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When the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was formed, in a pro-active move after the Big Ten’s hockey representatives went off to form their own league, it was obvious to those of us with an objective eye on college hockey that the NCHC would be the most potent league in college hockey.
It was, too, in its first season, but it was difficult to appreciate how good it was because the teams took a casual attitude through mediocre performances in nonconference games, and because the Big Ten did an outstanding job of promoting itself, through its own television network, and by exploiting the heritage of the Big Ten.
Minnesota was really the only elite team in the Big Ten, but the Golden Gophers rode that to a No. 1 rank in the nation almost all season, and got favorable treatment in post-season pairings as well. It did the Gophers well, right up to the NCAA championship game, when Union took them apart thoroughly to win a surprising national title.
The situation is similar this season, only the NCHC teams appear much more serious about impressing the rest of the hockey nation. In the East, Hockey East has some power, with Boston College, Boston University, and the usual supporting cast. The ECAC has new-found prestige, thanks to Union, but it also has rising power from the rest of the league.
In the West, the WCHA is better than anyone could have expected, with Michigan Tech and Minnesota State-Mankato leading the uprising. The Big Ten again has Minnesota leading the way, but we must wait to see if Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin can approach Minnesota’s stature.
As for the NCHC, nobody can predict a favorite. Right here in Duluth, the UMD Bulldogs have shown signs of power and efficiency, spotting Minnesota a big lead then rallying to lose 4-3 before blanking Notre Dame’s highly regarded Irish 3-0 in South Bend. But before the Bulldogs can feel too optimistic, they must look ahead to this weekend, when they face St. Cloud State.
The Huskies thrashed Minnesota 4-1 in a game that wasn’t that close last weekend, before Minnesota captured a tight rematch at Mariucci Arena. If St. Cloud State intends to be a contender at the top of the NCHC, it will find ferocious company in North Dakota, Denver, Miami of Ohio, and Nebraska-Omaha, and perhaps UMD. That’s what makes this weekend so enticing. The Bulldogs and Huskies are playing for conference position, as well as for ranking of national prominence.
UMD may surprise some foes with an effective, if no-name, defense, ahead of a freshman goaltender named Kasimir Kaskisuo. He played for the Minnesota Wilderness in Cloquet last season, and it’s impressive that UMD overlooked the lack of any historic status by the first-year North American Junior League entry and recruited Kaskisuo, a quick-handed, and quick-footed Finnish prospect.
Coach Scott Sandelin has left Matt McNeely pretty much on the bench in the early going, and Kaskisuo has rewarded him with some impressive games, including a 6-2 victory at Mankato, a split with Denver, and both games against Miami in another NCHC split.
The 3-2 opening night loss to Miami included a spectacular save by Kaskisuo that, as it turned out, was wasted in a narrow defeat, even though it was worthy of the No. 3 play of the day on ESPN. It also came within an eyelash of giving me a truly spectacular photo, from the AMSOIL Arena press box.
 There were a lot of questionable penalties in the game, and UMD had gained a 2-1 lead when Andy Welinski scored a power-play goal in the second period, following Karson Kuhlman’s first-period tally. After that goal, Miami’s Cody Murphy was penalized for slashing, and he wasn’t happy about the call. When he came out of the box, both the UMD power-play guys and the penalty killers seemed to have slowed a step. Or maybe it was because Murphy came out of the penalty box supercharged with adrenaline.
He circled to the opposite side of the rink and scooped up the puck, then sped down the right boards, zooming past Welinski who clearly had underestimated Murphy’s speed. Then, all alone, he cut right to left across the slot, as Kaskisuo came out to confront him. But Murphy was too speedy for him, too, and shot past the goalie to the far, left side. Kaskisuo, anticipating a shot, had dropped to one knee, but both he and Murphy knew in a flash that the net was open behind the goalie.
Murphy held the puck until he had about a two-foot opening, then he fired. Kaskisuo, with no chance to make a routine save, made an amazing instinctive move, throwing his left, gloved hand behind his back in a blind stab. Incredibly, Murphy’s shot hit him, right in the glove. The fans weren’t sure what they were seeing, until they watched it over on the big screen over center ice. Then they cheered in amazement. As for my photos, I stayed with Murphy as he cut across the slot, then as he held the puck while Kaskisuo tried to figure out how to cover that gaping expanse behind him. That’s a good picture. I shot again just as Murphy shot, but the moment the puck hit the goaltender’s glove was also the moment that Welinski skated past, hurriedly trying to intervene. He didn’t intervene on Murphy’s shot, but he did block the view of the puck on my photo.
It wasn’t so much a great save as a great execution of talented instinct -- and a large dose of luck. It was unfortunate that the magnificent save wasn’t worth the victory, but Miami came back persistently and tied the game later in the second period, and won it 3-2 on a controversial power play in the third.
The Bulldogs stormed back to win the second game 4-3, but that, too, was tough. UMD outshot the RedHawks 18-7 in the first period and 15-8 in the second, but led only 3-2 at that point. It didn’t soothe the fans or the Bulldogs when Blake Coleman tied the game on a penalty shot at 0:18 of the third period, but Willie Raskob’s power-play goal won it 4-3 midway through the third, and Kaskisuo had to be brilliant in an 18-save third period to seal the victory.
With that, the Bulldogs and RedHawks seem to have certified a rivalry for games to come. Both teams are similar, both play with intensity and depth all through their lineups, and both don’t like to yield an inch. The series, and particularly the second game, had an edge to every shift.
“Yeah, it was chippy,” said Kyle Osterberg. “I don’t think these two teams like each other very much, but it was fun because every shift had an edge to it.”
Osterberg had assists on Justin Crandall’s first-period goal, Welinski’s second-period marker, and Raskob’s game-winner in the third. Miami coach Rico Blasi agreed with the assessment.
“Both teams played hard, and that kind of edge is going to happen,” said Blasi. “They took advantage of our mistakes and made us pay for them, but it was pretty intense for such an early series. Last year was one of those years for us; from me on down, we fell a little short. The league was great though. Week in and week out, there were no easy games.”
Can UMD keep up the pace and intensify it through both games on a weekend? We’ll find out this weekend, at St. Cloud State. And after that, a non-conference “breather” with a home-and-home series against, who else? Minnesota.

