UND vs. C.C. Game Two

North Dakota Forward Lines 
9 Drake Caggiula (A)–8 Nick Schmaltz–16 Brock Boeser
29 Bryn Chyzyk–27 Luke Johnson–14 Austin Poganski
19 Shane Gersich–10 Johnny Simonson–18 Chris Wilkie
26 Coltyn Sanderson–22 Rhett Gardner–25 Joel Janatuinen

North Dakota Defense Pairings

20 Gage Ausmus (C)–2 Troy Stecher (A)

28 Hayden Shaw–6 Paul LaDue (A)
24 Christian Wolanin–4 Keaton Thompson

North Dakota Goalies

30 Matt Hrynkiw
35 Ryan Anderson

(UND Stats)

Colorado College Forward Lines
14 Trey Bradley–9 Sam Rothstein–13 Cody Bradley
18 Hunter Fejes–8 Luc Gerdes–28 Alex Roos
2 Trevor Gooch–10 Tanner Ockey–15 Mason Bergh
22 Peter Maric–11 Christian Heil–23 Matt Hansen

Colorado College Defense Pairings

16 Teemu Kivihalme–20 David Radke
5 Cole McCaskill–27 Ben Israel
39 Andrew Farny–36 Jake Emilio

Colorado College Goalies

33 Tyler Marble
31 Jacob Nehama
30 Derek Shatzer

(C.C. Stats)

Tigers Struggling

It’s well documented, in present times; the Colorado College Tigers have struggled mightily. The Tigers record under head coach Mike Haviland is (6-32-3, .241). That being said, I don’t think that Haviland should be the fall guy for the Tigers struggles. The last two seasons under Scott Owens, the Tigers went 25-43-11 (.380). So, the current slide was already in motion long before Haviland took the reins.

Let’s break this down further. Since the 2013-14 season, the Tigers have a 13-56-9 (.224) record. Under anyone’s definition, that’s not very good hockey. The Tigers haven’t made the conference tournament championship game since the 2012-13 season, where the Tigers would lose in the championship game to the Wisconsin Badgers. The Tigers haven’t made the NCAA tourney since the 2010-11 season, where they lost 2-1 to the Michigan Wolverines in the championship game of the West Regional.

C.C. vs. UND, game 2 Lines

Traditional Circle of Sticks. UND Sweeps out C.C.

Sweep! The Traditional Circle of Sticks.

A photo posted by Eric J. Burton (@eric.burton.94801) on Jan 24, 2015 at 7:36pm PST

That's two sweeps in two weekends of hockey. UND has now won five games in a row and is 8-2 in their last 10 games. UND improves to (18-5-2, 9-4-1 NCHC).

Man, we’ve got lots of brooms! #ChelseaChelseaWeBelieve #Sweep #collegehockey pic.twitter.com/VPfEeXDEDf
— Stay A Sioux (@StayaSioux) January 25, 2015

UND 2 C.C. 1 (UND goals)

The University of North Dakota improved to 17-5-2 with the 2-1 win against the Colorado College Tigers on Friday night.

Last night, UND also scored its nation-leading 9th shorthanded goal of the year. Four players have two shorthanded goals. Also, four of those shorthanded goals have been game-winning goals.

NDK 1 - 1 6x6 Mark MacMillan (12) (Michael Parks/16, Andrew Panzarella/3) 16:23
NDK 2 - 1 5x6 SH GW LL Michael Parks (9) (unassisted)

UND vs. C.C. Game One - with Links

Looks like the same lineup as last weekend. Tonight, Johnny Simonson sits along with Trevor Olson, and Colton St. Clair who are still recovering from illness and injury.

UND Will be Ready for Tigers: As I mentioned in my series preview, this series has all of the makings of being... http://t.co/13759Qbxsz
— Eric J. Burton THW (@goon48) January 23, 2015

UND Looks to Scratch out Wins against the Tigers - http://t.co/L9o4ayQ61L #hockey #THW pic.twitter.com/15LL3wGUdG
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) January 22, 2015

Here're the live games @MidcoSN is airing this week. Looking forward to @UNDWBasketball tonight! pic.twitter.com/rPAZ9w6GdE
— Midcontinent (@Midcontinent) January 22, 2015

UND Hockey: Is Another Outdoor Game in the Future? http://t.co/FTcb0qNO91
— Eric J. Burton THW (@goon48) January 22, 2015

Friday Afternoon Links

The weather makes it seem as if it’s March outside. Actually, there’s less than two months till the Frozen Faceoff at the Target Center. The year is clicking along and soon the playoffs will be here.

Here are a few links to get you ready for game time.

UND Will be Ready for Tigers

UND Looks to Scratch out Wins against the Tigers

Friday Gameday: It's Time to Stretch

CC hockey gets another crack at No. 2 North Dakota

UND MEN’S HOCKEY: A special teams focus

Friday's game between UND and C.C. at 7:07 PM CT

Our @CBSSportsNet schedule resumes this Friday w/ #2 @UNDmhockey hosting @CC_Hockey1 at 8pm ET at @TheREA #NCHCHockey pic.twitter.com/SsFFLF7pxH
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) January 20, 2015

For those that haven't looked at the schedule, that UND's game on Friday is at 7:07 PM CT.

UND the Second Half Team

UND is known for being a second half team. Will there be a second half run again this season? UND is currently in a six-game winning streak and hasn't won six games in a row during the regular season since the 2009-10 season when UND won seven games in a row. UND also won 11 games during the 2010-11 season (counting the playoffs and the regular season).

