Junior center and alternate team captain Jack Connolly, UMD's first returning All-American in some two decades and a two-time All-WCHA first team selection, will be blogging on everything Bulldog hockey throughout the second half of the 2010-11 season. A homegrown product, Connolly is majoring in communication at UMD and has received WCHA All-Academic Team honors in each of the past two seasons.
April 25, 2011- Overall, things have settled down quite a bit for us lately. Some of the guys are still making a few appearances throughout the community and are having to do a couple of interviews here and there but nothing too stressful in the past week or so. I know as the weather is progressively getting nicer and nicer many of the guys, including myself, are finding it to be quite difficult to focus on school and trying to stay on top of it. I know we would much rather enjoy our championship in the nice weather instead of being cooped up class all day and getting swamped with homework but I guess it's all a part of having the whole "student athlete" title. Anyways, we are definitely enjoying our time off from hockey and workouts because it allows us to go out and do some of the things we can't do during the season. I have already been out on the golf course with a few of the guys and I know some of them have been able to head home for a bit to visit their families on the weekends as well. It is a nice time of the year for us to be able to relax and do some different things for a change, other than strictly hockey and school. I would also like to add my personal congratulations to senior forward Justin Fontaine on his recent signing with the Minnesota Wild. He signed a two year entry-level contract with the Wild and will start his professional career next fall after he graduates from UMD this spring. I am very happy for him, he has worked so hard at the collegiate level and has accomplished so many feats in his career here at UMD. Minnesota is a wonderful organization for Justin to be a part of and I hope to see him in a Wild uniform in the near future!
April 18, 2011- Well it has been over a week now since we won our first NCAA Division I Men's Hockey National Championship and let me tell you it hasn't fully set in yet for the guys. We had a wonderful welcome home event last week from the best fans in the nation and afterwards we signed autographs for nearly four hours. We were glad to do it for the fans who have supported us all season long and I know the guys give kudos to those who stood in line for the entire time. We also have had a few appearances throughout the community in the past week and it is crazy the amount of recognition we have received from people. I don't think we have fully grasped how big this championship was for not only our team but the entire Duluth community as well! Either way we are all enjoying every moment of this amazing experience and are proud to be Bulldogs!
Aside from the championship buzz, I am sure most of you fans out there have heard the news that we are losing a couple star players for next year. Freshman defenseman Justin Faulk and junior forward Mike Connolly have both signed professional entry level contracts to live out their dreams of playing in the NHL next season. Mike signed a two year entry level contract with the San Jose Sharks while Justin signed a three year entry level deal with the team who drafted him in the second round last year, the Carolina Hurricanes. He will play out in Charlotte with the Hurricanes' affiliate team, the Checkers. Mike on the other hand will not join the Sharks organization until next season. These guys were both unbelievable friends and teammates and it is sad to see them leave but they were given an opportunity of a lifetime to pursue their dreams to play professionally and I wish them the best of luck in the future! Â
April 11, 2011- WOW!!! That is really all I have to say right now! We have done it; we have just made history in the UMD men’s hockey program by winning our first ever NCAA Division I National Championship and I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates, coaches and staff!! The festivities got off to a great start as we faced off against Notre Dame, which was going to be one of our toughest games of the entire post-season. However, before we hit the ice on Thursday, we got to walk the red carpet before heading down to our locker room before the game. All of the guys, including myself were thrilled with the support and amount of fans that were there cheering us on. It was definitely an awesome feeling heading into one of the most important games of our entire season. The guys were focused on what we needed to do right from the drop of the puck, however we found ourselves on an early one-goal deficit. A few minutes later, freshman forward J.T. Brown scored on the power play from the top of the left circle to tie it up at one apiece. Later in the first, Notre Dame struck again off a broken play by the net to put them ahead two to one. No more than a couple minutes after the Irish tally, senior winger Kyle Schmidt put home a tying power play goal of his own notching the score at two apiece. Then, late in the first period, junior winger Mike Connolly scored his twenty-eighth goal of the season giving us our first lead of the game. The first period was quite an eventful twenty minutes but we came out of the session on top. After putting one more past the Fighting Irish goaltender in the second, we now had a more comfortable two-goal lead while junior goaltender Kenny Reiter stood on his head and made some huge saves for us. We were now one period away from playing for a national championship, however, early into the third period the Irish struck short-handed to deflate our lead back to one. At this point we wanted to buckle down defensively and limit their opportunities. We may have bent a little but we didn’t break as we battled to a 4-3 victory.
With the Wolverines upsetting the Sioux, we were in for a WCHA versus CCHA national championship tilt. I know our team was, for the most part, pleased to see we would be playing Michigan because it was another team we hadn’t played yet and we felt we matched up well against them. Michigan had a lot of firepower up front with some forwards who could really skate and move the puck. Also, they had a goaltender that played out of his mid in the semis. Our objective was to shut down their top players and take it to their defensemen at the same time. We also needed to win the special teams battle in order to come away with a win. Although most of the guys were fairly nervous, but I felt that were ready for our biggest game of the year. From the drop of the puck in the first, to that final whistle, it was a fast-paced, yet physical game, and we knew it was going to be tough. Again we found ourselves down one after the first but we had been in that position many times before and we knew there was still a lot of game left to play. I felt we came our hard in the second and got a ton of momentum after junior center Travis Oleksuk scored from the right face-off dot to tie it up at one. Not too much longer did we gain the lead off a power play goal from freshman center Max Tardy who scored his first collegiate goal of his career. What a way to score his first and I am very proud of him! After playing with the lead for a while, Michigan struck right at the end of the second off a broken play right in the slot. Kenny Reiter, who played extremely well all game, had no chance due to the fact that he never even saw the shot. The third period came and went with neither team scoring, which led us into familiar territory, overtime! After having been in roughly fourteen overtime games this season we actually felt comfortable in our situation. Our goal was to go out there and take it to them early in the extra session. Low and behold senior winger Kyle Schmidt was our hero in putting home the game winner off a beautiful feed from his junior center man Travis Oleksuk from behind the net, putting our team into the UMD hockey history books. With everyone clearing the bench and the fans going crazy, we piled up in the corner of the rink right next to our fans. The celebration had begun but I know the experience hadn’t actually set in quite yet for my teammates and I. We did our best to soak up every minute of our time down at the frozen four and let me tell you we didn’t leave St. Paul empty handed! This was truly the most memorable moment of my hockey career and I think it’s safe to say my teammates would agree. It is an amazing feeling being able to bring back some hardware to the city of Duluth and I just want to thank our fans and everyone associated with the Duluth community for your wonderful support all season long. It has been a long time waiting this moment and to finally bring home a championship to Duluth means a lot to this great city. Now let us all enjoy this amazing experience and it is time to celebrate in style!!
