Inside some of the key storylines from Ferris State’s 3-1 win over Union.

DEFENSIVE DEPTH LIFTS BULLDOGS
By James V. Dowd

Freshman Jason Binkley and the the Ferris State defense corps was at its best in a semifinal win over Union.

Ferris State coach Bob Daniels described facing off against Union in the national semifinal game as being like looking in the mirror. Both teams are hard-nosed, play nearly flawless defense and have overcome the obstacles facing small schools to emerge as two of the nation’s top teams this season.

If there’s one thing that differentiated the two on paper, it was the play of Union’s most prolific line this year. That trio of Jeremy Welsh, Daniel Carr and Josh Jooris amassed a combined 54 goals and 110 points in the 40 games prior to the Frozen Four.

“They’re just too big and too strong,” Daniels said. “And so we also wanted to make sure we followed the puck, if you will, so when Welsh or that line headed in the offensive zone, rather than relying on a man-on-man type defense with them, we tried to send two players right at the puck to limit our exposure with them in zone.”

Neutralizing that line and Union’s prolific power play became a focal point for Ferris State, especially on a night where they were designated the visiting team and they wouldn’t have the ability to match lines. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, defensive depth is one of coach Bob Daniels’ top assets this year.

Being able to use his top two pairings, senior Chad Billins and sophomore Scott Czarnowczan followed by senior Brett Wysopal and freshman Jason Binkley, interchangeably proved to be difference, as the Bulldogs limited Union’s fearsome trio to a single second period goal in Ferris State’s 3-1 victory.

Wysopal and Binkley, in particular, often found themselves out there against Welsh’s line consistently and made up for Carr’s goal by limiting the number of chances that got through to goaltender Taylor Nelson for the rest of the night.

“I’ve been a defensive defenseman this year, that’s kind of the role that I’ve had,” Wysopal said. “I like playing against other teams’ top lines, and I got a few blocks in the first period and a few against (Welsh). It’s a challenge, he’s a heck of a player and I know he likes to shoot a lot. He got one off of my foot my foot pretty good.”

Daniels took note of those efforts and praised the senior for his gritty play after the game.

“There are a lot of teams that would like (Wysopal) on their number-one pairing in the country because of how well he plays defensively and he’s really a warrior,” Daniels said. “For us to have him in our second pairing is really a bonus for us. Because of the fact that now with the rules on icing, you can’t change players, people that watch that game very closely, every single time we had an icing the Welsh line came out. So you would get a group of our players tired and so you could never guarantee who you’re going to have on the ice, and then to have Brett Wysopal to be able to run out after Czarnowczan and Billins is a luxury a lot of teams would like to have.”

In the end the result was a prototypical Ferris State victory that sent the Bulldogs to prepare for their first-ever national championship game – the type of contest where depth and grit, especially on defense, are always keys to victory.

UNION’S KEYS TAKEN AWAY
By Joe Gladziszewski

Union only got one (abbreviated) power play, but committed five minors including this third-period elbow by Mat Bodie.

When you’re game-planning to stop Union, one of the first bulletpoints on the game plan is to stay out of the penalty box. The Dutchmen power play is one of the best of the country and entered the game at 24.3 percent, ranked fourth nationally.

Neither team was penalized in the first period, and Union committed two infractions in the second. The Dutchmen went on the power play for the first time with 15:30 remaining in the third period when the game was tied 1-1. That turned out to be Union’s only power play in the game and that was cut short when Union’s Josh Jooris was called for a high-sticking minor with 37 seconds left in the man advantage. A team that scored 46 power-play goals on the season was unable to get one in the biggest game of the year.

“We thought maybe we’d get a call eventually,” Union senior captain Nolan Julseth-White said. “We thought we’d try to lean on the refs about the hooking and what not, and we’re not putting anything on the refs. You can’t expect those to come. You’ve got to go out there and earn calls and earn opportunities and we didn’t do that tonight,” Julseth-White said.

It was just one of the areas that Union typically excels at that didn’t go its way in the national semifinal. Some of the things that Ferris State does particularly well are similar to Union’s way of playing, but whereas Union likes to possess the puck and get speed in transition, this game tended to favor loose puck battles and races into open space.

“They play a pretty similar style to ourselves. We didn’t take care of the puck like we normally do and I think we got outhit tonight as well. We kind of got away from our game,” Julseth-White said. “I didn’t think our talk level was there tonight, especially when guys were going to battles for the puck I think we could have done a better job.”

It was the fourth year in a row that Union can characterize the completed season as the best in the program’s Division I history, and wrapped up in the month of April for the first time. While the elements of the game that Union has used to build its program into one of national prominence didn’t go in the team’s favor on Thursday night in Tampa, those are the types of things that have helped build sustainable excellence in Schenectady.

3. Greg Coburn, Union: Paired with the much more heralded Shayne Gostisbehere, Coburn was terrific for the Dutchmen, firing the shot teammate Daniel Carr tipped past Ferris State goalie Taylor Nelson for the game’s first goal and blocking a team-high four shots.

2. Brett Wysopal, Ferris State: The rebound off his third-period point shot led to Kyle Bonis’ game-winning goal, and he did a great job neutralizing Union’s top line of Daniel Carr, Jeremy Welsh, and Josh Jooris, against whom he found himself matched for much of the game.

1. Kyle Bonis, Ferris State: Scored two of the Bulldogs’ three goals including the game-winner with 4:43 left in regulation. Bonis, a junior forward from Lindsay, Ontario, notched his 19th goal of the season—not bad for a former walk-on who, as coach Bob Daniels told INCH’s James V. Dowd prior to the season, “can’t skate a lick.”

