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Explosive Bulldogs draw praise after beating Denver
By John Gilbert Last Updated: Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 10:08:17 AM It means a lot to the UMD men's hockey team to have its fans and the media talk and write in superlatives about this season's first half, but it means a lot more to hear well-respected opponents praise how well the Bulldogs are playing. That means more, as the league breaks for the Christmas holidays, the traditional halfway point in the WCHA, than the national rankings. A month ago, the Bulldogs ranked only No. 14 in national ratings. Since then, the Bulldogs swept Minnesota, split with North Dakota, then split again with first-place Denver. The only thing more consistent than the spirited way the Bulldogs have been playing is the ratings, because they STILL rank only No. 14 in the country. The midpoint break finds the top five teams in the WCHA all in a chain of one-point increments. Colorado College (8-3-3) pulled within one point of Denver, while one behind CC is Wisconsin (8-4-2), which is one up on UMD (8-5-1), with St. Cloud State (7-5-2) one more behind. North Dakota (6-6-2) is two points back of St. Cloud, misfiring a bit with the continued absence of mercurial defenseman Chay Genoway, who has been out a month with lingering effects of a concussion. Then comes a drop of one point to Minnesota (6-7-1), and two more to MSU-Mankato (5-8-1). While the top five are all in strong contention, and the league awaits North Dakota's revival, only ninth-place Alaska-Anchorage (4-10) and10th-place Michigan Tech (2-12) are pretty much out of contention, though they've played nearly every team tough. Denver came to Duluth with an impressive habit of winning the nail-biters. When the Pioneers held off Minnesota-Duluth for a 3-2 first-game victory in the DECC, they owned a remarkable 7-1 record in 1-goal verdicts. That stretch includes a recent 1-0-1 series with Colorado College, with a 2-1 victory in Colorado Springs and a 4-4 tie in Denver. The only 1-goal loss Denver suffered was the previous week, 3-2 to St. Cloud State, which followed a 5-3 victory. The week before that, DU swept North Dakota 1-0 and 3-2. The string of1-goal victories started with a 5-4 nonconference decision during a split with Vermont, and later traced a 4-3 victory and a 4-4 tie with Minnesota State-Mankato, plus a 3-2 verdict at Alaska-Anchorage. If you include ties against MSU-Mankato and CC, the Pioneers have only lost one of 10 games (7-1-2) decided by one or less. "I can't explain it," said Denver coach George Gwozdecky. "We seem to keep getting involved in these really close games, and somehow we seem to find a way to win. It helps when we score first, and keep getting the lead, of course." If George had one hand behind his back with his fingers crossed, we understand. But one of the obvious and major reasons for Denver's success in close games is the goaltending of junior Marc Cheverie. He held off the rallying Bulldogs in the 3-2 first-game victory, when Denver led 1-0 and then 3-1 before the Bulldogs charged, Cheverie, from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, had a personal 9-1-1 record this season, with a 1.79 goals-against average, and a .940 save percentage. Cheverie was out for three weeks with a skate cut behind his legpad, and freshman Adam Murray had to be thrown into action, going 2-3-1 with a 4.36 GA and .838 save percentage. Not to denigrate Murray; he was flung into action under emergency circumstances. But with the same team in front of him, the rookie from Anchorage allowed 22 goals in six games, compared to Cheverie, who allowed 21 goals in his first 11 games (9-1-1). But just when it appeared Denver might run off from the pack, the Pioneers were brought back to the pack. Cheverie's stats took a beating as well when UMD jumped on him for three goals in the first period, and, after blowing a 3-1 lead in the second, erupted for three more in the third to beat the Pioneers 6-3 in the rematch. The Pioneers were the preseason choice to win the league title. A surprises was that Colorado College was picked seventh, which shows selectors haven't been paying attention to coach Scott Owens over the last decade. Also, Minnesota was figured to be a solid contender, but the Gophers are the biggest negative surprise, barely rising above the bottom by winning a pair of 3-2 games at Michigan Tech.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the league is UMD's prolific offense. Only Wisconsin has scored more league goals than the Bulldogs, who have countered the loss of senior MacGregor Sharp from last season with a balanced attack led by sophomores Jack Connolly, Mike Connolly (no relation), and Travis Oleksuk, plus juniors Justin Fontaine, Rob Bordson, and Kyle Schmidt, senior Drew Akins, and freshman Mike Seidel. After losing the first game to Denver, UMD coach Scott Sandelin, on a whim, put Fontaine on right wing with center Jack Connolly and left wing Mike Connolly for the second game. The line threw the puck around as if laser-guided, accounting for eight points and four of the six goals in the 6-3 triumph. Jack Connolly had two goals and now has 12-14--26 to lead the team; Fontaine (12-12--24) assisted on the game's first two goals; Mike Connolly (6-13--19), who had a goal in the first game, added three assists in the second for a four-point weekend. "Their top line was very good, and they certainly kept coming," said Gwozdecky. Denver's Anthony Maiani, who had two assists in the first game and deflected in a goal to tie the second game 3-3, said, "It was similar to the first game. Both teams battled hard, but their top line was unbelievable. We couldn't stop 'em." Rhett Rakhshani, Denver captain and leading scorer (11-10--21) by one point ahead of Tyler Ruegsegger (9-11--20), gave full credit to the surprisingly explosive Bulldogs. "Cheverie let in a couple, but we can't expect him to pull us out every time," said Rakhshani. "We had our chances but didn't capitalize. It was a high-paced weekend, similar to the series we had with CC and North Dakota in intensity. In our league, you're facing a good team every weekend, and I'd say Duluth has a very good team, comparable to anybody we've played, but their offense is extremely powerful. Guys like the Connollys, Fontaine, Bordson and all there offensive players make some really good plays and they are so dynamic." "Dynamic" might be the buzzword for the whole WCHA, as teams pause for holiday break. If teams are dynamic in their play, fine; if not, maybe they could ask Santa Claus for a portion. Either way, the whole league should return rejuvenated because of UMD. The 6-3 triumph over Denver means the MacNaughton Cup is still up for grabs, so all 10 teams can spend their down-time gathering energy for what is sure to be a wild second half. |
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