Notes from Saturday’s historic season sweep

By Joe Paisley

Since I covered the game for the Gazette, that article is not available here, but here are some notes from Saturday’s historic win that were cut due to space.

Ice chips

CC had swept North Dakota in two-game season series during  the 1950s and 60s but not since the schedule switched to four-game series during the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association days. 

CC sophomore Kaidan Mbereko’s 43 saves was the third-most by an NCHC netminder this season.

The Tigers have scored 18 goals in their last three games (2-1 record) after scoring 24 since Dec. 8 (11 games, 9-2 record).

UND owns a 173-88-12 all-time series lead against CC with 173 victories the most against any one program in North Dakota history.  CC now leads the all-time series in Colorado Springs by a 62-61-4 margin

The 18-9-1 Tigers matched their best season win total since going 18-19-5 during the 2012-13 season when CC lost in the former men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five league championship game, falling one win shy of an automatic NCAA Tournament berth as playoff champion.

Friday’s 7-1 win was the first time since Oct. 20, 2001 when three Tigers – freshmen Klavs Veinbergs and Zaccharya Wisdom and sophomore Ryan Beck —  recorded four or more points in a single game (7-1 win over Massachusetts). Veinbergs finished with five points (four assists), Beck four points (all Friday) and Wisdom recorded seven points on the weekend with two assists Saturday. Wisdom seems a shoo-in for either NCHC forward or rookie of the week honors with Mbereko likely to garner another goalie accolade.

Noah Laba is the first Tiger to record at least 22 points in his first two seasons since Seattle Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz (2010-11, 2011-12).

CC is now 15-1 this season when scoring three or more goals including 4-3 home loss to Augustana.

Weekend update: Six former Tigers remain alive in AHL, NHL, USHL playoffs

Colorado College signee forward Bret Link scored Fargo’s only goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to Youngstown on Saturday. The win gave the Phantoms, which includes future Tigers defenseman Tomas Machu, a 2-0 lead (two road wins) in the best-of-three Clark Cup championship series. Game 3 is Friday in Ohio.

Machu, listed at 6-4, 190 pounds, was a 2021 7^th round draft pick (221^st overall) by the New York Islanders. The Ostrava, Czechia native has two assists in seven playoff games and is fourth on the Phantoms at plus-5.

In the NHL playoffs, Edmonton was eliminated by Vegas late Sunday night, ending Oilers assistant Mark Stuart’s postseason run.

Earlier in the weekend, Carolina advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals against Florida. Here’s a blog post about Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin’s eye-popping plus-minus stats so far.

Here’s an NHL.com article about the huge role Slavin has played in Carolina’s playoff run.

Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series is Monday night featuring Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz at the Dallas Stars.

In the AHL playoffs, former CC defenseman Gustav Olofsson (20 games) remains alive with the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Kraken affiliate) against the Calgary Wranglers (Flames). The Firebirds have a 2-0 lead (two road wins) entering tonight’s Game 3 in best-of-three Pacific Division Finals.

Former Tiger captain Grant Cruikshank has appeared in two games for Toronto (Maple Leafs) after three regular-season appearances following the end of St. Cloud State’s season. No points recorded. The Marlies trail their best-of-three North Division Final series 2-0 with Game 3 on Wednesday in Rochester.

Linkorama: Fejes scores in Slovak league playoffs; Goose back in action; CC adds to Hall of Fame; Keeping up with transfers; Minnesota State coach interview

Former CC forward Hunter Fejes scored the opening power-play goal in Kosice’s 3-1 win over HC Zvolen in Game 1 of their Slovak Extraliga playoff series. Fejes has nine points (five goals) in 14 playoff games in Slovakia’s top league after leaving the ECHL at midseason. Kosice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia near the Hungarian border.

Former Tigers defenseman Gustav Olofsson scored his first goal this season for the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds (Kraken affiliate) this Saturday in his fourth game back from a mid-December injury.

Don’t be surprised with Tampa being part of a 4-5 year rotation for future NCAA Frozen Fours. The event’s success reached a new high for fans thanks to a refreshed downtown. The 2024 Frozen Four is at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center with 2025 in St. Louis.

Colorado College inducted some new members into its athletics Hall of Fame.

Rink Live is doing a bang-up job keeping track of all the NCAA Transfer Portal comings and goings.

Minnesota Duluth added a Penn State forward.

Here is a YouTube interview with the new Minnesota State coach Luke Strand, who thanks to transfers to Wisconsin, graduations, etc., will need to replace the players who accounted for 71 percent of the points recorded last season.

As posted earlier, three former Tigers are in the NHL playoffs, which begin tonight.

Former Tiger Copeland signs with AHL Cleveland, reunites with Haviland

Former Colorado College forward Ben Copeland has left the Penn State program to sign with the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters, where former Tigers coach Mike Haviland is now the associate coach. The contract is for the rest of this season.

Copeland (No. 14) recorded a goal in five appearances this season with the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound right-handed forward from Edina, Minn. finished his college career with 74 points (50 assists) in 135 NCAA games from 2018-22. The Monsters are an affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In the pros: Bachman called up by NHL’s Stars; may play Tuesday

It looks like former Tiger Richard Bachman may be with the big club for awhile and could see some playing time.

The Dallas Stars blogger, who usually has a good feel for his team, thinks Bachman could make his first start of the season in Detroit on Tuesday. Lehtonen was reportedly dealing with a “tweak” of his own, leading to Nilstorp’s start on Saturday, so it’s unlikely the Stars push him with back-to-back starts this early in the season.

Bachman was originally sent to the Texas Stars to get some game action after not playing during the lockout.

He replaces the Swedish backup who was put on injured reserve after a groin injury suffered during Saturday’s 4-3 loss to St. Louis.