In a game where both teams were evenly-matched and eyes were on even the most basic mistakes, high-profile goaltenders Taylor Nelson and Troy Grosenick were nearly error-free. Nelson made 27 saves and never left a bad rebound. Grosenick finished the night with 34 stops and one of the only faulty moves of the game were more circumstantial than intentional when a sharp-angle shot from the left wing boards was kicked away by Grosenick toward an open Ferris State player on the weak side, and Kyle Bonis backhanded in the eventual game-winner.

No one on the INCH staff—even ECAC Hockey scribe Joe Gladziszewski—had ever seen Union’s mascot, a grinning, uhh, Dutch guy with shaggy blonde hair and two missing front teeth. The best comparison we could make—he looked like the grown-up version of Tweek from South Park (pictured, right) although from our vantage point, he didn’t seem overly caffeinated or especially jittery.

Our take: if you’re going to roll out a heretofore unseen mascot (try finding a photo of this guy, cryptically named “Dutch”, on the interwebs even though he’s been part of the college since 1998), don’t do it for the biggest game in school history.

“Every single team is different every year. And they all have different personalities. [Assistant coach Mark] Kaufman … has told me that every team is like a snowflake. They’re all different.”

Ferris State coach Bob Daniels, when asked about the poise of his team after falling behind by a goal in the second period of Thursday’s semifinal against Union.

Great note from the excellent Michigan hockey site The Blog That Yost Built. Maybe it’s because league members have only won one national championship during that span, but it sure seems like the CCHA should get more credit than it does.

Ferris State 3, Union 1 | Box Score

Goalie's best friend: Union netminder Troy Grosenick gets some help from the crossbar on this Ferris State shot during Thursday's Frozen Four semifinal.

TAMPA, Fla. — Ferris State forward Kyle Bonis scored two goals, including the game-winner with 4:43 to play in the third period, to lead Ferris State to a 3-1 victory over Union in the first of two national semifinals at the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla. The Bulldogs, making just their second NCAA tournament appearance in program history, advance to face the winner of the second semifinal between Minnesota and Boston College in the national title game on Saturday night.

Aaron Schmit added an empty-net goal for Ferris State (26-11-5) late in the third period as the Bulldogs sealed away the victory. Daniel Carr scored for Union, whose season ends with a 26-8-7 record.

Ferris State goaltender Taylor Nelson stopped 27 Dutchmen shots in collecting the victory while his counterpart, Troy Grosenick, picked up 34 saves in the loss for Union. Ferris State finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play, with Union being held scoreless in one power-play opportunity.

Following a scoreless first period, Union got on the scoreboard first with Carr’s tip-in of a shot from the point by defenseman Greg Coburn at the 7:56 mark of the period. Ferris State would tie the game just over nine minutes later, with Bonis poking home a puck from the edge of the crease with the Bulldogs on the power play.

In the third period, Bonis again found the back of the net, backhanding a rebound off a shot by defenseman Brett Wysopal past Grosenick. Grosenick went to the bench for the extra skater with 1:21 to play, but Schmit forced a turnover at the Ferris State blue line and skated the length of the ice for the uncontested goal to provide the final margin.

INCH spoke with coaches of teams that have played this year’s Frozen Four participants. We offered them anonymity in exchange for their candid takes on strengths and weaknesses of the 2012 quartet.

FERRIS STATE vs. UNION

FERRIS STATE (25-11-5 overall, 16-7-5-1 CCHA)
CCHA regular-season champions
NCAA Midwest Regional champions

They’re a great team to play against, lot of skill.

They play so well defensively, and yet, they have some really good offensive ability. It all comes from the net out with their goaltender. He’s been outstanding for them all year and I think he’s going to be the key to success for them. At this point, that position becomes magnified, with one bad bounce and you’re going home. The common denominator for all of the teams that are still playing this weekend is that they have great goaltending.

It’s a very disciplined, mature team and they have a lot of really good, committed players who have bought in to what the coaching staff preaches. They’re physical, they finish checks and win a lot of puck battles. One of the things that differentiates them is that they’ve had a very consistent penalty kill that has been very high

Ferris State has a unique defensive zone coverage that’s almost like a box-and-one. They try to outnumber teams in the corners, because a lot of times other teams don’t want to commit that third guy. That leaves the points open, but Ferris is always quick to rotate and they block a ton of shots. It’s tough to penetrate.

Offensively, when they get those pucks in the defensive zone, they like to put a lot of pucks into space. The forwards can get out early in transition and get into footraces. The secondary forwards can join and try to beat their men down the ice.

One thing that might be worth watching is that their defense is pretty small. Union has big forwards and might be able to make things difficult on their defense.

UNION (26-7-7 overall, 14-4-4 ECAC Hockey)
ECAC Hockey regular-season champions
ECAC Hockey tournament champions
NCAA East Regional champions

This isn’t a team with a lot of major flaws. They are committed to doing the simple things well and have a lot of belief in their team identity. They are unwavering in how they want to play. I thought we were able to do some things against them that would have rattled lesser teams, but their conviction and belief is so strong.

If you want to score goals against them you’ve got to establish a forecheck, getting a little bit of a cycle going and then when you do get shots you’ve got to get bodies to the front of the net and get in front of Grosenick. I think Union does a really good job of clearing guys out and letting him see pucks. You’ve got to get in his face a little bit and push him back a little deeper in the net.

To slow them down, you’ve got to limit easy goals, which to me are on the power play and on faceoffs, where Jeremy Welsh and Kelly Zajac are especially good.