 

Year 9Before Xmas After Xmas

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) 12-7-4 (.609)
2013-14 9-7-2 (.555) 1-0-0 (1.00)

TOTAL 99-69-17 (.581) 145-56-22 (.698)

UND Hockey: The Weekend Ahead (01/10 – 1/11)

This weekend, the University of North Dakota entertains the Colorado College Tigers in an important two-game conference series at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. Last weekend, UND played two exhibition games in Burnaby, B.C., where they split (2-3 L, 4-3 W). This is the first series for the University of North Dakota in 2014.

Matchup: North Dakota (9-7-2, 5-5-0 NCHC) versus Colorado College (3-13-3, 2-5-3 NCHC).
Date: January 10-11, 2014.

Time: 7:38 p.m. Central Friday / Saturday 7:07 p.m. Central

Radio: UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM)  The Fox

Webcast: undsports.com (UND Insider)

TV:  Friday: CBS Sports Network (221 DirecTV) Saturday: Midco Sports Network

All-Time Series History

Record: All time, UND leads 139-79-10 (.632). In Grand Forks, ND, UND leads the series 83-20-6 (.789). Against the Tigers in Colorado Springs, CO UND trails 48-57-4 (.459). At Neutral sites UND leads the series 8-2-0 (.800). Under Hakstol UND leads the series 16-12-1 (.569 ) Last 10 games UND leads 6-4-0 (.600). Last season, UND went 1-2 against the Tigers, losing in the quarterfinals to C.C. 3-4.

Players to watch

North Dakota: Forwards: Rocco Grimaldi (6g-11—17pts), Drake Caggiula (5g-6a—11pts), Luke Johnson (4g-7a—11pts), Michael Parks (3g-8a—11pts), Stephane Pattyn (3g-4a—7pts), Connor Gaarder (2g-4a—6pts). Defense:  Dillon Simpson (3g-7a—10pts), Jordan Schmaltz (2g-8a—10pts), Paul Ladue (3g-5a—8pts), Nick Mattson (1g-5a—6pts), Troy Stecher (1g-5a—6pts),  Goaltenders: Clarke Saunders 2-2-0, GAA 3.60 and .900 save percentage, Zane Gothberg 7-5-2, 2.36 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Colorado College: Forwards Alexander Krushelnyski (4g-7a—11pts), Sam Rothstein (4g-4a—8pts), Alex Roos (4g-4a—8pts), Jeff Collett (3g-4a—7pts). Defense: Jacob Slavin (1g-8a—9pts), Gustov Olofsson (2g-2a—4pts), Eamonn McDermott (0g-2a—2pts). Goaltender: Josh Thorimbert 2-13-3, 3.08 GAA, .899 save percentage.

Who’s Hot for UND

UND forward Rocco Grimaldi has five-game points streak (2g-3a—5pts). In the last four games, UND forward Luke Johnson has scored (1g-3a—4pts). In the last four games, UND defenseman Jordan Schmaltz has (0g-6a—6pts). In the last four weekend series, UND forward Connor Gaarder has at least a point each weekend (2g-3a—5pts). In the last four weekend series, forward Stephane Pattyn has a least a point in each weekend (2g-2a—4pts).

Second Half Team

Year Before Xmas After Xmas
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) 12-7-4 (.609)
2013-14 9-7-2 (.555) —
Totals 98-69-17 (.579) 144-56-22 (.698)

UND Official Web Page.
Colorado College Tigers Official Web Page.

UND Hockey: Paisley Nails it.

Joe Paisley from the Colorado Springs Gazette has an interesting post in his blog this week. Check it out.  Stay tuned for our previously scheduled meltdown.

1. North Dakota's decline unfounded

If it's the holidays, it must be time for concerned North Dakota fans to air their angst on message broads and article comments through the upper Midwest. The red flags are waving a bit with North Dakota (9-7-2, 5-5 NCHC) entering this league series unranked and coming off a 1-1 weekend after two road exhibition games.

"They are really exaggerated," said CBS Sports Network analyst Dave Starman, who has worked several UND games this season. "The injury factor to (senior forward Mark) MacMillan and (junior Brendan) O'Donnell is a big deal and the fact that they have so many freshman defensemen. It took a while for those guys to assimilate to college hockey and learning what playing college hockey in North Dakota is all about."

Final Five schedule

Last night, Midco had the schedule when UND plays their first game wrong. Here is the right schedule. UND has a 2-2 record against C.C. this season.

2013 Red Baron WCHA Final Five - Xcel Energy Center - Saint Paul, MN

Games for Thursday, March 21: Quarterfinal – No. 5 Minnesota State vs No. 4 Wisconsin, 2:07 pm CT; Quarterfinal – No. 6 Colorado College vs No. 3 North Dakota, 7:07 pm CT.

Games for Friday, March 22: Semifinal – Minnesota State/Wisconsin vs No. 1 St. Cloud State, 2:07 pm CT; Semifinal – Colorado College/North Dakota vs No. 2 Minnesota, 7:07 pm CT.

Games for Saturday, March 23: Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game, 7:07 pm CT

UND 5 C.C. 3 game highlights

Here are the highlights of UND's win against the C.C. Tigers. It was awesome to see Dan "Jimmer" Senkbeil gets his first goal of his college career as UND gained the split with a 5-3 win. Jim was given the hard hat award for scoring the game winning goal.

It was nice to see Mitch MacMillan get his first goal since Feb. 11, 2011. I find it amusing that the there are some Huskies fans that are trying to down play MacMillan's talent and abilities. Mitch wouldn't be playing on the top line if he didn't deserve to be there.