*** Also, I would like to send my congratulations to a few of my teammates. I would like to congratulate junior forward Mike Connolly on being named UMD’s twenty-fourth All-American in school history! I would like to congratulate freshman defenseman Justin Faulk, freshman forward J.T. Brown, and senior forward Kyle Schmidt on being named to the Frozen Four all-tournament team. Also, congratulations to freshman forward J.T. Brown for being named the most outstanding player in the tournament! I would also like to congratulate senior forward Kyle Schmidt for receiving the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award; he has been a huge part of our team’s success this year and I couldn’t think of a better person to score that championship-winning goal!
*** Thank you to all the seniors (Trent Palm, Chad Huttel, Justin Fontaine, Mike Montgomery, and Kyle Schmidt) for an amazing season this year and the past three of my career at UMD. It has been an absolute blast playing alongside you guys and you made it fun going to the rink everyday. I feel I have become not only a better hockey player, but also a better person as well because of you guys. Thanks for everything and you guys will definitely be missed. Best of luck to you all in the future!!
April 6, 2011- Well it sure has been an eventful day for us down here in St. Paul. We started off our morning with a team breakfast at the Embassy Suites before we made our way over to the Xcel Energy Center. From the minute we got to our locker room to the time we left the arena there were cameras and media everywhere. We got to the rink at about 10:30 a.m. or so and we didn’t hit the ice until 12:15 p.m. because a number of guys had to do some different interviews with the media. It is definitely an amazing experience for my teammates and myself and we all are doing our best to take it all in. After we practiced for an hour and all the media was done interviewing our team, we headed back to the hotel for a bit before our team dinner. Whenever we are in the St. Paul neighborhood we love to eat at Bennett’s, which is always a great meal. I would have to say that it is one of my favorite places to eat out of anywhere we go throughout the season. We loaded up the bus after dinner and went straight to the River Center for the Frozen Four reception for all four teams. The reception was pretty cool as we got to take pictures with our class that we came to UMD, which in my opinion is a nice keepsake for guys later in life. We sat through a few different guest speakers and a highlight video from the four regionals and got to see how each team made it to this amazing championship. The day has been filled with excitement and energy and we are now relaxing back at our hotel resting up for the big game tomorrow. Notre Dame is not going to be an easy task for us tomorrow but I know the guys are geared up and ready to play our best hockey of the year. I can’t wait to see all you Bulldog fans in the stands tomorrow as we take on our first step of two in seek of our program's first National Championship!
March 31, 2011- Ever since we got back from Bridgeport, there seems to be quite a buzz going around the city about the UMD hockey program. Like I said earlier, this is the first trip to the Frozen Four since the 2003-2004 season and let's just say that the guys are more than excited to head down to St. Paul. It is kind of nice having a week off between the regional and the Frozen Four because it allows us to recooperate and work on a few things before we head onto the big stage. I think that some of the guys may be getting a little overwhelmed with how much media and press our team has been getting but it's definitely something that our guys are dealing with quite well. Any way we look at it, it's all positive and it is nice to see UMD get some recognition for a change. We have had a few good practices the past couple of days and we will finish up at Mars Lakeview Arena this week due to the fact that the Amsoil has both the Globetrotters and the home show this weekend. This is an extremely exciting time of year for not only our team and coaches but the entire Duluth community as well.
Also, I would like to congratulate Coach Sandelin on being named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award as the NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Coach of the Year. This is a great honor and I know all of the guys feel that coach is more than deserving of the award by the amount of effort and hard work he has put into our program!
March 27, 2011- Well Bulldog fans, we went out to Bridgeport and accomplished our goal of getting two crucial wins against Union College and Yale University. We are now heading down to St. Paul to participate in the 2010-2011 NCAA Frozen Four Championships in two weeks. Friday’s game against Union was definitely a hard fought game from start to finish. This was definitely a penalty filled game, which took some of the flow out of the game. One aspect of our game that I was very impressed with was our penalty kill as we blanked the Dutchmen on their man advantage opportunities. Senior forward Kyle Schmidt got things started for us as he tipped home a shot from the point by senior defenseman Mike Montgomery. This was a big goal for us because we felt, as a team getting an early lead would give us some momentum. We clung to our one goal lead for most of the game due to the fact that we battled hard and junior goaltender Kenny Reiter stood on his head all night for us. Getting a late power play goal by senior forward Justin Fontaine provided us with a nice two goal cushion and that would be all we needed as we received a two to nothing victory. I feel that everyone was quite pleased with the way we played but we felt that we could play even better. In the game after ours, Yale wound up beating Air Force in overtime making our next game a very tough one.
Going into the East Regional championship game against the Yale Bulldogs we knew that they had a lot of firepower up front with some forwards who could really skate. We knew if we could keep their forwards in check, we could take it to their defensemen and put pucks on their goaltender. It turned out to be another penalty filled game and our special teams were ultimately the difference in the outcome. Junior forward Mike Connolly put home a short-handed goal late in the first period off a feed from senior forward Justin Fontaine to give us a one goal lead heading into the second period. In the second, some of the Yale players lost their composure a little bit as we were given a five-minute power play as well as a five on three power play. We were fortunate to get a few goals on the power plays increasing our lead. However, Yale was able to get one back on the power play off a one-timer from the top of the circles. Our power play was able to get a couple more goals later on putting us up five to one heading into the third period. We received goals from sophomore defenseman Wade Bergman, sophomore forward Mike Seidel, and senior forward Justin Fontaine to put us ahead by four. We knew that the refs were going to try and even things up in the third and that they did. The Bulldogs were able to get a couple goals back on two power plays narrowing the gap to two goals. We were able to hold on strong to get the win putting us in the Frozen Four for the first time since the 2003-2004 season. The trip home was an amazing experience as I got to celebrate the win with my teammates, coaches and other UMD staff members that had made the trip. We have now extended our season by another two weeks and we cannot wait to get down to St. Paul and hit the ice!
