Bulldogs blank Denver for Final Five championship
SAINT PAUL, MN. — Never in the 17-year history of the WCHA Final Five playoff format had any team survived the “play-in†game then also won the semifinal and final to claim the championship. Until Saturday, when the University of Minnesota-Duluth continued one of the most stirring playoff runs in league history by not only beating but blanking Denver 4-0 to capture the Broadmoor Trophy.
Not only did the Bulldogs win, they stifled the powerful Pioneers by allowing just one shot at star goaltender Alex Stalock in the third period, when they made Denver look like the fatigued team, rather than themselves.
MacGregor Sharp scored a hat trick, and freshman Mike Connolly assisted on all three, while Jack Connolly, another freshman and a hometown Duluthian who is not related to Mike, scored the third UMD goal. Stalock, Sharp, Connolly and defenseman Josh Meyers all made the all-tournament team, and Stalock was most valuable player.
“That was definitely one of the toughest games we’ve had all year,†said Denver winger Rhett Rakhshani. “All around the rink, on the boards, in the neutral zone, behind the net – everywhere, we were always physically confronted by them. Do I think we played our best? No, but even when we were putting forward our best play, they weathered it.Ââ€
UMD (21-12-8), which hadn’t won a league playoff since 1985, had finished the regular season in a winless five-game skid that dropped it to seventh in the WCHA, rose up to become the only road-winner to win in the first round of league playoffs, beating Colorado College 4-1, 3-1. Still, the Bulldogs were distinct underdogs at the Xcel Energy Center, before beating Minnesota 2-1 Thursday, then stunning league champion North Dakota 3-0 Friday, and finishing the job with the 4-0 job on Denver (23-11-5).
Consistent in that playoff run is that goaltender Alex Stalock went from being close to unbeatable to totally unbeatable against North Dakota and Denver – the WCHA’s top two seeds, and two teams secured in their NCAA tournament berths. Stalock, after giving up only three goals in five playoff games – a goals-against mark of 0.60 and a save percentage of .981 – has guided the upstart Bulldogs into a third secure slot in the NCAA pairings.
UMD will return to the Twin Cities as the West Regional No. 2 seed against Princeton Friday night at Mariucci Arena. Denver is the No. 1 seed, and faces Miami in the afternoon game. The only other WCHA team to make it was league champ North Dakota, which was sent to Manchester, N.H., to face host New Hampshire, with Boston University facing Ohio State in the other semifinal.
In the first two Final Five victories, senior MacGregor Sharp scored the first goal and Stalock was superb, causing Scott Sandelin to stress that it was a good formula. Sharp did it again Saturday night, dazzling 16,749 fans by scoring a power-play goal midway through the first period, finishing off a spectacular goal-mouth play for another goal midway through the second period, then hitting an empty net with 2:32 remaining in the third to clinch it.
The hat trick boosts Sharp to 26 goals for the season, after he scored seven last season.It was suggested he must have lost confidence in his goalie to score more than the first one.
“The way Alex has been playing, one should do the trick,†laughed Sharp. “But I thought I should get a couple more tonight.Ââ€
Denver coach George Gwozdecky admired UMD’s amazing run. “We were hoping to get that first one to see how they’d react,†said Gwozdecky, “but we couldn’t. They took away pretty much everything we had.
“The more I watched them tonight, the more I thought about some teams we’ve had – a big, strong, physical team, physically and mentally strong. Alex Stalock is playing as good as any goaltender can. I was very impressed with Duluth, and they get full credit for doing what was thought to be impossible, and what nobody has ever done before by winning three games in three days.
“If they keep playing the way they are now, they could go a long way in the national tournament.Ââ€
{IMG2}
The Bulldogs, who spent much of the season scratching and clawing for goals, scored some outstanding goals against Denver. On Sharp’s first goal, freshman Mike Connolly fed him rushing into the zone and Sharp passed hard to Justin Fontaine in the right circle. Fontaine had a good opening for a shot, but instead passed back across the slot, and Sharp one-timed it past goaltender Marc Cheverie.
In the second period, Mike Connolly burst up the right side as Sharp went hard for the net on the left. Connolly sent a hard pass across the goal-mouth. “All I had to do was get my stick down, and it went right off the tape,†said Sharp.