If you can utilize the weak side of the ice on breakouts and in the offensive zone you can make it tough on them because all five players on the ice are so aggressive toward the puck. Cycling against them and using the weak side is the best way to generate possession.

One of their strengths is their forecheck. They play all four lines and all four lines come hard on the forecheck. I think you need to match their competitiveness. You have to be ready to play a high tempo, a high pace and be ready. If you’re flat-footed you’re going to be in trouble.

They’ve got enough high-end talent, not a ton, but enough, and they really buy in to what they need to do to win. They’re a very selfless team. I don’t see a drop of selfishness in that team. Even Welsh, who’s bombing away, is not a selfish kid. He knows, “I need to score goals for this team to win.”

ANONYMOUS UNION DEFENSE KEYS TEAM SUCCESS
By Joe Gladziszewski

College hockey fans who are just catching up on to this Union team and its successful run through the regular season and NCAA Tournament can surely come up with the basic information. Troy Grosenick, the sophomore goaltender, is a Hobey Baker finalist. Jeremy Welsh, the team’s leading goal-scorer is a high-level player and has surely attracted lots of attention from NHL front office types.

But what about the defensemen? Those guys do their job in relative anonymity, and it suits them just fine. It’s a mix of differing styles of play, differing levels of collegiate experience and different personalities, but they make all of those things work as a complete unit. Union assistant coach Jason Tapp, a former Boston University goaltender, works primarily with the defenseman.

Junior defenseman Shawn Stuart is part of an anonymous Union defensive corps.

“I think the biggest part of the D is that they all know their roles,” Tapp said. “We have some offensive guys, we’ve have some stay-at-home guys and everyone says we’re an older team but we’re actually pretty young.”

Among the defense corps, the only senior that’s among the top-six is captain Nolan Julseth-White. Juniors Shawn Stuart (40 games) and Greg Coburn (39) have been in the lineup almost every night. Mat Bodie is a sophomore and Shayne Gostisbehere is a freshman. The other spot has been claimed by junior Ryan Forgaard, who returned from injury to reclaim a lineup spot and has been in 19 games this season. Freshman Charlie Vasaturo (12) and senior Taylor Reid (13) have been solid contributors when called upon.

“They’re all very coachable, and they know what their roles are. They listen, they do their job and don’t try to do too much. I think that’s the thing, they don’t try to do things they’re not capable of,” Tapp said. “They keep it even, keep it steady, go about their job and they know what they’re good at. They focus on that stuff and do those things well but they don’t try to get out of their comfort zone.”

That all comes from Julseth-White’s presence and leadership. He’s vocal about keeping things prioritized. Union’s strongest characteristics are its self-belief and unflappable nature, and those traits run through the defense. Grosenick is obviously a beneficiary and gets some notoriety as a result, and Union ranks first nationally in overall team defense. The Dutchmen have allowed just 1.80 goals against per game.

“Our D do a great job of allowing Troy to see pucks. We do a pretty good job of eliminating sticks on pucks and denying shots and taking away some grade-As that teams leave. We form a pretty good pocket around him,” Tapp said. “It’s not just our D, but our team defense. Our forwards get back hard for him and they pick up the trailers so there’s no late passes. We focus a lot on team defense and our guys have bought in and that’s certainly helped Troy.”

SIT STANDS TALL BOSTON COLLEGE
By Kevin Zeise

With as much firepower as Boston College has offensively, it’s easy to overlook the team’s defensive prowess. And as the Eagles try to match up with Minnesota’s top scoring line on Thursday night, they’ll rely on a freshman who grew up in the shadow of the Gopher program, freshman Michael Sit.

Sit centers the Eagles’ fourth line, flanked by fellow freshmen Quinn Smith and Danny Linnell, but unlike his linemates from the East Coast, Sit is the lone representative on the Boston College squad from Minnesota, hailing from the Minneapolis suburb of Edina—a mere 13 miles away from Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena.

Boston College forward Michael Sit, a Minnesota native, relishes the opportunity to face the Gohpers in Thursday's Frozen Four semifinal.

“We were actually (Minnesota) season ticket holders, and I watched them win a few championships when I was in my childhood, those back-to-backs in the early 2000s,” Sit said Wednesday. “We were like 15 minutes from campus, and attended a lot of games when we were younger.”

Despite the obvious hometown appeal, Sit had his sights set on attending school away from home, and a family connection drew his attention toward Boston. His older brother, David, enrolled at Boston University and plays for that school’s club team.

“The East Coast draw was pretty big because he was out here,” Sit said. “I felt more comfortable looking at the schools out east, and this was where my first interest came.”

Sit’s numbers (0-3—3) aren’t the type of thing to grab one’s attention, but he’s aware of the importance of his role on this year’s team. The chemistry he and his linemates have showed have helped the Eagles during their 17-game winning streak leading into the Frozen Four.

“I kind of envisioned my role as a shutdown guy from the beginning, but then when we started playing together, they’re both amazing skaters, they both battle hard in the corners and get to the net,” he said. “I’m more of a harassing-type of player. I don’t have the stature to throw the body around, but then again, Quinn Smith is a pretty small guy, and he bangs pretty hard.”

Facing a team that put up 12 goals in the two games in the West Regional in Minnesota, it’ll be up to Sit and his linemates to help slow down the Gopher attack for the Eagles to reach Saturday’s national championship game. Knowing that the road to the national championship game goes through the program that he grew up watching brings a smile to Sit’s face.

