With Canada’s early exit from the World Juniors, the big realization could be coming in that maybe Canada– as a hockey nation– is just okay now.
Photo: Matt Zambonin/International Ice Hockey Federation
Now– it’s hard to pin the hockey state of the nation on kids who are between 17 and 20 years old, but it details a bigger story in that other countries have been catching up to Canada on hockey, as well as Canada not developing the constant run of talent they’ve been known to do. Sure, prospects like Connor Bedard, and Macklin Celebrini are out there– but they are starting to become the exception and not the rule anymore. The stream of talent that Hockey Canada has been pumping out isn’t at the same pace as it was in the years past. You can call it the ebbs and flows of prospects or what-have-you, but it is hard to escape from the look at NHL rosters and the diversity of nations on those line-up cards and in the scoring race.
TheScore’s writing staff gave their projected rosters for Canada at the NHL’s farce of a Four Nations Cup for 2025. One of the big things for their rosters is the age of their rosters and, outside of the usual suspects of Connor McDavid and Bedard; there’s not a jump-off-the-page roster anymore that looks like world beaters…or beaters of three other nations. There’s a decent amount of older players in the mix, questionable defense beyond the first pairing, iffy goaltending depths, and plenty of Zach Hyman.
But that’s okay for hockey as a whole, regardless of what the maple leaf loving fans up north want to believe. Competitive balance is a good thing when it comes to international hockey. Countries like Czechia and Slovakia producing great talent and being competitive is good. The US pumping out solid talent in college, juniors, and the NHL is wonderful for growth of the game in North America. Sweden and Finland will have their ups and downs, but be consistent. But all the countries do have a better shot the more they’re represented and the more they make the move to the NHL for the grand audience to see.
Yet, it’s okay for Canada to allow this to happen and not be a gatekeeper of the sport. Everyone is going to know that Canada is the country of origin for hockey in North America and there’s still more Canadians in the NHL than any other country. So it’s fine to take a step back and see what other countries are doing to see what needs to be improved on in development.
Now, does there need to be a summit from Hockey Canada about this loss?? There shouldn’t be, but I’m sure there will be. But it should be to address the decline in registered players from 2014-15 until 2021-22. A simple answer is that the cost of everything from gear to ice time to association fee is outrageous (which isn’t just exclusive to hockey), but is there a way to ease the burden on families so their kids can play, even at a house level, without breaking the bank??
It has nothing to do with the kids on the ice. It has everything to do with what’s happening off of it.
What the Minot State Beavers did this weekend was subjectively pretty damn cool, as they took on Colorado College and University of Denver this past weekend in two exhibition match-ups. Minot State is currently the #1 team in D1 ACHA (non-varsity) hockey; while Colorado College is #20 and Denver is #5 in D1 NCAA (varsity) hockey. Minot State dropped both games– 7-1 to Colorado College and 9-3 to Denver– but for them to go out there and see how they stacked up against the top teams in the nation on the NCAA side is a good litmus test for them.
Denver is no stranger to ACHA teams, as this was their third straight year playing against a team in an exhibition. Denver beat UNLV last year 10-0 and Lindenwood, a year before they made the jump to NCAA, 9-1 to start their 2021-22 campaign. This was Colorado College’s first time against an ACHA team. This season alone, Arizona State took on Arizona and Ferris State took on Grand Valley State, with Arizona State (16-0) and Ferris State (9-0) defeating their ACHA counterparts.
Arizona State is well-versed in ACHA hockey, as they are one of the three teams recently who made the jump from ACHA to NCAA. Penn State and Lindenwood were the others who have gotten school support to move up to a varsity sport since 2012.
Non-varsity hockey is college hockey in its fullest form, but there’s also the obvious gaps that remain when it comes to NCAA and ACHA schools. Mainly, the money and support of the school are the main factors and the cause of the effect that they can’t get the top ranked players the NCAA schools can get with scholarships and such.
That’s not to say the talent, passion, or intensity isn’t there. There are plenty of skilled players in the ACHA ranks, they just went to a school that didn’t have varsity hockey. They can still be found throughout the ranks of the ACHA, but because they aren’t getting full school support; they won’t get the pick of the litter that NCAA schools have. For the passion and intensity, the ACHA players may have more than their NCAA counterpart as they may not have a competitive hockey career after their college days are done, so they are playing to the fullest every game they are out there. Not to mention the fan bases are as intense at some schools as they are in the NCAA with how vocal and supportive they are of their squads.
