Surprising Nebraska-Omaha surprised
Senior Matt Ambroz from New Prague, MN., is UNO scoring leader.
By John Gilbert
There was some debate about changing the name of the expanded WCHA playoffs before it was decided to stick with Final Five. Otherwise, the league could have changed to “Expect the Unexpected.”
Just ask Dean Blais, coach at Nebraska-Omaha, which upset the whole league all season, then became the victim of the biggest upset in the best-of-three first round of playoffs. One of two new entries that expanded the WCHA from 10 to 12 teams, the Mavericks were the surprise team in the league by staying in title contention all season before settling into third place on the final weekend, one point behind Denver.
But heavily favored No. 3 seed Nebraska-Omaha was upset in a two-game sweep by No. 10 seed Bemidji State. The Mavericks weren’t alone, as No. 8 Alaska-Anchorage went to Mariucci Arena and took out No. 5 Minnesota in two games to eliminate the “home” Golden Gophers from the Final Five in Saint Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.
“I can’t believe it,” said Blais. “We outshot Bemidji 91-37 for the two games and lost them both. Dan Bakala, their goaltender, played out of his mind, and he kept it close enough both nights for them to find a way to win.”
The Mavericks are still practicing, however, because they could still get an invitation to the NCAA tournament. “We’re 13th on the Pairwise, so we’re hoping that the top teams win in all the leagues, because then we should still make the NCAA. We’re pulling for North Dakota, Denver or UMD to win, and for Michigan, Boston College, New Hampshire and Yale in other playoffs.”
In past years, the top five league finishers often advanced to the Final Five, but this year required juggling an unusual gathering of reseeded entries at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. Previously No. 4 and now No. 3 seed Minnesota-Duluth takes on Bemidji State, reseeded as No. 6, at 3:37 p.m. on Thursday, while new No. 5 Alaska-Anchorage followed by playing new No. 4 Colorado College at 7:07 p.m. Those winners advance to Friday’s semifinals, where No. 2 Denver meets the first-game winner at 2:07 p.m., and league champion and No. 1 seed North Dakota takes on the second-game winner at 7:07 p.m.
When the WCHA expanded to 12 teams for the 2010-2011 season, the league’s prestigious Final Five playoff also had to be expanded from five first-round survivors to six. In the changed format the third-place game has been eliminated, so the fifth game and hence the namesake of the Final Five will be the championship on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. with the Broadmoor Cup and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament’s 16-team field on the line.
For Blais, the NCAA hope eases the frustration of the Bemidji State match-up. The Beavers played a patient, grinding game against the high-speed, up-tempo Mavericks. After a scoreless first period in Game 1, Jordan George and Ian Lowe scored goals for a 2-0 Bemidji lead. Ryan Walter scored a power-play goal late in the second for UNO, and Terry Broadhurst’s goal early in the third tied it 2-2. But Bakala stopped 46 shots as Nebraska-Omaha outshot the Beavers 48-17, and Jamie MacQueen scored with 1:53 left in the third period to break the tie. Just 21 seconds later Matt Read supplied the insurance goal for the 4-2 result.
“In the second game, we came out and dominated,” said Blais. “When we scored [Rick Purslow, at 9:32], I looked up and we were outshooting them 9-0. Then they got a power-play goal [by Matt Read]. I looked up again when we were outshooting them 18-2, and it was 1-1.”
Jamie MacQueen got credit for the only goal of the second period, “off a skate,” said Blais, and Bemidji had a 2-1 lead.
In the third period, Matt Read’s goal gave Bemidji State a 3-1 lead. The Mavericks resumed their dominant attack, but Bakala, diving across the crease for saves, held the 2-goal lead. Finally Ryan Walters scored to cut it to 3-2–but only eight seconds remained in the game, and it ended that way.
“We outshot ’em 43-20, and lost 3-2,” mused Blais, whose team has been anchored all season by sophomore goaltender John Faulkner, who played the most minutes and made the most saves (897) while recording a 2.55 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.
Sophomore John Faulkner recorded WCHA-most 897 saves for the Mavericks.
A pair of seniors lead the way offensively, as Matt Ambroz has 17-17–34 and Joey Martin 11-23–34, with Rich Purslow adding 12-20–32. Ambroz, from New Prague, MN., has a younger sister, Kacy, playing for Minnesota-Duluth, while their younger brother, Seth, is playing for Omaha in the USHL and will play at Minnesota next season.
North Dakota won the league title at 21-6-1 for 43 points, but hadn’t clinched it outright until a final sweep at Michigan Tech. Nebraska-Omaha could have finished second by sweeping at UMD on the final league weekend, but they split, finishing 17-9-2 for 36 points to Denver’s 17-8-3 and 37 points. UMD, which also could have gained second with a sweep, was 15-8-5 for 35 points.
The top six earned home-ice advantage for the best-of-three first round of league playoffs. That was the good news. The bad news for UNO was that they drew the No. 10 seed, which was Bemidji State, the other league newcomer.
