Month: October 2018

Hurricanes Having Fun Shows Brian Burke is Don Cherry’s Heir Apparent

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The Carolina Hurricanes are having fun winning and showing that it’s okay to keep loose in the the beginning part of the season, which is especially good for a team with some much supposed turmoil over the summer. Whether it’s skating into the glass, sliding into canoes, or doing the floss dance— the Hurricanes are getting their team talked about for the right reasons.

Of course, with the fun they are having– it just makes the critics come out in force and unsurprisingly it’s coming from Canada– a place the only likes fun in hockey on their own terms. Sure– it’s not all the Canadian pundits, but the ones who hate on the celebrations are the ones who are the loudest about it.

Cue Brian Burke on Hockey Night in Canada

Now, listen– I don’t expect the older generation of hockey people to understand what this generation does– but to be worried about it catching on for some reason is beyond me. Burke is that hard-line old school guy who still believes the old rules are the best. That’s on him to change…but I doubt he won’t for his own persona.

If Burke has brought up the point for potential injury, which when you look at all those camera cords on the ice and guys sliding wrong/slamming into the glass wrong to mess up their body– it’s a miracle they hadn’t done that already. But if Burke brought up that point…maybe there’s a bit of merit to it. We’ve seen placekickers celebrate an extra-point and really tear up their knee.

All this really does for Burke is when Don Cherry doesn’t get renewed or goes away– Brian Burke will be the guy to make Ron MacLean go nuts.

That all said, for a market who has a solid amount of hardcore fans– the biggest issues is getting the casual fan. In an area that is now starting to get consumed in the end of NCAA football and the start of NCAA basketball, they need to do something to get some headlines and separate themselves from the rest of the crowd.

You could drone on about Sebastian Aho starting the season on a huge hot streak and breaking team records or how “outcast” Dougie Hamilton really finding his way with this team or how this team still has a lot of room to grow considering Victor Rask is out and Andrei Svechnikov is still getting accustomed to the NHL game. Those are things that are all well and good.

But for the casual fans looking for new entertainment, there’s nothing better than getting something viral or fun to catch their attention and make them spend their dollars with the Hurricanes. That’s why having fun is crucial on the business side of things. The playing side of things will come and if these guys keep having fun, wins will come because winning is fun. As much as they are a division rival to my Capitals, a team like this could become endearing to many, even the most bitter of rival team.

Everblades Trying to Make Yellow Ice a Good Thing at Hertz Arena

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Photo via @FL_Everblades

There’s helping out your arena’s title sponsor and then there’s what the Florida Everblades are doing this season. With the Germain Arena newly renamed Hertz Arena, the Everblades have made the ice a yellow tint for the season and most likely beyond that.

Of course, this sort of thing has happened before, but mostly as a one-off situation. Whether it be for Breast Cancer Awareness Night, St. Patrick’s Day, the NHL using the AHL as a testing ground for blue ice— there has been numerous times the ice has been colored…or that one time it was painted and looked like a meth’d out European rink.

Yet, the life of me, this is the first time I believe a team has done this for a full season. Granted, I’m sure teams have done it and if they have pop into the comment section to let me hear about it. The upside is that it’s not a bright yellow like the Predators uniforms. The yellow that is in the pictures just looks like the Hertz Arena needs a new lighting rig for the ice. When you look at the Hertz logo— it could have been much worse.

It’s not like the Everblades need an advantage at home, though. From 2014-15 until last year, the Everblades have registered 25, 23, 25, and 27 wins at the Hertz Arena, ranking among the top home records in the ECHL during that time– tied for second last year with Colorado just one win behind Toledo.

This team could be different for the Everblades, as Michael Kirkpatrick, Mitchell Heard, and Callum Booth are gone; but adding Justin Auger,  Kyle Platzer, and Jamie Phillips may need some time to adjust, but will probably fill-in just nicely as they get things going throughout the season.

There are not rave reviews after the start of the season. As I mentioned, many fans complained that the ice looked like it was dimly lit, but the players have a different take on it all, as Joe Cox told the Naples Daily News: “It definitely made the ice a little bit slushier, so the puck was definitely bouncing a little bit more, moving slow.”

