UMD Sweeps Another Doormat, Bring on the Beavers

No updates this weekend because my laptop was on the fritz. Now it is off the fritz, so let's all hope it stays that way...

UMD was locked in a close one on Friday, but I never felt like we were going to lose it. In fact, with about 7-8 minutes left in regulation my buddies and I all bet on which Bulldog would score the game-winner . I took Oleksuk, who ended up assisting JT Brown to get the win about 30 seconds into OT.

Brown looked amazing again last weekend. His style of play is somewhat similar to Jack Connolly, only he's not as good as good with the puck and hits harder and more often. He's fast, exciting and always looking to make a play. He's our 4th or 5th best guy already as freshman, and will be a fan favorite by the time we move into Amsoil Arena.

Saturday's game against Alaska-Anchorage was similar to the Saturday game against Providence: UMD dismantling a sub-par squad in business-like fashion. Bemidji will be much tougher than anyone we've faced this year, especially after spending last week idle, licking their wounds from North Dakota's sweep of them in the ever first series in the Sanford Center.

A couple of quick thoughts before I go:

• Drew Olson logged some minutes at wing on Saturday. With how deep our blue line is and four freshman fighting for minutes (Brown, Faulk, Tardy, Basaraba) it will be interesting to see who makes the trip to Bemidji and who is left home.
• One guy who helped his cause was Dan DeLisle, who banged home his first career goal in Saturday's romp. His size makes him hard to keep off the ice, especially with our relatively undersized squad, but he still has a ways to go.
• Aaron Crandall got a shutout in his second career start on Saturday and looks to be a competent backup for Reiter. We'll see if Sandelin trusts him enough to play him at Bemidji or North Dakota next week.
• I won't be making the trip to Bemidji this weekend, but Kriz and I are planning on making our annual trek to Grand Forks next weekend for a weekend of mayhem in Sioux Country. 
• If we can get through the next two weekends with a .500 record, I'll be plenty satisfied. That being said, it really feels like the Bulldogs got some good mojo going right now, and Bemidji is 0-4-2 in their last six games dating back to last season. We'll know a lot more about our squad after this weekend. Weekly Links tomorrow, barring any unforeseen computer breakdowns.