MINNEAPOLIS – When teams face Ferris State's top power play
unit, Bulldogs
coach Bob Daniels doesn't want teams to be able to shut down Chris
Kunitz. Too often this season, Daniels said, opponents have been
content to shadow Kunitz when killing penalties, and
essentially play 4-on-3 hockey for two minutes.
So as his
team plays in the NCAA playoffs for the first time ever, Daniels
has come up with an innovative way to keep Kunitz active on the
Bulldogs
man-advantage unit. The coach figures that you can't stop what
you can't find.
Friday, when
the Bulldogs got their second power play of the game, one might
have expected Kunitz down near the goal, running the show or waiting
to tip a shot from top defenseman Troy Milam. Instead, the Sioux
saw Kunitz manning the blue line, and before they could adjust,
the Hobey Baker Award finalist had blasted a shot that Derek Nesbitt
tipped for a 1-0 lead. In the second period it was a near replay,
as Kunitz teed up a power play blast from the blue line and Simon
Mangos tipped it in for a 2-0 lead.
Daniels' plan
to have his best forward guard the blue line as a means of deception
worked to perfection.
"We like
to move him around a lot on our power play," said Daniels.
"As teams adjust to where Chris is on the rink, and try to
play him where we have him, we put him someplace else. At different
points this season we've had him in front of the net, down low,
on the boards and now on the point."
Might Minnesota
look for him elsewhere on Saturday? If Ferris State wants to get
to Buffalo, a little bit more creative deception might be needed.
FIVE
A'S FOR TWO G'S
It's unknown
whether Gino Guyer's teammates call him "two G's" as
a fun nickname. But the freshman forward from Coleraine, Minn.,
got straight A's Friday night.
Guyer assisted on his team's first four goals, then added one
for the thumb in the third as Minnesota routed Mercyhurst 9-2.
Minnesota
9,
Mercyhurst 2
Team
Goal
Str
Time
Assists
First
Period
1-MN
Grant
Potulny (13)
EV
1:15
Guyer,
Tallackson
2-MN
Keith
Ballard (10)
EV
4:33
Guyer
3-MN
Grant
Potulny (14)
EV
14:59
DeMarchi,
Guyer
Second
Period
4-MN
Barry
Tallackson (7)
PP
1:40
Guyer
5-MN
Thomas
Vanek (27)
EV
4:10
Ballard
6-MN
Paul
Martin (9)
EV
5:07
Reinholz
7-MN
Jon
Waibel (7)
EV
5:34
Fleming,
Smaagard
8-MN
Keith
Ballard (11)
EV
13:57
Fleming
Third
Period
9-MN
Grant
Potulny (15)
EV
1:05
Guyer,
Tallackson
1-MC
David
Wrigley (17)
PP
4:33
Tackaberry
2-MC
Scott
Reynolds (10)
EV
7:21
Borelli,
Rivers
Goaltending
MC:
Andy Franck, 60:00, 47 saves, 9 GA
MN:
Travis Weber, 60:00, 16 saves, 2 GA
Penalties:
MC 4/8; MN 4/8
Power
Plays: MC 2-3; MN 0-3
Attendance:
9,554
Guyer's performance
tied a school record for most assists in a game, and set a NCAA
regional record as well.
"This was as good as I've played," said Guyer, who couldn't
remember a more productive offensive night in his career. "It
was just one of those games every time I touched the puck it ended
up in the net. What a great feeling."
Guyer said his past hockey experience, including a trip to the
Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament as a junior at Greenway
High School, helped prepare him for the atmosphere of the NCAAs.
"We've all bee in playoff situations before, whether it's
in the state tournament or the USHL playoffs or last year for
the upperclassmen on this team," he said. "So it's a
testament to that experience that we were ready to go right away
tonight."
The only disturbing thing for Guyer? He noted that Mercyhurst's
green sweaters with white trim looked almost identical to those
worn by his old high school.
"For
a second when we came out, I thought I was playing against myself,"
he joked.
SEEN
AND HEARD AT MARIUCCI
• Asked how disappointing his team's 8-11-4 finish was (after
the 18-1-1 start), North Dakota coach Dean Blais took a long time
to answer the media assembled for the postgame press conference.
"It hurts," he finally said. "I guess that's why
they have a 10-minute cooling off period, because it does hurt.
That's probably why coaches get up here and say things
they shouldn't."
•
Blais, who has been impatient at best with his goalies all season,
yanked starter Jake Brandt after two periods in Friday's game.
Brandt had stopped 17 of Ferris State's 20 shots at the time,
but Blais had nothing but kind words for his starter afterwards.
"I just wanted to change something," said Blais. "When
you're down, sometimes switching goalies will get something going.
Jake certainly wasn't the reason we lost, but their goalie might
have been the reason they won."
•
If experience and history were factors, the regional opener should
have been a Fighting Sioux rout. For Ferris State, Friday marked
the first NCAA tournament game in school history. For North Dakota,
it was the school's 43rd NCAA tournament game. But the Bulldogs
were able to avoid opening game stage fright by focusing their
thoughts on the road to Buffalo. "We've set our minds for
four games, and this was just the first one," said Bulldogs
forward Phil Lewandowski. "So there were no jitters tonight."
