Two days a week, Minnesota Duluth’s three goaltenders take to a fresh sheet of ice about an hour before the rest of their teammates to work with their position coach, Brant Nicklin.

Sophomores Nick Deery and Hunter Shepard, as well as freshman Ben Patt, all take turns shredding the crease. They field shots from Nicklin, run through a variety of drills and perfect their technique.

And you’d be hard-pressed to differentiate who is the starter and who is a backup.

“He takes the time no matter where you are at in the lineup to tailor practice toward you or toward something that you need,” said Deery, a redshirt sophomore whose been a backup the last three seasons. “He thinks of us all as a starting goalie. It doesn’t matter where you are at. He’s going to be the guy that says, ‘You have to be just as ready as the next guy.’ He just pushes us to get better every day.”

Head coach Scott Sandelin and his assistants, Jarson Herter and Brett Larson, recruit the goaltenders, but they’re all quick to give credit to Nicklin - the team’s volunteer assistant goalie coach - for turning those recruits into league leaders and professional prospects.

Nicklin, a four-year starter at UMD from 1996-2000, has produced three All-NCHC goaltenders, three finalists for NCHC Goaltender of the Year and three Mike Richter Award nominees the last three seasons in Shepard, Hunter Miska and Kasimir Kaskisuo.

He’s also given the Bulldogs a level of consistency in goal that in the NCHC can only be matched the last three seasons by Denver, who UMD faces at 7:38 p.m. Friday in the semifinals of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The Bulldogs and Pioneers goaltenders have combined for a save percentage of .919 or higher, and a goals-against average of 2.28 or lower each of the last three seasons.

In UMD’s case, Sandelin said that’s all because of the work Nicklin has put in since joining the staff in 2014.

“He’s done an outstanding job with our guys, our goaltenders,” Sandelin said. “He’s done a great job with guys who aren’t playing, trying to keep them in there and pushing them to get better so that when they get the opportunity, they’re ready. He has a real good demeanor with those guys and they meet all the time. They have their little goalie nation. I don’t interfere with it.”

Shepard, now a sophomore, was one of those goalies not playing much last season. He made one start and one relief appearance playing behind Miska, who posted a .920 save percentage and 2.20 GAA before signing an NHL deal with the Arizona Coyotes after just one season at UMD.

Miska was the replacement for Kaskisuo, who recorded a .923 save percentage and 1.92 GAA as a sophomore, landing the Finland native an NHL contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs after just two seasons.

Now Shepard is the guy in Duluth, and he too is putting together a resume that should attract attention from the NHL.

The Cohasset native has posted a .927 save percentage, 1.92 GAA and a UMD single-season record eight shutouts in 35 starts to earn a spot on the all-league second team, plus nominations for conference and national goaltender of the year.

Nicklin, who once shared the single-season shutout record of five with Miska and Kaskisuo, doesn’t like to take a ton of the credit for developing the three goaltenders. He says they’re the ones who do the work and stop the pucks, not him.

He will take credit for developing a cohesive goalie group the last few seasons, however. Under Nicklin, goaltending is very much a team effort.

“It’s not about one guy. It takes all three,” Nicklin said. “The three goalies and myself are a goalie unit within the team. It’s all about all three are getting better and pushing each other.”

No secret sauce

Nicklin may coach the goaltenders as one unit and treat them all as starters, but his approach with each is different.

Some goaltenders are incredibly athletic, others excel at positioning. Nicklin said he focuses on their strengths. He doesn’t change their style of play, but builds off what is already there.

“I really like to see the first few weeks of practice and then even into the season, I’m seeing what’s working and what’s not,” Nicklin said. “We’re really trying to find the things that make them be the best goalie they can during the season.”

Learning a goaltender’s motivation is also key, Nicklin said. Kaskisuo, who had worked for years with a goaltending coach back in Finland, knew what he wanted and where he wanted to go - the NHL - so Nicklin fed off that. Miska was “super competitive” so Nicklin said he took advantage of that.

Nicklin has found that Shepard is much more of a visual learner than Kaskisuo and Miska. Shepard likes to watch video and specifically go over what can be improved from one game to the next, even after a pair of shutouts like last week against Western Michigan in the NCHC quarterfinals.

“To be honest, we don’t watch a lot of the good things,” Nicklin said of him and Shepard. “We watch a lot of the things that can be improved. Interesting enough, in all games there’s things that can be improved. A lot of the games we chose, and especially lately, they are games he’s played really well. That’s a good thing. You’re stopping the puck, but there are definitely things that can be improved upon.”

Master of consistency

Talk to current and former Bulldogs goaltenders who have worked with Nicklin and you’ll hear a lot of the same words come up in some form or another again and again.

Nicklin is described as an intense and passionate coach. He prepares them well both physically and mentally for games. He boosts their confidence and consistency in the net, they said.

“That was a huge thing, helping me be more consistent and playing at the top of my game every single game,” Miska said of working with Nicklin. “For the level of college hockey, you should have a lot of the tools. You just use it to improve those things more and more. I just got better all around with him.”

Another word Miska used to describe Nicklin was, “fun.” Along that line, Nicklin was described as being “personable,” “positive,” “caring” and “outgoing.”

Kaskisuo said it’s important for a goaltender to have a coach like that in his corner.

“He cares a lot and puts a lot of work in,” Kaskisuo said. “It was also nice to have him those couple days of the week that we did. When he came, we put in some real work and smart work into it. There was always a purpose to what we did. He got me ready for the weekend.”

Full-time future for Nicklin?

Like the coaching staff, Shepard can’t give Nicklin enough credit for the job he’s doing in Duluth. For being a volunteer, Shepard said his goalie coach puts in a tremendous amount of time.

“He gives up a lot of time to come down and help us out. He’ll come down to the rink, watch video, skate whenever I ask him to,” Shepard said. “You got to give credit to him. He gives up a lot of time for us.”

Nicklin’s full-time job is sales manager at Fox 21 in Duluth, one he enjoys. But there’s also the allure of returning full-time to hockey.

Nicklin, who after college played four years in the minors, said four years ago there was no chance he’d make the sport his full-time gig again. Now after working with the Bulldogs goaltenders the last four seasons, he’s open to someday pursuing a full-time coaching job.

Right now, he’s happy to be serving his alma mater.

“I love being a part of Bulldog hockey. Quite honestly, it’s my favorite thing I do other than spend time with my family. In essence it is a second family,” said Nicklin, who also has worked since 2005 with the St. Scholastica men’s team. “I really enjoy it. It keeps me in hockey. It keeps me in the heat of it. I certainly can’t complain and I certainly appreciate the opportunity that Scott Sandelin and the rest of the Bulldogs staff has given me to come back and help with the goalies and the team.”

NCHC FROZEN FACEOFF

At Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul

Friday’s Semifinals

North Dakota (16-12-10) vs. St. Cloud State (24-7-6), 4:08 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Minnesota Duluth (21-14-3) vs. Denver (20-9-8), 7:38 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)