Overall, this is good synergy for the Everblades and Hertz. On top of the ice, the warm-up jerseys for the Everblades is bright yellow with Hertz under the collar. This is a team that’s making sure they’re taking care of their sponsors and keeping them happy by getting their name out there. Every dollar counts in the minor leagues and if you have to go to extremes like tinting the ice yellow….well, it’ll at least give it that old-time hockey feel out there.

UND HOCKEY: Fighting Hawks Get First Win, Just In Time For Gopher Weekend

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GRAND FORKS, ND– After a disappointing showing on Friday, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks looked to come out of the weekend with a split against Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday. With some line-up shake-up that saw junior defenseman Andrew Peski become a scratch, Jackson Keane get the 19th skater role and Adam Scheel starting his second game of the season, which ended up being his first NCAA win, as the Fighting Hawks avenged Friday’s loss with a 4-3 win on Saturday.

It took to the middle of the first frame for UND to get on the board, with Grant Mismash getting his second of the season on the power play after Gabe Bast set him up for a one-timer off a crucial Nick Jones face-off win. Cole Smith got into the act 38 seconds later, ripping a wrister from the top of the circle, getting a tip from Mankato’s Riese Zmolek, and potting it over the shoulder of Dryden McKay to make it a quick 2-0 lead for the Hawks. After a Joel Janatuinen cross-checking call, Mankato struck on their own power play as Julian Napravnik got open down the far side, Max Coatta led a pass to him, and Napravnik put it glove side past Scheel to cut the UND lead to 2-1. After a Nick Jones slashing call, Max Coatta made short work of the power play, putting up his four goal of the weekend after getting a pass from Jared Spooner to tie the game up.

It was just under two minutes into the second when, on a delayed boarding call to Coatta; Smith drove to the net to create havoc on McKay and with Mark Senden hacking at it, Gabe Bast got a stick on it to put UND up 3-2. A minute after that, Ludvig Hoff got a breakaway and was hauled down to create a penalty shot, but was unable to convert on the one-on-one with the goalie. While Coatta got a tripping call late in the second frame, Mankato took advantage of a UND power play mishandle, as Marc Michaelis got a semi-breakaway and put it past Scheel with 00.4 left on the clock to end the period tied.

It took midway through the methodical third for UND to get the next goal, as Smith hustled on a dump-in, which Dryden McKay bobbled the puck behind the net and Smith got his second of the night to put UND up 4-3. Makato kept pressing, as they made some shifts late in the third look like they were on the power play.

“I tried to fake like I was going to his backhand side and went to his forehand side,” Cole Smith described of his winning goal after the game. “He’s had some iffy plays under pressure this whole weekend and he happened to just leave one there for me. It’s something we picked up on the whole weekend and I almost picked one off Friday. We knew we had to put pressure on the goalie.”

Try as they might, Mankato couldn’t get the equalizer, even with get some extra time on the clock at the end due to a quick whistle by the referees.

“Big relief. It’s one of those things where you try to do all the things and you finally get rewarded for it,” said Brad Berry postgame. “I thought our guys had a lot of resolve, especially after giving up the shorty at the end of the second and coming out in the third and checked tightly. It’s one step and we gotta keep moving.”

“That one was special,” defenseman Gabe Bast mentioned. “The past two weeks we’ve been working hard and the result haven’t gone our way. Tonight we stuck to the process and we got our bounces.”

“That was our demise last year, we couldn’t finish out games,” Bast continued. “This year we’ve been playing the right way and finishing that game was huge heading into Gopher weekend.”

And that’s where UND heads next, as the Fighting Hawks take on their blood rivals in the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the one-off US Hockey Hall of Fame game in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Minnesota played two exhibition games this past weekend, winning 7-1 in each, while they are 1-0-1 on the year after their first week’s set against Minnesota-Duluth.

