Weekend Preview: North Dakota vs. Denver

When these two teams met in Denver back in mid-November, North Dakota earned a hard-fought road split and could make the case that they deserved a better fate than their 4-1 loss on Saturday night. UND was done in by a potent Pios power play that went 5-for-12 on the weekend against a Fighting Hawks’ penalty kill unit ranked #2 in the country at the time (95.8 percent).

Beginning with that series, UND has killed less than 70 percent of opponent man-advantage situations, a number that tabs the unit as the second-worst set of penalty killers in the country over that stretch of games. Injuries to key penalty killers Dixon Bowen and Rhett Gardner have played a role, and the quality of competition has certainly been a factor as well. Here is a look at the power play proficiency of each of UND’s last seven opponents (total power play goals and opportunities for each weekend’s series):

Denver: 5-for-12
Union: 1-for-7
Western Michigan: 2-for-10
St. Cloud State: 1-for-8
Omaha: 2-for-6
Bemidji State: 1-for-5
Minnesota-Duluth: 6-for-11

North Dakota went just 5-6-3 (.464) over that stretch of games after beginning the year 7-2-3 (.708), and special teams will definitely need to improve if Brad Berry hopes to move his squad off of the Pairwise bubble (UND is currently 12th in the rankings which mimic the NCAA tournament selection process). North Dakota has made the tournament for fifteen consecutive seasons (every year since 2001-02), the longest active streak in Division I men’s ice hockey.

In the NCHC, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota is at the top of the league rivalries. The teams have played sixteen times during the first three seasons of the new conference, but the feud goes all the way back to Geoff Paukovitch’ illegal check on Sioux forward Robbie Bina during the 2005 WCHA Final Five.

Since that 2005 Final Five contest (a Denver victory), the two teams have met ten times in tournament play. Denver won the 2005 NCAA title with a victory over North Dakota and claimed a 2008 WCHA Final Five win as well. UND has earned six victories and a tie in the last eight playoff games between the schools, including three consecutive victories in the WCHA Final Five (2010-2012), the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional final which sent the Fighting Sioux to the Frozen Four, 2016’s thrilling Frozen Four semifinal (a 4-2 UND victory) in Tampa, Florida, and last season’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

(It is impossible to bring up the Paukovitch/Bina incident without also writing that Brad Malone‘s check on Denver’s Jesse Martin during an October 2010 contest at Ralph Engelstad Arena fractured three of Martin’s vertebrae and ended the hockey career of the Atlanta Thrashers’ draft pick.)

And now, on to the games this weekend…

It will not be easy to win the special teams battle against Denver (and to be fair, it will not be easy to win against Denver). The Pioneers lead the nation in special teams net with a +20. DU has already scored thirty power play goals this season while allowing only twelve. Jim Montgomery’s crew has also scored two shorthanded goals and allowed none. By comparison, North Dakota’s special teams net is even, having scored 21 power play goals while allowing 20 and giving up a shorthanded tally.

Making matters worse, UND could be without the services of three key players who spend time on the power play and the penalty kill. North Dakota’s top two centermen (juniors Rhett Gardner and Nick Jones) and freshman defenseman Gabe Bast are all questionable for this weekend’s series. Junior blueliner Christian Wolanin, Gardner, Jones, and Bast are the top four power play point producers for the Fighting Hawks. Gardner and Jones are also key penalty killers who would also be regularly called upon to shut down the opponent’s top two forward lines. Injury issues have become the norm for this year’s version of North Dakota hockey, with head coach Brad Berry utilizing a different lineup in each of UND’s 26 games to this point. The Fighting Hawks have missed 55 man-games due to injury or illness this season.

Denver’s super sophomore Henrik Borgström (16-19-35 in 23 games played) leads the NCHC in points and goals and trails only Northeastern junior forward Adam Gaudette (17-19-36 in 24 gp) in the national scoring race. The Pioneers also feature two other players among the top twenty scorers in the country: junior forward Dylan Gambrell (9-21-30 in 24 gp) is tied for 11th with Colorado College junior forward Mason Bergh (12-18-30 in 24 gp), and junior forward Troy Terry (10-19-29 in 24 gp) is tied for 16th.

By comparison, North Dakota’s top two point getters are Nick Jones (9-12-21) and Christian Wolanin (7-14-21). Those point totals put the pair in a tie for 75th-most in the nation.

Fighting Hawks’ freshman forward Grant Mismash has been invisible over the past eight games. Mismash started the season with a line of 5-9-14 through his first seventeen games in a UND uniform but has been held to one goal (and zero assists) in his past seven appearances and was a healthy scratch on January 6th vs. Omaha.

