For the third season in a row and the sixth time in the last nine years, the University of Minnesota Duluth has secured a trip to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, where on Thursday afternoon (March 17) the Bulldogs and Bemidji State University will collide in the opening game of that event. Opening faceoff for the first postseason matchup ever between the two intrastate rivals is set for 3:37 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center (18,064).
Complete Release (pdf)
THE RECORDS: The third-seeded Bulldogs, owners of a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1), are 22-9-6 in all outings and finished fourth in the WCHA standings at 15-8-5 while the sixth-seeded Beavers will bring a 14-17-5 overall record, including an 8-15-5 league mark (10th place), into the tournament.
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Beavers stack up in the latest uscho.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls and PairWise Rankings:
uscho.com USA Today PairWise
UMD 11th 11th 6th(t)
BSU RV NR 25th
ON THE AIR: All of UMD's Final Five outings will be carried locally on 94X (94.1/104.3 FM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 in Grand Rapids/Hibbing and KQ 106.7 in Ely/Virginia as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and can be accessed on the internet at: 94xrocks.com.
In addition, each of the six WCHA Final Five games will be televised live by Fox Sports North.
THE COACHES: The 2003-04 American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is in his 11th year behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 188-199-52 overall record -- including a 66-39-15 mark (a .612 winning percentage) since the 2008-09 opener. In addition to posting three consecutive 22-win seasons, his Bulldogs have advanced to six of the past nine WCHA Final Five tournaments and, in March 2009, became the first play-in game participant to win it all in that event's history. UMD also strung together a school-record six-game postseason winning streak in 2008-09 before it fell to Miami University 2-1 in the NCAA West Regional final. Seven years ago, Sandelin, 46, turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation, marshaling his troops to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 overall) and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) in 11 seasons. For his efforts, the Hibbing, Minn., native was chosen the WCHA Coach of the Year as well as the national coach of the year by both insidecollegehockey.com and uscho.com. In 2002-03, Sandelin's Bulldogs went 22-15-5 overall and captured fifth place in the WCHA with a 14-10-4 mark while experiencing the greatest one-season turnaround of any league club that winter. One year earlier, he guided UMD to a 13-24-1 record in all games -- nearly doubling the number of victories from the previous season (7-28-4). Sandelin officially signed on as a member of the Bulldog staff on March 31, 2000 following six years of assistant coaching deployment at North Dakota. Prior to joining the Fighting Sioux (who won two NCAA titles during his tenure), Sandelin spent the 1993-94 season as the head coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings of the Junior Elite Hockey League after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the American Hockey Association's Fargo-Moorhead Express. He capped off his four-year playing career at North Dakota in 1985-86 by being named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. An All-WCHA first team pick and an All-American second team selection as a senior, Sandelin went on to play seven years of professional hockey, which included National Hockey League stints with the Montreal Canadiens (1986-88), Philadelphia Flyers (1990-91) and Minnesota North Stars (1991-92). Sandelin, one of just two current WCHA coaches to do time in the National Hockey League, was the Montreal Canadiens' second round pick in the 1982 NHL draft (40th choice overall). He served as Team USA's head coach at the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and directed that club to a fourth-place finish.
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State, 1982) is in 10th season as the head coach with the Beavers and has a 177-145-38 record -- including a 9-10-1 career mark against UMD -- to show for it. His Beavers captured five regular season titles in the now-defunct College Hockey America (2003-05 and 2007-10) in addition to securing NCAA I playoff berths in 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09 (when they advanced to the Frozen Four) and 2009-10. Serratore, a former Beaver team captain and a member of Bemidji State's 1986 NCAA Division III championship club, was a St. Cloud State University assistant coach for five seasons before he began a three-year stint (1998-2001) as an associate head coach at Bemidji State. He was officially named the Beavers' head coach on April 23, 2001, succeeding the legendary Bob Peters, who stepped down after overseeing the Bemidji State program for 35 years.