March 24, 2011 - This morning started out with a team breakfast at the hotel as usual followed by practice for an hour. It felt great to get on the ice out here and we used our time to get used to the different bounces of the boards and glass. There were a few of us Mike Connolly, Justin Fontaine, Mike Montgomery, Kenny Reiter and myself -- who took part in different media-related activites. We talked with various broadcasters and reporters about our season thus far and what's in store for this weekend. It is very exciting to be a part of this tournament and I know the guys are ready and focused on what we need to do tomorrow. We were on our own for lunch as most of the team went to Panera Bread, which has unbelievable sandwiches and soups. Having a couple of hours to relax after lunch, we rested in our rooms, and watched whatever the hotel channels had to offer, which wasn't a whole lot. Tonight's dinner was at the Longhorn Steakhouse right next to our hotel and they sure served up some awesome food. I was one of the few guys who went with the baby back ribs and fries but the majority of the team opted for some type of steak. Today has been really good for guys to not only get their legs going a little on the ice but also get their rest and recoup for tomorrow's game. We topped the day off with a short video session on what Union's tendencies are and how they play the game. It was nice to see a little bit of their style of hockey and what is to be expected for tomorrow. I'm sure we'll be heading to bed quite early tonight with our game being at 3:00 p.m. eastern, 2:00 p.m. central for you Bulldog fans back home.. Tomorrow is our biggest game of the year thus far and I feel we are prepared for the task at hand.
I should also mention that a lot of people have been kidding people about how I'm starting to look like country singer Zac Brown. Coach Sandelin pointed it out at the beginning of the East Regional press conference today and Barry Melrose and Clay Matvik, who are doing the games this weekend on ESPNU, also mentioned it to one of our staff members.
March 23, 2011- It sure has been a busy time since we arrived out here in Bridgeport. Yesterday we were fortunate enough to take a charter plane from Duluth directly out to New Haven, CT, and let me tell you it was a nice way to travel. I know the guys could get used to traveling like that. Our plane was huge and with a total of about forty to forty-five people, including players and staff, and the ride was very comfortable as we were able to each have a row of seats all to ourselves. After landing in New Haven we loaded up our bus and made our way to the rink in Bridgeport. We unloaded all of our equipment and set everything up in the locker room before we went to the hotel. Everyone was on their own for dinner after check-in and a group of guys went to Ruby Tuesdays while others walked over to Chilis. It was definitely a long, tiring day of travel and a lot of the guys were ready shut it down for the night after dinner.
March 22, 2011- It's official -- we are heading out to Bridgeport, Connecticut to face-off against Union in the east regional of the NCAA tournament. We gathered as a team down at Amsoil Arena in our lounge on Sunday to watch the selection show on espn2 and we were fairly happy with our draw. The other two teams in our regional are Air Force and Yale, which is the number one team in the country. The rankings, however, do not matter to us because this is the time of year where anyone can beat anyone and it comes down to who is playing better hockey in the post-season. After a couple of short, hard practices the past two days, we are now gearing up for a long road trip to Bridgeport tomorrow. Tomorrow's schedule is quite busy for us and it is going to be a long day. We have practice in the morning followed by a team lunch. After lunch, we'll load up the bus and head to the airport for a 2:30 p.m. flight. We should get out east in the early to mid evening sometime. Usually the routine goes as follows: drop off our gear at the rink, head to the hotel to check-in, and change for dinner as a team. I am sure tomorrow will be pretty similar to that. It will be nice to get away for a little while and not have to deal with this horrible snow storm that we're supposedly getting. Sorry to all you Bulldog fans that have to stay here and deal with that! Anyways, this is the most exciting time of the year for us and we are extremely anxious for Friday to come!
March 19, 2011- Well our Final Five appearance was short-lived and let's just say that we are more than a little disappointed. Bemidji State was a team that we felt we should have beaten and for the first two periods we had done our job in getting a two to one lead. Mike Connolly put home his twenty-sixth goal of the year late in the first period while penalty killing with Justin Fontaine, who assisted on the tally. That short-handed goal put us up 2-1, a lead in which we maintained until the third period. We needed to come out hard in the third and try and build off our lead but we happened to come out a little flat and gave up the lead right away. We battled hard for the rest of the period and had a few different chances to put the Beavers away but their goalie stood on his head and made some big saves for them. Kenny Reiter came up huge for us late in the third period as one of the Beavers was hauled down on a break away and rewarded a penalty shot with about four minutes left in the game. He played it perfectly as the shooter tried to go low on the blocker side and ultimately kept us in the game at that point. Sure enough we were headed into all to familiar territory, as we had been in a number of different overtime games this year. My teammates and I felt confident that we could win the game because we had done it quite a few times earlier in the season. However, having the refs that we have in our league, it doesn't surprise me that they call a penalty on us right after the linesman blows the icing call right before hand. They swallowed their whistles as they missed some blatant penalties in the third period and to go ahead a call something like that in overtime just doesn't seem right to me. Low and behold we lose on the Bemidji power play a few seconds later sending us home the next day. It is a tough way to lose a game, but I feel that we could have put forth a better effort than what we displayed. Now we need to re-group on focus on the next task at hand, the NCAA tournament. Fortunately we did well enough to put ourselves in a position to still make the tournament even after losing to the Beavers. It looks like we may be a third seed in the region, but we are going to have to wait until tomorrow to see where we will be heading next weekend. It doesn't matter where or who we're playing, we are still going to have the same mind set in playing our hockey and not worrying too much on what the other team does. Tune into ESPN2 tomorrow at 10:30 am to see where we wind up in the NCAA and who we will play!
