It may have come up one game short of its ultimate destination -- the NCAA Frozen Four -- but the University of Minnesota Duluth nevertheless had plenty of reasons to celebrate in 2008-09.
Most notably, the Bulldogs opened the 2009 post season with six straight wins and captured the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five title in historic fashion (they were the first club to go 3-0 in the 22-year history of that event) before bowing out to Miami University 2-1 in the West Region finals. UMD closed out the year with a 22-13-8 overall record -- its best mark since the 2003-04 club went 28-13-4 and advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four -- and a No. 8 national ranking.
Obviously the Bulldogs will be looking to pick up right where they left off last spring when they usher in their 66th season of intercollegiate hockey in 2009-10. Maintaining that momentum, however, won't be easy since nearly half (nine, all of whom skated in 40 or more games) of last year's regular cast members are no longer with the program. That includes an All-American goalie, a two-time team scoring leader and an All-WCHA defenseman.
It all starts for UMD and 10th-year head coach Scott Sandelin this Saturday (Oct. 3) when the Bulldogs host the University of British Columbia in a 7:05 p.m. exhibition clash before taking on Lakes Superior State University and Northern Michigan University next Friday and Sunday at the DECC to kick off the 2008-09 regular season.
UMD was picked to finish sixth by both the WCHA coaches and the media (Madison.com) in their respective 2009-10 preseason polls. Junior right wing Justin Fontaine made the Madison.com preseason All-WCHA first team while defenseman Dylan Olsen received two votes for the coach's Rookie of the Year honor, which went to St. Cloud State netminder Mike Lee.
Up Front: Despite losing center MacGregor Sharp, who reigned as UMD's top point producer in each of the past two seasons and racked up a WCHA-leading 50 points last winter, Michael Gergen, Andrew Carroll, Nick Kemp and Matt Greer all to graduation, the situation at forward is anything but grim. For openers, the Bulldogs retain the services of junior right wing Justin Fontaine, who shifted his game into overdrive one year ago and finished second to Sharp on the WCHA scoring charts with 48 points (a hefty 36-point increase from his freshman year harvest). The WCHA All-Second Team selection also ranked second among Bulldogs in goals with 15, including a 11 on the power play. A pair of unrelated Connollys -- Mike and Jack -- were double trouble for opposing goaltenders as well in their debut season last winter. Left winger Mike Connolly, a major force for the Bulldogs during their postseason run, landed a spot on the WCHA All -Rookie Team after amassing 42 points (the most by a Bulldog newcomer in seven years) and posting a team-leading plus-11 while Jack Connolly chipped in 10 goals and 19 assists in 43 games. In addition, UMD returns a number of other battle-tested veterans in senior left winger Jordan Fulton (who pumped in a career high 12 goals and 17 points one year ago), senior center and 2009-10 team captain Drew Akins (five goals and five assists for 10 points), junior forwards Cody Danberg (2-2=4), Kyle Schmidt (2-3=5) and Rob Bordson (no points in 19 games) and sophomore wingers Travis Oleksuk (0-5=5) and David Grun (0-0=0 in three outings).
On Defense: Some retooling will certainly be necessary on the UMD blue line as the Bulldogs have been stripped of three of their full-timers in All-WCHA third team pick Josh Meyers, who anchored the nation's fourth best power play units (and had 10 man advantage goals to show for it), fellow 2008-09 senior Jay Cascalenda and Evan Oberg, who passed up his final two years of collegiate eligibility to sign with the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks last April. For help with this reorganization project. UMD will look to its six returning lettermen -- seniors Trent Palm and Chase Ryan, junior Mike Montgomery, who switched from forward to defense in 2008-09 and received the Mike Sertich Award (UMD's most improved player) after turning in a 10-point season, and Chad Huttel, and sophomores Brady Lamb and Scott Kishel. Of that group, only Montgomery, a 2009-10 alternate captain, played more than 30 games last winter.
In Goal: Is there life after Alex Stalock? Surely the premature loss of the All-American ironman to the pros (San Jose Sharks) and the school-record numbers he racked up last season (a 2.13 goals against average, a .924 saves percentage and five shut outs) won't be easy to replace, but the Bulldog coaching staff feels it has some promising young bucks to take on the challenge. Among those is Brady Hjelle, a proven commodity at both the United States Hockey League and high school level who made two appearance as a rookie, including one start, and posted a 1.50 goals against average to go with a .941 saves percentage. The other holdover vying for starting puckstopping assignment is fellow sophomore Kenny Reiter, the club's No. 3 netminder the past years who has yet to see any regular season activity as a Bulldog.
New Faces: A promising ensemble of eight recruits will debut with the Bulldogs this season and all possess the goods to make an immediate splash. They include forwards Dan DeLisle (Totino Grace High School), Keegan Flaherty (Fargo/United State Hockey League), Jake Hendrickson (Sioux City/USHL) and Mike Seidel (Cedar Rapids/USHL), defensemen Wade Bergman (Olds/Alberta Junior Hockey League), Dylan Olsen (Camrose/AJHL) and Drew Olson (Omaha/USHL) and Rapids/USHL) and goaltender Aaron Crandall (Des Mosines/USHL). Both Olsen (first round, 28th overall pick) and DeLisle (third round, 89th) were Chicago Blackhawk selections in last summer's NHL draft while Olson was plucked the previous year (4th round; 118th) by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Coach Sandelin Says: “At this point, we're pretty young team -- it's not so much an age issue, but more related to inexperience at this level and in the WCHA.
“Team speed is definitely a positive for us. I don't want to say we have more overall team skill than a year ago, but I do think we've got some highly-skilled, athletic guys. I think figuring out exactly what type of style we want to play is going to be more of a work in progress. We're going to try and be aggressive to take advantage of our speed.
“For offensive production, we are going to look first to Jack Connolly, Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine, our top three returning scorers. After that I think Jordan Fulton, who had 12 goals last year, is certainly capable of being a force, as is Rob Bordson, Kyle Schmidt, Drew Akins and a few other upperclassmen We'll rely on that group to take on a lot of the scoring load -- at least in the early going.
“I think last year's group of seven seniors are going to be real hard to replace. They all brought different things to the table -- there were some skill guys , role players, as great leaders. Those guys also played a lot of games, so there's a lot of experience we lost. Losing Alex Stalock is the key. It's tough to replace All-American goaltenders.”
