Patient Pioneers sink UMD 2-1 to claim second place in WCHA
UMD goaltender Rob Anderson’s acrobatic work made it evident that it was going to be difficult for Denver to score any artistic goals Saturday night. So the Pioneers scrapped and scuffed for goals by Kelly Popadynetz and David Neale in less than three minutes early in the third period to gain a 2-1 victory before an announced 3,228 at the DECC.
The victory made Denver 7-0-2 since a bleak start and allowed the Pioneers to claim second place in the WCHA at 8-5-1, giving them 17 points — one more than Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado College going into the holiday break.
“There are about six teams in the race, and for us to come back home in second place is a big boost,” said Denver goaltender Wade Dubielewicz. “I’ve had a few games where I was pretty solid, but out defense and penalty killing has been great. Our defense blocks more shots than I do.
“I look at Duluth right now, and they’re not far from where everybody else is. They’re a great team, and they outworked us for a lot of the game tonight.”
The Bulldogs go into the break 1-10-1, cemented in last place in the WCHA, but still in control of the frustration of playing hard for almost 60 minutes, and winding up just short of victory, over and over.
“Our mistakes are fewer,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “But they’re still costing us. They gained some momentum with two power plays in the second period, and I think that carried over to the third.”
Last night, the Bulldogs were flawless defensively for two periods, thanks to Rob Anderson’s continued hot hand in goal.
UMD had the upper hand in play through the scoreless first period, outshooting Denver 8-5, but Dubielewicz stopped everything, including a tough chance when Mark Gunderson broke around the defense for a power-play chance midway through the period. Denver came out harder in the second period, but Anderson turned aside everything, and UMD took a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 15-8.
The goal came when defenseman Andy Reierson shot from the point, and the puck hit a defender, landing in the slot. Derek Derow didn’t hesitate, and one-timed his shot to put the puck in the upper right corner at 8:03, giving UMD a 1-0 lead that held to the second intermission. “Reierson shot it and it bounced off one of their guys,” said Derow.
If that was an opportunistic goal, the Pioneers staged the quick turnaround with two of them in the first five minutes of the third period.
J.J. Hartmann rushed from the right side and was hassled before Rob Anderson blocked his shot. The puck went behind the net, but Hartmann retrieved it and jammed a pass out front, where Popadynetz scored with a quick 15-foot shot at 1:32.
The Pioneers took the lead at 4:26, after a left-corner faceoff. Neale barged to the net through traffic to find a blocked shot and scored with a backhand at the right edge of the goal.
“They got a shot from out near the point, and their guy went to the net and got the puck,” said Rob Anderson.
After that, UMD had two good opportunities, particularly after Chris Paradise went off for the only two penalties of the period. But Dubielewicz and the scrambling Pioneer defense held firm. UMD coach Scott Sandelin pulled Rob Anderson for a six-man attack with 1:53 remaining, and the Bulldogs had the puck in Denver’s zone most of that time, but most of their shots glanced harmlessly off defenders, and a last fling by Judd Medak from the right boards was gloved by Dubielewicz at the buzzer.
Denver University 0 0 2—2
Minnesota-Duluth 0 1 0—1
First Period: No scoring. Penalties–Hartmann, DU (holding) 5:04; N. Anderson, UMD (tripping) 7:52; Caldwell, DU (interference) 8:06.
Second Period: 1. UMD–Derow 4 (Reierson, Hardwick) 8:03. Penalties–Keith, DU (high-sticking) 1:04; Popadynetz, DU (tripping goaltender) 4:56; Mathias, UMD (elbowing) 11:03; Reierson, UMD (holding) 14:37.
Third Period: 2. DU–Popadynetz 8 (Hartmann, Adams) 1:32. 3. DU–Neale 5 (Barber,Engstrom) 4:26. Penalties–Paradise, DU (charging) 7:41; Paradise, DU (hooking) 14:43.
Shots on goal: Denver 5 15 6–26; UMD 8 8 7–23. Goaltenders: Dubielewicz, DU (23 shots-22 saves); R. Anderson, UMD (26-24). Power plays: Denver 0-3, UMD 0-6. Referee–Tom Goddard; linesmen–Jon Elvy, Joe Romano. Attendance: 3,228.