If UND hopes to make a deep playoff run, junior forward Shane Gersich (7-10-17) and senior forward Austin Poganski (9-5-14) will need to continue their recent scoring prowess. The two combined for 33 goals and 29 assists last year but struggled to find open ice in the first half of the season. From October through December, Poganski went 4-2-6 and Gersich added 5-6-11 in twenty games each. In the past six games, the two have scored seven goals and added seven assists.

According to KRACH, Denver has played the seventh-toughest schedule in the country this season; North Dakota’s slate of games ranks 13th. The Fighting Hawks lead the country in faceoff percentage at 56.5 percent. Denver clocks in at 51.4 percent (18th).

North Dakota enters this weekend’s series needing just two more wins to reach the 1,500-win plateau all-time as a program. UND has more wins over the past eleven seasons (302) than any other program in the country (Boston College [295] and Denver [283] round out the top three).

UND’s senior class of Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson (96-40-16, .684) needs four more victories to become the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games.

Friday’s opener has been designated as a “Green Out” game for North Dakota. UND will be wearing its road green jerseys, and fans are asked to follow suit and wear Kelly green to the game in order to “Green Out the Ralph”.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: Jim Montgomery (5th season at DU, 116-53-22, .665)

Pairwise Ranking: t-4th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #4/#5

This Season: 14-6-4 (.667) overall, 8-4-2-1 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 33-7-4 overall (NCAA Champions), 18-3-3-2 NCHC (1st)

Team Offense: 3.62 goals scored/game – 5th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.21 goals allowed/game – 7th of 60 teams
Power Play: 26.1% (30 of 115) – 5th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 84.8% (67 of 79) – 10th of 60 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Henrik Borgström (16-19-35), Junior F Troy Terry (10-19-29), Junior F Dylan Gambrell (9-21-30), Junior F Jarid Lukosevicius (12-8-20), Freshman D Ian Mitchell (2-18-20), Junior D Blake Hillman (2-6-8), Senior G Tanner Jaillet (13-5-4, 2.00 GAA, .926 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 67-30-13, .668)

Pairwise Ranking: 12th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #11/#7

This Season: 12-8-6 (.577) overall, 6-6-2-2 NCHC (4th)
Last Season: 21-16-3 (.562) overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.92 goals scored/game – 31st of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.35 goals allowed/game – 10th of 60 teams
Power Play: 19.3% (21 of 109) – 30th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.3% (87 of 107) – 27th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (9-12-21), Junior F Shane Gersich (7-10-17), Freshman F Grant Mismash (6-9-15), Senior F Austin Poganski (9-5-14), Junior D Christian Wolanin (7-14-21), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (6-10-16), Senior G Cam Johnson (8-6-3, 2.17 GAA, .906 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: November 18, 2017 (Denver, CO). One night after UND came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the homestanding Pios 5-4, Denver went 3-for-8 with the man advantage and turned a 1-1 third-period tie into a 4-1 victory. Fighting Hawks’ freshman Jordan Kawaguchi thought he had tied the game at two with 14:50 left in the middle frame, but the goal was overturned (goaltender interference) after a lengthy review. North Dakota was assessed eight penalties for 27 minutes, while DU was whistled for one two-minute minor penalty and enjoyed just 33 seconds of power play time on the night.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: November 12, 2016. Rookie Henrik Borgstrom’s even-strength marker broke a 2-2 tie less than seven minutes into the second period and held up as the game-winner in a 3-2 Denver victory. Borgstrom’s goal came less than a minute after Shane Gersich scored his second of the game to bring UND even with the Pioneers. In Friday’s opener, the two teams skated to a 1-1 tie, with Borgstrom potting the equalizer with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. North Dakota’s Shane Gersich scored a highlight reel goal during the 3-on-3 overtime session to earn an extra league point for the Fighting Hawks.

A Recent Memory: April 7, 2016 (Tampa, Florida). In the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four, the two league rivals squared off in a tightly-contested contest. Senior forward Drake Caggiula scored twice early in the middle frame to stake UND to a 2-0 lead, but the Pioneers battled back with a pair of third period goals. The CBS line came through when it mattered most, with Nick Schmaltz scoring the game winner off of a faceoff win with 57 seconds remaining in the hockey game. North Dakota blocked 27 Denver shot attempts and goaltender Cam Johnson made 21 saves for the Fighting Hawks, who won the program’s eighth national title on the same sheet of ice two nights later.

Most Important Meeting: It’s hard to pick just one game, as the two teams have played four times for the national title. Denver defeated UND for the national championship in 1958, 1968, and 2005, while the Sioux downed the Pioneers in 1963. But the game that stands out in recent memory as “the one that got away” was DU’s 1-0 victory over the Fighting Sioux in the 2004 NCAA West Regional final (Colorado Springs, CO). That North Dakota team went 30-8-4 on the season (Dean Blais’ last behind the UND bench) and featured one of the deepest rosters in the past twenty years: Brandon Bochenski, Zach Parise, Brady Murray, Colby Genoway, Drew Stafford and David Lundbohm up front; Nick Fuher, Matt Jones, Matt Greene, and Ryan Hale on defense; and a couple of goaltending stalwarts in Jordan Parise and Jake Brandt.