More good news there was that one of the two new teams was assured of reaching this week’s Final Five. The bad news for Nebraska-Omaha was that after beating every other team in the league, and holding either a decisive upper hand or splitting with all of them, they could never beat the pesky Beavers. Bemidji State won three of the four games between the two, and they tied the other.
“We split four games with North Dakota, and by beating them 8-4 in Grand Forks, we had the tie-breaker against them,” said Blais. “We split with Denver, UMD, Anchorage, and at CC, and we swept Minnesota, Wisconsin, and MSU-Mankato, and we were 1-0-1 against St. Cloud. But we were 0-3-1 against Bemidji.
“We were really ready for the playoffs, too. We lost a 6-5 game to North Dakota before 14,000 fans, and people said it was the best game they had ever seen. They didn’t even seem to mind that we lost. Then we beat Wisconsin and drew 15,000. We’re fourth in the country in attendance, behind North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.”
Going into the best-of-three playoff series all that mattered to Blais was that his Mavericks played their game. Sure enough, they did. But sure enough, Bemidji State continued its peculiar hold on Nebraska-Omaha, winning the first game 4-2 with two goals in the last two minutes, then beating the Mavericks again, 3-2, extending their season’s mastery to 5-0-1.
The unpredictability of the playoffs also saw UMD need three overtimes to subdue St. Cloud State in the second game of their series. And Denver, heavily favored against No. 11 MSU-Mankato, trailed 2-0 after two periods before rallying for four goals in the third period, then trailed in the second game 1-0 after two before rallying again to win 2-1. The series that figured to be the closest saw No. 7 Wisconsin go to No. 6 Colorado College and win the first game, and CC came back to win two narrow victories and capture the only series that needed all three games to determine.
Such surprises certainly was the theme of this year’s regular season, which should have made it predictable that the playoffs would contain more surprises. What else could you expect when the top four went down to the final weekend, and down to the final game before second, third and fourth places were finalized, as well as sorting out sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, places, while even 10th and 11th finished one point apart?
The team that edged MSU-Mankato by one for 10th place was, of course, Bemidji State. Both made their playoff presence known, Mankato by the scares it threw into Denver, and Bemidji State by knocking off their favorite new rival in Omaha.
More good news for fans of those teams that made it, especially driving-distance schools like UMD, North Dakota and Bemidji State, is that tickets should be readily available, despite a good advance sale, because of the absence of Minnesota, Wisconsin, St. Cloud State, and Minnesota State-Mankato, all of whom have strong fan support in Saint Paul.
Badgers overcome Gophers in Final Faceoff
Kelly Nash's overtime shot got past Minnesota goalie Noora Raty and llift Wisconsin to a 5-4 victory.
By John Gilbert
After all of Wisconsin’s top guns had kept up a steady barrage of 55 shots to get the Badgers back into the WCHA Women’s Final Faceoff championship game, it was left to light-scoring senior Kelly Nash to score with shot No. 56 at 14:11 of overtime to lift the No. 1 ranked Badgers to a 5-4 victory over Minnesota Saturday night.
Minnesota scored the first three goals, but Wisconsin scored the last three. Madison Packer and Meggan Duggan scored third-period goals to tie the game in the final seven minutes, and Nash, a third-line right wing from Bonita, Calif., just back this weekend after missing several games with an injury, caught a pass from Geena Prough in the slot and quickly snapped a shot that looked as good as anything her more prolific teammates might have fired. The puck zipped past the screening body of defenseman Anne Schleper and goaltender Noora Raty to hit the right edge and bring a stunning ending to the league playoff final.
“This is incredible. It’s exciting for us,” said Duggan, whose two goals in the game boost her season tally to 37. “I couldn’t be happier that Kelly scored that goal. We were down 2-0 and it was deflating, but I knew we had it in us.”
Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 56-30 for the game, and once the Badgers started rallying in the third period, it became a question of whether Golden Gopher goaltender Raty could hold off the relentless Wisconsin shooters. She almost pulled it off.
“I didn’t see the shot,” said Raty, a sophomore from Finland. “The pass came from the corner, and our ‘D’ screened me. It happens.”
Both Wisconsin (34-2-2) and Minnesota (26-9-2) were assured of getting invited to the eight-team NCAA tournament, with Wisconsin at home against league rival Minnesota-Duluth, and Minnesota heading for Boston College for the one-game quarterfinals. Minnesota, ranked No. 4 before the weekend, slipped out of the top four while beating UMD 4-2 and losing in overtime to No. 1 Wisconsin.
“I’ve got to give our players a lot of credit,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson after winning the league playoff. “There were a couple of points in the game when we could have moved on to next week. But we took some eneregy from the last 6-8 minutes of the third period and carried it over to overtime. Then to have Kelly score that goal, it’s great because her parent are here, and it gives her something to take away from this.”
The puck eluded Wisconsin goalie Alex Rigsby, but didn't go in.
