On the way to the program's first NCAA tournament berth, the 1982-83 Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team received little credit for its fast start. Some observers said emotion, not talent, led the Bulldogs to a 13-2-1 record through November.
This season's team, off to a 12-2-2 mark and ranked No. 2 in Division I, has heard talk about a weak schedule. That claim has been tempered by a split of one-goal games at home last weekend with No. 9 Denver and a split of games at No. 5 North Dakota on Nov. 5-6.
North Dakota has played the most difficult schedule in Division I, according to a statistical analysis, Denver has played the third-toughest and UMD the fourth-toughest. The combined win-loss record for UMD's opponents is 61-64-23.
"I've always said that every game in our league is a challenge," UMD coach Scott Sandelin said Tuesday. "What we've proven so far this season is we can play different styles and be successful. We've played a skating game and a muck-and-grind game. In a skating game with Denver, we were pretty good for four or five of the six periods."
The league-leading Bulldogs finish the first half of the season on Friday and Saturday at fifth-place Minnesota (8-7-1).
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The WCHA's top three teams - UMD, North Dakota and Denver - are separated by just two points. They've played each other and all three series were splits. Five of the six games were decided by one or two goals. Denver has scored 12 goals in its four games, UMD 11 and North Dakota 10.
"North Dakota and Denver are two of the top teams in our league and we played right with them," said All-American center Jack Connolly, UMD's scoring leader. "They were good tests for us and we want to keep building.
"It was nice to be ranked No. 1 for a few weeks; it's nice to be recognized. But that hasn't changed how we practice or how we play. We don't like to lose and it's a bitter taste when it happens."
Faulk, Forbort make preliminary U.S. roster
UMD freshman Justin Faulk of South St. Paul and North Dakota freshman Derek Forbort of Duluth were among 10 defensemen named to the U.S. World Junior Championships preliminary roster released Tuesday. Twenty nine players were selected, 19 from the college ranks. After a pre-tournament camp starting Dec. 17 in Albany, N.Y., the roster will be cut to 22 for the World Junior Championships Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo, N.Y.
UMD sophomore defenseman Dylan Olsen is a candidate for the Canadian team, which has a pre-tournament camp beginning Sunday in Toronto.
Yale is a historic No. 1
After three weeks of being No. 1 in two Division I polls, UMD was replaced this week by Yale University of New Haven, Conn. And the honor was something special for the private school of 5,200 undergraduates.
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Yale (10-1) is not only off to the best start in 81 years (since starting 1929-30 with 16 straight wins), but the No. 1 ranking is a first for any mainstream sports program at the school, according to the New Haven Journal Register. Yale has sponsored hockey for 116 years. It's the first No. 1 ranking for an Eastern College Athletic Conference men's hockey team since Cornell in March of 2003.
Yale's final game of 2010 is today at home with Vermont.
