The NMU-UND weekend series in Grand Forks has had miminal coverage here
in Marquette. No TV (as usual--boy, are you Minnesota fans spoiled!),
and Saturday night's game was completed too late for there to even be a
story in the local newspaper. I did hear the radio broadcast of the
latter part of both games, and there was a brief story about the Friday
game in the Mining Journal.
Friday night the Wildcats and Fighting Sioux ended up in a 2-2 tie.
North Dakota led with two early first-period goals. NMU got one marker
in the second period and the equalizer in the third. The broadcast made
it sound like the 'Cats had good pressure throughout the third period,
and the majority of the chances in the overtime, but failed to get the
game-winner. Apparently Kory Karlander missed an open net from in close
at one point, and Greg Hadden had a great chance to move in close on the
Sioux goalie for a deke attempt at another, but Greg chose to try an
unsuccessful pass instead. Both goaltenders made 29 saves, and were
praised by the announcers and Rick Comley. Rick was not happy with the
way the 'Cats played in the second period, and said they were lucky not
to be several more goals behind at the end of the period. He was happy,
however, with their third period performance.
Saturday's night game resulted in a 6-5 North Dakota win, but it was an
exciting broadcast. The Wildcats made a tremendous comeback after
trailing 4-0 and 5-2 in the second period. The game-winner turned out
to be an empty net goal in the penultimate minute of the game. Again,
the Sioux took an early 2-0 lead. I wasn't tuned in at this point, but
the announcers' summary indicated both goals were on 2-on-1 breakaways
which allowed Northe Dakota to get the puck by Corwin Saurdiff. After
those goals, which occurred in the first five minutes of the game,
Saurdiff was evidently very strong for the rest of the period, and made
many outstanding stops. However, he started the second period extremely
poorly. The Sioux scored on three of their first four shots of the
period, all early. The Wildcats finally had a goal sandwiched in
between North Dakota's fourth and fifth goals, when Hadden intercepted a
pass in the slot area, deked the goalie and put a high shot under the
crossbar. Comley pulled Saurdiff when this potential morale-booster was
quickly followed by the fifth Sioux goal on a long shot from the blue
line. He inserted freshman Paul Tayler, who had not played at all for
the Wildcats until then. Taylor was immediately tested with three quick
close-in shots, and he turned them all back. He had an excellent game,
making 19 saves and finishing the game without giving up a goal.
The Wildcats got their second goal late in the second period, so it
ended 5-2. In the third period they seemed to be playing at a much
higher level (in fact, the announcers felt they did from the middle of
the second period). The score went to 5-3, then 5-4 with still over hal
half the period remaining. However, two consecutive penalties on NMU
resulted in a 5-3 situation and then a 5-4 for a critical period, and
while the 'Cats killed the penalties, some crucial time and offensive
momentum was consumed.
Comley pulled Taylor with about a minute and a half left, with a faceoff
in the Sioux zone. Unfortuantely for the 'Cats, the draw went back to
Steve Carpenter near the blue line and Steve couldn't maintain control
of the puck. A Sioux picked it up and skated all the way to within five
feet of the goal before planting his shot in the empty net for a 6-4
lead. Taylor remained on the bench and the Wildcats completely
controlled the puck the rest of the game. They got another goal with
about thirty seconds left to make it 6-5. Two more faceoffs in the
North Dakota end failed to result in the tying score.
On the post game radio interview, Comley said he felt his team played
better in the first two periods than they had in Friday's tie. However,
it seemed Saurdiff was having a rare bad game--or at least period--and
thus Rick pulled Corwin after that fifth goal early in the second
period. He said he had no idea how Taylor would do; the freshman had
performed poorly in practice. But, he came up big in a game situation.
When asked if Taylor had earned a start, Comley noted that perhaps
Saurdiff does need to sit out an occasional game. He also pointed out,
however, that regular backup goalie Rob Kruhlak is now recovered from
the injury which had kept him from dressing recently.
The one-point weekend was a bit of a disappointment. However, the fact
that Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth both split their series mean the
'Cats did not lose significant ground to the league leaders. Joe
Frederick may play next weekend at Duluth. Troy Johnson was back for
the North Dakota series, so if Joe can play next weekend it would make
the first series all season when the entire team was available. Only
one problem with that scenario--Dan Ruoho and ? Curtin of the Sioux
received game disqualification penalties for fighting in the second
period of the Saturday game, so Ruoho will not be dressed for the first
Duluth contest. Comley was upset with that situation. His version of
what happened, as given in his postgame interview, was that "A goon got
Dan in the corner and started ponding on him. Dan had to defend
himself, and the result is we lose a good player for a game, and they
lose someone who shouldn't even be in the league." I suppose the North
Dakota folks may have a different version of this. For whatever it's
worth, the announcers were surprised about the disqualifications when
they were announced; they said it didn't seem like that much of a fight.
**********************************************************************
* Steve Christopher, NMU [log in to unmask] * * * * *
* NCAA Division I Hockey National Champions 1990-91 * GO * *
* NCAA Division I Hockey Final Eight 1991-92 * *
* WCHA League Champions 1990-91 * 'CATS! * *
* WCHA Playoff Champions 1989-90/1990-91/1991-92 . . . * * * * *
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