March 15, 2011- We had a fun practice yesterday with an old versus young game for about a half hour or so. In other words it was the upperclassmen against the underclassmen, which always turns out to be a fun time on our team. Yesterday was a day for us to get back on the ice and get our legs moving a little while having some fun at the same time. We got back at it today with a good, hard practice in preparation for the Beavers on Thursday. This time of year it is all about recovery for the guys and making sure that our bodies feel as good as possible come game time. Sometimes what you do away from the rink is just as important as how you perform, which means being properly hydrated and getting enough rest during our down time. Today was a quick hour practice and we were off the ice, but in that hour we were focused on what we were doing and worked hard to get better as a team. Tomorrow will be a pretty similar day as today and we will head for St. Paul after practice in the early afternoon. This is an exciting time of year for us and my teammates and I cannot wait to hit the ice at the Excel Energy Center!
March 13, 2011- I would like to start off by saying this past weekend's series against the Huskies was one of our best series of the year and we couldn't have timed it any better. Looking back at what they did to us earlier in the season, and knowing what they are capable of doing as a team, made for a tough couple of games for us this past weekend. I felt that every single guy sacrificed and battled extremely hard in both of the games and is a huge reason why we were able to get the job done in two games. Friday night's game got off to a great start with an early first period goal by J.T. Brown and we seemed to build off the early lead. Later in the game, we received goals from Justin Faulk, Mike Connolly, and Kyle Schmidt en route to a 4-2 win. Getting that win on Friday was huge for us, especially in a three games series. From start to finish I felt that everyone played a very strong game and bought in to doing the little things that it takes to win games at this time of year. Saturday, on the other hand, was more of a test for us as we knew St. Cloud was going to come out even harder than the night before. Let's just say that it was one of the longest games that most of us have ever played as it went all the way into triple overtime. Just like Friday, we got off to a great start with an early two-goal lead in the first period, as I was able to get a couple of pucks past their goalie, Mike Lee. The coaching staff and my teammates felt that we played a good game and had plenty of chances throughout the last two periods but the Huskies goal-tender stood on his head and really kept them in the game. They were able to chip away at our two goal lead and with a third period goal the score was all tied up at two a piece. We had been in a number of overtime games this year so this was old news to us, but what we were not expecting was a three overtime game lasting over one hundred minutes from start to finish. Throughout the overtime periods we definitely out played the Huskies and it was just a matter of getting that break we were looking for. That break came on the second shift of the third overtime where Jake Hendrickson found Mike Connolly on the back door where he banged in his 25th goal of the year. It was an amazing game to be a part of and all of the guys are super excited to return to the Final Five at the Excel Energy Center. We accomplished our goal of getting back to the Final Five and with a couple of upsets around the WCHA, we will be seeing Bemidji State on Thursday in one of the two play-in games. This is definitely an exciting time for us and cannot wait to get down to St. Paul. Also, I would like to thank those dedicated Bulldog fans out there for supporting us this year and we owe a lot of our success to you guys. Hope to see all of you down at the Excel on Thursday as we gear up for the Beavers!
March 10, 2011- First off, I just want to congratulate the seniors, Kyle Schmidt, Trent Palm, Mike Montgomery, Justine Fontaine, and Chad Huttel on having wonderful careers here at UMD. It has been a blast for myself and the guys to have played with you for the past couple of years and I couldn't have asked for any better teammates than you guys. Also, as it was just revealed today, another congratulations to Mike Connolly Justin Fontaine, Justin Faulk, and J.T. Brown on their All-WCHA awards. All were more than deserving of the awards and I encourage all you Bulldog fans out there to go to wcha.com and check out all of the award winners if you haven't already. We owe a lot to the guys sitting next to us in that locker room because they played a huge role in these awards as well. We also had 10 guys on the team who made the WCHA All-Academic team sporting a GPA of 3.00 or better, which is really nice to see towards the end of the year.
Shifting in a different direction, my teammates and I are sporting a little different look this year for our playoff stretch. The past couple of years we have gone with mo-hawks and mullets but this year we felt we needed to change it up a little bit. This time we went ahead and bleached our hair, and let me tell you it looks pretty awesome in my opinion. So, just a heads up for you Bulldog fans out there who may wonder what the deal is with the hair. On a different note, we are hosting St. Cloud this weekend and we are in for a hard fought series. We all know what they did to us the last time we played them and we are using that as motivation for this weekend. The post-season is a completely new season and we can only focus on what is in front of us and not look back at what has happened in the past month or so. From here on out we are doing everything possible to try and get better as a hockey team and we feel very positive heading into the weekend. Coaches can draw all the X's and O's they want but none of that matters if we do not come ready to play at the highest possible level that we can. It is all about out-working and out-competing the other team and that is our mentality for this series with the Huskies. Our run starts tomorrow night and we need to take it one game at a time not looking too far down the road ahead. We have too good of a team to have it end early, so we have no intentions of being done quite yet.
March 6, 2011- This past weekend was both good and bad in my opinion. Friday night's game was a great sixty minute effort for every single guy on our team, which propelled us to a convincing four to one win. From Kenny Reiter standing on his head between the pipes all the way up to our defense and forwards, our performance was great and it felt good to finally get a win on a Friday. We received some big goals from Justin Faulk, David Grun, and a pair of goals from Travis Oleksuk. That win happened to put us one point ahead of UNO as we entered into our final regular season game. Saturday, however, did not play out in our favor as we fell to a five to two loss. Right off the bat we did not come ready to match their intensity and effort level and before we knew it we were down two to zero. Throughout the game we showed a little life as we got goals from Joe Basaraba and Justin Fontaine, but it wasn't enough as the Maverick's bounced back with a couple power play goals later in the game. This was a crucial game for us and not coming prepared to play definitely hurt us. This was a team that we felt we could have beaten twice in a row and my teammates and I feel we let two points get away that we really needed. On the other hand, the regular season has come to an end and we have found ourselves in the number four spot in the WCHA. This means that we will be seeing ninth place St. Cloud next weekend for the first round of the WCHA playoffs right here at Amsoil Arena. Our coaches emphasized that a completely new season starts next weekend and what has happened in the past is in the past and we can't look back on it. This is an opportunity for us to start out fresh and gear up for the most important part of the year, the post-season. We all know what St. Cloud did to us a few weeks back and we are going to do everything in our power to not let that happen again. We know we have all the tools we need in our locker room, we just have to put them together and have everyone committed to our goal of winning a couple of championships. The journey starts next weekend, and let me tell you, the guys are excited to make a great run at it this year!!