Eustace’s 2 goals cap UMD rally for 4-3 victory over Harvard
Joanne Eustace thought she might have played better a couple of weeks ago than she did Saturday afternoon. But her UMD women’s hockey teammates might disagree. Certainly, Eustace never has come through more effectively with the stakes so high, as she scored the tying goal with seven minutes remaining and then rapped in the game-winner with 28 seconds left to lift UMD to a stirring 4-3 victory over Harvard.
Eustace, in fact, assisted on the first two Bulldog goals before scoring the two pivotal ones against Harvard, ranked No. 2 in the nation and undoubtedly the best team ever to come into the DECC to face UMD in women’s hockey. For UMD, ranked No. 5 nationally, it was a chance to meet a major test, as will Sunday’s 2 p.m. rematch.
With the rapid expansion of women’s college hockey programs, there is a wide disparity from the top ones to the less-talented ones. Harvard has long been one of the best women’s programs in the nation, and UMD dropped out of the clouds and commanded a spot among the elite a year ago, in its first season. Their game Saturday elicited an excitement from players on both teams, who seemed to genuinely enjoy competing with another team of equal caliber.
“It was upsetting to have the lead and let it slip away, but Duluth was flying, and played with a lot of determination,” said Jennifer Botterill, who scored Harvard’s first goal and set up a third-period goal by Kalen Ingram that gave the Crimson a 3-1 lead. “But it was a great game, with both teams flying. Games like this is why you like to play. They have a lot of great players, and they’re big and strong and play a more physical game.”
The Crimson seemed to put a stranglehold on the sizzling opener of the series early in the third period, when Ingram punctured the often-spectacular goaltending of Tuula Puputti to make it 3-1 at 4:08. That goal caused an interesting reaction on the UMD bench.
“When Harvard went ahead 3-1, and we came right back at ’em, I could see a hunger in our players eyes, and I said to myself, ‘Yeah! We’ve got some character on this team,’ ” said Shannon Miller. “They’re a very good team, and this game could have gone either way, but we learned something about ourselves the way we responded when the pressure was on.”
The Bulldogs, who suffered a couple of upset losses from inconsistent effort early in this, their second season, responded this time by turning up the tempo of their half of what already was a fast-paced, entertaining battle. At 8:21 of the period, Eustace got the puck to Maria Rooth, who carried down the slot with two Harvard defenders all over her. Somehow, when she got to the goal, Rooth managed to chip a one-handed shot that glanced up and in over goaltender Jessica Ruddock.
Ruddock, a freshman, had come into the game with an 0.82 goals-against average and a .967 save percentage. She had a 4-0 record, and had yielded only three goals, never more than one in any game. Rooth’s tally cut the deficit to 3-2, and further inspired the Bulldogs. At 13:12, Ruddock blocked Pamela Pachal’s left point shot, but Eustace was positioned in front scored on the rebound, tying the game 3-3.
Angie Francisco, Harvard’s captain from Duluth, was penalized for slashing during a skirmish for the puck in the corner at 13:12, but the best chance of the ensuing power play came when Tammy Shewchuk broke free on a shorthanded breakaway. Puputti, however, came up with a big save — as she did 29 times during the game.
The game went into its final minute, heading for an apparent overtime, when UMD’s Hanne Sikio was forechecking behind the net. In heavy traffic, Sikio managed to knock the puck out front, on the left side of the goal. With Ruddock still looking at the congestion behind the net, assuming the puck was still back there, Eustace shot it through the goalie’s feet at 19:32.
“As soon as the puck came out, I knew the goalie didn’t know it was there and I shot,” said Eustace, who now has five goals for the season.
Harvard coach Katey Stone said: “I don’t think we were firing on all cylinders the whole game, we were just a little out of sync. But their goaltender definitely played great, and they have a great team. I think they’re the best team we’ve seen. They have very good individually skilled players and they play a different style. They may not do as much passing, but they’re big and strong.”
At the start, Harvard’s top two scorers — Canadian National stars Botterill and Tammy Shewchuk — each got outstanding scoring chances that Puputti thwarted. Those two persisted in threatening all day, which was no surprise to Puputti, who had faced them often in international play while tending goal for Finland.
“I know them well,” said Puputti, who beat the two Canadian stars for the first time. “Even when we were behind 3-1, I had a pretty good feeling. We were playing good, and when it got to 3-2Â…well, I usually never react to any goals scored by any team I play for, but when we got the tying goal, I’m just happy nobody saw me at the other end.”
