Game Preview – Page 10 – Sioux Sports Talk

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Alabama-Huntsville

Alabama-Hunstville was a Division II men’s hockey powerhouse from 1993 to 1998, amassing a record of 110-21-9 (.818) en route to two national championships and two other second-place finishes. The Chargers made the NCAA tournament twice in eleven seasons as a member of the CHA, but have struggled mightily over the past fourteen seasons, going 92-323-40 (.246) including a dreadful 47-169-21 (.243) mark as a member of the WCHA.

Eight years ago, the future of Division I hockey at Alabama-Huntsville appeared grim. After competing in college hockey’s top division from 1987-1992 and again from 1999-2010 as a member of the now-defunct CHA, the D-I Independent Chargers received news that they would be dropped down to a club program.

During this time of uncertainty, sophomore netminder Clarke Saunders decided to transfer to UND. Because the Chargers’ program appeared to be going under, Saunders was eligible to play at North Dakota right away rather than having to sit out a year (typically required by the NCAA).

According to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy, “community support and grassroots efforts… paid off after a December 2011 meeting between the Save UAH Hockey group and the school’s new president.” (Read the full story from Greg Wyshynski here.)

After a solid eleven-year run in the CHA (158-172-34 [.481], two regular season titles, two league playoff titles, and two NCAA tournament appearances), Alabama-Huntsville has struggled to find its footing in the WCHA (no titles or NCAA tourney bids). Head coach Mike Corbett’s best year behind the UAH bench was in 2017-18, when he led the Chargers to an overall record of 12-23-2. Since joining the WCHA in 2013, Corbett’s squad has suffered twenty or more losses each season, and this year’s group (1-14-3) is well on its way to that dubious distinction yet again.

And there is more troubling news on the horizon for the Chargers. Seven WCHA schools are planning to form a new conference beginning with the 2021-22 season, shrinking the geographical footprint down to just three states – Minnesota (Bemidji State and Minnesota State), Michigan (Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, and Northern Michigan), and Ohio (Bowling Green) – and leaving Alaska (Fairbanks), Alaska Anchorage, and Alabama-Huntsville behind. UAH has since submitted a letter of withdrawal to the WCHA and plans to leave the league after the 2020-21 season.

The last two seasons have been far from milestone campaigns for Brad Berry’s squad, as his teams sputtered to records of 17-13-10 (.550) and 18-17-2 (.514). To put that in perspective, those two teams combined for 35 victories over two seasons, just one more than the 2015-16 team (34-6-4) collected in one season on their way to the program’s eighth national title. Prior to the 2017-2018 season, North Dakota had made fifteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, the second-longest streak of all time (Michigan appeared in 22 straight NCAA tourneys from 1991 to 2012). Denver now boasts the nation’s longest active streak with twelve consecutive tourney bids (2008-2019).

Last season’s losses at Canisius College in early January were certainly instrumental in keeping North Dakota out of the national tournament, but other inter-conference losses and ties last year didn’t help, either. UND went just 6-4-1 in out-of-conference games in 2018-19 and missed the NCAAs for the second consecutive season after appearing in fifteen consecutive tourneys (2003-2017). Many fans of the Green and White are looking at this weekend’s home series against Alabama-Huntsville as this year’s version of the Canisius games, hoping against hope that North Dakota doesn’t look past the Chargers and suffer a loss or two on home ice. The difference this season is that UND has put together such an impressive first half that an unexpected loss would not be as devastating as some might guess.

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

2015-2016: 9-1-2 (.833) ~ National Champions
2016-2017: 7-2-2 (.727) ~ NCAA West Regional Semifinalist
2017-2018: 6-2-4 (.677) ~ missed NCAA tournament
2018-2019: 6-4-1 (.591) ~ missed NCAA tournament
2019-2020: 7-1-1 (.833)

This weekend’s games will conclude UND’s non-conference schedule for the season; after this weekend, here are North Dakota’s remaining NCHC games in the race for the Penrose Cup:

January 10-11: vs. Nebraska-Omaha
January 17-18: at Miami
January 24-25: at #10 Minnesota-Duluth
Jan. 31-Feb. 1: vs. Colorado College
February 7-8: No games scheduled
February 14-15: vs. #7 Denver
February 21-22: at St. Cloud State
February 28-29: vs. #19 Western Michigan
March 6-7: at Nebraska Omaha

So far this season, several returning players have seen a noticeable uptick in their production and in their overall play on the ice, most notably junior forward Collin Adams (5-8-13), senior forward Cole Smith (6-2-8), senior forward Dixon Bowen (6-1-7), and junior defenseman Matt Kiersted (2-10-12). Those four players have combined for 40 points in 68 games played (0.59 points/game) after amassing 95 points in 324 games played (0.29 points/game) prior to this year.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through seventeen games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (21.9) and are second only to Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 59.1%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 58.4%

By comparison, the Chargers are last in the nation in both Corsi (38.7%) and Fenwick (36.9%), averaging only 20.8 shots on goal per game (North Dakota is averaging 30.2/game) while allowing 35.3 shots on goal against/contest.

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should have already noticed that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on a staggering 13.8 percent of their shots on goal, good for second-best in the country and best among teams which have played more than twelve games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation). Alabama-Huntsville’s shooting percentage this season weighs in at 8.3 percent (42nd in the country).

And here’s another way to highlight North Dakota’s scoring prowess: UND has scored five or more goals in six of its seventeen games this season; in 2018-19, the Fighting Hawks had five such games all year.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are now sitting at 53.3 percent on the season (10th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Alabama-Huntsville is the second-worst team in the country with a faceoff win rate of just 42.3 percent. UND’s best faceoff man this season is Jasper Weatherby (59.4 percent).

After sputtering on the power play to open the season with just two power play goals on their first 25 attempts (8.0 percent), UND has scored eleven power play goals over its past ten games (11 for 42, 26.2 percent) and now faces a dreadful Alabama-Huntsville penalty kill that allowed nineteen power play goals in the first half of this season (53 of 72, 73.6%).

On the other side of the specialty teams ledger, UND has only allowed six power play goals all season long (54 of 60, 90.0%) and currently boasts the seventh-best penalty kill unit in men’s Division I hockey this season.

North Dakota is 1st in the country in scoring offense (4.18 goals scored/game) and 3rd in the country in scoring defense (1.59 goals allowed/game), and that leads to the country’s best goal differential (+44). Incidentally, UND’s pre-break goal differential is its best since the 1986-87 Hrkac Circus team (126-71; +55).

To put that in perspective: In 2018-2019, North Dakota outscored opponents 93-90 over 37 games (18-17-2). This season, UND (14-1-2) has throttled the opposition by a margin of 71-27 over the first 17 games of the campaign. By comparison, Alabama-Huntsville has been outscored 77-31 this year for a goal differential of minus-46.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has put up this season’s stellar results while facing the toughest schedule in the country; Alabama-Huntsville’s slate of games ranks as the 36th-most difficult out of sixty men’s Division I hockey programs.

On the injury front, North Dakota junior defenseman Gabe Bast (upper body injury; 2-1-3 in four official games played) returned to the lineup in exhibition action last Saturday night against the U.S. Under-18 Team; Bast had not played since suffering an upper-body injury on October 19th at Minnesota State. Freshman forward Harrison Blaisdell (2-6-8), junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi (7-17-24), and senior defenseman Colton Poolman (2-8-10) all missed last week’s contest due to illness but are expected to be on the ice this weekend.

Two other North Dakota players will be out of the lineup for Friday’s opener against the Chargers. Sophomore defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker (3-11-14) is playing in the World Juniors for Team Canada, which advanced to Saturday’s semifinal matchup against Finland. Freshman forward Shane Pinto (8-6-14) saw his World Junior campaign with Team USA come to an end in the quarterfinals. Pinto may be able to make it back to Grand Forks in time for Saturday’s game.

Alabama-Huntsville has been able to keep things close in the first period this season (14 goals for, 16 goals against), but the Chargers have been absolutely destroyed in the second period (8 gf, 30 ga) and third period (9 gf, 31 ga). UAH has only scored more than two goals on four occasions this season, with one lone victory (a 4-2 home win against Northern Michigan). UND has scored more than two goals twelve times this year, with only one loss (1-2 at Minnesota State), a 13-game unbeaten streak (12-0-1), and a perfect home record (9-0-0).

North Dakota is at the top of the league standings after stellar results (7-0-1-1) in its first eight conference games:

November 8-9 vs. Miami: 7-1 win, 5-4 win
November 15-16 at #2 Denver: 1-1 tie (3×3 win), 4-1 win
November 22-23 vs. St. Cloud State: 4-2 win, 2-1 win (OT)
December 6-7 at #17 Western Michigan: 1-0 win (OT), 8-2 win

Alabama-Huntsville Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Corbett (7th season at UAH, 47-169-21, .243)

National Rankings: NR/NR

This Season: 1-14-3 overall, 1-10-3-1 WCHA (10th of 10 teams)
Last Season: 8-28-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 8-18-2-2 WCHA (8th)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 1.72 goals scored/game – 57th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 4.28 goals allowed/game – 59th of 60 teams
Power Play: 6.4% (5 of 78) – 59th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 73.6% (53 of 72) – 57th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Christian Rajic (4-6-10), Freshman F Josh Latta (3-7-10), Sophomore F Jack Jeffers (4-4-8), Sophomore F Tyr Thompson (4-2-6), Junior F Connor Wood (2-3-5), Junior F Connor Merkley (2-3-5), Freshman D Tanner Hickey (2-3-5), Senior F Connor James (0-3-3), Junior G Mark Sinclair (1-10-3, 3.91 GAA, .892 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (North Dakota ’02, 5th season at UND; 104-53-21, .643)

National Rankings: #1/#1

This Season: 14-1-2 overall, 7-0-1-1 NCHC (1st of 8 teams)
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 4.18 goals scored/game – 1st of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.59 goals allowed/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Power Play: 19.4% (13 of 67) – 24th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 90.0% (54 of 60) – 7th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan “#HobeyGuchi” Kawaguchi (7-17-24), Senior F Westin Michaud (7-8-15), Junior F Collin Adams (5-8-13), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-6-8), Freshman F Shane Pinto (8-6-14), Senior Junior F Grant Mismash (3-7-10), Senior F Cole Smith (6-2-8), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (3-11-14), Senior D Colton Poolman (2-8-10), Junior D Matt Kiersted (2-10-12), Sophomore D Jonny Tychonick (3-4-7 in 12 games played), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (14-1-2, 1.56 GAA, .927 SV%, 2 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: January 2, 2016 (Grand Forks, ND). UND blitzed Alabama-Huntsville from the outset, scoring 25 seconds into the game (Paul LaDue) and outshooting UAH 19-5 in the first period. However, a Richard Buri goal with just 13 seconds remaining in the opening frame tied the game and gave the visitors hope headed in to the locker room. Drake Caggiula scored shorthanded midway through the second period, and the home team added two goals in the final two minutes of the contest (Bryn Chyzyk, Tucker Poolman) to put the game away. One night earlier (on New Year’s Day), North Dakota outshot the Chargers 39-19 but could manage only a second-period Bryn Chyzyk power play goal in a 1-0 victory (Cam Johnson earned the shutout for UND).

