FORMER COYOTE READY TO MAN THE BLINDSIDE FOR THE CORNHUSKERS

 

 



 

For all you readers that are itching for something other than hockey, we're switching to the gridiron! If you're from North Dakota, you probably know this week's feature. Brent Qvale dominated high school athletics as a Williston Coyote. He was a 3-time all-state selection in football, 2-time all-state selection in basketball, 3 time state champion in the shot put, and was the Gatorade North Dakota Player of the Year his senior year in football.

Last week, the Lincoln Press published a must-read article about Brent. It illustrates how big of an adjustment D1 football is and how he is on the right track by normal development standards. He is a Junior this season and he will be protecting quarterback Taylor Martinez as he looks to be the starting left tackle. For more on the season outlook and Qvale finding his place in the line-up, check out the article here.

Brent graciously agreed to do a Q & A with me during his busy schedule of two-a-days. So without further ado, here is more about Brent!

Beyond the Pond:

Who were your role models growing up?

Brent:

My role models growing up were definitely my parents. Both of them played at the collegiate level and it was an inspiration to me along with following in my brother Brian's footsteps to college athletics.

Do you have any pre-game superstitions?

The only superstition I have is that I have to be able to listen to my headphones before we go out on the field.

What is something the average fan doesn't know about you?

I am set to graduate in May with an Exercise Science, Nutrition and Health Science degree and plan to continue on to pursue a Master's degree.

Who is your favorite opponent/rival?

Everyone we play in the Big 10 is a huge game so I can't pick just one rival.

What is your favorite part about the University?

Even though it's a big campus, you really get to know a lot of people fairly close and build relationships.

Obviously at a school like Nebraska the football players are very well known. What is it like to be a Cornhusker football player and what is game day at Memorial Stadium like?

It's a lot of pressure to be a football player here because you are watched with a lot of eyes so it is important to always be thinking about the decisions you make. Game days here are like a holiday; everyone comes out and celebrates. I cannot put into words the atmosphere here in Lincoln on Saturdays.

What is an average day like for you?

A typical schedule for me during the fall is lifting a couple times a week in the morning, classes throughout the morning, and then meetings and practice throughout the afternoon so you definitely put in some full days.

There's a lot of pressure playing on such a high-profile team. What do you do when you want/need to get your mind off of football?

One thing I love to do to get my mind off of football is to go golfing. A lot of my teammates enjoy golfing so we try to go when we can.

Coming from the town where all the attention was on you, it was obviously a change when you're on a team of high profile players. Was that easier because it's less pressure or was it hard to adjust to?

It's hard when you first come into a high profile team because you're coming from a school where you were the best player, now everyone is the best player from their school. It just takes hard work, being able to adjust, and knowing your role on the team.

What parts of your game do you feel you've improved the most since your freshman year?

Staying healthy, taking care of my body, and just getting better with technique and knowing the game plan.

Being at a school with such a great development reputation, many players have aspirations of a pro career. Is playing professionally after school a goal of yours?

Playing professionally would be a great dream. I look forward to seeing if that dream will come true or not. All I can do is play my best every day.

You mentioned your degree(s) and you have a reputation of being a strong student. Do you plan to use that to translate into a coaching career someday?

I would love to be a college level strength coach and be around a college sports team.

What are your goals/expectations for this season, both individually and as a team?

My goal this year is to go out and help my team win and we want to be able to play our best football this year.

Do you have any advice for our readers?

Always stay focused on your goals and work as hard as you possibly can to get there.

 

We'd like to thank Brent for his time and wish him the best of luck this season! I encourage everybody to read the article in the Lincoln paper and keep tabs on him this year. Also, here's a quick shout-out to John Heise, who is the author of "My Hometown Sports" blog.  Check this out for information, interviews, and more about former Williston athletes!

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'Tender Time

 

 

We’ve taken a look at the forwards and defense and this team is shaping up to be very deep.  Today we’re going to take a look at the only question mark on the team:  goaltending.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling the goaltending a weakness, just a question mark.  With Brad Eidsness graduating and Aaron Dell signing an ECHL contract, UND only has 3rd goalie Tate Maris as a returner (he’s played one period).  They will be relying on either freshman Zane Gothberg or junior transfer Clarke Saunders (See recruiting profiles here).  Both of these two are very capable goalies and have had success at previous levels.  The biggest question marks are going to be who the go-to guy is and how quickly he can adjust to the WCHA.    

