{"id":2663,"date":"2017-04-05T14:05:50","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T19:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/frozen-four\/?p=2663"},"modified":"2020-08-24T16:37:30","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T21:37:30","slug":"close-games-helped-minnesota-duluth-come-together-as-a-team-sandelin-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2017\/04\/05\/close-games-helped-minnesota-duluth-come-together-as-a-team-sandelin-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Close games helped Minnesota Duluth come together as a team, Sandelin says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin, right, chats with Bulldogs players during practice Wednesday in Chicago (photo: Jim Rosvold).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CHICAGO<\/b> — This is the third trip to the Frozen Four for Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs last appeared in 2011, when they beat Michigan 3-2 in overtime.<\/p>\n

It’s the third straight NCAA tournament appearance for this senior class, however, and Sandelin thinks that there are a few things that helped his squad advance beyond regional play.<\/p>\n

“Teams sometimes come together quickly. Sometimes it takes a little while. Some never do. This one came together pretty quickly,” said Sandelin. “Maybe it was some of those early games that we won, the tight games, it brought them a little closer and believing. Because we’ve been in a lot of them, so I’ve got to think it’s helped a little bit.”<\/p>\n

In the first half of the season, Minnesota Duluth was 4-3-2 in games decided by a goal or fewer; since the beginning of January, the Bulldogs are 9-4-2 in such games, including their two 3-2 overtime wins in the NCAA West Regional.<\/p>\n

Another reason for surviving regional play, said Sandelin, is the way in which the upperclassmen have steered this year’s team.<\/p>\n

“It’s a pretty close group. I know people say that,” said Sandelin. “They’ve had some success and kind of wanted to drive to take it another step, which they’ve done now, but they’ve been a big part of that. They’ve been our best players, too. That’s always important when your older guys, your key guys are your best players.”<\/p>\n

Senior forward Alex Iafallo leads the Bulldogs with 19 goals and 30 assists in 40 games after sophomore and junior seasons in which he scored eight goals each year.<\/p>\n

His classmate, forward and team captain Dominic Toninato (16-12–28) has averaged just above 15 goals per season in his last three years. Another senior, Kyle Osterberg (12-11–23) has one more goal this season than he did in his last two years combined, and he’s two behind his career high of 14 from his freshman season.<\/p>\n

While Sandelin points to his players, Toninato said that it’s Sandelin who has set the tone for this year’s success.<\/p>\n

“Coach preaches that all year to never be satisfied,” said Toninato, “so I think that helps us moving forward and wanting more and wanting to keep getting better.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the third straight NCAA tournament appearance for this senior class, however, and Sandelin thinks that there are a few things that helped his squad advance beyond regional play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":95349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1426],"tags":[799],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nClose games helped Minnesota Duluth come together as a team, Sandelin says - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's the third straight NCAA tournament appearance for this senior class, however, and Sandelin thinks that there are a few things that helped his squad advance beyond regional play.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Close games helped Minnesota Duluth come together as a team, Sandelin says - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's the third straight NCAA tournament appearance for this senior class, however, and Sandelin thinks that there are a few things that helped his squad advance beyond regional play.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-05T19:05:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-24T21:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/2017040511-44-2713776-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"499\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula C. 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