UND HOCKEY: Despite Quick Offensive Start, UND Drops Weekend Opener to Mankato

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Photo via @UNDMHockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– After a disappointing first week of the season, the University of North Dakota looked to shake off their offensive woes to make the second week far better than the first. From the quick start, it looked like the offense finally was back. However, two goals in 29 seconds to start the second for Minnesota State-Mankato put UND in a hole they couldn’t come out of, with the final being Mankato winning 7-4.

UND got off to a quick start, as they go a power play nine seconds in and Collin Adams waited until the last part, as he had a puck dribble in on Mankato’s Dryden McKay after McKay seemed to misjudge where he post was and slid into his own net, allowing the puck to go in. Seconds later, Mankato tied it up after Marc Michaelis found fellow German Parker Tuomie at the side of the net to sneak it past Peter Thome near-side glove to tie the game. It wasn’t a minute later when UND took the lead back, as Zach Yon held the puck just enough to open up McKay on the glove side and make it 2-1 Fighting Hawks. Two goals in 2:44 for the Hawks matched their output from last weekend over 125 minutes.

It seemed like the tide was going to turn back Mankato’s way, as Rhett Gardner got a five minute major and game misconduct on a hit from behind. However, the UND penalty killers were solid, though they did allow a goal in the last minute of the power play to Max Coatta. Jared Spooner tapped a deflected shot to Coatta, who put it past Thome to tie the game, which is where the period would end.

“I thought we had a good start, but then we took a five minute major which took us out of the game and took one of our better players out of the game” lamented head coach Brad Berry. “That put us on our heels a little. It’s the start we wanted, but it’s not the finish we wanted.”

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Matt Kiersted/Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

Mankato came out firing in the second, as first Coatta let a shot fly from the top of the circle that fooled Peter Thome and went over his shoulder to make it 3-2. Seconds later, Tuomie added his second of the night with an off-wing shot that went over Thome’s left shoulder. Thome was pulled for Adam Scheel after letting in four goals on 10 shots. Though they let up some Mankato chances, UND kept Mankato off the board and got one of their own seven minutes into the frame, as Matt Kiersted got his first off the year with a wrister from the point that went over the shoulder of McKay. About a minute later, Mankato regained the two-goal lead, as Nick Rivera got a lovely cross-ice pass from Spooner and went five-hole on Scheel to make it 5-3. Mankato kept it going in the closing seconds of a UND PK, as Coatta struck again to finish the hat trick with a tip over the shoulder of Scheel from a hard-pass from Jaremko to make it 6-3. With 90 seconds left in the second, Ludvig Hoff got the Hawks to within two as he was left an open net after a Kiersted shot rang off the post, came to Hoff’s stick and put it in the yawning cage. UND outshot Mankato in the 2nd 17-7.

The third period was by the numbers. Mankato played very defensive, while North Dakota tried to push. However, despite traffic in front; UND couldn’t find that next goal. Even with an open net, McKay shut the door on the Fighting Hawks. In the end, Michaelis got an empty-netter with 1:06 remaining to seal the Game One win for Mankato.

“We’ve been working all week on offense and it worked,” said forward Jordan Kawaguchi. “It’s the d-zone odd-man rushes, that kind of killed up. We have to clean that up before we go on offense tomorrow night. Maybe we weren’t talking when we should have, so we have to clean that up tomorrow night.”

“I thought we took care of stuff offensively, but we have to bear down on the d-zone and work on the d-zone out,” said defenseman Matt Kiersted. “We pressed offense hard this week and I think a couple guys tried to create offense. But there were a couple pinches where they got around us. In the d-zone we’ve got to lock out the front of our net.”

“We haven’t won in three games now and I think it’s gut-check time,” mentioned Kawaguchi. “We’re four games in and we need to figure this out.”

North Dakota has the chance at the split Saturday night at The Ralph, where they hope both facets of their games come together to change the script a little bit.

The Best NHL is the First Two Weeks of Chaos

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We’re two weeks into the season, which next to the playoff run– could be the best part of the season. The wacky bullshit that goes on in the first month or so of the season is the best. Crazy stats, firewagon scores, improbable heroes– it’s the best time of the year to get overly emotional– rightly or wrongly– about what your team really is. There’s no lack of craziness this year, either.