  

 

      

     

Clarke Saunders has plenty of D1 playing time under his belt.  He has been the starter from day one at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.  While he hasn’t had much success (as far as team accomplishments go), he has demonstrated that he is a capable goalie.  He only recorded two wins last season and posted a 3.72 Goals Against Average.  He did, however, have a 90% save percentage and undoubtedly saw a ton of point-blank shots.  He’s a big goalie at 6’3”, 200 lbs. and uses his athleticism and size to take up lots of net.  Saunders doesn’t have as high of a ceiling as Gothberg, but he does give the University of North Dakota a safe goaltender for this season as he’s already been tested at the Division 1 level.

 

 

 

Zane Gothberg is coming off an extremely impressive USHL campaign last season.  He was named co-goaltender of the year and 1^st team All-USHL after posting 7 shut-outs and a 92% save percentage (highest in the league) and a 2.22 goals against average (second best in the league).  Gothberg has the potential to be one of the best UND goalies we’ve seen since Karl Goehring.  In fact, his Fargo Force coach John Marks even predicted he would have taken Aaron Dell’s position had Dell returned. (Read that here).    The Boston Bruins draft pick is another big goalie (6’2”) and he’s quick, skilled, and competitive.

 

My guess is that these two will be splitting time to start the season until one of them proves to be the go-to guy.  The coaching staff has a safe pick in Saunders and a blue-chip prospect in Gothberg which will make for great competition in practice and hopefully a great goaltender down the stretch.  Furthermore, whoever  the “go-to guy” is will benefit from a very deep d-corp to limit shots and a group of forwards who can put the puck in the net.  It should be a fun season!!!

 

*Other news:

UND announced the captains for the 2012-2013 season yesterday.  Andrew MacWilliam will wear the C while Kristo, Knight, and Rowney will wear the A’s.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Gleason get one either, but it just shows you how many leaders there are on this team.  It’s a great problem to have and there will definitely be leaders on the team this year without letters.



Offense Sells Tickets; Defense Wins Championships

 

Monday I gave my prediction of the line combinations we’ll see up front for the University of North Dakota this winter.  Now it’s time for the defense!  This is an exciting time for the hockey team.  Brad Berry has returned to the coaching staff after being a defense coach in the NHL the last few years.  Fans are expecting big things out of the defenders with Berry behind the bench.  Let’s take a look…

Returners

Andrew MacWilliam (SR)
Derek Forbort  (JR)
Nick Mattson  (SO)
Dan Senkbeil  (SO)
Joe Gleason  (SR)
Andrew Panzarella  (SO)
Dillon Simpson (JR)

 

Incoming

Jordan Schmaltz (FR)

 

This is shaping up to be one of the toughest bluelines in the league.  They are returning six defensemen that logged plenty of minutes last season (Senkbeil logged minutes as well, but played forward).  They only have to get one freshman adjusted and he is a 1^st round draft pick and arguably the top incoming defenseman in the WCHA (Schmaltz).  He is a highly touted offensive-defenseman who looks to add depth to an already very good defense.  Throw in the addition of Brad Berry’s expertise and this is not going to be a fun group for opposing forwards to play against. 

First Pairing:  MacWilliam/Mattson

Mac is going to be logging a lot of minutes this year.  He’s one of the best shut-down defensemen in the league and he’s the type of big, bruising defenseman that Brad Berry loves.  Pair him with Mattson who had an impressive freshman campaign and this is a solid top pairing.

Second Pairing:  Forbort/Schmaltz

This is the 1^st round pair.  It’s tough to call two first round draft picks your second pairing, but Schmaltz will have to adjust to the WCHA tempo.  With that in mind, he won’t be going up against other teams top lines to start the season.  Forbort is one player that will benefit immensely from Berry joining the staff and he should have a fantastic year.

Third Pairing:  Gleason/Simpson

Listing these two guys as a third pairing shows just how deep this group is.  Gleason has played a ton of minutes at both defense and forward, but I assume as a senior they’ll be using him at his natural position.  Dillon Simpson had a solid sophomore year last season after getting stronger and more experience.  He’s another one that could greatly benefit from Berry’s coaching.

 

Extras:  Dan Senkbeil and Andrew Panzarella

Panzarella got a ton of experience last year in the injury-plagued line-up, but I don’t see him cracking the top 6 when the rest are healthy.  That being said, he showed great improvement last season and the coaching staff will feel perfectly comfortable with him in the line-up if an illness or injury happens.  Senkbeil played forward last season so we could see him playing forward or defense depending on injuries.  He’s a heart and soul type of guy that’s going to give his all in whatever position he’s put in.