Less than three minutes later, UMD killed a penalty to Jack Connolly when Rhett Rakhshani was penalized for Denver. When Connolly came out of the box, he hustled into the offensive zone and wound up with the puck in the left corner. He considered feeding the point, but saw a lane open up and darted for the goal, throwing a deke at Cheverie and then hoisting his shot up and in on the short side for a 3-0 lead.
Highlight film stuff, these goals. And the big crowd was clearly behind the Cinderella Bulldogs. But through the third period, the Denver response was awaited, and then seemingly ignored by the Bulldogs, who played with an ever-increasing confidence. When Gwozdecky pulled Cheverie for an extra skater with plenty of time left, the Bulldogs struck almost immediately.
Mike Connolly, who had a huge weekend, fed Sharp in the neutral zone, and Sharp carried to near the blue line before rifling his shot into the empty net.
“I’m extremely proud of our team and happy for our seniors,†said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “They were here as freshmen, and since then we’ve endured some hardships. But we had good composure, and stayed focused. To hold that team to one shot in the third period…
“This ranks right at the top,†said Sandelin, among his coaching highlights.
Stalock, UMD stun Sioux 3-0 to reach 1st final
SAINT PAUL, MN. — Minnesota-Duluth was impressive in taking out Minnesota 2-1 in Thursday’s play-in game, but the Bulldogs were even more impressive Friday night, when Alex Stalock stopped all 31 shots and his team beat top-seeded North Dakota 3-0 before 17,729 fans at Xcel Energy Center to reach the Saturday night championship game.
It seems like a simple formula that Minnesota-Duluth is using in the WCHA Final Five: Get the first goal for an early lead, and let the other guys shoot. It worked Thursday, because MacGregor Sharp scored early and Stalock stopped 39 Gopher shots. And it worked again Friday because Sharp scored another stunning goal in the opening minutes, then Stalock simply stopped all 31 Fighting Sioux shots.
“It was no surprise, really,†said Sioux captain Ryan Duncan. “He’s been a great goalie through his college career. He’s a big-game goalie, and it’s a credit to him. They’ve got a hard-working team with a lot of intensity, and obviously, they’ve got a lot to play for.Ââ€
UMD (20-12-8) has now risen to a solid position within the criteria for making the NCAA tournament’s 16-team field, and North Dakota (24-13-4) already was solidly in. The Bulldogs will try to become the first team to ever capture the WCHA’s Final Five by winning three straight games. No team has ever gone all the way from the play-in game, but UMD will take on Denver for the title, after North Dakota plays Wisconsin for third place.
The interesting scenarios leading to the NCAA selections were everywhere in this tournament’s first two days, and nobody noticed it more than UMD coach Scott Sandelin. When the Bulldogs beat Minnesota, all the North Dakota fans were cheering them on, more of an anti-Gopher thing than favoring UMD. Friday night, those fans might have been dismayed they got what they wished for, but in the 3-0 victory over the Sioux, all the idled Gopher fans were cheering for the Bulldogs.
“One advantage we had is that we played last night,†said Sandelin. “We knew we had to have a better 60-minute game tonight, and we got it. We got a nice break with Sharpie’s goal, and we played a much, much better game start to end. Our penalty-kill was tremendous, and, of course, the goalie is a big part of that.Ââ€
Stalock has been so solid, giving up two goals in a 4-1, 3-1 upset sweep at Colorado College last weekend, then yielding only one goal in the two enormous victories at Xcel, that any game-plan seems workable. In this case, while the sizzling Sioux were repeatedly turned back by Stalock, Sharp’s goal at 5:16 of the first, and a 4-on-4 tally by Mike Montgomery barely two minutes later gave the brilliant junior netminder all the cushion he’d need.
The final score was padded when Mike Connolly hit an open net with 1:53 to play, although even that goal required explanation.
“Hats off to Duluth,†said North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol. “They played an outstanding game, betting the early lead and then playing a very solid team game for 60 minutes. We needed to get a bounce around Alex Stalock. He was tremendous, but his team also played very well.Ââ€
Stalock used to be criticized for roaming too far from the goal to play the puck, and occasionally misplaying it. Friday night, it was North Dakota’s freshman Brad Eidsness who made an apparent goof, although he was more a victim of MacGregor Sharp’s high-intensity play.