First, let’s start with Keith Kinkaid, who is the really champions of goaltending right now. He’s 4-0-0 with two shutouts and has the New Jersey Devils at a still undefeated record….through four games. He’s making the most of his chances with the Devils, as he is building off his 26-win season from last year and really showing that Cory Schneider may have heavy competition and could even be expendable when he gets healthy again. While he may not lead the goalie stats for much longer, the story he’s creating for himself is one that the Devils faithful need to build off of last year’s turnaround with Taylor Hall at the front and center.

Staying in the East, the Ottawa Senators are above .500 after their purge this off-season and it’s confusing the hell out of me. Granted, I’m sure that’ll take a plunge with Brady Tkachuk’s injury; but still…this is a team who wasn’t expected to win three games in this month (maybe, I didn’t read previews) much less be at seven points after six games. Craig Anderson has already seen the most shots in the league (tied with Devan Dubnyk) through six games at 199, which probably won’t let up any time soon as the time goes on and teams wear down the already inexperienced defense. However, the return from Erik Karlsson was great, as Chris Tierney leads the team in points and Dylan DeMelo is leading the all-important plus/minus stat. Young guns like Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot, and Maxime LaJoie have grabbed the brass ring for the greater roles on the team, while Craig Anderson is playing great in October, as Craig Anderson is wont to do, as he has 42 wins in October over his career (currently second-best, but that’ll change once he gets through the months). Maybe the Sens can fool us all…..but maybe not.

Out West, Connor McDavid is good. In fact, if he can keep up the pace he has in factoring in every goal the Oilers have this season; he’ll have anywhere from 198 to 247 points this year based on the Oilers’ goal output over the last five years. This could happen, McDavid is that good and is able to make the best plays out there for his team– but it shows that maybe the Oilers need some support for their superstar. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl are pulling their weight, but it could be a very uphill climb for the Oilers if they keep packing things on McDavid’s shoulders. Granted, they have McDavid for seven more years after this one…but do you want to wear him out in year four of his career like this??

The one constant is the Arizona Coyotes. As the sun will set in the West, the Coyotes will have one of the most promising outlooks, but stumble out of the gates. They’ve scored four goals in five games and have been shutout three times this season. That’s not great, boss. Sure, they’re only giving up 2.2 goals a game, but that doesn’t help when you’re putting up 0.6 a game. It doesn’t help that Alex Galchenyuk is sidelined, but they have their goalie for the first month of the season, as Antti Raanta was solid when he came back from injury last year, but he couldn’t dig the Coyotes out of the doldrums at that point. It is a young team, sure– Clayton Keller and Dylan Strome will need time to work things out…but man, it’s hard to watch for a team that’s already been beaten down for as long as they have. You’d hope for some good for once.

This is just the scratching of the surface– you got the hot takes of Auston Matthews’ torrid pace, I think Sebastian Aho (and the rest of the Carolina Hurricanes) are getting slept on in the league, and even as a Caps fan– I’m tired of watching them play on NBCSN all the time.

This is just two weeks in. Let’s hope for more chaos as the season round out the first month of action.

UND HOCKEY: Split Weekend Tough for UND to Swallow

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Photo Courtesy UND Men’s Hockey Twitter

GRAND FORKS, ND– After a heart-breaking 2-1 lost in Bemidji, the University of North Dakota came back to the comfy confines of the Ralph Engelstad Arena for the back-end of the home-and-home against the Beavers. It was a different look for the Fighting Hawks, as freshman goalie Adam Scheel got the nod in net for his first career start.

“I thought it was exciting to wake up and find out I was playing,” said Scheel post-game. “This morning when I showed up to the rink and I found out after pre-game skate.”

However, the offense wasn’t able to muster up any goal support for the freshman, tying Bemidji State 1-1 and leaving a lot of questions to be answered for the North Dakota offense.

