I'll state right up front that North Dakota played tremendously well and
deserved to win.  I may not say that again, as i'm sure to focus on the
Gophers, but let it not be forgotten.
 
Minnesota played horribly on Friday.  It was the worst game I have seen
them play in several years, or at least the worst half game.  I live with
two non-hockey fans for roommates and when the score reached 5-0, I got
tired of them badgering me to turn over the TV so that someone would at
least be enjoying what was on.  So anything after that point I didn't see.
This won't be a problem next year; my fiance already seems to understand
that I get very possessive of the TV during winter weekends.
 
Everything I complained about earlier in the season reared its ugly head.
No one was playing defense.  North Dakota players were allowed to walk in
uncontested and fire away.  Moen didn't look very good either, but it sure
wasn't all his fault.  Minnesota put no thought into what they were doing
on offense and the Sioux ate them up as they tried to get anything going.
Next weekend, guys, try passing the puck to someone that doesn't have two
opponents surrounding him.
 
Saturday's game is a bit more problematic to analyze, because there were
long stretches that Minnesota completely dominated.  Kvalevog was very
sharp early on.  If not for him and the fact the the Gophs missed the net
with half of their 34 attempted shots, North Dakota could have gotten blown
out in the first period.  Kvalevog melted down later, and the call to
replace him was probably a good one, but he did heroic work early on.
 
The fact that Minnesota had so many chances seems to have deluded some of
my fellow fans into thinking that they played really well.  They certainly
played better than on Friday, but well under what they need to do.  The
coverage in the defensive zone remained abysmal.  North Dakota's first goal
stood out as a statement about the entire weekend.  Zierke and Pivetz did
fine work in the corner to get the puck out and passed it out to Calder
skating in from the weak side.  Two Gophers (if I saw correctly, one was
our defensive specialist Greg Zwakman) stood in front of the net without
looking behind them and Calder came in clean.  For the whole game, we made
too many passes right on to North Dakota sticks, let too many people move
around the ice however they wanted and just didn't play very smart.  North
Dakota sure helped this along by playing so well, but Minnesota shouldn't
let the fact that the second game was close keep themselves from looking in
the mirror very carefully.
 
To follow up the line of conversation that has developed about this series,
the officiating was godawful.  If any CCHA fans are wondering where Brendan
Rutherford got to, he's now out here.  You're welcome to take him back
anytime you want him.  I didn't think he was any good when I saw him in
your league and I don't think that he's gotten any better.  The power play
opportunities on Saturday were 10 for UND and 5 for Minnesota.  This was
not a case of there being too many penalties, but rather too few.  All
sorts of stuff was let go in a very chippy game.
 
I would have said nothing more than that the officiating was bad except for
one call.  I'm not very concerned with the disparity in power plays,
because I think the Gophers may well have merited it.  But the
cross-checking (not interference) call on Wyatt Smith that put Minnesota
two men down late in the second was a horrifying call.  I would have called
the whole thing incidental contact, but if a call was to be made, why not
interference on UND for setting the pick?  It was a crucial moment to make
a call that bad.  It wasn't comparable to the call that put North Dakota
down two men early in the Friday game; that was as textbook a case of
cross-checking in front of the net as you could find.  If that one goes
uncalled, you can write off officiating altogether.
 
And to respond to a different poster, I'm not saying that the refs were out
to get Minnesota.  And, yes, judgement calls have to be made and they're
not going to see everything.  Taken as a whole, though, the officiating
this weekend was remarkably bad.  On Friday, it didn't make any difference.
On Saturday, it may well have.  Not that North Dakota didn't deserve the
win, but they still got an extra advantage on that one call.  Hockey and
life both work out that way sometimes; incompetence has a way of accidently
working in someone's favor.  It happens in Minnesota's favor, too,
sometimes.  I'm just not always mature enough to keep my mouth shut when it
doesn't.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.