UMD heads for climactic finishes

John Gilbert

UMD’s Ashleigh Brykaliuk follows through after snapping a shot past St. Cloud State goaltender Janine Alder for a 1-0 lead in Game 2 of their WCHA playoff set. Photo credit: John Gilbert
UMD’s Ashleigh Brykaliuk follows through after snapping a shot past St. Cloud State goaltender Janine Alder for a 1-0 lead in Game 2 of their WCHA playoff set. Photo credit: John Gilbert

Four years ago, the UMD women’s hockey team showed off two players who were destined to become the nucleus of a Bulldogs program that would strive to recapture the glory of five national championships past. Those two players — Lara Stalder from Switzerland and Ashleigh Brykaliuk from Brandon, Manitoba — have more than lived up to their billing.

UMD star Lara Stalder embraced her former Switzerland teammate and St. Cloud State goalie Janine Alder after Stalder's two goals led a 5-0 victory in Game 1. Photo credit: John Gilbert
UMD star Lara Stalder embraced her former Switzerland teammate and St. Cloud State goalie Janine Alder after Stalder's two goals led a 5-0 victory in Game 1. Photo credit: John Gilbert

Incredibly, when the Bulldogs went into the WCHA playoffs against St. Cloud State last weekend, the two stood exactly even in career points, with 139 each. Stalder had 50 goals, 89 assists for her 139, while Brykaliuk had 61-78--139. Stalder, who has a rifle for a shot, scored two goals and assisted on another in the 5-0 first game, adding another goal and two assists in the 6-2 second game. Brykaliuk racked up three assists in the first game, and a goal and an assist in the second.

That means Stalder has a career tally of 53-92—145 and Brykaliuk 62-82--144 as they lead the Bulldogs onto the Ridder Arena ice to face arch-rival Minnesota in the WCHA semifinals. For this season, Stalder has 22-31--53 in 32 games; Brykaliuk has 17-27—44. The true beauty of both players is that they care nothing of individual point tallies, because they are totally consumed with team success.

With that, the game against Minnesota — while No. 1 ranked Wisconsin faces North Dakota in the second semifinal Saturday — could be all-important for the Bulldogs, who rank No. 2 in the nation even if No. 3 in the WCHA race at 19-5-4 to Wisconsin’s 22-2-4 and Minnesota’s 19-4-5. UMD lost two tense games at Ridder in October, 4-3 and 3-2 in overtime. The Bulldogs avenged that lost weekend by sweeping the Gophers 3-2 and 5-3 in January to cost the Gophers a shot at the league title and atop the national rank.

Miami freshman Gordie Green (9), who tied the game late in the third period, lifted a rebound over UMD goalie Hunter Miska in the second overtime of the second game in the series. Photo credit: John Gilbert
Miami freshman Gordie Green (9), who tied the game late in the third period, lifted a rebound over UMD goalie Hunter Miska in the second overtime of the second game in the series. Photo credit: John Gilbert

With the national ratings showing 1. Wisconsin, 2. UMD, 3. Clarkson, 4. St. Lawrence, and 5. Minnesota, all three WCHA entries are virtually sure to be invited to the NCAA’s 8-team tournament. Mandatory league representatives could knock out a more qualified entry, but even a UMD loss to Minnesota shouldn’t dislodge the Bulldogs. A UMD victory, however, could make the Gophers vulnerable, after they stumbled and needed all three games to subdue a determined Bemidji State outfit in the first round of playoffs. North Dakota also needed three games to get past Ohio State, but the Fighting Hawks would need to beat Wisconsin Saturday and the UMD-Minnesota winner on Sunday to take the playoff title and gain an automatic berth to the NCAA.  

Stalder and Brykaliuk — and superb sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney — will need huge performances to carry the Bulldogs, as will the full supporting cast. But a UMD victory over Minnesota would not only set up a classic final Sunday, but would virtually assure the Bulldogs of home-ice next weekend for the NCAA quarterfinals.

The UMD men’s hockey team faces one final weekend on the road, at Western Michigan, before launching into the whirlwind of NCHC and NCAA playoffs. The formerly No. 1 rated Bulldogs slipped to No. 3 behind Denver and Harvard in national ratings this week, with Massachusetts-Lowell No. 4 and Minnesota, leading the Big Ten, No. 5.

UMD’s effort to win the NCHC is a mere flicker now, because the second-place Bulldogs would have to sweep at third-place Western Michigan, while Denver loses twice at Nebraska-Omaha in order to overcome Denver’s 4-point lead. 

The UMD series against Miami last weekend proved again how dangerous the lower reaches of the NCHC are for even the top teams. Miami coach Enrico Blasi insists his approach has been to focus on the process he wants his players to execute, not on winning, because the Redhawks are so youthful. In fact, they had come to Duluth with a meager 1-7-1 record in their last nine games.

You wouldn’t know that from their weekend play against UMD, however. In the first game, UMD led 1-0 after a period and 2-0 early in the second, on goals by Adam Johnson and Dom Toninato. But Jared Brandt and Grant Hutton scored goals to forge a 2-2 tie. Neal Pionk regained the lead at 3-2 in the third, but Carson Meyer tied it again for the Redhawks. A late hooking penalty on Miami gave Avery Peterson the chance to score a power play goal with 1:24 left for a 4-3 UMD triumph.

The second game showed the Redhawks inspired to hike the tempo significantly, but Toninato’s goal made it 1-0 UMD after one. Jared Brandt and Hutton once again countered in the second period for a 2-1 Miami lead, however, and this time it took Adam Johnson and Parker Mackay goals to lift UMD to a 3-2 lead in the third period.

With time running down, Miami’s Gordie Green circled out to center point and scored with a screened shot with 3:25 left. The teams played a scoreless overtime, then went to the 3-on-3 second overtime for an extra league standings point. Amazingly, the same Gordie Green got a shot that Hunter Miska blocked, then lifted his own rebound at 3:46 of the 5-minute session and the 3-3 tie was decided by Green’s goal.

“All year we’ve focused on effort and compete level,” said Blasi. “Every weekend in this league is like the national tournament, but we’ve stressed playing hard and if it’s not good enough today, we’ll get better tomorrow. We’ve got 14 freshmen and 6 sophomores on our roster.”

True, the Redhawks dressed five freshmen and four sophomores among their 12 forwards, and three more freshman and a sophomore on defense, while all three goaltenders are freshmen. I mentioned what an amazing night Gordie Green had, as the freshman from Ann Arbor tied the game, and got the extra-point goal in double overtime.

“And on his birthday, at that,” said Blasi. “I’ve got to figure out how to convince him he’s got seven more birthdays this season.”

The narrow loss and the tie don’t break Miami’s futility string that now shows 1-8-2 in the last 11, but nobody is going to want to play the upsurging Redhawks in the playoffs — a venture that could come to UMD.