Puputti could be excused for a little celebration, after succeeding against the most threatening pressure she’s faced all season.
“I played good in the first game of the season,” she said, recalling a 7-0 shutout of St. Lawrence. “Then, I lost it. But now the team is firing up, and I had good games against New Hampshire last weekend, and I felt good tonight. It’s a good thing we’re playing better now, when the games start to count.”
Nelson’s late goal, Anderson’s goaltending gain UMD 1-1 tie
When a hockey game is high-scoring, the coaches always suggest that it was the type of game fans might like, but coaches hate. That should have meant that Friday night’s 1-1 WCHA tie between Denver and Minnesota-Duluth was a game that only coaches could love.
Instead, while UMD coach Scott Sandelin appreciated his team’s play, which improved throughout the game and was climaxed by Tom Nelson’s game-tying goal with 5:26 remaining in the third period. But Denver coach George Gwozdecky disliked the game from the second period on.
The Pioneers came into the game with a 6-0-1 streak, and the realization that a sweep of the series could propel a move into second place in the WCHA, but slipped to 7-5-1 (8-7-2 overall). UMD came in only 1-9 in WCHA play, and improved to 1-9-1 (4-12-1 overall).
Nelson’s equalizer came after Judd Medak forechecked deep on the right side of the net to retrieve the puck, and came out to try a wraparound shot, but goaltender Wade Dubielewicz played him perfectly. “I saw the goalie had me blocked, and I saw something white coming down the slot,” said Medak.
Nelson said: “Judd made a great hustle play and the puck came right to me. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and rapped it in.”
Sandelin acknowledged that his Bulldogs seemed flat at the start. “Once we got our legs moving, I was real happy,” he said. “Denver got that early goal, and sometimes you get shocked into playing. We started pursuing the puck, and got better as the game went on.”
The sparse crowd, announced at 3,039, had reason to anticipate a shootout, both because both teams had scored 19 goals in their last four games, and because Denver jumped ahead with a goal after only 1:36 of the first period had expired. On the second shift of the night, Connor James got the puck behind the net from Chris Paradise and relayed a pass out front, where Lukas Dora’s quick shot beat goaltender Rob Anderson. Simple as that, the Pioneers led 1-0.
But that was it, in entirety, for the game’s scoring — and scoring chances — for the next two-plus periods. The best chance overtime by Denver came when Chris Paradise was set up on a goal-mouth pass, but Anderson went down and threw his leg up to block the shot. “It was a big save, but that’s my job,” said Anderson.
Denver outshot UMD 18-10 in the first period, but Anderson’s goaltending held the Bulldogs in the game. Both teams clamped down defensively in the second period, with UMD holding a 6-5 edge in shots, and the two goalies successfully dueling to maintain the 1-0 count. Shots grew to 10-10 in the third period, and Denver outshot UMD 34-29 for the game.
“I thought Rob Anderson played a strong game,” said Gwozdecky, but his stern demeanor indicated he was not pleased.
“I thought we were as careless with the puck in the second and third periods as we’ve been all year. Disgustingly so. Either you want to make it difficult or easy for your opponent to get the puck when you’ve got it on your stick, and we made it very easy for them. We were fortunate to get the one point.
“In the first period, we did a decent job and played the way we wanted to,” Gwozdecky added. “But if you’re going to be successful, you cannot force the puck into traffic, and we did that too many times, in all zones. When you do that, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing Duluth or the New Jersey Devils, you’re going to give up good scoring chances.”
Denver University 1 0 0
Minnesota-Duluth 0 0 1
First Period: 1. Den—Dora 4 (James, Paradise) 1:36. Penalty–Hardwick, UMD (tripping) 16:06.
Second Period: No scoring. Penalties–Adams, Den (interference) 4:13; Reinholz, UMD (interference) 11:08; Weber, Den (interference) 17:34.
Third Period: 2. UMD–Nelson 9 (Medeak) 14:34. Penalties–none.
Overtime: Penalty–Coole, UMD (holding) 0:38.
Shots on goal: Denver 18 5 10 2–35; UMD 10 6 10 3–30. Goalie saves: Dubielewicz, Den (30 shots, 29 saves); R. Anderson, UMD (35-34). Referee: Tom Goddard; linesmen Jon Elvy, Joe Romano. Attendance: 3,039.
