Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Feb 5, 2021 10:20 PM
In our pregame conversation Friday, UMD head coach Scott Sandelin emphasized the importance of a good start in the series opener against Miami.
The score looks great, with UMD having won 8-1 to pick up a fifth straight win and improve to 5-0 against the RedHawks this season. The individual results are fantastic, as well. Jackson Cates (five assists) finished one assist shy of the school record. Cole Koepke recorded his first career hat trick. Kobe Roth scored twice.
It didn’t start that way. Miami thought it had taken a 1-0 lead on a long shot by big defenseman Jack Clement that eluded UMD goalie Ryan Fanti. Problem: Miami forward Michael Holland was all up in Fanti’s face, and the contact he initiated with the UMD goalie prevented Fanti from, you know, doing his job. Referees Sterling Egan and Nick Krebsbach had little choice but to overturn the call of “good goal” on the ice.
Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Feb 4, 2021 7:01 PM
One of the low-key really weird things about this 2020-21 NCHC season is the frequency of opponents. It’s something Scott Sandelin talked about Wednesday on his weekly Zoom session with local media.
During a “normal” 24-game NCHC season, teams will play five of the seven other NCHC teams four times each (two home and two away), the other two twice in one venue. In order to make this pandemic-hampered season work as well as possible, the league divided into divisions and took care of all the cross-division play at the NCHC Pod.
Fox21Online
The first round of voting ends March 8th.
February 1, 2021
DULUTH, Minn. – Fan voting is officially open for the 2021 Hobey Baker Award.
The UMD men’s hockey team have three nominees to choose from: team captain Noah Cates, Hermantown native Cole Koepke and forward Nick Swaney. Cates and Koepke are second and third on the team in total points, respectively, while Swaney leads the way with 21, which is second in the NCHC. The first round of voting ends March 8th. For more information, click here.
After looking at it a few times once I got home, I really don’t like this call. I’m also not going to sit here and argue for 500 words. It’s just not worth it. I’ll get all wound up again, and all it’ll do is get you all wound up again. It isn’t going to change anything. Most of you can look at the clips above and see for yourself. You don’t need me to explain what I think the officials saw on this play. It’s pretty clear, and it’s pretty clear why I disagree.
Scott Sandelin has been looking for a little bit of an offensive spark.
At least for one night, he found it.
Strong from the start of the game, the new third line of Jackson Cates, Kobe Roth, and Koby Bender struck four times in total, including a Cates natural hat trick in the third period, as UMD pulled away from Western Michigan, 5-1 Saturday night at Amsoil Arena.
Cates’ goals came 7:58 apart in the third period, turning a 2-1 lead into the final four-goal margin. It’s the first hat trick for UMD in nearly two years, with Nick Swaney getting the last one on Jan. 25, 2019, in a 7-2 win over Omaha. It’s the first natural hat trick for a UMD player since JT Brown accomplished the feat in Anchorage on Feb. 3, 2012, on his way to an All-American season. The last UMD natural hat trick at home was by Mike Connolly, during his legendary five-goal performance on Feb. 5, 2011, against Minnesota.