“It’d be a great feeling. I grew up admiring those guys, and that team, and being able to come back and beat them now that I’m in college would just be a great feeling and a great accomplishment.”

GOPHERS’ DEPTH MIRRORS BOSTON COLLEGE
By Jess Myers

Much was made a about the emergence of Minnesota’s newly formed third line when the WCHA playoffs started. When Don Lucia juggled just enough to create a more dangerous third offensive unit with Travis Boyd centering Nate Condon and Taylor Matson, he gave the team a certain offensive depth, correcting an area where the Gophers had been hit or miss in the second half of the regular season.

In Frozen Four foe Boston College, the Gophers now face a kind of mirror image, and not just because the Eagles also wear a variant of maroon and gold.

Watching tape: Minnesota's Ben Marshall readies a stick after the Gophers' Wednesday practice.

“Most teams aren’t three lines deep offensively,” Lucia said Wednesday. “That’s what separates Boston College from, I think, everybody else.”

Well, perhaps everybody except the Gophers, where the top two lines have provided scoring punch all season and the members of the third line all had at least a goal and an assist in the wins over Boston University and North Dakota during the NCAA West Regional. Minnesota’s defense was supposed to be the weak link this season but goalie Kent Patterson did his best work early in the season, giving the blue-line corps time to grow.

“They have three really good scoring lines, but one thing that might benefit us as defensemen is that we go up against a very talented group of forwards each and every day in practice,” said sophomore Nate Schmidt. “We’re up to the task. They have big, strong forwards as well. (Johnny) Gaudreau is a similar size to a guy like Kyle Rau and (Chris) Kreider is a big guy kind of like (Nick) Bjugstad, so we see the same type of players. That caliber doesn’t change very much.”

Still, Lucia tried hard to paint his team as the underdog , joking that you don’t get to the Frozen Four every year unless you’re Boston College while giving a little hint about his team’s strategy against an Eagles team that didn’t allow a goal in winning the NCAA Northeast Regional.

“The first thing we have to do is manage the puck. You can’t turn pucks over against BC and shorten the rink for them,” Lucia said. “We’re going to have to pick our spots, but at the same time I don’t think we can sit back and let them have the puck all night because they’re too talented.”

He won’t mention it, as it doesn’t fit with his underdog vibe, but there will be plenty of talent and three lines of offensive depth on both benches Thursday.

CHANGE OF SCENERY SUITS FERRIS STATE’S WYSOPAL
By James V. Dowd

The sense of surprise in Ferris State reaching its first-ever Frozen Four has been well-documented in the 10 days since the Bulldogs defeated Denver and Cornell in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional in Green Bay. But if there’s one person who finds it hardest to believe that he and his team has reached college hockey’s biggest stage, it might well be Ferris State senior defenseman Brett Wysopal.

Wysopal began his college hockey career skating for Colorado College, a program better known for national success and one just three years removed from a Frozen Four appearance when he arrived in Colorado Springs. The Tigers appeared to be trending in the right direction with a bevy of talent in the pipeline and a bright future seemingly assured.

But after finishing his freshman year with no points in 21 appearances and having mixed feelings about the college’s unique block scheduling setup, Wysopal decided to transfer, landing in Big Rapids.

Ferris State's Brett Wysopal transferred to Big Rapids after one season with Colorado College.

“I didn’t think we’d be in the Frozen Four before CC,” Wysopal said, “Especially after my freshman year at CC where we were ranked No. 1 in the country and kind of laid an egg in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, I was really rooting for my friends to get out of the [NCAA West] regional, but they couldn’t get it done. I thought they were going to do it.”

Despite leaving a program on the upswing and one that’s better known for recruiting and developing top-end talent, Wysopal found Ferris State has a knack for uncovering gems in the defensive zone—a key in the team’s growth and stability in recent seasons. The senior counts himself lucky to have played with some of college hockey’s top blueliners over the past three seasons and credits their skill sets with giving him the opportunity to refine and improve his own game.

“I think it makes my job a lot easier,” Wysopal said. “I’ve never been a really high-profile guy. We have (senior Chad) Billins this year, we had (Winnipeg Jets prospect Zach) Redmond last year and (Matt) Case a few years ago. They are all high-end players who are very skilled. It’s really easy to let them go do their job and I just have to worry about mine.”

As the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Wysopal improved as a defender, his responsibilities shifted. This year, he was asked to take on more of a defensive role than in the past and responded with a plus-5 rating and 73 blocked shots.

“I think my role changed this year,” Wysopal said. “I’ve been more of a power-play guy before but I think this year we needed a guy who could play in a more defensive role. I might be undersized, but I figured I could do it. The coaching staff asked if I could I do that and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.”

Wysopal’s defensive efforts will be as important as ever if the Bulldogs hope to reach Saturday’s title game. Facing a Union team that’s strong defensively and with explosive forwards who are big in stature, Wysopal knows little things like blocked shots and physical play will make the difference. And while the Bulldogs have enjoyed more offensive success than years past, they’re prepared to grind it out in a game that Wysopal believe will be a one-goal game.

“We like to run and gun more than Ferris State used to in the old days,” Wysopal said. “Guys like Jordie Johnston like to run and gun and score some goals. But I think we can (grind it out). It’s more of a battle, it’s much more of a battle and it wears you down. But at this point in the year, guys are willing to do anything to win.”

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
By Mike Eidelbes and Kevin Zeise

• Ferris State coach Bob Daniels was named the recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award presented annually to the NCAA Division I coach of the year. It’s the second time Daniels has won the honor—he was also the Penrose winner in 2003—and the first CCHA coach to win it since Michigan’s Red Berenson in 2008.

