For the first time during the tenure of University of North Dakota head coach Brian Idalski, a high percentage of his 2010-11 roster is returning letterwinners
This will also mark the first season that the UND bench will be made up entirely of recruited players by the Idalski-led Sioux.
The Sioux have added Olympians, have added a pair of renowned coaches and have multiple record-breaking players returning.
These all equal the most highly-anticipated season in program history.
"Any time you add a couple of Olympians and some high-caliber players like we have coming in this year, with a big core of our group being our sophomore and junior kids, you can't help but be a little bit excited," Idalski said.
So the foundation has been set, the pieces are in place. What comes next? Putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together and turning it into wins on the ice.
"With the addition of some of the talent, some of the kids will be moved around and some of their roles will change," Idalski said. "It is something we are going to have to sort out here early on in the season and quickly."
In a season where wins came at a premium, it was frustrating at points for the coaching staff, players and fans alike. But it was a season in which young players got invaluable experience and will be looked upon to take a step up in a season with higher expectations.
"I think the key to this season is learning how to win hockey games," Idalski said. "I really felt like we were very competitive last year and our team speed and overall athleticism were a huge step in the right direction. Now it is having that swagger, that mentality of when it is crunch time in that third period, knowing that we are going to make a play, knowing that we are going to win the game."
"I think the biggest thing we are looking for this season is having that inner confidence that when we are out there, game in and game out, that we are going to win."
BETWEEN THE PIPES
A definite strength for the Sioux will be in net, as they head into the season with two returning goaltenders and a freshman that will be competing for an opportunity to earn time as well.
Sophomore Jorid Dagfinrud (Sarpsborg, Norway) returns for her second season after earning the team's most valuable player and most dedicated awards. She also won the athletic department's female rookie of the year (all sports) award as she put up record-breaking numbers during her first collegiate season.
Dagfinrud's highly energetic and aggressive playing style led her to a 2.39 goals against average and a .923 save percentage, which are both single-season records by a Sioux goaltender. She recorded three shutouts, which all came on the road, against top-ranked Wisconsin, Union College and Bemidji State. She will serve as a team captain this season.
The counter-punch to Dagfinrud is junior Stephanie Ney (100 Mile House, British Columbia), who will be splitting time as she enters her junior season. Ney's patient, stay-at-home style, which rarely puts her out of position, has led her to a two-year combined goals against average of 2.98 and a save percentage of .908. Ney is already fourth in career games played by a Sioux goaltender with 32.
"It will all start in net with how Jorid handles this season and how Stephanie continues to develop," Idalski said. "Those two kids give us a nice one-two tandem in net and it will be interesting to see if Michelle (Bonapace-Potvin) can enter the mix with her play in net as well."
Michelle Bonapace-Potvin (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) was a 2010 Ms. Goalie top-five finalist in her senior season at Lourdes High School in Rochester, Minn., and will be filling the third goaltender spot after the loss of Brittany Kirkham to graduation.
ON THE BLUELINE
If there is a question mark on the roster this season, it might be on the blueline for the Sioux as they will be a rather young group looking to replace the losses of Susanne Fellner, Cassandra Flanagan and Kelly Lewis.
Junior Ashley Holmes (Miltona, Minn.), sophomore Jordan Slavin (Erie, Colo.) and sophmore Candace Molle (Anchorage, Alaska) will have to take on larger roles this season.
"In front of the net Slavin is going to have to take a step forward," Idalski said. "Slavin and Molle had good freshmen years but they need to continue to get stronger, and Ashley Holmes, as a junior, needs to step up now and be a leader within that group."
Slavin will be looking to build off a freshman season that saw her efforts and progression earn her a spot on USA Hockey's roster. Slavin became the first active UND women's hockey player to compete in the World Under-18 tournament. She would complete her UND season playing all 34 games, leading UND's defensemen with three goals.
Holmes and Molle combined for two goals and 10 assists.
"It is not going to be just them though," Idalski said. "Offensively our forwards have always done a decent job of coming back and back-checking hard and playing a good team, two-way defensive game. Look for that to continue as well."
This season's lone senior, Stephanie Roy (Grande Digue, New Brunswick), and sophomore Ashley Furia (Sedalia, Colo.) will be converted from strictly forwards to forward/defensemen seeing time at both positions.
Looking to contribute will be redshirt freshmen Kayla Berg (Fargo, N.D.), last year's most improved player team-award winner, freshman Madison Kolls (Hudson, Wis.) and freshman Ariel Monarez (Littleton, Colo.).
UP FRONT
Although the Sioux finished eighth in the conference offensively last season, averaging only 1.57 goals per game, depth and offensive skill is definitely not a question mark when it comes to the forwards in 2010-11. The Sioux return their top five scorers from last season in junior Alyssa Wiebe (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), junior Sara Dagenais (Montreal, Quebec), sophomore Mary Loken (Roseau, Minn.), sophomore Ashley Furia and junior Margot Miller (West Bloomsfield, Mich.). The Sioux also add into the mix Olympians Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls.