Nelson’s late goal, Anderson’s goaltending gain UMD 1-1 tie
When a hockey game is high-scoring, the coaches always suggest that it was the type of game fans might like, but coaches hate. That should have meant that Friday night’s 1-1 WCHA tie between Denver and Minnesota-Duluth was a game that only coaches could love.
Instead, while UMD coach Scott Sandelin appreciated his team’s play, which improved throughout the game and was climaxed by Tom Nelson’s game-tying goal with 5:26 remaining in the third period. But Denver coach George Gwozdecky disliked the game from the second period on.
The Pioneers came into the game with a 6-0-1 streak, and the realization that a sweep of the series could propel a move into second place in the WCHA, but slipped to 7-5-1 (8-7-2 overall). UMD came in only 1-9 in WCHA play, and improved to 1-9-1 (4-12-1 overall).
Nelson’s equalizer came after Judd Medak forechecked deep on the right side of the net to retrieve the puck, and came out to try a wraparound shot, but goaltender Wade Dubielewicz played him perfectly. “I saw the goalie had me blocked, and I saw something white coming down the slot,” said Medak.
Nelson said: “Judd made a great hustle play and the puck came right to me. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and rapped it in.”
Sandelin acknowledged that his Bulldogs seemed flat at the start. “Once we got our legs moving, I was real happy,” he said. “Denver got that early goal, and sometimes you get shocked into playing. We started pursuing the puck, and got better as the game went on.”
The sparse crowd, announced at 3,039, had reason to anticipate a shootout, both because both teams had scored 19 goals in their last four games, and because Denver jumped ahead with a goal after only 1:36 of the first period had expired. On the second shift of the night, Connor James got the puck behind the net from Chris Paradise and relayed a pass out front, where Lukas Dora’s quick shot beat goaltender Rob Anderson. Simple as that, the Pioneers led 1-0.
But that was it, in entirety, for the game’s scoring — and scoring chances — for the next two-plus periods. The best chance overtime by Denver came when Chris Paradise was set up on a goal-mouth pass, but Anderson went down and threw his leg up to block the shot. “It was a big save, but that’s my job,” said Anderson.
Denver outshot UMD 18-10 in the first period, but Anderson’s goaltending held the Bulldogs in the game. Both teams clamped down defensively in the second period, with UMD holding a 6-5 edge in shots, and the two goalies successfully dueling to maintain the 1-0 count. Shots grew to 10-10 in the third period, and Denver outshot UMD 34-29 for the game.
“I thought Rob Anderson played a strong game,” said Gwozdecky, but his stern demeanor indicated he was not pleased.
“I thought we were as careless with the puck in the second and third periods as we’ve been all year. Disgustingly so. Either you want to make it difficult or easy for your opponent to get the puck when you’ve got it on your stick, and we made it very easy for them. We were fortunate to get the one point.
“In the first period, we did a decent job and played the way we wanted to,” Gwozdecky added. “But if you’re going to be successful, you cannot force the puck into traffic, and we did that too many times, in all zones. When you do that, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing Duluth or the New Jersey Devils, you’re going to give up good scoring chances.”
Denver University 1 0 0
Minnesota-Duluth 0 0 1
First Period: 1. Den—Dora 4 (James, Paradise) 1:36. Penalty–Hardwick, UMD (tripping) 16:06.
Second Period: No scoring. Penalties–Adams, Den (interference) 4:13; Reinholz, UMD (interference) 11:08; Weber, Den (interference) 17:34.
Third Period: 2. UMD–Nelson 9 (Medeak) 14:34. Penalties–none.
Overtime: Penalty–Coole, UMD (holdiing) 0:38.
Shots on goal: Denver 18 5 10 2–35; UMD 10 6 10 3–30. Goalie saves: Dubielewicz, Den (30 shots, 29 saves); R. Anderson, UMD (35-34). Referee: Tom Goddard; linesmen Jon Elvy, Joe Romano. Attendance: 3,039.
Bulldog women win 8-1 to complete historic sweep over UNH
The UMD women’s hockey team completed one of its most significant weekends Sunday, when the Bulldogs beat New Hampshire 8-1 for a series sweep that was not only the most impressive performance of this season, but can only compare in magnitude to last year’s top achievements, a sweep at Minnesota and the Women’s-WCHA tournament championship.