• The
NCAA doesn't keep track of a stat called "grade A shots,"
but if they did, there would be some controversy. "I didn't
feel like a lot of the shots
(North Dakota) got were in the grade A area," said Bulldogs
coach Bob Daniels. "But a lot of that was due to the fact
that Mike Brown did such a good job of steering pucks away."
When told of Daniels' quote, the Sioux were quick to disagree.
"Their goalie pretty much won the game for them," said
North Dakota's Brandon Bochenski. "We had about 20 grade
A shots, and we hit six pipes, so I don't know what his definition
of 'grade A' is."
Friday's Three Stars
3.
Chris Kunitz, Ferris State Three
assists in the opener, as if to announce to the nation what
the CCHA has known all season.
2.
Mike Brown, Ferris State Grade
A shots or not, 44 saves and a win are nice ways to start
the
tourney.
1.
Gino Guyer, Minnesota Five
assists, a NCAA regional record, in his first NCAA playoff
game. Beginner's luck?
• The
most common color seen on visiting fans in the Twin Cities on
Friday was not North Dakota green, Mercyhurst green or Ferris
State maroon, it was
Kentucky blue. With the Wildcats and their army of hoops fans
filling the Metrodome on Thursday and Saturday for the NCAA Basketball
Midwest Regional, there was more than one rental car with a blue
UK flag flapping from it on St. Paul and Minneapolis freeways.
And the roughly eight Kentucky fans not visiting Mall of American
on Friday were seen in the State Capitol rotunda, admiring the
architecture. The house that Cass Gilbert built is definitely
the Hoover Dam of Twin Cities tourist attractions.
•
How early did Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin get the feeling that
things were going to go badly for his team? "I tried to call
a timeout during warmups, but they wouldn't let me," said
a good-natured Gotkin to a chorus of laughs in the postgame press
conference. "I knew if we didn't play well it would be ugly,
and if we did play well, it could still be ugly."
PLUSSES
AND MINUSES
To Minnesota for the Gophers' 27 second period shots on goal versus
Mercyhurst. The barrage (five of which went in) broke the old
NCAA regional record for shots in a period, which was held by
Doug Woog's 1995 Gophers. That team put 22 on goal in one period
versus Renssaeler that season in Madison.
To the Ferris State fans making the trip to Minneapolis. In a
half-empty rink dominated by North Dakota fans, the few hundred
Bulldog backers (and band) in the north end of the rink let their
boys know that they were loved as Ferris State built a 3-0 lead.
In their first NCAA tournament game, the Bulldog fans made it
look like they belonged.
To North Dakota for their second-half swoon. Call this the year
of the Big Fade for Sioux fans. From 18-1-1 on Jan. 1 to "one
and done" in the WCHA Final Five, and "0-2 and a BBQ"
in their final two games. With only two significant seniors on
their way out of Grand Forks (Kevin Spiewak and Jason Notermann),
the Sioux should be very good next year. We just had higher expectations
this year.
To the Mariucci Arena public address announcer for his inane NCAA-mandated
warning to fans. Potulny completes the hat trick 65 seconds into
the third (making it 9-0 Gophers) and hats begin to rain down
on the ice. The announcer chimes in that "fans caught throwing
objects onto the playing surface will be ejected from the arena."
Nice buzzkill, Jamie!
WHAT'S
NEXT
Minnesota
coach Don Lucia said that the speed limit is going to be raised
on the Mariucci Arena on Saturday night. Ferris State coach Bob
Daniels said his team is loving the Olympic-size ice in Minnesota,
which allows his forwards to use their speed.
With all of that offensive power accounted for, this one might
come down to goalies, as Mike Brown is hot and Travis Weber is
healthy. True to Lucia's nature, he wouldn't reveal his starting
goalie to the media, but one highly doubts he's go with the backup
when a trip to Buffalo is at stake.
It'll be packed and loud inside Mariucci, which seems to give
the edge to the defending national champs. But in truth, it's
anyone game.
The only real question regards the handful of Duluthians likely
to make the trip to Minneapolis for the game. Will they cheer
for the home-state Gophers, or the maroon and gold-clad team named
the Bulldogs?
To Minnesota for the Gophers' 27 second period shots on goal versus
Mercyhurst. The barrage (five of which went in) broke the old
NCAA regional record for shots in a period, which was held by
Doug Woog's 1995 Gophers. That team put 22 on goal in one period
versus Renssaeler that season in Madison.
To North Dakota for their second-half swoon. Call this the year
of the Big Fade for Sioux fans. From 18-1-1 on Jan. 1 to "one
and done" in the WCHA Final Five, and "0-2 and a BBQ"
in their final two games. With only two significant seniors on
their way out of Grand Forks (Kevin Spiewak and Jason Notermann),
the Sioux should be very good next year. We just had higher expectations
this year.
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