It didn’t look that way early, as UND struck first just 2:31 into the first with Grant Mismash picking up a rebound off a scramble in front over the reaching Zach Driscoll to put the Hawks up 1-0. Nick Jones and Gavin Hain had the helpers and were one of the more impressive lines in the first 20 minutes.

The second period was much more methodical in the play, with both teams not getting many quality chances, despite UND have two power plays in the period. It stayed that way until 16:46 in the third period, when Charlie Combs ripped a wrist-shot over the glove of Scheel to tie the game at one. It would stay that way at the end of regulation, with shots being 21-13 for UND over the sixty minutes.

North Dakota put the pedal to the metal in OT, with plenty of quality chances at the start of the period. However, Driscoll was equal to the task, shrugging off shot after shot. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, much to the dismay of the North Dakota players and fans.

“We got one point out of the weekend,” said coach Brad Berry, “And that’s not our expectations to come out of the weekend. Obviously we found out a little more information. We have to work on a few different things as far as our game.”

“When you take away both games, unacceptable, disappointing, we just can’t have that,” said senior Nick Jones when asked about the weekend games. “To come out with a loss and a tie, it’s…..embarrassing is the only word I’ve got.”

On the weekend, the Fighting Hawks were zero for eight on the power play and were only able to muster two goals total in six periods and overtime. Coupled with trouble mustering offense in their exhibition, there’s an aura of the offensive woes continuing in the short-term.

When asked about the offensive woes, Jones was quite blunt.: “It starts on the power play. The past two times I’ve been (in front of the media), I’ve been optimistic. Tonight, there’s nothing to be optimistic about. Couldn’t even get set-up. It was dreadful.”

“We didn’t start with the puck,” said Berry, “They won draws and they cleared the puck 90-95% of the time. You saw how tough it was to get the zone five-on-five, it was equally tough on the power play. Once we got in the zone, it was about trying to keep it simple and I think we didn’t do that.”

“The easy thing is to point fingers and go off in a different tangent and that’s not what do here,” continued Berry. “There’s a focus here. There’s a team and there’s a culture here. It’s early in the season, but that’s not excuse. We have a great leadership group and we have to get better in that area.”

Another non-conference weekend coming up next week with Minnesota State-Mankato coming into The Ralph for a Friday and Saturday set. Mankato is coming off two big wins against Boston University this past weekend and should be in the top-ten of the NCAA rankings by next week.

Here’s to the 19th Skater

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While reading around this week, I saw something that the wonderful and talented Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald put out regarding this year in NCAA men’s hockey. There’s a new rule in place which allows teams to dress an extra skater for games this season. Rather than the traditional 18 skater set-up, they’ll have one more skater for whatever they want.

Obviously, this will help if someone is a little banged up and may not make it the whole game, but it also provides some interest techniques that some teams will be able to utilize. In thinking of that, you have to wonder how close an eye the NHL will have on this situation. While they usually guinea pig the AHL for ideas to change the game, the NCAA could be the ones to show the NHL the way on roster spots.

Just imagine being able to suit up an older Alex Ovechkin and use him just for power play chances. No wasted energy, not an increased chance of getting hurt– just Ovi out there on his spot, setting up for a one-timer with the extra man. Think how long Yanic Perreault’s career could have been if he was just there to take crucial face-offs and then get off the ice. It would make the tactics a little bit more interesting for coaches because they may not have to choose between two guys when they can put them both in the line-up and not risk much of anything.

Granted, you could use that power for evil and the idea of the goon (not the old WWF gimmick) coming back because he’s not really taking a roster spot from someone and have him just out there to whale on someone. They really serve no purpose for the 19th skater, but it’s an intimidation factor that you know some coaches would use just to send a message– probably something the NHL doesn’t want to have happen.

That all being said, it would be a nice little insurance policy for a player who may be close to coming back from injury, but not all the way ready– this spot would allow them to ease back into the playing shape they may want to be in, while allowing for a full roster in case they’re not 100% ready.

Sure, for colleges it’s a way to get all some of their incoming freshman a chance to play and not be healthy scratches while also not completely destroying the chemistry of the lines already made up; but you can reason to believe that the NHLPA– should this process work out– will pitch this to the league in order to get more of their members suited up on a gameday roster.