March 3, 2011- Well Bulldog fans we are heading into our final two games of the regular season this weekend. This year has really gone by quick but there is no other time I would rather be playing hockey than in March. This is the best time of the hockey season in my opinion and I'm sure that most of my teammates would agree with me. This weekend's match-up, as most fans probably already know, is against the only team in the WCHA that we have not yet played this year, which is the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. After watching some video on this team we picked up some of their tendencies and got an overall feel for how they play the game. The Mavericks are a big, physical team that have a few different players with quite a bit of skill as well. They play both ends of the rink well and we will need to match their intensity and energy in order to be successful in this series. I know we haven't played the best hockey in our past six or eight games, but our coaches are doing a great job of pointing out the positive things that we have done in the past month or so. Also they have told us that we cannot do anything about the past and we need to let it go, and focus on what we can do in the future, primarily being this weekend's series against UNO. I know myself, as well as most of the guys on the team have kept an eye on the standings whether it be the WCHA or the Pairwise and UNO is right ahead of us in both. We are going to use this weekend to get back to having fun and simply playing the game of hockey and try not to over think things in the process. I feel that we play a lot better when we are loose and having fun, but competing and playing hard at the same time. From the drop of the puck Friday night we have to be ready to out-compete and out-work the Mavericks in every aspect of the game and get an early lead. Last weekend we gave up a number of leads throughout the two games out in CC and tomorrow we are going to focus on gaining that lead and building upon it as well. Like every weekend in the WCHA, it is not going to be easy to come away with two wins but we are going to do everything in our power to make it happen. Hopefully we can use these last two games to gain some confidence back in our team before we head into the post-season.
February 28, 2011- We are finally home after a long road trip out to Colorado Springs and let's just say things didn't go the way we were hoping they would out there. This past weekend was a great opportunity for us to move up in the standings in the WCHA, however, we did not help ourselves one bit with our performances in the past two games. Friday night's game started out great as we quickly grabbed the lead on the second shift of the game. We exchanged goals with the Tigers back and forth before coming to a three to three tie in the third period. Our penalty kill was unable to kill off yet another CC power play as they went ahead 4-3 and the very next shift they scored again to make it 5-3. Falling apart for a shift or two ultimately cost us the game. Getting a late power play goal put some pressure back on the Tigers but it was too little too late as we fell to a five to four defeat. That was a huge game for us and by not getting a crucial win it hurt us in both the WCHA standings and national standings as well. It was safe to say that my teammates and myself, along with the entire coaching staff, were not too pleased with how we had played Friday and made it clear that we needed to come together for a much better performance on Saturday. Although we felt we had played a better game on Saturday, we did not receive the outcome we were looking for as we battled to a three to three tie. Early on and throughout most of the game our power play was successful with two big goals in the game. Again, however, we were not able to hold on to a lead as we let the Tigers back in the game with another power play goal. This was a team that we felt we were better than and it was a team that we felt we should beat because we have high expectations for our team. This series against CC definitely stings a little and as I'm sure most of you Bulldog fans out there have noticed we have hit a rough patch in our season in our past six games or so. I know this is the time of year where we expect ourselves to be playing the best possible hockey that we can but sometimes teams hit bumps in the road and it just so happens that ours is happening right now. I know many guys on the team, including myself, feel that we need to stay as positive as we can and really start to come together as a team because if we do not come together our season could be over in the blink of an eye. We have way too much talent and potential on this team to see our season end without us trying to make a statement in the post-season. Our focus is on this week of practice going into our last series against UNO and hopefully we can start to get that jam back that we had in the first three quarters of the season.
February 24, 2011- It has definitely been a long day thus far and most of the guys are pretty tired after quite a bit of travel. We were up at the crack of dawn this morning and had to be at the rink around 4:30am, which is a time of day we are not used to seeing too often. The bus left for the cities at around 5:00am, which put us at the Minneapolis Airport a little before 8:00am. After checking in all of our equipment and bags we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before we boarded the plane. The flight was fairly smooth and most of the guys, including myself, took advantage of the two hours to take a nap or listen to music to pass the time along faster. There is such an amazing landscape here and being able too see the mountains in the background of Colorado Springs is a pretty cool experience because it's something we do not get to see everyday. After a quick bus trip to World Arena to drop off our gear, we presumed to check into the Double Tree Hotel. Whenever we make the trip out here we stay at the Double Tree and I love it because it's not only a nice hotel but they have amazing cookies at the front desk that they make fresh everyday. Anyways, we walked back over to the rink and had a good practice to get our legs moving and do our best to get rid of some of the jet lag guys had from the travel. I am also really looking forward to our team dinner at Carrabbas tonight, which a nice Italian restaurant that is within walking distance of our hotel. They have great food and a really nice menu with a wide variety of options for guys to choose from. The agenda for later tonight is to just lay low and relax, guys can do some homework if they have to, or otherwise I assume most of us will just hang out in our rooms and get a good nights rest in preparation for tomorrow. This weekend is an important series for us because we want to build off of how we played on Saturday in Mankato. It is time for us to put together a string of wins here and it starts with tomorrow nights game. Colorado College is a team that has been up and down this season but definitely has some very good players on their team. The style of play that they portray is a fast, skilled team that plays well off the rush and are also good in transition. This is a team that we have had some success against in the past so we know that they will be out to get us from the first shift Friday night. Just like last weekend as well, we are playing on an Olympic ice sheet, and having played on one a week ago should help us out a little. We are down to the final four games of the regular season and even though we have clinched home ice for playoffs, we are still gunning for four points this weekend to put us closer to a possible league title, which isn't completely out of reach quite yet. It is going to take a team effort with everyone pulling on the same chain and I know the guys in that locker room with me are more than willing to sacrifice for one another and do whatever it takes to win. Let's get this road trip road trip off to a great start with a great performance tomorrow night against the Tigers!