In a similar situation to this year, North Dakota forwards Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz both missed the series due to their participation in the World Junior Tournament.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: October 14, 1989 (Grand Forks, ND). The Fighting Sioux rolled 11-5 over the visiting Chargers to complete the two-game home sweep. UND won Friday’s opener 12-6 behind Lee Davidson’s goal six seconds into the contest, the fastest opening goal in program history. Current UND associate head coach Dane Jackson notched a pair of assists.

All-Time Series: In the short history between the schools, UND has won all four games (noted above). The teams have never met in the Rocket City.

Game News and Notes

Huntsville, Alabama is located just 110 miles south of Nashville, Tennessee, the site of next season’s Hall of Fame Game between North Dakota and Penn State. UAH and Lake Superior State are playing a destination game next month; LSSU will host Alabama-Huntsville for a WCHA contest on February 15th at the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (also a prominent city in the amazing “Ticket To Ride” game). UND’s 1999-2000 national championship team will be honored at a special 20th anniversary celebration on Saturday night. Chargers head coach Mike Corbett played for Denver from 1993-97, scoring two goals and adding eleven assists in 77 career games played. UND junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi is third in the country with 24 points and sixth in the country with 17 assists. #HobeyGuchi

Broadcast Information

Both games of this weekend’s series will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network and also streamed on 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).

Social Media

Keep up with the action live during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter. Fans can also read the action via Brad Schlossman’s live chat on the Grand Forks Herald website.

Must-follow Twitter accounts for this weekend: @uahhockey (official men’s hockey team account), @weloveuahhockey (an independent website called UAHHockey.com), @UAHChargers (official Department of Athletics feed), and @GameDayUAH (game day updates).

The Prediction

Let’s get this out of the way first: UND and Alabama-Huntsville are polar opposites of one another – as good as the Fighting Hawks were over the first three months of the season, the Chargers were bad. Dakota has outscored opponents 40-12 in nine games at the Ralph this season, and that trend will continue this weekend. I see the first game as a close contest, with the home squad throttling UAH in the recap. UND 2-1, 7-2.

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 Western Michigan

North Dakota has only lost three times in twelve games at Western Michigan in the short history of the series, but those losses came in UND’s last two trips to Kalamazoo. Despite the narrative that Lawson Ice Arena is the most difficult place to play in the NCHC, the Broncos have gone just 15-9-1 (.620) at home since the beginning of the 2018-2019 season. Over that same stretch of time, the Fighting Hawks have put together a record of 21-6-1 (.768) at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

UND will only have two more non-conference games this season: a home series vs. unranked Alabama Huntsville on January 3rd and 4th, 2020.

So far this season, several returning players have seen a noticeable uptick in their production and in their overall play on the ice, most notably junior forward Collin Adams (5-8-13), senior forward Cole Smith (6-2-8), senior forward Dixon Bowen (5-1-6), and junior defenseman Matt Kiersted (1-9-10). Those four players have combined for 37 points in 60 games played (0.62 points/game) after amassing 95 points in 324 games played (0.29 points/game) prior to this year.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through fifteen games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (20.1) and are second only to Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 60.0%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 59.9%

By comparison, Western Michigan is 25th in both Corsi (50.7%) and Fenwick (52.3%), averaging an astounding 33.4 shots on goal per game (North Dakota is averaging 29.9/game) but allowing 29.8 shots on goal against/contest.

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should have already noticed that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on a staggering 13.8 percent of their shots on goal, good for third-best in the country and best among teams which have played more than nine games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation). Western Michigan’s shooting percentage this season weighs in at 9.4 percent (31st in the country).

And here’s another way to highlight North Dakota’s scoring prowess: UND has scored five or more goals in five of its fifteen games this season; in 2018-19, the Fighting Hawks had five such games all year.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks have improved on draws over the past four weekends and are now sitting at 54.1 percent on the season (10th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Western Michigan is leading the nation this year with a faceoff win rate of 56.4 percent, with junior forward Paul Washe leading the country at 67.4 percent. UND’s best faceoff men are Jasper Weatherby (60.3), Shane Pinto (58.6), and Colin Adams (55.7).

After sputtering on the power play to open the season with just two power play goals on their first 25 attempts (8.0 percent), UND has scored eight power play goals over its past eight games (8 for 32, 25.0 percent) and now faces a mediocre Western Michigan penalty kill that has already allowed thirteen power play goals this year (53 of 66, 80.3%).

By comparison, UND has only allowed five power play goals all season long (47 of 52, 90.4%) and currently boasts the seventh-best penalty kill unit in men’s Division I hockey this season.

North Dakota is 4th in the country in scoring offense (4.13 goals scored/game) and 3rd in the country in scoring defense (1.67 goals allowed/game), and that leads to the country’s best goal differential (+37).

To put that in perspective: In 2018-2019, North Dakota outscored opponents 93-90 over 37 games (18-17-2). This season, UND (12-1-2) has throttled the opposition by a margin of 62-25 over the first 15 games of the campaign. By comparison, Western Michigan has outscored opponents 44-39 this year for a goal differential of plus-five.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has put up this season’s stellar results while facing the second-toughest schedule in the country; Western Michigan’s slate of games ranks as the eighth-most difficult out of sixty men’s Division I hockey programs.

On the injury front, North Dakota junior defenseman Gabe Bast (upper body injury; 2-1-3 in four games played) is close to returning to the lineup; however, head coach Brad Berry is electing to keep him out of this weekend’s games and bring Bast back in early January.

For Western Michigan, all four NHL draft picks on the roster have missed time this season due to injury, led by senior forward Wade Allison (PHI 2nd round pick; seven games missed). Sophomore defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (BUF 2nd) and freshman defenseman Ronnie Attard (PHI 4th) have missed four games each, and senior forward Hugh McGing (STL 5th) has missed one. Key forward contributors Josh Passolt, Drew Worrad, and Cole Gallant have each missed four contests, while senior defenseman Cam Lee has only been able to suit up for four games. Thankfully for Andy Murray, his Broncos had last weekend off and appear to be getting healthier.

So far this season, Western Michigan has played three NCHC series, going 3-2-1-1 over those six games:

November 1-2 at Colorado College: 6-3 win, 4-4 tie (shootout win)
November 15-16 vs. #19 Omaha: 3-2 win, 3-6 loss
November 22-23 at #4 Denver: 2-1 win, 1-6 loss

North Dakota is at the top of the league standings after stellar results (5-0-1-1) in its first six conference games:

November 8-9 vs. Miami: 7-1 win, 5-4 win
November 15-16 at #2 Denver: 1-1 tie (3×3 win), 4-1 win
November 22-23 vs. St. Cloud State: 4-2 win, 2-1 win (OT)

#17 Western Michigan will be UND’s third ranked opponent of the season. Earlier this year, the Fighting Hawks faced Minnesota State and Denver; both were ranked #2 in the country at the time of the games.

In a strange scheduling oddity, the Broncos faced Bowling Green in three consecutive contests, defeating the Falcons 5-2 in the IceBreaker on October 12th before losing a home-and-home non-conference series (1-2, 1-2) the following weekend.

This weekend’s series will mark the fifth ranked opponent for WMU, and the new year won’t get any easier: the Broncos will play a home-and-home series with #9 Notre Dame before traveling to face #14 Minnesota Duluth over the first two weekends in January.

Since North Dakota swept the Broncos at Lawson Ice Arena on the way to the program’s eighth national title in 2016, the Fighting Hawks are just 1-3 at Western Michigan (WMU swept in February 2017, and the teams split in February 2019).

Last weekend, Western Michigan was idle while North Dakota swept the Minnesota Golden Gophers 9-3 and 3-2 in a virtual home series at 3M Arena at Mariucci (Minneapolis, Minnesota).

Western Michigan Team Profile

Head Coach: Andy Murray (9th season at WMU, 146-136-37, .516)

National Rankings: #17/RV (19th)

This Season: 7-5-2 overall, 3-2-1-1 NCHC (3rd of 8 teams)
Last Season: 21-15-1 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 13-10-1-1 NCHC (3rd)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.14 goals scored/game – 18th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.79 goals allowed/game –18th of 60 teams
Power Play: 15.8% (9 of 57) – 42nd of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 80.3% (53 of 66) – 36th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Paul Washe (7-7-14), Junior F Ethan Frank (4-8-12), Senior F Hugh McGing (2-9-11), Sophomore F Drew Worrad (5-4-9 in 10 games played), Senior F Dawson DiPietro (4-5-9), Junior F Josh Passolt (1-6-7 in 10 gp), Senior F Wade Allison (1-2-3 in 7 gp), Sophomore D Michael Joyaux (0-7-7), Senior D Luke Bafia (0-6-6), Freshman D Ronnie Attard (4-1-5 in 10 gp), Sophomore D Mattias Samuelsson (1-3-4 in 10 gp), Freshman G Brandon Bussi (7-5-2, 2.68 GAA, .909 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (North Dakota ’02, 5th season at UND; 102-53-21, .639)

National Rankings: #3/#3
This Season: 12-1-2 overall, 5-0-1-1 NCHC (1st of 8 teams)
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 4.13 goals scored/game – 4th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.67 goals allowed/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Power Play: 17.5% (10 of 57) – 36th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 90.4% (47 of 52) – 7th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan “#KawaHobey” Kawaguchi (7-15-22), Senior F Westin Michaud (6-6-12), Junior F Collin Adams (5-8-13), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-6-8), Freshman F Shane Pinto (6-5-11), Senior Junior F Grant Mismash (3-7-10), Senior F Cole Smith (6-2-8), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (3-11-14), Senior D Colton Poolman (2-8-10), Junior D Matt Kiersted (1-9-10), Sophomore D Jonny Tychonick (3-4-7 in 10 games played), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (12-1-2, 1.64 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: February 16, 2019 (Kalamazoo, MI). One night after blitzing #9 Western Michigan at Lawson Ice Arena, the Fighting Hawks fell just short in the rematch. The Broncos had a 3-0 lead midway through the final frame before North Dakota’s Gavin Hain and Jordan Kawaguchi brought their team back to within one. When WMU’s Cam Lee was called for kneeing at the 16:11 mark, things were set up perfectly for the road squad to complete the comeback. However, a shorthanded tally by Hugh McGing forty seconds later all but sealed the deal in a 4-2 Western Michigan victory. More devastating for the North Dakota program, freshman netminder Adam Scheel was injured in the aftermath of that shorthanded goal and saw his season come to an end.