The ACHA casts a further net for college hockey than the NCAA with 72 teams having Division 1 status in the ACHA to the NCAA’s 64. Not only that, but the ACHA has teams spanning to the Western US, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern US more than the NCAA has done; though the NCAA has been trying hard to expand their footprint to those areas. On the lower end side, the ACHA has almost 200 teams in Division 2 and close to 150 in Division 3. On the women’s side, they are lacking a little with only 31 in Division 1 to the NCAA’s 43. There are also 67 Division 2 women’s programs in the ACHA.
At the end of the day, maybe the results of these games for Minot State were obvious to some. While notching four goals in two games while giving up 16 doesn’t seem that great, it has been more than other ACHA teams have gotten against NCAA squads in the past three years. It was a big step for non-varsity hockey and maybe it will get some people to look local to see what schools around them have a team and maybe get out to support college hockey to the teams and players who need the support just a little bit more than varsity teams they go up against.
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the Shane Pinto 41-game suspension for activities related to gambling, but not on hockey, that was levied Thursday by the NHL and there’s still a lot to tackle in all of this. The obvious gimmick is to blame the onslaught of betting sites that are popping up as more and more states legalize the once taboo world of sports betting. Hell, Ottawa’s helmet sponsor is one of those betting companies.
Photo: Scott Wasilewski/ FOHS Media Faction
But, like I mentioned, this is no longer a taboo thing anymore. Sports betting is mainstream, if you hadn’t noticed at every turn of a sporting event. It’s more annoying than anything when you’re inundated with the ads at every turn– both in the game and in commercials. Someone questioned how it’s any different than being inundated with alcohol ads and there’s a point to be made– but also because alcohol hasn’t been taboo in the mainstream since the prohibition era back in the 1920s and 1930s.
While Pinto is the first modern player in the NHL to be busted, it has happened before in the 1940s with incidents in Maple Leaf Gardens with Babe Pratt, Don Gallinger, and Billy Taylor all being caught.
Yet, the head scratching part is with all the information at our finger-tips and all the “sources” that are around, nothing about the specifics of the gambling has been made public. The NHL has said players can bet on games that aren’t hockey and the NHL said this has nothing to do with Pinto betting on games– so then what the hell happened??
Is Shane running a website called Pinto’s Picks where he’s giving inside information about injuries or lifestyle happenings of his teammates and friends across the league?? Did he give money for someone else to bet under an assumed name?? Those would almost entail more than just half a season for a suspension.
Considering there’s going to be no appeal on the matter and the NHL closed the case, it’ll be hard-pressed now to find out the how and why. In the cycle of 24-hour news, it’ll be soon forgotten to the ethos until Pinto is eligible for return and signs a contract– which will bring a whole lot of “Betting on Himself” headlines when he finally does.
Could this be the tip of the iceberg for the NHL when it comes to gambling cases?? We had some of the Evander Kane fiasco lean that away a few years back with no solid findings, but with the increasing availability to being able to place a bet, which young kid coming up looking for a big score will slip up and really have the book thrown at them??
It’s easy to say, “Just take betting companies out of hockey,” but the action itself isn’t as easy nor should it be an option. As annoying as these gambling sites are, they have the money and they have reach. Things the NHL wants to possess, so it’s not going away until it burns itself out. All it means it the NHL needs to have a tighter security monitoring the players and their habits, akin to big brother, so that there’s not a huge scandal that’ll give the NHL the wrong kind of attention they’re after.
It’s hard to tell where the motivation went. Since I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, I’m sure there’s been plenty of ebbs and flows, but not a drop-off like I’ve experienced recently.
There was a time where I used to write a lot– much more frequently than a post every year that isn’t a game report that isn’t directed to a niche market of people. Of course, that was also a time where social media and blogs and everything else was in its infancy.
Then the boom of blogs and podcasts started and plenty of people found their niche and have had success. But the problem with that when it comes to joining a community is that when you don’t join one or join one that you don’t feel like you’re a good fit due to some differences of ideology; that motivation kind of stalls and you get into a writing block state.
Then life changes. Going from an overnight job where you have the time during the early mornings to get early reaction to stories and be one of the first to opine on something to working during the day where you can’t access posting sites and by the time you get to be able to post something– especially in the way things go in news cycles– the talking points you have had already been thoughts about by others and it feels pointless to it all.