It might be a little far-fetched, but with the NHL– it’s just crazy enough to work.

Though It’s Early, Dowd Adds to Caps’ Roster Redemption Stories

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Whatever the Washington Capitals pro scouts make, it’s probably not enough.

Yes, it’s a small sample size of three games, but the Caps have once again been able to pluck someone off a scrap-heap, clean them up, and make them into a potentially lethal role player into their line-up. First, it was Brett Connolly, then it was Devante Smith-Pelly, and now…it very well could be Nic Dowd for the 2018-19 season.

With the loss of Jay Beagle to free agency, the Caps were in need of a role player at center to help with the defensive side of things, as well as a penalty kill and all the other things that people who love intangibles and heart crave. Dowd, who played in both LA and Vancouver last year, has shown that he deserved that last roster spot, which is something that you can bet he’ll still be able to have once Travis Boyd comes back from injury.

The St. Cloud State product, who was picked in the 7th round, has fit into Todd Reirden’s system very well to start off with. Coming onto a team who is coming off a Stanley Cup victory means that the expectation to repeat is quite high, as well as the ability to not fall into a bit of a hangover after winning the franchise’s first title.

“Dowder’s a great guy, I’ve skated with him before,” recalls TJ Oshie after the Caps first game October 3rd, “I think he’s a guy who will appreciate what we did and I think he already feels welcomed. He respects with what we did. It was maybe a little awkward (to watch/take part in the banner raising ceremony), but I think he knows he’s part of this chemistry now.”

After scoring in his first game with the new team, goalie Braden Holtby acknowledged what a big deal it was for everyone saying,”I think that goal was big for him and it was great to see for us. He’s a phenomenal teammate and fits right in the mold of who we want here.”

While he won’t be the flashiest of players for the Caps, he’s going to be a guy who will do the small things that people will love and become the newest of folk-heroes for the local fanbase and people who enjoy a story like Dowd who comes from Huntsville, Alabama and rose through the ranks of the NAHL, USHL, NCAA, AHL, and now looks like he might have a full-time gig in the NHL. While it’s not a story like Connolly, who was a first round pick and didn’t go anywhere with his team; nor is it like Smith-Pelly who was written off by many teams prior to finding his spot– but his scrappy attitude to stay not only in the line-up, but up in the NHL– will endear him to many Caps fans.

That said, much praise should go to Brian MacLellan, Ross Mahoney, and the scouting staff for not only taking a chance on numerous players, but making sure they’re in a position to succeed in the process. They may be giving them barely-above league-minimum contracts, but at the same time– they’re using their money and roster spots very smartly to have a successful team as a while.

UND HOCKEY: Fighting Hawks Survive Exhibition, Beat Manitoba 3-2 in OT

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GRAND FORKS, ND– Hope springs eternal for another season of University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks hockey. After missing the NCAA Tournament last year, the Hawks are primed to get back in there and leave no doubt that they should be there. With seven incoming freshman, seven sophomores, seven juniors, and five seniors; the Hawks have a solid spread of classes. They would start their march back to the big tournament with a usual foe in the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The pace was dictated by North Dakota in the first period, though the 1-0 score after 20 minutes didn’t show it. Shots were 18-3 for UND, who were trying to get a lot of the first game jitters out of their system as quick as possible. Grant Mismash got UND on the board late in the first, putting home his own rebound after the initial shot was stopped by Manitoba’s Byron Spriggs. Mismash got a lovely centering feed by Collin Adams, as the Fighting Hawks were on the power play.

It took under four minutes in the second for UND to strike again, as Gavin Hain took the zone and found a wide-open Dixon Bowen streaking down the slot, who put it high-glove on Spriggs to make it 2-0. Not much else happened in the middle frame, as UND held Manitoba to no shots in the period at all. A tough task to get a read on goaltenders if you can’t get them to put more than three shots in 40 minutes of gameplay on them.