Most Important Meeting: March 24, 2012 (St. Paul, MN). North Dakota upended Western Michigan 3-1 in the NCAA West Regional semifinal. Brock Nelson had two points, including an empty net goal with 25 seconds remaining that sent UND to the regional finals against Minnesota. Aaron Dell made 24 saves for the Green and White. The Broncos, who have played at the Division I level since 1975-76, have six NCAA tournament appearances.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Saturday, March 22, 2014 (Minneapolis, MN). North Dakota faced a must-win situation in the 3rd place game at the inaugural NCHC Frozen Faceoff, and did not disappoint the partisan crowd. The Green and White rolled to a 5-0 victory behind two first-period goals from Conner Gaarder. UND netminder Zane Gothberg made 25 saves for the shutout, and Dave Hakstol’s crew played the waiting game for several more hours before discovering that they had indeed made the NCAA tournament for the twelfth consecutive season.

All-Time Series: In the short history between the schools, UND has won 19 of the 26 games (including nine of the twelve games played in Kalamazoo). The Broncos have turned the tables recently, winning six of the past nine contests. Before the 2016-17 season in which Western Michigan won three of the four meetings, WMU’s lone victory over North Dakota was a 2-1 road win on March 8th, 2014. The teams first met in 1997.

Last Ten: Western Michigan has won six of the last ten tilts between the teams despite the fact that only four of those games were played in Kalamazoo. Over that stretch, the Broncos have outscored UND 28-27.

Game News and Notes

Western Michigan moved up to the Division I ranks beginning with the 1975-76 season and has advanced to the NCAA tournament six times. The Broncos have made the NCAA tourney once (2017) in their first six seasons in the NCHC after advancing to the national tournament twice (2011, 2012) in the last three seasons in the now-defunct CCHA. WMU head coach Andy Murray’s son Brady Murray played two seasons at North Dakota (2003-05) and finished with a scoring line of 27-39-66 in 63 career games. Brady spent most of his professional hockey career in the Swiss-A league (Rapperswil-Jona and Lugano, among other teams) but did appear in four NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings in 2007-08, scoring one goal. In the 2019-2020 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Preseason Media Poll, Western Michigan was picked to finish in third place behind Minnesota Duluth and Denver, while UND was tabbed for fourth place. North Dakota junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi is third in the country with 22 points and fourth in the country with 15 assists. #HobeyGuchi

Broadcast Information

Both games of this weekend’s series will be streamed on 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).

Social Media

On A Personal Note

I have participated in Movember for the past seven years and have proudly raised over $14,000 to help change the face of men’s health. Will you join me and support the cause? Please visit my Movember fundraising page to learn more and to donate. Thank you!

The Prediction

Let’s get this out of the way first: North Dakota has proven itself to be the better, healthier, and more complete team to this point of the season. UND is deep enough up front that having last line change may not matter for Andy Murray, particularly with the players that will not be in the lineup for the Broncos. A split on the road (resulting in a first-half record of 13-2-2) would be a fine result, and that’s the most likely outcome. I keep saying that there’s something about this team, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Fighting Hawks took more than three of six possible league points this weekend. UND 5-2, 2-2 tie.

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

Quite simply, North Dakota vs. Minnesota is a hockey rivalry unlike any other.

#3 North Dakota (10-1-2) is three years removed from its eighth national championship but missed the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons after making fifteen straight appearances (2003-2017).

Minnesota (5-6-3) has only advanced to the NCAAs five times in the last eleven seasons and is stuck on five national titles, the most recent in 2002 and 2003.

More to the point…

The Golden Gophers played from 1947-1973 without a title (26 seasons).

Head coach Herb Brooks led Minnesota to three NCAA championships in a six year stretch (1974, 1976, and 1979).

The Golden Gophers then played from 1979-2001 without a title (22 seasons).

Head coach Don Lucia won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003.

This year will mark the seventeenth anniversary of Minnesota’s most recent NCAA crown.

North Dakota has been relevant in every decade, with head coaches Bob May, Barry Thorndycraft, John “Gino” Gasparini, Dean Blais, and Brad Berry all lifting college hockey’s most coveted trophy.

Here is a closer look at the thirteen combined national titles won by these two storied programs.

Despite only nine tournament victories since Minnesota’s last title (UND has 22 in that same span), Gophers’ head coach Don Lucia was inexplicably given a two-year extension that was supposed to keep him behind the bench through the 2018-19 campaign. After the Gophers sputtered to a 19-17-2 record two seasons ago. Lucia was replaced by former St. Cloud State bench boss Bob Motzko.

Motzko, who guided St. Cloud State to the national tournament eight times in his thirteen seasons behind the SCSU bench, only managed an overall NCAA tourney record of 5-8 and one Frozen Four appearance.

Thankfully for fans of college hockey’s greatest matchup, this week’s game marks the fourth of seven consecutive seasons in which the teams are guaranteed to meet; after this season, there are three year’s remaining on the schedule agreement:

2020-21: Ralph Engelstad Arena (Grand Forks, North Dakota)
2021-22: 3M Arena at Mariucci (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
2022-23: Ralph Engelstad Arena (Grand Forks, North Dakota)

Minnesota can no longer lay claim to having a roster made up exclusively of the State of Hockey’s “Pride On Ice”, with players hailing from Eagle River (Wisconsin), Fenton (Michigan), Scottsdale (Arizona), Irvine (California), Newport Beach (California), Mississauga (Ontario), Kindersley (Saskatchewan), and Naantali (Finland).

The last two seasons have been far from milestone campaigns for Brad Berry’s squad, as his teams sputtered to records of 17-13-10 (.550) and 18-17-2 (.514). To put that in perspective, those two teams combined for 35 victories over two seasons, just one more than the 2015-16 team collected in one season on their way to the program’s eighth national title. Prior to the 2017-2018 season, North Dakota had made fifteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, the second-longest streak of all time (Michigan appeared in 22 straight NCAA tourneys from 1991 to 2012). Denver now boasts the nation’s longest active streak with twelve consecutive tourney bids (2008-2019).

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

After this week’s series at Minnesota, UND will only have two more non-conference games this season: a home series vs. unranked Alabama Huntsville on January 3rd and 4th, 2020.

For UND, the goal is simple: return to national prominence after a two-year absence from the national tournament. There is reason for optimism in Grand Forks, with an experienced d-corps, plenty of returning grit and skill, and a crop of freshmen with a tremendous amount of upside. So far this season, several returning players have seen a noticeable uptick in their production and in their overall play on the ice, most notably junior forward Collin Adams (5-6-11), senior forward Cole Smith (5-2-7), senior forward Dixon Bowen (4-1-5), and junior defenseman Matt Kiersted (1-8-9). Those four players have combined for 32 points in 52 games played (0.62 points/game) after amassing 95 points in 324 games played (0.29 points/game) prior to this year.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through thirteen games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (19.7) and are second only to Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 60.4%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 60.5%

By comparison, Minnesota is 43rd in the country in Corsi (46.7%) and 46th in the country in Fenwick (46.6%) and is averaging 28.3 shots on goal per game (North Dakota is averaging 30.0/game).

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should have already noticed that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on an astounding 12.8 percent of their shots on goal, good for third-best in the country and best among teams which have played more than eight games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation). Minnesota’s shooting percentage this season weighs in at 9.1 percent (34th in the country).

And here’s another way to highlight North Dakota’s scoring prowess: UND has scored four goals or more in eight of its thirteen games this season; in 2018-19, the Fighting Hawks had twelve such games all year.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks have improved on draws over the past four weekends and are now sitting at 54.2 percent on the season (8th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Minnesota has won 47.3 percent of its faceoffs through fourteen games (49th in the country).

After sputtering on the power play to open the season with just two power play goals on their first 25 attempts (8.0 percent), UND has scored seven power play goals over its past six games (7 for 26, 26.9 percent) and now faces a mediocre Minnesota penalty kill that has already allowed eight power play goals (39 of 47, 83.0%).

By comparison, UND has only allowed three power play goals all season long (42 of 45, 93.3%) and currently boasts the fourth-best penalty kill unit in men’s Division I hockey this season.

North Dakota is 5th in the country in scoring offense (3.85 goals scored/game) and 3rd in the country in scoring defense (1.54 goals allowed/game), and that leads to the country’s second-best goal differential (+30). Through the first thirteen games of the season, the Fighting Hawks are outscoring opponents 50-20. Minnesota has been outscored 36-44 this year for a goal differential of minus-eight.

After suffering through an embarrassing home sweep at the hands of #8 Penn State (2-8, 3-6), Minnesota played much better at home last weekend, defeating #16 Wisconsin 4-1 on Friday night before battling to a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s rematch.

Minnesota Team Profile

Head Coach: Bob Motzko (2nd season at Minnesota, 23-22-7, .510)

National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 5-6-3 overall, 2-3-3-2 Big Ten (4th of 7 teams)
Last Season: 18-16-4 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 11-10-3-0 Big Ten (3rd of 7 teams)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.57 goals scored/game – 33rd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.14 goals allowed/game – 42nd of 60 teams
Power Play: 15.9% (7 of 44) – 39th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 83.0% (39 of 47) – 26th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Brandon McManus (4-6-10), Sophomore F Sampo Ranta (5-4-9), Sophomore F Sammy Walker (5-3-8), Junior F Scott Reedy (6-1-7), Freshman F Ben Meyers (1-6-7), Freshman D Jackson LaCombe (0-7-7), Freshman D Matt Staudacher (1-3-4), Senior D Tyler Nanne (1-3-4), Freshman G Jared Moe (3-3-1, 2.65 GAA, .912 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (North Dakota ’02, 5th season at UND; 100-53-21, .635)

National Rankings: #3/#3
This Season: 10-1-2 overall, 5-0-1-1 NCHC (1st of 8 teams)
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.85 goals scored/game – 5th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.54 goals allowed/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Power Play: 17.6% (9 of 51) – 32nd of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 93.3% (42 of 45) – 4th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (4-14-18), Senior F Westin Michaud (6-5-11), Junior F Collin Adams (5-6-11), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-5-7), Freshman F Shane Pinto (4-4-8), Senior F Dixon Bowen (4-1-5), Junior F Grant Mismash (2-4-6), Senior F Cole Smith (5-2-7), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (2-8-10), Senior D Colton Poolman (1-7-8), Junior D Matt Kiersted (1-8-9), Sophomore D Jonny Tychonick (3-2-5 in 8 games played), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (10-1-2, 1.52 GAA, .922 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last meeting: October 27, 2018 (Las Vegas, NV). The “Duel in the Desert” left #5 Minnesota feeling high and dry as #17 North Dakota played the Gophers even through a scoreless opening period before outshooting their guests 25-12 over the final forty minutes of play. UND’s Colton Poolman scored two goals for the Fighting Hawks, while fellow blueliner Hayden Shaw assisted on all three goals in a 3-1 North Dakota victory. Attendance was recorded as 412 Gopher fans and 7000 fans of the Green and White.

