(The title comes from NHL 99 if you were wondering :))

Kenny Reiter was an absolute star for the University of Minnesota Duluth bulldogs.  He won the dogs their first national championship along with many other special achievements for the program.  Kenny left the dogs and is currently with the Fort Wayne komets, competing for a starting job this upcoming season as the komets regular tender is out with hip surgeries.   Now that Kenny is gone, this leaves a some competition for Aaron Crandall, who split time with Kenny in the ’10-’11 season and even saw time last year, with 2 incoming freshman Matt McNeely and Alex Fons.

Aaron Crandall is a solid goaltender.  As a freshman, splitting time with Kenny, he went 10-3-1, had a 2.76 goals against average and a .894 save percentage.  As a sophomore he went 2-1-0, averaged 3.01 goals against with a .855 save percentage.   He’s had some bumps along the way but is definitely a solid tendy with some good experience under his belt.  The way things stand now, the starting job is his to lose.

Aaron Crandall

Aaron’s competition comes from 6’2” 205lb Matt McNeely and 6’1” 185lb Alex Fons. 

McNeely is coming from Cedar Rapids of the USHL where he went 7-7-5, let in, on average, 3.25 goals per game, and had a save percentage of .892 in his last season.  McNeely didn’t get very much time last year because he played behind Jake Heldebrand, a Michigan State recruit, for most the time.  McNeely’s was also on USA’s gold medal team at the 2010 World U-17 championships.  There, he recorded 2.93 goals against average and a .901 save percentage in 3 games.

Matt McNeely

Fons, a former goaltender for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the North American Hockey League, finds himself in the battle for playing time this year as well.  Fons went 21-5-2 with a .907 save percentage and averaged only 2.33 goals against.  Alex has had quite the path to becoming a bulldog.  He started at Hopkins High School in Minnesota and upon graduation, left to the Alexandria Blizzard of the NAHL. Then, he was called to the University of Minnesota because of an injury but left after deciding he would most likely not end up with the starting job.  Fons finally ended up in Fairbanks and posted great numbers, listed above, and now is practicing with the dogs, competing with McNeely and Crandall for the starting job.

Alex Fons

Watching the goaltending situation unfold will be fun to watch over the next few weeks.  The dogs will have solid goaltending depth for years to come.

GO DOGS!!!!

The bulldogs look to bring back a little bit more experience on the point this year.  Wade Bergman and Drew Olson are returning seniors that will provide the young guns with some experience that will definitely benefit them in the long run of their careers.

Leading the way is senior defenseman Wade Bergman who posted 3 goals and 15 assists last year.  I’m anxious to see whom he’ll partner up with this year as his old line-mate, Brady Lamb, graduated last season.  Wade is not the tallest defenseman out there but do not count him out.  Many early predictions are showing Wade to have a shot at 1^st team All-WCHA.  Expect a big year out of him.

Wade Bergman vs BC

Other d-men returning with experience are Chris Casto, Luke McManus, Tim Smith and Derik Johnson; all returning sophomores this year.  Of all the sophomores, look for Chris to have a very good year.  Last year as a freshman he scored 2 goals and had 11 assists in 41 games.  He looked very solid and with a year of experience under his belt, plan on him holding the line very well this year.

The dogs welcome Willie Corrin and Andrew Welinski to join the d-men this year as incoming freshman, and should solidify the line very well.  Welinski is coming off a fabulous year at Green Bay of the USHL.  There, he recorded 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points in 54 games.  He was also named the United States Hockey League defenseman of the year.  Willie Corrin, a former Fargo Force defenseman, comes to UMD after a 29-point season with Fargo.  Both incoming players will be a great addition to our defensive core and should help the dogs find many wins this season!

GO DOGS!!

Before I write anything, I would like you to watch this clip…

Now, if you didn’t watch the game, I’m going to back up a couple drives and explain.  Russell Wilson and the Seahawks failed to convert on 4^th for a touchdown on their previous drive giving the Packers the ball on their own “something” yard line (very close to the end zone, you know what I mean).  Anyway, the Pack is unable to move anywhere and eventually have to punt the ball away to Seattle.  Seattle gets the ball back at around midfield and move forward a bit before the play you just watched.

The ruling on the field, and the official call was “touchdown”.  Now, I am a huge Vikings fan and therefore dislike the Packers but come on…  That was clearly an interception PLUS offensive pass interference!  Right?  No?  Watch it again than.

Now the Pack didn’t exactly play well enough to “earn” that win but the refs didn’t help the situation either.  Never should they have let themselves get into a situation where I play like that can determine the game to begin with.  But if there was fire surrounding the whole replacement referee issue already, this play just poured jet-fuel all over the topic.

What if the Packers fall short of making the playoffs by one game?

Say this had been a meaningful playoff game or even the Super Bowl?

Just a funny bit from KFAN :)

Something needs to, and probably will be done about the replacement refs now.  The real refs know they are now in the pilot seat for negotiations so I’m planning on them being back soon.

GO DOGS!!

