Point mixup frees Carlson to score UMD’s 4-3 overtime winner
Defensemen Mark Carlson and Andy Reierson man the points on UMD’s power-play unit, with Carlson on the left and Reierson on the right, but when Friday night’s game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wound up in overtime, and the Bulldogs wound up with a power play, Carlson and Reierson wound up on opposite sides.
They passed back and forth, and back and forth again, being on mirror opposites of the way they’ve made those puck exchanges hundreds of times in practice, and it almost seemed both wanted the other to shoot. Finally Carlson cranked up from the right side and fired a slapshot low, past a dozen legs, and into the lower left corner of the goal at 2:30 of the 5-minute overtime, giving the Bulldogs a 4-3 victory over RPI in Friday night’s nonconference series opener before 3,433 fans at the DECC.
“I saw it all the way, but I don’t think their goalie did,” said Carlson, who was moved up front last season, but is back on defense this term.
His opportunity for the game-winner came shortly after a rush by Captain Judd Medak, who already had scored twice, and Tyler Brosz. They didn’t score, but in trying to prevent a goal, RPI defenseman Danny Eberle was called for hooking Medak at 2:13.
All four of UMD’s goals came with the teams at something other than full strength, as Jon Francisco and Medak scored 50 seconds apart in the first period with both teams shorthanded, and Medak notched the game-tying goal with 4:14 remaining on another UMD power play. Referee Jon Campion made the call in overtime, although it’s rare for a team to get an overtime power play on anything other than mayhem.
“It’s about time we got a couple breaks,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin, whose team is now now 3-2 for the season, and faces RPI in the rematch tonight at 7. “You’ve still got to execute. I like how we played the overtime. We looked a little afraid to lose in the third period, but they were really good, and they came after us.”
Early in the season as this is, RPI had already established a pattern of dominant third-periods. The Engineers had lost to Boston University 6-5 in their opener, but BU had led 6-1 with 10 minutes to go. In their second game, the Engineers broke a 3-3 tie against New Hampshire in the third and won 6-4.
So the Bulldogs had no reason to be complacent when they got a 2-1 lead in the first period, and they had reason to be alarmed when it was 2-2 after two. “Not many teams are better conditioned than we are,” said Medak. “I think it might be true that when it was 2-2 in the third period, we were worried more about giving up a goal than getting one ourselves.”
Sandelin had altered his goaltending rotation, starting sophomore Adam Coole in the series opener. Coole was victimized at 2:51 of the first period when Matt Murley, a hometown senior from Troy, N.Y., broke into the UMD zone 1-on-3, and proceeded to stickhandle straight up the slot, deking around one defender and then through the last two to emerge all alone and at full speed at the crease. Murley threw a deke at Coole and shifted to his backhand to stuff the puck in for a power-play goal.
“That 19 [Murley] is great,” said Coole. “I found myself watching him.”
UMD came back with some fire when both teams were short a man. Francisco, who had two goals last Saturday against Mankato, notched his third of the season by hustling to the net and deflecting a Tim Hambly shot out of the air and in at 11:52 to gain a 1-1 tie.
Just 10 seconds after the ensuing faceoff, the Bulldogs charged the net again, and goaltender Nathan Marsters wound up on his hind quarters in the net, with Medak and the puck and assorted other bystanders in there as well for a sudden 2-1 UMD lead. “I went to the net and Junior Lessard passed it,” said Medak. “When everything goes into the net like that, usually the puck does too.”
Marsters stopped all 16 UMD shots in the second period, and the Engineers came back to tie it 2-2 when Chris Migliore scored from the crease at 13:40. Migliore, a senior better known for his wit and his hustle than his goal scoring broke for the net as Jim Henkel shot from long range on the left. Migliore deflected it past Coole, then turned with upraised palms as if to question his own scoring touch. A senior from Hamden, Conn., Migliore’s goal means he now has one goal for each of the four years he’s played for RPI.
Marsters, however, came up with a big save on big Steve Rodberg, a UMD defenseman lending muscle to left wing at present, and Medak nearly broke the tie late in the middle period when he broke in on the left side but saw his stuff attempt stopped by the goaltender an instant before Medak draped himself over the left edge of the goal.