“The (Penrose Award)  is unique in it represents a team accomplishment. There’s no coach that’s deserving of individually winning the award,” Daniels said following his team’s practice at Tampa Bay Times Forum. “I think it’s an award bestowed upon the coaching staff, the players, the administration, the fans. It truly is a team award.”

• No stranger to the Frozen Four himself, Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon was in attendance at Wednesday’s practice sessions. And while his Catamounts didn’t have the season they had wanted this year, Sneddon has taken some pride in seeing Union, a team he coached from 1998 to 2003, qualify for this year’s Frozen Four.

“It’s been a really neat evolution when you look at that program. I remember at the time, it was all about dollars and cents—can we recruit, do we have enough money to buy sticks, if we don’t get more donations, how can we continue to do this? I think at that point in time, we were focused on trying to build a foundation for the program to prosper and now that they have foundation, they can really get after it for championships.

“There’s some great people there and it’s a great school, and I think that’s part of the frustration during that time was it was this fantastic school and a great environment, and it just needed a little bit of help. Now they’ve got that help and you see where they are.”

• No one familiar with college hockey views this year’s Frozen Four semifinals as a case of the haves (BC, Minnesota) vs. the have nots (Ferris State, Union), but it’s naive to think there aren’t differences between the institutions. For example, one INCH staffer overheard a Union student manager talking to his boss about Minnesota’s equipment bounty: “Did you see how many sticks they have?”

• The Gophers earn a bonus point for adorning their Tampa Bay Times Forum locker room door with a logo similar to the skating Gopher logo that used to grace one end of old Mariucci Arena. The new Gopher logo certainly looks like he’d be better in the corners, but the old skating Goldy (pictured, right) has more of a Gretzky-like demeanor, no?

Kudos to Minnesota equipment manager and friend of INCH Lee Greseth for encouraging the Gophers to more prominently use the old logo.

• Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Shannon, out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury, visited the Boston College locker room after practice Wednesday and addressed the team. Shannon played for Boston College from 2001-05 and helped the Eagles to the Frozen Four in 2004.

“Coach York had him talk to us about his experience in the Frozen Four, just what it was like for him,” said Boston College sophomore Bill Arnold. “He reiterated that this is it, and not to take anything for granted, and to give it everything we have. One game, and the season could be done.”

• Flashback to Frozens past: Glanced up at one of the television monitors in the Tampa Bay Times Forum media workroom to catch a glimpse of a replay of Tuesday’s Anaheim-Vancouver match that starred Canucks netminder Cory Schneider—the former Boston College goaltender who helped the Eagles to the Frozen Four in 2006 and 2007. Schneider stopped all nine shots he faced in relief of starter Roberto Luongo as the Canucks earned a 5-4 shootout win over the visiting Ducks.

When asked by a reporter why Boston College and Minnesota don’t play each other more often, Eagles head coach Jerry York remarked that BC will be part of Minnesota’s holiday tournament next season and added that the two schools are working on a four-year scheduling agreement for regular-season series with an unspecified start date.

INCH spoke with coaches of teams that have played this year’s Frozen Four participants. We offered them anonymity in exchange for their candid takes on strengths and weaknesses of the 2012 quartet.

MINNESOTA vs. BOSTON COLLEGE

MINNESOTA (28-13-1 overall, 20-8-0 WCHA)
WCHA regular-season champions
NCAA West Regional champions

There’s a lot of similarities with these two teams; it’s not as if there’s a big difference between them in the way they play the game and the type of talent they have.

They have a lot of skill … they’ve got good size, they’ve got skill and speed. That’s a nice asset to have with your forwards. They’ve got good balance. Most of their guys can skate well, so they’re definitely good offensively and have a lot of the puck skills to generate offense and get pucks to the net.

You’re going to have to play well defensively to beat them. They have speed and they create a lot of offense with that speed. They play the transition game well—if you turn over the puck, they capitalize off of them.

You’ve got to put pressure on their defense, get pucks in behind their defensemen, and forecheck aggressively. You can also generate offense by being patient with the puck. Not turning pucks over is very important. Both [Minnesota at Boston College] have good offensive transition and their defensemen activate off the rush and, generally, you’re going to see at least a three-man rush and in many instances, four.

BOSTON COLLEGE (31-10-1 overall, 19-7-1 Hockey East)
Hockey East regular-season champions
Hockey East tournament champions
NCAA Northeast Regional champions

[Goaltender Parker] Milner’s the big reason why they’ve turned the corner. They’ve always had the talent and the offense and it was just a matter of them getting consistent goaltending. He’s made the difference for them in the last month.

Their goaltending has really solidified, and they’ve played well outside of that. I think right now, Milner’s playing with a lot of confidence, so you’re going to have to get people to the net and crash the net. Milner’s got decent size and plays his position well. The biggest thing that I’ve seen with him right now is that he’s really controlling his rebounds well.

It’s not a matter of slowing them down, but more a matter of picking your poison. You have to be conscious of their top three lines. It’s a matter of offsetting their depth by making good puck decisions and not throwing pucks away and giving them opportunities to get in transition.

You have to play with discipline and keep them off the power play. They have a lot of weapons, and you can’t just isolate one or two guys.

The candidates for the 2012 Hobey Baker Memorial Award was trimmed to three this week and there were no surprises among the finalists. The trio of senior forwards—Spencer Abbott of Maine, Minnesota Duluth’s Jack Connolly, and Colgate’s Austin Smith—have been at or near the top of everyone’s list of Hobey hopefuls the entire season.

