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Bulldogs men’s hockey coach Scott Sandelin on facing North Dakota in NCHC season openers Friday and Saturday night at Amsoil (UMD is 3-4-0 overall and riding a two-game win streak, and North Dakota is 3-4-0 having lost three straight and four of its last five) – “They’re talented with hard skill with some big bodies. They’ll play hard at the net. They’ve got some older guys mixed in with younger guys, but they certainly have talented kids. There’s some guys that can giddy up and go and they’ve got some skill. They’ve got some heaviness on defense and some puck-movers. They’re strong on the walls, they get to the net well, their defense will get pucks through. So we’ll be challenged along the wall or around the net. It will definitely be hard, no question. We’ve got to play above people, we’ve got to skate and take away time and space. We can compete, too. But I’m not going to ask a five-foot-nine guy to go into battle with a 6-4 guy and expect him to knock him on his rear end and come out with the puck every time. But you can stay in battles and compete with different methods.”
Sandelin on sweeping nonconference Stonehill at Amsoil, the team's work during a bye week and preparing for North Dakota – “It was an important weekend for us to win a couple games before the break. I always worry about coming off bye weeks. You always worry about the Friday game, and we know North Dakota will come out strong having lost their last three games. Our guys are excited to play, and it doesn’t mean we will play good. But I know they’re excited to get going. These are long weeks. I know we had a good week last week. The end of the week was very hard, like very hard. The early part of this week has been harder, to work on guys’ mindsets. You never know coming out of bye weeks. I know we have to be ready and we can’t start like we did Friday against Minnesota or we’ll be in trouble and will chase the game. We’ve got to be ready to play. I know our guys are excited to play, to get back to play, because these bye weeks get long. We have to play on our toes, get pucks in behind their defensemen, you have to establish forechecks, and you have to try to score the first goal. You can’t come out flat. It’s an intensity level. If you can’t have intensity when you play North Dakota or Minnesota, then I don’t know when it gets any better than that, right? Again, you’ve got to be ready. Our job as coaches is to prepare them the best we can. You don’t have to be fancy, you don’t have to be cute, but you have to be ready to play with good intensity. When your intensity level is high, your execution level is better. If you’re not ready to play, that’s where you see the soft plays, turnovers and guys getting knocked on their rear end. I don’t know how you can’t be ready to play on a Friday night in college hockey, no matter who you’re playing. We’ll find out on Friday night.”
Sandelin on the play of freshman Zam Plante of Hermantown, who continues to grow college hockey whiskers – “He’s been good. He’s a driver. He’s got a high motor, great stick, hunts pucks and he’s back in the middle. We need him in the middle; I think he’s our second-best center. I think he did a good job at wing, but for me personally I didn’t want him to lose any confidence and for our team we need him in the middle of the rink. Good players can play anywhere, but he's way more comfortable in the middle and he’s a guy you want there with the puck and driving plays. He’s played center a lot. We recruited him to be more of a center.”
Plante on his start – “It’s been fun. I’m starting to figure it out, and it will be nice when we start winning. We have a younger group, and I think everybody is starting to figure it out and the intensity has been good the last couple of weeks in practice.”
Plante on playing center, rather than wing where he's been slotted due to injuries at forward – “You come in with more speed and you can be everywhere. It’s less think and more go, sometimes.”
Plante on facing North Dakota – “Starting NCHC play, everybody's a little amped. Everybody hates North Dakota, right? My billet brother from last season, Max Swanson, is a freshman there, so it would be nice to beat him. I compare the North Dakota rivalry with Minnesota. Growing up, those are the two teams I hated the most.”
Plante on the keys against North Dakota – “Just tighten everything up and playing more predictable as a team. Stick to our structure. Stick to the basics.”
Plante on greybeard teammate Joey Pierce – “He’s the hardest-working player on every team he’s been on. He shows the intensity on every shift. Every time he’s on the ice something will happen, because he’s playing so hard. For me it’s a big lesson because in college hockey you have to be going as hard as you can, no matter what.”
NCHC This Weekend
North Dakota (3-4-0, 0-0-0) at Bulldogs (3-4-0, 0-0-0)
Western Michigan (3-1-0, 0-0-0) at Omaha (2-4-0, 0-0-0)
Miami (3-5-2, 0-0-0) at St. Cloud State (6-3-0, 0-0-0)
Arizona State at Colorado College (6-0-0, 0-0-0), nonconference
Lindenwood at Denver (8-0-0, 0-0-0), nonconference
