This is the best that I have seen UND Fighting Sioux hockey team play all season long. True to form they're already seem to be in play off mode. They don't have a lot of room for error but they will be in the tourney if they keep winning games.
The Fighting Sioux didn't give the Bulldogs a lot of great looks and this is how they have to continue to play like, if they want to be successful. It's starts in the defensive zone and it's about grinding out wins, they don't have the fire power to just skate past people but they do have a great back end.
That being said, I think everyone seems to be buying into their roles and the Fighting Sioux are becoming very hard team to play hockey against. That is a trade mark of a Dave Hakstol team. I like the fact that this is one of the more disciplined Fighting Sioux hockey teams that I have seen in some time.
I don’t think anyone is going to want to draw the Fighting Sioux in the WCHA Playoffs and they would be a tough draw in the NCAA playoffs as well.
I thought that UND played good in all three zones of the ice tonight and didn't give the UMD forwards much time and space at all. The Fighting Sioux also didn’t allow the UMD forwards to get behind them very often and when they did the defense was able to recover.
UND was in the shooting lanes and took away the second and third opportunities in front of their net all night long.
One of the things that I thought was a positive was the goaltender Aaron Dell was unbelievable and he looks like the goaltender that was an All-American last season.
So the patented Hakstol surge is upon us, the Fighting Sioux are 12-3-1 the past 16 games. UND is 2-0 against UMD in their new arena and has outscored them 8-1 through six periods of hockey. UND holds a 17-6-2 record their last 25 games against UMD. Related articles
- UND vs. UMD Series Notes (insidehockey.com)
- WCHA Power Rankings - Super Bowl Sunday (insidehockey.com)
- Goon's WCHA Power Rankings 2/5/2012 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
- UMD-Minnesota State Preview (insidehockey.com)
- Four-goal outburst sparks UMD (insidehockey.com)
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