RPI regained the lead midway through the third period when Mark Cavosie and Ryan Shields broke in 2-on-1. After a near offside, Cavosie fed a late pass left to right, and Shields, a left-handed shooter playing the right side, shoveled a backhander past Coole at 10:19.
It looked like the third straight setback for the Bulldogs on home ice until they got a power play with five minutes to go. On the power play, Francisco got the puck in deep and Medak rammed it in with 4:14 remaining to send the game into overtime.
Point mixup frees Carlson to score UMD’s 4-3 overtime winner
Defensemen Mark Carlson and Andy Reierson man the points on UMD’s power-play unit, with Carlson on the left and Reierson on the right, but when Friday night’s game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wound up in overtime, and the Bulldogs wound up with a power play, Carlson and Reierson wound up on opposite sides.
They passed back and forth, and back and forth again, being on mirror opposites of the way they’ve made those puck exchanges hundreds of times in practice, and it almost seemed both wanted the other to shoot. Finally Carlson cranked up from the right side and fired a slapshot low, past a dozen legs, and into the lower left corner of the goal at 2:30 of the 5-minute overtime, giving the Bulldogs a 4-3 victory over RPI in Friday night’s nonconference series opener before 3,433 fans at the DECC.
“I saw it all the way, but I don’t think their goalie did,” said Carlson, who was moved up front last season, but is back on defense this term.
His opportunity for the game-winner came shortly after a rush by Captain Judd Medak, who already had scored twice, and Tyler Brosz. They didn’t score, but in trying to prevent a goal, RPI defenseman Danny Eberle was called for hooking Medak at 2:13.
All four of UMD’s goals came with the teams at something other than full strength, as Jon Francisco and Medak scored 50 seconds apart in the first period with both teams shorthanded, and Medak notched the game-tying goal with 4:14 remaining on another UMD power play. Referee Jon Campion made the call in overtime, although it’s rare for a team to get an overtime power play on anything other than mayhem.
“It’s about time we got a couple breaks,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin, whose team is now now 3-2 for the season, and faces RPI in the rematch tonight at 7. “You’ve still got to execute. I like how we played the overtime. We looked a little afraid to lose in the third period, but they were really good, and they came after us.”
Early in the season as this is, RPI had already established a pattern of dominant third-periods. The Engineers had lost to Boston University 6-5 in their opener, but BU had led 6-1 with 10 minutes to go. In their second game, the Engineers broke a 3-3 tie against New Hampshire in the third and won 6-4.
So the Bulldogs had no reason to be complacent when they got a 2-1 lead in the first period, and they had reason to be alarmed when it was 2-2 after two. “Not many teams are better conditioned than we are,” said Medak. “I think it might be true that when it was 2-2 in the third period, we were worried more about giving up a goal than getting one ourselves.”
Sandelin had altered his goaltending rotation, starting sophomore Adam Coole in the series opener. Coole was victimized at 2:51 of the first period when Matt Murley, a hometown senior from Troy, N.Y., broke into the UMD zone 1-on-3, and proceeded to stickhandle straight up the slot, deking around one defender and then through the last two to emerge all alone and at full speed at the crease. Murley threw a deke at Coole and shifted to his backhand to stuff the puck in for a power-play goal.
“That 19 [Murley] is great,” said Coole. “I found myself watching him.”
UMD came back with some fire when both teams were short a man. Francisco, who had two goals last Saturday against Mankato, notched his third of the season by hustling to the net and deflecting a Tim Hambly shot out of the air and in at 11:52 to gain a 1-1 tie.
Just 10 seconds after the ensuing faceoff, the Bulldogs charged the net again, and goaltender Nathan Marsters wound up on his hind quarters in the net, with Medak and the puck and assorted other bystanders in there as well for a sudden 2-1 UMD lead. “I went to the net and Junior Lessard passed it,” said Medak. “When everything goes into the net like that, usually the puck does too.”
Marsters stopped all 16 UMD shots in the second period, and the Engineers came back to tie it 2-2 when Chris Migliore scored from the crease at 13:40. Migliore, a senior better known for his wit and his hustle than his goal scoring broke for the net as Jim Henkel shot from long range on the left. Migliore deflected it past Coole, then turned with upraised palms as if to question his own scoring touch. A senior from Hamden, Conn., Migliore’s goal means he now has one goal for each of the four years he’s played for RPI.