Last meeting in Minneapolis: November 5, 2016. The Fighting Hawks outshot the homestanding Gophers 33-20 but could not solve netminder Eric Schierhorn and fell by a final of 2-0. Friday’s opener featured ten goals, with Minnesota rallying four times to tie the score (including an extra-attacker goal by Tommy Novak with 77 seconds remaining in regulation).

Most important meeting: March 24, 1979 (Detroit, MI). North Dakota and Minnesota met to decide the national championship, and the Gophers prevailed, 4-3. Neal Broten scored the game-winning goal for the U of M, and Steve Janaszak was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

All-time: Minnesota leads the all-time series by an ten-game margin, 142-132-15 (.517), including a 76-51-7 (.593) advantage in games played in Minneapolis. 8 > 5. The teams first met in 1948.

Last ten: The Gophers have gone 5-3-2 in the last ten meetings between the schools, outscoring UND 29-27 in those games.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi is eighth in the country with 18 points and fourth in the country with 14 assists. UND head coach Brad Berry picked up his 99th and 100th head coaching win last weekend in a home sweep of St. Cloud State. In an effort to alleviate parking concerns, Minnesota fans are asked to park in St. Paul and walk to 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Broadcast Information

Both games (Thursday and Friday) will be broadcast live on FOX Sports North and streamed on TSN.ca (Canada) and foxsportsgo.com (United States). 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).

Social Media

On A Personal Note

The Prediction

Let’s get this out of the way first: North Dakota has proven itself to be the better, more complete team to this point of the season. UND is deep enough up front that having last line change may not matter for Bob Motzko. However, Minnesota still has two advantages: experience on the wider sheet of ice ~~and a raucous home crowd~~. Well, make that one advantage. The easiest thing to do would be to call both games 4-2 in favor of North Dakota, but I have a feeling that one game will be closer than that. UND 3-2, 4-1.

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. St. Cloud State

St. Cloud State entered the 2019 NCAA tournament as the #1 overall seed and with an overall record of 30-5-3. The Huskies quickly ran into a buzzkill – literally – as the swarming Yellow Jackets of #19 American International shocked the college hockey world and dispatched SCSU by a final score of 2-1. That defeat would be just the sixth loss for Brett Larson’s crew in his first season behind the St. Cloud State bench.

Fast forward eight months, and the Huskies have already suffered four defeats this season (2-4-4).

SCSU suffered key graduation losses (forwards Patrick Newell, Robby Jackson, and Jacob Benson; defensemen Jimmy Schuldt and Jon Lizotte) along with two forwards who left early for the pro ranks (Blake Lizotte and Ryan Poehling). Those seven players accounted for 77 goals and 201 points last season, and the Huskies lost five of their top six scorers during the offseason. Remarkably, St. Cloud State still returned 79 goals and 228 points from last year’s roster, so the cupboard is definitely not bare.

Defenseman Jack Ahcan (6-28-34) is the top returning scorer for Brett Larson’s squad, and he has contributed two goals and eight points through his first ten games. The forward duo of sophomore Sam Hentges (6-10-16) and junior Easton Brodzinski (5-6-11) have led the charge up front for SCSU. Hentges amassed a scoring line of 10-10-20 during his freshman campaign, while Brodzinski went for 14-10-24 as a freshman and 16-13-29 last season.

The Huskies have not been good defensively this season, ranking in the bottom ten in the country in goals allowed per game (3.70) and penalty kill success (67.6 percent). The shorthanded statistic is abysmal, and that starts with goaltending. Junior David Hrenak has not come into form yet this season after two stellar campaigns between the pipes:

2017-2018: 13-7-2, 2.03 goals-against average, .922 save percentage, three shutouts
2018-2019: 23-5-2, 2.18 goals-against average, .906 save percentage, four shutouts
2019-2020: 2-4-4, 3.39 goals-against average, .876 save percentage, zero shutouts

Hrenak’s only two victories this season have come against Northeastern (17 saves, one goal allowed) and at Northern Michigan (18 saves, four goals allowed). In his other eight games, he has allowed 4, 2, 3, 5, 5, 3, 3, and 3 goals.

It’s been up and down for the Huskies in the first six seasons of the NCHC, but things are definitely trending in the right direction for the Cardinal and Black. After winning the Penrose Cup in the inaugural season of the new league (2013-14) with an overall record of 22-11-5 (.645), St. Cloud State made the NCAA tournament again in 2014-15 with a relatively pedestrian mark of 20-19-1 (.512). At the end of that season, SCSU had the unfortunate circumstance of facing and falling to North Dakota in the West Regional final (Fargo, ND), a virtual home game for the Green and White.

SCSU captured the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship and another NCAA tourney bid in 2015-16 with a sparkling record of 31-9-1 (.768) but unfortunately suffered an overtime loss in the opening round of the national tournament. St. Cloud State, the top seed in the NCAA West Regional (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN), rallied to tie #18 Ferris State in the third period, but the Bulldogs scored just 18 seconds into the extra session to knock off the Huskies (who were ranked #2 in the country heading into the NCAAs) by a final of 5-4.

North Dakota ended St. Cloud State’s 2016-17 campaign with a home sweep in the first round of the NCHC playoffs. UND cruised 5-2 in the opener before besting the Huskies in a 6-5 overtime thriller. As I have said before, we have come to expect close matchups in NCHC playoff games played on Saturdays (and often Sundays), as the visiting team is almost always playing to extend their season.

The 2017-2018 campaign brought more playoff agony for the Huskies, as head coach Bob Motzko brought the NCHC regular-season champions (24-9-6) into the NCAA West Regional (Sioux Falls, SD) to face Air Force (22-14-5) in the opening round. Blake Lizotte got St. Cloud State within one with 2:51 remaining in the contest, but two empty-net goals sealed the deal for the Falcons, who got 39 saves from netminder Billy Christopoulos. It was only the second time since the tournament expanded to sixteen teams that the top overall seed lost their first game.

And unfortunately for St. Cloud State, they duplicated that feat in the 2019 NCAA tournament by dropping their opening game to #19 American International as the #1 overall seed, bringing an abrupt end to a fantastic season. Head coach Brett Larson compiled a sparkling record of 30-6-3 in his first campaign.

Both North Dakota and St. Cloud State posted historically good records in 2015-16. Thirty-win seasons are extremely rare in today’s college hockey landscape, with more parity and more ties taking away the opportunity to rack up victories. Since I started traveling to St. Cloud for the UND/SCSU games back in 1998, the Fighting Sioux/Hawks and the Huskies have both reached the 30-victory plateau on multiple occasions. Remarkably, St. Cloud State posted identical marks of 31-9-1 (.768) in milestone seasons (2001 and 2016).

1997-98 North Dakota (30-8-1)
1998-99 North Dakota (32-6-2)
1999-00 North Dakota (31-8-5)
2000-01 St. Cloud State (31-9-1)
2003-04 North Dakota (30-8-3)
2010-11 North Dakota (32-9-3)
2015-16 North Dakota (34-6-4)
2015-16 St. Cloud State (31-9-1)
2018-19 St. Cloud State (30-6-3)

For more on the rarity and importance of a thirty-win season, follow this link.

The last two seasons have been far from milestone campaigns for Brad Berry’s squad, as his teams sputtered to records of 17-13-10 (.550) and 18-17-2 (.514). To put that in perspective, those two teams combined for 35 victories over two seasons, just one more than the 2015-16 team collected in one season on their way to the program’s eighth national title. Prior to the 2017-2018 season, North Dakota had made fifteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, the second-longest streak of all time (Michigan appeared in 22 straight NCAA tourneys from 1991 to 2012). Denver now boasts the nation’s longest active streak with twelve consecutive tourney bids (2008-2019).

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

UND’s other non-conference opponents during the 2019-20 campaign will be at unranked Minnesota (November 28th and 29th, 2019) and at home vs. unranked Alabama Huntsville (January 3rd and 4th, 2020).

For UND, the goal is simple: return to national prominence after a two-year absence from the national tournament. There is reason for optimism in Grand Forks, with an experienced d-corps, plenty of returning grit and skill, and a crop of freshmen with a tremendous amount of upside. So far this season, several returning players have seen a noticeable uptick in their production and in their overall play on the ice, most notably junior forward Collin Adams (4-5-9), senior forward Cole Smith (4-2-6), senior forward Dixon Bowen (4-1-5), and junior defenseman Matt Kiersted (1-7-8). Those four players have combined for 28 points in 44 games played (0.64 points/game) after amassing 95 points in 324 games played (0.29 points/game) prior to this year.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through eleven games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (20.5) and are second only to Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 59.5%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 60.3%

By comparison, St. Cloud State is 21st in both puck possession categories (Corsi 51.3%; Fenwick 53.5%) and is averaging 28.6 shots on goal per game (North Dakota is averaging 30.5/game).

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should have already noticed that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on an astounding 13.1 percent of their shots on goal, good for fourth-best in the country and second-best among teams which have played more than six games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation). St. Cloud State’s shooting percentage this season weighs in at 10.1 percent (27th in the country).

And here’s another way to highlight North Dakota’s scoring prowess: UND has scored five goals or more in four of its eleven games this season; in 2018-19, the Fighting Hawks had five such games all year.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks have improved on draws over the past three weekends and are now sitting at 53.0 percent on the season (9th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. St. Cloud State has won 48.7 percent of its faceoffs through ten games (40th in the country).

After sputtering on the power play to open the season with just two power play goals on their first 25 attempts (8.0 percent), UND has scored five power play goals over its past four games (5 for 17, 29.4 percent) and now faces a dreadful St. Cloud State penalty kill that has already allowed 11 power play goals (23 of 34, 67.6 percent).

