WCHA Awards: Coach of the Year

Monday, I ran down the three players I think are the top candidates for WCHA Rookie of the Year.

Now, it's time to look at the race for top coach. Like Rookie of the Year, the Coach of the Year award is a simple vote for the participating media and other panelists. There isn't a first team, second team, and third team. Just one name.

Like Rookie of the Year, there might be a clear-cut choice

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WCHA Awards: Rookie of the Year

When I arrive at the National Hockey Center Friday night, there will be some paperwork waiting for me. It's going to be time for the WCHA awards ballot, and there will be some deliberating going on, at least for me.

Throughout the week, I'm going to take some time to look at what I think are the most intriguing races, presenting arguments for and against some of the top candidates for various

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Game 34: Colorado College at UMD

Senior night at Amsoil Arena, and UMD is looking for a crucial two points against a good and probably pretty desperate Colorado College team.

Can't afford any letdowns like what we saw -- however brief -- on Friday.

Lines?

Lines.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Flaherty - Connolly - Seidel
Herbert - Oleksuk - Brown
Basaraba - Hendrickson - Grun
Crandall (Justin) - Tardy - Krause

Bergman - Lamb
Casto -

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Welcome Back, JT Brown

JT Brown's first shift Friday night ended with a shot on goal.

So did his last.

In between, you could see why UMD so badly missed the sophomore winger, even though it got three points out of its one series without him, last weekend against Minnesota State. Brown led UMD with nine shots on goal, was a factor all over the ice, and ended up scoring the game-winner in overtime to give the Bulldogs

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Game 33: Colorado College at UMD

Yes, JT Brown is back.

Let's line 'em up.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Flaherty - Connolly - Seidel
Herbert - Oleksuk - Brown
Basaraba - Hendrickson - Grun
Crandall (Justin) - Tardy - Krause

Bergman - Lamb
Casto - Smith
Olson - Johnson

Reiter - Crandall (Aaron) - Gaffy

CC
Schwartz (Jaden) - Schwartz (Rylan) - Rapuzzi
Krushelnyski - Dineen - Winkler
Skalbeck - Civitarese - Collett
Wamsganz - Hall -

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UMD Stretch Run Includes Drive for MacNaughton Cup

As freshmen, UMD's current senior class was a part of the team that won three games in three days to earn the WCHA Final Five title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs won the Broadmoor Trophy.

(Yes, I know Cody Danberg was a sophomore on that team. But you get the point.)

As juniors, this group celebrated the first NCAA title in program history, thanks to a 3-2 overtime

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UMD Salutes Successful Seniors

Seems like only yesterday that this senior class started up at UMD. For five of the seven Bulldog seniors, that would be four years ago (Kenny Reiter and Cody Danberg are fifth-year seniors).

As the team prepares for its home finale this weekend -- a two-game series against Colorado College -- there should be plenty of emotions on Saturday night, which will be the annual Senior Night. During the

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UMD Students Apologize for Obviously Offensive Chants

The UMD student section is pretty cool. The kids have fun, they're very loud when they are in unison on a topic, and it's a big part of Amsoil Arena's top-notch atmosphere.

(Don't believe me? Attend a home game when the bulk of the students are on break, and then attend one when they're all there.)

The section drew some heat this week, after the text of a letter from UMD athletic director Bob

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Justin Faulk's First NHL Fight

Former UMD defenseman Justin Faulk is seeing some serious success in his first professional season. The 19-year-old is being talked about as a Calder Trophy candidate, and he continues to get better virtually every time he plays.

Monday night, Faulk scored the first goal in a 5-0 pasting by his Carolina Hurricanes of division rival Washington. As the score swelled, and the Capitals became

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Paul Kelly Out, Some Guy Eventually In at College Hockey, Inc.

When College Hockey, Inc., started in 2009, I was optimistic. It seemed like a good idea by the commissioners of the Division I leagues to consolidate under one banner for the expressed purpose of promoting college hockey.

It wasn't a short-term deal. This is a long-term project in every way. It's about educating young teenagers on the importance of keeping the options open. Make sure they don't

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Game 32: UMD at Minnesota State

MANKATO, Minn. -- With a win Saturday, UMD will clinch home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs for the third straight year.

