Month: January 2021

UND HOCKEY: Fighting Hawks Shut Out Tigers, Sweep Weekend

/ scottywazz / Leave a comment

GRAND FORKS, ND– After a 4-1 win on Saturday night, the University of North Dakota kept their home cooking going, as they faced off against the Colorado College Tigers. In front of 1,775 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, the Fighting Hawks completed the sweep with a 5-0 victory over the Tigers to move them into 1st of the NCHC. 

“We did a good job of coming out early,” head coach Brad Berry mentioned post-game. “We talk about the second night is the toughest after winning Friday and dealing with pushback. We had good discipline, until what happened at the end there, but that is what it is. We talked about taking less unneeded penalties, there are ones we will take, but I think we got rid of the unneeded penalties.”

North Dakota took control in the first part of the period, taking the pace of play to Colorado College and holding the Tigers’ offense to no shots until halfway through the frame. The Fighting Hawks struck first after Shane Pinto made a power move down the left side, cutting in and beating Dominic Basse for his seventh of the season. 

“During our video scouting this morning it was pointed out,” Pinto said of his goal. “Coach said their defense was pretty immobile, so I just took it to them.”

Pinto was the focal point for the first part of the frame, being set-up twice back door, but not being able to connect on either chance. The Fighting Hawks had some issues in their own end, giving up the puck and allowing the Tigers to get some offense going at the tail-end of the period. 

A chess match in the first few minutes, as both UND and CC played in the neutral zone a bit, but Collin Adams gave UND a 2-0 lead when he got a pass from Matt Kiersted behind all of the Tigers defense and slid the breakaway chance five-hole on Basse to extend the lead. Minutes later, Shane Pinto gots his second goal of the game after coming from the side wall and threw a fade-away shot from the top of the slot that eluded the traffic in front and went past Basse to make it 3-0. Judd Caufield got into the action midway through the period, getting a centering pass in front from Riese Gaber, initially getting it stopped by Basse, but following his own rebound to make it 4-0. 

The Tigers got into penalty trouble in the middle part of the second, going down two men. During the two-man advantage, Grant Mismash tallied his eighth goal of the year after a wonderful pass from the point by Jake Sanderson, making it a 5-0 UND.

Things broke down with 6:16 remaining, as Hugo Blixt laid a hit from behind to Jasper Weatherby, which drew the ire of Tyler Kleven, who dropped cross-check on Blixt while Blixt was on the ice. Both Blixt and Kleven were given the game misconducts on the incident. That was the last of the fireworks, as UND kept the play in the CC zone, keeping them away from Adam Scheel, who pitched a 15-save shutout and swept the weekend for the Fighting Hawks. 

The sweep at home was a carryover from the dominant home record UND had last season. While they don’t like to look in the past, the team did need to make sure it wasn’t neglected on the first weekend back. 

“This is our home. We don’t go back in history, but we had to this weekend,” Berry said of UND’s home ice advantage. “We were 18-1 last year and our younger guys had to know about it. It’s a special place we want to make sure we protect that and keep moving forward.”

The defense was active in the offensive end, as well, with Kiersted and Sanderson putting up two assists apiece, while helping hold the Tigers to only 15 shots on Sunday, bringing CC’s total to  36 on the weekend. 

THEY SAID IT

“Coming off the break and you play a couple of games and try to get momentum. Everyone is trying to  find their stride and building momentum. We saw what our bar is, how we can play to the capabilities of our team on that second night in Denver.” -Brad Berry on the team coming back off the Denver weekend

“It was a wake-up call. We were good in the pod, but we weren’t playing well. We’ve been much better ever since. We’re just being harder on pucks and playing our game. We’ve got to be physical, we cheated in Colorado (versus the Tigers) thinking it’d be coming easy to us, but we’ve got to keep working.” — Shane Pinto on how the loss against Denver affected the team.

Is North Dakota Betting on Black a Little Too Much??

/ scottywazz / Leave a comment
Photo Source

They say clothes make the man. If that’s the case, the University of North Dakota may want to invest in more black uniform sets because they have relied heavy on their “business” attire the past two weekends to help pull them through games. Whether it’s a mentality or some sorcery, the Fighting Hawks seem to play a bit different coming out in that all-black everything uniform set.

