The students who crunch numbers at Minnesota Duluth’s impressive new Labovitz School of Business (where they operate their own hedge fund) could likely present you with numerous scenarios about what has to happen in the next few weeks for things to break right for the Bulldogs. Most immediately, we know that a win and a tie by the Bulldogs this weekend in their series at North Dakota means home playoff games in the DECC for the first time since 2004, and the last time ever, as their new building will open next season.
Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin leads the Bulldogs into an important series this weeekend at North Dakota.
But for the Bulldogs coach, the only math he’s focused on is immediate in nature, and involves putting more numbers on their side of the scoreboard in their next game. Scott Sandelin reflected on his team’s recent struggles in Friday night games, and on his primary goal for the weekend.
“We’re just focused on getting a win (Friday) night,” Sandelin said. “We need to get back to a little more consistency, because the last month has been really up and down. We haven’t been very good on Friday, and then we seem to wake up on Saturday.”
After sweeping Colorado College and Minnesota State in early January, the Bulldogs were atop the WCHA standings. But since then things haven’t gone so smoothly. The pessimist will note that UMD has won just two of its last six games, with a 0-3-0 mark on Friday night. The glass-is-half-full crowd will note that the Bulldogs have won two of their last three, and head to North Dakota after a weekend off to get a little bit healthier.
For Sandelin, it’s not so much about health or luck or days of the week, it’s about hard work and defying expectations. Those are traits personified by two of the unexpected standouts that have emerged for UMD this season – sophomore goaltender Kenny Reiter and junior forward Rob Bordson.
With a team-leading 26 assists in 30 games, Bordson is doing as a junior what many on the UMD coaching staff expected of him as a sophomore – a season in which he had zero goals and zero assists in 15 games.
“We always knew Rob had good offensive abilities, he was just never strong enough,” Sandelin said. “Over the summer he spent time in the weight room and has gotten much more committed to his game. And the puck is always around him.”
In Reiter, nobody knew what the Bulldogs had for simple lack of ice time. Buried behind star Alex Stalock and rookie Brady Hjelle last season, Sandelin notes that Reiter very easily could’ve left to seek playing time elsewhere.
“Give him credit. He just kept working and kept working. Kenny has persevered a little bit more,” said the coach. “When he was visiting he knew Al was here and knew that Hjelle was already committed.”
Reiter, from Pittsburgh, has split time with Hjelle for the most part all season, starting 18 games to Hjelle’s 15. But Reiter’s superior numbers (.917 save percentage, 2.22 goals-against average heading into the North Dakota series) lead one to believe he’ll be the guy in goal when the Bulldogs get to the playoffs – whether it’s at home or on the road.
UMD has the much-anticipated home series with arch-rival Minnesota sandwiched between trips to North Dakota and Alaska Anchorage to close the season. While generally not looking ahead, Sandelin admits it would be nice to have a home playoff spot wrapped up and out of their minds before the Bulldogs board a plane for Anchorage. And knowing how desperately North Dakota needs points if the Fighting Sioux hope to get home ice and a NCAA tourney invite, Sandelin knows his alma mater will be a desperate team this weekend.
“It will be a lot tougher for that reason,” the coach admitted.
For the Bulldogs, that makes this weekend the perfect time to forget about the numbers and the goal differentials and the records and the playoff-clinching scenarios, and just head out to the ice to play.
ACADEMIC HONORS ABOUND
It’s that time of year when the WCHA emphasizes the student part of student-athlete, honoring its scholar athletes for the 2009-10 season. The numbers of athletes honored for their work in the classroom as well as on the ice seem to get larger the further west you go this time around, as St. Cloud State has six players on the list, North Dakota and Alaska Anchorage each have five, and Denver leads the WCHA with eight scholar athletes.
By contrast, these are apparently not stellar times for schoolwork in the Big Ten. Rarely-used Wisconsin defenseman Ryan Little (who played in 22 games last season but has yet to make an appearance this season) is the only Badger on the list, while no Golden Gophers made the cut.
Players must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or better for two semesters to make the list.
DESERT DUO STEPS INTO COLD
Relatively balmy WCHA schools like Colorado College and Denver have, more often than not, been the landing place for warm-weather kids bound for college hockey. Tigers coach Scott Owens once said California kids seem to like CC because of the familiar abundant sunshine and because it’s as close to home as you can get in college hockey. This despite the 18-hour drive needed to get from Colorado Springs to Los Angeles.
But the southwestern talent pipeline has taken a shift farther north recently, with notable players from Arizona making recent commitments to North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth. A winter in Grand Forks probably will not be that much of a culture shock for Phoenix-area native Colton St. Clair, who has skated with the USHL’s Fargo Force the last two seasons. A star for the Arizona-based PF Chang’s program when he was just 15, St. Clair originally committed to CC, but changed his allegiance to the Fighting Sioux earlier this season.
Family ties likely played a large role in another PF Chang’s standout’s decision to become a Bulldog. Derik Johnson, currently manning the blue line for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, is the son of former Bulldog, and 14-year NHL veteran Jim Johnson. The elder Johnson played for the Penguins, North Stars, Stars, Capitals and Coyotes, before settling in Arizona and coaching the PF Chang’s team for several years.