And even thinking out of the box has its troubles. You think something will hit and then it doesn’t. So the discouragement internally gets to you and then you kind of wonder if writing was worth the time spent doing it. It’s one of those things where you could go through a whole process and put it up and it gets no traction while the dumbest stuff actually gets plenty of traction.
Then you write constantly and then when you’re ready to put something up, you step back and look and either leave it in the draft position or delete it entirely because you don’t think it’ll make any kind of sense or actually be good at all and now just rambling about things– kind of what this is right now.
But you change the method of writing. You go to a single team (or state, in my case) system on another site and go on about your business…but you fall into the same trap writing where the time isn’t there, the game reports are, by and large, the only content you put up (which, don’t get me wrong– a valuable asset for junior or club hockey for their exposure), and you feel there’s something missing; but you’re unsure how to get it back.
But then a move happens. Going from a place that kind of zapped your creativity in one aspect may spark something in the new location. Maybe in a place I’m comfortable with, that will trigger things and I’ll get back to where I was over a decade ago. Now, even I know it’s highly unlikely given the current climate of blogging and all of that– but a guy can dream.
It’s been a hard work/life balancing act in the job I’m in now to where I was when I was younger. There’s not a down time that consists of writing, only recovering from work. Like I said, all the takes have been taken and reiterating one point seems like a copy-cat idea when you’re hours late on a reaction. Then I stretch my podcasting chops and maybe that takes too much of your time from writing in order to put that medium first and you do it to moderate levels of success.
Now, I hit a crossroads. Not like that of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony or Cody Rhodes– but whether or not I can muster up enough motivation and sticktoitiveness to maybe get another wave going for myself and see where that goes. Or if work will be getting too much in the way again and that same stuck feeling will return and zap all the energy and self-confidence away.
Is this what a midlife crisis is?? I am 40, so it would only make sense. Guess there’s nothing else to do but wait-and-see at what becomes of this.
FARGO, ND– Day one of the NCAA West Regional began on Thursday in a very Minnesota-centric regional. St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, and Minnesota all took to the ice, with Canisius being the only outlier of the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. A thrilling first forty minutes of both games led to an all-Minnesota final with St. Cloud State and University of Minnesota heading to the West Regional Final on Saturday.
ST. CLOUD STATE (4) vs. MINNESOTA STATE (0): The weekend started with the Minnesota State Mavericks and the St. Cloud State Huskies. Off the start, Minnesota State was pressuring the cage of St. Cloud, but Jaxon Castor stood strong and was able to see through the traffic in front in order to keep his sheet clean through the first 20 minutes. On the other side, the Huskies didn’t get a shot until the middle of the frame was relatively quiet with their offense, only tallying four shots in the first 20 minutes.
“Their forcheck is the biggest part of the game and we felt that in the first,” Huskies forward Jack Peart mentioned. “Our breakouts got better as the game went on and that was a key to our success.”
Minnesota State continued to put the pressure on Castor, but he was locked into the moment. With a power play in the middle part of the frame, the Huskies finally came alive and opened the scoring from a Veeti Miettinen laser from the top of the right circle to open the scoring. While Ondrej Pavel and David Silye tried to get the offense going for the Mavericks, they couldn’t get anything behind Castor. Late in the frame, the Huskies would add to their lead with Jack Peart wiring a shot off the crossbar and in to give St. Cloud a two-goal lead after two periods of play.
In the third, it was a game of bad bounces against the Mavericks turning into a reversal of fortune for the Huskies. It started with a flurry from Minnesota State that had a puck approach the goal line, but never make it cross thanks to a clear off the line by the St. Cloud defense. That transitioned into a rush for the Huskies and ended with a Zach Okabe puck that looped over Keenan Rancier’s shoulder to make it 3-0. Moments later, Minnesota State pulled Rancier and tried to get some momentum going, but after a shot hitting both posts, St. Cloud iced the game with an empty netter from Grant Cruikshank to seal it 4-0. Castor made 34 saves in the shutout.
“We played Duluth, North Dakota, CC was playing for their lives,” Huskies head coach Brett Larson remarked post-game. “And there were two thoughts in my head. First, I hope this has battle tested us and sharpened us for a game we have to play. My worry was had we expended a lot of energy to do that. In that first period, Mankato took it to us. I was a little worried we had expended too much energy. But I think it went the other way, having to play for every inch on the ice helped us stick with it and not get frustrated.”