For the second straight game, Minnesota was the lower seed and had to wear the visiting maroon jerseys on its home Ridder Arena ice. At the start, it appeared the Gophers should consider switching permanently, because for the second straight game they played with offensive precision to take early command of the game. Just as they had done in beating Minnesota-Duluth 4-2 in Friday’s semifinals, when they spotted UMD a 1-0 lead and then scored four consecutive goals, the Gophers were able to disrupt the usually slick-passing Badgers, and Sarah Erickson personally staked Minnesota to a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
Wisconsin took the game’s first two penalties, and just four seconds after the second one expired, Erickson, stationed in the slot, got a clean deflection on Megan Bozek’s shot from the left point. The redirection zipped past goalie Alex Rigsby at 9:46. Five minutes later, Minnesota killed a penalty, and at 15:38, Erickson went to the net for a 2-0 lead.
“Jen Schoullis was working hard to get the puck in the corner, as usual, and she threw it at the net,” said Erickson. “I got my stick on it, and it hit the pipe and kinda went in before she [Rigsby] covered it up.”
Noora Raty stops Badger goal leader Hilary Knight.
Wisconsin needed to get its explosive offense untracked in the second period, but instead, Sarah Davis caught a pass from fellow-freshman Kelly Terry and sped up the right boards. Remarkably, she outflanked the retreating Badger defense and got all the way to the net, scoring from close range to make it 3-0 at 10:20. The game was half over, but nobody anticipated the issue was settled at 3-0.
“Obviously, up 3-0, and losing the game is not ideal,” said Erickson.
Wisconsin stormed back, finally breaking through Raty’s strong goaltending display. It took a power play to get the Badgers going, as Brianna Decker scored her 33rd of the season on a wild tangle at the crease at 14:34. “Raty is a great goaltender, and we were a little nervous,” said Decker.
Suddenly, just 38 seconds later, Badger scoring leader Duggan converted a neat set-up at the goal-mouth for her 36th goal to close it to 3-2.
“Anytime you score a goal it creates energy,” said Johnson.
But Minnesota regained its composure, and a two-goal lead, when Schoullis scored on a scramble at the crease at the other end of the rink with 1:47 left in the middle period. That was a huge goal, because at 4-2, it gave Minnesota a 2-2 standoff for the period, despite being ouotshot 16-4 by Wisconsin.
Minnesota freshman Amanda Kessel was stopped by Wisconsin freshman goalie Alex Rigsby.
However, the third period saw the Badgers increase pressure, and the Badgers outshot Minnesota 18-9 in the third period. The Gophers did an admirable job of weathering the attack for 13 minutes, but at 13:38, the Badgers kept the puck in on the left side, and Madison Packer swatted the puck out of the air to score from the right edge and trim the score to 4-3.
Barely a minute later, the determined Badgers tied the game, as Duggan scored her second of the game and 37th of the season. Fittingly, the WCHA Women’s player of the year extended the Final Faceoff championship game to overtime. With Hilary Knight’s 46 goals, Duggan’s 37 and Decker’s 33, the three have combined for 116 goals, but the final verdict came down to a senior third-liner who previously had scored only two.
UMD falls as Gophers, Badgers reach final
Amanda Kessel was stopped by UMD's Jennifer Harss, but her hat trick gave Minnesota a 4-2 victory.
By John Gilbert
Amanda Kessel isn’t all that big, and her listed 5-foot-6 might be a stretch, but she has made a huge impact on the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team by leading the Golden Gophers in scoring in her freshman season. But her biggest impact came in Friday night’s semifinals of the WCHA Women’s Final Faceoff, when she scored three goals in a 4-2 victory over instate rival Minnesota-Duluth.
Kelly Terry, another freshman, got the fourth Gopher goal, prompting coach Brad Frost to admit his early-season concerns about his team depending on freshmen scoring were, at best, premature. “I wasn’t sure if it could last all season,” Frost said. “But Amanda, Kelly and Sarah Davis have all continued to play well.”
The victory thrusts Minnesota (26-8-2) into the WCHA playoff championship game against league champion and No. 1 ranked Wisconsin (33-2-2). The Badgers had their hands full with North Dakota in the first semifinal before getting loose for three second-period goals. Senior right wing Kelly Nash, returning to her post on the third line, collaborated as the pivot with defenseman Geena Proust to set up Carolyne Prevost for the game’s first goal and Mallory Deluce on a power play to start and end the rally. Between those two, WCHA player of the year and scoring champion Meghan Duggan set up Brianna Decker with a slick, 2-on-1 pass for a short-handed goal. Freshman goaltender Alex Rigsby held firmly for a 3-0 shutout victory.
In the Minnesota-UMD game, Kessel, who has 19 goals, 29 assists for 48 points, is a freshman from Madison, Wis., and attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep School in Fairbault, Minn., before coming to Minnesota. Terry, from Whitby, Ontario, has 15-23–38. Their goals against UMD allowed the Gophers to reclaim their home Ridder Arena ice, which UMD had snatched away by tying the Gophers on the final day of the regular season and gaining the No. 2 seed by having gone 2-1-1 against Minnesota. For Kessel, a little payback made the victory special, and also sets up another special opportunity in the final against her hometown Badgers.