Killing a penalty, the Bulldogs threw the puck in deep, and Eidsness routinely went behind the net to tee up the puck for the first available defenseman. As Eidsness started around the right side on his return to the crease, however, Sharp zoomed in on the left of the net, grabbed the puck, yanked it just inches out front and tucked it inside the post, an instant before Eidsness could slide across.
The Sioux might have been stunned, and the crowd was, for certain. Stalock, the reformed roamer, came to his defense: “He’s a good goalie, and I don’t know what happened exactly on that one, but this is a tough place for a freshman to play.Ââ€
Montgomery, a defenseman who found himself in deep on a 4-on-4 situation, spotted the rebound when Josh Meyers blasted a shot from center-point at 7:41. With Sioux defenders all around him, Montgomery spun far enough to get an awkward angle shot off – and it went in, possibly before Eidsness knew it was coming.
{IMG2}
The Sioux, outshot 11-7 by the hustling Bulldogs in the first period, came back for a 14-6 edge themselves in the second period, and 10-7 in the third, for a 31-24 shot advantage. But Stalock stopped everything, including a 5-minute power play when Brady Lamb went off five minutes for kneeing.
Down by two with the final minutes ticking away, Hakstol pulled Eidsness for a sixth attacker. That gave Mike Connolly the chance to again make a key smart play. In Thursday’s game, he was a one-man dynamo in killing off much of the final minutes with alert steals, rushes and even a diving sweep check. Friday, he got the puck from Sharp and skated across his blue line, carrying the puck until he got to the center red line – to make sure he eliminated any chance of icing – and then he rifled a shot 90 feet into the open net.
Sandelin said it might have been an advantage to have played the night before, but he added that he doesn’t think it will be a problem to play the third straight night.
“It’s only a disadvantage if you talk about it,†he said, talking about it. “We came in wanting to win three games, and we’re two-thirds of the way there. Denver is a very, very good team, and it will be a major challenge.Ââ€
Porsche 911 makes it spectacular to go shiftless
It must be with some level of professional amusement that Porsche officials and engineers observed the recent trend of high-performance manufacturers to offer clutchless manual transmissions instead of normal automatic transmissions, because Porsche has used that sort of device on its race cars since the early 1980s.
That is in no way to diminish the effectiveness of those competitors. My favorites are the Audi DSG (direct sequential gearbox), which has been around for several years, and the sensational new Mitsubishi unit that works so well in the specialty Lancer Evolution.
But Porsche has decided it’s time to bring out the street-level “PDKÂ‖ which stands for Porsche Doppelkupplungetrieb – we were informed. The device is on Porsche’s newest 911 Carerra, and it is a superb alternative that will replace the legendary Tiptronic in the car from here forward.
The PDK is 10 kilos lighter than the Tiptronic, and it’s sure to pick off a lot of previous stick-shift zealots. The PDK is, you see, more a clutchless manual than an automatic. It has two separate gearboxes, separate wet clutches continuously lubricated, and two separate driveshafts, which overlap. When one geat is engaged, one driveshaft drives the car, and when it upshifts or downshifts, the other takes over. Instantaneously.
While I’m tempted to suggest that no “normal†street driver needs all that the PDK can do, it is a marvel to operate. True, it is costly. We’re guessing about $85,000, and $93,000 for the Carerra 4 all-wheel drive model. For most of us, that’s pure fantasy, but if you’ve got the money, the car performs at a level to make even such a large investment seem sound. You can do a full-throttle upshift, and the device changes gears with no lag, and no interruption of traction. You can downshift, and the thing blips the throttle to match revs, then will go from, say, fourth to third in .25 seconds, or 250 milliseconds. It will go from sixth to second in .4 seconds.
The beast also has something called “launch control,†which means you stay planted until you decide to make a high-rev launch with perfect traction and optimum thrust.
Most of the education required driving on the race track, which had been prearranged, of course. When the automotive media groups gathered in Salt Lake City to be introduced to the new car, it was, however, a bittersweet time.