“We had momentum, but there’s a reason they keep score and it’s not by shots on goal,” Mavericks head coach Mike Hastings said post-game. “I thought we did a good job at staying after it without creating St. Cloud’s offense. Then they score a power play goal and I think they took momentum from there.”
MINNESOTA (9) VS. CANISIUS (2): History hasn’t been on the side of the #1 overall seed in recent trips to Fargo or North Dakota for that matter, with St. Cloud State being downed to AIC in 2019, as well as Minnesota losing to Holy Cross in Grand Forks in 2006. Hoping to remove those memories, the Gophers were able to get out to a quick start and were able to bring the pressure to Canisius. It paid off with Luke Mittelstadt putting the Gophers up first with a shot from the goal line that hit off the inside thigh of goalie Jacob Barczewski to make it 1-0. However, a power play for Canisius later would allow the Griffins to control the puck in their offensive zone and tie the game off a Daniel DiGrande one-timer just seconds after their power play expired to tie the game. Canisius showed little fear against the #1 team and were daring in their offensive zone entries. The game was tied at the first intermission.
Working off of their goal, Canisius looked to add to their total and would get the lead in the second frame. Nick Bowman’s skill and patience paid off with a deke between his defender’s legs and then placing the perfect shot off the inside post to beat Justen Close to make it 2-1 Griffins. The Gophers were looking for some answers and tried to press, but Barczewski was coming through clutch when facing the barrage of Gopher shots. Minnesota would break through with an Aaron Huglen wrist shot that beat Barczewski to the blocker side and tied the game. That goal energized the Gophers, as they continued to put the pressure on Canisius. With under two minutes left in the second, Minnesota would regain the lead when Connor Kurth outpowered his defender and fired a centering shot home to make it 3-2 Minnesota going into the second intermission.
To start the third, Stefano Bottini of Canisius received a five-and-game for contact to the head, giving the Gophers the opening to put it away. It started less than a minute into the major power play with Jimmy Snuggerud slapping home his 21st of the year for the 4-2 lead. Moments later, Brody Lamb ripped a shot under the arm of Barczewski to make it 5-2 with still half the power play to go. While Canisius killed off the rest of the power play, the damage was done.
“It was sort of just maintaining pressure,” mentioned Gophers forward Bryce Brodzinski of the extended power play. “With a five-minute major it’s a good point for us to get their defense tired. As long as we’re in the o-zone and not giving them a chance to change, it kind of got them tired for the rest of the game.”
After a disallowed goal when the puck didn’t cross the line, Minnesota was able to get it back and make it 6-2 with Brodzinski notching his 16th goal of the year at the halfway mark of the period. Gophers continued to pile it on with back-to-back goals from Mason Nevers on the power play and Brodzinski 22 seconds apart to make it 8-2. With under a minute remaining, Brodzinski finished his hat trick to make the final 9-2 for the Gophers.
“It was the closest 9-2 game I’ve ever seen,” said Gophers head coach Bob Motzko. “They had a 2-1 lead in the second and they were playing to their game plan. What I liked about us is that we stuck to our game plan and got pucks deep. And we had to grind tonight with how they were going to play. The only way we we going to do it was to grind. Then the power play got going, but it was a lot closer game than the score.”
After a Friday shutout by former UND verbal commit Cam Rowe and a blown three-goal lead defeat on Saturday, the Fighting Hawks are looking for answers as they fight for their tournament lives. Friday night was a game where North Dakota had all the chances in the world, but couldn’t find a way to bury them. Saturday night, the Hawks got on the board quickly and looked to have broken the defensive spell of Western Michigan– until their own defensive faults lead to a 7-6 loss and getting swept at home for the first time in the new calendar year.
One story on Friday was Cam Rowe’s play in net, as he looked solid between the pipes, stopping all UND threw at him and captured his second shutout of the season. Another story was Tyler Kleven taking a major penalty and game misconduct at the end of the second period, which resulted in a Jason Polin insurance goal for Western Michigan to secure the first win of the weekend. The Kleven penalty resulted in a suspension for himself and diminished an already depleted UND roster in the blue line.