Couple changes for UMD, including in goal, where Kenny Reiter has sent his virus packing and will start Saturday's game. Austin Lee will go for Minnesota State in goal.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Flaherty - Connolly - Seidel
Herbert - Oleksuk - Basaraba
Krause -

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UMD Seeing Lots of Shepherds

MANKATO, Minn. -- Oh, the things you do when you're bored. After walking around downtown Mankato, I fielded a call from a friend, and was immediately inspired to start doing some counting.

For UMD's series against Minnesota State, the assigned referees are Brad Shepherd and Todd Anderson. While it should be noted that I don't know either individual and certainly have nothing personally against

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Keeps it Simple

MANKATO, Minn. -- For the UMD Bulldogs, Saturday's win over North Dakota wasn't necessarily a shining example of how to play a third period with a lead.

Friday did the trick, however.

Travis Oleksuk scored two second-period goals, including a back-breaking tally with 0.8 seconds left in the period, as UMD beat Minnesota State here 4-2 Friday night.

The Bulldogs displayed a suffocating

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Game 31: UMD at Minnesota State

MANKATO, Minn. -- Greetings from Mankato. Duluth News Tribune reporter Kevin Pates -- seeing his fifth road game this season -- handled our driving duties, and did a splendid job until we got into the parking ramp near the Verizon Wireless Center, which is connected to our hotel.

And, as usual, even that worked out in the end.

(Long story short: We ended up going through the entrance gate to

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Desperately Seeking Consistency

With six games left in the regular season, UMD is looking for something that remotely resembles the consistency that helped it to such a long unbeaten streak.

The Bulldogs found some of what was lost on Saturday, when a strong power play and solid third-period goaltending led UMD to a 5-4 win over North Dakota. It was an exciting game, and UMD's best players stepped up when needed most. Jack

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High School Hockey Playoff Schedule

Here is the schedule for all three Northeastern Minnesota-esque boys' high school hockey sections.

SECTION 7AASaturday, February 18
9 St. Francis at 8 Cambridge, 7pm

Tuesday, February 21
 St. Francis/Cambridge winner at 1 Duluth East, Heritage Center, 7pm
5 Cloquet/Esko/Carlton at 4 Elk River, 7pm
6 Forest Lake at 3 Grand Rapids, 7pm
7 St. Michael-Albertville at 2 Andover, 7pm

Saturday,

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WIAC Schools Leaving NCHA

Big news out of local Division III hockey Wednesday, as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference announced its five hockey-playing member schools will leave the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association after the 2013-14 season.

In an emailed statement, WIAC commissioner Gary Karner says the move was announced now so the remaining NCHA teams -- only Duluth-based St. Scholastica and St.

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J.T. Brown Out This Weekend

UMD sophomore forward J.T. Brown will miss this weekend's series against Minnesota State. Brown suffered an upper-body injury Saturday, and there is no set timetable for his return.

Brown was injured during a UMD power play late in the first period. Multiple sources indicate he was slashed by a UND player. He came off the ice in some discomfort during a four-on-three advantage, and was replaced

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Chiming in on Kyle Rau's Hit

I would have written about this over the weekend, but hockey parenting duties had me away from the computer. Would leave it alone, but I feel compelled to throw out my $.02.

Friday night in Denver, Minnesota freshman Kyle Rau was guilty of a late and high hit on Denver sophomore forward and Wild draft pick Jason Zucker.




Rau was given a five minute major and a game misconduct, which left him

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Game 30: North Dakota at UMD

Work smarter, not harder.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Seidel - Connolly - Basaraba
Herbert - Oleksuk - Brown
Flaherty - Hendrickson - Grun
DeLisle - Tardy - Krause

Bergman - Lamb
Casto - Smith
Olson - Johnson

Reiter - Crandall - Gaffy

UND
Nelson - Knight - Kristo
MacMillan - Rowney - Parks
Pattyn - Lamoureux - Gaarder
Senkbeil - Gleason - Dickin

Forbort - Blood
MacWilliam - Mattson
Simpson -

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Game 29: North Dakota at UMD

There are already a lot of people in this press box. Must be a national TV game or something.

