{"id":93219,"date":"2019-04-09T14:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T19:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=93219"},"modified":"2020-08-24T12:02:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T17:02:18","slug":"frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Parker<\/a>
Parker Mackay and Minnesota Duluth went through Bowling Green and Quinnipiac to claim the Midwest Regional championship two weekends ago (photo: Omar Phillips).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title?<\/em><\/p>\n

MINNESOTA DULUTH<\/h4>\n

Season record<\/strong>: 27-11-2<\/p>\n

How they got to Buffalo<\/strong>: Beat Bowling Green 2-1 (OT); beat Quinnipiac 3-1 to win Midwest Regional<\/p>\n

Top players<\/strong>: Forwards Parker Mackay (15-15-30), Justin Richards (10-19-29); defensemen Scott Perunovich (3-26-29), Mikey Anderson (5-19-24)<\/p>\n

Top goalie<\/strong>: Hunter Shepard (27-11-2, 1.82 GAA, .920 save percentage)<\/p>\n

Why they will win the national championship<\/strong>: At 1.95 goals allowed per game, Minnesota Duluth has one of the best defensive corps in the country, and the Bulldogs are fresh off beating the Nos. 2 (Bowling Green) and 3 (Quinnipiac) teams in that category.<\/p>\n

Why they will not win the national championship<\/strong>: Famous last words, but no team repeats as Frozen Four champion these days. The last back-to-back champ was Denver (2004, 2005), and that was nearly a decade before the NCHC came into being.<\/p>\n

Not much changes at this point in the season for Minnesota Duluth, which is making its third consecutive Frozen Four appearance. That continuity especially goes for UMD\u2019s three seniors.<\/p>\n

Playing in April has become old hat for UMD, and captain Parker Mackay and classmate Billy Exell had already done that twice before this year. Last Sunday marked one year since they held the national championship trophy aloft in St. Paul, Minn., and they no doubt looked forward to that win over Notre Dame after UMD\u2019s loss to Denver in the 2017 title game.<\/p>\n

Another UMD forward, Peter Krieger, also knows how to navigate the rarefied air that the Bulldogs will find themselves in on Thursday when they face Providence in a national semifinal game. Having transferred to Duluth after his sophomore season at Alaska, Krieger quickly became a key cog in the UMD machine, netting 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 44 games as a junior, and he\u2019s nearly on pace to match that this season (9 G, 15 A).<\/p>\n

Mackay kept UMD\u2019s season alive late last month at the Midwest Regional, scoring both of the Bulldogs\u2019 goals in a 2-1 overtime win over Bowling Green and bagging an insurance goal late in UMD\u2019s 3-1 regional final win over Quinnipiac. Krieger scored the opening goal against QU, marking his second of the postseason and his first since the night UMD eliminated Omaha from the first round of the NCHC playoffs.<\/p>\n

Exell didn\u2019t find the back of the net at the Midwest Regional and he only has five points on the season, but don\u2019t sleep on him. His second goal of the campaign was huge, as he netted a shorthanded game-tying marker in the third period of the NCHC championship game. UMD beat top-ranked St. Cloud State 3-2 that night when Nick Swaney scored 7:29 into overtime.<\/p>\n

UMD faces a tricky field in Buffalo, and there is no assurance that the Bulldogs will become this level\u2019s first repeat national champion in 14 years. Regardless, UMD coach Scott Sandelin told reporters at his weekly press conference on Wednesday that his seniors deserve to enjoy their final Frozen Four playing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have an opportunity to get back to a Frozen Four and try and defend a title, those are very difficult,\u201d Sandelin said. \u201cJust look at the history of college hockey — it hasn\u2019t happened for a long time. It\u2019s hard to get back there in consecutive years, let alone three, so it\u2019s a credit to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve given good leadership, and Parker obviously stepped up for us big-time in the regional and that was obviously really a shining moment and he scored big goals for us, and Billy, look at the NCHC championship game, he gets a big goal for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys, when you see that, that\u2019s what you get excited for when those guys step up and play a big role in getting us to where we are, and they have,\u201d Sandelin continued. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to watch them have an opportunity to go through that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMD is the first team to reach three consecutive Frozen Fours since North Dakota did so in 2014-16. If the Bulldogs beat Providence on Thursday, UMD would become the first team since Boston College (2006-08) to play in back-to-back-to-back national title games.<\/p>\n