Last Ten Games: The teams have split the last ten games with four victories each and two ties. In those ten meetings, Denver has a slight 25-24 edge in combined score.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 145-124-12 (.537), including a sparkling 84-43-8 (.652) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1950, with North Dakota prevailing 18-3 in Denver.

Game News and Notes

UND senior forward Austin Poganski has five goals and three assists in sixteen career games against the Pioneers. Denver (16) and North Dakota (15) have more consecutive seasons with twenty or more victories than any other Division I men’s hockey team in the country (Boston College is third with eight straight twenty-win seasons; Quinnipiac has accomplished the feat six consecutive times). Denver is 9-0-1 this season when leading after two periods of play but just 4-5-0 in one-goal games. By comparison, UND is 10-0-2 this season when leading after two periods of play and 5-2-0 in one-goal games. Since seven of Michigan’s nine titles were earned by 1964, I consider Denver (eight titles) and North Dakota (eight titles) to be the top two men’s college hockey programs of all time.

Media Coverage

Friday’s opener will be telecast live on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch available on Midco Sports Network and FOX College Sports Central. A high-definition webcast of Saturday’s game will be available to NCHC.tv subscribers. All UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on 96.1 FM and on stations across the UND Sports Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

The Prediction

North Dakota is 7-3-3 at home this season (5-5-3 on the road), and that might be just what Brad Berry’s crew needs to earn a split against one of the top teams in the country. I see the Pios handling the home team in the opener, with the Fighting Hawks righting the ship to earn a close victory in the rematch. DU 4-1, UND 3-2.

As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!

Weekend Preview: North Dakota at Minnesota-Duluth

Two seasons ago, North Dakota won all four of the regular season meetings between the two teams, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-2 in the process.

UMD turned the tables at the 2016 NCHC Frozen Faceoff, defeating the Fighting Hawks 4-2 in the semifinals before falling to St. Cloud State in the championship game.

That Duluth victory was the first of six consecutive wins over UND for Scott Sandelin’s crew. That losing streak for North Dakota is the longest against one team since Wisconsin won nine in a row from 1987-89.

In 2016-17, the Bulldogs outscored North Dakota 17-5 in a four-game regular season sweep before running over UND 4-3 in the title contest at the 2017 Frozen Faceoff. Duluth rode that momentum all the way to the national title game, falling 3-2 to conference foe Denver.

Coming into last season, goaltending was a question mark for the Bulldogs. Kasimir Kaskisuo (19-15-5, 1.92 goals-against average, .923 save percentage, and five shutouts in 39 appearances during the 2015-16 campaign) gave up his final two seasons of eligibility to sign with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Kaskisuo won 37 games for UMD in his brief college career. Freshman Hunter Miska was everything Scott Sandelin could have asked for and then some during the Bulldogs’ run to the 2017 NCAA title game, taking control of the crease in his 39 games played (27-5-5, 2.20 GAA, .920 SV%, 5 SO).

And then Miska left campus to sign with the Arizona Coyotes.

Left to patrol the goal crease is sophomore Hunter Shepard, who has taken the reins for the Bulldogs after appearing in two games last year (0-2-0, 2.58 GAA, .922 vs. Notre Dame and at Western Michigan)

Junior netminder Nick Deery is also on the roster, having appeared in three games last season (1-0-2, 1.54 GAA, .934 SV%).

The Bulldogs have also had to do without five defensemen who were a part of last year’s Frozen Four run. Brenden Kotyk, Dan Molenaar, Willie Raskob, and Carson Soucy graduated, and Neal Pionk gave up his final two seasons of eligibility to turn pro early. In the first half, those losses showed up more on the penalty kill (77.3 percent, 52nd of 60 teams) than in other situations (Duluth has allowed only 2.61 goals/game, good for 16th-best in the country).

Scott Sandelin brought in five first-year defensemen as a part of a ten-player freshman class. Three of those blueliners – Mikey Anderson, Scott Perunovich, and Dylan Samberg – played for the United States at the World Junior Championships. That trio joined teammates Joey Anderson and Riley Tufte, both sophomore forwards.

UMD’s roster also contains six sophomores, four juniors, and six seniors.

UND’s roster consists of seven freshman, seven sophomores, seven juniors, and four seniors

According to KRACH, Minnesota-Duluth has played the seventh-toughest schedule in the country this season; North Dakota’s slate of games ranks 13th.

The Fighting Hawks lead the country in faceoff percentage at 56.2 percent. Minnesota-Duluth clocks in at 50.8 percent (22nd). During last season’s NCHC championship game, the teams squared off in the faceoff circle eighty times, with UND winning fifty draws.

