Bulldogs big loss could be a springboard

John Gilbert

UMD freshman Caleb Herbert (21) scored two goals to ignite a 4-0 UMD first-period lead against Michigan Tech.--John Gilbert
UMD freshman Caleb Herbert (21) scored two goals to ignite a 4-0 UMD first-period lead against Michigan Tech.--John Gilbert

The good thing -- make that, the ONLY good thing -- about the complete meltdown of the UMD men’s hockey team last Saturday night was that if the Bulldogs rebound and rise to win the WCHA title or go on to repeat glory in the NCAA tournament, they will look back at that 5-0 loss to Michigan Tech as the springboard to a successful stretch drive.

How can a low point be positive, I hear you ask? Every college hockey team goes through a season with ups and downs; it’s just that the Bulldogs lulled us all into the complacency of high expectations by not having any lows. They played well in splitting their first series with Notre Dame, and they played very well despite losing those two 5-4 games to Minnesota. Then they didn’t lose for 17 game, and even when they lost 3-1 at Nebraska-Omaha to end the streak, they outshot the Mavericks. Since then, coach Scott Sandelin hasn’t been thrilled with what he’s watched. Two one-goal victories despite subpar play against Alabama-Huntsville. Then a 4-goal first period against Michigan Tech last Friday.

But since that point, Michigan Tech scored four straight goals to wrench a 4-4 tie from UMD. And the next night, Tech jumped to a 4-goal lead in the first period, and thrashed UMD 5-0. That means Tech spotted the Bulldogs four goals, then proceeded to score nine consecutive goals in the Huskies first visit to Amsoil Arena. In the process, Jack Connolly, who had scored 15-23--38 during a 22-game point-scoring streak to tie the legendary Mark Pavelich for the all-time UMD single-season record, had that string snapped. He often has personified the Bulldogs, and he did that again, because he was, as they say, a bubble off, and so was the whole UMD team.

Sandelin did some juggling for Saturday night: Like chessmen on a large, slippery board, he moved Joe Basaraba from first line to third; Justin Crandall from second line to first to replace Basaraba; Keegan Flaherty from third line to second, to replace Herbert; Dan DeLisle came out of the lineup and was replaced by Adam Krause on the fourth line. What was intended to be a tactical shakeup looked instead like a dose of coaching impatience, when none of the lines looked as though the players had been introduced.

Tech scored four times in the first period, and Sandelin replaced goalie Kenny Reiter with Aaron Crandall, who played well thereafter, but it didn’t help the offense. In the third period, Sandelin put the lines back the way they had been playing for two months, and an early goal might have induced a comeback of their own. Instead, Tech freshman Tanner Kero scored at 0:40, and Tech cruised to a stunning 5-0 romp.

“I can’t understand how any player could walk out of here [Friday night], and not be mad enough that they can’t wait to come out tonight and make up for it,” said Sandelin “We got our asses kicked and it wasn’t even close who the better team tonight was.”

UMD has a long road trip to last-place Alaska-Anchorage this weekend, and it might be the biggest weekend of the season for the Bulldogs. Winning is important, but playing at their familiar high-intensity if far more important to getting back on track. If they don’t, and keep sputtering -- the Bulldogs are now 0-21 on the power play in the last six games! -- they come home to face North Dakota.


LOCAL FANS GET TREAT

A hard-working and home-grown senior centerman who scores or sets up game-winning  goals generally conjures up Jack Connolly. But last weekend, it meant Brett Olson, from Superior, who grew up playing against Jack Connolly from Squirts through high school. While Connolly is the captain, first-line center, All-American and Hobey Baker candidate with an NCAA ring on his finger, Olson has struggled in  comparative anonymity in Houghton, Mich., but he is the ringleader as first-line center and captain at Michigan Tech.

