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.
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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.
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