"We will have a lot of scoring opportunities this season as our juniors and seniors continue to develop, and the addition of the Lamoureux twins with their point production at nearly two points per game at Minnesota as freshmen," Idalski said. "Obviously that is a big lift, but our bread and butter has always been playing pretty well defensively. That is still going to be the hallmark of our club this year as well."
Wiebe had one of the most prolific freshman seasons by a Sioux as she tied the school rookie record with 28 points from 15 goals and 13 assists in 2008-09.
Goals came a little harder in her sophomore campaign as teams made her more of a focal point, but Wiebe still managed to net nine goals while racking up 21 assists, a UND single-season record.
In her third year, she will look to combine her goal-scoring ability of her freshman season, her playmaking ability she showed her sophomore year and the fact teams won't be able to specifically focus on shutting down her line for an even bigger upcoming season.
A pair of steadfasts for the Sioux have been Dagenais, who led the team in goal scoring in 2009-10, and Miller. Through their first two years, Dagenais has nine goals and nine assists in her freshman campaign and 10 goals and nine assists in year two, while Miller added 10 goals and 11 assists in two seasons.
Loken stepped right in as the top-line center and finished third on the team with 16 points from seven goals and nine assists, while winning 49.3 percent of her faceoff attempts.
Junior Kelsey Ketcher (Mound, Minn.) and sophomores Megan Gilbert (Andover, Minn.) and Allison Parizek (Minot, N.D.) added a combined three goals and eight assists last season and will rotate between scoring lines and shutdown lines as part of the offensive depth.
Finnish Olympian Michelle Karvinen (Rodovre, Denmark) will redshirt the 2010-11 season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Fighting Sioux lost a lot of close games a season ago and a major contribution to that was their special teams.
UND struggled on both its power-play and penalty kill opportunities, converting at only 8.5 percent with the man advantage and allowing opponents to score at a 21.8 percent clip.
"We were not anywhere near the most penalized team in our league as we were right in the middle of the pack, but our special teams were not all that great," Idalski said. "I guess that has always been a strength of mine, that systematic five-on-five play."
"Now with the addition of Peter Elander, who has always had great special teams with team Sweden, we look for that to take a step forward on the power-play. On penalty kill, Erik Fabian will take some of the responsibilities and with his youth and energy he will do a nice job with that unit this year. You are going to see a big impact in the special teams area from each one of those guys."
Between Dagfinrud and Ney, 31 of 80 goals allowed (.388) in 2009-10 were in penalty kill situations.
INTANGIBLES
In order for the Sioux to meet some of the goals they are setting for themselves and match some of the expectations that are being hoped of them from their fans, they will have to take better care of home ice advantage.
Inexplicably, the Sioux were a much better team on road a year ago than at their home confines of the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
At home, the Sioux won only two games, going 2-10-4 (one of those wins came on Jan. 8 in Fargo, N.D., at the Urban Plains Center versus Wisconsin) while being outscored 47 to 26.
While on the road, UND went 6-12-0 with a goal differential of only 45-35.
Another test for the Sioux will be improving their non-conference record from a year ago when they finished with a 1-3-2 record.
SCHEDULE
It has been 12 seasons since the NCAA added women's hockey as a Division I collegiate sport and all 12 seasons have resulted in the national champions coming from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).
"Every national champion has come from our league and there is a reason for that," Idalski said. "It is tough from top to bottom. There aren't any more walkovers. I think every coach in our league would tell you that you can't go into a weekend and know the outcome before you get there."
"That used to be the case years ago. Everyone is better, tougher and has improved themselves. It is going to be another dogfight and it's going to come down to some intangible things of who gets the hot goalie, injuries and how people handle those situations. We just need to get on a roll and build some confidence."
Coming out of the gate will be a test for the Sioux as they open the season against a highly-touted team in Boston University at home in the "Ralph".
"It is interesting scheduling-wise as coach (Brian) Durocher at Boston University and ourselves decided a couple years ago, with very similar programs, to add a couple games," Idalski said. "In the meantime he has added three Olympians and we have added two Olympians and an Olympic coach. Now you have a matchup that will have implications at the end of the year."
It doesn't get any easier following that with Minnesota Duluth, the defending national champion, coming to Grand Forks, and then heading to perennial powerhouse Minnesota.
"We will know real quick what we have, what we need to work on and hopefully we get off to a quick start," Idalski said.
Also in non-conference action this season the Sioux will take part in the Bison Holiday Classic in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from Dec. 30-31, taking on Canadian universities Manitoba and Alberta before opening the New Year in a weekend series at Vermont.
Vermont associate head coach Grant Kimball was assistant coach for North Dakota during Idalski's first two years (2007-09).
The regular season will wrap up Feb. 18-19 with a home series against Minnesota.
The WCHA playoffs will begin Feb. 25-27 at higher seed home sites, with winners advancing to the 2011 WCHA Final-Faceoff in Minneapolis, Minn., March 4-5.
NCAA regionals will be held March 11, with the NCAA Frozen Four being held in Minneapolis, from March 18-20.