So whose name will be called when the 2012 Hobey Baker Award winner is announced Friday at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa? In our final Hobey Tracker of the season, INCH gives its reasons why each of the three finalists should win the Hobey along with items that could hamper their chances.

Why He’ll Win: The nation’s leader in both assists and points played a huge role in Maine’s return to the NCAA Tournament after a four-year hiatus. In addition to the 21 goals he potted, his playmaking skills fueled increased production from Black Bears teammates Joey Diamond (25 goals), Brian Flynn (18 goals), and Matt Mangene (16 goals). And of Abbott’s 21 goals, all but four were scored at even strength or shorthanded.

Why He Won’t: Plus-minus rating can be deceiving, but for a guy who scored 16 even-strength goals, a +14 rating seems awfully low and suggests Abbott and his linemates are a liability when they’re not scoring, and a closer look at his numbers shows half his points and a whopping two thirds of his assists came on the power play. The combination of those two factors suggests Abbott’s impact at even strength isn’t Hobey caliber.

Why He’ll Win: Connolly came into the season with instant name recognition after helping UMD to the 2011 national title and he lived up to his name, leading the Bulldogs to a 17-game unbeaten streak. He had at least one point in 35 of the 41 games he played, including a 22-game point streak that stretched from mid-October to late January. And though the Hobey should be presented based on performance during the 2011-12 season, Connolly’s career numbers (66 goals, 197 points) could be a factor.

Why He Won’t: Can Connolly be the best player in the country when he might not be the best player on his team? Some would argue forward J.T. Brown, who led UMD with 24 goals, was the guy who made the Bulldogs go. And while Connolly supporters are quick to point out he didn’t play on a line with Brown and/or forward Travis Oleksuk (21 goals), but he did team with them on UMD’s top power-play unit—which is where Connolly got exactly half his points.

Why He’ll Win: The nation’s leading goal scorer lit the lamp 36 times in one of the most prolific lamp-lighting seasons in recent college hockey history, and his goals made a difference for the Colgate Raiders. He scored seven power-play goals and six short-handed goals on the year, which means that 29 of his goals came at even strength or while the Raiders were shorthanded. Colgate finished in 12th place in ECAC Hockey last year and improved to a top-four spot in 2011-12 as a healthy Smith led the way.

Why He Won’t: Colgate’s small-time reputation as a member of ECAC Hockey doesn’t carry as much national cache as the names of the other finalists in being associated with Maine and defending national champions Minnesota Duluth. That also means fewer television opportunities for Smith. How many voters actually saw him play?

In winning a regular-season title and fighting its way through a tough regional to reach the Frozen Four for the first time in school history, just about everything went right for Ferris State this season.

The defense was stellar as always and the Bulldogs managed to maintain a productive offense with multiple lines that could score on a given night, making them a tough out for everyone they faced.

Leading the way was the stellar goaltending of senior Taylor Nelson, who emerged from the shadows of last year’s All-American netminder Pat Nagle to become one of the nation’s best. INCH caught up with Nelson as he and his teammates began preparations for a national semifinal matchup with Union.

James V. Dowd: Congratulations on the run to the Frozen Four! Have you had a chance to sit back and reflect on what this success means to you and to your school and team?

Taylor Nelson: To be perfectly honest, it’s tough to reflect right now because we want to push forward and we want to make the best of the situation we have at the Frozen Four by winning a couple of games. It was funny though … after we beat Cornell, my roommate Chad Billins and I woke up in the hotel room and just kind of looked at each other and smiled and laughed and said we’re  in the Frozen Four. It’s a pretty surreal feeling. A lot of people didn’t have us pegged to do much of anything this year; I think we were listed at nine in our conference for the media polls and so it surprised a lot of people and it’s a very surreal feeling.

INCH: Denver is a pretty dynamic team that has given some great teams a lot of trouble this year and they never really got anything going, and Cornell had been playing pretty well as of late. What went right for you on the ice during the regional?

TN: Starting off the tournament against Denver, first off you hear about Drew Shore and his brother [Nick], Jason Zucker, and they have some very elusive defensemen up top that can make things happen. There’s a lot of press out there on those guys and we were able to watch film and study film for an entire week before we played Denver, so we were able to able to see some things that they like to do once they are in the zone. We found out that they are a team that loves to prey on transition hockey. If you turn over the puck at the blue lines, they will transition that and come right back at you, so we wanted to focus on getting pucks deep and using our forecheck and our bodies to play physical on their defensemen. As far as Cornell goes, they had just defeated Michigan the night before and that’s something we were unable to do this season, so right off the bat you know this team is for real. Cornell matched up extremely well with us, they played a very similar style in the defensive zone and wait for the opportunity to make something happen. That’s a big team— they’re a very big, very physical team and I was proud of the way we buckled down and played against a team very similar to ours.

INCH: In your freshman year you shared time pretty evenly but then over the next two years, Pat Nagle differentiated himself and ultimately was an All-American. This year you’ve really become the guy. What did you learn the last few years that prepared you to come out so strong this year?

TN: When I came in as a freshman, I was just coming off of a national championship playing with the Humboldt Broncos in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. I was pretty confident and I had a good freshman season. Coming into my sophomore season, I started the year pretty well, but then Nagle started playing well and he kind of took over and had a strong second half, and then in my junior year I didn’t play much at all. If anything, I think I was trying too hard, squeezing too hard, and trying to make things better. This season, I really buckled down in the offseason and by no means was I given the starting job coming in. I felt like I had to prove myself again. I had to prove to the coaching staff that I could not only play at this level, but that I can win at this level. It’s been an amazing ride and I don’t want it to end yet.

