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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow him on Twitter @RomanStrib.
Posts about UMD
UNO hires away a SCSU hockey assistant; rabid UMD fan dies
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz Updated: June 6, 2012 - 1:20 AM
Nebraska Omaha has hired Steve Johnson as an assistant hockey coach. He held the same position at St. Cloud State the past two seasons.
Johnson replaces Mike Hastings, who left to become the head coach at Minnesota State Mankato.
“Steve has the ability to be a great recruiter for us," UNO head coach Dean Blais said, "and his on-ice skills as a coach are very strong as shown by his work in both the United States Hockey League and at the college level. His knowledge and experience will make our team stronger. ”
Johnson led the USHL's Fargo Force to the 2010 Clark Cup finals.
UMD FAN EXTRAORDINAIRE DIES
Dick Stewart, 92, one of the biggest fans of the Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team, died on Monday. He was the longtime owner of Stewart's Wheel Goods in Duluth, sponsored many youth sports teams and always attended UMD games whenever he could, according to a story in the Duluth News-Tribune.
LUCIA'S MEDIA LINK SWITCHES SPORTS
Paul Rovnak has a new job at the U.
After two years as the assistant director for athletic communications for men's hockey, Rovnak has been promoted to associate director in the same department and will work with the football team.
As of Monday, he replaced Andy Seeley, who handled media relations and publicity for the Gophers for four years. He left for Central Florida where he will be assistant athletics director for communications.
“Paul has done an outstanding job with Gopher hockey since arriving at the ‘U’," said Garry Bowman. the U's director of athletic communications. "He understands the changing landscape of modern media relations, publicity and social media and has been a terrific addition to our staff. He has earned this opportunity and I am looking forward to see him roll up his sleeves and go to work in this new role.”
Before working with coach Don Lucia and the Gophers hockey team, Rovnak was assistant director of media relations for the Washington Capitals of the NHL for three seasons.
Bowman said that a national search will be conducted to fill in the communications position with Gophers hockey.
MODEL CAMP COMING
Lucia's Model hockey camp will be held next week at Mariucci and Ridder Arenas.
Applicants had to apply by May 10. There were 216 spots open. Players will be divided among 12 teams.
The camp is clearly aimed at the high-end player. Or as one promo on the camp web site reads: "The goal of this camp is to provide exposure to junior, college and NHL scouts. Every team is coached by an active NCAA college coach and every NHL Team and central scouting will be in attendance. Numerous players have gone on to play college hockey and play in the NHL."
Cost of the camp is $375. Let's see, 216 x $375 = $81,000.
The names of those attending have not been released yet on the Model camp web site, but they have been in past years.
* Bemidji State has updated its web site for athletics. It is available at BSUBeavers.com. One of the improvements is a scroll at the bottom of the page with upcoming athletic events.
BSU's web site for athletics is also available on mobile devices now.
UMD's Connolly among Hobey Hat Trick finalists
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz Updated: March 29, 2012 - 5:38 PMThe Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation announced is three Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists. They are Jack Connolly, UMD; Spencer Abbott of Maine and Austin Smith of Colgate. All are senior forwards. The winner will be named on Friday of next week during the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.
Criteria for the awards include outstanding skills. character, sportsmanship and academics. Here is a short bio on each:
* Connolly. Bulldogs captain. Native of Duluth. Top 10 Hobey finalist as a junior. WCHA scoring champion. All-conference three times, player of year in WCHA as a senior. Two-time all-american. Second in nation in points. Had 20 goals, 40 assists for 60 points in 41 games. Played in 164 consecutive games. Undrafted free agent is his pro status.
* Abbott: Recruited walk-on at Maine from Hamilton, Ontario. Player of Year in Hockey East. Led nation in assists and points. Had 21 goals, 41 assists for 62 points in 39 games. Pro hockey free agent recently signed with NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs.
* Smith: Led nation with 36 goals and also had 21 assists for 57 points. Had six short-handed goals and seven power-play goals. Player of year in ECAC. A plus-25. Fifth-round pick of Dallas Stars.
SCSU GOALIE SIGNS WITH PHOENIX
Mike Lee, a junior goalie for St. Cloud State, has signed with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. He was 8-6-2 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage this past season.
The WCHA race: Who has edge for title? Gophers over UMD by a sliver
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz Updated: January 31, 2012 - 10:06 AMWith five weeks to go, the WCHA race is becoming a bit clearer. Five of the 12 teams remain in realistic contention.
Here are the latest standings
1. Gophers 15-5-0 30 points ... bye week, but will be first no matters what happens this weekend
2. UMD 11-4-3 25 ... slipped up at home last weekend, with only one point for a tie vs. Mich. Tech
3. Denver 10-5-3 23 ... have won 5 in row, get Gophers in two weeks, getting healthy, preseason fave
4. Colo. Col. 11-7-0 22 ... could be hard to climb over three teams
NoDak 11-9-0 22 ... bye week, don't have 2 extra games like other top teams to catch U, out of title chase
6. Neb Omaha 9-6-3 21 ... outside title shot because Mavs finish with Gophers and DU at home
So how will top of WCHA standings look at the end of the regular season? UMD, with an easy schedule, looked like the favorite for the MacNaughton Cup until a 4-4 tie and a 5-0 loss against Michigan Tech at home last weekend.
