BLOG: 3 Lessons Minnesotans Can Learn From Connecticut Ice (And Vice Versa)

"We should run this tournament every year for the next 30-40-50 years," said Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold, discussing last weekend's Connecticut Ice festival.

Minnesotans know those words all too well. Six years and 1100 miles separate the same excitement at Xcel Energy Center following what was considered a successful first edition of the North Star College Cup.

Of course, the North Star College Cup no longer exists. An event meant to showcase the bonds of Minnesota's college hockey programs instead showed the cracks in its relationships. After four iterations, the schools decided to go their separate ways.

The situation's origins repeat itself in Connecticut, where the four in-state schools came together for an in-season tournament. Year 2 is guaranteed but after that, no deals have currently been made.

In a different state, the names changed with both sharing similar situations are character archetypes.
There's the longtime blue blood in Minnesota Yale. The younger program making national headway in St. Cloud State Quinnipiac. The smaller school trying to compete with others in Bemidji State Sacred Heart. The school moving into a big conference on the cusp of taking the next step yet unable in Minnesota State UConn.

Okay, that last comparison works only pre-Hastings, but you get the point.

As the only person who attended both tournaments, it's hard not to live in the similarities. There are some lessons Minnesotans can take from Connecticut's first in-state tournament and ones Connecticut can learn from the North Star College Cup's failures (RIP).

Here are three for each:

BLOG: RIP North Star College Cup, 1 year later

This weekend should be the fifth annual North Star College Cup. It's not. Sadly, no one will be playing for Paul Bunyan's Pimp Chalice at Xcel Energy Center.

Photo: Nathan Wells

The event, Minnesota's version of the Beanpot or GLI, came to an end by mutual agreement as teams would rather have home games against in-state schools than tournament bragging rights.

(No really. UMD head coach Scott Sandelin joked after winning last year's NSCC that they'd throw the trophy in the fire as kindling wood.)

Honestly? It's too bad. Even with all of its flaws, the North Star College Cup helped show off the growing greatness of Minnesota college hockey throughout the state.

Podcast: Minnesota Sports Fans Unfiltered #25

Earlier this week I was a guest on the Minnesota Sports Fan Unfiltered podcast, hosted by my old Wild Xtra colleagues Nick and Lonnie, to discuss the North Star College Cup ending.

You can listen below.

Puck Dynasty Podcast: What should the Gophers expect from Penn State? (Episode 12)

Puck Dynasty is a weekly podcast covering the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team and college hockey. Nathan Wells (SB Nation College Hockey/various outlets), Declan Goff (1500 ESPN/GoMN Sports) and Drew Cove (Minnesota Daily) discuss the latest news, analysis and give their opinions about the Gophers and sport as a whole.

This week’s episode begins by reviewing the fourth and final North Star College Cup. Minnesota’s lessons in defeat, Minnesota Duluth’s team in victory, Eric Schierhorn’s goaltending, scoring depth and the good, bad and ugly of the weekend tournament get discussed. The crew then looks ahead to Minnesota hosting Penn State at Mariucci Arena on Friday and Saturday and resetting the Big Ten. Four teams are within seven points of the lead with six weekends to go.

Afterwards Twitter questions on Penn State’s shot numbers and Leon Bristedt get answered.

Listeners trying to ice a lineup of six Scott Stevens on the blue line can directly download at 1500 ESPN, Podcast One or subscribe on iTunes

Follow Nate (@gopherstate), Declan (@dexstweets) and Drew (@drewcove48) on Twitter. If you like what you hear, be sure to give it a five star review on whatever platform you consume podcasts.

Radio: WCCO Radio on Steve Thomson Show (January 29, 2017)

Once again I was on The Good Neighbor, WCCO 830, yesterday with Steve Thomson to discuss Gopher hockey.

I broke down Minnesota's weekend at the North Star College Cup, what lies ahead as the Gophers return to Big Ten play and how a loss Friday to Minnesota Duluth helped fuel Saturday's victory over Bemidji State.

Direct: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/audio/steve-thomson-and-eric-nelson/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/steve-thomson-and-eric-nelson/id403228796?mt=2

My segment begins at the 31 minute mark during the 4pm hour on Sunday January 29th.

Game Story: Schierhorn stops 3 breakaways in opening minute of win (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

1/29/2017 Game Story

Minnesota 4
Bemidji State 0
FINAL

ST. PAUL- On the opening shift of Saturday’s North Star College Cup consolation game, Minnesota goaltender Eric Schierhorn gave a preview of things to come.

Schierhorn stopped Bemidji State forward Gerry Fitzgerald on a breakaway. Then he did so again. Then one more for good measure that also drew a Bemidji State penalty.

Three times in the opening minute of Minnesota’s 4-0 victory, the sophomore was forced to shut down chances by the Beavers before his team found its legs at both ends of the ice. Schierhorn stopped all 25 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season. The Gophers added three goals in the third period to break through and win at the tournament for the first time since 2014.

“I don’t know if breakaways are really what you want on the first shot on the game,” Schierhorn said. “Both games (this weekend), I had those shots to help get me into a rhythm and the shots kept coming.”