INCH: Coach Daniels might not be as well known around the country as some other coaches in the league, but he seems to be well liked by everyone who knows him and it seems like guys like to play for him. What’s it like to play for him and how good did it feel to win one for a coach like him?

TN: Coach Daniels is a great coach. He’s a coach who’s great at dissecting other teams and developing perfect game plans for our style of team. He’s been here for over 20 years and for us to be able to help take him to the Frozen Four is a nice feeling. We’re sharing this with him as well; it’s our first time, it’s his first time and we’re enjoying it together.

INCH: The fans in Big Rapids have really been behind you guys up and down and all around over the years. What does that kind of support mean to the team?

TN: I can’t say enough about the community of Big Rapids. They’ve come to our games in heaps and heaps of people and supported us even during the holiday games when the students aren’t here. The community has really taken over and rallied around us. Anywhere we go in town people notice you now and they’re really pulling for us. We had fans in Green Bay coming to the games, and now we have a ton of fans coming to Tampa now with us. To have that support, knowing that people will travel as far as they are to watch Ferris State Bulldog hockey is a feeling I’ll never forget. Our student section has always been great at the chants they do and all of that, but I can’t explain the feeling that I’ve had when the community, when the rest of the stands have started the Ferris State chants or started the Bulldog chants. They really blew the roof off of this place this year and I hope they bring it down to Tampa Bay.

INCH: Looking forward to Tampa, what do you know about Union and what do you have to do to beat them?

TN: It’s exciting in the fact that they’re a team making their first Frozen Four trip as well. They’re a team that I think was No. 1 in the nation in goals against and they have a great young goaltender. They have a team that was, I believe, top five in the nation in goals for, so they can keep the puck out and then they can put the puck in. Those two stats right there, that’s the recipe for a winning team and we have the utmost respect for Union. We’re just starting to look at special teams today and we’re going to get into things in depth in the following days. Union is a very good team and we are excited for the opportunity to play them.

INCH: One last question looking back. In the final weekend of the regular season you guys clinched the regular-season title, but maybe didn’t get the results you wanted in those games and then you had a disappointing playoff series loss to Bowling Green. How did you guys regroup and bounce back for the tournament, and how did you stay hungry despite the fact you had already reached heights that Ferris State teams had rarely attained?

TN: We had done something that only one team in Ferris State Bulldog history had ever done—win the regular-season championship trophy. It was a very special time for us. We lost on the Friday night in Kalamazoo against Western Michigan, but we got the point to clinch and then we came back on Senior Night in Big Rapids and we did lose to Western, so those were a couple of games there that we would have liked to have. At the same time, those were really hard-fought games against a very good Western Michigan team that won the CCHA playoffs. Bowling Green was a team that really peaked at the end of the year. They were a good team. By no means did we take them lightly. We played a strong series and the bounces didn’t go our way—that’s the way playoff hockey works. If anything that series motivated us to want to push forward.

We had accomplished something that the 2002-03 team had done and now we wanted to surpass what that team had done by winning a regional, so that added fuel to the fire. We were complete underdogs—no one expected us to get past Denver and no one expected us to win the regional in Green Bay and go to the Frozen Four. We’re still underdogs today and that’s the mentality we like to have. We’re a hard-nosed, blue-collar team that’s going to work hard and put our best foot forward every night.

The 2010-11 season could hardly have ended worse, or more abruptly, for Minnesota defenseman Nate Schmidt and his Golden Gopher teammates. He was a healthy scratch for the playoffs (in which the Gophers were swept at home by Alaska Anchorage) after playing just 13 of Minnesota’s 35 games last season, recording one assist (in a tournament game versus Ferris State—something Gopher fans hope is a bit of ironic foreshadowing).

A year later, Schmidt and his mates are prepping for the school’s first Frozen Four trip since 2005, and his numbers serve as a microcosm of the difference a season can make. Schmidt has played in all 42 of the Gophers games and has a trio of goals added to a whopping 38 assists (three of them during West Regional wins over Boston University and North Dakota), which places him in the top six all-time for best offensive seasons by a Gopher defenseman.

Schmidt is a chatty one, quickly becoming a fan and media favorite in the Twin Cities for his broad smile and natural gift of gab. So he was the obvious choice for INCH to talk with this week about the energy on the team, the influence of a new assistant coach, and how exactly one prepares to go to the tropics and play hockey there.

Jess Myers: What has the past week been like, getting ready for the Frozen Four and the trip to Florida?

Nate Schmidt: It’s been an exciting week. Lots of energy and a lot of buzz around campus, around our team, and around the program. It’s been fun as it has set in that we’re going to the Frozen Four and to Tampa, which is one of those goals we had at the start of the year. It’s been an interesting week, especially having this week off, which is kind of tough. We’re trying to stay as game-ready as possible.

INCH: After last season ended so abruptly with those playoff losses to Alaska Anchorage, did your team honestly believe that you were close to something like this?

NS: The expectation around our program is to be where we are now each and every year. Granted, it doesn’t always happen. Certain problems arise sometimes and we just don’t get there. After the season last year it was tough. You’re thinking, ‘Where could we be?’ I think we had a good foundation of guys. We lost some seniors but we knew we had a guy like Kent Patterson coming back and he was a backbone at the end of the season last year and obviously one of the most important parts of the team this year. Our freshman class with (Nick) Bjugstad and (Erik) Haula and the juniors who are now seniors were all hard-working guys and were in it with a team-first mentality. So I think we had the basis of being where we are right now. It was just whether or not we were going to work hard enough and mesh as a team. I think we’ve meshed really well as far as chemistry and guys have stepped up into different roles to enhance our team chemistry throughout the entire year.

