No. 7-ranked Minnesota Duluth tied Western Michigan 2-2 on Friday in NCHC play at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, but lost a shootout 2-1. The Broncos take two points from the game while the Bulldogs get just one in the NCHC standings to pull within one of league-leading Nebraska-Omaha.
Here are my thumbs up and thumbs down from Friday’s game, followed by my three stars of the game.
Thumbs up to UMD sophomore defenseman Brenden Kotyk
Kotyk scored the Bulldogs first goal on Friday in the second period, then assisted on the game-tying goal in the third period. Both were hard blasts from just below the blue line with his first shot cleanly finding the back of the net and the second hitting junior center Tony Cameranesi and the head of senior wing Justin Crandall before going in.
The Bulldogs have been asking for more offense from its blue liners for a while now. It’s come just in time because the offense has just been trickling out of the forwards as of late. Sophomore defenseman Willie Raskob picked up the slack last weekend in Grand Forks. This weekend Kotyk has stepped up to the challenge.
Thumbs down to UMD on faceoffs
UMD coach Scott Sandelin hates talking about the Bulldogs woes on faceoffs. It’s been a problem all of this season and last. It’s the Bulldogs biggest weakness and that fault roared it’s ugly head tonight, with Western scoring one of its two goals off a faceoff.
UMD lost the faceoff battle 43-27 to Western. Cameranesi had the worst record, finishing 3-12. Sophomore center Dominic Toninato went 8-12, freshman center Jared Thomas went 2-6 and junior center Cal Decowski was the lone UMD center to finish with a winning record, going 6-3.
The final stats sheet handed out to the media only shows total faceoffs, so I don’t have the exact numbers to back this next statement up, but here it goes. The Bulldogs were especially horrendous on faceoffs in the offensive zone. Many of those losses came at key times. The Bulldogs lost a faceoff in the Broncos’ zone in the final minute of overtime after taking a timeout. They lost another late in the third period while on the power play. They lost back-to-back faceoffs midway through the third period as well.
Based on my chats with Sandelin, I don’t think the team has a solution to its faceoff problem. Maybe the best solution is to not fall behind 2-0. Faceoffs late in the game don’t matter as much when you’re not digging out from a hole.
Matt’s Three Stars
3. WMU junior wing Nolan LaPorte: Meet Public Enemy No. 1 in Duluth, Minnesota right now. LaPorte did a nice job selling what I thought was a trip by Toninato in the first period. It resulted in a kneeing major on the Bulldog’s leading scorer. LaPorte then went on to assist on the Broncos first goal, score the second goal and finish off the Bulldogs by scoring in the third round of the shootout. If the WWE had been at Amsoil on Friday, he would have been the night’s biggest heel.
2. UMD sophomore defenseman Brenden Kotyk: He scored his first collegiate goal and then assisted on the game-tying goal for the Bulldogs. Had UMD gotten the win, it would have been a perfect night for the big guy, who stands 6-feet, 6-inches tall. The Bulldogs will need him to step up again Saturday against a very-tall Western team.
1. Brent Lunde of Cloquet: You know that intermission game where a board is placed in front of the goal and a contestant must shoot the puck through the tiny hole that sits at the bottom of the board dead center between the pipes? Remember all the times you saw the contestant miss that hole by a mile? Well not tonight. Tonight Brent Lunde of Cloquet put the puck through the hole and into the back of the net from the far blue line to win $50,000. It was pretty sweet (unless you are the promotional or insurance company that has to fork up the $50K). The crowd went nuts. Congrats to Mr. Lunde. Spend whatever the government doesn’t take wisely.