UMD’s hockey teams will play their second straight weekend where both teams are at home, affording hockey fans the chance to see four hockey games in rapid-fire succession.

The women’s team, after a rocky start, swept nonconference Lindenwood 3-1 and 6-2 last weekend, with a strong offensive series that was simply not available against Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. The men, meanwhile, had a strong nonconference start but opened their first NCHC conference series looking overmatched in a 3-1 Denver victory, as the Pioneers looked bigger, stronger and swifter. However, the Bulldogs pulled off a complete reversal in the second game, romping to a 6-1 victory.

Freshman Kasimer Kaskisuo, from Finland by way of Cloquet’s Minnesota Wilderness junior team, got the call in goal in the first game, with Austin Farley’s power-play goal the only dent in Denver’s rock-solid defense. More surprising is that coach Scott Sandelin kept junior Matt McNeely tethered to the bench in the second game and sent Kasisuo out again, and he was part of the resounding turnabout.

As remarkable as UMD’s display was, it might have been more substantial. The Bulldogs led 3-0 in the second, and 6-0 in the third before Nolan Zajac put one past Kaskisuo. The UMD goals came from freshman Karson Kuhlman, on a dazzling shorthanded breakaway to open the second period, beating Denver goalie Evan Cowley with a deke, then cut left and tucked his shot behind the surprised goaltender. Austyn Young made it 2-0, and Cal Decowski, in the midst of a hopeless tangle at the net, managed to delicately get his stickblade on the puck and sneak it between the right pipe and Cowley’s skate on a power play. In the third period, Dominic Toninato scored his sixth goal of the season, and Farley and fourth-line sophomore Sammy Spurrell made it 6-0.

Farley’s big night included a goal and an assist, and some time on the top line, with Toninato and Alex Iafallo. That was the result of some serious juggling, because UMD captain Adam Krause went out in the first period with a broken wrist. It was a terrible blow for a senior to have to endure, but Krause vows to be back as soon as doctors will let him, and maybe sooner.

“On the first shift of the game, I went into the corner and made a pass, just as a Denver guy was coming to hit me,” said Krause, who is in his second year of being captain, and who has never even missed so much as a practice, either at UMD or at Hermantown High School. “My arm was extended, and it hit him right in the midsection. I felt something give, and I went off. I asked them to tape it up as tightly as possible, and I tried to play, but the pain was too much.

Further tests this week disclosed three breaks in the radius bone, Krause said. “They’re clean breaks...no surgery is necessary, but I’ll be in a hard cast for four to six weeks.”

Coach Sandelin, who earlier had called Krause the ideal captain, said: “We lost Adam so early, and we had to try a lot of different line combinations. They’re a good team, but Kaz kept it 0-0, and then a couple of goals went our way. As the game went on, we got better.”

The only other downside to the game beside losing Krause was losing the shutout. Especially for Kaskisuo, who was beaten for the second time in the opening minute the night before. “Of course, I wanted the shutout,” he said. “It hit my stick, besides.”

The Bulldogs stay at home against Miami of Ohio, a team that should be a power in the NCHC’s second year. Coach Rico Blasi’s charges return almost intact from a team that was a disappointment last year, but arose to sting St. Cloud State at playoff time.

For UMD’s women’s team, the series against Lindenwood might have been the perfect preliminary before playing Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota. But coach Shannon Miller said she’ll take the success when it comes. The women face Minnesota State-Mankato in another WCHA series this weekend, with games at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at AMSOIL. The biggest plus of the early season is the flashy play of converted sophomore defenseman Lara Stalder centering skilled seniors Meghan Huertas  and captain Zoe Hickel.

In the 3-1 first game, Huertas scored the first two goals, with Stalder assisting, and in the second, Hickel got a hat trick and Huertas added her third of the weekend, with Stalder notching three assists and Hickel and Huertas one each. It wasn’t all that simple, however, as the Bulldogs came out flat and got outshot 13-3 by Lindenwood, falling behind 1-0 as transfered former UMD skater Shara Jasper scored the only goal of the first period.

“I had a few choice words after the first period,” said Hickel, “and then coach came in and had a few more. It wasn’t one or two players, everybody stepped it up in the second period.”

UMD hit the ice flying for period 2, outshooting the Lions 20-5 in the session, but still trailed 1-0 by the midpoint of the period. Then Ashleigh Brykaliuk scored, and 22 seconds later Maria Lindh put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1, with Hickel getting her first before the second intermission, setting the tone for the big third period.