Since allowing their first power play goal of the season on October 25th against Bemidji State, UND has killed 23 of 24 penalties (95.8%) and now sits at 94.9 percent (37 of 39) for the season, the second-best penalty kill unit in men’s Division I hockey this season.

While St. Cloud State is hoping that netminder David Hrenak can improve on his shaky start, North Dakota has its clear-cut #1 netminder in Adam Scheel (8-1-2, 1.53 goals-against average, .924 save percentage). The sophomore from Lakewood, Ohio has been equal parts steady and brilliant this season for the Fighting Hawks after struggling with injuries during his rookie campaign. In his eleven starts this season, Scheel has one shutout and seven games in which he allowed a single goal, including both games last weekend at Denver (30 saves in Friday’s tie and 27 saves in Saturday’s victory).

North Dakota is 4th in the country in scoring offense (4.00 goals scored/game) and 3rd in the country in scoring defense (1.55 goals allowed/game), and that leads to the country’s best goal differential (+27). Through the first eleven games of the season, the Fighting Hawks are outscoring opponents 44-17.

St. Cloud State Team Profile

Head Coach: Brett Larson (2nd season at SCSU, 32-10-7, .724)

National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 2-4-4 overall, 0-2-0-0 NCHC (8th)
Last Season: 30-6-3 overall (NCAA West Regional Semifinalist), 19-2-3-2 NCHC (1st)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 2.90 goals scored/game – 25th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.70 goals allowed/game – 51st of 60 teams
Power Play: 22.5% (9 of 40) – 16th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 67.6% (23 of 34) – 51st of 60 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Sam Hentges (6-10-16), Junior F Easton Brodzinski (5-6-11), Senior F Jack Poehling (2-4-6), Senior F Nick Poehling (2-2-4), Freshman F Chase Brand (2-2-4), Freshman F Jami Krannila (1-3-4), Senior D Jack Ahcan (2-6-8), Sophomore D Nick Perbix (2-3-5), Sophomore D Spencer Meier (2-2-4), Junior G David Hrenak (2-4-4, 3.39 GAA, .876 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (North Dakota ’02, 5th season at UND; 98-53-21, .631)

National Rankings: #5/#6
This Season: 8-1-2 overall, 3-0-1-1 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

2019-2020 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 4.00 goals scored/game – 4th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.55 goals allowed/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Power Play: 16.7% (7 of 42) – 36th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 94.9% (37 of 39) – 2nd of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (3-11-14), Senior F Westin Michaud (6-3-9), Junior F Collin Adams (4-5-9), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-5-7), Freshman F Shane Pinto (2-4-6), Senior F Dixon Bowen (4-1-5), Junior F Grant Mismash (2-3-5), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (1-8-9), Senior D Colton Poolman (1-6-7), Junior D Matt Kiersted (1-7-8), Sophomore D Jonny Tychonick (3-2-5), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (8-1-2, 1.53 GAA, .924 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: January 26, 2018 (Grand Forks, ND). North Dakota forwards Gavin Hain and Dixon Bowen each scored two goals in a 5-1 victory over the #1-ranked Huskies. SCSU’s lone goal was a shorthanded tally by Jimmy Schuldt in the second period. The game turned rough in the third period, with 42 minutes of penalties called (including 24 in the final minute of play). With the victory, UND earned a split of the weekend series, one of nine splits last season.

Most Important Meeting: NCAA West Regional Final in Fargo, ND (March 28, 2015). North Dakota scored three unassisted goals over the final two periods of the hockey game to defeat St. Cloud State 4-1 in the West Regional Final and advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. Jimmy Murray got the Huskies on the board less than 90 seconds in to the hockey game, but that did nothing to quiet the partisan crowd of 5,307 at SCHEELS Arena. Four different players scored for UND, while Zane McIntyre made 19 stops to earn his 29th and final victory of the season.

All-Time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series, 72-44-14 (.608), including a 36-19-7 (.637) record in games played in Grand Forks. Aside from their 2015 and 2018 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal victories, the Huskies also defeated North Dakota in the 2001 WCHA Final Five championship game. The teams have been squaring off regularly since the 1989-90 season, but have only met once in the NCAA tournament (2015).

Last Ten: The two teams have each won four of the last ten games, with the other two ending in ties. North Dakota has outscored the Huskies 29-26 over that stretch of games. Six of the last ten meetings have gone to overtime.

Game News and Notes

St. Cloud State has won the regular season league title four times over the past seven seasons (WCHA 2012-13; NCHC 2013-14, 2017-18, & 2018-19). Last weekend, North Dakota took five of six league points at #2 Denver, while St. Cloud State was swept on home ice by Colorado College. UND is perfect on home ice this season (7-0-0). SCSU has made the national tournament 13 times in the past twenty seasons, with one Frozen Four appearance (2013). With a sweep this weekend, UND’s Brad Berry would earn his 99th and 100th career head coaching victories.

Broadcast Information

This weekend’s action will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network, with both games also available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.

Social Media

On A Personal Note

Due to a scheduling conflict, SiouxSport.com is unable to host a UND/SCSU pre-game event this weekend. We plan to resume this event next season and for many years to come. Here’s to hockey!

On A Personal Note 2.0

I have participated in Movember for the past seven years and have proudly raised over $13,000 to help change the face of men’s health. Will you join me and support the cause? Please visit my Movember fundraising page to learn more and to donate. Thank you!

The Prediction

Let’s get this out of the way first: North Dakota has proven itself to be the better, more complete team to this point of the season. However, St. Cloud State is leaving home with a sour taste after being swept out of their own rink last weekend, and for a struggling squad, a road weekend against a bitter conference opponent may be just what the doctor ordered. Regular season sweeps have been hard to come by in this rivalry, with the Fighting Hawks most recently turning this trick nearly three years ago in St. Cloud. One of these games will be close, but I like what I see with this year’s version of the Green and White. UND 4-1, 5-3.

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!

Weekend Preview: North Dakota at Denver

In the NCHC, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota is at the top of the league rivalries. The teams have played 26 times during the first six 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 twelve 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 ten 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 the 2017 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Denver turned the tables by dispatching North Dakota in the first round of the league playoffs at Magness Arena last season (2-0, 4-2).

(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.)

Six full seasons have come and gone since the college hockey landscape changed forever. With Minnesota and Wisconsin departing the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the Big Ten after the 2012-13 season, several other conference schools and two members of the now-defunct Central Collegiate Hockey Association created the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and left Alaska Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota State behind in a watered-down WCHA.

It is abundantly clear that the NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past five seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 284-137-52 (.655) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent nine teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, and Denver and Duluth in 2019) over that five-year stretch. Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won the last four national titles.

In last season’s NCAA tournament, league members Denver and St. Cloud State were both placed in the West Regional (Fargo, North Dakota) and were on track to face off in the regional final. The Pioneers (#6 in the country) held up their end of the bargain with a 2-0 victory over #9 Ohio State, but #19 American International shocked the college hockey world and dispatched the #1-ranked Huskies by a final score of 2-1. One night later, Denver blanked AIC 3-0 to advance to their third Frozen Four in four seasons. The Pios would eventually fall to #4 Massachusetts in overtime in the national semifinal.

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

Last weekend, North Dakota swept Miami at home (7-1, 5-4) in the conference opener for both schools, while Denver got two of six league points from its trip to #7 Minnesota Duluth, earning a shootout win after a 3-3 tie on Friday night before falling 5-2 in Saturday’s rematch.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through nine games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (18.4) and are second only to Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 61.5%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 62.8%

Those numbers will change after this weekend, however, as Denver is third in both categories (Corsi 58.6%, Fenwick 58.9%) and is averaging over 35 shots on goal per contest (North Dakota is averaging 30.7/game).

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should have already noticed that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on an astounding 14.1 percent of their shots on goal, good for fourth-best in the country and second-best among teams which have played more than four games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation). Denver’s shooting percentage this season weighs in at 10.8 percent (19th in the country).

And here’s another way to highlight North Dakota’s scoring prowess: UND has scored five goals or more in four of its nine games this season; in 2018-19, the Fighting Hawks had five such games all year.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks have improved on draws over the past two weekends and are now sitting at 52.7 percent on the young season (14th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Denver has won 51.5 percent of its faceoffs through ten games (18th in the country).

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: David Carle (Denver ’12, 2nd season at DU, 32-13-6, .686)

National Rankings: #2/#1
This Season: 8-1-1 overall, 0-1-1-1 NCHC (4th)
Last Season: 24-12-5 overall (NCAA Frozen Four Semifinalist), 11-10-3-3 NCHC (4th)

2019-20 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.80 goals scored/game – 9th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.10 goals allowed/game – 11th of 60 teams
Power Play: 20.8% (10 of 48) – 18th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 92.9% (39 of 42) – 6th of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F Liam Finlay (3-8-11), Sophomore F Brett Stapley (3-6-9), Sophomore F Emilio Pettersen (1-8-9), Senior F Tyson McLellan (4-4-8), Freshman F Bobby Brink (4-3-7), Sophomore F Cole Guttman (3-2-5), Junior D Ian Mitchell (3-7-10), Junior D Griffin Mendel (1-3-4), Senior D Michael Davies (0-1-1), Freshman G Magnus Chrona (7-1-1, 2.20 GAA, .913 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (North Dakota ’02, 5th season at UND; 97-53-20, .629)

National Rankings: #9/#9
This Season: 7-1-1 overall, 2-0-0-0 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

Team Offense: 4.33 goals scored/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.67 goals allowed/game – 2nd of 60 teams
Power Play: 14.7% (5 of 34) – 38th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 93.1% (27 of 29) – 5th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (3-10-13), Senior F Westin Michaud (5-3-8), Junior F Collin Adams (4-4-8), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-5-7), Freshman F Shane Pinto (2-4-6), Senior F Dixon Bowen (4-1-5), Junior F Grant Mismash (2-3-5), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (1-7-8), Senior D Colton Poolman (1-6-7), Junior D Matt Kiersted (1-6-7), Sophomore D Jonny Tychonick (3-2-5), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (7-1-1, 1.66 GAA, .910 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 16, 2019 (Denver, CO). North Dakota’s season came to an end despite peppering DU netminder Filip Larsson with 42 shots on goal. Denver scored twice in the middle frame (Colin Staub, Jarid Lukosevicius) and added an empty netter for the 4-2 final score. Senior forward Nick Jones scored both goals for UND, and Fighting Hawks goaltender Peter Thome made 14 saves in the losing effort. One night earlier, the Pioneers blanked UND 2-0 despite being outshot 32-17, a common theme for the Green and White last season.