North Dakota enters this weekend’s series needing just two more wins to reach the 1,500-win plateau all-time as a program. UND has more wins over the past eleven seasons (302) than any other program in the country (Boston College and Denver are tied for second place with 294 victories over that stretch).

UND’s senior class of Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson (96-38-16, .693) needs four more victories to become the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games.

On the injury front, Trevor Olson (Duluth, Minnesota) is expected to return to the lineup along with teammate Andrew Peski after both missed last Satuday night’s game against Bemidji State. This weekend will be Olson’s last time on his hometown ice as a collegiate player. The former Duluth East star was North Dakota’s best player down the stretch last year, scoring twelve points in March and scoring the game-tying 5×3 goal against UMD with under three minutes to play in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship (Duluth’s Joey Anderson won the game with a 5×3 goal of his own with 51 ticks on the clock).

Junior Rhett Gardner, the Hawks’ #1 centerman, is expected to miss this weekend’s series against the Bulldogs. Freshman goaltender Peter Thome is unavailable due to an undisclosed injury, so junior netminder Ryan “Bob” Anderson will dress and back up senior Cam Johnson.

Due to the unbalanced schedule in the NCHC, the two teams will not meet again during the 2017-18 regular season.

Minnesota-Duluth Team Profile

Head Coach: Scott Sandelin (18th season at UMD, 326-293-85, .523)

Pairwise Ranking: t-14th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #14/#13

This Season: 11-9-3 (.543) overall, 5-7-0-0 NCHC (t-5th)
Last Season: 28-7-7 (.750) overall (NCAA runner-up), 15-5-4-3 NCHC (2nd)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game – 22nd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.61 goals allowed/game – 16th of 60 teams
Power Play: 22.2% (20 of 90) – 13th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 77.3% (75 of 97) – 52nd of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Peter Krieger (7-12-19), Sophomore F Riley Tufte (10-5-15), Senior F Jared Thomas (5-9-14), Junior F Parker Mackay (5-7-12), Freshman D Scott Perunovich (4-15-19), Freshman D Mikey Anderson (3-9-12), Sophomore G Hunter Shepard (11-7-1, 2.42 GAA, .909 SV%, 3 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 67-28-13, .681)

Pairwise Ranking: 10th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #7/#7

This Season: 11-6-5 (.614) overall, 6-4-2-2 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 21-16-3 (.562) overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.96 goals scored/game – 28th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.12 goals allowed/game – 4th of 60 teams
Power Play: 20.4% (20 of 98) – 21st of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 85.4% (82 of 96) – 9th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (9-10-19), Junior F Shane Gersich (6-10-16), Freshman F Grant Mismash (5-9-14), Senior F Austin Poganski (8-4-12), Junior D Christian Wolanin (7-12-19), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (5-9-14), Senior G Cam Johnson (8-4-3, 1.92 GAA, .914 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 18, 2017 (Minneapolis, MN). In a wild NCHC title match, the two teams combined for 57 penalty minutes and five power play goals (including three during 5×3 situations). UND netminder Cam Johnson allowed four goals on 23 shots, while Duluth’s Hunter Miska allowed three goals on 35 shots. The Bulldogs scored three second-period goals in a span of 58 seconds.

Last Meeting in Duluth: October 29, 2016 (Duluth, MN). The Bulldogs scored three times in the second period – once on the power play and twice while shorthanded – and got a thirty save shutout from Hunter Miska in a 3-0 victory over #1 North Dakota. Duluth, which defeated the Fighting Hawks 5-2 in the opener, secured the home sweep by killing all seven UND power plays.

Most Important Meeting: March 22, 1984 (Lake Placid, NY) Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota met in the national semifinal game, with the Bulldogs defeating the Fighting Sioux 2-1 in overtime to advance to the championship. UND went on to defeat Michigan State 6-5 (OT) for third place, while Duluth fell to Bowling Green 5-4 in four overtimes, the longest championship game ever played.

The Meeting That Never Was: Both teams advanced to the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota). UND could not get past Michigan, falling 2-0 despite outshooting the Wolverines 40-20. In the other national semifinal, Minnesota-Duluth defeated Notre Dame 4-3 and rode that momentum to the title game. The Bulldogs took the Wolverines to overtime before senior forward Kyle Schmidt scored the game winner and earned UMD their first and only national championship. North Dakota won two of the three games against Duluth that season, outscoring Scott Sandelin’s team 11-5.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 144-83-9 (.629), including an 59-41-5 (.586) mark in games played in Duluth. The teams first met in 1954, with North Dakota winning the first ten games between the schools by a combined score of 72-16. UMD’s first win over the Fighting Sioux (a 3-2 road victory on December 18th, 1959) did not sit well with the defending national champions. UND defeated Duluth 13-2 the following night.