“I got a hat trick in an exhibition game,” said Kessel, who plays left wing with junior center Jen Schoullis and junior wing Sarah Erickson on Minnesota’s top line. “But this was a lot bigger, coming in the playoffs. It was pretty unbelievable. And now, there’s no better team to be playing than Wisconsin.”
UMD had also beaten the Gophers in this tournament last year on the way to winning the NCAA title, and brought a 10-game winning streak into the Final Faceoff, while also striving for a victory that might elevate them into the top four in national rankings to gain home-ice for next week’s eight-team NCAA tournament.
The usual intensity level that is always guaranteed when the two play was advanced when UMD, as home team, got to wear the white jerseys while Minnesota wore the road maroons. When UMD properly took the ice first, UMD’s pep band began to play its school song, but the Gophers came onto the ice just a couple seconds later, and the Gopher band immediately broke into the Rouser, as social courtesy gave way to an attempt to out-decibel UMD’s song.
Minnesota freshman Kelly Terry's second-period goal put UMD down 2-1.
The Bulldogs played without Haley Irwin, who has been battling a nagging but undisclosed injury that caused her to miss several games, then knocked her out twice more since she’s returned, most recently getting three assists in the previous weekend’s 5-0 series-clinching victory over Minnesota State-Mankato. That made it mysterious, but still undisclosed, when she didn’t join the team on the trip to Minnesota. Coach Shannon Miller, who installed Laura Fridfinnson at center between top-line wingers Elin Holmlov and Pernilla Winberg, abruptly turned and walked away after the game when she was asked about Irwin’s status.
Fridfinnson, a senior, had moved back to defense when Miller decided to use the aggressive, four-attacker Torpedo system this season. The Torpedo system creates great offensive pressure, and it also yields some open chances the other way, which usually makes a wide-open and highly entertaining game. It did in this game, too, as the determined Gophers outshot UMD 43-31. Still, UMD’s strategy worked to near-perfection — with the exception of the quick and elusive Kessel.
The Bulldogs struck first, when Audrey Cournoyer circled after a right-corner faceoff, passed across the slot to Katie Wilson, then wound up knocking the puck past goalie Noora Raty from the right edge at 7:25 of the first period. Jennifer Harss came up with a series of outstanding saves when Minnesota tried to respond.
Finally, Kessel tied it at 15:54 of the first period, carrying around a defenseman and cutting across the slot. She misfired on her first shot, and as Harss reacted in anticipation, Kessel shot again and scored. “I tried getting the shot off, and when I didn’t get it, maybe that helped give me an opening,” said Kessel.
The game stood 1-1 at the first intermission, prompting Gopher coach Brad Frost to say, “Even though Duluth got the first goal, I was still happy with our first period. I thought our team was tremendous, from Noora on the back-end on out.”
It was still 1-1 midway through the second period, as both Harss, who is from Germany, and Raty, from Finland, came up with big stops in the resumption of the duel they have shared in international play. But shortly after killing a penalty, Minnesota got a break when Terry got loose, sped up the middle unmolested, and scored on Harss at the crease at 10:37. Two minutes later, Kessel moved in from the left circle and made it 3-1.
Minnesota outshot UMD 19-10 in the second period to gain the upper hand at 3-1, but the Bulldogs opened the third period with a furious attack, intensified when Terry went off for tripping. Raty withstood two or three excellent chances, and UMD misfired on a couple more, then Kessel went back the other way and scored short-handed at 8:53 to complete her hat trick and make it 4-1. The fourth unanswered Gopher goal did not convince Frost that the victory was secured, however.
“One thing that has never changed since I’ve been around this league is that whenever Duluth is down coming into the third period, they’ll throw everything at you,” said Frost. “Nothing has changed since the first time we played them this year, so we knew they’d put pressure on us, but that we’d get some 2-on-1s and breakaways, too. Amanda made some big plays, but she’s a big-time player. She was arguably the biggest recruit in the country for this year, and that line plays well. Schoullis is big and strong, and Sarah Erickson has a wonderfully quick release, but Amanda has become the catalyst for that line.”
Minnesota's Becky Kortum was penalized for crashing into Jennifer Harss, leading to UMD's late second goal.
UMD continued to attack, and the game got more intense and a little nasty as the third period went on, with considerable contact, some of which caused Miller to take issue. “I’m proud of how our team worked, for maybe 50 of the 60 minutes,” said Miller. “The only thing I was disappointed in was running our goaltender three times. Yes, they called it once, with three minutes left, but it’s supposed to be a major if you run the goalie in the crease.”
Minnesota’s Becky Kortom went off for a goaltender interference minor, which gave UMD a late power play with 2:51 remaining, just when it appeared they couldn’t get another shot past Raty. With 2:33 left, Brienna Gillanders deflected a Tara Gray shot into the net to trim the margin to 4-2, but Milnnesota regained its edge and the Bulldogs weren’t able to generate anything more.
“We lost to Duluth twice last year, and we wanted to show those guys we’re the better team,” said Raty. “We beat Wisconsin early in the season, too, and we’re much better than we were back then.”
