Showing posts with label Fighting Sioux Hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fighting Sioux Hockey. Show all posts

Saturday, February 09, 2013

UND Hockey: A couple of numbers to look at this afternoon

Scoring Statistics (Individual)
G
A
PTS
1
JR
F
29
29
17
24
41
2
JR
F
27
27
19
21
40
3
SR
F
29
29
9
30
39
4
SR
F
28
29
12
26
38
5
SR
F
26
27
13
24
37
SR
F
27
29
17
20
37
7
SR
F
28
29
11
23
34
8
SO
F
22
25
13
20
33
Erik Haula (MIN)
JR
F
24
27
13
20
33
10
JR
F
25
25
10
22
32
JR
F
27
27
14
18
32


Here is the National Scoring race numbers, Corban Knight and Danny Kristo are both in the top ten nationally. Also, here is the historical numbers for UND before Christmas and after Christmas.

Year before Christmas -- After Christmas
2004-05 13-7-2 (.636) 12-8-3 (.587)
2005-06 12-7-1 (.625) 17-9-0 (.654)
2006-07 7-10-1 (.417) 17-4-4 (.760)
2007-08 8-6-1 (.567) 20-5-3 (.768)
2008-09 9-8-1 (.528) 15-7-3 (.660)
2009-10 9-6-3 (.583) 16-7-2 (.680)
2010-11 13-5-2 (.700) 19-4-1 (.813)
2011-12 9-8-1 (.528) 17-5-2 (.750)
2012-13 10-5-3 (.639) 5-3-3 (.591)
Totals 91-62-15 (.586) 137-52-21 (.702)

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

This weekend outlook - a fan perspective (RW77)

As life has been kicking my tail up and down as of late (thanks work and grad school), I'll leave the statistical comparisons and intel stuff to Goon.  However, as someone who lives in Omaha and is attending this weekend's festivities, I wanted to share with all of you my expectations and some recommendations.

First, Omaha.  Omaha is a nice town with good people.  Downtown is a cool area.  The Old Market is fun to walk in good weather.  Food is excellent.  I don't eat down there a lot, since I live about as far away from Downtown Omaha as one can get and still be in the Metro area (it seems anyways).  But here's a few recommendations:  First, sushi.  Blue is a great stop for sushi.  Enjoy classic pub cuisine with new age flair?  How about M's Pub?  I love this place.  The spinach salad with the hot bacon dressing is incredible and that's just the opener!  Prices are decent. 

If you are into salads but the rest of you prefer soups or pizza or even hot sandwiches, then Ingredient is the place to go.  They have an ingredient menu the size of a small van for their salads and their portion sizes are excellent.  It's a bit steep if you are going just for a salad but the taste is fantastic.

There's a ton more.  I'm sure some readers here would add in even more and I encourage any who have partaken downtown cuisine to jump in.

If you are looking for something to do Saturday Morning (or early afternoon if you aren't going to the Lancers vs. Stars USHL game), going to the Durham Museum is a must see.  It's nicely located near or just adjacent to the Old Market and it's pretty decently priced.  You can also go to the zoo.  Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is the best zoo in the world as far as I'm concerned.  I think it's ranked #1 or #2 among Zoos in the US.

The forecast is calling for 30s to 40s and a good chance of rain and snow.  So pack accordingly.

Friday Night's Game:

This will be a typical affair being that it is in the CenturyLink (formerly the Qwest) Center.  If you are feeling generous, my coworker's brother owns a parking lot right across the street (literally) from the front entrance.  It is on 9th and Capitol.  Cost to park is $8 or so.  Most expensive I've ever seen it is $10.

Saturday's Game:

Honestly, if UND wasn't playing, I wouldn't go.  I dislike outdoor games.  Goon is right to think that he'll get a better look at the game watching it on TV.  The worst aspect of the game is that there is no such thing as a good seat in the house.  I've been to TD Ameritrade many times for football and it's the same deal.  You are far away.  The difference with hockey is that if you want elevation to look down at the ice you are going to get even further away.  Following the puck live will be tricky.  It is, however, a very nice facility with above average plastic seating (not good for bad backs but not the worst) and the typical horribly overpriced but decent food. 