“You take the positives out of it,” said senior forward Nick Jones. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the puck on our stick as much as we did in this game. You just got to bear down a little more in practice. You see with Grant Mismash, he had seven or eight elite scoring chances and scored one goal. The goalie played well. I’d rather create 10 chances in a game to score one than create two chances in a game to score two.”

While most of the third seemed like clean-up duty, Manitoba cut the lead to one when Thomas Lenchyshyn put home the rebound that Ryan Anderson kicked out to his stick blade to make it 2-1. Two minutes later, Manitoba captain Jonah Wasylak put one five-hole on Anderson after a lovely feed from Devon Skoleski to tie the game with 4:32 remaining. In what should have a been a good tune-up turned into a full fight, as this game went to overtime.

“I felt so bad for (Anderson),” captain Colton Poolman said. “He’s such a competitor in practice. It was so unlucky for him to get those breakaways. It’s so hard for him, because he’s coming in stiff and cold. He hasn’t played for 50 minutes or something. I feel bad for the guy. I know he battles hard. I wish we could have done more for him.”
It took a power play in OT, but UND came through as Rhett Gardner, who had four penalties in the game, took a back-ass from Jasper Weatherby to put it past Spriggs with under two minutes left in OT.

In net, Byron Spriggs was sensational for the Bisons with 52 saves in the game. While UND had Peter Thome stop all three shots he faced, Adam Scheel stopped the only shot he faced, and Ryan Anderson stopped three of the five he faced.

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UND Head Coach Brad Berry/Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“I thought we missed the net a few time, we’ve gotta dial that in a bit,” said head coach Brad Berry postgame. “You know what, we played against an older, experience team. They played hard in their own end of the rink and played against a good goalie. I thought we accomplished a lot in what we wanted to do, but we need to get better in other aspects.”

With only nine shots on goal and four total against the projected top two goalies, Berry said it was a bit difficult to get a read on how they would play into the season.

“It affects a couple things,” Berry explained, “First, goaltending, but also D-zone coverage. But I’d rather play in the other team’s end then our end of the rink. We’re going to playing some teams where we’ll be playing in our end. We’ll make sure we work on it everyday in practice.”

With this dress rehearsal done, the Fighting Hawks go into their first weekend with a home-and-home with Bemidji State with Friday’s game being in Bemidji and Saturday back at The Ralph.

2018-19 Season Preview….Kind Of: Western Conference Edition

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Half-assed part 2, let’s go.

The Central Division is an interesting one. For the longest time, it was the Chicago Blackhawks’ playground, but now– it’s almost kind of wide open. The Winnipeg Jets have seemingly found their formula with Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, and friends. Their march to the Western Conference finals could have been the coming out party they need. So long as Connor Hellebuyck can keep the good time rolling– maybe this is now a division that belongs to North of the Border for a couple of season.

For the Blackhawks– we’re in the downturn of the dynasty. Despite of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane being there and being in their prime ages– the fact their goaltending in Corey Crawford isn’t always healthy and the depth is suspect at best; the former Dynasty could be in the start of their stagnation moving ahead.

Hard to forget about the Nashville Predators, who are in all-in mode this year as much as they have been. This is pivotal year for the team, especially when they look at what to do with impending UFA Pekka Rinne and how they’ll juggle his time with Juuse Saros’ time in net. Aside from that, they have a defensive corp that one of, if not the tops in the league; their offense is full of top tier talent, and overall– this is a team that’s ready to go and make another big push for the Conference final again this year.

The rest of the division is suspect at best, starting the with Minnesota Wild– who seem to be more of the same. Bruce Boudreau could be on a short leash with new GM Paul Fenton, and with the team in place– I don’t know if that leash could get shorter. Sure, Devan Dubnyk is back, but he can only do so much. The offense is really hit and miss, the star players being in the line-up is hit and miss, and there’s plenty of question marks in the State of Hockey.

Add the St. Louis Blues to that mix, only because of Jake Allen. There’s no Carter Hutton to bail him out anymore and he’ll have to actually show he’s a top goalie in this league. He’ll have a lot of tools in front of him with Vlad Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Jaden Schwartz with Alex Pieterangelo and Colton Parayko on his defense…there’s no reason why Allen shouldn’t be successful in spite of himself and his own short-comings.