‘Non-goal-scorer’ Mike Connolly hits UMD record
By John Gilbert
It was one of those magical games that goal-scorers seem to have — except that Mike Connolly doesn’t consider himself a goal-scorer. The puck kept coming to him, and every time he shot, the puck seemed to go into the net. The only instance where his timing was off came after the game, right after he scored five goals to lead Minnesota-Duluth to a 6-4 victory over Minnesota and into first place in the WCHA. At that point, Connolly stressed that he isn’t a goal-scorer.
Mike Connolly earned the spotlight by tying a UMD record with 5 goals in a 6-4 victory over Minnesota.
Connolly, who is no relation to Jack Connolly, his centerman, scored twice in the first period, and again early in the second for 3-0 UMD lead, and in the face of a stirring Minnesota rally, he scored again in the third period to restore a two-goal lead at 5-3, and when it got close at the finish, he hit an empty net, sending the second straight capacity crowd of 6,764 into a frenzy at the new AMSOIL Arena in Duluth.
“I’m not a goal-scorer,” said Connolly. “I’ve never scored five goals in a game before. When I got three, I was pretty impressed, because I never even had a hat trick before.” He must have meant, never before in his three seasons at UMD, right? “No, I mean ever. I never had a hat trick here, or in junior hockey, or even back in midgets.”
The quick, little winger from Calgary is listed at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. That may be true, although he appears to be about the same height as the 5-8 Jack Connolly, and the two not only fit together like a hand in a glove, but they play much bigger than their height with quick precision and boundless tenacity. While UMD fans have always known that Mike Connolly is a vital part of UMD’s big first line, with Jack Connolly centering Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine, Mike is going to have to reboot his personal memory bank.
His previous doubts about his goal-scoring ability might have been valid. But as of Saturday, February 5, 2011, his status has forever been changed. Connolly’s five goals in that 6-4 victory will forever engrave his name as an explosive goal-scorer. Historians in future years will look it up whenever somebody scores a bunch of goals, and they’ll prove that Mike Connolly holds the UMD record for the most goals ever scored in one game.
For sure, he is the most prolific scorer at AMSOIL Arena, which has a history running back only a half-dozen or so games since the shiny new arena opened at the end of December. But 20 years from now — or maybe 38 years from now — his 5-goal performance may still be standing. It was 38 years ago when another UMD player became the only Bulldog to ever score five goals in a game, across the parking lot at the just-abandoned DECC. That was Pokey Trachsel, a rangy and skilled defenseman from Duluth Cathedral who went on to UMD in the early 1970s. He was good enough with the puck that the Bulldogs moved him up front for a brief try to add some force to the forward lines, and Trachsel astounded everyone by pumping in five goals, on November 17, 1972 against Lake Superior State.
That was the record the stat folks found when they scurried for the record books to look up the perspective of Connolly’s amazing show as it developed Saturday night.
David Grun congratulates Mike Connolly during his scoring spree, as Gopher goalie Kent Patterson reacts.
The extra significance, of course, came because of the opponent. The University of Minnesota was making its first visit to AMSOIL Arena, and the Gophers-UMD series — as usual — stands as the biggest sports attraction in Duluth, for 2011, or any year. It was that for several reasons this time around, and it was a role reversal of sorts. Many times in their long-standing rivalry had the Golden Gophers been going for a title and a struggling UMD team played its best to upset them. but this time UMD is making a concerted bid for the WCHA championship, and the Gophers have struggled to hit the .500 mark all season. The Bulldogs were No. 1 in the nation and in the WCHA when they went to Minnesota early in the season, and the sputtering Gophers snapped into focus and played their best series of the season to win 3-2 and then hold on for a 2-2 tie. Taking three of the four points from UMD meant the Gophers knocked the Bulldogs out of first place in the WCHA and out of the No. 1 ranking in the nation.
Turnabout was more than fair play. The Bulldogs had been consistent enough to stay up with North Dakota and Denver in a three-team race for the MacNaughton Cup, but the Gophers were battling for one of the top six places and home-ice for the playoffs. And nobody needed to tell Bulldog fans how dangerous Minnesota could be. It was proven when the teams sped, slammed and compreted for a 2-2 tie on Friday night, with Connolly — who else? — scoring the tying goal, which was his 14th goal of the season. It was the perfect lead-up to Super Bowl weekend, as both games drew 6,764 fans, AMSOIL’s capacity, with many thousand more watching on My9 and Fox Sports North.
Coach Scott Sandelin, a month earlier, had experimented with breaking up the big line. Kyle Schmidt, another key element to UMD’s offense, was out with an injury, so Sandelin moved Fontaine to the second line with Travis Oleksuk centering J.T. Brown. The team had done well, with David Grun adding some power-wing play with the Fontaines, and partly because Sandelin could reunite Fontaine with his previous linemates on power plays. But after the 2-2 tie, Sandelin consulted his assistant coaches. “I thought about putting that line back together, and it seemed like the time to do it,” he said.