Bob Carlson, Porsche’s universally appreciated public relations director, was not there. I’d known Bob for 30-some years, back when he did motorsports PR, and because he also was an intense hockey fan, we became close friends. At previous introductions, he and co-worker Gary Fong would coax me to stay late in the hospitality room and recall old Minnesota Fighting Saints stories for them.
But this time, Carlson was back home in Atlanta, getting what was to become his final treatments in his battle against cancer. Everybody in the auto business was pulling for Bob, but this was a battle Carlson ultimately lost, at Christmastime. Nonetheless, his name and his always-pleasant demeanor seemed everywhere during the new car launch. He would have loved to be there, and I’ll always remember that introduction as a fitting 60th birthday for him.
Porsche had gathered some of its top race drivers to guide the journalists around the long and sometimes surprising Miller Park road racing track, and we had a half-dozen 911s for use on the track. We got a preliminary trial on a lengthy drive our of the Hotel Park City, in the mountains east of Salt Lake City, where the 2002 Olympic downhill skiing and other events were located. The track is on the west side of the city, so we pretty well worked out the car’s capabilities on the highway, but it was nothing like on the race track.
The 911, which was introduced at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September of 1963, is in its sixth generation, and it was 25 years ago since the clutchless automatic made its racing debut in the car. For 2009, more than “just†the new transmission is featured. The 911 has an entirely new engine, which is far more than merely expanded from 3.6 to 3.8 liters.
The bore and stroke are different, and so is the fuel intake. Porsche has gone to direct injection, which is a method of metering a perfectly concocted dose of precisely pressurized and temperature controlled fuel into each cylinder. That doesn’t sound especially significant, perhaps, but it meets its air mixture in the combustion chamber, where the resulting combustion is more efficient and more complete. All that leads to more complete burning, which is good for both power and fuel economy. The 3.8 engine has 385 horsepower, up 30, and 310 foot-pounds of torque, up 15.
The power produced by a rear-engine/rear-drive 911 always has been more than anyone anticipated, enough so Porsche’s would roll out of Stuttgart and defeat exotic sports cars with twice as much engine displacement, ranging from Corvettes to Ferraris, on the world’s race tracks.
The new one is mind-blowing, for power, for fuel-injection, and for handling, but mainly because of the PDK transmission. Among the 911s we all drove were six-speed stick-shift cars, as well as the new PDK. Some were all-wheel drive, some just rear drive. But here’s the impressive – and perhaps disturbing – part of the puzzle: The PDK doing all the shifting for you is quicker around the race track than shifting by steering-wheel paddles, or with the six-speed stick.
Driving hard with the stick, I was only in the wrong gear in one turn around the 4.5-mile road course. Shifting another car with the paddles, it shifted smoothly and all was slick, but occasionally I would be off by a gear.
{IMG2}
Amazingly, when I drove one of the Porsches with the PDK,and left it in “D,†the car miraculously knew when to upshift and when to downshift, sometimes blipping its own throttle and downshifting two gears, from fifth to third. It was NEVER was in the wrong gear.
My driving instructor was Kees Nierop, who is Dutch, and who won at Sebring in 1983. He told me he owed his driving career with Porsche to Bob Carlson. We blasted down the straightaway to prove the car’s capability of going 0-60 in 4 seconds, and 0-100 in about 7 seconds.
Later on, I drove back to the hotel with driver David Donohue in the passenger seat, and we had a great conversation. He is the son of Mark Donohue, and we decided he probably was a little kid when I wrote about his late father, racing Can-Am Porsches at Brainerd international Raceway. Donohue, who used to co-drive with Duluth’s Tommy Archer on a LeMans Dodge Viper team, also said that growing up in Pennsylvania, he played hockey until he went off to college.
As impressive as driving the Porsches with the PDK proved to be, a small part of me remained skeptical. Some of us in the media are very good drivers, even on race tracks, but we can’t measure up to former Daytona, LeMans, Sebring champions. So I cornered Hurley Haywood and asked him a hypothetical question.
“If were second by a few tenths of a second to the pole-winner in qualifying, and you had just enough time to go out for one more hot lap, would you want the stick shift, the paddle-shifter, or the PDK?†I asked him.
