UMD hosts Western Michigan in NCHC tourney opener

Perhaps the best indicator that this weekend’s National Collegiate Hockey Conference playoff opponents at Amsoil Arena aren’t the league’s glamour boys came when award finalists for the inaugural season were announced Thursday.
Minnesota Duluth had no finalists in any of the eight categories and Western Michigan only had one. St. Cloud State (six) and North Dakota (five) dominated the nominations.
But the NCHC’s postseason tournament won’t be decided by how many awards a team earns, meaning the winner of a best-of-three quarterfinal between the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (16-14-4) and No. 5 Broncos (17-14-5) should have as good of a chance as any to claim the league’s automatic NCAA berth at next week’s Frozen Faceoff.
The series is set for 7:07 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday, if necessary.
“It’s going to be an absolute battle for two or three games, just like we had with them in all four (regular-season) games,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “They have all the pieces and play very well as a team.”
The Bulldogs won the final three meetings, 4-3, 5-2 and 3-1 - all during the team’s season-best 6-1-3 stretch from mid-December to mid-February.
“This is a team that brings out the best in us,” said junior forward Justin Crandall, who has four goals and four assists in six career games vs. the Broncos. “They are a gritty, hard-working team and they push us to play that way. We need to play with a lot of pace against this team because their strength is in a defensive game that keeps teams to low shot and goal totals. We’re going to have to work hard for our chances.”
The Broncos, who came from the now-defunct Central Collegiate Hockey Association, are noted for trying to make life miserable for their opponents.
“They are the kind of team that gets in your face and tries to get you off your game,” said UMD freshman Alex Iafallo, the one player who received a postseason honor when he was named to the league’s all-rookie team Wednesday. “We’ve handled it well mentally and physically by not allowing them to dictate the game. When we played there and they played here, we played our style of game and made them adjust to the things that we do.”
UMD has only won two home games since defeating the Broncos at Amsoil on Dec. 14. That was part of a season-long trend, which saw the Bulldogs fare much better on the road (11-6-1) than at home (5-8-3). Yet team members are glad to be spending one final weekend at Amsoil rather than making the trek to Kalamazoo, Mich.
“It’s good to sleep in your own bed,” freshman Kyle Osterberg said. “The playoffs are completely different, so playing at home could be a really big help.”
UMD proved during last Friday night’s 8-2 win over Nebraska-Omaha that it could play well on home ice, but a 4-1 loss the next night was typical of the team’s trademark inconsistency. Which team will show up for the playoffs?
“We had a lot of confidence after Friday night - that showed what we could do,” Crandall said. “But no team is going to get embarrassed on Friday and not come back Saturday. Maybe we weren’t ready for it, and that’s never acceptable this time of year. But sometimes it’s not a bad thing to lose right before playoffs to get that out of your system.”
<li> Western Michigan’s lone award finalist was senior Chase Balisy in the defensive forward of the year category. Scoring leader Josh Archibald of Nebraska-Omaha, St. Cloud State’s Nic Dowd, North Dakota defenseman Dillon Simpson and Denver goaltender Sam Brittain were nominated for player of the year. See the Scoreboard on Page B2 for a complete list.