Not that Providence will roll over for the Bulldogs. Fans will remember the teams\u2019 last meeting in 2016, when UMD beat the defending national champion Friars 2-1 in double-overtime in a Northeast Regional semifinal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very impressed with their team,\u201d Sandelin said. \u201c(Providence coach) Nate (Leaman has) obviously done a great job with their program. The last time we played them, I thought it was a war, the double-overtime game, so I\u2019m not expecting anything different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of how UMD fares this week in Buffalo, the Bulldogs\u2019 seventh Frozen Four appearance will be a testament to the strength and health of Sandelin\u2019s program. Part of that is down to UMD’s seniors, and also to the company UMD keeps in the meat-grinder that is the NCHC, home of the last three national champions in North Dakota, Denver and Sandelin\u2019s Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys have to understand how hard it is to play through a regular season in our league,\u201d Sandelin said. \u201cJust in college, when they\u2019re coming out of junior hockey, it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s less games, the games have way more importance. In junior hockey, they play more games. Not that those games don\u2019t have importance, but that\u2019s one part of it, and then the opportunities to get to your league playoff championship, to the NCAA tournament, those are all critical, critical things as far as trying to build what the expectations are, and guys have to go through that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s exciting for, like, last year, those freshmen and for any freshmen to get an opportunity, those are the things that keep facilitating and building, and your older guys are guys that can help that process too from being there and going through that, and I think that\u2019s where experience can help,\u201d Sandelin continued. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to win you games for sure, but it\u2019s certainly going to help, and that\u2019s what facilitates the expectations, but you have to go through those things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":93220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[954,957,812],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-09T19:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-24T17:02:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Semisch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Semisch\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/\",\"name\":\"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-09T19:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-24T17:02:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59bfc7fca1ba7bf3b039ebf2724060ae\"},\"description\":\"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":440,\"caption\":\"Parker Mackay (39 - Minnesota Duluth) (2019 Omar Phillips)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59bfc7fca1ba7bf3b039ebf2724060ae\",\"name\":\"Matthew Semisch\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/800654cc217d997dd53c63231da54899\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cf69ccdebc1e5f39c969dbc92873bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cf69ccdebc1e5f39c969dbc92873bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthew Semisch\"},\"description\":\"NCHC Columnist Matthew Semisch joined USCHO in 2007 as a arena reporter covering Omaha. He later became a WCHA columnist for USCHO before taking a similar role covering the NCHC. He currently works as the sports editor at the Bottineau Courant in Bottineau, N.D.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/msemisch\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2019-04-09T19:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-24T17:02:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":660,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matthew Semisch","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matthew Semisch","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/","name":"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg","datePublished":"2019-04-09T19:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-24T17:02:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59bfc7fca1ba7bf3b039ebf2724060ae"},"description":"Our fourth and final Frozen Four preview spotlights defending champion Minnesota Duluth. Can the champs retain the national title? (photo: Omar Phillips).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC-4235.jpg","width":660,"height":440,"caption":"Parker Mackay (39 - Minnesota Duluth) (2019 Omar Phillips)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/09\/frozen-four-preview-defending-champs-minnesota-duluth-in-frozen-four-for-third-straight-year-have-eyes-on-title-repeat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Frozen Four preview: Defending champ Minnesota Duluth in Frozen Four for third straight year, has eyes on title repeat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/59bfc7fca1ba7bf3b039ebf2724060ae","name":"Matthew Semisch","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/800654cc217d997dd53c63231da54899","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cf69ccdebc1e5f39c969dbc92873bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cf69ccdebc1e5f39c969dbc92873bc6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matthew Semisch"},"description":"NCHC Columnist Matthew Semisch joined USCHO in 2007 as a arena reporter covering Omaha. He later became a WCHA columnist for USCHO before taking a similar role covering the NCHC. He currently works as the sports editor at the Bottineau Courant in Bottineau, N.D.","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/msemisch\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109076,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93219\/revisions\/109076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93219"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=93219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}