Olson assisted on Jordan Baker’s goal at 0:41 of the third period Friday to cut UMD’s lead to 4-2, and got a second assist on David Johnstone’s power-play goal with 5:48 remaining to give Tech its 4-4 tie. Saturday, he stepped in to intercept Scott Kishel’s hasty outlet attempt and fired a shot past Kenny Reiter at 9:25 of a scoreless first period. That goal ignited a 4-goal splurge in less than nine minutes,  and also stood up as the game-winning goal.

His 17-17--34 in 26 games lead the Huskies in scoring, and the quality of his points is as impressive as the quantity. Olson assisted on the 2-1 overtime game-winning goal against Wisconsin in Tech’s WCHA season-opener, and the next night he scored the 3-2 game-winner in overtime. Olson also assisted on the goal in the 1-0 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato, and scored the game-winning goal in overtime to beat Minnesota 3-2. He had a goal and assisted on the eventual game-winner in the 7-2 shocker against Denver, and he scored the tying goal in the 2-2 rematch.

After that, Olson went four straight games without a point -- and Michigan Tech lost all four of those games. But at Duluth, his homecoming to the Twin Ports was perfect, with his assist on the trying goal Friday against UMD, and his game-winning goal to inspire a 4-goal first period Saturday. Taking three points from preseason favorite Denver, three points from top-ranked UMD, and splitting with  current league leader Minnesota gives the Huskies a valid shot at surviving the logjam in the middle of the WCHA race, where a top-six finish would mean home ice for the first round of playoffs -- something that might send historians back to the John MacInnes era.

“We were on the bottom all three of my first three years at Tech,” said Olson. “We were stuck in a valley. It was tough on the coaches, and we can’t blame anybody, but the new coaching staff has brought us renewed life and given us a clean slate.”

Mel Pearson is the new head coach, returning to his alma mater after 23 years as assistant and later associate head coach with Red Berenson at Michigan. He brought in Bill Muckalt (Michigan), goalie coach Steve Shields (Michigan) and retained Damon Whitten (Michigan State) for his second year at Tech.  The situation of a team and a program that had become accustomed to losing was confronted by a coaching staff all from programs that refused to accept losing.

“We can’t change what’s happened in the past,” said Pearson. “We knew we had to get them to believe in themselves, but I liked a lot of things about our team. All the elements are there, and I could see it the first weekend. We changed the style; instead of ‘defend-defend-defend,’ we wanted to play more of a skating game, and I think it suits the players we have. 

“We had some tough luck, then we swept Wisconsin. Then we beat Minnesota, and beat and tied Denver. Now I expect that, every night. You look at UMD’s stats, and they’ve been dominant in the second and third periods, but our guys are resilient and we came back. I’m so happy for our seniors. They won only eight league games the last three years combined, and now they’re talking about home ice in the playoffs.”

And the Huskies are in reach of finishing among the top six. “Every game, not many get to see behind the scenes, to see the struggles UMD has the best team, with the best players,” said Olson. “But we came back. As a senior, it’s a great feeling. Now that we’ve had some success, we know we can do it, but we don’t want to be satisfied. We’re playing the best teams, and we’re not quitting.” 


NOTES AND TIDBITS:

Michigan Tech captain Brett Olson, from Superior, celebrated after leading the Huskies to a 4-4 tie and 5-0 victory over UMD.
Michigan Tech captain Brett Olson, from Superior, celebrated after leading the Huskies to a 4-4 tie and 5-0 victory over UMD.
  • The NHL All-Star game in Ottawa was interesting. It’s fun to see great players with a chance to zoom around, unchecked, to score magnificent goals. Former Wild winger Marian Gaborik played on a line with Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin, to start with, and Datsyuk and Gaborik made some memorable plays. Gaborik ended up with three goals and two or three assists, and the MVP award. Before the game, somebody sang the usually restyled U.S. National Anthem, and then somebody else sang a perfectly precise O Canada -- no goofy variations or “stylish” alterations. That’s the way it always is. O Canada always sung with reverence, respect, and by following the tune, while the U.S. anthem is almost always -- whether at national events, or at UMD games -- sung with each performer’s little variations from the actual tune. Is it disrespect for our country, or just our anthem? If you think it’s neat to vary the anthem, then why don’t singers play around with any of the anthems from any other country?
  • So Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, a U.S. citizen, and the MVP of Boston’s Stanley Cup Playoff title last season, decided to not join his teammates for the traditional champions’ visit to the White House. Thomas said it was not political, but that it was his way of expressing disagreement with the way politicians are running the country. Thomas, the U.S. Olympic goaltender, is an acknowledged conservative who said, in the Bruins media guide, that the person he would most like to have dinner with would be Glenn Beck(!). Someone should have asked him if he would have gone to the White House if George Bush was still in office. What Thomas did was offer very public and total disrespect to the office of the President. While snubbing Barack Obama, he also  insulted hockey fans, Americans everywhere, his teammates, and the Boston Bruins organization. If he would be so determined to insult the U.S. after winning a Stanley Cup, would he do the same if he happened to win an Olympic gold medal? I think he would. Therefore, I think USA Hockey -- which is dependent on huge monetary donations from corporations and huge support from our government -- should inform Mr. Not Political that while his services have been appreciated, he no longer is invited to try out or play for Team USA.
  • The most incredible sports event of last weekend was Novak Djokovic defeating Rafael Nadel in an incredible five-set match in the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the season. Nadel had beaten Roger Federer in one semifinal on Thursday, then Djokovic was pushed to the limit by American Andy Murray in a 5-hour semifinal match on Friday. Inexplicably given one day less to rest, Djokovic lost the first set 7-5, won the next two, lost the fourth, and then the two battled through an epic fifth set. The match took 5 hours and 53 minutes -- nearly six hours. Physically, a tennis match at that level, with the bursts of energy, agility, raw power, and endurance, goes well beyond any other sports achievement. I used to think running a marathon was as tough as it gets, but runners find a steady pace, with no burst of sprinting, or stops and starts, or swerving and diving, or upper body strength to slam 120-mph serves or returns. Besides, elite runners complete a marathon in less than two and a half hours. Could they keep running for five hours, then come back and run for six hours, two days later? If you saw the match, you know what I’m talking about; if you didn’t, too bad, because it was a chance to see the two best tennis players in the world playing to exhaustion, and then pushing themselves far beyond it.
  • The Michigan Tech rally from a 4-0 deficit to the 4-4 tie wasn’t the only such contest in the past week. On Thursday night, at Wessman Arena, Wisconsin-Superior took a 2-0 lead over St. Scholastica, and the Yellowjackets struck again early in the third to make it 3-0. The Saints needed a spark, and got it from Alex Valenti, who broke in on the right side and scored. Then he set up a second goal, and the Saints wound up gaining a 3-3 tie.
  • The UMD women’s hockey team won a big sweep at St. Cloud State last weekend, but needs to continue winning this weekend against Ohio State at Amsoil Arena. The Bulldogs have had a rough and rugged series with the Buckeyes through the years, and it continued in Columbus earlier this season. The talented Buckeyes and the Bulldogs happen to be exactly tied with 11-10-1 records, and one shootout victory, giving them both 35 points in the WCHA race. That’s good for fourth place, four points behind North Dakota. Wisconsin has the title locked up at 18-2-2, with Minnesota 16-4-2, but the key factor is that fourth place earns the final home-ice slot for the league’s playoffs. Then the Final Faceoff tournament moves to Amsoil Arena, which is where the NCAA tournament’s Frozen Four also will be held.
  • Duluth East’s key regional game against Superior will be Thursday night, then the Greyhounds come back to play a talented Blaine team Saturday at 3 p.m. Next Monday, Amsoil is the site of a unique high school doubleheader, with Hermantown facing Denfeld, followed by East meeting Cloquet. By the way, while East’s Jack Randolph accepted a full scholarship to Nebraska-Omaha last week, his linemate, Dominic Toninato, agreed to go to UMD. Both will play a year of junior hockey in the USHL next season -- Toninato at Fargo, and Randolph with the Omaha Lancers.