Click here to read the rest!

Game Story: Minnesota Duluth tips St. Cloud State in OT to win title (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

1/29/2017 Game Story

Minnesota Duluth 2
St. Cloud State 1
FINAL/OT

ST. PAUL- One rebound put back and one celebration later, Minnesota Duluth can head back home as the top college hockey team in Minnesota, despite having needed more than 60 minutes to settle the North Star College Cup championship game.

With the Bulldogs and St. Cloud State playing in front of an announced crowd of 11,098 at the Xcel Energy Center, UMD senior Kyle Osterberg scored six minutes into overtime for a 2-1 victory Saturday.

“It’s always a great feeling,”said Osterberg about winning the annual in-state tournament. “This is my last year playing. Just to win it feels good. Me and the other seniors have been working hard and put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the program. So to bring something back, even a small cup like this, is pretty special.”

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Bemidji State Line Combinations

Once again Minnesota plays at 4 p.m. on the second day of the North Star College Cup.

It's the third straight year the Gophers will contend for the consolation championship at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota got two goals by Brent Gates Jr., but fell to #1/#2 Minnesota Duluth 3-2 and now face Bemidji State. UMD will play St. Cloud State for the championship at 7.

Weirdly only Minnesota's game is televised on Fox Sports North. The championship will not be, which in a way is fitting for the way the tournament is ending.

If you missed last night's game my recap focusing on the little mistakes and glass half full attitude Minnesota had following the loss can be read here by clicking on the ridiculously long hyperlink.

From watching the early game I thought the WCHA-leading Beavers out-played SCSU for much of the last 40 minutes. Jeff Smith made a couple timely saves and Bemidji State hit a post in the second period that would have changed course.

It's not an easy game in the final North Star College Cup. As Minnesota knows, there's a difference leaving the tournament without a win, having done so each of the past two seasons with second-day letdowns.

Will this year be different?

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers lines

Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Justin Kloos (#25) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Leon Bristedt (#18)- Vinni Lettieri (#19) - Taylor Cammarata (#13)
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Luke Notermann (#11)
Ryan Norman (#23) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Jake Bischoff (#28) - Ryan Lindgren (#5)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Ryan Zuhsldorf (#20) - Ryan Collins (#6)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Nick Lehr (#34)
Brock Kautz (#1)

Minnesota's only change from Friday's lineup is Luke Notermann returning in place of Connor Reilly.

Bemidji State University lines:

Today's lineup vs the Gophers. 4pm puck drop at the Excel Energy Center #northstarcollegecup pic.twitter.com/h47ITD7tfC

— Bemidji St. MHockey (@BSUBeaversMHKY) January 28, 2017

Once again I'm covering for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Pick up a copy and read my coverage to support if you can.

Game Story: Gophers lose to Minnesota Duluth in North Star College Cup (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

1/28/2017 Game Story

Minnesota 2
Minnesota Duluth 3
FINAL

ST. PAUL- Friday’s game against Minnesota Duluth taught Brent Gates Jr. that the Gophers can play with any team in the nation.

As far as lessons go, there are worse ones for a team to learn in a losing effort. Facing the No. 2-ranked team in the nation in a North Star College Cup semifinal, No. 6 Minnesota found out what it needed to compete against the top tier in college hockey and realized the slim margin between success and failure at that level.

UMD (17-5-4) scored three unanswered goals to defeat the Gophers 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center and advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“We played well. We did a lot of good things. A couple mishaps, a couple turnovers, a couple penalties and the game went their way, but we went toe-to-toe with them. We played a solid overall game so we’re going to build on it,” said Gates, who scored two power-play goals.

Minnesota (14-8-2) finds itself in the consolation game of the in-state tournament for the third consecutive year. The Gophers will face Bemidji State, which lost to St. Cloud State 2-1 in Friday’s early game.

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Xcel Energy Center no "home game" for Gophers + Line Combinations

Xcel Energy Center is 7.5 miles away from Mariucci Arena, but to Don Lucia it could be a world away.

The Gophers coach doesn't consider this weekend's North Star College Cup to be home games.

"Not at all. It's a neutral site venue. We don't play on a small ice sheet like at Xcel Center," Lucia said. "We've been there as often as anyone else the past few years."

Minnesota's record at the home of the Wild, a place where the team won the 2002 NCAA national championship, has been a mixed bag as well, which is not the best news with an opponent in UMD that has defeated Minnesota six straight times.

The Gophers defeated Ohio State at the 2016 Big Ten conference tournament before falling to Michigan. It's the only win in the past six B1G/WCHA games in the building dating back to 2007-2008. The same can be said with the North Star. Minnesota hasn't won since the opening game in 2014 against St. Cloud State, going 1-4-1.

(Minnesota has had more success during NCAA regionals. The past two times the Gophers advanced to the Frozen Four began with a pair of wins in St. Paul.)

Lucia believes any of the four teams can win this weekend in the last tournament being played. It's also the last time the X will host college hockey until the 2018 Frozen Four.