Marsters, however, came up with a big save on big Steve Rodberg, a UMD defenseman lending muscle to left wing at present, and Medak nearly broke the tie late in the middle period when he broke in on the left side but saw his stuff attempt stopped by the goaltender an instant before Medak draped himself over the left edge of the goal.
RPI regained the lead midway through the third period when Mark Cavosie and Ryan Shields broke in 2-on-1. After a near offside, Cavosie fed a late pass left to right, and Shields, a left-handed shooter playing the right side, shoveled a backhander past Coole at 10:19.
It looked like the third straight setback for the Bulldogs on home ice until they got a power play with five minutes to go. On the power play, Francisco got the puck in deep and Medak rammed it in with 4:14 remaining to send the game into overtime.
Pep band’s Monty Python theme attracts UMD’s off-beat fans
It was at a UMD hockey game a year ago, or maybe two. The UMD pep band was at the DECC, which always offers fans a real, live break from the usual canned music forced over the public address system during breaks in the action. But this time, the band played a vaguely familiar song, with a neat, uplifting beat, and staccato but soaring tune.
“Dum-tee-dum-tee-da-da-da-dee-DUM-dee-dum-tee-da-da-dah”
It took awhile to place it, because it had been years since the 1970s movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” hit the big screen, even though it had only been months since it could be seen again on cable television. For those who had never been exposed to the British comedy troupe Monty Python, the movie was hysterically funny, clever and outrageous, all at once.
The movie opens with a neat scene of a distant hill and this formal-sounding, uplifting song. As the song continues, viewers can see the heads of Knights of the Round Table, obviously riding their horses at an easy canter, although at first you can only see their heads and upper bodies bobbing along as they ride nearer to the crest of the hill.
And when they get within full view, you are shocked to see that there are no horses whatsoever — just this odd assortment of weird knights, skipping along. John Cleese, Michael Palin and the rest of the Monty Python gang, pretending to ride horses that don’t exist. Pantomime horses, and the unmistakable sound of their hoofbeats turned out to be equally mistakable, as Terry Gilliam tags along, smacking two halves of a coconut together in a rhythmic pattern to create the sound of horses hooves.
Fantastic! The” Monty Python and the Holy Grail” theme, rejuvenated and played by the UMD pep band, and the perfect tune for a sometimes rowdy, student-oriented crowd. The performance became a staple at the UMD women’s hockey games, and the band would play it, never more than once, and while the non-Monty fans found it entertaining, the Monty cultists in the audience found themselves waiting all through the game for the familiar tune.
Of such things are college sports traditions made.
A couple of weeks ago, at the UMD football game, the band found the right moment and went into that same tune: “dum-tee-dum-tee-da-da-da”
Suddenly, a group of students, wearing maroon football jerseys, appeared on the lower walkway of the Griggs Field grandstand, lined up in single file, and started skipping along, mimicking the pantomime horse routine, right down to the clickity-clack of coconut half-shells being smacked together.
As they skipped along, from east to west, the crowd seemed to enjoy it, ranging from those who might have recognized the song, to those who were completely baffled by it, to those who figured it was just a bunch of weird students having a good time. Or at least skipping to the beat of a different drummer.
It happened again last Saturday, during the first half of UMD’s romp past Minnesota State-Moorhead. Between plays on the field, the band struck up their best rendition, and the pantomiming cavalry did its thing in front of the cheering fans. A couple of players on the UMD sideline spotted the routine, and one of them even started to skip a couple of steps, as a parody of the parody, before turning back to the seriousness of slaying the Dragons out on the field.
The Bulldog football team is on the road Saturday, playing a game with Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference title overtones at Concordia of St. Paul, so they won’t have the boost of the pep band. The UMD men’s hockey team is off to play in a tournament at Nebraska-Omaha Friday and Saturday, so they, too, are on the road.
The women’s hockey team, however, is opening its season at home in the DECC Friday and Saturday against Providence. A highlight of the weekend will be raising the banner for last spring’s NCAA championship to the rafters, a celebration of the school’s first-ever NCAA national title, and a proper send-off for the Bulldogs, who start the season ranked No. 1 in the country.
But if the band is there, the fans can wait for the off-ice highlight of the weekend, too. The hockey team may be No. 1 on the ice, but the Holy Grail theme is No. 1 in the stands.