February 20, 2011- Although we did not come away with four points this past weekend, there were more positives than negatives in the two games we played. Friday night was a tough loss for us, but when we looked back at how we played, we weren't completely upset with ourselves. We out shot the Mavericks 41 to 29 and without their goalie playing as well as he did, there is no doubt in my mind that we could have won that game. Our penalty kill hurt us a little early in the game Friday and they got two power play goals right off the bat. However, we did battle back to get with in one off a Mike Connolly goal, but it just was not enough as we fell to a three to one loss. Coaches stressed that not having won in three games can throw a team off a little and that we just needed to get back to the basics and keep things simple. Our motto as a team is that if we lose one, it never turns into two and that's what we had in the back of our minds come Saturday. Saturday night was a completely different story as we rallied to a six to two victory. Getting key goals from Mike Seidel, J.T. Brown, Mike Connolly, and Justin Fontaine made the night a lot easier for not only our goalie (Aaron Crandall) but the rest of the team as well. The series was a hard, physical battle like it always is with Mankato, and coming back on Saturday with that kind of performance really shows the amount of character we have on this team. I believe that we got some of our confidence back and are trying our best to try and get back to the way we were playing a month or two ago. With Colorado College on deck, we are going to have to focus on this week of practice and get ready for yet another road trip, only this one being a bit longer. It doesn't matter who we're playing or where we're playing, the guys have the same mentality each and everyday we go to the rink and that is to try and get better as a team so we can play the best possible hockey that we are capable of. A split on the weekend was okay in our book, not great, but our overall performance was strong and we are looking to carry that over into this week and into next weekend against CC.
February 17, 2011- We are officially in Mankato now and have already had a good practice and then dinner. The bus ride down was a fairly quick trip and we made pretty good time. The movies of choice on this trip were quite good in my opinion. We first watched a documentary on the Laval Chiefs, which was about a semi-pro hockey team in eastern Canada. The movie was actually really funny and I feel it got the bus trip off on the right foot. We followed the documentary with the movie "Unstoppable" with Denzel Washington, and a lot of the guys were glued to the screens because of all the action and suspension involved in the movie. Watching those two shows really passed the time well and before we knew it we were at the arena getting ready to drop our gear off. The bus rides are always a good time with our team and having been at home for the past couple of weeks (not that that's a bad thing), it was nice to hit the road for a change. Some of the guys, including myself, brought their backpacks along because we have some school work to take care of. I know it isn't the most fun thing to be doing on the road but sometimes we don't have a choice and have to get some class work done. It's all part of having the title of a student-athlete, I guess.
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We had a good practice tonight down here in Mankato and really tried to get used to the big ice sheet. It is definitely different skating on an Olympic sheet but I feel we can adapt well and still play our game without having too many problems. We haven't played the Mavericks yet this year but just like St. Cloud, they are a much better team than what their record shows. The Mavericks are always an extremely hard-working team, possibly the hardest-working team in the entire league, and we are going to be in for a good battle this weekend. There are no easy games in the WCHA and as we near the tail end of our season, the games are lot tougher and much more important. This is a crucial weekend for us to try and get a couple wins and get back on track in seek of that WCHA title. I know after last weekend we dropped to tied for third in the WCHA with Nebraska-Omaha, but we are still only two points out of first. With six games left, we still feel that the league title is well within reach, and we just have to go out and take care of business each and every night we play. It won't be an easy task coming away with four points on the road, but if we perform the way I know we can for 120 minutes, there should be no reason why we can't accomplish that feat. Like our coaches said, it starts with the first twenty minutes tomorrow night and we go from there. I can see the focus and determination among my teammates and the atmosphere in the locker room is very positive. I think the St. Cloud series really opened our eyes and was a perfect example of how we can not take a night off in this league. I believe we learned our lesson and proceeded to have a good week of preparation before this weekend against Mankato. These two games will be a good test for us and let's hope for a positive result!
February 13, 2011- I'm sure you Bulldog fans have heard by now that this past weekend did not go as well as we hoped it would have. Friday night against the Huskies was probably our worst game of the year. The outcome was miserable and I would rather not repeat the score. All I know is that our entire team as a whole struggled to put a sixty minute performance together. Even though we got off to a great start with a two to one lead, it all seemed to fall apart from there. Having nearly every bounce of the puck in favor of the Huskies paired with poor defensive play on our part, game one on the weekend did not end well to say the least. It was one of those games where we felt we let ourselves down, the program down, the fans down, and the entire Duluth community down. With that being said, we tried our best to move forward from Friday's disaster and took it upon ourselves to have a better performance on Saturday from start to finish. It is never easy getting points in the WCHA and Saturday was no exception. We knew they were going to come out hard again but this time we needed to out-compete them in every facet of the game. However, right off the bat we found ourselves in a three to nothing deficit and it wasn't looking good for us. The guys on our team have never given up once this year and that was our mentality Saturday. There is endless amount of character on our team and it showed from the second period on. We tightened up our defense and Kenny Reiter played well between the pipes for us. With great goals coming from Justin Fontaine and J.T. Brown, we fought our way back into the game. Part way through the third period, Jake Hendrickson snapped off a twisted wrist shot from the top of the circles and beat the Huskies goalie over the blocker to tie the game at three a piece. I may add that it was his first goal of the year, which was a pretty special moment for him and our team. From there on we had our share of opportunities to take the lead but we just weren't able to find the net. Coming away with a tie and one point on the weekend is not what we expect from ourselves and we know that we let some points slip away this past weekend. We will have to go over some video of these past two games and try and clean up a few things in practice before we head out to Mankato because we need to be playing our best hockey at this time of the year and last weekend was clearly not our best. We can get better and that's what we plan on doing from here on out and into the postseason.