THE RIVALRY: UMD and Bemidji State have squared off on 29 previous occasions -- all during the regular season. The Bulldogs hold a 19-9-1 lead in the all-time series, which began back on Feb. 8, 1948 and are 14-9-1 against the Beavers since that club joined the NCAA I ranks in 1999-2000. UMD took three of four WCHA points from Bemidji State in the two team's only two confrontations during the 2010-11 regular season, skating away with a 3-2 overtime victory and a 1-1 tie on Oct. 29-30 in Bemidji.
LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs punched their ticket to St. Paul by sweeping St. Cloud State University in an opening round league playoff series Friday and Saturday at AMSOIL Arena. UMD, which never trailed the entire weekend, prevailed 4-2 in the opener before ousting the visiting Huskies one night later with a 3-2 triple overtime triumph. Junior left winger Mike Connolly's goal at 1:13 into the third extra session ended the longest home game in the 67-year history of Bulldog hockey. Junior center Jack Connolly scored twice in that 3-2 win while Mike Connolly, rookie right winger J.T. Brown, senior left winger Kyle Schmidt and freshman defenseman Justin Faulk accounted for UMD's goals in the opener. Junior goaltender Kenny Reiter picked up both wins by turning aside 57 of 61 shots in the series.
Likewise, Bemidji State made short work of its first- round WCHA playoff foe, derailing No. 3 seed University of Nebraska Omaha, 4-2 and 3-2, on the road.
FINAL FIVE BREAKDOWN: Overall, the Bulldogs are 7-6-0 in WCHA Final Five play (they were 0-1 at the Bradley Center in 1998 and 1-1 at the old St. Paul Civic Center in 1993). Two years ago, UMD became the first play-in game participant to ever capture the Final Five title, going a perfect 3-0 and blanking two opponents (North Dakota in the semifinals and the University of Denver in the championship) en route to capturing its first WCHA playoff title since 1984-85.
X MARKS THE SPOT: UMD is 7-4-0 all-time at the Xcel Energy Center and 6-4-0 vs. Final Five competition. Their other appearance at the St. Paul facility came on Nov. 1, 2008 when they cruised past St. Cloud State 5-1 in the first-ever WCHA Minnesota Colllege Hockey Classic.
LEAD 'DOGS: Of the top four spots in the current WCHA overall scoring charts, three are occupied by Bulldogs -- junior All-American center Jack Connolly is tied for first with 54 points senior right winger Justin Fontaine is third (51 pts.) and junior left winger Mike Connolly is fourth (48). That line has combined for 43.3 percent of the team's scoring harvest this winter (a nation-leading 153 of 353 points). In league games only, Jack Connolly wound up second in the WCHA scoring race with 37 points -- just three points back of champion Matt Frattin of North Dakota. No Bulldog has finished as the WCHA scoring leader since Junior Lessard in 2003-04, although Fontaine came within two points of accomplishing that feat as both a sophomore and junior and Jack and Mike Connolly did likewise last winter. UMD hasn't sported three players with 50 or more points since 1992-93 when current UMD assistant coach Derek Plante (92), Chris Marinucci (77) and Brett Hauer (51) all crossed theat threshold. That was also the last year three Bulldogs broke the 20-goal plateau --Plante (36), Marinucci (35) and Rusty Fitzgerald (24).
•Jack Connolly, who has skated in all 120 games since joining the UMD program in 2008-09 -- the longest ironman streak of any current Bulldog, ranks third among all NCAA pucksters in total points and is second in assists (a WCHA-leading 39). He has generated the Bulldogs' highest scoring yield (54 points) since the 2003-04 season (Junior Lessard with 63 and Evan Schwabe with 57) and reached the 50-point plateau faster (35 games) than any UMD puckster in 17 years (Chris Marinucci did in 32 outings on his way to receiving the Hobey Baker Memorial Award). Connolly, the school's first two-time All-WCHA first team pick in 25 years who is a +35 as a Bulldog, has amassed more points (103) over the past two winters than any other skater in the WCHA. And talk about being a consistent contributor -- Connolly hasn't gone pointless for two straight games since the middle of the 2008-09 season and has been held without a goal and/or assist on only five occasions this year.