Here's how I see the WCHA at the finish line:
1. Gophers ... have a bye week and then play four at home, four away. Play at Denver (split), host Bemidji State (sweep), play at Neb. Omaha (split), host Wisconsin (sweep). ... DU is hot, but Gophers are 10-0 on Saturdays in WCHA play. Just need a split to stay in good shape. Bemidji State and Wisconsin both have one road win in conference, so Gophers have to sweep them at Mariucci. No excuses. Dean Blais will have his troops fired up in Omaha, but Gophers should be smelling a title by then and get one win. So Gophers finish 6-2 for a ...
21-7-0 record and 42 points
2. UMD ... Bulldogs have four home and six away games. They are at UAA this weekend (sweep), host North Dakota (split at worst), at MSU Mankato (sweep), host CC (sweep), at St. Cloud State (split at worst if Huskies get healthier) ... UMD actually has a better away record (5-1-2) than home record (6-3-1) in conference games. Six away games won't bother the 'Dogs, so defending NCAA champions finish 8-2 for a ...
19-6-3 record and 41 points
If Gophers and UMD finish in a tie, with the same point totals, the WCHA will call them co-champions. That easily could happen, too.
3. Denver ... five home games, five away, starting with a home and home series with Colorado College (split). Host Gophers (split), at Wisconsin (split), host North Dakota (sweep), at Neb Omaha (split). Pios play three teams in the top six, a tough closing grind ... CC is archrival, and two teams have split two games already. Wisconsin isn't bad on home ice, 6-3-1. UNO is 5-2-1 at home so sweeping there will be hard. So DU will finish 6-4, with splits in four of its last five series and have a ...
16-9-3 and 35 points
4. Colorado College ... five home games, five away, starting with Denver (split). At Bemidji State (sweep), host Nebraska Omaha (split), at UMD (two losses), host Michigan Tech (sweep). ... CC is a solid 7-2-0 at home in the WCHA, but under .500 on the road at 4-5-0. ... Late series at UMD is crucial to Tigers' fate. Not expecting them to fare well there, so CC finishes 6-4 for a ...
17-11-0 record and 34 points
5. Nebraska Omaha ... six home games and four away. Host Bemidji State (sweep), at Michigan Tech (split), at Colorado College (split), host Gophers (split), host Denver (split). ... UNO finishes with three tough teams; all of them will be fighting for favorable playoff spots, so UNO could be a real spoiler. ... See a lot of splits in red Mavs' future, so UNO finishes 6-4 for a ...
15-10-3 record and 33 points
As conference teams move into the stretch run, the Gophers and UMD should battle it out for first based on my analysis, while DU, CC, UNO and North Dakota will battle it out for third place. I didn't break down UND's schedule because they really don't have a good chance to catch the Gophers.
If UND, for instance, finishes 8-0, they team without a nickname would be 19-9 for 38 points. The Gophers can get to 38 points by merely going 4-4 the rest of the way. I predicted the Gophers would finish 6-2. Even if the Gophers slip to 5-3, the reigning MacNaughton Cup champions couldn't catch them.
I'll do a WCHA standings forecast again several times before the regular-season ends. Hopefully, each subsequent prediction will be a little more accurate as the number of games left dwindles. That's the theory, at least.
Coming up later this week:
A lonely cry from an e-mailer to drop the subjective USCHO.com and USA Today rankings in stories in favor of the objective PairWise rankings.
Two Minnesotans receive weekly WCHA awards
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz Updated: November 15, 2011 - 5:21 PMSenior forward Jack Connolly of Minnesota Duluth is the WCHA's offensive player of the week. Connolly, a 5-8, 170-pound Duluth native, had two goals and two assists as the Bulldogs swept Alaska Anchorage 5-0 and 3-1 at Amsoil Arena.
Connolly has six goals and 11 assists for 17 points this season. He has a 10-game points streak for UMD, which is 6-0-2 in its last eight games since being swept by the Gophers.
Freshman Josh Archibald of Nebraska Omaha is the rookie of the week. The 5-10, 170-pound forward from Brainerd had one goal and one assist each game as the Mavericks tied Bemidji State 3-3 and then beat the Beavers 5-1. He has five goals and four assists in 12 games.
UMD goalie Ken Reiter, a senior from Pittsburgh, is the defensive player of the week for the second consecutive time. He stopped 27 shots on Friday in his third shutout on four games and had 33 saves on Saturday when his school-record scoreless streak ended at 166.45 minutes.
He is 6-0-2 with .a 1.23 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage in UMD's eight-game unbeaten streak.
No Gophers were nominated for these three awards this week.
Gophers win wild game in Duluth
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz Updated: October 14, 2011 - 11:55 PMOh where are the Gophers going to find scorers? That was the concern before the season began.
Maybe their fans don't have to worry so much. Erik Haula, the Flying Finn, is off to a fantastic start. The sophomore center has five goals in three games -- and 19 shots. He had seven shots and two goals on Friday as the Gophers edged defending NCAA champion UMD 5-4 in overtime.
His second goal late in the third period tied the score 4-all.
Freshman Kyle Rau looks like he will score, too. He had two power play goals against the Bulldogs, so he has three in three games. Nice pace.
And the power play, which struggled against Sacred Heart looked better against the 'Dogs. It was three for six and had 19 shots, of course, one of those power plays was 5 minutes, 31 seconds long because of a five-minute major on UMD.
Kent Patterson, the Gophers goalie, perhaps summed it up best after Friday's win.
People are underestimating us. Maybe so but it's a long seson.
What can be disputed is the Gophers are playing some entertaining hockey. Can't wait for the Gophers-Bulldogs rematch on Saturday. I predicted a split. UMD will be fired up.
Will they reached 100 shots combined the second game?
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