Saturday started as a feel-good story with Grand Forks native and redshirt freshman Kaleb Johnson getting his first start for the Hawks. Johnson played well to start the game, while the Hawks were able to support him with a 5-2 lead through 43:15 of play. Then Luke Grainger came into the fold and took over, starting with his goal with 5:28 remaining in the second. Then Grainger had a hand in four of the last five Broncos goals, as they came all the way back to take the lead before an Ethan Frisch power play game-tying goal. Then Carter Berger scored with under three minutes left and UND snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Not only was this a blow to the Pairwise ranking for UND, but in the NCHC standings, as well. North Dakota is looking at a playoff series on the road if they can’t run the table in the remaining conference games. With how inconsistent the Hawks have been this season on both sides of the puck, it’s a big question mark to see whether or not this team can flip the switch as the stretch run goes onward.
“We know what we need to do,” UND captain Mark Senden said. “We talk about all the right things. We just have to go out there and execute.”
“We know our structure,” Frisch said. “We play it well most the game. Once we get on our heels, we don’t have confidence in ourselves. It creeps back in our game where we’re not being responsible. We’re not being mentally tough enough. It’s mental toughness and overall mentality of our group.”
So with a team that has a bit of mental toughness questions– how does this team not go into full panic mode??
“We got to keep guys positive, keep guys up on the bench,” mentioned Senden. “Whether some guy makes a blocked shot or makes a nice play; we got to cheer for those little things and make sure guys know those small details matter. We just have to believe in ourselves, have trust in ourselves that we’re all good hockey players here. We just got to go out and play to our abilities.”
“It all starts with leadership,” Frisch added. “We can be better. Everyone on the bench. Just positive talk and making sure we’re addressing the things we need to be addressed and not getting down on each other.”
Now, as the season winds down and their hope to get into the NCAA tournament starts to fade; it almost seems like it’s too late to go back to the drawing board. With Duluth coming into The Ralph this coming weekend; the mental toughness will be at the forefront and the panic button may be hovered over.
It’s the NHL All-Star Game season and the NHL is…something else. While the Miami Vice style that will go down in South Florida is sure to bring in merch sales, the selection of the all-stars is definitely a choice that’s been made.
Before going any further, this is my yearly reminder that the All-Star Game in any sport is an antiquated idea. In the age of cable/streaming/internet– the ASG is not needed for people to see the top players in the leagues. This weekend is one that many players would want to skip, which is why the NHL gives suspensions out to players who don’t go and are not proven to be injured at the time. I get that this is a key to the NHL marketing, but at the same time– you could hold a Comic-Con-esque event where the players just have to show up and sign autographs and flip the format to a Young Stars game so people can see a game and interact more with their favorite players– without the older star players making up an injury not to go and putting the younger generation on display.
Back to the matters at hand then– the NHL has selected 32 all-stars already, one from each team and now leave it up to the fans to vote-in the rest of the players. This is a format that is tried and true and has not backfired twice on the NHL which almost saw Rory Fitzpatrick get into the 2007 All Star Game and saw John Scott win All-Star MVP in 2016 in a feel-great moment for the league…that the league tried so hard to sabotage. Let’s not forget host fans stuffing the ballot boxes, too. Those instances, meme oriented or otherwise, shows that fans want a reason to watch the game that otherwise may not be given to them. There’s no incentive to the games, aside from giving millionaires more money and a vehicle to the MVP. Plus, as stated earlier– if the NHL has to strong-arm the players into going to the event; almost makes you think the players aren’t jazzed about playing shiny hockey when they could be at home resting with family.
Regardless of all that– who’s going to be the random folk-hero the internet gets behind to take the crown of “meh” All-Star. Looking at the rosters, the chosen players in the Atlantic and Metro divisions are all forwards– less the one goalie already picked; so defense is on the menu there. The Central has all three of their defense already picked out, with the Pacific only having one defenseman. Then, of course, you have four goalie roles to fill out. So, let’s go down the list of who I think should get in, fan vote or otherwise:
ATLANTIC: Filip Hronek, Detroit: The rebound Hronek has made defensively on the Red Wings is stellar. He’s on the path to a career year, he’s been stellar on the power play, and he’s a key part in this Detroit rebuild. Give him some open ice and he’ll shine out there for the winged wheel group.
METRO: Vitek Vanecek, New Jersey: The Seattle Kraken legend has gotten a boost in New Jersey this year. With 15 wins already, he’s helped the Devils go from lottery picks to playoff possibilities. It would only make sense to give the Devil his due as the back-up and create a Hudson River tandem in net.