• Justin Fontaine, who is a team-leading +24 this season, figured in on five of UMD's seven goals last weekend against St. Cloud State (all assists). Last week he was named to the All-WCHA second team for a third consecutive season and joined center Mike Peluso (1995-98) and defenseman Norm Maciver (1983-86) as the school's only three-time all-league honoree of any kind. Fontaine has moved up to 17th place on UMD's all-time scoring list and has a shot -- he needs eight points -- at becoming the first Bulldog in 17 years (Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Chris Marinucci was the last in 1993-94) to crack the Top 15. Next in line is No. 16 Mike Peluso (163 between 1994-98) and No. 15 Skeeter Moore (165 pts., 1983-87). Since the opening of 2008-09, no current WCHA combatant has racked up more points (145) than Fontaine.
•Mike Connolly, who bagged both game-winning goals in last weekend's playoff sweep over St. Cloud State, is just the second NCAA I-era Bulldog to ever open his career with three straight 40-point seasons (Dan Lempe, the school's all-time scoring leader, is the other UMD skater to accomplish that feat doing so four times between 1976-80). Over the last 12 games, the 2010-11 All-WCHA fist team pick has amassed 12 goals -- including a school record-tying five in UMD's 6-4 triumph over Minnesota on Feb. 5 -- and seven assists. Connolly leads all current Bulldogs in playoff scoring with 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists in 13 games and is a +10 to boot.
WITH POWER TO SPARE: UMD has cashed in on nine of 27 man advantage opportunities (33.3 percent) over the past seven games and currently owns the WCHA's third most efficient power play (22.0 percent). In its two-game series with Bemidji State earlier this year, UMD scored all four of its goals on the power play.
BLUECHIP BLUELINER: Justin Faulk is currently the third-highest scoring rookie defenseman in the country and is tied for first among NCAA freshmen blueliners in total goals as well. In 34 games this season the South St. Paul, Minn., product has collected eight goals -- six of which have come on the power play -- and 18 assists for 26 points. (The only first-year UMD defenseman to ever turn in a higher scoring yield was two-time All-American Norm Maciver with 27 points in 1982-83. Tom Kurvers, with 30 points in 1980-81, holds the team record in that department). Faulk, a member of both the All-WCHA third team and All-Rookie team, sports the fourth best plus-minus rating (+16) of any 2010-11 Bulldog and has finished with a negative figure in the department in only six games all season. Earlier this winter, he competed with the U.S. at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships in Buffalo and paced that team's defense in scoring.
MAKING A POINT: Of the 17 veterans on the 2010-11 UMD roster, 11 have bettered their personal bests for scoring this winter. That group includes:
Name Yr Pts Previous High
Wade Bergman So 9 6 (2009-10)
Jack Connolly Jr 54 49 (2009-10)
Mike Connolly Jr 48 42 (2009-10)
Dan DeLisle So 6 1 (2009-10)
Justin Fontaine Sr 51 48 (2008-09)
Keegan Flaherty So 7 3 (2009-10)
Jake Hendrickson So 5 2 (2009-10)
Travis Oleksuk Jr 31 24 (2009-10)
Drew Olson So 4 3 (2009-10)
Kyle Schmidt Sr 19 13 (2009-10)
Mike Seidel So 11 10 (2009-10)
A REAL GOAL-GETTER: Travis Oleksuk's career-high 13 goals this season have come in a variety of ways and at some clutch times as well. The junior center, who leads the WCHA with seven game winners, has scored three times on the power play, once while a man down, once on a penalty shot and once with the goaltender pulled. Two of his goals thus far have been registered in overtime, including one at Bemidji State back on Oct. 29 of this year.
EASY REITER: Junior goaltender Kenny Reiter, who has started each of the past five games, currently owns the WCHA's fourth best goals against average (2.34) and the sixth best saves percentage (.912). In six career playoff appearances (all starts), he has compiled a 4-2-0 record with a stingy 1.78 goals against average and a .930 saves percentage. During his three years with the Bulldogs, Reiter has posted the second-best career winning percentage (.598 off a 25-16-5 record, including a 12-6-5 figure this winter) of any NCAA I-era Bulldog in team history, trailing All-American Rick Kosti (60-18-2 for a .753 winning percentage between 1983-85).