INCH: A lot has been made about assistant coach Mike Guentzel returning to the program. As one of the guys on the blue line, what has he meant on the bench and in the room?

NS: He’s a complete energy guy. He bleeds maroon and gold and you love to have those kinds of guys around. He holds all of our defensemen accountable with certain parts of the game—blocking shots, takeaways, giveaways, getting shots through on the offensive side. He really brings a lot of wealth of knowledge to the table. One thing that I really enjoy from him is he’s a straight-shooter type and will let you know where you stand. He doesn’t have any mirrors or clouds of mist around him. You know what you’re going to get each and every day, but still each day is a new experience with Coach Guentzel.

INCH: Have you been to Florida, and have you played hockey there, before?

NS: I’ve been to Florida before, but this will be my inaugural game in Florida. Haula said this is Minnesota’s inaugural game there, so there are a couple of firsts for everybody around here.

INCH: How do you prepare? Are you going to the tanning booth or anything?

NS: (Laughs) You know there is a tanning booth at our apartment building, but I’ve kind of stayed clear of that a little bit. I’m not sure if guys are writing aliases down and some of our guys are trying to get in there under wraps but I’m pretty sure everyone is staying clear. If I come back with the same white, pasty look I’ll be fine because hopefully that means we’ve been in the rink all weekend. That’s 100 percent OK with me.

One of the unique characteristics of the 2011-12 Union team is that even though there is some star power in the lineup and individuals who garner some attention, that’s not what defines the team. Enough contributions come from enough different places that it would be unfair to label Union as being carried by a player such as Troy Grosenick or Jeremy Welsh.

One of the lesser-known contributors who plays a key role is the team’s senior captain, defenseman Nolan Julseth-White. It’s a fitting choice for Julseth-White to wear the C, as his demeanor and level-headed approach is emulated by the rest of the team. There’s a good mix of recognizing and celebrating success without getting too caught up in the moment to distract the team from obtaining future goals.

Julseth-White’s role has become larger for the Dutchmen each year since arriving on the Schenectady, N.Y. campus as a freshman, when he played in just two games. He slotted in 25 times as a sophomore and played 32 games as junior. The man teammates call “Juice” has been in the lineup every game this season, and the Frozen Four semifinal will mark his 100th career game on Union’s blueline.

INCH caught up with Julseth-White as Union prepares for next week’s Frozen Four.

Joe Gladziszewski: First off, congratulations on a successful two-week stretch with two wins in Atlantic City at the league tournament and two wins at the regionals. How is the mood around the team right now?

Nolan Julseth-White: We’re definitely proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but we know we’re not done yet. We celebrated a little bit on Sunday when we had the day off, but then it was right back to work with a lift on Monday and a skate on Tuesday. Now it’s just about focusing on executing every day in practice.

INCH: What did the team take from last year’s postseason experience, the playoff series loss to Colgate and the NCAA game against Minnesota Duluth, in winning the ECAC Hockey title this year and advancing to the Frozen Four?

Julseth-White: We’ve been asked that question a lot over the last few weeks and I’d say the experience helped somewhat but not that much, because we have a really mature group. It’s a group of guys that grew as the season went on. We took experience from all of the games, win or lose, and tucked that away, but didn’t get too high or too low.

INCH: That seems to be a big part of this team’s personality, the mindset and attitude of keeping an even keel and never swinging too far emotionally no matter what the score is or what kind of streak you’re on. As a senior, and a captain, is that the type of leadership you try to provide?

Julseth-White: Our leadership is a group effort. I have a great supporting cast as well as (assistant captains) Kelly Zajac and Jeremy Welsh, and as I mentioned it’s a really mature group. We know what it takes all around. When it comes time everyone can hold each other accountable for doing what they need to do and we know when to offer encouragement when someone needs a pick me up.

INCH: How has it been this season playing in front of goalie Troy Grosenick, who won the Ken Dryden Award as best goalie in ECAC Hockey and is a Hobey Baker Award finalist?

Julseth-White: He’s an outstanding worker and a very gifted goaltender. He fights to see every puck and to stop every puck, and he tries to make every save. He never gives up on a play. As a defenseman, it’s good to work with him because he’s always talking. He said in a recent interview that he was mostly talking to himself, not to us, but he’s talkative and just an outstanding goalie.

INCH: What is preparation like in this time before you head to Florida and go through a busy week down there with the events surrounding the Frozen Four and the semifinal game next Thursday?

Julseth-White: This is our first week back at school and definitely this week we’re getting the academics taken care of. There’s a lot of communicating with professors and getting our schoolwork taken care of and out of the way as much as we can. Also, we’re taking care of family and friends and tickets as much as we can right now so it’s not as big a distraction when we get down there next week. And, no offense to you, talking to media and fulfilling those kinds of requests, all of these things we’re just going to deal with as they come and then stay focused in practice.

INCH: You’ve got a lot of talented forwards on your team, and it’s not just the Welsh line with Daniel Carr and Josh Jooris. Tell me what it’s like to play against those guys in practice every day.

Julseth-White: We generate a lot of competition and it ends up being the defensemen against the forwards and I’d say that the defensemen have about a 98 percent winning percentage in practice (joking) and make sure you write that in there. But the group of forwards are all very competitive. They are skilled, and as you mentioned there’s depth and it’s spread out through all of the classes, not just one class. Each of them brings a different set of skills.