 

Friday’s post will deal with the most important position on the ice, the goaltenders.  They lost Aaron Dell to the ECHL, but we’ll take a look at the two promising tenders that will be competing for the top spot this season.  Whichever one it is, he will have the benefit of having one of the deepest defensive corps in the league.

University of North Dakota early line prediction

With Aaron Dell signing with Colorado of the ECHL, the University of North Dakota men’s hockey roster looks to be set and will be announced this week.  We’ll take a look at the forwards today and the defense and goalies later on in the week.

Edit:  Taylor Dickin has transferred to the University of Manitoba.  That will solve the logjam at forward.  Best of luck Taylor!

Returners

Danny Kristo

Corban Knight

Derek Rodwell

Connor Gaarder

Michael Parks

Mark MacMillan

Rocco Grimaldi

Brendan O’Donnell

Carter Rowney

Stephane Pattyn

Incoming

Colten St. Clair
Mitch McMillan (eligible in January)
Bryn Chyzyk
Drake Cagguila
Coltyn Sanderson

Just for the fun of it, I’ve put together an early line prediction about what we could see this winter.  There is still a lot to be determined, but it’s safe to say Coach Hakstol and his coaching staff are going to have a lot more options this season than they did with their short and injury-plagued lineup last season.  Here’s what I would like to see to start the year and why:

Line 1:  Knight centering Kristo and O’Donnell

Knight and Kristo are a given.  They are both proven seniors with chemistry together.  The only question on this line is who will be playing the left side with them.  While some people would like to see Grimaldi up here, Hakstol has said he likes Grimaldi at center.  I think O’Donnell is a good fit on this line because of his left-handed shot and scoring touch.  He looked impressive last season before his season-ending injury.

Line 2:  Grimaldi centering Mark MacMillan and Parks

While the line of Rowney, MacMillan and Parks was very impressive down the stretch last year, there’s no way that Grimaldi isn’t playing in the top six (provided he’s healthy).  He’s dominated at every level he’s been at and should be one of the most exciting players in the league this season.  Therefore, if he’s playing center, he’ll be centering this line.  MacMillan and Parks already have chemistry so with the addition of Grimaldi this line could end up being very, very good. 

Line 3:  Rowney centering Chyzyk and St. Clair

Rowney had a ton of success last year centering a couple of talented freshmen; let’s hope he can do the same this year.  Having not seen any of the freshmen yet, it’s tough to say which ones will be in the lineup early.  I went with Chyzyk and St. Clair because of their reputations of being solid 2-way players.  Hakstol has shown in the past that he’ll play good 2-way players over a skilled offensive guy that can’t be relied on in the D-zone.  Depending on how fast Cagguila adapts to this level he could fight for a spot on this line as well.  This line will have plenty of speed and talent to contribute (Rowney is coming off an 18 goal season) so this could be one of the best 3^rd lines in the league.

Line 4:  Pattyn centering Rodwell and Gaarder

This line is going to be one of the toughest checking lines to play against in the WCHA.  Pattyn and Gaarder were playing very well at the end of last season.  Rodwell is big, strong, fast, and should be hungry for playing time after sitting out the end of last year with season-ending shoulder surgery.  Some of the freshmen may have more offensive tools, but these three have all shown they can be depended on.  I would be shocked if we don’t see all three of them in the line-up to start the season.

Extras Cagguila, Sanderson, and Mitch Macmillan

We are still waiting to see what St. Clair, Cagguila, Sanderson, and Mitch MacMillan have to offer.  As far as I’m concerned, all the freshmen are wildcards.  I’d say when Sanderson is in the line-up he will be with Pattyn and either Rodwell or Gaarder as a checking line kid.  Caggiula seems to be able to play the checking line role or the skill role so he could take St. Claire, Chyzyk, Rodwell or Gaarder’s spot.   Mitch MacMillan will be another wildcard come January when he’s eligible.  He didn’t put up many points his last two seasons at St. Cloud but put up crazy numbers in juniors and had great chemistry with his brother, Mark.  We could possibly see a Rowney, Macmillan, MacMillan line come spring.

A prediction on the Defense and Goalies will be coming later this week. 