Yet, when does it become a crutch?? When does that mantra slowly fade and the ideal of a uniform changing everything not work anymore??

Maybe this is the season that gets put to the test, as UND does sport a solid 10-3-1 record to lead the NCHC standings, but still– the performances have left a bit to be desired after their exit from the bubble in Omaha. Granted, Adam Scheel’s nine wins and Jordan Kawaguchi’s 16 points lead the conference; something doesn’t seem quite right since the bubble and maybe clothing isn’t the best way to mask it.

Or maybe it is, as UND has worn the black uniform twice in the 2021 calendar year and won both games. In the bubble, they had a win and a tie in the all-black– putting their record this season to 3-0-1. Last season, they went 5-1-0 in the business attire, There is a method to the madness, but at the same time– there has to be something more there for the Hawks to get them motivated outside of a jersey color, right?? Why not just wear the black uniform the rest of the season and go on a run if the success is proven and there.

Personally, it does seem a bit alarming that it takes a jersey change as the carrot on a stick to get these players going. Especially after the solid bubble performance, especially since a lot of these players had last season taken away from them due to the pandemic. You’d think that there would been a little more hunger with the lack of games this season and they wouldn’t need a jersey gimmick to wake them up after a subpar performance.

I understand, this is a helluva thing to throw out there for a top-five ranked school, but it’s also something that shouldn’t be ignored. Though Scheel has nine wins, there has been holes to his game and he hasn’t really gotten the clean-up around his net from the team in front of him, leaving him out in the open after making the first save, while a tailing player comes to pick up the garbage in a wide open net. While it is a small sample size outside to bubble, going from 4.0 goals-per-game in the bubble to 2.75 outside of it is quite the drop and a little bit of an eyebrow raising circumstance when you see that the five-goal output month accounted for almost half of the goals combined in the last four games.

As I stated, if the black jerseys work as a carrot on the stick to get the guys hungry, wear them until they’re tattered if it gets results. However, there’s times it’s not always going to work and the underlying issue will need to be addressed when it comes to how a team adapts and how they persevere from that adaptation.

Divisional Sponsors Are My New Favorite Thing in the NHL

/ scottywazz / Leave a comment

The NHL is getting that bread, gamers, as they announced divisional sponsors for the upcoming shortened season. Scotiabank (North), Mass Mutual (East), Discover (Central), and Honda (West) will be the presenting sponsors of the divisions in a move to not only recoup losses from lack of box office, but maybe add another way to get hockey related revenue into the game.

Rumors have this as being a one-and-done thing given the oddity of the upcoming season…but why?? Why turn a potential money-maker into a one-year events when you have to think there’s sure to be hiccups going into the 2021-22 season, as well, when it comes to attendance.

As someone who covers NASCAR, I love the idea of sponsorships being a thing. Do they run sports?? Sure, just look at how arena naming conventions are and then try to debate me on this and helmet decals ruining the purity of the game. It’s also some more money coming into the league. Like I said with the helmet decals— until capitalism dies, this is the way to go. And what a smart way for the NHL to go about it by pretty much selling everything they can and say it’s only for a year. If it gets people talking, if it creates more marketing opportunities, if it’s generating dollars…why kill it after one year.

The NFL doesn’t do this, nor the NBA and MLB. But you have to wonder if the NHL is going to blaze the trail for getting money out there in a new way.

Sure, these sponsors are already in the NHL’s pockets with other deals and this was probably a small raise to their rate already, but it’s a start. If this could garner interest in new sponsors coming in to the game, why not?? Plus, the intrigue of whether or not a company will renew their divisional rights and who could swoop into getting them. In NASCAR, this happens all the time, it’s a hoot to see where companies are going and what companies come into the fold. Not only that, but think of the trickle down in the minor leagues. The AHL and ECHL probably would want some of that money into their leagues.

I’m all for this being a thing always and forever. If this league relies on money to stay alive, why not search out every avenue in which to make it?? If it flames out after a year, fine– you made the money you needed. If it keeps going, however, I think it’s the best for business because once that money goes into HHR; every then will benefit in some way, shape, or form.