Last Ten: Duluth is 6-4-0 (.600) in the last ten games between the teams, outscoring the Hawks 27-20 over that stretch. North Dakota’s Cam Johnson was the goalie of record in each of those ten games. Duluth has won the last six meetings between these two storied programs.

Game News and Notes

Duluth sophomore forward Jade Miller (Minto, ND) is the only North Dakotan on the Bulldog roster (17 from Minnesota, two each from Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, and one each from Ohio and Wisconsin). Junior forward Peter Krieger (Oakdale, Minnesota) is a transfer from Alaska Fairbanks. Both head coaches this weekend are alumni of the University of North Dakota; Brad Berry (1983-86) and Scott Sandelin (1982-86) both played for UND under John “Gino” Gasparini. In 2015, Boston University defeated both Minnesota-Duluth (3-2) and North Dakota (5-3) in the NCAA tournament on their way to the championship game. The Terriers fell 4-3 to the Providence Friars, one win short of a national title.

Media Coverage
Friday’s opener will be shown live on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch available on My9. Saturday’s game will also be streamed live in high definition via NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on 96.1 FM and on stations across the UND Sports Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com

The Prediction
Both of these rosters are barely recognizable from the teams that have squared off over the past two seasons. There are quite a few new faces who will have to produce in key spots this weekend. I give the Fighting Hawks the slight experience edge over the Bulldogs, but it won’t be enough to earn more than a split on the road. North Dakota will snap its losing skid on Friday night, with Duluth coming back strong in Saturday’s rematch. UND 3-2, UMD 3-1.

As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!

Weekend Preview: North Dakota vs. Bemidji State

Bemidji State won the WCHA last season with a stellar 20-6-2 conference record. The Beavers also won both of their shootouts to best second-place Michigan Tech by a whopping ten points in the league standings. Despite all of that, BSU failed to advance to the NCAA tournament. And the reason is simple:

Tom Serratore’s squad won just twice in thirteen non-conference games (2-10-1).

Included in those ten losses were a pair of one-goal defeats (2-3, 4-5) at #1-ranked North Dakota in October 2016. BSU also tied and lost (1-1, 1-2) in a home-and-home series versus #1 Duluth two months later and suffered a one-goal loss against unranked St. Cloud State in the opening round of the North Star College Cup in January 2017.

In the WCHA playoffs, top-seeded Bemidji State dispatched Northern Michigan in three games in the opening round, earning home ice for the semifinal series against Bowling Green, who swept the hosts and knocked the Beavers out of the NCAA tournament picture.

This season, BSU has already won three non-conference games (3-2-1), including a 5-2 victory over #5-ranked Duluth in the season opener. Bemidji State skated to a 0-0 tie at Duluth the following night.

BSU has won six straight after tying three consecutive games, giving them a nine-game unbeaten streak. Granted, the competition has been suspect:

Dates – Team (Pairwise ranking): Friday score, Saturday score
December 1-2 – Bowling Green (17th): 1-3, 3-3
December 8-9 – Northern Michigan (28th): 1-1, 4-4
December 15-16 – Alaska Anchorage (60th): 5-1, 4-0
December 29-30 – Alabama Huntsville (53rd): 3-1, 4-1
January 5-6 – Lake Superior (58th): 3-0, 6-3

For North Dakota, three things are key:

#1: Scoring two goals is the recipe for success. UND has not been shut out this season but has scored exactly one goal on seven occasions (at Anchorage, vs. Minnesota, at Colorado College, at Denver, vs. Union, at St. Cloud State, and vs. Omaha. The Fighting Hawks went 0-6-1 in those games (compared to 11-0-4 when scoring two or more). Five of those offensive power outages occurred on Friday nights, and it is clear that Brad Berry’s squad has been more potent offensively in the second game of each weekend series this season.

Friday nights (5-4-2): 25 goals scored (2.27 goals scored/game)
Saturday nights (6-2-3): 39 goals scored (3.55 goals scored/game)

#2: On the injury front, North Dakota finally appears to be healthy after losing 46 man-games due to injury or illness in the first half. UND used a different lineup in each of their first twenty games, including 39 different line combinations at forward and ten different defensive pairings. Having some depth at forward will allow Brad Berry greater flexibility from game to game and lead to more competition for ice time.

#3: UND has two goaltenders who are more than capable of carrying the team. After senior Cam Johnson struggled in Friday’s home opener against Omaha (four goals allowed on 21 shots), freshman Peter Thome stopped all fifteen shots he faced in Saturday’s 7-0 rout. I would expect both netminders to see the ice in this weekend’s home-and-home series, with the slight edge to Johnson on Friday night, given his experience playing on the road.