This one didn’t offer any league rewards, but it was filled with historic accomplishments. Maria Rooth scored both of the game’s third-period goals to give her a hat trick, and 15 goals for the season, Hanne Sikio scored two goals, to give her 16, and Leah Wrazidlo, often a spare-duty player, came through with her first two goals of the season, while freshman defenseman Satu Kiipeli also scored a goal.
Coupled with Saturday’s 3-0 victory, Sunday’s matinee triumph was the Bulldogs’ response to coach Shannon Miller’s demands. First and foremost, the coach wanted the Bulldogs to prove they could play with full intensity through both games of a weekend set. Second, she stressed scoring not only on direct attacks but by crashing the net for the kind of working-class goals they have lacked.
The ‘Dogs (11-4-1) picked the perfect time to do it all, coming against a UNH team that is probably the No. 1 women’s program in the nation. The Wildcats came into the series having lost 2-1 to Northeastern and 4-3 to Providence last weekend, and they had never lost four games in a row in their 24-year history. Until now, when the double loss to UMD drops the ‘Cats to 9-6. In only its second season, it was impressive for UMD to dominate a team like UNH, which has won the equivalent of 10 eastern or national championships 10 times, and has never had season worse than 14-10-3. That was in 1993-94, the year of UNH’s worst-ever losing margin, seven, in a 9-2 loss to Concordia. UMD put itself in the UNH record book by tying that margin Sunday.
“Duluth is a great team, and if you make a mistake against them, they put it away,” said Karen Kay, who is in her ninth season at UNH. “Players like Sikio and Rooth are really quality players; they’re so good that I think some of our young defensemen might have gotten caught admiring them.”
Coach Kay said UMD compares with No. 1 ranked Dartmouth, which whipped Minnesota 5-1 and 4-0 over the weekend, and she acknowledged UMD was missing six top players when it lost twice at Minnesota. “Dartmouth is deep, big and physical,” said Coach Kay. “When the top teams their whole teams and are on their game, UMD is right up there. There’s so much parity in women’s hockey now, but from a physical standpoint, Dartmouth and Duluth both have the best size, especially up front. Harvard is another team in that class, and the Harvard-Duluth series should be a good one.”
That’s next weekend, also at the DECC, where the Bulldogs seemed to reach a higher plateau than anytime earlier in the season. On Saturday, Sikio’s two goals and one by Michelle McAteer all came on direct rushes, but on Sunday, only Kiipeli’s screened shot from the blue line came on anything other than determined treks to the goal.
“We got a lot of shots, but not too many when we went to the net yesterday,” said Rooth. “Today we wanted to go to the net.”
Rooth went to the net for an unassisted breakaway from the blue line in and started the Bulldogs on a 3-0 first-period run after only 19 seconds had elapsed. “It’s always good to get a goal right away, because I’ve been having a little ‘down’ period lately,” Rooth said. “For me, it doesn’t have to be a goal, just so I can start with something that works.”
Wrazidlo, a sophomore who helped lead the Duluth Dynamite to a state tournament two years ago, got her first goal of the season when she smacked the puck that seemed to take forever to flutter past goaltender Jen Huggon at 3:55. “I shot it, it hit the goalie and bounced up, and I hit it again out of the air,” Wrazidlo said. “It finally went in, about an hour later.”
Sikio banged in her first of the game from in front, on a power play at 17:04, moments before winding up sprawled to the left of the cage. Another power play had expired by only one second when Sikio scored at 11:55 of the second period. It was a remarkable goal, because Sikio broke hard for the net on the left side when Rooth spotted her. Stationed on the right boards, Rooth had to fire a hard pass to get it through the slot, and Sikio one-timed it, almost casually, into the open net for a 4-0 lead.
When Michelle Thornton scored what turned out to be UNH’s only goal on Tuula Puputti all weekend, on a power play at 13:24 of the middle period, Kiipeli countered at 14:13 to make it 5-1, and Wrazidlo scored again at 16:45. “Maria’s shot hit my leg and went in,” said Wrazidlo, unintentionally underscoring Coach Miller’s reason for wanting her players to go to the net.
Rooth also went to the net to score twice more in the third period, first shooting in her own second rebound after Brittny Ralph’s power-play blast had clanked off the right pipe at 10:00, then completing her hat trick by skating to the goal-mouth and flicking in a rebound with 15 seconds remaining.
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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