The No. 2 UND men's hockey team took 4 out of 6 National Collegiate Hockey Conference points this weekend against No. 11 Nebraska-Omaha, tying 2-2 on Friday (dropping the shootout) and winning 3-2 on Saturday.
DDC's here with his roses and thorns from the Thanksgiving Day weekend faceoff in Grand Forks:
Roses
No. 1 -- Johnny Simonson
The Freshman forward was a stalwart in dots this weekend for UND, especially on Friday night, winning 9 of 13 draws. DDC loves the multifaceted play of this kid's play this year. North Dakota succeeds when they win the faceoff battle and Simonson is good.
No. 2 -- Zane McIntyre
Coming into the weekend, much of the talk was centered around the emergence of UNO netminder Ryan Massa. It was UND's man in the pipes who stood tall this weekend. Massa played well for Omaha, but McIntyre was great, especially on Friday night as the Mavericks pushed hard after UND tied the score. This team goes as Zane goes.
No. 3 -- Stephane Pattyn
Wow. DDC received this text from the author of the popular University of Hockey Blog following The Captain's shorthanded and eventual game-winning goal on Saturday night. "Was that Pattyn or Crosby?" Seriously. What a missile and at a huge point in the game win UND nursing a tenuous lead. The Green and White lead the nation with eight short-handed goals this year and that one was pretty special.
No. 4 -- Austin Ortega
“Tonight we were able to get up on the board; we really showed we’re a
scoring team,” Ortega said. “Kind of sending a message to North Dakota
that we can score on any goalie out there.” That quote after their win against Minnesota Duluth provided a bit of bulletin board material for this weekend. Well, Mr. Ortega may want to reconsider talking before acting in the future. A rose to the leading scorer for UNO who failed to register a point on the weekend as the Mavericks were held to 4 goals in the weekend.
Thorns
No. 1 -- Shootouts
Sure. This may not be here if UND had won on Friday night instead of lost, but did anyone else feel that shootout was extremely anti-climatic? DDC feels the NCHC brass needs to look at this. What's the need for it? That extra point may have a huge effect on the NCHC race down the stretch. Is this right? Both teams battle for 65 minutes and this is what decides it?
No. 2 -- Lulls in Play
It's become a frustrating pattern for UND this season. Torrid play for long stretches followed by long stretches of uninspired play. If this team plays a 60-minute hockey game, they are very, very tough to beat. The last 10 minutes on Friday nearly cost North Dakota the game. A lack of transition play and virtually no support on the boards led to huge chances for Omaha. Saturday, after going up 2-0, UNO scored a 2-1 goal that gave the Mavs all the momentum. There are too many good teams out there for UND to coast through large spans of games.
I would have to agree on the lulls in play. From a glass half full perspective, I will say that it seems during these lulls it's more the offense that falls flat rather than the defense. Years prior I've seen a total collapse of both which leaves you relying on your netminder to save the game and that's always a risky gamble. That being said, it's only a matter of time before we play a team with enough skill to take advantage of a flat offense. Definitely something they're going to need to correct if they want to find success this season.
I would have to agree on the lulls in play. From a glass half full perspective, I will say that it seems during these lulls it's more the offense that falls flat rather than the defense. Years prior I've seen a total collapse of both which leaves you relying on your netminder to save the game and that's always a risky gamble. That being said, it's only a matter of time before we play a team with enough skill to take advantage of a flat offense. Definitely something they're going to need to correct if they want to find success this season.
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