Two players to watch for Bemidji State:

Senior goaltender Michael Bitzer, who was a finalist for the Mike Richter Award as the country’s top goalie a year ago, came back for his senior season. He started the year by going 5-5-4 with a .901 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average. Since December 9th, however, Bitzer is 6-0-1 with a .934 save percentage and a 1.41 goals-against average and two shutouts (one caveat: the strength of competition over that stretch has been detailed above).

Sophomore defenseman Zach Whitecloud (3-9-12) has been generating quite a bit of NHL interest. As an undrafted player, he may decide to head to the pro ranks after this season while the iron is still hot. When the 6-foot-2, 203-pound Whitecloud was in Europe playing for Team Canada in November, the Beavers allowed thirteen goals in a pair of home losses against #10 Minnesota State (the two WCHA rivals will meet again on February 23rd and 24th).

Out of conference, North Dakota had decent success (5-2-3, .650) against Alaska Anchorage, St. Lawrence, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Union but would like to notch two wins in its final non-conference series of the season. Against the other five leagues the NCHC is a sparkling 46-20-14 (.662) and could easily place five or even six teams in the NCAA tournament field.

The WCHA inter-conference record is 17-34-6 (.351), including a 3-14-4 (.238) record against the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Despite identical 11-6-5 records, Bemidji State has played the 56th most difficult schedule (according to KRACH) while North Dakota’s slate of games ranks as the 8th toughest in the country.

To see what these non-conference records mean in real terms, all eight NCHC squads (SCSU 1st, DU 6th, UND 8th, WMU 10th, UNO t-13th, UMD 15th, Miami 16th, and CC 21st) rank above Bemidji State (25th) in the Pairwise. If the season ended today, only Minnesota State (7th) would make the NCAA tournament out of the WCHA (Bowling Green is currently 17th).

If Brad Berry can lead the program to its sixteenth-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, North Dakota would be placed in the 2018 West Regional (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) as the host school. The 2018 NCAA Frozen Faceoff will take place at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Bemidji State Team Profile

Head Coach: Tom Serratore (17th season at BSU, 277-262-75 .512)

Pairwise Ranking: 25th of 60 teams
National Ranking: NR/NR

This Season: 11-6-5 (.614) overall, 8-4-4-2 WCHA (4th)
Last Season: 22-16-3 (.573) overall (missed NCAA tournament), 20-6-2-2 WCHA (1st)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.14 goals scored/game – 18th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.41 goals allowed/game – 13th of 60 teams
Power Play: 23.8% (20 of 84) – 10th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 90.3% (65 of 72) – 2nd of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F Kyle Bauman (8-16-24), Senior F Gerry Fitzgerald (6-17-23), Junior F Jay Dickman (11-6-17), Sophomore F Adam Brady (6-10-16), Sophomore D Zach Whitecloud (3-9-12), Junior D Justin Baudry (5-6-11), Senior G Michael Bitzer (11-5-5, 2.19 GAA, .911 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 66-28-12, .679)

Pairwise Ranking: 8th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #7/#8

This Season: 11-6-5 (.614) overall, 6-4-2-2 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 21-16-3 (.562) overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.91 goals scored/game – 29th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.18 goals allowed/game – 6th of 60 teams
Power Play: 19.8% (18 of 91) – 25th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 85.7% (78 of 91) – 11th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (6-9-15), Freshman F Grant Mismash (5-9-14), Junior F Shane Gersich (6-8-14), Junior F Rhett Gardner (5-9-14), Junior D Christian Wolanin (6-12-18 and a wicked slap shot for a shootout goal), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (5-8-13), Senior G Cam Johnson (7-4-2, 2.00 GAA, .909 SV%, 1 SO), Freshman G Peter Thome (4-2-3, 2.28 GAA, .913 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 22, 2016 (Grand Forks, ND) Shane Gersich netted three points and linemate Brock Boeser tallied two goals in a 5-4 victory as the Fighting Hawks bested Bemidji by one goal for the second consecutive night. Boeser scored all three goals in Friday’s opener.

Last Meeting in Bemidji: October 16, 2015. The Beavers put two goals past Matt Hrynkiw in the third period (after Cam Johnson left with an injury) to earn a 4-4 tie with #1-ranked North Dakota. One night later, UND freshman forward Brock Boeser netted his first career hat trick in a 5-2 UND at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Most Important Meeting: October 15, 2010 (Bemidji, MN). In the first game played at the BREC, North Dakota spotted BSU the opening goal less than two minutes into the contest and then steamrolled the Beavers 5-2. The Fighting Sioux outshot their fellow Green-and-Whiters 38-14.