CENTRAL: Jordan Kyrou, St. Louis: Leading the Blues in goals and points, it’s wild that he didn’t get the nod outright. He used last year’s postseason as a jumping off point and hasn’t slowed much since. Adding him to the other young stars on that Central squad and it’ll be a skills showcase in this one for them.
PACIFIC: Tyler Myers, Vancouver: A former Calder Trophy winner, Myers is still logging over 20 minutes a game for a Canucks team who has a major identity crisis going on. Not bad for a guy in his 14th season in the league. Only Quinn Hughes is logging more ice time on the blue line. Plus/minus is a meaningless stat, but only he and Luke Schenn are pluses on the Canucks defense. Let the big man eat in South Florida.
There are some people out there who don’t understand the need for an exhibition game in the middle of the season. For the University of North Dakota, it could have been the best for them to end the 2022 portion of their season with an exhibition game against the United States U18 team. Not only did it end the 2022 portion of the season, but kicked off the second semester for the Fighting Hawks, who had a less than stellar first part of their season. Sitting at 7-8-4 and seventh in the eight-team NCHC, the Hawks are looking for a big push to be able to host their playoff series at home.
Enter the yearly event against the U18 team, who has brought plenty of pressure to past UND squads, including the U18s getting their first win against UND last season– a loss that sent UND on a four-game losing skid after. With almost a month off, this was a solid test for this team to shake some of the rust off and use it to maybe get some players going to start the second half of the season.
“It’s something when we build our schedule that we like to have,” associate head coach Dane Jackson mentioned post game. “The first half has been a grind. It’s nice to have them come back and try to find their way a little bit in this game. It’s important to build and get ready for Lindenwood.”
Jackson was filling in the head coaching spot, as Brad Berry was tending to a family matter. Jackson got plenty of help right out of the gate with Jake Schmaltz and Riese Gaber scoring 2:38 apart in the first part of the first period to get North Dakota out in front. The U18s scored late in the frame less than two minutes apart from Gabe Perreault and Will Smith to have the game tied at two.
In a game like this, the players seemed to enjoy the ability to take some risks or do things they may not try in regular season games while not taking a harsh penalty in the standings due to it.
“I like it. I thought personally, it was good for me,” said Louis Jamernik V after the game. “We’re kind of glad to have a game where if you make a mistake, it’s not going to cost us too much. Obviously, we want to do our best and try our hardest. But to have a game to play fast and knock the rust off is good.”
“It’s huge for us,” defenseman Cooper Moore remarked after the game. “They’re a really fast, really skilled team. They’re good on the rush and our tracks have been some of the best tracks we’ve had all year. I think we looked really good and fast and I think it’ll give us a little more confidence going into Lindenwood.”
Moore got UND the lead back in the second frame, taking a pass from Owen McLaughlin and snapping it over the shoulder of Michael Chambre. Late in the second period, the U18s tied it back up with Perreault’s second of the game with under two minutes in the second period. The third period saw each side get their chances in, but neither was able to hit the back of the net; although it looked as if the U18s had gotten the go-ahead goal late, but it was called back due to goaltender interference. In the overtime frame; Matteo Costantini got the winner after a Jamernik V pass to his wing, snapping it past Chambre’s glove to send the UND faithful home happy.
“Great play by Jammer to get the puck over to me,” Costantini said, “I just happened to have a lot of speed and caught their defenseman flat-footed. We’re going to take this as momentum going into next weekend.”
It’ll be a task for UND, as Lindenwood has pushed some of the upper echelon teams to the brink of a loss this season. Coupled with a former UND alum behind the bench in Rick Zombo, you have to think the Lions will be hungry for this match-up. Luckily for the Hawks, they won’t be caught getting back into it all thanks to this mid-season exhibition against the USA U18 squad.
GRAND FORKS, ND– Coming back on the tail-end of a home-and-home, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks looked to gather up a win after tying the Bemidji State Beavers in Bemidji the night before. With a battered and bruised roster, the Hawks brought any healthy body they could to the roster and found an extra gear and were able to pull out a 4-2 win in their last home game of the semester.