I don’t know what to think of the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. The Stars could be a little easier to explain and deal with, as Ben Bishop– if he’s healthy all season– could help them steal a few games here and there. The offense is steady with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn up there, the defense however, is the question. Stephen Johns is out to start the season, which means Marc Methot and John Klingberg are going to have to shoulder a lot of the load– which could lead to easy burn out. The Avalanche now have Philipp Grubauer as the potential replacement for Semyon Varlamov when he should get injured or have his stats drop off, the team was able to rally around Matt Duchene getting traded, and might have an underrated defense against the rest of the league. The offense is one line, which means they’ll need to find some kind of secondary scoring to actually be across the board successful and get back to the playoffs once again.

Will anyone discount the Vegas Golden Knights this year?? Most likely, yes. The whole “Bet you can’t do it again” crowd will be out, but with the additions of Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny; the depth of offense is much better. While there will be doubters of M-A Fleury’s heroics and William Karlsson’s scoring prowess, the Knights are making sure they aren’t just a one-hit wonder.

Their toughest challenge will probably come from the San Jose Sharks, who have their best shot at getting into the Stanley Cup Finals with the addition of Erik Karlsson. The former Ottawa defenseman bolsters a blue line with Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, while Joe Thornton is back on the ice and probably much quicker without his beard anymore. Martin Jones has seen his win number decline over the past three seasons, but with an upgrade in front of him, you can bet he’ll have another 30+ win season.

With a healthy Jonathan Quick, the LA Kings were a solid team despite getting bounced in the first round again. Anze Kopitar was far and away the best player and may need to be so again to get the Kings back to the playoffs and maybe advance past the first match-up. That 70s Line will have to be a little be more prominent, though to be honest– losing Jeff Carter most of the season didn’t help things as much.

The Anaheim Ducks are going to have to get all they can out of their depth if they want to make the playoffs again. While John Gibson hasn’t been the best at keeping pucks out, the offense didn’t give him much to work with, as they had to lowest goals-for total of any playoff team last season. With Corey Perry out to start the season, as well; old man Getzlaf will have to rally the troops and hope they don’t get run over.

Of the Canadian teams in this division, the one with the most hope could be from Alberta. Whether it’s the Flames or the Oilers is yet to be seen. The Oilers need to figure out which team was the mirage– was it the team who made the playoffs in 2017 or the team that really stunk up the joint last season. Aside from Connor McDavid, there wasn’t much to write home about. However, the hard-on people have for Ty Rattie with McDavid is almost insane levels of silly– it’s almost a Sedins or Crosby situation with how people are infatuated with his play.

The Flames are an odd duck. They have the talent up front to get into the playoffs with Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and to a lesser extend Sam Bennett. However, with Bill Peters now at the helm, who knows what can happen. If they’re going to sink to a Carolina level, then it’ll happen quick, but the additions of James Neal and Elias Lindholm up front could bring more attention, while Noah Hanifin could help Mark Giordano on the blue line. If only Mike Smith can get back to some kind of non-sieve form, then they could surprise people.

Not a surprise is the Vancouver Canucks, who really….I don’t know. They have some top-end young talent in Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and others, but the real key is waiting for offensive defenseman Quinn Hughes to come from Michigan to Vancouver. If the rebuild is going to happen– it will be around Boeser and Hughes, maybe even Thatcher Demko when he gets the go-ahead to be the Canucks starter. It’s a waiting game for this team.

That leaves us with Arizona. The trade for Alex Galchenyuk is going to help them a whole lot, it’s a matter of managing injuries. Antti Raanta going down early last year hurt and it seems like there’s not much for goalie depth just yet for the Coyotes who could come in and stop the bleeding. Michael Grabner will add speed and a forechecking threat, Clayton Keller continues to grow, and Mario Kempe could surprise people if given the chance. The Coyotes may even push for a wild card…if they can stay healthy.