I also expect for the conditions to be less than perfect.  You can tell me about how technically sound the outdoor rink structures are but in the end, hockey isn't meant to be played on a surface like a baseball field/football field like TD Ameritrade Park.  I expect the puck to bounce all over the place right away in the game.  I also expect a lot of falling players due to catching edges and ice imperfections.

As a fan, I also expect to be buried among people who are there for the event rather than any semblance of caring for the game.  Omaha is very much an event town.  Nevertheless, I'll go and see the boys fight hard.

I'm hoping for 3 points but a split isn't out of the question.  I also believe that the outdoor game will be VERY sloppy.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

UND Hockey: Making adjustments on the ice

An ice hockey referee signals a penalty for hi...
An ice hockey referee signals a penalty for high sticking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You don’t have to watch college hockey very long to realize that the college game is changing. Disappearing from the college game is the frequency in which you see the big bone crushing checks. Right or wrong, refs are punishing players for the big hits regardless if they are legal or not.
Post hit, if a player lies on the ice after being hit more times than not the ref will penalize the hittee.
Personally, I don’t like it, because hockey is meant to be a physical sport, it’s not ice ballet. Last time I checked, body checking has not been taken out of the NCAA Men’s Division I college hockey rule book.
I get why the refs are calling the game like this, they’re worried about player safety and concussions. The fact remains, hockey is a “physical” sport and injuries occur as a result of legal hits. Hockey is played at a very fast speed and each year the players get bigger, faster and stronger than they used to be, injuries going to be part of the game.
Traditionally, UND has been known for being a big physical team that punishes its opponents and racks up penalty minutes. When UND plays a physical game, they are a hard to play against.
Historically, UND has been known as a team that racks up impressive penalty minutes totals. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for UND to finish in the top 10 nationally for penalty minutes (most recently, 2007-08, 6th, 2009-10, 5th). From time-to-time, I have suggested to others that the UND hockey team should relish this and wear this as a badge of honor. However, those days have changed.
This season, North Dakota is currently sitting at 22nd nationally in penalty minutes and has only been assessed one five minute major penalty [face masking] during 2013. Breaking it down further, UND has only had four major penalties all season long.  
On the flip side of that equation, UND’s opponents have only garnered one five minute major penalty.
Looking at the numbers more closely, UND has only had three games were they surpassed the double figures in penalties. UND has 10 games where they had four or less minor penalties in a game.
So far this season, no UND hockey players had more than one five minute major.
This season’s version of the University of North Dakota Hockey team is not your traditional UND hockey team. This season’s version is not as physical as seasons past.
Andrew MacWilliam Eric Classen / UND Athletics
Andrew MacWilliam
Eric Classen / UND Athletics
That doesn’t mean there aren’t any physical players left. North Dakota Senior Defenseman and Captain Andrew MacWilliam is a physical defenseman that is known for his hard hits. In the past, MacWilliam has been penalized for hits that upon further video review were legitimate, and legal hits.
This season, during a game against Boston University, MacWilliam hit a Boston University freshman defenseman Ahti Oksanen with a good hard check. That player lay on the ice, and appeared to be injured, many in the stands were skeptical. MacWilliam was sent to the showers and assessed a five minute major penalty for contact-to-the-head, the senior defenseman’s night was over.
Miraculously, in what appeared to be a medical miracle, Oksanen was able to recover quickly, return to the ice, and score on the man advantage.
Incidentally, that was the last time that MacWilliam was given a five minute major this season.
 At the Wednesday’s media day, UND head coach Dave Hakstol was asked on whether a guy like Andrew MacWilliam had to change based on the way the officials call the game.
“Not only does he [MacWilliam] have to adjust his game to the true rules,” Hakstol said. “He’s had to change his game because of the embellishment and diving that goes on, that makes the game so difficult to referee.”
The head coach expanded on this subject further.
“It’s a huge problem but no one wants to address it,’ Hakstol said. “Teams are being rewarded for embellishment and diving and that’s been the case for last several years, and it’s getting worse. Until we want to address it as a body of coaches on a consolidated basis as leagues it will get worse.”
In today’s Grand Forks Herald, UND beat writer Brad Schlossman interviewed the head of the officials of the WCHA Greg Shepherd and this is what he had to say on the matter.
“It’s tough, it really is,” Shepherd said. “Knock on wood, I think it’s more of a problem out East than it is in the WCHA. We have a few people that do. I’d be a liar if I said we didn’t. The refs, in their minds, know who the culprits are. I don’t think everyone does it every time they get hit or touched, but there are certain times people try to take advantage of it.
“I’ve talked to coaches in the league. We talk quite a bit and embellishment and diving always comes up. They want us to keep our (refs) in tune and watch for it.” 
 My question to Greg Shepherd would be, if you know who the culprits are, why not punish the offending players that are embellishing calls instead of the players that are receiving penalties for what in many cases are legitimate legal checks.  
But I digress.
Instead of continuing the march to the penalty box, MacWilliam has made the adjustments to his game, because he is more valuable to his team on the ice than he is sitting in the penalty box.
“We need to have Andrew on the ice,” Hakstol said. “He’s one of our top penalty killers; you don’t want him sitting in the box when we’re killing a penalty.  Obviously he’s a real solid defenseman back there for us. We rely on him, so we want him to be on the ice. He’s gone about it very intelligently and I think he’s still has that physical presence on the ice and he picks his spots. He’s done a good job adjusting without taking away that side that effectiveness of his game.”
Recently, coach Hakstol told a UND booster’s luncheon that his team needed to play with more grit and be more physical. Obviously, this season’s team is not physical as teams past but there is still an expectation that they will continue to play a tenacious hard hitting style of hockey game. That being said, not every team is going to be the same. The game has changed and so has the UND hockey team. Coach Hakstol reiterated that point at Wednesday’s press conference.
“The makeup of every team is different,” Hakstol said. “We’re not big and tough upfront. We’ve got a few physical players, that means everyone by committee has to bring a little sand paper on the team. I think the same is true on the back end; we have a lot of guys that move the puck well. But we don’t have four guys that are 6’3”, 6’4” 220. So everyone back there has to play with a mentality.  That’s something that our team is growing into. But we’re not going to become a team that physically drives people out of the building. “We’re got to be a team that’s based on tenacity.”
Going forward, I don’t think that we will see UND play much differently than they are right now. I do expect that they will become a little more physical, but they will probably pick their spots.

