ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Scott Sandelin was about as subtle as a right cross to the kisser when asked about last weekend’s home series against Miami.
“We weren’t very good,” he said. “They (Miami) wanted to win. They wanted to win more than we did, it seemed like. I thought, if we play like that, we’ll be done early. We need to be a lot better than we were.
“I don’t wanna take anything away from Miami because they had great stick detail, they competed, they skated. The key word is compete. Compete and hard work. Those two words. If our team does that, we can be pretty good and we’ve proven that. But if we don’t wanna do that, I don’t care who you’re playing, you don’t give yourself a great chance.”
Yeah, I don’t think he was thrilled.
Anyway, it’s on to St. Cloud. We’re in Concrete Jungle, and — having peeked at next season’s preliminary schedule — this appears to be the last time the Bulldogs will finish the regular season here for at least the foreseeable future.
(Barring a change, UMD does not play its travel partner to close out 2025-26, and when the NCHC goes to ten teams in 2026-27, North Dakota becomes the Bulldogs’ designated rival.)
Since we still have “going back to St. Cloud for the playoffs” flashbacks, this is a positive development, no matter this correspondent’s appreciation for Brett Larson.
The playoff scenarios, you ask? Well, it might be complicated. UMD could spend time next weekend in Denver, Kalamazoo, Omaha, or Tempe, depending on this weekend’s results. The one simple one? If SCSU gets six of six points this weekend, UMD will head to southwestern Michigan next week and try its hand at facing the Lawson Lunatics in a playoff series (if that happens, I weep for whoever is in front of Ty Hanson whenever he first hears the name the WMU students are calling him).
If UMD gets points this weekend, but a total that adds up to less than six, the Bulldogs are going to Arizona State for the first round. If UMD gets six points this weekend, things get messier, and venues in Denver and Omaha could be in play.
There will be a quiz later.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Menghini – James – Bentz
Plante (Max) – Plante (Zam) – Shaugabay
Molenaar – Smith – Loney
Perkins – Arnott – Bechen
UMD defense
Pionk – Kleber
Hanson – Dubinsky
Gallatin – Pierce
Bodnarchuk
UMD goalies
Gajan – Knapp – Sandy
St. Cloud State forwards
Gardner – Gross – Thoreson
Hall – Miettinen – Burnevik
Ingram – Salquist – Portz
Ahcan – Rosborough – Reimann
St. Cloud State defense
Ralph – Reiners
Wylie – Luedtke
Clark – Zinger
Tiessen
St. Cloud State goalies
Posch – Gray – Enright
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