Last Ten: North Dakota is 6-1-3 (.750) in the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring the Beavers 31-25 over that stretch of games. Eight of the last twelve tilts have been decided by a goal or less, with Bemidji State going 2-7-3 in those games.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 30-3-4 (.865), including a 21-2-2 (.880) record in games played in Grand Forks. Two of BSU’s three wins over North Dakota have come in the past six seasons (November 2011 and October 2014). Bemidji’s other victory over UND came in 1970.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota leads the nation in faceoff win percentage at 56.3, while the Beavers are 26th (50.4). When leading after one period of play, UND is 6-0-1 and BSU is 5-1-1. When leading after two, UND is 9-0-1 and BSU is 7-0-0. North Dakota junior Rhett Gardner played in his 100th career game last Friday, while classmate Shane Gersich enters the week with 99 career games played. Three other active Fighting Hawks (Austin Poganski 144, Johnny Simonson 121, and Trevor Olson 104) have already reached that milestone. With five more victories, North Dakota’s senior class (95-38-15) would become the thirteenth consecutive recruiting class to amass at least 100 career victories. Bemidji State has not appeared in the NCAA tournament since moving to the WCHA (seven seasons). In eleven seasons as members of the CHA, the Beavers made four NCAA tournament appearances, including a Frozen Four run in 2008-09.

The Prediction

This weekend will not be an easy one for North Dakota. Watch for the Beavers to jump out to an early lead on Friday, with UND needing to mount a late comeback to take the contest to overtime. The Fighting Hawks will showcase their depth and talent in Saturday’s rematch. 2-2 tie, UND 4-1.

Media Coverage

Friday’s opener can only be seen via webcast at WCHA.tv ($8.99 for a one-day pass), with Saturday’s rematch telecast live on Midco Sports Network and also streamed live in high definition via NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on 96.1 FM (The Fox) and on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!</em

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Omaha

As the second half of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference season begins, Omaha is in a decidedly unfamiliar position: last place in the conference. With only two victories in their first eight league games, the Mavericks are currently chasing every conference foe, and home ice in the first round of the playoffs seems unlikely.

Despite a dreadful 2-6-0-0 mark in conference play, #18 UNO is tied for 13th in the Pairwise Rankings thanks to a 7-2-1 non-conference record (against UMass-Lowell, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Northern Michigan, and Union).

On the plus side, Omaha is scoring 3.56 goals per game, the fifth-highest scoring offense in the country.

On the minus side, Omaha is allowing 3.78 goals per game, the second-worst scoring defense in the country.

Fans of #6 North Dakota (10-5-5 overall, 5-3-2-2 NCHC) will need to get used to a new face behind the Mavericks’ bench. Gone is Dean Blais, who spent sixteen combined years as an assistant and head coach at UND before becoming an associate head coach with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. After a short stint as head coach of the USHL’s Fargo Force, Blais rejoined the college hockey ranks as the head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

In eight total seasons as the Mavericks’ bench boss, Blais amassed an overall record of 145-131-30 (.523) and a CCHA/WCHA/NCHC record of 97-90-16 (.517), with one NCAA tournament appearance (2015).

After finishing in third place during the first two seasons of the NCHC, Dean Blais could only muster a pair of sixth-place finishes during his last two years behind the Omaha bench.

Omaha chose Mike Gabinet (Omaha ’04) as the successor to Dean Blais, and it has not been an easy transition. The first year for any new head coach is the most difficult – learning a new role, implementing a new system, and coaching someone else’s recruits – and this situation is made even more difficult by the fact that Blais was (is) a coaching legend. After three years as an assistant coach at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Gabinet (currently 36 years old, the youngest Division I hockey head coach in the country) became NAIT’s head coach in 2015-16, leading the Ooks to a 36-0 record and the ACAC championship. Last season, he returned to Omaha and served as the associate head coach under Dean Blais.

Things will not get easier for the Mavericks in the second half. UNO will play sixteen conference games in the second half, including trips to #4 Denver, #1 St. Cloud State, and #16 Duluth and home series against #12 Western Michigan and #6 North Dakota.

Omaha will also have to deal with the loss of junior forward Mason Morelli (4-10-14) for the season. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Morelli tore his ACL in a freak accident over the winter break.

The Mavericks are also thin on the blue line. Sophomore Dean Stewart (0-2-2) did not play last weekend against Union, and two junior defensemen – Jordan Klehr (1-7-8) and Jalen Schulz (1-2-3) – were both injured in the finale. That left Gabinet with only four healthy defensemen. Junior forward Riley Alferd (1-4-5) finished Saturday’s contest at defense and has been practicing at that position this week for the Mavs. Freshman blueliner Lawson McDonald (one career game played) could also see the ice this weekend in Grand Forks.

On the injury front, North Dakota finally appears to be healthy after losing 46 man-games due to injury or illness in the first half. UND used a different lineup in each of their first twenty games, including 39 different line combinations at forward and ten different defensive pairings.

One key returnee for Brad Berry will be sophomore forward Dixon Bowen, who missed seven games with a lower-body injury. Bowen is a key cog in UND’s penalty kill: with him in the lineup, North Dakota kills over ninety percent of opponent power play opportunities; without Bowen, the Fighting Hawks penalty kill is under eighty percent.