With Schmidt returning to left wing with Oleksuk and Brown, Sandelin put Fontaine back at right wing with the Connolly-Connolly goal-dust twins, on what many insist is the most creative line in college hockey, and all three help their linemates to lofty spots in WCHA scoring.
“I guess you could say it worked pretty well to put our line back together,” laughed Connolly. “Fonzie is a great sniper and Jack is a great playmaker.”
As it turned out, UMD needed all five of Connolly’s goals for the Saturday triumph, because the Bulldogs let up on the throttle at 3-0, and Minnesota closed in to 3-2, and later to 4-3, and still later to 5-4. Travis Oleksuk got the only non-Connolly goal, after his apparent goal was waved off when he was tripped into goaltender Kent Patterson to send the puck and goalie into the net, so Oleksuk came back and scored off the right pipe and off Patterson, with 3:01 left to restore the 2-goal edge at 6-4. Yet again Minnesota came back, as Nate Condon cut it to 5-4 on a 6-skater attack with 1:35 to go. so it wasn’t until Connolly’s empty-netter that the big and rocking crowd could breathe easily.
Jack Connolly (left) and Justin Fontaine congratulate Mike Connolly at the end of his 5-goal performance.
UMD’s top-line members all fit together remarkably well, with each fulfilling whatver chore is needed. All three are smart and clever puck-handlers who seem to sense when any linemate gets open, and all three are quick to capitalize and make the best play when the puck arrives. In that Saturday game, the roles became clear: Jack Connolly was amazing on faceoffs, winning 20 and losing 7 while no other player on either team was more than a plus-1, and he fed Mike Connolly for four of his five goals; Fontaine, usually the sniper, made some fantastic passes, and joined Jack Connolly in assisting on Connolly’s first three goals.
“It’s nice to be playing with Fonzie again,” said Jack Connolly, “and it was a spectacular night for Mike. When he’s got the hot hand like that, we might as well keep feeding him.”
Mike Connolly preferred to give credit all around. “We had a big night, but getting Kyle Schmidt back on the second line meant we could get back together, and the third and fourth lines played well, too,” said Mike Connolly, who is as soft-spoken off the ice as he is feisty on the rink. “Our D played huge, too. And Aaron Crandall did a great job in goal, although we left him hanging out to dry too many times. The whole team did a great job, and when you get going early, your legs feel great, and we got the crowd excited. But getting up 3-0 was no time to sit back.”
The goals, in a cluster, would make a great highlight video by themselves.
In a capsule, here’s how they went:Â 1. Mike Connolly went to the goal-mouth and Jack Connolly, sweeping out of the right corner, spotted him and and zipped a pass for a quick redirection goal at 8:04 of the first period; 2. On the power play, Jack Connolly was in the right circle as the defense worked the puck in to him, and he sent a hard pass across the slot to Fontaine in the left circle. Fontaine one-timed a pass to the slot, where Mike Connolly one-timed his shot past Patterson at 15:49 for a 2-0 first period; 3. In the second period, Fontaine was on the left side and slid a perfect pass to the right edge, where Mike Connolly scored for a 3-0 lead at 1:22; 4. With the score suddenly 3-2 and the Gophers taking the momentum toward the second-intermission break, Mike Connolly got loose at the far blue line, as defenseman Mike Montgomery sent him a 100-foot pass. Connolly had to go down on one knee, like a stretching first baseman, and put his stick flat on the ice to corral the pass as it crossed the blue line, then he bounced up, took two strides, and cut loose with a slap shot from the right circle that snared the upper left edge of the goal at 18:43 to make it Mike Connolly 4, Minnesota 2; 5. With Minnesota’s net empty the Gophers scored to narrow the game to a nerve-wrackiing 5-4, and Mike Connolly rushed across center ice, beating defenseman Cade Fairchild with a great deke to clear his path for a 60-foot empty netter and the 6-4 clincher.
Aaron Crandall couldn't recover to stop Patrick White's rebound from the far left, but Minnesota's Nico Sacchetti slammed into Crandall in the crease, nullifying a game-tying goal.
In the closing seconds, Sandelin sent the first line out mainly for Jack Connolly’s hot hand at faceoffs, and sure enough, they cleared the puck in the Minnesota end. Mike Connolly got to it first, in the right corner, but he looked up and tried to force a pass–when he might have skated around behind the net and gotten No. 6 on a wraparound into an empty net.
“I would gladly give up a couple of these goals for assists,” said Connolly — obviously still lacking his own sense of drama. “The big thing was that it was pretty exciting to get this win. It was really great to see the crowd go so crazy.”
Sandelin said: “He picked a good night to do it. He was so good for two nights, and after the first game I decided it was time to put that line back together.”
Connolly’s five-goal record game, and his six for the weekend, meant UMD took three of the four points from the Gophers and boosted the Bulldogs back into first place in the WCHA, tied with Denver, going into this weekend’s series against St. Cloud State at AMSOIL. Everybody on the big line stresses that individual accomplishments mean nothing compared to team success, but the statistics bear examining nonetheless.