FREE HOCKEY: With Saturday's sudden-death victory over St. Cloud State, UMD is now unbeaten in 27 of its last 29 overtime games (12-2-15) -- a run which dates back to the start of the 2008-09 season. A school-record 13 of the Bulldogs' 37 engagements this winter have required an extra session, and UMD is 6-1-6 in those. The six OT victories bests the previous club standard of five set in 1984-85. Mike Connolly leads all active Bulldogs in career overtime goals with four, including the memorable one that capped off a 5-4 comeback win over Princeton University in the 2009 NCAA West Regional semifinals in Minneapolis.
Player OT Goals
Mike Connolly 4
Travis Oleksuk 3
Justin Fontaine 2
J.T. Brown 1
Jack Connolly 1
Cody Danberg 1
HE'S GOT HIS GROOVE BACK: After putting the clamps on an eight-game pointless skid at Michigan Tech on Jan. 21, right winger and 2010-11 WCHA All-Rookie team selection J.T. Brown has picked up points in 11 of 14 outings since, collecting 10 goals and seven assists over that time. Brown, the Hockey Commissioner's Association National Rookie of the Month for October, resides in the No. 4 spot on the WCHA freshman scoring list with 33 points (15 goals and 18 assists) and one of just six Bulldogs to accrue ice time in all 37 games to date -- the lone newcomer to do so. The last first-year Bulldog to produce more goals in a single-season was NHL legend Brett Hull (32) in 1985-86.
WHEN THE GOING GET'S TOUGH: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition by a sizable 87-61 margin from the second period on this season and have a NCAA-leading six overtime victories to their 2010-11 credit. They have also given up the fewest third-period goals (27) of any WCHA club this season. In addition, UMD is 17-0-1 when it's taken a lead into the final period of play and is 21-0-1 in the situation going back to a 5-4 overtime loss to visiting Bemidji State on Jan. 23, 2010 (after the Bulldogs led 2-1 at the second intermission).
PLAYOFF PUNCH: The top active Bulldog post season scoring leaders are as follows:
Name GP G A TP +/-
Mike Connolly 13 7 10 17 +10
Jack Connolly 13 5 8 13 +22
Justin Fontaine 15 1 12 13 +2
Travis Oleksuk 13 1 6 7 -3
Brady Lamb 13 2 3 5 +4
Mike Montgomery 13 1 3 4 +1
Kyle Schmidt 7 2 1 3 -1
Wade Bergman 6 0 2 2 0
Jake Hendrickson 2 0 2 2 +2
J.T. Brown 2 1 0 1 0
Chad Huttel 10 0 1 1 +4
Cody Danberg 11 0 1 1 -2
Scott Kishel 1 0 0 0 -2
Joe Basaraba 2 0 0 0 0
Dan DeLisle 3 0 0 0 -1
Keegan Flaherty 5 0 0 0 0
David Grun 6 0 0 0 -3
Drew Olson 6 0 0 0 -2
Mike Seidel 6 0 0 0 -1
Trent Palm 7 0 0 0 -2
Name GP/GS W-L-T GA GAA SVS SVS
Kenny Reiter 6/6 4-2-0 12 1.78 159 .930
Aaron Crandall 0/0 0-0-0 0 0.00 0 .000
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Trent Palm may have experienced a few flashbacks last Saturday night when UMD and with St. Cloud State locked up the Bulldogs' longest home game ever. The WCHA playoff clash took a third overtime and 101:13 to complete before UMD prevailed, 3-2. Coincidentally, Palm also patrolled the blueline for the Bulldogs four years earlier when visiting UMD was clipped by those same Huskies, 3-2, in another three-overtime playoff marathon (that one lasted a league-record 113:33). Palm, a fifth-year senior from Edina, Minn, is expected to take part in his first WCHA Final Five event this week.
