46)
2. Denver (3)
3. Wisconsin (1)
4. St. Cloud State
5. Bemidji State
6. Yale
7. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Cornell
9. Colorado College
10. Boston College
11. North Dakota
12. Maine
13. Michigan State
14. Ferris State
15. New Hampshire
16. Union
17. Vermont
18. UMass
19. Michigan
20. UMass-Lowell
USA Today
1. Miami (33)
2. Denver (1)
3. Wisconsin
4. St. Cloud State
5. Bemidji State
6. Cornell
7. Yale
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. Colorado College
10. Boston College
11. North Dakota
12. Maine
13. Ferris State
14. Michigan State
15. New Hampshire
INCH power rankings
1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Wisconsin
4. St. Cloud State
5. Yale
6. Cornell
7. Colorado College
8. Michigan State
9. North Dakota
10. Bemidji State
11. Minnesota-Duluth
12. Boston College
13. Union
14. Maine
15. Ferris State
16. St. Lawrence
17. New Hampshire
18. RPI
19. Michigan
20. UMass
Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, February 08 at 12:43 PM | Comments (6) | Permalink
Destination in UND's hands
There have been quite a few ups and downs with the Sioux this season, but after a very fortunate Saturday night (where the idle Sioux went from 16th to 10th in the Pairwise) it's clear that this team's destination is in its own hands.
There are four weeks remaining in the regular season and at least one week in the playoffs for UND to stay in position for an at-large NCAA tournament bid. The Pairwise is bound to do some goofy things on a night-to-night basis over the next month (like Saturday), but if UND plays well down the stretch, that won't matter.
The bad part: UND's schedule isn't easy: No. 4, 7 and 9 teams in the Pairwise are coming up the next three weeks.
The good part: If you examine the Pairwise, the biggest area currently hurting UND is its record against Teams Under Consideration (TUC). UND is 4-9-4 against those in the top 25 of the Pairwise. Here are six games that could help both the RPI and that dreadful TUC record.
It appears that it's going to be extremely difficult for UND to move much higher in the Pairwise than it is right now. Not impossible, but difficult. If the Sioux can maintain this position, though, that will be plenty good for them.
Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, February 08 at 2:22 AM | Comments (5) | Permalink
U.S. women off to Vancouver
UND's first female American Olympians are on their way to Vancouver. Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux were scheduled to arrive in the city today. They won't play for another week, though.
If all goes according to plan, the Americans and Canadians should meet for the gold, Sweden and Finland for the bronze. Then again, this is hockey, who knows what could happen.
Look for some previews coming up in the Herald later this week and a breakdown of the big four contenders.
Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, February 08 at 2:17 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Brad Miller Time: Family Feud
Posted by: Schlossman on Thursday, February 04 at 7:16 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Weekly Wednesday update
With coach Dave Hakstol being out of town and the players on a bit of a break because of the week off, there was no weekly hockey press conference at Ralph Engelstad Arena today. Instead, football was the main focus with it being signing day.
There was a power-play unit only practice today and everyone has Thursday off. The team returns to practice Friday and Saturday, before resuming their normal weekly schedule on Monday.
The Sioux will leave Thursday for St. Cloud to play arguably the hottest team in the country. The Huskies are 9-1 since Christmas break and probably should be unbeaten. Their loss last Saturday came because of a quick whistle that cost the Huskies a game-tying goal. If you want to go back further than Christmas, the Huskies are 12-2-1 in their last 15.
St. Cloud State hosts Anchorage this weekend.
Posted by: Schlossman on Thursday, February 04 at 2:12 AM | Comments (25) | Permalink
Random notes
A few random notes for this Tuesday morning:
- Minnesota AD Joel Maturi tells INCH's Jess Myers that Don Lucia will be the head coach of the Gophers next season unless Lucia chooses not to. Read that story here.
- UND recruits Derek Rodwell and Dillon Simpson played in the AJHL All-Star Game over the weekend. Rodwell had a goal and Simpson had two assists. Simpson's team won the game 14-9.
- If you're looking for something to do during UND's off week, Fargo is hosting a pair of USHL games against Omaha this weekend. This is a chance to see Danny Mattson go against Colten St. Clair.
- Former Gopher defenseman Paul Martin withdrew from the U.S. Olympic team. Had it been a forward, T.J. Oshie might have had a shot. National hockey writers seem to think Ryan Whitney will be the replacement.
- The amazing shutout streak of UND women's hockey recruit Shelby Amsley-Benzie came to an end on Friday. Her Warroad Warriors had nine straight shutouts. Amsley-Benzie, a junior, was in net for eight of them. Greg DeVillers wrote a feature about her in today's paper.
- I haven't heard if there is a hockey press conference on Wednesday. If so, there probably won't be a lot of action. As you may know, Wednesday is national signing day for football, which has pretty much become an American holiday.
Posted by: Schlossman on Tuesday, February 02 at 1:13 AM | Comments (34) | Permalink
Poll time
UND dropped to No. 9 in both national polls, while holding down the No. 15 spot in the Pairwise. Here are your weekly polls.
