Here’s a story courtesy of the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press on Sunday’s Catamount Cup title game with host Vermont defeating Minnesota Duluth 5-2. Further down, a story courtesy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Northern Michigan beating Minnesota 4-2 for the title in the Holiday Classic at Mariucci Arena. The Bulldogs are flying back to Duluth on Monday and face No. 4-ranked Colorado College at the DECC this weekend to resume WCHA play.
And it’s time to take the PairWise Rankings somewhat seriously now that the second half of the season has started. UMD has been as high as No. 7 in the computer this seasson and is now No. 11, while Vermont moved ahead of the Bulldogs on Sunday. The PairWise is below. Also the Inside College Hockey Power Rankings are here, with UMD at No. 14.
Ted Ryan, Burlington Free Press
The Catamounts of Vermont believe the championship trophy for the Sheraton/TD Bank Catamount Cup is their personal property and they played like it Sunday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
With an all-freshman line contributing two goals and six points, Vermont bid adieu to its non-conference competition — going an impressive 6-1-0 — by beating the 12th-ranked Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth 5-2 in the tournament’s championship game.
For 54 minutes, the Catamounts (10-6-2) executed to near perfection, from returning lusty hits in the rambunctious first period to skating swiftly through the second. Not until they had a 5-0 lead did they stumble, yielding two late goals to the Bulldogs (12-6-1).
“I was just so pleased with our team, aside from giving up the 4-on-4 goal there at the end,” said UVM coach Kevin Sneddon. “We executed our game plan to a ‘T’ and I’m really proud of the way our guys competed against a great team.
“Duluth’s got a ton of skill and we did a great job of taking time and space away from them in their zone,” Sneddon said. “We wanted to work them low and our guys … created a couple of great plays down low … and we kept them out of the neutral zone and the offensive zone as much as possible.”
Five Catamounts scored, including freshmen Tobias Nilsson-Roos and Sebastian Stalberg. Each had a goal and an assist and linemate David Pacan added two assists.
“They played great … not only for their offensive play, but for their defensive play. They were structured in the forecheck, they were structured in the neutral zone and they did a good job defensively,” Sneddon said.
“We had a lot of energy out there. We tried to play simple, get the puck to the net,” said Nilsson-Roos. “I think we did pretty well.”
Tourney MVP Justin Milo (2 goals, 2 assists for the tournament), Brayden Irwin and Wahsontiio Stacey provided the other Catamount goals.
The first period had a feisty edge to it. Between the teams working each other over physically and a rapidly mounting penalty count — seven for UMD; three for UVM — tempers were frayed and referees Tim Low and Tom Cronin took verbal flak from both benches.
“Duluth got in a little penalty trouble there and used a lot of their top players to kill those penalties,” Sneddon said. “It was a pretty physical start and our guys did a good job for the most part not retaliating.”
UMD coach Scott Sandelin said, “The way the game was going, you let the kids decide the game. That was a factor in the first period.
“Certainly we took some bad ones, but, I don’t know, I thought it was a contact sport. We put ourselves behind the 8-ball a little bit, but we got out of that period down 1-0 and we started the second period well, but they capitalized on a couple of opportunities, we hit some pipes and their goalie make a couple of saves.”
By period’s end, Vermont had a 1-0 lead courtesy of Irwin’s power play tally at 12:25. It was the only one of the five-plus man-up situations UVM converted, the sixth power play spilling into the second period.
With attitudes cooled, the Bulldogs and the Catamounts spent most of the second period with skating and speed and, on UVM’s part, more solid penalty killing since Vermont drew the only three minors of the period.
Still, by the time the third started, Vermont had a 3-0 lead after Nilsson-Roos and Milo scored.
Stacey and Stalberg fattened the lead to 5-0 in the third before Travis Oleksuk and Jack Connolly beat UVM goalie Rob Madore (23 saves).
“They played well, they played hard. They were hungry and they were determined,” said Sandelin of the Catamounts. “Our guys battled, but it’s tough when you’re killing penalties the first period and a lot of guys don’t get into the game.”
Brian Murphy, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Northern Michigan 4, Minnesota 2
A season in which the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team has discovered new and interesting ways to lose became even more confounding Sunday night.
