No. 7-ranked Minnesota Duluth fell 4-0 to unranked Bemidji State on Friday in the first semifinal of the North Star College Cup at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
It was the first time all year UMD was shutout and first time this season UMD has lost back-to-back games. The Bulldogs are winless in their last four games.
Here are my thumbs up and thumbs down from Friday’s semifinal, followed by my three stars of the game.
Thumbs up to UMD killing a five-on-three Beavers’ advantage
Bulldogs senior defenseman and team-leader in penalties and penalty minutes Derik Johnson took two penalties within three and a half minutes of each other (one for slashing and another for kneeing) midway through the third period. UMD senior captain and wing Adam Krause then took a holding penalty 14 seconds after Johnson’s second, giving Bemidji a two-man advantage for 1 minute, 46 seconds.
The Bulldogs killed it off to keep the game 4-0 and the penalty kill finished the day four for five.
That’s all I got.
Thumbs down to a laundry list of things for UMD
Up until the Bulldogs killed off that two-man advantage for the Beavers, I was struggling to find a “thumbs up” from Friday’s semifinal loss. My notebook had plenty of things to give a thumbs down to. Here is what I wrote down this afternoon:
- Won two first period face offs in the Beavers’ zone but couldn’t use them to sustain possession or register a shot on goal
- UMD is struggling to win pucks along the boards
- Too many UMD turnovers in its own zone
- Muster only two shots on goal during major power play when two Beavers are killing without sticks
- Rush and offensive zone entry is rocky and UMD isn’t sustaining pressure or maintaining possession when in the BSU zone
- Too many missed offensive chances with BSU goaltender out of position, net open
- Power play stinks
I may be right, I may be wrong on all or some of these things scribbled in my notebook. I’d have to break down the film to confirm all these, but these are the things that not only stood out today to me, but throughout this four-game skid by UMD that has included three losses and a tie.
Matt’s Three Stars
3. BSU freshman goaltender Michael Bitzer: The Beavers freshmen netminder made 28 saves and became the first goaltender to shutout UMD this season.
2. BSU senior defenseman Matt Prapavessis: The Beavers captain scored on the power play in the first period, then assisted on the second BSU goal in the second period.
1. Bemidji State’s penalty killers: Not only did the Beavers completely kill off a five-minute major penalty, but they did it for about a minute, maybe more, while two of their four penalty killers were without their sticks. That was the break UMD was looking for. That was supposed to be the moment that pulled the Bulldogs out of their funk. It didn’t happen and credit the Bemidji killers for keeping it from happening.