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: UND has three victories and three ties over the past ten games, with Denver outscoring North Dakota 24-20 over that stretch. Three of the last eight meetings have gone into overtime.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 146-128-15 (.531), although Denver enjoys a 76-54-4 (.582) advantage in games played at altitude. The teams first met in 1950, with North Dakota prevailing 18-3 in Denver.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota has not swept in Denver since 2003. Both UND (7-0-0) and DU (4-0-0) have been perfect on home ice this season. Brad Berry is 6-8-5 (.447) in his coaching career vs. the Pioneers. Four North Dakota players have scored multiple career goals against DU (Westin Michaud 4, Matt Kiersted 2, Colton Poolman 2, Cole Smith 2). 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.

The Prediction

The best that North Dakota can hope for this weekend is a split. The Fighting Hawks would like to play as much of this series at even strength as possible. I give the slight edge to Denver in Friday’s opener, with UND rebounding for a fairly convincing victory in Saturday’s rematch. DU 3-2, UND 4-1.

Broadcast Information

Saturday’s game will be shown live on Midco Sports Network. Both games will be available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.

Social Media

On A Personal Note

I have participated in Movember for the past seven years and have proudly raised over $12,000 to help change the face of men’s health. Will you join me and support the cause? Please visit my Movember fundraising page to learn more and to donate. Thank you!

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. Miami

Over the first six seasons of the NCHC, Miami has averaged a sixth-place finish (8th, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 7th), with a combined league record of 39-70-11-8 (.378).

When the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was formed, Miami appeared positioned to be a dominant program. Prior to the 2013-14 season (their inaugural campaign in the NCHC), the RedHawks had made eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, with consecutive Frozen Four bids in 2009 (2nd) and 2010 (3rd). Since joining the NCHC, Miami has just one NCAA tournament appearance (2015), and that ended quickly with a first-round loss to eventual national champion Providence.

For comparison, North Dakota has finished 2nd, 1st, 1st, 4th, 4th, and 5th in the first six seasons of the new league, for an average finish of 3rd place.

Long-tenured head coach Enrico Blasi was fired during the offseason after posting a fourth consecutive losing season. Over that stretch of time, the RedHawks were 47-81-19 (.384). There is reason for optimism in Oxford, however, with new bench boss Chris Bergeron taking over the program after leading Bowling Green to six consecutive winning seasons, five consecutive years with twenty or more victories, and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018-2019.

The Fighting Hawks came in at number four in the annual NCHC media preseason poll, trailing Denver, Duluth, and Western Michigan. Miami was picked to finish last in the eight-team league again this year.

It is abundantly clear that the NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past five seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 280-136-51 (.654) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent nine teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, and Denver and Duluth in 2019) over that five-year stretch. Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won the last four national titles.

The blame for UND’s absence from last season’s NCAA tourney rests squarely on the two road losses at Canisius. When North Dakota failed to make the national tournament following the 2017-2018 season, many pointed to the road series at Miami as the “games that got away”. Let’s get in the DeLorean, shall we?

Friday, February 23rd, 2018. Steve Cady Arena. Miami, Ohio. 1.21 jiggawatts…

#12 UND led the unranked RedHawks 3-0 in the second period before surrendering four unanswered goals, the last in overtime. Had the Fighting Hawks held onto the lead and won that game, it would have been invited to the NCAAs for a sixteenth consecutive season. And conversely, Minnesota Duluth, the eventual national champion, would have been watching the tourney from home.

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

UND’s other non-conference opponents during the 2019-20 campaign will be at Minnesota (November 28th and 29th, 2019) and at home vs. Alabama Huntsville (January 3rd and 4th, 2020).

Last weekend, North Dakota toppled Michigan Tech by a final score of 3-1 in the U.S. Hockey Hall Of Fame Game while Miami handled the US Under-18 Team 4-2 in exhibition action.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through seven games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (14.7) and two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 63.0%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 64.2%

By comparison, Miami sits at 48.5% in Corsi (38th) and 46.3% in Fenwick (48th).

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should already be noticing that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on 12.3 percent of their shots on goal, good for sixth-best in the country among teams which have played more than two games. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation).

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks improved on draws last Saturday against Michigan Tech and are now sitting at 51.2 percent on the young season (4th) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Miami has won 53.7 percent of its faceoffs through seven games (12th in the country).

Miami Team Profile

Head Coach: Chris Bergeron (1st season at Miami, 2-3-2, .429)

National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 2-3-2 overall, 0-0-0-0 NCHC
Last Season: 11-23-4 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 5-17-2-1 NCHC (t-7th of 8 teams)

Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.86 goals scored/game – 28th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.71 goals allowed/game – 50th of 60 teams
Power Play: 10.3% (3 of 29) – 47th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 75.8% (25 of 33) – 48th of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F Gordie Green (4-5-9), Senior F Karch Bachman (4-3-7), Junior F Casey Gilling (1-6-7), Freshman F John Sladic (2-1-3), Sophomore F Brian Hawkinson (0-1-1), Sophomore D Derek Daschke (1-5-6), Freshman D Jack Clement (2-3-5), Sophomore D Bray Crowder (0-2-2), Senior G Ryan Larkin (2-3-0, 3.72 GAA, .890 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (5th season at UND; 95-53-20, .625)

National Rankings: #10/#10
This Season: 5-1-1 overall, 0-0-0-0 NCHC
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall, 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

Team Offense: 3.86 goals scored/game – 11th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.43 goals allowed/game – 1st of 60 teams
Power Play: 8.0% (2 of 25) – 49th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 95.2% (20 of 21) – 5th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (2-5-7), Sophomore F Mark Senden (2-2-4), Senior F Dixon Bowen (3-1-4), Senior F Westin Michaud (3-1-4), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-2-4), Freshman F Shane Pinto (2-3-5), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (0-6-6), Senior D Colton Poolman (1-3-4), Junior D Gabe Bast (2-1-3), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (5-1-1, 1.42 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers:

Last Meeting: November 10, 2018 (Oxford, OH). It was a furious third period at Steve Cady Arena, with each team scoring two goals. The difference was that Miami’s Josh Melnick had opened the scoring with a power play marker in the opening frame and the RedHawks prevailed 3-2. North Dakota won 3-1 one night earlier in the conference opener for both teams. UND outshot Miami 68-40 on the weekend.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: November 11, 2017. The shootout took four rounds, but in the end, Christian Wolanin blasted a slapshot from the faceoff circle (at the 4:30 mark of this video) and UND emerged victorious after tying the visiting RedHawks 3-3. One night earlier, it was all North Dakota, as Nick Jones (two goals), Rhett Gardner (one goal), and Grant Mismash (one goal) all lit the lamp in a 4-1 victory.

Most Important Meeting: March 6, 2015 (Oxford, OH). North Dakota claimed the Penrose Cup with a 2-1 road victory over Miami. UND fell flat the following night, losing 6-3 in the final game of the regular season.

Last Ten: UND has picked up five wins and two ties in the past ten contests between the teams, outscoring Miami 31-25 over that stretch of games. North Dakota has only hosted four of the past ten meetings between the schools.

All-time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series 14-7-3 (.646), including a 7-2-2 (.727) record in games played at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The teams first played in 1999 (Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI).

Game News and Notes

UND is 5-0-0 at home this year and 0-1-1 on the road. North Dakota men’s hockey teams are a combined 245-93-44 (.699) at Ralph Engelstad Arena since the building opened in 2001. After this weekend, UND will only have one more home series in 2019 (November 22nd and 23rd vs. St. Cloud State). Brad Berry’s squad will travel to Oxford to face Miami in January. Green Hawks are preferable to RedHawks.

The Prediction

All signs point to a North Dakota sweep. This will be the weekend that the power play will get untracked, and at least one game will see five goals for the Green and White. UND 5-2, 4-3.

Broadcast Information

This series will be televised live on Midco Sports Network and also available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.

Social Media

Ticket Information

Information about tickets can be found at the UND Box Office inside Ralph Engelstad Arena or online at FightingHawks.com/tickets.

On A Personal Note

I have participated in Movember for the past seven years and have proudly raised over $11,000 to help change the face of men’s health. Will you join me and support the cause? Please visit my Movember fundraising page to learn more and to donate. Thank you!

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!

Hall Of Fame Game Preview: North Dakota vs. Michigan Tech

Saturday’s contest will mark the eleventh time that North Dakota will take part in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game (now called the “Face-Off Classic”). UND is 6-3-1 all-time in the annual event and first hosted the Hall of Fame Game on October 5, 2001, the grand opening of the new Ralph Engelstad Arena. The debut of the new “Ralph”, which went down as a 7-5 Minnesota victory, dropped North Dakota’s record in Hall of Fame Games to 0-3-1.

The Green and White have fared better in more recent Hall of Fame Games, defeating Minnesota Duluth 3-2 (2003), Michigan State 6-0 (2007), Air Force 3-2 [OT] (2014), and RPI 5-2 (2016) in Grand Forks, blitzing the Bulldogs 5-0 in Duluth during the grand opening of Amsoil Arena (December 30, 2010), and handling the Minnesota Golden Gophers 3-1 in Las Vegas almost exactly one year ago.

In the first 27 years of the event (1974-2000), North Dakota appeared in three Hall Of Fame Games (against Minnesota in 1978 and against Minnesota Duluth in 1988 and 1992). Beginning in 2001, UND has been a part of eight such contests, including six in Grand Forks. This is mostly a testament to the athletic department’s ability and willingness to host events like these and the draw of Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It is abundantly clear that the NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past five seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 276-135-49 (.653) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent nine teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, and Denver and Duluth in 2019) over that five-year stretch. Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won the last four national titles.

Michigan Tech has benefitted from its new conference as well, making the NCAA tournament in three of the past five seasons (2015, 2017, and 2018):

In 2018, MTU lost 4-3 to #2 Notre Dame in the East Regional.
In 2017, MTU lost 5-2 to #1 Denver In the Midwest Regional.
In 2015, the best MTU squad in recent memory lost 3-2 in overtime to #13 St. Cloud State in the West Regional) despite outshooting SCSU 38-21.