In WCHA league games only, Jason Zucker of Denver (17-9–26) has tied Jack Connolly (8-18–26) for the scoring lead, followed by Mike Connolly (15-9–24) and Fontaine (10-13–23). For all WCHA scorers in all games, Jack Connolly is the top scorer with 12-28–40, while Wisconsin defenseman Justin Schultz is second at 15-24–39, followed by Fontaine in third at 16-21–37, and Mike Connolly fourth at 19-16–35.
That means that with 19 goals, Mike Connolly is second only to the 22 goals of North Dakota’s Matt Frattin in goals for all games among all WCHA players. Not bad for a guy who still thinks he’s not a goal-scorer.
Don’t blink, or WCHA standings shift dramatically
UMD's Justin Fontaine battled Wisconsin defenseman John Ramage for a rebound.
By John Gilbert
The WCHA race is like a staring contest. Don’t blink and you move up, maybe to first place; but blink, and you realize it’s much easier to lose ground than to gain it.
The league race is in a knot, tied tighter because of January weekend splits. The University of Minnesota-Duluth beat Wisconsin 2-0 in Amsoil Arena, while Minnesota stung North Dakota 3-2 in Grand Forks, and Denver was fit to be tied 4-4 in Mankato, and Nebraska-Omaha couldn’t solve fellow-newcomer Bemidji State, tying 2-2 in Omaha. UMD’s victory pushed the Bulldogs past North Dakota and into first place in the WCHA, while Denver and Nebraska-Omaha gained only a point with their ties but stayed close behind.
One night later, UMD fell behind 3-0 in a game that was more of a penalty-killing demonstration, and even a furious finish left the Bulldogs on the short end of a 3-2 score. The loss rudely knocked UMD (10-4-2) from first place to third, behind North Dakota (12-4), which bounced back to whip Minnesota 4-1. Denver (10-3-3), came off its first-game tie to rally from behind and subdue Minnesota State-Mankato 4-3 in overtime, lifting the Pioneers to second. Nebraska-Omaha (9-5-2), meanwhile, was stung 3-2 in overtime by Bemidji State, holding fourth. UNO is probably happy to be done with Bemidji State; while the Beavers are 5-9-2 in their first year in the WCHA, they are 3-0-1 against Nebraska-Omaha, having won 3-0 and 3-1 earlier in Bemidji before the 2-2, 3-2 series at Omaha.
There is no indication the WCHA will loosen up anytime soon, although the top four seem to have an edge. After North Dakota, Denver, UMD, and Nebraska-Omaha, the league breaks into a tight cluster at .500, with Minnesota (7-7-2), Wisconsin (7-7-2) and Colorado College (8-8) all tied. Any of those three could move up to contention, or, they could just remain be in for a wild and entertaining ride as all three try to fit into two slots that would give them home ice for the playoffs.
Colorado College got on a hot streak just before the holidays and rose from the depths to the battle for middle ground. But CC was startled last weekend, losing 4-1, 2-1 at Alaska-Anchorage, which moves the Seawolves (6-8-2) into a challenging eighth place. Minnesota has always had the capability, but for various reasons hasn’t been able to put together enough consistency for a hot streak. The Gophers played their best two games of the season against UMD, then, in their own tournament, they were beaten by Union and tied by Ferris State. They returned to the form they had displayed against UMD to beat North Dakota the first night, but couldn’t sustain it against the tenacious Fighting Sioux in the rematch.
Wisconsin, rebuilding after losing heavily to graduation and pro signings, has also risen on a hot streak, winning seven straight games coming into Duluth. The Bulldogs used a familiar tactic to win the opener 2-0. That tactic has been explosive scoring from a first line with Jack Connolly centering Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine, and a dazzling power play, featuring the quick puck movement of that top line. Against Wisconsin, Fontaine and Mike Connolly scored first-period power-play goals. The difference was that coach Scott Sandelin juggled his lines, moving David Grun up to the line with the Connollys, while Fontaine moved to apply his scoring touch on Travis Oleksuk’s wing.
Fontaine rejoins his former linemates on the first power-play unit, and that’s what came through against the Badgers. Thirteen minutes into a scoreless first period, UMD got its first power play. Jack Connelly made a very slick behind the back pass to Mike Connelly, who fed behind the net to Grun, for a quick relay out front that found Fontaine for a quick shot and a 1-0 lead. A couple minutes later, another Wisconsin penalty created the scenario, and Mike Connolly scored from the scramble in the slot to make it 2-0. UMD’s first two goals in the new Amsoil Arena led to the first Bulldog victory there as well.
Kenny Reiter got the shutout, continuing his hot hand. When the Bulldogs snatched a pair of overtime victories from Wisconsin in Madison during the first half, Reiter was shelled at the start of the first game, and freshman Aaron Crandall — once a Badger recruit — came in and starred to gain the sweep. But Sandelin prefers to go with the hotter goalie, and Reiter showed he had regained his form in the first game to pay dividends on the strategy, and to pay back the Badgers.
UMD goaltender Kenny Reiter split to stop Wisconsin ace Craig Smith.
