Game 20: UMD vs Ferris State (Florida College Classic)

ESTERO, Fla. -- For UMD, the 1-0 loss to Maine was its worst Friday performance in some time. In fact, UMD had not lost a game on a Friday since falling to Notre Dame Oct. 19.

Now, for the first time all season, really, UMD has a chance to come back the day after a poor performance and atone for it. I'm very intrigued to see how this team responds.

Lines?

Lines.

UMDFarley - Cameranesi -

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Just when things started to show signs of looking up, it's gone back into the swirl of negativity for the UMD Bulldogs.

4-1-1 over six games going into the Christmas break, the Bulldogs spent 40 minutes looking like they ate too many cookies during the bye, and a two-win Maine team got the one break it needed to burn UMD.

The break happened when Martin Ouellette made a save

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Game 19: UMD vs Maine (Florida College Classic)

ESTERO, Fla. -- Greetings from Germain Arena, which sits 10 miles or so south of Fort Myers, where the UMD hotel is located.

This is the home of the ECHL's Florida Everblades, and also the 12-year home of a college hockey tournament.

People wonder how the hell this works. I'll confess I'm also curious to an extent, but the Everblades have run this thing long enough for me to realize that it's

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UMD Prepares for Business in the Sun

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The palm trees scattered around the hotel property add a sense of "Holy crap, we're in Florida" to the fact that we're in Florida.

For hockey.

Holy crap.

Before incorporating some beach time into the itinerary, the UMD men's hockey team has business to take care of. The 13th annual Florida College Classic is underway Friday, with UMD playing Maine after Cornell takes on

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UMD Preps for Florida Excursion

There are worse things in the country to prepare for than a late-December trip to Florida.

Yes, UMD is still a game under .500 (7-8-3), but at 4-1-1 over the last six games, the Bulldogs got things going in the right direction before a weekend off. During that off week, UMD players wrapped up final exams for the first semester, and also got to take some time away from the rink to celebrate

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Bob Nielson Leaves UMD For Division I Gig

Speculation ramped up late last week that UMD football coach and athletic director Bob Nielson could be on his way out. In its search for a new coach, Division I Western Illinois University listed Nielson as a finalist for the position last week, and interviewed him on Monday.

Tuesday, it began to become more clear that there was at least a real chance Nielson would move on.

Now, it appears to

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Game 18: UMD at Alaska Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- For UMD, it's the final game of the season's first half. It's a first half that included a few low points, but the last ten games have generally been pretty good for the Bulldogs, starting with a series at North Dakota in mid-November.

It isn't enough to completely shake a poor start to the WCHA season, but UMD can still get to 13 points with a Saturday win in Anchorage. It

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: Here We Go Again

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The definition of insanity is usually described as something remotely resembling the following:


Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

With that in mind, UMD is teetering on the brink of insanity when it comes to Saturday games. Entering this weekend, UMD is 0-6-2 in such situations, with four losses (Ohio State, Notre Dame, St. Cloud State

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Game 17: UMD at Alaska Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Needless to say, all of us send our thoughts and prayers to the victims of the awful shooting in Connecticut, along with their families.

For many of you horrified by the news, I hope we can deliver you a short diversion from reality on this night.

Lines?

Lines.

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

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UMD Heads North for Final Time With WCHA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- With more schedule holes to fill, and the attraction of two extra home games in exchange for a trip here, there is no guarantee that UMD is done making trips to Alaska.

However, what is certain is that UMD won't be visiting the 49th state next season, and there are no concrete plans to return after this trip.

The Bulldogs match up with Alaska Anchorage here Friday and

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Wisconsin's Ryan Little Earns First WCHA Supplemental Discipline of Season

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Greetings from Anchorage, where it's shockingly mild, and we finally started to get daylight around 9:15am local time.

(Enjoy it while it lasts, Ciskie. It'll be dark by 4:00.)

Anyway, more content on the UMD-UAA series is coming before Friday's series opener at Sullivan Arena. For now, I wanted to discuss some news that broke while we were traveling Wednesday.

Not so long

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Game 16: Bemidji State at UMD

Let's try this again.

Lines.

UMD
Seidel - Cameranesi - Basaraba
Farley - Crandall (Justin) - Herbert
Danberg - Hendrickson - Flaherty
DeLisle - Krause - Tardy

Olson - Welinski
Bergman - Johnson
Smith - Casto

Crandall (Aaron) - McNeely - Fons

BSU
Kinne - McLeod - George
Illo - Ward - Mattson
Orban - Jubinville - Boehm
Gerbrandt - Cain - Robbins

Areshenko - Wacker
Carlson - Prapavessis

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Rides Seniors to Hard-Fought Win

At various points this season, two of UMD's main lines have been productive. Tony Cameranesi and Mike Seidel have done plenty of damage this season, and the line of Justin Crandall, Caleb Herbert, and Austin Farley had a pretty good weekend in Houghton.

Friday night at Amsoil Arena, the seniors got in on the scoring act. Center Jake Hendrickson scored twice, and Keegan Flaherty had the

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Game 15: Bemidji State at UMD

The final home series of 2012 kicks off here tonight, as UMD takes on Bemidji State. The Bulldogs have played well as of late, outside of that infamous Saturday night hiccup against St. Cloud State.

Bemidji played two good games with Michigan Tech a couple weekends ago, but got zero points, then the Beavers took three from UAA before losing both games in Mankato last weekend.

Lines?

Lines.

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Opportunity Ahead for UMD as Christmas Approaches

There are four games left in the 2012 calendar year for UMD. Those four games could tell the tale of the Bulldogs' chances in the second half of the college hockey season.

Heading into Friday's game with Bemidji State at Amsoil Arena, UMD sits at 4-7-3 overall, 2-5-3 in the WCHA. Those seven points are good for an eighth-place tie, and leave the Bulldogs three points behind a home-ice position

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Bret Bielema's Departure Stuns Wisconsin

Shocking news out of Madison Tuesday, as Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema has decided to head to Arkansas.


Bielema’s agreement with Arkansas came together in less than 24 hours, according to multiple sources.... Money likely played a role in Bielema’s decision. He reportedly will make $3.2 million from Arkansas and turned down even more, so the money could go to his assistants.... Having a

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Christian Ponder Running Out Of Time

A few things I will say are absolutely true with no arguments:

Adrian Peterson is the best player in the NFL. If the Vikings had two more wins, he'd be a serious candidate for MVP, and he probably should be anyway. Unfortunately, we have a somewhat warped idea of what an MVP is, and the MVP can't come off a 6-6 team that is probably on its way to 7-9 more than on its way to the playoffs.
Aaron

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Game 14: UMD at Michigan Tech

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- On an uncharacteristically mild Saturday in Houghton, the UMD men will try this four-point thing again.

Three previous series-opening wins, followed by three losses, the last two (Notre Dame and St. Cloud State) by a combined 9-2.

To continue to improve, the Bulldogs need to show they can close out a series. Another opportunity looms in this game, after a 7-3 win on Friday.

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Saturday Hockey Notes and Thoughts: UMD Gets Much Needed Touchdown, Win

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- Earlier in the week, I crabbed about how UMD has seen a pretty notable decline in its even-strength scoring this season.

All season, I've used various opportunities to crab about how UMD hadn't scored a short-handed goal since an early December game here last season.

Apparently, someone is tired of my whining.

UMD rode a season-high four even-strength goals and its first

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