February 10, 2011- This week has sure gone by fast. It just seems like yesterday that Mike Connolly had a five goal performance but sure enough it was almost an entire week ago. The guys, along with the coaching staff felt that we had a pretty good weekend against Minnesota but there were a few things that we can still improve on. We had a good week of practice along with a couple of different video sessions of what our play was like last weekend as well as some clips of what is to be expected from the Huskies. Obviously, our offensive play was one of our strong points last weekend and hopefully we can continue that into tomorrow's game. One thing that we worked on this week and what coaches really wanted to touch on was our defensive play in our own end. We didn't feel that we were terrible in our defensive zone against the Gophers but it is something that we can definitely get better at. Our coaches always say that the better you play in your own end, the more offensive chances you'll create, which is true. I feel this weekend against St. Cloud is going to be a good test for us. We know that they are a much better team than what their record shows and we have to be prepared for a fast, skilled team that transitions with the puck well. Again, just like most games in our league, the special teams game is going to play a huge role in the outcomes this weekend. We have to capitalize on our power play opportunities and at the same time do our best to kill off any chances they may get. The Huskies always come ready to play hard and it is our job to come to the rink ready to match their intensity and put the pressure on them right from the drop of the puck tomorrow night. I feel that we have a talented, hard working team that is more than capable of coming away with four points this weekend and it's just a matter of going out there and playing the best 120 minutes of hockey that we possibly can. If we go out there, empty the tanks, and leave everything on the ice, I believe there is no reason why we cannot accomplish our goal. See all you Bulldog fans tomorrow night and let's hope for the best!
February 8, 2011 - We also had a great time yesterday at our Skate With The Bulldogs event at Amsoil Arena. There was a large turnout and it was wonderful to see all the fans come out and support both our team as well as the UMD women's team. It was a nice opportunity for us to interact with our young fans and give back to the community.
February 6, 2011- I suppose we can consider this past weekend a success coming away with three out of four points against the Gophers. Friday's game seemed to be an even matched game but we felt like we had let two points slip away. The guys really dug deep to battle back from an early deficit to tie the game up going into the third period. I felt that we out-played them in the third and throughout the overtime as well, but we weren't able to get the win we were hoping for. Getting a point out of the game is better than nothing though. Our goal for Saturday was to come out and put the pressure on them and get a lead. What we did not know, however, was that we all were in for a special night. Mike Connolly put up a five-goal performance in our 6-4 victory, which tied former Bulldog Steve "Pokey" Trachsel for most goals scored in a single game at UMD. Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine and myself had been reunited for the Saturday game and seemed to have great line chemistry right off the bat. With everyone on board and pulling together to grind out a win alongside great goal-tending from Aaron Crandall, I felt it was an amazing team performance and one of our better games of the year. Also, it was awesome to have Kyle Schmidt, who always brings speed and experience to the table for our team, back in the lineup We definitely knew the importance of Saturday's game going into it because Denver lost Friday which meant they were tied with us in second place. Also, with North Dakota off this past weekend, it was a chance for us to pass them in the WCHA standings. We now sit atop the WCHA with Denver and with only eight games left in the regular season. It is becoming crunch time and I feel that we have put ourselves in a great spot in seek of that MacNaughton Cup. It was an electrifying weekend, to say the least, but we have to put it behind us and begin to focus on St. Cloud who is coming to town next weekend
February 3, 2011- Well Bulldog fans, it's been nice having some time off but it's definitely time to get back at it! I'm sure that most of you out there know who's coming to town this weekend, that's right, the Gophers. We have already played them this year down at Mariucci and looking back at that series earlier in the season, it didn't play out in our favor. We made the trip to the cities in early December and came away with a loss and a tie. I believe that has been our worst outcome from a series yet this year. Even though many of the guys thought we had out-played them both nights, the results are ultimately what matter and coming away with one point on the weekend was just unacceptable. A major factor that played a significant role in those two games in December was the fact that we ran into a hot goal-tender and we were not able to put our chances in the back of the net. I guess you could say we were a little snake bit that weekend, but also we have to give a little credit to their goalie who stood on his head both nights. This weekend, however, is going to be a different story. They will not be in the comforts of their precious Mariucci Arena with an ice sheet the size of Lake Superior. They are coming into a hostile, brand new Amsoil Arena with a smaller ice sheet than they're used to, and this makes the game a lot different for teams who may not be used to the small sheet. This past week of practice has been great, we've had good tempo and execution on different drills all week and the guys feel good going into this weekend's series. We have all kept it in the back of our minds on what happened against this team earlier in the year, and we'll use that as motivation to come out flying right from the first puck drop. Our goal is the same as it was going into the tech series and that is to play 120 minutes of the best hockey we can possibly play and try to come away with four points and hopefully our first sweep at the Amsoil!
January 31, 2011- Well, it has definitely been a nice, relaxing weekend off from league play and the guys feel revamped and ready to get back at it. Over this past weekend I had some free time to go out and take care of some errands and other miscellaneous tasks that I had to get done. Being that I do not have much time during the week to take care of groceries and maybe a mall or Target run, I felt that this was a great time to go out and do those things. While I was out bumming around town, I happened to drive by the Congdon, Glen Avon, and Duluth Heights outdoor rinks and noticed that there was barely any kids out having fun on the ice. It was actually a little disappointing to not see more kids enjoying the winter by playing the sport they love. I remember growing up over the hill in the Duluth Heights area and spending any free time that I had at the rink. My brother and I would ask our parents for a ride to the rink and not call them for seven or eight hours because we would be having so much fun rink ratting. We were at the rink any chance we could get and by being there so often, it allowed us to be creative and try new things in the game of hockey. Obviously I learned different aspects of the game of hockey from my coaches early on, but that free time I spent at the outdoor rinks is where, I feel, I strengthened my individual skills. I learned a ton about the game just by going to the rink and simply playing the game I love with my friends. I feel blessed to have grown up in such a great hockey city that produces top of the line outdoor rinks and some of my best memories in hockey come from my days in the Heights. I'm not sure what it is that's keeping kids from rink ratting these days but I strongly encourage the youth hockey players out there to take advantage of the numerous outdoor rinks we have here and go have fun with your teammates and friends. Who knows, you may become a better hockey player because of it. I know I did!