More to the point, Michigan Tech and North Dakota were both members of the WCHA from 1984-85 through 2012-13 (29 seasons), and the Huskies put together exactly two winning seasons during that stretch:

1992-93: 17-15-5 (.527)
2006-07: 18-17-5 (.512)

Since the reshaping of the WCHA six seasons ago, Michigan Tech has enjoyed four of its best seasons in program history:

2014-15: 29-10-2 (.732)
2015-16: 23-9-5 (.689)
2016-17: 23-15-7 (.589)
2017-18: 22-17-5 (.557)

Last season’s version of the Huskies won only fourteen games (14-20-4, .421) after averaging over 24 wins per year from 2014-2018. MTU is looking to regain some of its scoring touch after losing a tremendous amount of firepower from its three tournament teams:

Forward Alex Petan (59 goals and 76 assists for 135 points in 153 games played)
Forward Tanner Kero (55-56-111 in 153 gp)
Forward Blake Pietila (46-60-106 in 153 gp)
Forward David Johnstone (36-67-103 in 127 gp)
Forward Joel L’Esperance (46-52-98 in 152 gp)
Defenseman Shane Hanna (21-69-90 in 163 gp)
Defenseman Mark Auk (21-63-84 in 150 gp)

In terms of overall offense, the best NCAA tournament team that Michigan Tech put together (2014-15) scored 3.49 goals/game. The other two tourney teams were not far behind:

2016-17 offense: 2.89 goals scored/game
2017-18 offense: 3.05 goals scored/game

This season, the Huskies are scoring goals at a rate of 2.83/game, good for 22nd in the nation among the 54 teams which have played at least one game to this point in the season.

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

After this weekend’s tilt against Michigan Tech, UND’s other non-conference opponents during the 2019-20 campaign will be at Minnesota (November 28-29) and at home vs. Alabama Huntsville (January 3-4).

Last weekend, North Dakota swept former WCHA foe Bemidji State, coming back for a 2-1 overtime victory in Friday’s opener before handling the Beavers 4-1 in Saturday’s rematch. Michigan Tech traveled to face #17 Bowling Green last weekend, dropping a 3-1 decision before rebounding for a 4-2 victory.

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through six games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (17.7) and trail only Massachusetts and Air Force in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 63.5%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 61.0%

By comparison, Michigan Tech sits at 48.8% in Corsi (30th) and 49.3% in Fenwick (27th).

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should already be noticing that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on 12.3 percent of their shots on goal, good for sixth-best in the country. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation).

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks improved on draws last weekend against Bemidji State and are now sitting at 50.8 percent on the young season (21st) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Michigan Tech has won 48.9 percent of its faceoffs through six games (32nd in the country).

Michigan Tech Team Profile

Head Coach: Joe Shawhan (3rd season at MTU, 39-40-9, .494)

National Rankings: NR
This Season: 3-3-0 overall, 1-3-0 WCHA (6th)
Last Season: 14-20-4 overall, 13-12-3-1 WCHA (6th)

Team Offense: 2.83 goals scored/game (22nd of 54 teams)
Team Defense: 1.83 goals allowed/game (9th of 54 teams)
Power Play: 21.6% (29 of 134)
Penalty Kill: 80.6% (116 of 144)

Key Players: Sophomore F Alec Broetzman (4-4-8), Freshman F Parker Saretsky (2-4-6), Sophomore F Tommy Parrottino (4-0-0), Sophomore F Trenton Bliss (2-2-4), Freshman F Logan Pietila (1-3-4), Sophomore F Brian Halonen (2-1-3), Junior F Greyson Reitmeier (0-2-2), Sophomore D Colin Swoyer (0-5-5), Junior D Seamus Donohue (0-3-3), Junior G Robbie Beydoun (1-0-0, 1.26 GAA, .941 SV%), Senior G Matt Jurusik (2-3-0, 2.04 GAA, .926 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (5th season at UND; 94-53-20, .623)

National Rankings: #14/#14
This Season: 4-1-1 overall
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall, 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

Team Offense: 4.00 goals scored/game (6th of 54 teams)
Team Defense: 1.50 goals allowed/game (5th of 54 teams)
Power Play: 10.0% (2 of 20)
Penalty Kill: 94.4% (17 of 18)

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (1-5-6), Sophomore F Mark Senden (2-2-4), Senior F Dixon Bowen (3-1-4), Senior F Westin Michaud (3-1-4), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-2-4), Freshman F Shane Pinto (2-3-5), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard-Docker (0-6-6), Senior D Colton Poolman (1-3-4), Junior D Gabe Bast (2-1-3), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (4-1-1, 1.48 GAA, .915 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last meeting: March 17, 2013 (Grand Forks, ND). It was a bonnie St. Paddy’s Day for the lads in green, as UND netminder Clarke Saunders pitched a shutout (6-0, 27 saves) in the third and decisive game of the WCHA first round playoff series. The first two games of the series followed a familiar pattern, with North Dakota winning Friday’s opener 5-3 but struggling to end an opponent’s season, dropping Game 2 by a final of 2-1.

Most Important Meeting: The Sioux and Huskies have never met in the NCAA tournament, so I will go with the most important meeting that never was: in 1965, the Sioux lost to Boston College, 4-3, one game short of the national championship game, where they would have faced the Michigan Tech Huskies, who won the second of their three titles by defeating the Eagles. UND settled for third place that season, downing Brown University, 9-5. North Dakota went 13-3-0 in the regular season in 1964-65, with two of those three losses coming at the hands of Michigan Tech.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 149-94-10 (.609), including a dominating 84-34-5 (.703) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1948.

Last Ten: North Dakota is 8-1-1 (.850) in the last ten meetings between the schools, outscoring the Huskies 49-13 over that stretch. Before 2013, the last time Michigan Tech defeated UND was in the first round of the WCHA playoffs in March 2008 (Grand Forks, ND). As was the case five years later, MTU took the middle game of the three-game series but North Dakota came back to win on Sunday night to advance to the Final Five.

Game News and Notes

Coming into Saturday night, these two storied programs have faced off 253 times. UND’s Brad Berry has never faced Michigan Tech in his head coaching career. North Dakota men’s hockey teams are a combined 244-93-44 (.698) at Ralph Engelstad Arena since the building opened in 2001.

The Prediction

While it is certainly true that anything can happen in a one-game situation, the only thing in doubt in my mind is the final score. Michigan Tech should be able to keep this game close, but if North Dakota gets up by two goals early, it will be off to the races. UND 4-1.

Broadcast Information

Saturday’s game will be televised live on Midco Sports Network and also available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.

Social Media

Ticket Information

Information about tickets can be found at the UND Box Office inside Ralph Engelstad Arena or online at FightingHawks.com/tickets.

On A Personal Note

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

It is abundantly clear that the NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past five seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 267-132-48 (.651) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent nine teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, and Denver and Duluth in 2019) over that five-year stretch. Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won the last four national titles.

After winning the WCHA in 2016-17 with a stellar 20-6-2 conference record, Bemidji State has taken a step back over the past two seasons (31-31-14 overall, 26-20-10 in the WCHA), finishing in fourth place in 2017-18 and in fifth place a year ago.

Last season’s losses at Canisius College in early January were certainly instrumental in keeping North Dakota out of the national tournament, but the road loss and home tie against Bemidji State to open the year didn’t help, either. UND went just 6-4-1 in out-of-conference games in 2018-19 and missed the NCAAs for the second consecutive season after appearing in fifteen consecutive tourneys (2003-2017).

Here’s a look at the non-conference records under fifth-year head coach Brad Berry:

After this weekend’s home games against Bemidji State, UND’s other non-conference opponents during the 2019-20 campaign will be Michigan Tech (Hall Of Fame Game, home), Minnesota (away), and Alabama Huntsville (home).

Last weekend, North Dakota traveled to Mankato to face former WCHA foe Minnesota State, earning a 4-4 tie on Friday night before falling 2-1 in Saturday’s rematch. Bemidji State hosted #7 St. Cloud State for a pair of non-conference games two weeks ago, battling to two ties on the weekend (4-4, 2-2).

It is abundantly clear that North Dakota will have the puck a lot this season, and the numbers bear that out. Through four games, the Fighting Hawks lead the nation in shots on goal allowed/game (17.3) and trail only Massachusetts in two key puck possession statistics:

Corsi (% of shots taken vs. opponent): 64.3%
Fenwick (% of unblocked shots taken vs. opponent): 65.6%

Last season, UND trailed only national champion Duluth in both puck possession categories across all Division I teams but could not finish enough of their chances. This year, fans of the Green and White should already be noticing that more shots are going in the net. North Dakota is scoring on 12.9 percent of their shots on goal, good for ninth-best in the country. Last season, UND lit the lamp on only 7.8 percent of their shots on goal (52nd in the nation).

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks struggled mightily on draws in Mankato and are now sitting at 46.9 percent on the young season (42nd) after leading the nation at 57.1 percent a year ago. Against SCSU, Tom Serratore’s squad won 57.5 percent of the faceoffs and won the puck possession battle as well (Corsi 55.0%, Fenwick 55.2%).

Bemidji State Team Profile

Head Coach: Tom Serratore (19th season at BSU, 297-287-88, .507)
National Ranking: NR/NR
This Season: 0-0-2
Last Season: 15-17-6 overall, 13-11-4-2 WCHA (5th of 10 teams)

Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 23.00 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 0.0% (0 of 4)
Penalty Kill: 80.0% (4 of 5)

Key Players: Junior F Aaron Miller (0-3-3), Senior F Adam Brady (2-0-2), Senior F Alex Ierullo (0-2-2), Junior F Charlie Combs (0-0-0), Sophomore F Owen Sillinger (1-0-1), Junior F Brendan Harris (0-1-1), Freshman D Nick Leitner (1-0-1), Senior D Tommy Muck (0-1-1), Sophomore D Tyler Jubenvill (0-1-1), Junior G Henry Johnson (0-0-1, 1.85 GAA, .938 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (5th season at UND ; 92-53-20, .618)
National Ranking: #16/#19
This Season: 2-1-1 overall
Last Season: 18-17-2 overall, 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)

Team Offense: 4.50 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.75 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 13.3% (2 of 15)
Penalty Kill: 100.0% (13 of 13)

Key Players: Junior F Jordan Kawaguchi (0-3-3), Sophomore F Mark Senden (1-2-3), Senior F Dixon Bowen (3-1-4), Senior F Westin Michaud (2-1-3), Freshman F Harrison Blaisdell (2-2-4), Freshman F Shane Pinto (2-2-4), Sophomore D Jacob Bernard Docker (0-5-5), Senior D Colton Poolman (0-3-3), Junior D Gabe Bast (2-1-3), Sophomore G Adam Scheel (2-1-1, 1.73 GAA, .899 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 13, 2018 (Grand Forks, ND). North Dakota got an early goal from Grant Mismash but couldn’t make it hold up, as BSU’s Charlie Combs scored the game-tying marker with under five minutes to play. UND outshot Bemidji State 27-16. One night earlier in Bemidji, the Beavers won 2-1 behind goals from Adam Brady and Owen Sillinger and 28 saves from Henry Johnson.

