Tyler Buckentine

No. 9  Denver (24-12-4) vs. No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth (24-8-6) Tyler: UMD is going to reverse its fortune from last season’s early exit in the Final Five. Denver has let a lot of games go down to the wire lately against team’s they should put away and that’s not going to work today. UMD wins. Brian:  … Read more

A year from now, Jason Zucker may be playing in the Xcel Energy Center professionally for the Minnesota Wild. That’s the long-term future. For right now: “We play tomorrow night,” Zucker said Thursday afternoon after the Wild’s second-round draft pick (2010) scored the overtime goal for Denver against Michigan Tech in the WCHA Final Five … Read more

Tied at three goals apiece as time ticked away in overtime against No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth, it looked like St. Cloud State needed a win to get home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Hundreds of miles to the south, Nebraska-Omaha only needed to match SCSU in points at the end of the … Read more

Bemidji State (12-12-2, 6-10-2 WCHA) at Nebraska-Omaha (15-10-2, 11-9-0 WCHA) Tyler: UNO’s goaltending is highly questionable with Ryan Massa questionable after he suffered a concussion against Minnesota State, Jan. 21. He’s been the one guy to emerge from UNO’s goaltending situation with stability. He allowed three goals on 110 shots in his last three games but … Read more

With a plus-47 edge in shots on goal for the weekend, Minnesota’s sweep over St. Cloud State wasn’t surprising. The fact that the series still could’ve gone either way, was. The Gophers completed the sweep of the Huskies with a 3-2 win Saturday night at the National Hockey Center, a night after Minnesota’s 2-1 win … Read more

Minnesota State (8-17-1, 4-13-1 WCHA) at Bemidji State (11-11-2, 5-9-2 WCHA) Tyler:  Minnesota State had one of the worst power plays in the WCHA, but its clicking since Christmas, converting seven times in 26 attmepts. The Beavers are killing at a league-worst 76.4-percent rate over that stretch but this doesn’t make the Mavericks good enough to … Read more

Aaron Dell said he had “seen more subtle kicks in soccer” than the one off Ben Hanowski’s skate Saturday night. With 31.5 seconds to go in North Dakota’s 3-2 win at St. Cloud State, Huskies forward Hanowski swung his skate at a loose puck sitting in the middle of the crease. It split North Dakota … Read more

Brad Eidsness played like he deserved his spot back as North Dakota’s No.1 goaltender and Ryan Faragher looked as if he should be St. Cloud State’s starting goalie when Mike Lee returns from injury in a few weeks. But it was Faragher’s team that ended up on the winning end of a 3-1 final Friday … Read more

Before we go any further, obviously Minnesota and North Dakota will play next season and there’s potential for postseason meetings between now and the split-up of the WCHA in 2013, but college hockey’s best rivalry is taking a huge turn after next season. This weekend’s series, in fact, was the last one in Grand Forks … Read more

No. 5 Notre Dame (12-6-3, 8-3-3-0 CCHA) at No. 3 Minnesota (15-6-1, 11-3-0 WCHA) Saturday only Brian: The Irish have proven to be notoriously slow starters thus far this season having allowed the game’s first goal in 12 of 21 games and fallen behind by two in half of those contests. Opponents have outscored Notre Dame … Read more

Those critiquing Friday’s game between Western Michigan and St. Cloud State might say it wasn’t pretty, but that’s OK with Andy Murray. “We’re not a pretty team,” said the WMU coach after the No. 8 Broncos snipped the Huskies, 2-1, in overtime at the National Hockey Center. “We play pretty hard, though,” Murray added. “We … Read more

With precisely half of the WCHA’s 2011-12 season schedule in the rear view mirror as we travel to our various holiday destinations, we thought it appropriate to take a look back before visions of sugar plums begin dancing in your heads. As we head into the first college-hockey-free weekend in nearly three months, we find … Read more

Nick Jensen had never scored more than one goal in a collegiate game through his first season and a half at St. Cloud State. All it took was 34 seconds for him to notch a goal Friday night against the Denver Pioneers. Midway through the first period, he set a new career best with his … Read more