Cross Posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine...
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MidcoSN to broadcast outdoor game at UNO

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Midco Sports Network (MidcoSN) announced today that it will broadcast the University of North Dakota's outdoor hockey game at Nebraska Omaha on Saturday, Feb. 9, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the site of the College World Series.

The game will air live on MidcoSN at 4 p.m. Central and is part of a doubleheader billed as the Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice that will also feature a United States Hockey League (USHL) game between the Omaha Lancers and Lincoln Stars.

MidcoSN is picking up the Cox Communications production of the game, with veteran hockey broadcaster Gary Sharp handling play-by-play duties.

UND's Friday, Feb. 8 game at UNO will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network, with Dan Parkhurst and former National Hockey League player Ken Hodge calling the action. The puck drops on Friday at 7:37 p.m. Central.

MidcoSN is avaialble on channels 27 and 622 in the Grand Forks viewing area. Consult your local listings for additional information.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Final round is here for the Great Sioux Jersey Ever


Introducing the final round of the Greatest Sioux Jersey Ever Tourney. The Sioux Jersey blog is now taking votes for the championship round at the Sioux-Jersey blog. [Click to vote]



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Mitch MacMillan on Roe comments



This is what North Dakota forward Mitch MacMillan had to say on Garrett Roe’s tweet from last year.

“I don’t know, some guys supported me,” MacMillan said. “And some guys … I mean, I didn’t even… that’s was the first time I’ve heard of Garrett Roe saying anything. I don’t know, but each person has their own opinion. I did what I had to do for me, to further my hockey career, whether they didn’t like that or not that’s their own thing to deal with.”