UMD tries in this game to get its first non-overtime home win over North Dakota since the 2008-2009 season (3-1 at the DECC).

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Seidel - Connolly - Basaraba
Herbert - Oleksuk - Brown
Flaherty - Hendrickson - Grun
DeLisle - Tardy - Krause

Bergman - Lamb
Kishel - Casto
Olson - Smith

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Amsoil Arena Ready for Spotlight; Bulldogs Better Be Ready for Sioux

North Dakota. UND. The Fighting Sioux. As someone said this week, the Fighting Who (thought that one was funny).

No matter the name, it's shaping up to be a hell of a weekend at Amsoil Arena. The new building makes its national television debut Friday, as CBS Sports Network broadcasts the series opener. The crew of Ben Holden, Dave Starman, and Shireen Saski took in practices on Thursday, and

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UMD Honors Its Past

The Hobey Baker Award was first given out in 1981.

Over that time, the UMD Bulldogs have produced four Hobey winners, a number not surpassed by any other school in the country. UMD might not have nine national championships, but the school sure has a pretty good track record of producing big-time players.

The four Hobey winners -- Tom Kurvers, Bill Watson, Chris Marinucci, and Junior Lessard --

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Gearing Up For High School Playoffs

The boys' high school hockey season is winding down. Most Minnesota teams have two to four games left on their schedules, which will wrap up by next weekend at the latest.

There are three sections that feature area teams, and there's a good chance we'll have three area teams in the state tournament. However, there's a lot to decide before we get to that point, and things tend to change.

Section

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Game 28: UMD at Alaska-Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Couple tweaks to UMD's lines for the series finale, as the Bulldogs look for their first sweep here since 1996. Justin Crandall is scratched, and the top two lines look like they did before the Tech debacling last week.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Seidel - Connolly - Basaraba
Herbert - Oleksuk - Brown
Flaherty - Hendrickson - Grun
DeLisle - Tardy - Krause

Bergman - Lamb
Kishel -

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Shows Improvement in Win

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Before Friday's game, UMD head coach Scott Sandelin identified four areas he wanted to see his team improve in.

He noted that "battle level" was atop the list. The others -- execution, defensive zone play, and special teams -- partially relied on the first in order to see the necessary improvement.

Alaska Anchorage would be a great test for UMD's battle level. The Seawolves

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Game 27: UMD at Alaska Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Ready for a little late night hockey?

Well, late for most (all?) of you.

Here we go from Anchorage with the series opener.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Seidel - Connolly - Herbert
Basaraba - Oleksuk - Brown
Crandall (Justin) - Hendrickson - Flaherty
Krause - Tardy - Grun

Bergman - Lamb
Kishel - Casto
Olson - Johnson

Reiter - Crandall (Aaron)

UAA
Pustin - Gellert - Crowell

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WCHA Needs to Step Up When It Comes to Illegal Hits

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In the wake of the hit that left Benilde-St. Margaret's hockey player Jack Jablonski paralyzed, hockey organizations started to look long and hard at the way they were policing the game.

Two prominent Minnesota groups -- the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey -- quickly announced stiffer penalties for hits from behind and boarding fouls, along with

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UMD Prepares for Desperate UAA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Expectations were much higher than this.

Our good friend Jess Myers picked Alaska-Anchorage to earn a home ice position for the first round of the WCHA playoffs, something that hasn't happened once during UAA's time in the league.

I thought last year's finish was a real stretch in the right direction for UAA, one that could lead to bigger and better things this season. UAA

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Clock Issue Leads to NHL Controversy

Greetings from Anchorage. UMD-UAA coverage is on the way, with all of the usual stuff -- a preview piece, lines before both games, the ever-unpopular Saturday notes column, and more. In the meantime, check out what happened in Los Angeles Wednesday night.

Drew Doughty's goal in the final second gave the Kings a win over Columbus. At first glance, it appeared to be an incredible finish to a game

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