Zoe, Meghan and Lara are our ‘Buzz Line,’ “ said Miller. “They feed the whole team.”

 Thrill of Victory Not Free of Agony

Seniors were a priceless commodity in UMD sports last weekend, and one of them who continued his personal comeback from a broken hand was Aaron Roth, who spent the previous few weeks proving that he could wear a large heavily taped cast/bandage on his left arm and still be a vital part of the Bulldogs undefeated and No. 2 ranked football team.
All Roth has been doing is playing wide receiver, running back a little defensive back to fill in, plus returning kickoffs and punts, and taking part on the kickoff team. So what, Roth was asked, would you pick if you could only play one position?
“I guess it would be offense, because that’s more fun,” said Roth, who proved to recruiters he was a standout athlete at Wayzata High School. “I’d say receiver, or maybe running back.”
I mentioned to him that I had asked coach Curt Wiese if he had thought of playing Roth as a wildcat, taking direct snaps in the backfield. Wiese said he hadn’t tried using the wildcat formation, at least not yet.
“Maybe I’ll have to bug him about it a little,” Roth laughed. “Last year, I took some reps at quarterback in practice.”
Wiese was asked if Roth was really 5-11, as listed. “Maybe with his cleats on,” the coach said.  Roth got the hard hand part of his cast removed for the Bemidji game. “It feels good,” he said. “The swelling is down.”
Sophomore quarterback Drew Bauer has proven himself to be an adept director of the offense, but mostly participating in a high-velocity running attack. The last couple of weeks, however, he’s shown he also can pass the ball, and he may have outdone himself in the Bemidji game. Bauer ran for 79 yards in 20 carries, second only to Logan Lauters, who had 81 yards. But Bauer also was a dazzling 20-for-25 passing, for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
That brought up the senior influence again, because Zach Zweifel and Roth provide deep threats. Zweifel caught six passes for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Roth caught three, for 28 yards. Bo Bofferding had four for 31 yards, senior Austin Sikorski had three for nine yards to go with his 52 rushing yards, Grant Taylor had two catches for 11 yards, and Justin Fowlkes and Lauters had one catch each -- both for touchdowns, including a 36-yarder to Fowlkes.

Sikorski, Brusehaver Injured

All the sports cliches were at work last weekend at UMD. You had sports being a microcosm of real life, as they say, and you had the thrill of victory and the agony -- well, not so much the agony of defeat, just the agony. The loss of hockey captain Adam Krause with a triple-break in his right wrist wasn’t the only physical setback to strike Bulldog sports.
As a very interested observer, I was walking the sidelines and shooting pictures Saturday afternoon at UMD’s 38-10 Northern Sun football victory over Bemidji State, and in the middle of the third quarter, with the Bulldogs leading 24-3, Austin Sikorski  took off on a sweep around left end. He skirted the hustling Beavers and gained 11 yards before being forced out of bounds at the Bemidji 2. I was stationed there, with my trusty camera in hand, at the 2. Having learned from previous experience, I bailed out backwards, just in time, before Sikorski landed hard. But he landed shrieking with pain.
Sikorski, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s preseason player of the year, had a delayed start to his senior season because, incredibly, he suffered a stab wound in an altercation in downtown Duluth during summer vacation. He worked hard to catch up, and finally had gotten up to speed in the last few weeks, giving UMD coach Curt Wiese a stunning 1-2 punch with junior Logan Lauters. And suddenly, he was being lifted onto a cart and taken to the trainer’s room with a wrenched left knee. Word was not exactly prompt, but it appeared to be a ligament problem, which could bring a premature end to Sikorski’s season.
And that wasn’t all. Jacob Brusehaver, a 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior defensive end and a team captain, also went out, later in the game, with a serious knee injury.
The Bulldogs are now 8-0, and off to Minnesota-Crookston this weekend, before coming home to faces the  University of Mary, and a finale at Minot State. We can hope for the outside chance that Brusehaver and Sikorski might be able to get back before the season, and potential playoffs, conclude.
But amid all the victorious plays last Saturday, the flip side is that Brusehaver, Sikorski and Krause -- three of the good guys, and all seniors -- were knocked out of commission on the same day, about four hours apart, through no fault of their own.