UMD sweeps Providence as first goal by Tallus earns 1-0 margin
The UMD women’s hockey Bulldogs dominated the WCHA in their first season, two years ago, and won the first-ever NCAA women’s hockey tournament in Year 2, last season. But the best thing that can happen to women’s college hockey is for a little parity, and the Bulldogs learned in their home-opening series that it may be arriving sooner than later.
The Bulldogs slipped by Providence 5-3 on an open-net goal in Friday’s opener at the DECC, which signalled the potential for a more-intense performance, and thus a blowout, in Saturday night’s rematch. The Bulldogs did play more intensely, even satisfying coach Shannon Miller, their harshest critic, but they had to survive with an even narrower escape to gain a weekend sweep, beating the Friars 1-0.
The goal came at 11:20 of the second period, when Nora Tallus, a 5-foot-4 freshman winger from Finland, smacked a rebound past Providence goaltender Amy Quinlan. But that was all Quinlan allowed, in a 37-save performance.
Her counterpart, Tuula Puputti, was merely perfect in the UMD nets, but she had to be to get the shutout with 24 saves.
“We worked tonight,” said coach Miller, who had been concerned enough to issue a stern lecture after Friday’s game. “I wanted ’em to work, to get to loose pucks, and they did. So I was happy. We were better on the power play, penalty kill and 5-on-5. The difference in our attack was when we got in there for shots, their goaltender deflected them away and we didn’t get many second shots.”
The game started off at a much quicker tempo, and there was far better flow, back and forth, as both teams pulled back a little from the chippy first game, and referee Krista Knight allowed the flow by reducing her penalty total from 18 to 10. Where the Bulldogs had 10 of the 18 on Friday, they had only four of the 10 Saturday.
As it turned out, an interference penalty to Providence’s Jenn Butsch gave UMD the power play that led to Tallus’s first collegiate goal, and, ultimately, to UMD’s victory.
“I didn’t expect that to be the only goal of the game,” said Tallus. “I thought we were going to get many goals tonight. But everything was much better today. I was much more nervous yesterday. We handled it very well today.”
Tallus first came to Duluth when she played for the Finnish National Junior team that came to the DECC to play UMD in two exhibition games. That, plus the fact that Puputti, Hanne Sikio and Satu Kiipeli are from Finland, helped her decide to come to UMD for college.
On her goal, Tallus was stationed in the slot. “I saw Hanne shoot, and I had my stick on the ice. I saw the puck when it came, and I hit it, and it went in.”
Simple tactics, these Finns.
There was more than the goal that worked for the Bulldogs. The veterans set a high standard, and the freshmen played up to it and exceeded it in some cases. Not only was the goal scored by a freshman, but freshman center Kristina Petrovskaia played very well all night, and defensemen Larissa Luther and Julianne Vasichek were both among the best players in the game. Both had played well, with some mistakes of exuberance Friday night, and both played even better, without the over-anxiousness Saturday.
While the Bulldogs played well to the finish, and had to against mounting Providence thrusts, the Friars proved they are going to be a team to be reckoned with in the ECAC, which has divided into two divisions for this season. Providence was ranked second to New Hampshire in one division, while Dartmouth and Harvard are in the other. But with Quinlan, a solid defense led by the rugged Kelli Halcisak, and a quick and forceful offense led by freshman center Ashley Payton, the Friars could challenge for supremacy in the East.
“We did a much better job on their power play,” said Providence coach Bob Deraney. “We played a good team game. They had to fight to get to pucks, and for every ounce of ice they got.”
Quinlan kept the game scoreless until Tallus connected on the mid-second-period power play. And the Friars were dangerous the rest of the way. Puputti came up with a couple of big saves near the end, and when Providence forward Jacki Tamsin stole the puck and skated in on a breakaway with 30 seconds left, Puputti played her perfectly, sliding from left to right across the crease and leaving Tamsin nothing to shoot at.
Playing two close games was a big benefit to the Bulldogs, especially because they won both of them, because the University of Minnesota comes to town next weekend for games at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the DECC. And parity in that series will be no surprise to anybody.
UMD women conclude Banner Night with 5-3 narrow escape
It was Banner Night for the UMD women’s hockey team, but hardly a banner night for the Bulldogs, who were pushed to the DECC’s walls — literally and figuratively — by Providence before escaping with a 5-3 victory in their season-opener.