Last week we saw a long standing rumor come into the light; the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League have been sanctioned by the league for violating the league’s benefit and recruitment rules.  Within the last few years, there has become a lot of speculation about Canadian junior teams paying players to come and play there.  As college hockey fans, we have seen a significant number of blue chip players bail out on their college commitments to go the major junior route.  Things got interesting last month when the Michigan Daily printed an article stating that the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL had offered Jacob Trouba $200,000 to bail out on his University of Michigan commitment and Kitchener filed a libel lawsuit in response (see that article here Kitchener/Michigan article  So far Kitchener is still in the clear, but now that the OHL has investigated and taken a stand against one team it is safe to assume Windsor will have some company soon.

The Ontario Hockey League has fined the Windsor Spitfires nearly half a million dollars.

The league levied fines totalling $400,000 against the Spitfires and have taken away three first-round draft picks and two second round draft selections from the Spitfires. The fine is the biggest ever levied by the OHL.

In a media release, the league said it conducted two separate investigations led by its director of security and enforcement, who determined the Windsor Spitfires violated the league’s player benefit and recruitment rules and policies.

OHL Commissioner David Branch said the league’s board of governors enacted the player benefit and recruitment rules and policies in 2009. A complaint against the Spits was made in 2010 and an investigation started almost immediately.

“Any payments made to players must conform to rules and policies we have in place,” Branch told CBC News. “There was a violation of our policies and procedures as to the benefits you can provide the players.”

Branch would not say who launched the complaint. Rules state a team, player or anyone within the industry can launch a complaint, he said.

As an NCAA-biased fan, I hope this isn’t the end of these sanctions.  Everybody knows that this has been going on for a long time and it’s refreshing to finally see action being taken.  Hockey coaches, players, and fans know that losing 1^st round draft picks can be a huge setback for a team.  Hopefully this works as a deterrent for the whole league. 

Summer Rule Changes

First of all, I apologize for the delay this week.  My plan was to release a post every Monday, but I got a little sidetracked on vacation last week.  Now I’m home so no more pontooning, fishing, jet skiing, and all of the other great summer pleasures.  But summer winding down means it’s getting closer to hockey time!  As you may know, the NCAA men’s hockey committee released their new rules last week.  Let’s take a look at some of the changes.

-More options for overtime (including 4 on 4 or shootouts).  Both of these add a level of excitement to the conferences that choose to use it, but I hope the WCHA doesn’t.  I hate for a game to end in a tie more than the next person does, but I don’t like to see a game decided in a different fashion than the game as a whole took place.  Instead, I would like to see the overtime extended from 5 minutes to 15 or 20 minutes.

-Hand passes are now illegal in all three zones.  “Weren’t they always??” you might say.  The Defensive zone hand pass rule has always caused confusion among average hockey fans.  In the past, a player could use his hand to push the puck (while in the D-zone).  The rationale behind this exception was that the consequence for a hand pass is simply a defensive zone face-off so there wasn’t really a reason to whistle the play down.  Now it will result in a defensive zone face-off and the guilty team will not be able to change lines as a consequence (similar to the icing rule). 

- Allowing goals that enter the net off of skates except when they are directed using a distinct kicking motion.  I’ve wanted this rule changed ever since the 2008 Frozen Four when a Notre Dame player’s game-tying goal was disregarded due to him angling it in off his skate.  For one, in a game as fast as hockey, I think this rule rewards skilled players who are able to use their feet to their advantage.  They can do it everywhere else on the ice, but in scoring position they haven’t been able to.  Also, it takes an often controversial judgment call out of the officials’ hands.  The Frozen Four goal in 2008 was disregarded because the referee found the Notre Dame player had “intentionally” angled his skate.  It’s very difficult to tell whether the player intentionally angles his skate or not and in circumstances like this, the official could end up determining the result of the game.  This rule is a good compromise so players still can’t kick a puck in (which many people feel would add a dangerous element to the game) but it still takes a little bit of the judgment away from the officials and allows for skilled players to use all of their assets.

One rule that many players and coaches wanted changed but that will have to wait for now is the option to wear three-quarter shields instead of full shields or visors.  At this point, college hockey is the only league where players over 18 are still required to wear a full shield.  Therefore, most players wear three-quarter shields through juniors; have to go to a full shield in college, and then return to the three-quarter, half, or no shield in the NHL.  They are waiting on more safety research before discussing this rule change again in two years.  

What does everybody think of the new rule changes?  Any speculations or feelings on the visor rule?