Out of conference, North Dakota had decent success (5-2-3, .650) against Alaska Anchorage, St. Lawrence, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Union. UND has only a home-and-home series with Bemidji State on the second-half schedule. The league as a whole has gone 43-19-12 (.662) in non-conference play and could easily place five teams in the NCAA tournament field.

In this weekend’s matchup, I see North Dakota’s team defense stifling Omaha’s high-powered offense. UND’s forward group is superior defensively to anything Mike Gabinet’s crew has seen (outside of Notre Dame), and the Fighting Hawks are solid on the blue line and between the pipes.

In nine wins, the Mavericks have scored 45 goals (5.0 goals scored/game). In eight losses, the Mavericks have only scored fifteen goals (1.88 goals scored/game). I see Omaha scoring two or three goals in each game this weekend, not four or five.

If Brad Berry can lead the program to its sixteenth-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, North Dakota would be placed in the 2018 West Regional (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) as the host school. The 2018 NCAA Frozen Faceoff will take place at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Omaha Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Gabinet (1st season at UNO, 9-8-1, .528)

Pairwise Ranking: 13th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #18/NR

This Season: 9-8-1 overall, 2-6-0-0 NCHC (8th)
Last Season: 16-16-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 9-13-2-0 NCHC (6th)

Team Offense: 3.56 goals scored/game – 5th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.78 goals allowed/game – 59th of 60 teams
Power Play: 24.7% (21 of 85) – 9th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 83.5% (66 of 79) – 16th of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F David Pope (11-12-23), Senior F Tyler Vesel (6-9-15), Junior F Fredrik Olofsson (4-11-15), Senior D Joel Messner (3-7-10), Junior D Jordan Klehr (1-7-8), Junior G Evan Weninger (7-6-0, 3.55 GAA, .882 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 65-27-12, .683)

Pairwise Ranking: 8th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #6/#6

This Season: 10-5-5 overall, 5-3-2-2 NCHC (2nd)
Last Season: 21-16-3 overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.80 goals scored/game – 35th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.20 goals allowed/game – 6th of 60 teams
Power Play: 19.3% (16 of 83) – 27th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 87.1% (74 of 85) – 8th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (6-7-13), Freshman F Grant Mismash (5-9-14), Junior F Shane Gersich (5-6-11), Junior F Rhett Gardner (4-7-11), Junior D Christian Wolanin (5-11-16 and a wicked slap shot for a shootout goal), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (4-8-12), Senior G Cam Johnson (7-3-2, 1.83 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers:

Last meeting: February 25, 2017 (Grand Forks, ND). One night after North Dakota forwards Tyson Jost and Brock Boeser combined for four goals in a 6-4 UND victory, Omaha netminder Evan Weninger pitched a 22-save shutout as the Mavericks salvaged a weekend split with a 3-0 win. The Fighting Hawks had won six in a row before this most recent meeting, including a 9-1/7-3 shellacking in Omaha seven weeks earlier.

Most memorable meeting: The game that UND fans will long remember is the outdoor game played at TD Ameritrade Park (Omaha, Nebraska) on February 9th, 2013. One day after winning a tight 2-1 contest indoors, North Dakota throttled UNO 5-2 on a sunny, melty afternoon. Mavericks netminder John Faulkner was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots in just ten minutes of game action. In my opinion, this hockey weekend solidified the notion that for UND hockey, it’s always a home game.

Last ten: North Dakota has won seven of the last ten contests between the schools, outscoring the Mavericks 44-25 over that stretch. Two of Omaha’s three most recent wins were overtime victories.

All-time: UND leads the all-time series 15-8-1 (.646) and has a slight edge (6-5-1, .542) in games played in Grand Forks.

Game News and Notes

UND leads the nation in faceoff efficiency (56.2 percent); Omaha is 14th at 52.0 percent. In 2015, both North Dakota and Omaha advanced to the Frozen Four but neither team made the championship game. UND fell to Boston University 5-3, while the Mavericks were upended 4-1 by eventual national champion Providence. Among active players, senior forward Austin Poganski leads UND with seven career points in twelve games against the Mavericks, while senior goaltender Cam Johnson has won six of his eight starts (2.25 GAA, .918 SV%).

Media Coverage

Friday’s opener will be telecast nationally on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch available on Midco Sports Network. Saturday’s game will also be streamed live in high definition via NCHC.tv.
UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on 96.1 FM and on stations across the UND Sports Radio Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

The Prediction

Four of North Dakota’s seven remaining conference series will be played at Ralph Engelstad Arena, and UND will need to take care of business at home to finish in the top half of the NCHC and secure an NCAA bid. The Fighting Hawks will earn a hard-fought sweep this weekend. UND 4-2, 4-3.

As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!