The final result was a lot like a lot of the games in UMD’s first two seasons — a victory. But most of those victories were lopsided in UMD’s favor, while the 5-3 triumph was a nail-biter to the end, when freshman defenseman Larissa Luther lifted a 150-foot shot into an empty net with nine seconds remaining to clinch it.
“I know it’s our first game,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “And I’m happy we won. But do you think I’m happy that in our building, on our banner night, our opponent came in here and outworked us?”
Ah, the season-opener, and Shannon Miller was already in midseason rhetorical question form.
It was a night of firsts for the UMD women’s team at the DECC. It was the Bulldogs opening game of the season, and it was the first chance any UMD team has ever had to raise any NCAA tournament championship banner to the rafters. It also gave them the opportunity to put their new-look, but still No. 1 ranked, team on display for the first time.
It was not always a pretty sight, often rough and ragged and chippy, but it was a tremendous game from an entertainment standpoint. That may have been true for 925 fans, and Providence coach Bob Deraney. “I thought it was a great game,” he said. “That’s an exceptional team across the way, and we’re young, with our sophomores and freshmen outnumbering our seniors and juniors. But I couldn’t think of a better place to play.
“I know they’ll turn it up a notch tomorrow, and we’ll find out if we can.”
Miller said her team would raise its level of play in the rematch. “Right now,” she said, “they’re catching their breath from the blast they got from me.”
The Bulldogs started at sort of a mellow pace, but then seemed to take charge, building a 4-1 lead before the second period ended. Maria Rooth started where she left off last season, scoring two goals and assisting on two others, while Hanna Sikio and Erika Holst, the returning second and third scorers behind Rooth, also scored a goal each.
There were 18 penalties called by referee Krista Knight, 10 against UMD, and yet if it weren’t for the penalties, UMD wouldn’t have scored, as the ‘Dogs got four power-play goals and one shorthanded. Goaltender Tuula Puputti made 22 saves, to 21 for her counterpart, Amy Quinlan, and she made a sensational late stop when Ashley Payton broke in alone on the left side, and that save may have decided the outcome.
“I’m a little confused about what a bodycheck is,” said Miller. “I saw some open-ice hits that weren’t called checks, and some collisions that were.”
The frequent penalties prevented any flow from being a factor, and many of the penalties were curious. Several obvious collisions resulted in a penalty, often to a Bulldog, and some apparent knockdown bodychecks went by as incidental contact.
“I thought it was textbook,” said Deraney. “There was some terrific angling, and a lot of getting position on each other. But we can’t put them on the power play. They’re too good.”
Providence took a 1-0 lead at 13:36 of the first when Jenn Butsch scored on a power-play shot from the slot, and two minutes later, the Bulldogs had a 2-skater advantage and took advantage. Holst scored on a rebound from the right side at 15:33, and with the second penalty still in effect, Sikio scored with a rebound in the slot at 16:48.
The Bulldogs were shorthanded for all but 25 seconds of the first 6:22 of the second period, but it didn’t seem to matter. They killed the penaly shortages calmly, and Rooth took off to turn a center-ice cluster into a breakaway for a shorthanded goal at 4:36. Rooth later made the UMD power-play click at 16:14 of the middle period on a wraparound at the left post, to make it 4-1.
But UMD freshman defenseman Julianne Vasichek — “Montana” to her teammates — was whistled for her second of three penalties, and the Friars got a goal from Danielle Culgin on a power-play rebound at 17:23. Vasichek, who is from Great Falls, Mont., played well and her toughness filled a valuable role for the Bulldogs, who were getting smacked around otherwise. Miller wasn’t put off by her penalty hat trick. Far from it. “I told Montana, ‘I got you because you’re a physical player, so let’s go,’ ” said the coach.
The Friars, far more aggressive and forceful going to the net — at both ends — seemed to get inspiration from that goal late in the second period, plus the fact they had outshot UMD 11-5 for the session. It translated into a goal by Hilary Greaves at 2:25 of the third, cutting it to 4-3.
It stayed 4-3 to the finish, with Payton breaking in on the left side, only to find Puputti’s quick reactions unbeatable on the best Providence chance. And then Luther, the forward-defenseman-goaltender for Bloomington Jefferson’s state high school champions last spring, got the puck in the closing seconds, and launched her 150-footer — right into the middle of the open net.
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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