January 27, 2011- I'm sure many Bulldog fans know that this is our weekend off. I personally feel that this is a great time to let our bodies re-coop and re-fuel the tanks to get ready for our final 10 games before the post-season. We didn't return to the rink until Tuesday this week, which many of the guys were happy about. There isn't a whole lot of time off during the season and when it comes, our team definitely takes advantage of it. We also have today completely off as well, and we'll continue practice tomorrow and Saturday. Our practices this week haven't been the most competitive practices we've ever had, but our intentions for the week are to keep our legs under us while staying mentally sharp when we step on the ice. Another main theme for the week is just having fun. The college hockey season can get pretty grueling at times when paired with the stress of school and sometimes going to the rink may not be as fun as we would want it to be. The coaches have kept things fun this week by incorporating small area games into our practices where we divide up into two teams and play against each other. A lot of the guys are having fun and enjoy going to the rink. The time off is something that we can use to get us in the right mind set for the home stretch of our season. My teammates and I are looking forward to a relaxing weekend off from league play, however, I'm sure some of the guys will keep a few tabs on how other teams do this weekend just to see where we stand going into the Gopher series.
*** And on a different note: Congratulations to J.T. Brown on being this past weekend's Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week! I also did a interview today for "This Week in the USHL," which brought back some good memories I had from my time with the Sioux Falls Stampede.
January 23, 2011- It's never easy going into the U.P. and leaving with a sweep. But the guys really pulled it together this past weekend and displayed fast-paced, intense Bulldog hockey throughout the entire series . What really caught my eye against Tech wasn't the fact that our team had produced some very pretty goals, but the fact that we did not give up a goal in either game. Both Kenny Reiter and Aaron Crandall provided spectacular goaltending for our team and made some big saves when they had to. Having those two guys playing at the top of their game allowed the rest of the guys to be confident in producing at the other end of the rink. Offensively, we put eight goals on the board between the two games and many of them came from great team efforts. A handful of our goals this past weekend came from hard work down low in the offensive zone, putting pressure on their defensemen, and finding our third man high in the slot for quality scoring chances. Our diligence created offensive chances and we did a great job of capitalizing on those opportunities. I felt that our line of Travis Oleksuk, Justin Fontaine, and J.T. Brown had a phenomenal game on Friday and got us a nice lead by scoring three second period goals to put us up three to nothing. Also, the wingers, Mike Connolly and David Grun, and I began to click late in the game by adding a third period goal as well. Friday was a nice win but we were only half way done for our weekend mission and Saturday was no different. We got an early lead on my goal, and later in the game Dan DeLisle and J.T. Brown chipped in a goal apiece to elevate us to a 3-0 win. Coaches always tell us that whether we win or lose on Friday, Saturday is hands down the toughest night in the WCHA. Our team showed serious character by coming ready to play Saturday and battling hard to complete our sweep. Overall, it was a solid, near 120 minute performance by the guys this weekend and I can't think of a better way of going into to our off week.
January 20, 2011- Oofta!! Now that I have you all caught up, our next stop is Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We left the rink at around one o'clock this afternoon (Thursday) and arrived here in Houghton around 6:30 p.m. The bus ride took longer than expected due to the bad weather. That's all right though, because the guys were entertained by a few good movies like Salt and Dinner for Shmucks during the ride. These were two great choices in my opinion. This is also the second time we are playing Tech this season -- the first time resulted in a nice sweep for us at home. Even though Tech is at the bottom of the WCHA, we do not take them lightly at all. We know they are a big, physical team that likes to muck and grind in the corners with their opponents. We are focusing on making plays and putting the pressure on them the way we know we can. Also, we need to try and win the special teams game by beating them on the power-play, as well as buckling down on our penalty kill. We see this as another opportunity to get points in the league, which is always a goal of ours in any weekend series. I believe that the guys are pumped to play, and are ready to take it to the Huskies this weekend. Let's hope for a positive outcome!
January 19, 2011- Hey, Bulldog Fans! The first half of our season has been done now for quite some time and I feel we have put ourselves in a great position in the WCHA to make a run at a league title. The buzz around Duluth for the past several months has been the ever-anticipated opening of the new Amsoil Arena. Finally seeing the finished product and being able to go in it was a special moment not only our staff and team, but for the entire Duluth community as well. Nearly everyone in Duluth was excited to experience the first game at the Amsoil. Having nearly 7,000 fans on hand and a brand new sound system made for an electrifying atmosphere. People could not wait to see our team face-off against the always-rivaled Fighting Sioux. However, it was not the outcome we had hoped for. We did not come ready to play and didn't match their intensity. The game really took a turn in the second period when we fell apart for a few minutes and they scored a couple goals to increase their lead to a point where we were not able to battle back. Obviously losing our home opener was a low moment for us so far this season and it definitely was a tough pill to swallow. Although we were upset, we could not dwell on the loss for too long and we had to put it behind us the next day. Our focus was now on our trip out to New York for a couple of games against Clarkson. We had a great fast-paced, competitive couple of practices to get ready for the series. We went out there to strictly take care of business and come away with two more non-conference wins. The guys really pulled together and battled through a hard-fought physical series and left New York with two convincing wins. We were really glad to be home for the next couple of games and had some much needed confidence from the trip out east. Our next game was an exhibition against the USA Under-18 team. Even though the game didn't count on our record, we treated it like a normal college hockey matchup. We played pretty well for the most part and skated to a 4-1 victory. It was a nice win and it felt great to get that first win in the new rink, but we immediately put it in our rear-view mirror and shifted our attention on the Wisconsin Badgers who were coming to town next. For those of you who may have missed our previous series out in Madison, we barely squeaked out a sweep with two overtime wins. They were none-too-happy with the way that series went and we knew they were coming to town with some unfinished business to take care of. In the opener last Friday, I felt we played one of our best games of the year from start to finish. It was a solid 60-minute effort from the entire team as we won 2-0. Kenny Reiter played a great game between the pipes for us and came away with a well-deserved shut out. Saturday, on the other hand, didn't go the way we wanted it to. We knew they were going to come out hard, but we failed to match their level of intensity right off the bat. We quickly dug ourselves an early hole being down by two after the first period. We showed a little life by getting two big goals late in the third, but it wasn't enough to force an extra session. The 3-2 loss definitely hurt, but taking three of four games from them on the year isn't too bad.
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