The next night, however, Reiter was more the victim than the problem, as seven of the first 10 penalties in the first two periods were awarded to UMD — including two 5-minute majors — giving the Badgers both opportunities and momentum. Craig Smith, Wisconsin’s ace centerman, made a strong rush 2-on-2, cutting to his left and skirting both UMD defensemen before virtually handing off the puck to his left, where Sean Dolan skated by, cut back to the net and scored at 6:39. UMD killed off the next penalty, but just 10 seconds after it expired Podge Turnbull snapped a shot from the left side past Reiter for a 2-0 lead at 11:50.
Justin Faulk was given a 5-minute major and ejected for a checking from behind call at 19:35, and Smith got open at the top of the left circle and rifled a shot into the left edge on the carryover power play at 0:55 of the second period. The Bulldogs, who were outshot 16-5 in the first period, came back to generate some chances in the second, although when the red light flashed after Jack Connolly’s blast from the left side at 6:20, the officials reviewed it and disallowed the shot for glancing off the far pipe. The officials were far more of an obstacle later in the evenly played middle period, however.
After an exchange of penalties, Mike Connelly threw a check on the end boards, and it was ruled that he made “contact to the head,” so he was given a 5-minute major and tossed at 14:19. Losing their second key regular for the game hurt, to say nothing of losing one of their prime offensive catalysts, but Joe Basaraba was called for a cross-check at 16:32, and Jack Connolly — the other half of the Connolly offensive spark duo — was called for hooking at 17:12. That left the Bulldogs two men short for four solid minutes, but the penalty killers and Reiter did an amazing job to hold the deficit to 3-0.
The third period was a valiant attempt to let the Badgers catch up on penalty-box time, as five of six penalties went to the guys in red, one of them a 5-minute major when Mark Zengerle got a contact-to-the-head call at 10:10. UMD’s power play put on a lot of pressure, but didn’t score, and didn’t penetrate for many good chances except for a couple more pipe shots, and the game went into its final two minutes, still 3-0. Another UMD power play failed to connect until the secondary unit came out. Seldom used freshman Max Tardy was deep on the left and sent a hard centering pass to the crease where the puck deflected in off Basaraba’s skate with 1:59 left.
Down 3-1, it didn’t look much better to the 6,668 fans, but Reiter was pulled for a sixth attacker with 1:50 remaining, and UMD’s best pressure of the game gave Oleksuk the chance to score with 25 seconds remaining. After a couple more chances just missed, UMD had to settle for a 3-2 loss and a split of the series. After being outshot 26-16 through two periods, UMD held Wisconsin to no shots — as in zero — in the third period. Obviously, that’s at least a tie for the team record, set May 19, 1970, when Wisconsin’s Cinderella team lost 2-1 to Cornell in the NCAA semifinals.
UMD couldn’t be dispirited by the split, considering the closing rally fell just short, despite losing Faulk and Connolly, and yielding only one goal while killing two majors and four minors. Problem is, the standings don’t give credit to close calls and valiant comebacks, and the Bulldogs need to realize that as they hit the road for Houghton, Mich., to face a Tech team that has struggled mightily. But when they last met, Tech led 2-0 at the DECC and UMD needed a 4-goal third period to win 5-3.
AMSOIL ARENA ADJUSTS
First impressions at Amsoil Arena showed a few little nitpicks, despite the gushing flow of accolades for the beautiful new facility when UMD opened against North Dakota. When Wisconsin came to town for the second UMD game at Amsoil, several subtle adjustments had been made to improve those little things. For one, it was pointed out here that the very good UMD band was stuck down at ice level, where their sound was focused on the backside of the glass boards. Last weekend the band was elevated to concourse level of the end section, where all of that inspirational music was much more effective.
The big scoreboard has been changed to feature the score and pertinent information on both edges, simply by reducing the ongoing game video slightly to fit inside the borders. Also, the disc-shaped statistical board under the video board has been redone, reducing the center area where the period number is shown and giving more space to either side, where the team, its score, shots on goal, and any penalties can all fit. They still need to find a way to leave some semblance of the score and remaining time when the scoreboard switches to become all artsy-craftsy between periods or during time-outs or penalty stops, because the two auxiliary scoreboards remain impossible to see on the press-box side of the arena.
Next up for Amsoil Arena is the UMD women’s team coming home, battered and in need of a couple of huge performances against Wisconsin Friday and Saturday nights. The Gophers took over a month off for holiday time, while other teams returned to play for a weekend. So when UMD returned to action at Minnesota last weekend, the Gophers tied the Bulldogs and beat them in a shootout, then beat them again Saturday to vault over UMD and into second place, behind Wisconsin.
For most of the first half, the Women’s WCHA was a two-team race between Wisconsin and UMD. Maybe taking so much time off was part of the problem, but it was made worse by the schedule — coming in cold, out of the cold, to play at Minnesota and then Wisconsin has pretty well eliminated UMD from title contention, and may prove to leave the Bulldogs trying to regain their form from third place.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports