Kicking off the regular season, the No. 8/7 University of North Fighting Hawks take on the Niagara University Purple Eagles from the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, and as the 2018-19 UND squad can attest to, this weekend is an important one for the Green and White.
On January 5-6, 2019, UND faced off against Canisius College, got swept against a team that ultimately would finish 54 out of 60 teams in the Pairwise ranking, which determine the NCAA tournament field each season. These losses ultimately popped the Green and White's tournament bubble by season's end. While Niagara isn't necessarily as poor Canisius ended up being that season, with the Pairwise ranking determining everyone's fate, losing to the Purple Eagles would be a massive blow to a potential national tournament in the future.
With all of that said ... trap series.
And as he did for the Roses and Thorns column, DDC will re-introduce the Who? What? How? preview. Simply put, this is the people, the things and the situations that lead up to a particular weekend's tilt. The players, that standout stats, and the how they got here are going to give you all an idea of what to look for each weekend. And finally, it will end with DDC's weekend pick! Without further ado...
Who?
Players to Watch
Niagara University Purple Eagles -- 2020-21 stats
Sr. F., Walker Sommer, 8 goals, 7 assists -- 15 points; Jr. F., Ryan Numovski, 3g, 10a -- 13pts; Sr. F., Ryan Cox, 7g, 4a -- 11pts; Sr. D., Chris Harpur, 0g, 8a -- 8 pts; Jr. G.,Chad Veltri, 5-7-2, 2.61 goals against average, .914 save percentage; Sr. G., Michael Corson, 2-4-1, 3.28 GAA, .903 SV%
University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks -- 2020-21 stats
Moorhead, Minn., native and former UND recruit Carter Randklev skates for the Purple Eagles. The now sophomore tallied 3 goals and 2 assists for Niagara last season.
Niagara returns 18 players from last year's team and adds 12 rookies.
Niagara is 0-7-0 all-time against North Dakota including a 2013 NCAA regional loss. The Purple Eagles' last visit to Grand Forks in 2015 was not a pleasant one with UND sweeping the series to the tune of a 12-1 margin in the two games.
UND
This weekend marks 20 years since the REA opened it's doors. Cheers to the Palace on the Prairie.
UND welcomes forward Connor Ford (Bowling Green) and Ashton Calder (Lake Superior State) to this year's squad and hopes the two continue their solid WCHA goal scoring in the NCHC. Ford and Calder finished last season tied with 16 goals each, good for fifth in the nation.
The Green and White hopes to find offensive consistency and goal scoring with a plethora of new faces. Last year, UND was 16-1-0 when they scored at least 4 goals.
How?
How'd they get here?
Niagara plays in its first game action of the year after missing out on the NCAA tournament last season. The Purple Eagles fell in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals to end their campaign.
UND took down the Bemidji State Beavers 2-1 in an exhibition last weekend in Grand Forks. Sophomore winger Riese Gaber scored the Fighting Hawks' first goal and sophomore defenseman Jake Sanderson notched the game winner.
The Pick
The Cathedral of College Hockey turns 20. DDC predicts UND will celebrate in style with a sweep.
DDC will be honest, here ... this needs to be a sweep. He gets it, yes, it's October... but come tournament time, if he has to hear about a loss or two to frickin' Niagara from October, he is gonna be sick. DDC believes talent wins out, here. While there are concerns with how this team will gel to start the year, DDC believes in the pieces that the Fighting Hawks will skate out onto the REA ice this weekend. Zach Driscoll looked so good in the exhibition and he will clean up with a solid defensive performance in front of him.
Jake Sanderson is so an NHL player playing college hockey and DDC predicts a big weekend from him as Atlantic Hockey just doesn't have this type of talent skating against its opponents on a nightly basis. The UND faithful got a whiff of this premise in the first round of the NCAA tournament as the Hawks rolled AIC. The Yellow Jackets just weren't in UND's league and DDC believes that will show again this weekend for the Purple Eagles.
It's time to pay homage to the Palace on the Prairie for its 20th birth, kick the season off right, and get two wins.
The Green and White pushes Niagara over the falls and sweeps, 4-1, 5-2
Check back early next week to see how it all went down! Thanks for the read!
UND senior forward Mark MacMillan pots a power play
goal on Saturday night. Photo Credit: UND Sports
This past weekend had all the makings of a Pairwise disaster for the UND men’s hockey team.
The Green and White had little to gain and a lot to lose in the rankings with a loss to dead-last ranked Niagara. A loss in either game would have sent UND hurdling down the rankings.
A 7-1, 5-0 sweep later, North Dakota and its fans can breathe easy.
The Green and White dominated the lowly Purple Eagles for a full 120 minutes Friday and Saturday and closed out their non-conference play for 2014-15 with a stellar 9-1-1 record.
Here’s what stood out to DDC in his weekly Roses and Thorns:
Roses
No. 1 – Zane McIntyre
The junior netminder was a late, third-period softie on Friday short of back-to-back shutouts on the weekend. Although not tested very much all weekend, McIntyre was nearly perfect, stopping 42-of-43 shots and recording his first shutout of the season and the fourth of his career. With the solid weekend, McIntyre’s .933 save percentage is now best in UND single-season history. Already UND’s career leader in save percentage (.927) and goals against average (2.06), we’re running out of superlatives for the all-world goalie.
