Hatten column: Blais will propose same-sized rinks

When the American Hockey Coaches Association has its annual meeting in April in Florida, Nebraska-Omaha head coach Dean Blais is going to make a legislative proposal to his fellow college coaches.

“I’m going to suggest that we have a standardized ice rink,” Blais said.

“You’ve got places like Wisconsin where it’s 95 feet wide. We’re fast and we can get up and down and move the puck. But I think St. Cloud has a little advantage with playing on an Olympic ice sheet every day.”

The seventh-ranked Huskies host the sixth-ranked Mavericks in an NCHC series at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The Brooks Center is one of six arenas in the country with Olympic-sized ice (200 feet by 100 feet). The other schools that play home games on Olympic-sized rinks are Alaska, Alaska-Anchorage, Colorado College, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Northern Michigan.

The majority of the Division I programs play on an NHL-sized rink (200 by 85). But there are 12 other programs that have home ice that is between 87 feet and 97 feet wide.

The Mavericks moved into Baxter Arena this fall, which has NHL-sized dimensions and a seating capacity of 7,500.

Does the size of the rink matter?

The Huskies and Mavericks have been in the same conference since 2010. St. Cloud State is 5-2-1 against UNO in that stretch at the Brooks Center and 3-6-1 against UNO at its old home, the NHL-sized Century Link Center.

St. Cloud State has won its first two conference titles and reached three straight NCAA regional championship games since 2012.

In 2012-13, the Huskies were 12-8-0 on Olympic-sized rinks; 13-8-1 on NHL-sized.

In 2013-14, St. Cloud State was 9-6-5 on Olympic-sized rinks; 13-5-0 on NHL-sized.

In 2014-15, the Huskies were 12-8-0 on Olympic-sized rinks; 8-11-1 on NHL-sized.

This season, the Huskies are 9-1 on Olympic-sized rinks and 2-2 on NHL-sized rinks.

So since 2012, St. Cloud State is 42-23-5 on Olympic-sized rinks and 36-26-2 on NHL-sized rinks.

That’s not a huge difference. Is it the size of the ice surface or is it the opponent?

St. Cloud State, by the way, is 4-0 in conference playoff games against UNO, which includes a sweep in 2012 at the Brooks Center and a sweep last spring in Omaha.

What to expect

This weekend, two of the top offensive teams in the country face off at the Brooks Center.

UNO goes into the game averaging 3.29 goals per game (13th in the nation) despite being 44th in the country in shots per game (28.00). St. Cloud State is averaging 4.29 gpg (3rd) and is 17th in shots (31.93).

“We’ve been able to find a way to win,” said Blais, whose team is 10-1 in games decided by two goals or less. “We’ve won a lot of 3-2, 2-1 games. We led Ohio State 5-1, but they bounced back and it was 5-3, 5-4 and we won 6-4.

“It’s a good bunch of guys who play hard for each other and it’s fun go out and coach them every day.”

Junior forward Jake Guentzel is third in the nation in points (22) and junior forward Austin Ortega leads the nation in goals (12) and game-winning goals (5) and is tied for ninth in points (18) for the Mavericks.

“You’ve really got to be aware when their top guys are on the rink,” St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko said. “They’re a great transition team and puck control is going to be a major part of the weekend.”

Sophomore center Judd Peterson is tied for sixth in the nation in goals (9), senior wing Joey Benik has eight goals and sophomore wing Patrick Russell and senior center David Morley have seven goals apiece.

Goaltending

The Mavericks began the season with junior Kirk Thompson and freshman Evan Weninger splitting time in goal. Weninger has emerged with more playing time of late and is 8-1-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average and third in the nation with a .948 save percentage.

“I really had no idea how good he was going to be,” Blais said of Weninger, who played junior hockey last season for the Kindersley Klippers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. “I usually try to see every player who comes in here ahead of time, but we didn’t have any weekends off in the second half and you have to trust your assistant coaches who recruited him.

“They both agreed that he was the best available goalie out there.”

The Huskies have relied on junior goalie Charlie Lindgren, who is 10-3 with a 1.88 GAA and is 12th in the nation in save percentage (.931).

“It starts in goal and that’s the way he’s played for his career there and I like Charlie Lindgren,” Blais said.

Special teams

How have the Mavericks been on special teams? Blais has a short answer.

“Not very good,” he said.

UNO is 50th in the nation on the power play (13 percent) and 17th on the penalty kill (86.4 percent).

St. Cloud State is going in opposite directions on its special teams. After a slow start, the Huskies are third in the nation on the power play (29.8 percent). After a good start on the penalty kill, the Huskies are tied for 53rd on the penalty kill (75.0).

Probable lineups:

UNO forwards

Pope-Guentzel-Ortega

Randolph-Vesel-Parizek

Peterson-Lane-Spinner

Olofsson-Nogard-Galt

UNO defense

Cooper-Messner

Snuggerud-Gallo

Klehr-Buchta

Goalies

Weninger starts with Thompson backing up.

SCSU forwards

Murray-Kossila-Russell

Benik-Morley-Newell

Eyssimont-Peterson-Jackson

Storm-Winiecki-Benson

Defense

Schuldt-Prow

Widman-Borgen

Nevalainen-Lizotte

Goalies

Lindgren starts with Reijola and Zevnik backing up.

This is the opinion of Mick Hatten. Contact him at 259-3621 or mhatten@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @MickHatten, Instagram.@mickhattenand at Facebook.com/sctimesmick.