The Gophers peppered Northern Michigan goalie Brian Stewart with 50 shots but only beat him twice to lose 4-2 in the Dodge Holiday Classic final before a crowd of 9,028 at Mariucci Arena.
It was the Gophers’ most shots taken in defeat since firing 51 in an 8-7 overtime loss to St. Cloud State during the 2006 WCHA Final Five.
The last time they recorded 50 or more shots was Oct. 31, 2008, against Minnesota State Mankato, and the Gophers did not win that game either, tying the Mavericks 3-3.
Sunday’s frustrating defeat was especially bitter for the Gophers (9-10-1), who had won four straight and were looking to climb above the .500 mark for the first time this season.
"Their goalie was better than our shooters tonight," lamented Gophers coach Don Lucia.
Mike Hoeffel’s power-play goal 5 minutes, 57 seconds into the game jump-started the Gophers, who buzzed Stewart with 18 shots to Northern Michigan’s seven in the first period.
Relentless with the man advantage and diligent at even strength, the Gophers couldn’t summon a killer instinct that has been missing all season and failed to finish off the Wildcats (9-8-4).
Instead, they allowed another opponent to linger in the game and build confidence by manufacturing three second-period goals that gave Northern Michigan a lead it would not relinquish.
I told the other coaches after the first, it was 1-0, ‘Boy, if we could score goals, we should be up two or three,’ " Lucia said. "But that didn’t happen. We just couldn’t get to the back of the net. We did everything but."
Surviving Minnesota’s early push and seizing control later was Northern Michigan’s game plan. It has been a blueprint for success against the Gophers, who have outscored opponents 14-8 in the first period only to be outscored 32-25 over the final two periods.
Ray Kaunisto scored a pair of goals, and TJ Miller’s tally with 3:44 remaining iced it for the Wildcats, who won for just the third time in the past 11 games of the series.
"We’re doing a lot of good things," said Hoeffel. "We got 50 shots tonight. All the little things don’t matter unless you get it done."
With Jordan Schroeder competing for Team USA at the world junior championships and Taylor Matson out indefinitely with a leg injury, the Gophers were missing two regular centers. Their absence cost them dearly in the faceoff circle.
Losses on the draw deep in the defensive zone directly led to a pair of Northern Michigan goals.
Twenty-three shots were all it took for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association team to skulk out of Mariucci with the Canale-Bradshaw Cup, the trophy awarded when the teams clashed in the WCHA from 1984-97.
"We knew we were going to have to have a bend-but-don’t-break mentality and capitalize on our chances," said Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle. "We knew we were going to have to have good goaltending. All those things kind of happened for us."
Stewart, who stopped 29 shots to shut out Clarkson on Saturday, made 37 saves in the first two periods and was particularly sharp during Minnesota’s seven power plays.
After falling behind 2-1 midway through the second period, the Gophers regrouped on the power play and tied the score shortly after an advantage ended when newcomer Jacob Cepis, the transfer from Bowling Green, introduced himself to the Mariucci crowd.
Patrick White did a fantastic job holding in a clearing attempt and fired a shot on goal. Cepis, Tony Lucia and Jake Hansen crashed the net, with Cepis banging in his first goal as a Gopher.
However, the Gophers could not capitalize and, worse, allowed the Wildcats to regain momentum and the lead in the dying seconds of the period.
PairWise Rankings
1 Miami 24 13-2-5
2 Denver 23 13-5-2
3 Ferris State 22 14-4-2
4 Colorado College 21 12-5-3
5 Wisconsin 20 12-5-3
6t Bemidji State 18 14-4-2
6t Michigan State 18 14-6-2
8 Boston College 17 10-5-2
9t Vermont 15 10-6-2
9t St. Cloud State 15 10-7-3
11 Minn. Duluth 14 12-7-1
12 North Dakota 13 10-6-4
13t Massachusetts 11 11-7-0
13t Yale 11 8-3-3
15t Union 10 10-4-5
15t Maine 10 10-7-2
17 Quinnipiac 9 13-4-1
18t New Hampshire 6 8-7-3
18t Lake Superior 6 12-7-3
20 Mass.-Fairbanks 4 9-5-4
22t Northern Mich. 3 9-8-4
22t MS-Mankato 3 11-9-2
24 Cornell 2 8-4-2
25 Notre Dame 0 9-8-5