Haywood, who never would be one to downplay the driver input in racing success, paused, but just for an instant: “The PDK,†he said.
So I went back out for one last turn. I planned to leave the PDK in “D†until the last three turns, then use the paddles to manually shift. But when I got to the last three turns, I left it in “D†and realized one more factor. As you keep your two hands firmly on the wheel, and your brain focused only on steering and driving, without any regard for what gear you’re in, because the PDK assures you of being in precisely the right gear at all times, you should be your fastest and smoothest around a race track. Imagine how good a driver you could be on normal roads.
Everything was in place. The only thing missing was, sadly, my friend Bob Carlson.
Lamoureux twins ignite late Gopher romp in semis
Lamoureux twins ignite Gophers late romp in semis
By John Gilbert
Last Updated: Sunday, March 08th, 2009 10:22:16 AM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The top-seeded University of Minnesota cracked open a tight game with four unanswered goals in the third period Saturday afternoon to eliminate Minnesota State-Mankato 7-2 in the first semifinal of the Women’s WCHA Final Faceoff tournament at Ridder Arena.
The Mavericks (12-19-5) who had upset St. Cloud State in a three-game series to ride the No. 5 seed into the semifinals, gave the Gophers all they wanted for two periods, trailing 2-1 at the first intermission and 3-2 at the second. But in the third, the powerful Golden Gophers got two goals from freshman Monique Lamoureux, the second goal of the day for her twin sister, Jocelyn Lamoureux, and one from Terra Rasmussen in the third period to remove any doubt.
Minnesota (31-3-3), the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, will face No. 2 ranked Wisconsin in Sunday’s 1 p.m. league playoff final. Wisconsin (30-2-5) outlasted Minnesota-Duluth 3-1 in the second semifinal Saturday.
“I’m very happy with the win, and our ultimate goal was to get into position to play for a championship,†said Minnesota coach Brad Frost. “We started quite slowly, and credit that to Minnesota State-Mankato. They did what they had to do, but I’m proude of the way our players responded. Getting the fourth goal was huge.Ââ€
The Golden Gophers opened the scoring when captain Gigi Marvin scored her 26th goal, a shorthanded effort at 5:29 of the first period. Brittany Francis made it 2-0 on a power play at 13:26 of the opening period, and the Gophers appeared on their way. But Abby Williams got one back for the Mavericks before the period ended.
Monique Lamoureux’s power-play goal regained the two-goal edge at 3-1 at 7:19 of the second period, but the Mavericks kept pace, and converted on a two-man power play of their own at 16:44, closing the game to 3-2.
But in the third, Monique Lamoureux scored from the left edge just after a two-man power play had expired to make it 4-2, but even then the Mavericks wouldn’t quit. The crushing goal was one that required a lengthy review, at 11:43. Kelly Blankenship rushed the Maverick goal for a shot, and crashed into goaltender Paige Thunder. As Blankenship and Thunder tumbled into the goal, the puck stayed out in the crease, but Terra Rasmussen, trailing the play, skated in and flipped the puck up and over the tangle in the nets.
A delayed penalty had been signalled on Mankato, causing Blankenship to lose her balance and crash into the net, apparently, which negated any goaltender interference, and, since the puck preceded her into the crease, caused the officials to allow the goal. At 5-2, the task was too steep for the Mavericks.
{IMG2}
Monique Lamoureux scored against two minutes later, her 38th goal of a league-scoring-championship freshman season, and sister Jocelyn Lamoureux notched her 28th less than a minute after that.
MSU-Mankato co-coaches Paul Willett and Mandy Krause-Rideout, who assumed the dual role at midseason, brought their Mavericks a long way through the second half of the season. “Mandy and I couldn’t be prouder of our hockey team, especially the way we played one of the top teams in the country. We just came out a little short.Ââ€
Krause-Rideout said: “We really battled through two periods. We knew any space we gave them would put us in trouble, but we had a lot of great chances, even when it was 4-2.Ââ€
Williams, whose goal lifted the Mavericks hopes, said: “It gave us a boost. Our goal all year was to beat them, and even at 4-2, we still believed we could do it. We rallied together, and our coaches helped us so much.Ââ€
The Gophers, meanwhile, could actually enjoy watching the later UMD-Wisconsin game.