Garrett Roe's comments were directed at Mitch MacMillan after he transferred to UND during the Christmas break of last season.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Home of UND Hockey; REA removes signage



As we found out yesterday, workers began removing “Home of the Fighting Sioux” from the sides of Ralph Englestad Arena. In its place it will not read “Home of North Dakota Hockey”…
Removal of the outside signage will take most of this week, according to REA spokesman Chris Semrau. It will be replaced by “Home of North Dakota Hockey” in late November when the new letters and signage are ready, he said. [Grand Forks Herald]

Paul Ladue scores shootout winner against Fargo Force



Here is a UND recruit update. In USHL action on October 19th, 2012 the Lincoln Stars played the Fargo Force at Lincoln Icebox Arena.

Future UND defenseman Paul Ladue scored the game winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Lincoln Stars the win over the Fargo Force 4-3. Through six games this season the former Grand Forks Central star Ladue has (0g-a6—6pts) and is a +8.
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Thursday, October 04, 2012

Clarke Saunders Interview

Here is the unedited interview that I had with Junior goalie Clarke Saunders to at the UND Hockey Media day. I thought the fans would love to hear the whole unedited interview.
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Thursday, September 20, 2012

UPDATED - UND Hockey TV options.

DirecTV
DirecTV (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have been looking at the UND hockey schedule and plugging in the TV schedule - as we go along we can plug in the dates... Reading Brad Schlossman’s blog we know that for the 2012-13 hockey season, “UND games WILL be on Fox College Sports and DirecTV again this season.”

EDIT: Both games of the DU and UND games in Denver on the 22nd and 23rd of February will be on Fox College Sports. 

Tentative 2012-13 UND Hockey TV Schedule

October

Oct. 6 -- MANITOBA (exh) – FCS /Midco
Oct. 12 -- U.S. UNDER-18 (exh) – FCS /Midco
Oct. 19 -- vs. Anchorage 8:05
Oct. 20 -- at Fairbanks 10:05
Oct. 26 -- ANCHORAGE 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Oct. 27 -- ANCHORAGE 7:07 – FCS /Midco

November

Nov. 2 -- BOSTON UNIV. 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Nov. 3 -- BOSTON UNIV. 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Nov. 9 -- at St. Cloud, 7:37
Nov. 10 -- at St. Cloud, 7:07
Nov. 16 -- DULUTH 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Nov. 17 -- DULUTH 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Nov. 23 -- at Notre Dame 6:35
Nov. 24 -- at Notre Dame 4:05
Nov. 30 -- at Colorado Coll. 8:37

December

Dec. 1 -- at Colorado Coll. 8:07
Dec. 7 -- DENVER 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Dec. 8 -- DENVER 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Dec. 14 -- at Mich. Tech 6:07
Dec. 15 -- at Mich. Tech 6:07

January

Jan. 4 -- HOLY CROSS 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Jan. 5 -- HOLY CROSS 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Jan. 11 -- COLORADO COLL. 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Jan. 12 -- COLORADO COLL. 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Jan. 18 -- at Minnesota – FSN
Jan. 19 -- at Minnesota – FSN
Jan. 25 -- ST. CLOUD 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Jan. 26 -- ST. CLOUD 7:07 – FCS /Midco

February

Feb. 1 -- WISCONSIN 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Feb. 2 -- WISCONSIN 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Feb. 8 -- at Omaha 7:37 – NBCSN
Feb. 9 -- at Omaha (outdoor) 4:07
Feb. 22 -- at Denver 8:37 – NBCSN/FCS
Feb. 23 -- at Denver 8:07 – Root Sports/FCS

March

Mar. 1 -- BEMIDJI ST. 7:37 – FCS /Midco
Mar. 2 -- BEMIDJI ST. 7:07 – FCS /Midco
Mar. 8 -- at Mankato
Mar. 9 -- at Mankato
Mar. 15-17 -- WCHA first round – FCS /Midco*
Mar. 21-23 -- WCHA Final Five – FSN
Mar. 29-31 -- NCAA regionals (Providence, R.I., Manchester, N.H., Toledo, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Mich.)
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