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St. Cloud State University
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National powers to collide at UND
By Bobby Hart
Published:
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Media Credit: Blair Schlicte
The No. 7 ranked Huskies take on the No. 1 ranked University of North Dakota this weekend in what has become a growing rivalry. Both teams are fresh off big conference sweeps over the weekend.
Before the 2003-04 hockey season took its first breath, SCSU hockey fans probably didn't expect their Huskies to be the only undefeated team left in the WCHA entering a week five match-up with the top-ranked team in the nation.
Neither did SCSU head coach Craig Dahl, who's trying not to get too comfortable on top quite yet.
"You're always surprised when you're undefeated after eight games," Dahl said. "I don't care what kind of team you've got, because in order to be undefeated in hockey, a lot of breaks have to go your way also. But we give credit where credit is due. Our guys have worked extremely hard and have been very disciplined and coachable, but we're not so dumb to realize that we have caught some breaks also."
Nearly every eye in the college hockey world will be on Engelstad Arena this weekend when the newly instated No. 1 ranked Fighting Sioux (6-1-0) will square off against the No. 7 ranked Huskies (7-0-1) for the top spot in the conference standings.
UND and the Huskies are both a week removed from monumental sweeps.
The Fighting Sioux tore apart the Gophers in Grand Forks, while the Huskies brought UMD (who also swept the Gophers two weeks ago) back down to earth with a sweep in the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
"I think we're two teams that may be overachieving a little and that really says something about both programs," said UND head coach Dean Blais.
Blais, who's the winningest active coach in NCAA Div. I hockey in his tenth year as UND's head coach, is beginning grow fond of their developing rivalry with the Huskies.
"(The rivalry) is mainly because they're doing so well down there," Blais said. "St. Cloud's had names like (Tyler) Arnason, (Nate DiCasmirro, (Mark) Hartigan and (Mark) Parrish that have really made their program stick out. They've also been the team, like UND, that's been in the Final Five pretty consistently."
In fact, the Huskies and the Fighting Sioux have each been to the Final Five six times in the last seven seasons.
The heavyweight series will feature the WCHA's top offense in UND's six goal average, versus its second best defense in SCSU's 2.50 goals against average.
The Huskies will be relying on Adam Coole, who was honored as the WCHA defensive player of the week after saving 73 of 78 shots against his former UMD squad. Coole leads the WCHA with a .936 save percentage and is ranked second in saves with 117 and goals against average with 2.18.
"We've felt that all of our goaltenders are pretty good, it was just a matter of somebody who's going to be really good," Dahl said. "I think having the eight defenders we have that are playing so well really helps our goaltenders, because they don't have to see so many second and third shots. Any time you have a goaltender playing well, it helps the cause and it certainly helps the confidence of not only him, but also your team."
The Fighting Sioux are led by WCHA Offensive Player of the Week Brandon Bochenski who had two goals and four assists against the Gophers. The junior forward, who is among the top 10 UND scorers of all time with 60 goals, is No. 4 in the nation with eight goals and seven assists in seven games this season. Along with Brady Murray, and Zach Parise, who dazzled the league last season with 61 points (26 goals, 35 assists) in his first year in the league. UND's first line is the second highest scoring line in the conference with 36 points.
Husky senior Matt Hendricks knows better than anyone how dangerous UND's top scoring line can be, being that he played on the same line Bochenski at Blaine High School where they won a state championship together in 2000.
"We always have a good time with it, joking on the ice. It's a good competition and a great rivalry," Hendricks said.
We have to really focus this week on playing our systems game. We had some mental lapses against Duluth over the weekend and if it wasn't for Adam Coole we would've probably lost those games. We just really have to focus defensively."
Dahl agrees.
"Let's put it this way, our team relies on work ethic and playing smart as a team," he said. "Playing a team like North Dakota, if you make mistakes defensively, the puck is going to be in the net. It's matching their strength against our strength. I like our defensemen, and (UND) likes their forwards obviously."
The Huskies blue-collar pick-your-poison offense isn't too shabby itself, and has been getting consistent help from Juniors Mike Doyle and Dave Iannazzo who are tied for third in the conference with four goals a piece.
The Huskies will also have to adapt to the luxurious Engelstad Arena that was built in 2001 and has 11,300 seats. According to Blais, his Fighting Sioux and their fans are just finally getting used to the $100 million facility themselves.
"Half the fans we get are from outside of Grand Forks and really have no identitiy with the team, and don't know who's who or when to cheer," Blais said. "It takes a while, especially when we doubled our fan base. The fans are starting to get to know us. The first year it was all about the laser light show, billboard, leather seats and the glamour, not the team."
The fans that do venture to Grand Forks this weekend may not want to focus to hard on the arena's luxury features, or they may risk missing two of the best hockey games of the WCHA season.
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