No. 2 – Slump Breakers
A trio of players broke slumps on Saturday night when Michael Parks netted two goals on Saturday, his first since Dec. 5, Mark MacMillan scored twice and added an assist, recording three points after having just one in five games and Wade Murphy got his first point of the season with an assist in the third. It was great to see the top liners get going again and even better to see the hard-working Murphy finally find the scoresheet.
No. 3 – Senior Captains
What a weekend from UND’s senior captains. Stephane Pattyn scored twice (1g Friday, 1g Saturday), Parks netted two on Saturday and McMillan added four points (2 goals on Saturday, 2a) for an eight-point weekend for the core of the team. On Saturday, all five goals came from the captains. After a cutesy first period for UND that saw too many passes and waste chances, the seniors turned up the heat and found the next three times in the second to pace the sweep. Huge statement from a great group.
No. 4 – UND’s “fourth” Line
The recently-formed line of Austin Poganski, Connor Gaarder and Brendan O’Donnell was dominant on Friday night recording three goals (two from Poganski and one from O’Donnell) and five assists for eight points. A lot can be said for chemistry and these three found each other all night. The freshman Poganski was in the right spot on both goals after big bounces while seniors Gaarder and O’Donnell meshed very well together. DDC would like to see this line stick together.
No. 5 – Bryn Chyzyk
The junior forward scored UND’s first and last goals on Friday night and each goal showed Chyzyk’s growth as a player this season. Chyzyk’s first was a blend of speed and power as he beat the NU netminder 1-on-1. His second, Chyzyk ripped a laser past the goaltender on a short-side wrister, both gorgeous in their own right. This may have been said previously, but if the Virden, Manitoba native doesn’t wear a letter next year for UND, something is wrong.
UND's Stephane Pattyn leads the team back to the bench after celebrating
a goal on
Niagara University's Jackson Teichroeb on Friday. Photo Credit: Grand Forks Herald.
Thorns
No. 1 – Lack of Grit for Niagara
For a team that lacks talent, DDC fully expected to see Niagara play a slow, defensive type game in an attempt to plug the middle against an explosive UND offense. That wasn’t the case on the weekend as the Purple Eagles attempted to play an up-tempo, run and gun style that North Dakota blew up right from the beginning of the weekend. That type of play probably works in Atlantic Hockey. Well, no actually, it probably doesn’t since NU has three wins on the year. Hard to believe that was a tournament team just two years ago.
No. 2 – NU Defenseman
Sorry to beat a dead horse on this one, but it’s hard to find a thorn for UND this weekend, so DDC will stick with Niagara. Going out on a limb here… The Purple Eagles are awful on defense. Head coach Dave Burkholder could have easily deployed pylons this weekend. The NU defensemen got blown by wide several times this weekend and left their goaltenders out to dry on multiple goals. Not a good performance from the team from Niagara Falls. DDC must say that the NU D-Man’s feed to North Dakota’s Steph Pattyn for the senior’s Friday night goal was pretty nice.
So, that’s it. Thanks for stopping by and check back in later this week as UND prepares to start the stretch run, welcoming the CC Tigers to the Ralph, this coming weekend.
A highly-ranked UND squad comes into the weekend facing off
against a lowly non-conference foe that has struggled to score and keep pucks
out of their own net.
While the result ultimately was good, a 7-4, 3-1 sweep
against Lake Superior State in early December, UND fans at the Ralph Engelstad
Arena nearly saw a Pairwise disaster before a furious rally in first of two
games against the Lakers.
And here we are, again.This time, it’s the 59-out-of-59- Pairwise ranked Niagara University
Purple Eagles.
The No. 3 UND men’s hockey team wraps up its non-conference
schedule tonight and Saturday against a Niagara squad that has struggled
mightily this season.
The Purple Eagles (3-15-2) are last in Atlantic Hockey, in
the bottom 10 in the country in scoring (1.95 goals per game) and the bottom
five in defense (4.00 goals allowed per game), penalty kill (74.2%) and power
play (7.4%).
Last week, NU dropped a pair of 4-3 games to Air Force, whom
UND needed overtime to beat in November.
Continuing the search for scoring, the Purple Eagles rely on
upperclassmen forwards Issac Kohls and Hugo Turcotte, who lead the team with 10
(4g, 6a) and nine points (5g, 4a) respectively.
Sophomore goaltender Jackson Teichroeb has been the man in
the net for Niagara, with all three of the team’s wins.
DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Much like the rhetoric coming into the LSSU series, UND (14-5-2,
7-4-1 NCHC) should have a chance to fill the net against a struggling defensive
team.
Leading the way for the Green and White, as it has been all
season, is the trio of Drake Caggiula, Michael Parks and Mark MacMillan.
Caggiula and MacMillan are tied for the team lead in goals
with nine.
In goal, this could be a weekend Green and White fans
see backup Cam Johnson, but with the potential of a devastating loss,
Zane McIntyre (14-5-2, 2.01 GAA, .930 sv pct) should see action this weekend.
THE PICK
Simply put, this is a must sweep for UND. Coming off a
hard-fought conference split against UMD, a letdown cannot be in the plan. While
two wins won’t help much, a loss would be a Pairwise nightmare. As always,
visitors get a boost from playing in the Ralph in front of a rowdy crowd and
Niagara has absolutely nothing to lose. DDC expects the Eagles to come out hard
tonight and UND has struggled on Fridays going 1-5-1 in their last seven series
starters, but if UND can weather the early push, the Green and White roll the
weekend. The talent difference is just too large.