Pairwise Rankings
1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Wisconsin
4. St. Cloud State
5. Bemidji State
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Ferris State
8. UMass
9. New Hampshire
10. Cornell
11. Boston College
12. Colorado College
13. Michigan State
14. Vermont
15. North Dakota
16. Maine
17. Yale
18. UMass-Lowell
19. Michigan
20. Union
21. Lake Superior
22. Minnesota
23. Northeastern
24. St. Lawrence
25. Notre Dame
USCHO rankings
1. Miami (43)
2. Denver (6)
3. Wisconsin (1)
4. St. Cloud State
5. Cornell
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Bemidji State
8. Yale
9. North Dakota
10. Colorado College
11. Ferris State
12. Michigan State
13. New Hampshire
14. Boston College
15. UMass
16. Maine
17. Vermont
18. UMass-Lowell
19. Michigan
20. Union
USA Today rankings
1. Miami (30)
2. Denver (4)
3. Wisconsin
4. St. Cloud State
5. Cornell
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Bemidji State
8. Yale
9. North Dakota
10. Colorado College
11. Ferris State
12. Michigan State
13. New Hampshire
14. Boston College
15. UMass
INCH power rankings
1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Wisconsin
4. Cornell
5. St. Cloud State
6. Yale
7. Michigan State
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. North Dakota
10. Colorado College
11. Bemidji State
12. Ferris State
13. New Hampshire
14. Boston College
15. Union
16. Maine
17. St. Lawrence
18. UMass
19. UMass-Lowell
20. Michigan
Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, February 01 at 1:16 PM | Comments (12) | Permalink
Blake traded to Anaheim
Jason Blake is headed back to Southern California, where his NHL career began.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded the former UND forward to Anaheim along with goalie Vesa Toskala. In exchange, the Leafs get goalie Jean-Sebastian Giguere.
Blake has 26 points in 56 games for the Leafs this season. He is in the third year of his five-year contract worth $20 million.
The Moorhead native previously played for the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings. He started his NHL career with the Kings.
For more on the deal, see the story on NHL.com.
Posted by: Schlossman on Sunday, January 31 at 3:17 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Lamoureux gets an 'A'
If you looked closely tonight, you could spot an 'A' on the jersey of Mario Lamoureux.
Indeed, the Sioux have named him an alternate captain. UND has been using just two since the injury to captain Chay Genoway. Nobody, other than Genoway, will be wearing the 'C' but the coaches felt it was time to add a third captain.
Lamoureux previously was a captain with Tri-City in the USHL. Current Sioux freshman Mike Cichy said that Lamoureux was the best captain he's ever had. In a preseason blog post about captaincy, I speculated that Lamoureux could be a dark horse to wear a letter this year.
I can't say this for certain, but I vaguely remember writing a story a couple of years ago saying that Jonathan Toews was the first sophomore to wear a letter since Dave Hakstol. So, it is a rare feat. After the game, Hakstol commented on giving Lamoureux an 'A.'
"Without Chay out of our lineup, we've only had the two captains," Hakstol said. "That has no bearing on Chay's situation. We just felt that it's time to have three captains on the ice and Mario is a guy who kind of embodies what our program is about. He's worked for everything he's got and he continues to do that and has the respect of people in the locker room."
Posted by: Schlossman on Sunday, January 31 at 4:25 AM | Comments (14) | Permalink
Saturday night rewind
Five highlights from around the country:
1. Colorado College rallied for three straight goals in the third period to down St. Cloud State 6-4, snapping the Huskies' nine-game winning streak. Andrew Hamburg had two goals for CC. Garrett Roe scored twice for SCSU.
2. Anchorage used a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal to beat Minnesota 2-1. Anchorage's victory keeps UND in sixth place in league standings.
3. Robert Morris pulled off a 5-2 upset of Bemidji State, using three third-period goals after BSU's Jordan George tied the game 2-2 early in the third.
4. Minnesota-Duluth bounced back from Wisconsin's 52-shot onslaught Friday night to win 4-0 on Saturday. The Bulldogs are trying to spread their scoring to three lines and it worked on Saturday. Goal scorers Mike Connolly, Rob Bordson and Justin Fontaine were on three different lines. Defenseman Brady Lamb scored the other.
5. Cornell broke its 0-for-31 stretch on the power play in a big way on Saturday. The Big Red scored three times on the power play in a 5-3 win over Clarkson. On the down side, the Big Red gave up two shorthanded goals.
On to the UND-DU game. Here are the game stories:
Grand Forks Herald
FightingSioux.com
USCHO.com
Denver Post
A few other notes:
- UND's power play drought officially continues, although Chris VandeVelde's second goal was pretty much a power-play goal. Denver's Patrick Wierioch had only taken one step out of the box when UND finished the play.
- If UND doesn't make the NCAA tournament this season, there are going to be plenty of games for the Sioux to go back, look at, and ask "what if?" Tonight, UND controlled play until the Pioneers got their first one. The tide turned after that.
- Joe Colborne seems to have UND's number. He's scored about one-fourth of his goals this season against the Sioux. He scored both nights of this series and also had two during DU's 3-2 win in November.
- Marc Cheverie finally allowed a couple of goals but continued to play fantastic. He may be the Hobey frontrunner at this point of the season.
- In the last six games, UND only has one goal from its third or fourth line. That's an area that needs a big change. UND has only won two games this year without getting a goal from a third or fourth line forward. The other 11 wins were aided by production out of the third or fourth line.
- UND is hoping that Brett Hextall will get back and aid in the offense department for St. Cloud State. The team is averaging two goals per game in his absence and the power play is at 5 percent since he went out.
- The Denver people said that Moorhead's Brian Gifford played one of his best games of the season. Gifford picked up his first point this year when Anthony Maiani fed Kyle Ostrow for DU's first goal.
- UND dropped into a tie for 15th in the Pairwise, so now there is some ground to make up there in order to make the NCAAs.
Posted by: Schlossman on Sunday, January 31 at 3:49 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink
