Ryan LaDouceur is making key calls for the UND hockey team

Oct. 25—MINNEAPOLIS — About a half hour before Friday night's series opener between rivals UND and Minnesota, Ryan LaDouceur stood in the 3M Arena at Mariucci press box talking with Fighting Hawks deputy athletic director Erik Martinson.

LaDouceur had rules questions. Martinson, who serves on the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, was the guy to answer them.

Specifically, LaDouceur asked about facemasking infractions.

The Grand Forks native grew up attending UND hockey games with his father, Jeff, and was well versed in the history of the North Dakota-Minnesota rivalry. LaDouceur understood the tension of the games and assumed there would be post-whistle scrums during the weekend series in Minneapolis.

He needed to know what exactly officials are looking for when they call a facemasking major penalty.

Martinson explained that a grasp of the facemask is a five-minute major and a game misconduct; a facewashing — hand to the face with no grasp — is a standalone five-minute major. Both are penalties that can be called on video review via a coach challenge.

LaDouceur nodded and took his seat next to volunteer coach Jason Ulmer and operations director Patrick Swanson.

LaDouceur, a 2008 Grand Forks Red River graduate, is the player personnel and office operations coordinator for the UND hockey program. He handles a wide variety of tasks, office duties and paperwork during the week. On the weekend, he's stationed in the press box as UND's eye in the sky, watching the game from above and monitoring video replays. He communicates to assistant coach Karl Goehring on the bench through an earpiece.

The three full-time coaches — head coach Brad Berry, associate coach Dane Jackson and Goehring — do not have access to video or replays on the bench, so they rely on LaDouceur for information.

On Saturday night, LaDouceur made a critical call to the outcome of the series finale against the Gophers.

UND and Minnesota were in a one-goal game in the second period when a scrum broke out behind the net. LaDouceur saw Minnesota star forward Logan Cooley grab the facemask of UND's Jackson Kunz and pull it. He radioed down to Goehring and suggested they challenge for a major penalty on Cooley.

Berry, who makes the final decision, went with it. He put UND's timeout on the line — if it's an incorrect challenge, you lose it — and challenged for a facemasking major.

"At the end of the day, he was confident that it was a situation where it could be a difference in the game," Berry said. "And it was."

After video review, Big Ten referees Sean Fernandez and Joseph Carusone called a five-minute major and game misconduct on Cooley, meaning college hockey's highest NHL draft pick was ejected from the game.

UND scored on the ensuing power play and beat No. 1 Minnesota 5-4 in overtime.

"When you're up in the press box, there's not really a whole lot you can do to impact the game," LaDouceur said. "So, when there's something like that, where you feel like you're maybe contributing a little bit, that was something exciting to see."

LaDouceur's role is a critical one in college hockey nowadays.

In the offseason, the NCAA added to the list of plays that can only be reviewed by a challenge — offside and goalie interference are two major ones.

The NCAA also created a new rule where a team is assessed a two-minute minor penalty for getting a challenge incorrect if it does not have a timeout left.

It puts the onus on the coaches to make challenges instead of just asking officials to review plays. It also raises the importance of getting challenges correct.

Most college hockey teams have all three full-time coaches on the bench, so the decision on whether to challenge calls falls upon a non-coaching position — usually the operations director.

For UND, it's LaDouceur and Ulmer.

Although the season is only six games old, LaDouceur has already made two critical challenges.

In the season-opening series against Holy Cross, the Crusaders scored a goal, but LaDouceur immediately called down to Goehring to challenge the play for offside. He was right. The zone entry was offside and the goal was disallowed.

"He's very detailed," Berry said of LaDouceur. "He's very hard working, detailed and passionate about UND hockey. He goes above and beyond all of his duties. He's very professional. We love that about him."

LaDouceur starred for the Roughriders in high school. He won a state championship as a junior and was named Mr. Hockey as a senior.

He played on the inaugural Fargo Force team, which reached the United States Hockey League's Clark Cup Finals in 2009. But that was the end of the road for his playing career.

LaDouceur returned to Grand Forks the following year and began working at The Hockey Academy in Ralph Engelstad Arena, training young players. When he started school at UND, the hockey program brought him on as a student manager. He was in that role when UND won the 2016 NCAA national championship.

In 2018, LaDouceur moved to Sioux Falls to coach the Sioux Falls Power U15 program. A year later, the head coaching position at his high school alma mater opened. LaDouceur interviewed and was hired.

He never coached a game there, though.

Before the high school season started, the UND hockey administrative position opened.

"It was really tough," LaDouceur said. "(Coaching Red River) was kind of the reason I moved back to town and it was a program I played for and care about. When I was a student coach here (at UND), I saw how special of a place this was, being inside the walls. And once that position came available, it was hard not to jump at."

LaDouceur has spent the last couple of weeks discussing with the coaching staff potential situations to use challenges.

He has run through different scenarios — whether they're leading, trailing or tied, what type of play is being challenged, how much time is left in the game and whether or not they have their timeout left.

"We talk about it a lot as a staff," Berry said. "Ryan brings up different questions. 'What if this scenario happens?'"

LaDouceur frequently asks questions to Martinson and National Collegiate Hockey Conference supervisor of officials Mike Schmitt to learn nuances of the rules and to keep up to date on the latest changes.

"I'm trying to think of different scenarios that might happen in a game," LaDouceur said. "You're trying to be more proactive, so if you see something, you've already kind of played that scenario out in your mind. With how fast things happen on the ice and between whistles, you might only get one quick look at (a play)."

With North Dakota and Minnesota's history, facemasking was a detail LaDouceur wanted to clear up before the series.

"Knowing the history of the rivalry and how often those net-front scrums happen, there are always hands to the face," LaDouceur said. "It's something I've watched for, for a long time. But it never quite seems to happen. So when we saw that one, it was pretty quick to radio down."

Berry trusted LaDouceur's instincts and made the key call.

"He has a great eye for the game," Berry said. "He's already called an offside and now there's this facemasking call."

For LaDouceur, being able to help out the UND hockey team is something he doesn't take lightly.

"When The Ralph opened, my dad and I got season tickets with some other family friends in a row there," LaDouceur said. "I was busy within my own hockey season, but we'd come to every game we could.

"As someone who had dreams of playing college hockey and playing for North Dakota — but never had the chance to — to now be a part of it in a different way is something I feel is pretty special."