First, when the season started I thought that there was something special about this team. Goaltending and secondary scoring seemed to be two of the biggest issues surrounding this team.
Those questions were quickly answered. When he returned from injury in November, Cam Johnson proved that he was a top flight goalie. Johnson finished the season second in the nation for goals against average and tied for third in save percentage.
Home! pic.twitter.com/5ANyEfS9NZ
— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDmhockey) April 10, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Again, this season, Drake Caggiula proved to be a big-time highlight-reel goal scoring machine. During the last two seasons, Caggiula scored 43 goals and 87 points in 81 games. That’s over a point per game. During his final 13 games, Caggiula scored 10 goals and 19 points. During that time, Caggiula is tied for third nationally in points. Caggiula’s numbers could have been higher, but he missed five games this season (four to injury and one to a league-imposed suspension). When Caggiula was in the lineup, UND was 31-5-3.
Pecknold’s comments
During the Quinnipiac’s post-game press conference, head coach Rand Pecknold said a few things that caught my attention. Mind you, this is coming from the coach who’s team was ranked number one all season long and then ended up losing in the final game of the Frozen Four. Emotions are going to be high ten minutes after your season ending loss.
“I want to congratulate North Dakota, Pecknold said. “I thought they were outstanding tonight. Coach Berry and his staff did a great job getting them ready. 12, 13 draft picks. Four All-Americans. I mean, just the talent package that they have, the most talented team in the country, and they compete. It’s a really good formula for success. It’s pretty impressive. And they gave us a lot, and we just couldn’t handle it tonight. We didn’t play our best, but we got some bad breaks with some noncalls there early in the game.
“Obviously, I can’t comment on the officiating, but we needed some breaks, and we just didn’t get them. But in the end, I’m just really proud of our guys and how hard they compete all year long. Four losses in 43 games is phenomenal. I think it’s been 19, 20 years since a team has done that. It’s a real credit to our locker room. Certainly we have talent in our room, but we’ve only got the two draft picks.
“But we’ve got some really good players, and to do what we did this year was special. So proud of them. Not just the three guys next to me but the battle level we had, the compete, the culture that we have, we overachieved so much, we achieve. And I’d also like to thank the city of Tampa. I think they did a phenomenal job here with hosting the Frozen Four again. Hopefully, they’ll get the opportunity to get it back here again.”
After watching Saturday’s game, I am beginning to think that the Bobcats didn’t play a team like UND all season long. While they were ranked number one for most of the season and they were a very good hockey team.
In the NCHC, every game a war. There are no off nights. Even the worst team can beat you. I think UND’s tough schedule prepared them for the season’s final game.
On the officiating, not getting calls is part of the game, especially in the WCHA and NCHC. You have to play through that. They did get the majority of the calls in the first and second periods. I like most people, probably didn’t know that Quinnipiac had never lost a hockey game when behind after one period of play. They were 6-0-2.
Finally, I told a few people that I thought that Thursday’s semifinal between Denver and North Dakota was the best game of the Frozen Four. Thoughts?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