Asked if he had any feeling which team he’d rather face in the final, Frodst said: “Nope. We’ve played about even with both of them, and it will just be exciting to watch their game as a fan.Ââ€
Stalock lifts Bulldogs to pivotal victory over Sioux
Alex Stalock was so busy facing 38 shots it seemed unlikely he could let his focus wander anywhere from the Minnesota-Duluth goal. But the junior goaltender said there were times during his team’s 3-1 victory over North Dakota where he enjoyed being a hockey fan.
“The pace was so great, there were a couple times when I thought, ‘Boy, this is fun to watch!’ †Stalock said.
He insisted that it didn’t matter he lost his bid for a shutout in the third period, and you had to believe him. “I’ve been with some of these guys two or three years,’ Stalock said, “and winning is what we all want, every night. Any time you win, it’s a great feeling.Ââ€
But those teammates know better than anyone what Stalock has meant to their chances to win, whether successful or not. And when a game ends up being as huge as the second North Dakota contest, Stalock’s play became Exhibit A in what could be a pivotal turnaround for the Bulldogs.
In baseball, a “stopper†is a pitcher whose talent and consistency can be counted on to stop a slump and turn his team’s momentum upward. In hockey, the term “stopper†is much simpler – it refers to the goaltender, who stops opposing shots, or else.
Alex Stalock, however, proves that a goaltender can meet both definitions.
Against North Dakota, Stalock was very good in Friday’s 2-2 tie with 31 saves against speedy Fighting Sioux. Considering that UMD entered the series with only two victories in 20 games against North Dakota (2-16-2), they had to be impressive to gain the tie. However, the tie also extended the Bulldogs winless streak to an 0-3-2 slide, dropping them to 1-4-3 in the WCHA.
If ever there was need for a stopper of the baseball kind, Stalock responded, seizing the opportunity to kick out 37 Fighting Sioux shots and secure the 3-1 victory for UMD. The Bulldogs had tied Wisconsin the previous week, but, frustrated by Wisconsin’s ability to slow the pace, they fell back and lost the rematch. This time, the series required a much quicker and more forceful performance from the Bulldogs, and Stalock rose to the occasion, losing his shutout only after UMD had built a 3-0 lead.
“Last week (against Wisconsin), we got pinned back in our zone, and we only got three goals for the weekend,†Stalock said. “You’re not going to win many games with only three goals for the weekend.
“Every team in our league is going to come at you, but the pace was much quicker against North Dakota. The difference was we were able to match their pace, and we played so much better along the boards, making passes, and getting the puck out of the zone.Ââ€
In the process, by allowing only three goals in 71 shots for the weekend against North Dakota, Stalock snatched the WCHA’s defensive player-of-the-week award again, for the second time this season. The first time was for a 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Nov. 1, which was UMD’s last previous victory. If those two victories are bookends of a 2-3-2 month, there was no similarity between the two victories.
At the time UMD beat St. Cloud State, the Huskies were bottoming out of an early-season slump, while North Dakota, despite a shaky start, was flying. Since their first meeting, incidentally, St. Cloud State has apparently coordinated its previously scattered parts onto the same page and, after victories over Denver and Wisconsin the last two weekends, the Huskies head for Duluth to play a Saturday night rematch to complete their set that began at Xcel Center.
For consistency, Stalock was 4-4-4 with a 2.70 goals-against and a .901 save percentage going into Saturday’s game, when he improved on all three statistics, while making his most saves of the season, and expanding his personal streak to 49 consecutive starts – longest streak among all active NCAA Division 1 goaltenders.
Coming into the Sioux series, the Bulldogs played an impressive 3-3 tie against Wisconsin, but lost 4-1 to the Badgers the next night. The lingering after-effect was that the Bulldogs started the first game against the Sioux at the same pace the Badgers had induced, meaning a major adjustment in pace was required to catch North Dakota, which might be the quickest team in the league. For the first 10 minutes, the Bulldogs had to face the choice of quickening their pace, or being content to hook the speedy Sioux and spend the night in the penalty box.
