UND Must Avoid Meltdown to Get Split

First, you have to tap you stick to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, they won the game fair and square. Watching their postgame celebration, it looked like they had won the NCAA title or the Stanley Cup. Good for them.

There’s a lot on the line, game two is going to be a war.

When the UND hockey team watched the video today, I would imagine that they weren’t very happy with their late game performance. This was a winnable game, and UND probably deserved  a better fate, but they came out of last night’s game empty handed.

The meltdown in overtime didn’t help, and the players will need to keep their composure moving forward.

I was re-watching the game on my DVR last night and I thought I would sleep on it before I commented today. UND must avoid another meltdown if they want to get the series split tonight.

That being said, the players can’t put the officials in a tough position where they have to call penalties in overtime. I watched the video of the penalty against Colton St. Clair and I still don’t see what he did to get a penalty. Maybe it was something that didn’t show up on the video. You can’t see it on the broadcast, but it doesn’t mean it’s wasn’t a penalty. Dane Jackson was making the diving gesture on the bench, so they must have felt that the Omaha player dove. Players diving, imagine that, that’s another subject that I will address in the future.

On the penalty to Mark MacMillan, he knows better, he’s a senior. That was a costly, selfish play by a team leader. You can’t crosscheck an opposing player in the blue paint, right in front of the referee.

The official had to make that call and he did.

From my perspective, it looks like Austin Ortega dove on the play, but that doesn’t excuse an ill-advised play by a senior leader. Don’t be surprised if MacMillan makes amends for that play tonight.

Moving forward, if UND needs to play more smartly and not take ill-advised, selfish penalties late in the game. Especially, if they want to make a run deep in the NCAA playoffs.

Last night, UND had upperclassmen losing their composure when they needed to remain calm.

Apparently, last night’s win over UND was UNO’s first win against a number one ranked opponent since January 31, 2012. The Mavericks beat the number one ranked UMD Bulldogs 3-1.

From the NCHC press release today. Although North Dakota had its five-game winning streak snapped, UND should feel good heading into Saturday’s match-up. North Dakota leads the NCAA with 50 goals on Saturdays this year, going 12-0-1 in games on that day, compared to 39 goals and a 6-6-1 mark on Fridays, including last night.