MHM 2018 Oct-digital

TALKING NORTHERN HOCKEY
JOHN GILBERT:
DEPTH CHARGES
UMD ADDS DEPTH IN ATTEMPT TO DEFEND NCAA TITLE
Minnesota Duluth’s Parker
Mackay celebrates a goal
during last year’s NCAA
tournament.
Photo by Jeff Wegge
By John Gilbert
The carryover from one college
hockey season to the next can
distinguish a great hockey
program from merely a good one,
because consistency is an elusive thing
when teams lose six or eight players
every year to graduation and pro
signings.
For the UMD Bulldogs, the carryover factor
has been a consistent asset, despite diametrically
opposed circumstances the last two seasons.
When they had built a strong, veteran team two
years ago, they justifiably reached the NCAA men’s
tournament; and last season when they had to fill
enormous holes in scoring, on defense, and in goal,
and had no projections for success, the Bulldogs
not only rose to the playoffs, they won the national
championship.
Now what?
The projections are off the scale with the stillyoung
but now-experienced Bulldogs, and it was
suggested to Sandelin that if a year’s experience
means anything, the only thing left for the 2018-19
UMD team is to go undefeated!
He laughed, but cautioned that every season is
a different challenge, even for a team making the
impressive transformation from NCAA champion
to preseason No. 1 ranked team in the land. “What
looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily transform
onto the ice,” said Sandelin. “But it will be a tough
group to break into.”
In reality, the total number of job openings
needing to be broken into is four. Hunter Shepard
became a standout last season and is a fixture in
goal as a junior, and all six defensemen, five of
whom were over-achieving freshmen last season,
are back, leaving an impressive incoming group of
freshmen with speed and scoring ability to battle
for playing time with established returnees for four
forward openings.
Shepard is back in goal as a proven junior
standout. Nick Wolff is assistant captain as a junior
on defense, and those five freshmen defensemen
are all back as tournament-hardened sophomores.
Scott Perunovich, Dylan Samberg, Mikey Anderson,
Louie Roehl and Matt Anderson not only were
outstanding on defense, but Wolff, a tough,
physical presence who insisted he would never
score, backed up the freelancing Perunovich by
scoring seven goals, without setting foot on the
power play.
It was suggested to Sandelin that there was good
news and bad news in Perunovich leading the team
in scoring a year ago: The good news was it tells
how immensely skilled Perunovich is, and the bad
news is ...can’t any of the forwards score?
Sandelin got a chuckle out of that, too, and took
us back to last season as reason he anticipates goals
could come a bit easier this season. New-found
depth should ease the replacement of the three
departing senior regular forwards, Karson Kuhlman,
Jared Thomas and Blake Young -- all of whom were
assets with their work-ethic and leadership, but
are not entirely irreplaceable. When junior Joey
Anderson chose to sign a pro contract over the
summer, it meant a fourth opening up front.
Of last year’s seniors, Kuhlman, the captain
from Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, and Thomas, from
Hermantown, were perfect role-models for hard
work and perseverance, which may have been
more important cogs than scoring 20 goals. They
had spent four years mostly hustling and working
without scoring in significant numbers. But if
effort and leadership made them prominent in the
lineup, they were rewarded in storybook fashion
by coming through for their biggest career goals at
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