March 29, 2008
NCAA Midwesst Regional
Postcard: North Dakota's Hobey Hat Trick

By Jess Myers

MADISON, Wis. — In theory, the team that once featured a player named Hobey Baker would pay attention to a guy who’s won the Hobey trophy. But perhaps the Princeton Tigers were too fixated on Hobey finalists Saturday, and forgot about the reigning Hobey recipient.

When you’re trying to contain T.J. Oshie and get pucks past Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, you’re left with little time to focus on an undersized guy who wears sweater number 16 for the Fighting Sioux. For the Tigers, that mistake proved fatal.

Ryan Duncan beat Zane Kalemba from a tough angle for his first of three goals Saturday afternoon.

That is to say that on Saturday, the often-overlooked Ryan Duncan, 2007’s Hobey winner, had a hat trick – his first as a collegian. The third goal went into an empty net, and the second goal came via a nice bounce in front. But Duncan’s first goal of the day, which gave North Dakota a 2-0 lead, was a flashback to the top-shelf sniping that earned him the game’s top individual honor last season.

Stationed at the right of the Princeton net, Duncan accepted a cross-ice saucer pass from Oshie, waited for Tigers’ goaltender Zane Kalemba to drop, then popped off a rising shot for his 15th goal of the season. He finished the day with 17 for the campaign, but true to Duncan’s soft-spoken nature, talked more about what others did when describing the play.

“Zane was right there. I was fortunate to get it up high enough. I didn’t really get it up in the top corner, it was more in the middle of the net,” Duncan said. “He just missed it with his glove otherwise he would’ve made a great save.”

Fans saw a similar move repeated dozens of times last season, when Duncan would wait for the goalie to provide a tiny opening, then he’d lift the puck high and watch the red light glow. He finished with 31 goals that year, earning North Dakota’s second Hobey. Teammates, who have seen the move countless times in games and in practice, know all too well what’s coming.

“He gets in that spot and he beats them every time. If he gets a chance from that right side on the off wing it’s almost a guarantee,” said Sioux defenseman Taylor Chorney. “We start standing up on the bench before he even shoots it half the time. When he gets those chances, he doesn’t miss.”

Ryan Duncan and the Fighting Sioux knocked Princeton out of the tournament despite facing 39 Tigers shots.

Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said Duncan was the team’s best two-way player in the NCAA opener. Others in the Sioux room compared the opponents’ focus on Duncan this season to the attention Marty Sertich of Colorado College got in 2006 after winning the Hobey the previous season.

“He’s back!” Oshie joked after the game. “It’s nice for Dunc to have a night like they did because they’ve been keying on him quite a bit through the entire season, especially on the power play.”

Duncan’s signature goal wasn’t technically a power play. It happened three seconds after a Princeton penalty had expired. The Tigers insisted they hadn’t forgotten about Duncan, but they were still unable to stop him.

“Duncan is so good,” said Tigers coach Guy Gadowsky, describing the second Sioux goal. “He took the peek and saw that Zane dropped and went upstairs … The puck went to the wrong guy.”