Inside the NCHC: Teams are seeing what they've got in net
Oct. 14—GRAND FORKS — Three quarters of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference teams lost their main goaltender from last season.
Early this year, it appears teams are trying to find out exactly what they've got.
Seven of the eight NCHC teams split starts between their No. 1 and No. 2 goaltenders during the opening two weekends of the year.
UND has given one start each to fifth-year senior transfer Drew DeRidder (1.000 save percentage) and sophomore Jakob Hellsten (.950).
St. Cloud State has given transfer Dominic Basse (1.000) and returner Jaxon Castor (.909) each a start. Denver has done the same with national title-winning Magnus Chrona (.900) and Matt Davis (.960). Colorado College's Matt Vernon (.947) and rookie Kaiden Mbereko (.950) each have a start. Omaha has used transfer Jake Kucharski (.778) and freshman Simon Latkoczy (.852). Minnesota Duluth has started returner Zach Stejskal (.929) and transfer Matthew Thiessen (.967) once each.
Western Michigan has used Wisconsin transfer Cameron Rowe (.889) a little more than Miami transfer Kirk Laursen (.818), but even Laursen has a game-and-a-half under his belt.
Only one NCHC team has used a single goalie through the first two weeks of the season — Miami.
The RedHawks have rolled with junior Ludvig Persson, starting him in all four games.
Persson was loyal to Miami in the offseason. Many thought he would end up in the transfer portal after not having team success for two years at Miami — and watching his save percentage drop 31 points as a sophomore. He would have been one of the most coveted players in the portal.
But he stayed, he's getting starts, and he's rolling.
Persson won the NCHC's goalie of the week honor in back-to-back weeks. He has a 1.98 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
There's no doubt who's the go-to guy between the pipes in Miami. Denver figures to largely turn to Chrona at some point, too.
Persson and Chrona are the lone returning starters in the league. Interestingly enough, both are Swedes. Outside of the United States and Canada, Sweden has produced the most college hockey players this season (53).
A major question heading into the season was whether Colorado College rookie Ryan Beck would be eligible — and, if so, when.
Beck reached an agreement to join an Ontario Hockey League team during the summer of 2020. The OHL shut down the following year, though, and Beck never played in the OHL. He played last season with Dubuque in the United States Hockey League.
Signing with an OHL team has, in the past, wiped out some amount of college eligibility for players. But Beck was cleared from the start and made an immediate impact for the Tigers. Beck had three assists in his college debut against Alaska Anchorage.
This doesn't necessarily mean the Canadian major junior door is open to NCAA teams, even though there have been examples of the NCAA clearing players who played in the league — notably Austen Swankler at Bowling Green and Brayden Gelsinger at Lake Superior State.
Perhaps teams will begin pushing the issue more often.
* There's been some good news about St. Cloud State defenseman Josh Luedtke, who suffered a concussion and was stretchered off the ice in the Huskies' season opener on Oct. 1.
He's skating
again. That doesn't mean he's playing this weekend against Wisconsin, but he's moving in the right direction.
* Western Michigan's top defenseman Aidan Fulp missed Saturday's game against Ferris State with an injury. The Broncos moved sophomore Jacob Bauer to his spot on the top pairing and Bauer's minutes exploded. He played 26:33 against Ferris — most of any NCHC player this season. On Thursday night, Fulp was back for the Broncos and Bauer returned to the third pairing.
* Western Michigan rookie Ryan McAllister, who had 139 points in 60 games last season for Brooks in the AJHL, has a point in all four of his collegiate games so far. He tallied a goal and an assist Thursday night in Western's 4-1 win over Bowling Green.
* It appears that Denver is going to play defenseman Mike Benning a lot this season. Benning was over the 25-minute mark for both of Denver's Ice Breaker games last week. Benning played 26:20 against Notre Dame and 25:26 against Maine.
* A potential key injury to watch is Miami defenseman Dylan Moulton, who left last Friday's game against Lowell in the second period. It could be a huge blow to Miami's power play, where Moulton had success last season. Miami lost its top power-play quarterback, Derek Daschke, in the transfer portal to Minnesota Duluth in the offseason. If it loses Moulton, coach Chris Bergeron will have to get creative with the power play. He's got Hampus Rydqvist to run one unit, but his other defensemen are primarily defensive guys. In Miami's first series against Ferris State, power-play time among defensemen was: Rydqvist 8:32, Moulton 4:46, Michael Feenstra :14, Jack Clement :07.
Last summer, Bemidji State was one of just a handful of teams that did not dip into the transfer portal and add a transfer.
That changed early this summer.
One of the first transfers Bemidji State picked up was Mitchell Martan from Canisius, and the Beavers are already being rewarded for that.
Martan posted a league-best four points for Bemidji State last weekend in a series split with Arizona State. Martan scored the overtime winner for the Beavers on Saturday night. Martan, a fifth-year senior, had 22 points for Canisius last season.
* Arizona State opens up Mullet Arena on Friday against Colgate. The Sun Devils are wearing special jerseys,
inspired by the baseball
team, for the game. Mullet Arena will become the newest Division-I rink.
* Lindenwood will play its first Division-I home game Friday against Air Force. Lindenwood is playing at the practice facility of the St. Louis Blues.
* Michigan freshman forward Adam Fantilli turned 18 on Wednesday and Wisconsin freshman forward Charlie Stramel turns 18 on Saturday. That means by the end of the weekend, there will only be one 17-year-old left in college hockey — UConn forward Matthew Wood. He doesn't turn 18 until February.