To the Bulldogs credit, they not only tried to jack up their tempo, they were capable of doing it. Not that either team could avoid penalties, as all four goals in the 2-2 game came on power plays. Matt Frattin’s bullet gave UND a 1-0 lead, but MacGregor Sharp tied it for UMD. In the third period, Jason Gregoire put the Sioux up 2-1, but Josh Meyers tied it with 1:30 remaining when his shot hit a defender’s stick and popped up in the air before settling behind Brad Eidsness for the deadlock. The Sioux protested it had been last touched by a high stick, but the officials ruled the high stick belonged to a Sioux defenseman.
In the rematch, the pace started out at the same racehorse tempo, but with a difference. Michael Gergen tipped Trent Palm’s point shot for a power-play goal in the first period, which was the first time UMD had scored the first goal in six games. The most entertaining thing, for the season’s biggest crowd of 5,037 in the DECC, was that the pace of the game was amazingly swift, interrupted only by the near-constant stream of penalties.
“They might have outplayed us in the second period,†Stalock said. “But we wanted a break, and we got it.Ââ€
Late in the second period, the Bulldogs made a quick-counter rush as Jack Connolly sent Justin Fontaine flying up the right side, and Fontaine’s 2-on-1 feed put Jordan Fulton in the clear for a pretty goal. That also was the only goal of the weekend that came with both teams at full strength. With Stalock kicking out everything the Sioux threw at him, the Bulldogs had an improbable 2-0 lead at the second intermission.
When the third period opened, MacGregor Sharp scored on the power play at 0:52, and it went to 3-0. The Sioux charged and charged again, but Stalock repelled everything until 12:32, when defenseman Chay Genoway – who seemingly was making great plays all over the ice all weekend – generated the play resulting in Brad Miller’s power-play goal to break the shutout.
“I thought we played well in the first game, but we knew we had to play even better in the second,†said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “And we did that. We knew the team that pushes the pace of the game would win, and when we needed a big save, Al was there.
“The first period was fun to watch, and in the second, that guy kept us in the lead. Then we got a big goal to start the third period, and Al had to make some big saves to end it.Ââ€
{IMG2}
Sandelin downplayed the satisfaction he must have been feeling for beating the North Dakota team where he was assistant coach until getting the UMD job. “It’s always fun to beat good teams,†he smiled.
The victory could be a springboard to better things for a UMD team, which, by every measurement, looks improved over last season. A few goals for, and the same tight goals-against, thanks to Stalock, is the perfect recipe.
A year ago, the Bulldogs were 9-14-5 for eighth place in the WCHA and 13-17-6 overall. For the entire season, they scored only 74 goals – barely over 2 goals per game, the fewest total goals by any UMD team since 1967-68, when the ‘Dawgs scored only 71 goals. But they played eight fewer games back then, so last year’s tally was worse, by more than half-a-goal per game.
But even during the 2007-08 doldrums, the Bulldogs gave up only 91 goals in all games (2.53 goals per game) – UMD’s all-time low in 47 years of Division 1 hockey. The reason, of course, was attributable to a solid defensive corps, but mainly to No. 32, goaltender Alex Stalock.
Stalock started every game last season and his 2.35 goals-against average was equally as impressive as his .914 save percentage, both of which are the second best in UMD single-season history to Josh Johnson, who mostly split the job in 2006-07 with Stalock. Because of UMD’s lack of success, Stalock mostly suffered in oblivion last season, even though he was named the league’s defensive player of the week three times. As he has matured, Stalock also has tempered the wandering puck-handler reputation he developed at South St. Paul hockey and in the USHL. He backed off of it after an…uh…exciting start to his UMD career two years ago, and now he stickhandles to clear more judiciously.
“When I get the chance to play the puck, I do it,†Stalock said. “I’ve always used it to our advantage.Ââ€
As this season of compressed competitiveness continues, every WCHA team needs two things: to score more goals, and to cut down goals-against. But as UMD seeks to move up in the standings, the Bulldogs needs are more simplified. They only need to score more goals, because Alex Stalock has a handle on the goals-against, mostly with saves, but occasionally with zone-clearing passes.
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