Game 13: UMD at Michigan Tech

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- It's not exactly a snowglobe this time around.

I don't think Houghton has much more snow -- if more at all -- than Duluth does. A nice, uneventful drive here.

The game shouldn't be that way. Both teams have reason to be desperate for their own reasons. UMD needs points, while Michigan Tech is 1-3 in WCHA play at home so far. The Huskies are also entering a stretch of five

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Bulldogs Seek Snow Belt Slump-Buster

With 12 games played, we are one-third of the way through this UMD season.

No longer can "It's early" be used as an excuse when things go poorly. Instead, it's time to seek solutions and get things going the right way.

I already told you what I think the primary problems are. The biggest issue I'm seeing is how one bad thing spills into another, creating a cavalcade of bad stuff that the

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What Will Snap UMD Out of Funk?

At 3-7-2, things have not gone according to plan for the UMD men's hockey team.

But rather than trying to oversimplify things (score more and give up less, rah rah!), I thought it would be worth it to throw a few things out there that I'm seeing, stuff that I believe could help turn things around for the Bulldogs for more than a single night.

Scoring. Wait, I just said I wouldn't make it this

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Packers Slaughtered on National TV

Before Sunday night's Packers-Giants debacling, I sent a tweet imploring my favorite football team to not get embarrassed on national television.

Truth be told, it's been years since Green Bay was handed a defeat like what we saw Sunday when the lights are turned on for national television. It was a thrashing so sound and so complete that it made last January's 37-20 playoff shellacking look

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Game 12: St. Cloud State at UMD

For the first time since the season's opening weeks, UMD has a chance to claim consecutive victories.

It won't be easy. St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko wasn't pleased with his team's offensive push on Friday, and more is expected in this game. SCSU is a quality team, and it's not likely the Huskies will just accept being swept and get on the bus.

UMD has to earn this, and it won't be easy. It

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Works to End Winless Streak at Seven

For UMD, Friday night was a long time coming.

I think it had been pretty well-documented that the Bulldogs played quite well despite earning just one point last week in North Dakota.

Many "Your team deserved a better fate" comments could be found in the press box in Grand Forks, as well as on Twitter after Saturday's overtime loss.

From an effort standpoint, there's no question that UMD was

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Game 11: St. Cloud State at UMD

After a four-week hiatus, UMD returns home Friday to take on St. Cloud State. The Huskies are 6-4 and coming off a bye week, while 2-6-2 UMD is still trying to shake a seven-game winless skid.

UMD is 2-1-1 against SCSU in this building, with the loss being an 8-2 humdinger during the 2010-11 season, and the wins both coming in a two-game WCHA playoff series here in March 2011.

Lines?

Lines.

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Game 10: UMD at North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Off an exciting 4-4 tie that was virtually everything but a win for UMD, the Bulldogs try again to snap their winless slide.

For all the talk about UMD's poor record in this barn, the Bulldogs are now 1-0-1 in their last two games here.

Hey, it's something. Can't move Earth in an instant.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Crandall (Justin) - Herbert - Basaraba
Farley - Cameranesi -

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UMD Signs Three Recruits

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Missed the chance to post this Friday, because I was already at the rink when it was announced.

But if you didn't hear, UMD officially signed three 2013-14 recruits to letters of intent during the fall signing period.

Of course, this is all pending the whole NCAA Clearinghouse bit, but here is the lowdown:


Alexander Iafallo • F • 5-11 • 165 • 12/21/93 • Eden, N.Y. (Fargo/

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Bulldogs Didn't Win, But Progress Made

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- No, it wasn't a win.

No, a tie is not a win. But Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena, a tie indicated progress.

At this still-somewhat-early stage of the college hockey season, UMD fans should be pleased with progress.

The Bulldogs earned a 4-4 tie here in a wild game that featured 135 shot attempts, 79 shots on goal, 85 faceoffs, and enough momentum swings to drive both

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Game 9: UMD at North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Greetings from Grand Forks, where UMD enters the proverbial house of horrors to try to snap a five-game winless streak.

UMD is 3-12-2 all-time at Ralph Engelstad Arena, and has been outscored by more than two goals per game over that stretch.

UND has given UMD plenty of fits over the years in Duluth, too, but the numbers aren't quite as pronounced, and the games are usually

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UMD Returns to Grand Forks, Trying to Stop Slide

Over the years, UMD has seen some droughts when it comes to trips to WCHA buildings.

Even knowing that, it's really strange to think that the Bulldogs haven't visited Ralph Engelstad Arena in over two years.

It was Nov. 5-6, 2010. UMD fell 4-2 in the series opener before beating UND in overtime 3-2 on a Justin Fontaine winner.

Because it's been so long -- and UMD has struggled so much in that

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Video: Frank Serratore Clairvoyant After Win

This is a couple days old, but still worth the time to post.

After Friday's 5-1 win over Penn State, Air Force men's hockey coach Frank Serratore sat down for a press conference with the assembled media. What followed -- even for a Serratore, which sets a pretty high standard -- was absolute gold.




Serratore's money shot came around 35 seconds in, when he declared that if his Falcons were to

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Game 8: UMD at Nebraska Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. -- Things to watch for in this game are plentiful. They include UMD's discipline, five-on-five scoring, physical play (which goes back to the discipline issue, because you can't be afraid to take penalties and not hit as a result), and defensive zone coverage, which can -- and must -- continue to improve.

Also, watch the first couple shifts. See which team -- if either -- gets a big

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Undisciplined and Unlucky: UMD Must Shed Labels

OMAHA, Neb. -- It's hard to win hockey games when you're undisciplined. Killing off a ton of penalties is a good way to wear down your best players -- most of whom will kill penalties. It's not a good way to be successful.

When you're snakebit, life becomes even more difficult.

UMD enters Sunday's game averaging over 20 penalty minutes per game, and with just five goals over a four-game winless

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Game 7: UMD at Nebraska Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. -- Time to get this series rolling ... finally.

Expecting a 5,000-ish crowd here for the opener, which doesn't directly compete against Nebraska football, but comes close enough (that game should be over before this one starts). Might be fewer people than that for Sunday.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Crandall (Justin) - Herbert - Basaraba
Farley - Cameranesi - Seidel
Danberg - Hendrickson -

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Bulldogs Face Challenge in Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. -- This is a tough stretch of games for UMD to try to climb back over .500. Six games that could send things south in a hurry if they don't go well, even if I think it's unrealistic to expect such a thing to happen.

The Bulldogs had a bye last week, a chance to correct the little errors that have helped cause a 2-3-1 start to the 2012-13 season. It's too early to panic, but there is

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Bulldogs Hope Bye Week Cures Struggles

OMAHA, Neb. -- For the UMD Bulldogs, there's good and bad to last week's bye.

The good? Any time a team is struggling, the coach will take the bye. UMD, winless in three and with three goals scored over those three games, certainly isn't in a position to turn down a bye.

The bad? Well, in an ideal world, you can heal some injuries during a bye week. UMD was and is a pretty healthy team, so in

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Random Rabble: Election Day

Get out and vote. Seriously. You probably don't need me to remind you, but there it is, anyway.

You'll notice that I haven't spent much time dissecting the issues on this blog. I figure you're here to read about sports -- chiefly UMD hockey -- so you don't need me polluting the feed with my views on things. I do enough of that on Twitter, and if you follow me there (thanks, by the way), you can

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Dangerous, Controversial Hits Take Headlines

(Yeah, I took a week and didn't update the blog. Sue me.)

Off weekends aren't the best, because we all enjoy what we do, and an off weekend means we don't get to cover the team that we normally cover.

What does it mean? In the case of Friday night, I'll park my expanding posterior on the couch and watch hockey on television.

There were some very good games on, too. Minnesota State-Minnesota

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