AT THE HEAD OF THEIR CLASS: A school record-tying four Bulldogs -- senior left winger Kyle Schmidt, junior goaltender Kenny Reiter, sophomore center Keegan Flaherty, and freshman netminder Aaron Crandall -- were among the 90 men and women to earn a WCHA Scholar Athlete Award for 2010-11. Schmidt and Reiter are UMD's first three-time recipients of this honor.
IT WAS INDEED A STACKED DECC: The Bulldogs were 12-5-2 at home this winter, but just 5-4-2 at AMSOIL Arena since moving to that $80-million, 6,764-seat facility on Dec. 30 from the DECC (where they compiled a 7-1-0 mark).
SOME FAST COMPANY: The Bulldogs closed out the 2010-11 regular season with a .657 winning percentage -- that was the sixth best mark ever turned in by a UMD club in 50 years of NCAA membership. Here are the Top 10 regular season finishes:
Year Record Pct. Finish
1984-85 29-7-2 .789 36-9-3
1983-84 24-9-2 .714 29-12-2
1992-93 23-9-2 .706 27-11-2
2003-04 23-10-4 .676 28-13-4
1985-86 25-12-1 .671 26-13-3
2010-11 20-9-6 .657 ???
1982-83 25-13-1 .654 28-16-1
1978-79 21-11-4 .639 22-14-4
1973-74 19-14-1 .573 21-16-1
2002-03 18-13-5 .569 22-15-5
1995-96 20-15-1 .569 20-17-1
The 1984-85, 1983-84 and 1992-93 Bulldogs all captured the WCHA regular season championship and advanced to at least the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament along with the 1982-83 and 2003-04 clubs.
BULLDOG BITS: All seven of sophomore right winger Mike Seidel's goals thus far in 2010-11 have been registered on the road ... UMD will head into Thursday afternoon's bout with Bemidji State armed with the WCHA's second most potent offense (3.43 goals per game) ... Of the 19 goals senior left winger Kyle Schmidt has collected over the past two seasons (including eight in 2010-11), 17 have come in even-strength situations. Only two other Bulldogs (junior left winger Mike Connolly with 24 and junior center Jack Connolly with 19) have more ... The Bulldogs have been outshot only six times all year (including twice at both Colorado College on Feb. 25-26 and at North Dakota on Nov. 5-6) and are the WCHA's most penalized team at the moment, averaging 14.9 minutes of infraction time per game ... This winter, the Bulldogs have drawn over 100,000 spectators at home for the first time since the 1997-98 season, attracting 110,399 for 19 home dates for a school-record 5,810 per game average (the ninth best figure in the county at the moment). They averaged 6,370 in 11 appearances at the 6,764-seat AMSOIL Arena and played before five sellout crowds ... For the first time in 13 years, the Bulldogs list at least three players -- senior right winger Justin Fontaine (157 points), Jack Connolly (132) and junior left winger Mike Connolly (130) -- with 100 or more points to their collegiate credit. In 1997-98 the line of Mike Peluso, Ken Dzikowski and Joe Rybar all eclipsed that same milestone at some point during the season ... UMD's seven juniors (which includes goalie Kenny Reiter) have accrued more points (152) than all but one other junior class in the country (the University of Maine with 156) ... In nine career road appearances, freshman netminder Aaron Crandall is 6-2-1 with a 2.31 goals against average and a .914 saves percentage -- a noticeable contrast to his home numbers (4-1-0, 3.52 and .862 in seven outings). He also possesses the WCHA's second best overall winning percentage (.750 on a 10-3-1 record) ... Earlier this season, UMD held the No. 1 spot in the uscho.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls for three straight weeks before slipping to No. 2 in both rankings on Dec. 6. Prior to this year, the Bulldogs had never been ranked first in any national weekly poll for more than a week since the middle of the 1985-86 season (when they also enjoyed a three-week stay at the top) ... Justin Fontaine owns the Bulldogs' longest current scoring streak at seven games.
MOVING ON: Thursday afternoon's winner will move on to Friday's Final Five semifinals where they will face No. 2 seed Denver at 2:07 p.m