John Gilbert has been writing sports for over 30 years. Formerly with the Star Tribune and WCCO. He currently hosts a daily radio show on KDAL AM.

Election Week? Vote for Twins, Vikings, UMD Sports

Ordinarily, the World Series would dominate conversations for a week or two, especially after pitcher Madison Bumgarner put on such an amazing show to lead San Francisco to its seven-game championship over Kansas City. Just remember, amid all the gushing of Bumgarner’s greatness, that neither of these teams won their divisions in the Major Leagues. Both were wild cards!
But we had plenty of excitement closer to home. As for baseball, the Twins named Paul Molitor as their new manager on Tuesday. Joe Maddon, who got out of his contract at Tampa, would have been a great choice, too, but Maddon is a good fit with the Chicago Cubs. And if Molitor -- our guy from Cretin, the University of Minnesota, and the Major League Hall of Fame -- had gotten overlooked, he undoubtedly would have gone elsewhere. And if he did, and became an outstanding manager, Twins fans would have every reason to regret his departure.
The Vikings put on a strong show to beat Washington, the team-that-should-give-up-the-nickname-Redskins. Teddy Bridgewater is learning, both how to succeed, and how to get along without the primary team weapon of Adrian Peterson. Imagine how effective Bridgewater would be if he had Peterson lined up as a high-stepping running threat every play. True, Bridgewater has been having trouble throwing long passes, partly because he tends to prefer to throw bullet passes than high-arching bombs. But mostly because he is trying to do as he’s told, to fit into the team structure. I think if they told Teddy to go out and have fun, and improvise, he would be throwing long, short, and running like an antelope.
The Minnesota Wild have gotten off to a flying start, although their 7-3 record meant little when Pittsburgh came to town and inflicted a 3-0 wound to Minnesota’s pride Tuesday night. Imagine that while the Wild hadn’t scored a power-play goal until they managed two in a 4-1 victory over Dallas last Saturday, leaving them at something like a 6-percent success rate, Pittsburgh came in with a power play that was clicking at 42 percent. Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin can make any power play click, apparently, and the Penguins look like a solid candidate to carry the East’s colors to the Stanley Cup this season.
The Gopher football team is riding high, although bye weeks tend to do that to a team. This Saturday, at 11 a.m., the Gophers “real” season begins. Iowa comes to TCF Bank Stadium, starting a four-game gauntlet that includes Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin as well. The Gophers could be a pretty good team and still lose all four of those games. But maybe they won’t. Maybe they’ll continue to sparkle and surprise us.
Closer still to home, both UMD and St. Scholastica are 9-0 and riding high in the worlds of Division 2 and 3 football. If you want to talk ratings, though, how about the Super-Region ratings? UMD has been No. 2 in the nation for several weeks, and after pounding poor Minnesota-Crookston 77-3 last Saturday, they dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 in the Regional. With the top two getting first-round byes, that is a devasting drop, to say nothing of unfairness. It’s up to the Bulldogs to keep on going, starting Saturday at 1 p.m. against Mary at Malosky Stadium.
The UMD women’s hockey team swept 3-0 and 6-3 games from Minnesota State-Mankato last weekend, and now takes a couple weeks off, while Bulldogs players head off to play for various national teams in midseason tournaments. The No. 1 rated Minnesota Golden Gophers lost a few players last weekend for preparation for the Four Nations Cup, and -- bang, bang -- they were shot down twice by Bemidji State. New coach Jim Scanlon can be proud of the fact the Beavers tied the Gophers and beat them in a shootout the first day, then beat them again, 1-0, in the rematch.
UMD’s volleyball team continued to roll, but had a scare before nipping Wayne State in a five-set match last Friday. But they came back to handle injury-depleted Augustana in three straight games Saturday. Then they went to St. Paul and beat Concordia in a four-game set that, technically, was an exhibition battle. That leaves UMD 26-1, with both conference and nonconference triumphs over the seven-time defending national Division 2 volleyball champions.
UMD also won a 2-0 soccer match from Bemidji at Malosky Stadium last Friday, then played a scoreless tie at Minnesota-Crookston to advance to playoffs in the Northern Sun.