"I was just thinking about that today we're going in there this weekend and I don't know when we'll be back in there," he said. "We had the Final Five to look forward to and North Star Cup at the Xcel Energy Center every year. That's not going to be the case."

With the neutral site nature, the Gophers are technically the road team both games in spite of likely having a crowd advantage due to distance.

University of Minnnesota Golden Gophers Line Combinations

Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Justin Kloos (#25) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Taylor Cammarata (#13)- Vinni Lettieri (#19) - Leon Bristedt (#18)
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Connor Reilly (#21)
Ryan Norman (#23) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Jake Bischoff (#28) - Ryan Lindgren (#5)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Ryan Zuhsldorf (#20) - Ryan Collins (#6)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Nick Lehr (#34)
Brock Kautz (#1)

The Gophers make one change from last weekend's series at Wisconsin. Connor Reilly moves up to the third line in place of Luke Notermann, who sits after appearing in the past six games. It's a spot the redshirt senior practiced in this week.

University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs Line Combinations

Forwards
Alex Iafallo (#14) - Dominic Toninato (#19) - Adam Johnson (#7)
Kyle Osterberg (#8) - Jared Thomas (#22) - Joey Anderson (#13)
Riley Tufte (#27) - Avery Peterson (#11) - Karson Kuhlman (#20)
Jade Miller (#26) - Sammy Spurrell (#28) - Billy Exell (#16)

Defense
Carson Soucy (#21) - Willie Raskob (#15)
Neal Pionk (#4) - Brendan Kotyk (#10)
Nick Wolff (#5) - Dan Molenaar (#3)

Goaltender
Hunter Miska (#35)
Nick Deery (#37)
Hunter Shepard (#32)

Bulldogs Avery Peterson and Carson Soucy are Wild draft picks (as is Gopher D Jack Sadek for that matter).

As a reminder, I'm covering this weekend's tournament for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. You can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate.

Feature: Gophers hoping to end dry spell vs in-state foes (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

Balancing rivalries with tough games, this weekend's North Star College Cup brings both to an intersection. Minnesota is #6 in the nation and leads the Big Ten. Yet to many what matters more is doing well against other in-state schools, where the team has struggled - the Gophers have lost six straight against tonight's semifinal opponent, UMD.

I also hope you got to know who Jake Bischoff is a little more by reading the feature.

--

(This originally appeared in Friday's St. Paul Pioneer Press)

Marking an intersection between U.S. highways 2 and 169, the Iron Range city of Grand Rapids sits between Minnesota destinations. One highway leads east to Duluth. The other winds south towards St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Jake Bischoff is well aware of how much the Twin Ports and Twin Cities influence his hometown. Grand Rapids is his stomping grounds, the place where he still goes back to hunt when the opportunity allows. (During Minnesota’s off-week in November Bischoff proudly ended up with a little buck.)

The senior defenseman grew up a Gophers fan by default. His father, Grant Bischoff, played for Minnesota from 1987-91. Before continuing the family legacy, he was immersed in the history that comes with Friday’s North Star College Cup opponent, Minnesota Duluth (15-5-4).

“Obviously Grand Rapids is closer to Duluth than it is to the Twin Cities. A lot of people from up there grow up as Duluth fans just because of geographically. There’s also a lot of Gopher fans up there, too,” he said. “It was a blast growing up watching that rivalry with the teams and also the fans, getting in little fights with my buddies over the games. That was a blast.”

In that light, this weekend’s four-team tournament at Xcel Energy Center, which also features Bemidji State (16-9-3) and St. Cloud State (11-12-1), takes on a different meaning for the Big Ten-leading Gophers (14-6-2). Being a top-10 team doesn’t matter. The challenge for Minnesota, coming of consecutive last-place finishes in this event, is to find success against in-state schools.

Click here to read the rest!

North Star College Cup Never Took Off (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

(This originally appeared in Friday's St. Paul Pioneer Press.)

This weekend’s fourth annual North Star College Cup at Xcel Energy Center will be the final one contested between the five Division 1 schools in Minnesota.

After meeting this summer and fall, the schools’ five head coaches elected to discontinue the tournament after the initial four-year rotation, citing attendance issues and a reluctance to give up home games.

“I think the idea was to hopefully get the alumni involved and replicate what the old WCHA playoffs was like, but that never seemed to happen,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said Wednesday. “It just probably wasn’t worth giving up home games for so many people.”

The tournament was created after the splintering of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Gophers became part of the six-team Big Ten Conference, and St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth became charter members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Minnesota State Mankato and Bemidji State remained in the WCHA.

Click to read the rest here!

BLOG: North Star College Cup comes to an end + 2017 Nonconference Schedule

(Photo Credit: Nate Wells)

Enjoy this weekend's North Star College Cup. It will be the last one for a while.

The demise of the NSCC after the fourth year of the original deal has been rumored for a while and was confirmed earlier today. Paul Bunyan's Pimp Chalice, as I fondly like to call it, will soon be a memory, a nostalgic piece of hardware going the way of the DQ Cup.