The Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team is striving to finish in the top four of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference in order to earn home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
But the way the Bulldogs are playing on the road, they shouldn't worry if they have to travel in two weeks' time.
Freshman Kyle Osterberg scored his team-high 13th goal of the season and Aaron Crandall stopped all 30 shots he faced in UMD's 1-0 victory over Miami at Steve Cady Arena on Saturday night, giving the Bulldogs their third road sweep since the New Year.
UMD (15-13-4 overall, 10-10-2-2 NCHC) moved into a tie for fourth in the league at 34 points with Western Michigan, a 3-1 winner over Denver. Due to winning three of the teams' four regular-season meetings, UMD owns the tiebreaker with the Broncos and would clinch third place with a home sweep over Nebraska-Omaha in the regular-season final next weekend.
Sweeps are becoming common for the Bulldogs, who already swept at Omaha and Western Michigan in the second half of the season and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games away from home. That's been vital as the Bulldogs have struggled at Amsoil Arena, going 1-3-2 since the beginning of January and looked especially poor last weekend against league co-leader North Dakota.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Hopefully we get some confidence from this and ride that into next weekend and the rest of the way," UMD coach Scott Sandelin said by phone after the game. "It was an important weekend to bounce back and get back in the win column. Our guys showed a lot of character this weekend."
Sandelin said the contest was akin to a playoff matchup in its ferocity, despite the RedHawks (11-18-3, 5-16-1) owning the league's worst record. Miami clinched the No. 8 seed with the loss.
"It was intense and physical, a typical Saturday night," he said. "Both goalies played well and we made (Osterberg's) goal stand up. I thought we played extremely well this weekend and we got what we deserved."
Ryan McKay made 29 saves for Miami and kept UMD off the scoreboard until Justin Crandall set up Osterberg on a 2-on-2. Osterberg's quick one-timer beat McKay at 9:05 of the second period.
Crandall, who was benched last Saturday, starred the rest of the way to post his first shutout of the season.
"He was really sharp throughout the whole game," Sandelin said.
Though failing to score on its three power plays, UMD killed off all five Miami power-play opportunities.
Minnesota Duluth 0-1-0--1
ADVERTISEMENT
Miami 0-0-0--0
First period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Trevor Hamilton, Miami (contact to head), 10:55; Carson Soucy, UMD (holding), 13:28.
Second period -- 1. UMD, Kyle Osterberg 13 (Justin Crandall, Tony Cameranesi), 9:05; Penalties -- Sammy Spurrell, UMD (cross-checking), 3:00; Caleb Herbert, UMD (interference), 9:34; Dom Toninato, UMD (holding), 18:57; Michael Mooney, Miami (holding), 18:57.
Third period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Matthew Caito, Miami (boarding), 1:56; Mooney, Miami (contact to head), 7:26; Willie Corrin, UMD (elbowing), 14:37; Alex Iafallo, UMD (tripping), 19:35; Derik Johnson, UMD (roughing, game misconduct), 20:00; Blake Coleman, Miami (roughing, misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on goal -- UMD 12-12-6--30; Miami 15-6-8--30. Goalies -- Aaron Crandall, UMD (30 shots, 30 saves); Ryan McKay, Miami (30-29). Power plays -- UMD 0-of-3; Miami 0-of-5. Referees -- Derek Shepherd, Brian Thul. Linesmen -- Paul Carnathan, Dan Cohen. Att. -- 2,627.