North Dakota was able to get pressure early and get pucks to the net, but Gavin Enright was able to hold the Hawks, even with pucks coming through traffic. Bemidji was able to counter with some odd-man rushes the other way, but Jakob Hellsten, in his second straight start, was able to hold off the attacks and keep the sheet clean. With plenty of zone time, North Dakota struck first with Tyler Kleven taking a skate around the zone before driving to the net. While Kleven’s attempt was stopped, Dylan James came in to clean up the garbage and put home his second of the year. A late power play from the Beavers had some chances created, but Hellsten shut them down to keep it 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Starting early in the second, the Hawks were bringing plenty of energy and having some solid looks at the net. It wasn’t until five minutes in when Riese Gaber found the puck at the side of the net and buried his 10th of the year and gave North Dakota the 2-0 lead. Moments later, coming down the wing, Louis Jamernik V let one rip from the dot under the arm of Enright to make it 3-0 and tally his first of the year, something he was struggling to find all season.
“The first guy I want to mention is Riese Gaber. Not only is he an unreal teammate, but a real good friend,” Jamernik V said post-game. “We had a good chat (Friday) night in Bemidji. I was getting down on myself. But he said it was all mindset. He gave me a lot of pointers on just reminding yourself ‘I’m gonna score, I’m gonna score’ and he was telling me all through the 1st and 2nd period. And as soon as it went in, I pointed right at him.”
It wasn’t all grand for North Dakota, as they did have a let down towards the mid-part of the third period, first with Kaden Pickering wiring home a shorthanded goal to the top corner, then Carter Jones being left alone in the slot to pick up the loose puck and make it a 3-2 game with two goals in 1:02.
“There were a couple of shifts that got away from us, but I thought for the most part our guys got close to a sixty minute game,” Brad Berry said post game. “The perfect game would have been in the third to roll through the lines and doing all the right things to preserve a 3-0 lead. Obviously, a little adversity, getting hit with a shorty and right after, another one. Had to call a timeout, the guys had to take a breath. I thought the guys did a good job of getting back to where we gave up those two goals.”
Judd Caulfield was able to chip one into the open net to make the final score 4-2, as the Hawks finished out their first half at home with a 4-4-1 record. They’ll be on the road the next two weekends with NCHC contests in St. Cloud and Western Michigan.
After playing seven games and being healthy scratched for 11 games– including the last five straight games, Shane Wright has been moved to the AHL for a conditioning stint with the Coachella Valley Setlist– errr– Firebirds. For me, this is reminding me of something that happened back in 2008.
Back when Steven Stamkos entered the league, then Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Barry Melrose didn’t play the former 1st overall pick because he felt Stamkos wasn’t ready for the NHL yet. This is after the Lightning had a “Seen Stamkos” campaign hyping up their young star in the making. In Melrose’s disastrous 16 games (5-7-4) in Tampa, he played Stamkos in all those games with Stamkos playing under 10 minutes five times in that stretch and with two goals and two assists.
It seems like Hakstol is feeling the same way about Wright that Melrose felt about Stamkos. The difference is that the Kraken have a decidedly better record (10-5-3) than what the Lightning did at the time, so not playing Wright seems like the correct decision since his absence isn’t something that has seemed to be a big factor. NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman said on the Jeff Marek Show that “Unless Hakstol was forced to play Wright more, he isn’t going to play very much in Seattle” and a move to the OHL could be looming.
Granted, this decision probably won’t sit well with Kraken fans, as they feel Wright is a big part of the team going forward. Hard to argue when you use the fifth overall pick to snag what many people believed would be the player going first overall in the draft. But, again, the record indicates he’s not needed as much because he’s direct involvement isn’t affecting too much of the result.
My biggest issue is what’s going to happen if he’s sent to the OHL and loses interest in that because he feels he’s outgrown it?? He was brought into the league with exceptional status granted. Even missing a year for COVID, he racked up 94 points in 63 games last season and his rookie OHL year he had 66 points in 58 games. There’s not much more for him to accomplish out there in major junior; unless it’s winning an OHL title and Memorial Cup. It’s hard to think that he needs to be there for improvement and he could even get disenchanted with the notion and regress a bit while then feeling vindictive against the Kraken for sending him down there.
Some people claim he might have an attitude problem due to him excelling at every level and thinking he’s owed things. Some people claim he’s just not NHL ready with his play and he needs to get stronger and have more ice time elsewhere before making the jump. It’s kind of a shame that the CHL has a deal with the NHL for players with junior eligibility, because Wright could very well excel in that climate against other prospects while also not taking two steps backwards by going back to juniors.
At the end of the day, Kraken fans are left wondering if they’ll ever see Shane at all the rest of the season.
Scotty Wazz 