The bulldogs have a couple questions coming into this season.  One being, who in the world is going to find the back of the net?

Jack Connolly, who scored 20 goals last season, Travis Oleksuk, who scored 21 goals and J.T. Brown who buried 24 pucks were UMD’s top 3 scorers last season who together, combined for 160 points; they all left.  Making Caleb Herbert, who finished off the year with 14 goals, Mike Seidel with 17 and Joe Basaraba with 7 left.  Honestly, this is going to be a tough fill for the dogs.  It’s not realistic to say that someone will replace those three, especially Jack, although anything is possible right?

Austin Farley recorded 28 goals last season for the Fargo Force and posted 59 total points in 51 games.  He was 10^th overall in the USHL for total points and 8^th in goals.  It’s no secret that he found the back of the net last year in the United States Hockey League, but can he do it  at the collegiate level as well?  I believe so.  At 5’9” 170lbs he’s not going to be the biggest skater on the ice, but I expect him to be among the top scorers for the dogs this year.

Tony Cameranesi and Charlie Sampair could also be potential freshman candidates to be among some of the top scorers this year.  Tony put 18 goals in for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL last season and Charlie scored 30 goals for the Hill-Murray Pioneers as a senior in high school last season.  Tony has a year of experience in the USHL under his belt and Charlie may sound like an iffy bet but at 6’1” 190lbs its not like he’s going to pushed around to much.

But enough about incoming recruits, we all know UMD has returning talent as well that will help put numbers on scoreboards all over the country.  You can’t exactly fall short of the frozen four (only to the team that one the national championship) with 3 talented players right?  Caleb Herbert is going to have a hell of year.  If it’s not obvious, it should be.  Plan on him sitting near the WCHA scoring top, you heard it here first.  Joe Basaraba will also have a fantastic season this year, along with the experience of senior Mike Seidel who scored 2 goals in the bulldogs losing game against Denver in the WCHA final five.

Add Jake Hendrickson to the list of players to have a good year as well.  As a senior this year, look for him to carry on from last year, specifically the Maine game where he put 2 goals in to propel Duluth to face off against Boston College.  He should be able to keep his numbers high this year along with the rest of the returning players listed above.

Senior forwards Dan DeLisle, Keegan Flaherty and Cody Danberg will use their experience to their advantage this year and also help add points.  These forwards, along with Tim Smith, Joe Basaraba and Max Tardy know what it takes to win the national championship, and I’m not saying they’re going to win it all, but that experience will benefit them and the rest of the team very much so this year.

I thought I would go ahead and share my ballot.  I already posted the rankings, more in depth anyway, HERE so check them if you want my observation and summary on each team.  Anyway, here ya go:

1) Minnesota
2) North Dakota
3) Denver
4) Minnesota Duluth
5) Wisconsin
6) St. Cloud State
7) Nebraska Omaha
8) Colorado College
9) Michigan Tech
10) Mankato State
11) Bemidji State
12) Alaska Anchorage


All WCHA Team:

Forwards - Mark Zengerle (Wisconsin), Nick Bjugstad (Minnesota), Ben Hanowski (SCSU)

Defense - Nate Schmidt (Minnesota), Joey LaLeggia (Denver)

Goalie - Sam Brittain (Denver)


Player of the Year - Nick Bjugstad (Minnesota)

Rookie of the Year - Andy Welinski (Minnesota Duluth)

Defenseman of the Year - Joey LaLeggia (Denver)

Breakout Player of the Year - Caleb Herbert (Minnesota Duluth)


GO DOGS!!

USA Hockey released their preseason rankings this morning and listed at the top is the University of Minnesota in a tie with Boston College, although BC took 8 more first-place votes.  Michigan follows snagging 2 of the first-place votes as well.

Minnesota (1), North Dakota (4), Denver (8), Minnesota Duluth (12) and Wisconsin (15) are all in the WCHA, giving the poll a pretty strong WCHA presence.

Next year's NCHC has 5 of it's 8 teams and the Big Ten has 3.

http://www.usahockey.com/College/MensPollWeek1.aspx

I like where UMD is, but I hope we're able to prove it and move up as time goes on.  Will post the USCHO rankings when they come out as well.

GO DOGS!

Dan Molenaar from Eden Prairie, Minnesota committed to the University of Minnesota Duluth yesterday.  The 5’11” 180lb defenseman will most likely join the dogs next season with Willie Raskob, Blake Heinrich, Adam Johnson, Kyle Osterberg and potentially local High School stars Dom Toninato and Jared Thomas.  Dan graduated and played with Kyle Rau, a forward for the University of Minnesota, on the Eagles state championship team in 2011.

Upon graduation he played for Green Bay and Sioux City in the USHL and posted 2 goals and 17 assists for 19 points in 54 games.  As a senior for the Eagles he scored 6 goals and had 23 assists for 29 points.  Looking forward to watching Dan progress and skate as a dog next year and best of luck to him this year in the USHL.

photo credit: mnhockeyhub

GO DOGS!