Here is the press release …

FRISCO, Texas – The Dallas Stars announced today that they have recalled goaltender Richard Bachman from the Texas Stars, Dallas’ development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team also placed goaltender Cristopher Nilstorp on Injured Reserve.

Bachman, 25, has played in four games for Texas this season, earning a 3-1-0 record with a .916 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.46 goals against average (GAA). The Salt Lake City native has appeared in 19 career NHL contests, posting an 8-5-1 record with a .911 SV%, a 2.75 GAA and one shutout. He was Dallas’ fourth-round selection (120th overall) in 2006.

Nilstorp, 28, has appeared in two NHL contests for Dallas this season, posting a 0-2-0 record with a .918 SV% and a 2.70 GAA. He’s also appeared in 28 contests for the Texas Stars this season, where he earned a 16-10- 4 record with a .916 SV% and a 2.13 GAA. Prior to his North American career, the Malmo, Sweden native played for Farjestad in the Swedish Elite League (SEL), where he helped the team capture the 2011 Le Mat Trophy, which is earned annually by the victors of the SEL. Nilstorp was undrafted and signed by Dallas as a free agent on June 5, 2012.

The Dallas Stars face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday night at 6 p.m. Central  (TV: FOX Sports Southwest).

In the pros: Sterling all-star honor, injury

Chicago Wolves left wing Brett Sterling was selected to the Western Conference Team for the 2013 Dunkin’ Donuts American Hockey League All-Star Classic, which takes place on Jan. 27-28 in Providence, R.I.

He will miss the game due to an unspecified injury suffered last Friday.

The 28-year-old forward ranks first on Chicago and shares 15th in the AHL with 15 goals and leads the Wolves with 28 points in 31 games this season. He also paces the club with a +10 plus/minus rating and holds third on the squad with 13 assists.

The Los Angeles native has notched 8 points (6G, 2A) in his last four games and his two-goal performance moved him into second place on Chicago’s all-time goal registry with 158 career markers in 285 career games in a Wolves sweater.

Sterling has tallied 5 goals and 7 points in his previous three trips to the AHL All-Star Game and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 event in Toronto.

The 2006-07 AHL Rookie of the Year has amassed 215 goals, 191 assists, and 406 points in 423 career AHL games with Chicago, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Peoria, and Portland spanning seven seasons (2006-present). He also has skated in 30 National Hockey League tilts with Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis, collecting 5 goals and 9 points.

In the pros: J. Schwartz, Prosser, Crabb, Sterling, Testwuide fight video

Former Tiger Jaden Schwartz is making a good impression on Blues coach Ken Hitchcock.

He is one of a number of young stars according to NHL.com who may benefit from their  time in the AHL while veterans played in the ECHL, overseas or tried to stay in game shape on their own.

Nate Prosser and Justin Falk look ready to be the Wild’s third defensive pair. Brian Connelly is injured.

Joey Crabb took part in this Q&A.

Brett Sterling scored a natural hat trick in just over eight minutes during the first period of a 3-1 win for AHL Chicago on Friday night.

Tuesday reading: Testwuide, NCHC, 3 Things, polls

It is a quiet week news-wise with most teams inactive until Dec. 24 or later depending on their schedules. CC returns to practice on Dec. 28 since the players take block finals on Wednesday and then leave for home.

Here are a few offerings.

Former Tiger Mike Testwuide, pictured, took advantage of his first pro game as a center after being a healthy scratch for six of seven games with the Adirondack Phantoms. He may get more ice time after friend Ben Holmstrom of Colorado Springs went down with a knee injury requiring surgery.

Here is an NCHC-oriented weekend review and a polls update.

Here are the USCHO weekly poll and the USA Hockey rankings and Tyler’s take on last weekend.

The WCHA media blog poll will return after the holiday tournaments and games (Dec. 27-30):

Team Pts Previous Record High Low
1) North Dakota (8) 140 2 8-5-3 1 2
2) Minnesota (4) 130 1 11-3-3 1 4
3) St. Cloud State 125 5 9-7-0 2 3
4) Nebraska Omaha 102 4 10-5-1 3 6
5) Minnesota State 96 6 9-5-2 4 6
6) Denver 90 3 9-5-2 4 7
7) Colorado College 67 7 8-8-2 6 9
8) Minnesota Duluth 62 8 5-8-3 7 9
9) Wisconsin 45 10 2-7-5 7 11
10) Bemidji State 40 11 4-8-2 8 11
11) Michigan Tech 26 9 4-8-3 9 12
12) Alaska Anchorage 13 12 3-7-4 11 12

Friday reading: Holmstrom, WCHA column, predictions, Kerdiles

Colorado Springs native Ben Holmstrom will miss much of the season with a knee injury.

Here is this week’s WCHA column from USCHO and my and Tyler’s predictions.

CC hopes the road proves kinder than its recent homestand.

Puckato’s Morning Skate provides links to previews from around the league.

Wisconsin 5, Alabama-Huntsville 0

MADISON — Junior forward Michael Mersch and freshman forward Nic Kerdiles each scored two goals to lead Wisconsin to a 5-0 victory against Alabama-Huntsville on Thursday night at Kohl Center. It was Kerdiles’ first college scores after a tough offseason.

Wednesday reading: Stuart, Schwartz, Gophers, Yale

Former Tiger Mark Stuart has signed with the ECHL Florida Everblades.

Jaden Schwartz improved to No. 20 in scoring among the AHL’s rookies (14 points, eight goals).

A little-used Minnesota defenseman has left the Gophers.

No. 15 Yale 4, Massachusetts 2

Bulldogs goalie Jeff Malcolm made 27 saves to lift Yale to the nonconference win.