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 5-2-3 (.650) in the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring the Beavers 29-24 over that stretch of games. Seven of the last ten tilts have been decided by a goal or less, with Bemidji State going 1-3-3 in those games.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 31-4-6 (.829), including a 21-2-4 (.852) record in games played in Grand Forks. Three of BSU’s four wins over North Dakota have come in the past seven seasons (November 2011, October 2014, and October 2018). Bemidji’s other victory over UND came in 1970.

Game News and Notes

UND head coach Brad Berry is 4-1-3 (.688) in his career against Bemidji State. BSU has competed at the Division I level since the 1999-00 season and has made the NCAA tournament four times (2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010), with a Frozen Four appearance in 2009. The Beavers have never made the NCAAs as a member of the WCHA (nine seasons and counting). North Dakota men’s hockey teams are a combined 242-93-44 (.697) at Ralph Engelstad Arena since the building opened in 2001.

Broadcast Information

This weekend’s games will be televised live on Midco Sports Network and also available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.

Social Media

Ticket Information

Information about tickets can be found at the UND Box Office inside Ralph Engelstad Arena or online at FightingHawks.com/tickets.

The Prediction

Bemidji State always seems to bring their best effort against UND, and this weekend will be no exception. North Dakota played well last weekend in Mankato with little to show for it, while the Beavers more or less had the weekend off (aside from a scrimmage with Division III Augsburg University). The Fighting Hawks seem to have found their game and are playing with more pace and crispness in the early going than recent North Dakota squads have offered, so I’m going with the home squad to earn a sweep, pulling away in the third period of both contests. UND 5-2, 4-1.

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!

NCHC Playoff Preview: North Dakota at Denver

It’s quite simple, really:

Win two games this weekend to continue playing.
Lose two games this weekend and it’s all over.

North Dakota finds itself in an unfamiliar position, heading on the road for the opening round of the league playoffs for the first time since March 2002. That season, the Fighting Sioux played at eventual national champion Minnesota in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs, taking the Gophers to overtime on Saturday night (losing 4-3) after getting destroyed 7-2 in Friday’s opener.

This time around, UND finds themselves in a matchup against the Denver Pioneers. The Fighting Hawks experienced some weather-related issues and delays on their way to Denver, but they managed to practice at Cadet Ice Arena (Colorado Springs, CO), the home rink of the Air Force Falcons.

As has been well-documented, the last three national champions hail from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and fifth-place North Dakota (2016 champions) travels to fourth-place Denver (2017) this weekend for a best-of-three playoff series, with both looking up in the final regular-season standings at second-place Duluth (winners of the 2018 NCAA title) as well as Penrose Cup champion St. Cloud State and third-place Western Michigan, two other conference opponents with lofty postseason aspirations.

In the NCHC, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota is at the top of the league rivalries. The teams have played 24 times during the first six 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 the 2017 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This year’s version of the Pioneers looks noticeably different to UND fans, with four players graduated (forward Rudy Junda, defensemen Tariq Hammond and Adam Plant, and goaltender Tanner Jaillet) and a new bench boss (David Carle), the youngest in Division I men’s college hockey. Furthermore, Denver had five players leave eligibility on the table during the 2018 offseason, including three prolific goal scorers and a stalwart defenseman:

Forward Henrik Borgström (gave up two seasons of eligibility; drafted Round 1 #23 by the Florida Panthers in 2016): 45 goals and 95 points in 77 career NCAA games

Forward Troy Terry (gave up one season of eligibility; drafted Round 5 #148 by the Anaheim Ducks in 2015): 45 goals and 115 point in 115 career NCAA games

Forward Dylan Gambrell (gave up one season of eligibility; drafted Round 2 #60 by the San Jose Sharks in 2016): 43 goals and 132 points in 120 career NCAA games

Defenseman Blake Hillman (gave up one season of eligibility; drafted Round 6 #173 by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016): 7 goals and 31 points in 123 career NCAA games

Free agent forward Logan O’Connor also gave up his final season of college eligibility to sign with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL. O’Connor posted a line of 16-27-43 in 108 career NCAA games.

North Dakota was not immune to the early departure bug during the 2018 offseason, as defenseman Christian Wolanin (12-23-35 in 2017-18, 22-50-72 in 109 career games at North Dakota) and forward Shane Gersich (13-16-29 in 2017-18, 43-34-77 in 117 career games at North Dakota) each gave up his senior season to sign a pro contract (Wolanin with Ottawa, Gersich with Washington).

And the previous three summers haven’t been any easier for fans of the Green and White, as multiple players have left eligibility on the table to join the professional ranks (years of eligibility remaining at the time of signing):

2017: Forward Brock Boeser (2), Forward Tyson Jost (3), Defenseman Tucker Poolman (1)

2016: Forward Luke Johnson (1), Forward Nick Schmaltz (2), Defenseman Paul LaDue (1), Defenseman Troy Stecher (1), Defenseman Keaton Thompson (1)

2015: Defenseman Jordan Schmaltz (1), Goaltender Zane McIntyre (1)

In 2014, forward Rocco Grimaldi left after his sophomore campaign to sign with the Florida Panthers (NHL). In 2013, defenseman Derek Forbort signed with the Los Angeles Kings after his junior year. North Dakota also lost two players (Brock Nelson and Aaron Dell) to early departures in 2012 and two others (Jason Gregoire and Brett Hextall) in 2011.

After suffering an injury during a January 4th contest at Wisconsin, DU sophomore goaltender Devin Cooley (10-6-2, 1.89 goals-against average, .933 save percentage, four shutouts) was out of the lineup for five weekends before returning to the crease and pitching a shutout at Duluth on February 16th. Since that time, Cooley and freshman Filip Larsson (9-4-3, 2.29 GAA, .919 SV%, 1 SO) have basically split time between the pipes, Larsson, a sixth-round pick (#167 overall) of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, has fared very well against UND this season, earning two victories and a tie while allowing only one goal in each game (0.95 GAA, .973 SV%).

Last year’s senior class at North Dakota (Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson) went 101-45-20 (.669) and became the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games. This year’s group (Ryan Anderson, Rhett Gardner, Joel Janatuinen, and Hayden Shaw) currently sits at 90-50-19 (.626) and will be unable to continue that impressive streak, as only eight possible victories remain on the schedule.

After getting swept at Canisius back in January, UND saw its non-conference record drop to 6-4-1 (.591) on the season. After going 9-1-2 (.833) in non-conference play in 2015-16 and 7-2-2 (.727) out-of-conference in 2016-17, Brad Berry’s squad went just 6-2-4 (.667) last season and snapped its streak of fifteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

Had one of those Canisius losses turned into a victory, UND (currently 18th in the Pairwise) would now be sitting at 14th. With a sweep over the Golden Griffins, North Dakota would be 8th. While it is true that a team’s overall record is indicative of their season-long identity, that particular weekend stands out for Fighting Hawks fans, as the Green and White outshot Canisius 82-30 over the course of two games but were outscored 5-2 in the series.

Looking ahead, UND would likely end up at 13th in the Pairwise with a sweep over Denver and 15th with two victories and a loss. Those precarious Pairwise positions would be mitigated somewhat by the fact that North Dakota would still have two games remaining on its schedule (at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff) to improve on those rankings.

A playoff series loss at Magness Arena this weekend would mark the end of the 2018-19 season for North Dakota, as they would likely drop to 21st with two losses and remain at 18th with a victory and two losses.

If the season ended today, St. Cloud State (1st in the Pairwise rankings), Duluth (4th), and Denver (7th) would be safely in the NCAA tournament, with Western Michigan (13th) on the bubble and North Dakota (18th), Colorado College (24th), Miami (38th), and Omaha (46th) even further back.

It is very likely that the DU/UND series will go to a decisive third game on Sunday, as Denver will be looking to end North Dakota’s season, and that will bring out the best in both teams. Over UND’s incredible run of home ice for the first round of the league tournament, they fared extremely well in Friday openers, with Saturday’s games invariably more tightly contested.

Here are the complete results for UND’s 38 consecutive home conference playoff games:

Year	Opponent	Game One	Game Two	Game Three
2018	Omaha	4-0	4-3 (OT)
2017	St. Cloud State	5-2	6-5 (OT)
2016	Colorado College	7-1	5-1
2015	Colorado College	5-1	3-2
2014	Colorado College	4-2	2-3 (OT)	4-3
2013	Michigan Tech	5-3	1-2	6-0
2012	Bemidji State	4-1	4-3
2011	Michigan Tech	8-0	3-1
2010	Minnesota	6-0	2-4	4-1
2009	Michigan Tech	5-1	4-3
2008	Michigan Tech	4-0	2-3 (OT)	2-1
2007	Mankato State	5-2	2-1
2006	Mankato State	2-3 (OT)	4-1	3-0
2005	Minnesota-Duluth	8-2	6-1
2004	Michigan Tech	6-2	4-3 (OT)
2003	Denver	1-4	3-2 (OT)	3-2 (OT)

On the injury front, North Dakota sophomore goaltender Peter Thome (upper body injury) has played well over the past three weekends in place of freshman netminder Adam Scheel, who suffered a lower body injury four weeks ago at Western Michigan. The timeline for Scheel’s return is officially listed as week to week, although he has been ruled out for this weekend’s action.

Thome (4-2-0, 2.02 goals-against average, .915 save percentage over his last six games) helped UND earn splits vs. Duluth and at Colorado College and a home sweep last weekend against Omaha. The sophomore from Minneapolis, Minnesota gave up exactly one goal in three of those six starts.

Forward Joel Janatuinen is also out this weekend (undisclosed), but North Dakota fans got some good news a week ago when forwards Nick Jones and Grant Mismash both returned to the lineup. Mismash, once feared gone for the season, is not fully healed but expects a larger role against the Pioneers. Junior defenseman Colton Poolman (undisclosed injury) has played the past eight games for UND after missing the Denver series back in February, the only two contests he has missed in his 113-game collegiate career.

North Dakota has been best in first periods this season, outscoring opponents 36-21 and outshooting teams by a collective margin of 372-253. When scoring first during the 2018-19 campaign, the Fighting Hawks are 11-4-2. In 35 games, UND has put 1113 shots on goal (31.8/game) while allowing just 816 (23.3/game).

Denver has shined in the third period this year, outscoring opponents 35-22 and outshooting teams by a collective margin of 334-304. When scoring first, the Pioneers are 13-5-2. In 34 games, DU has put 1015 shots on goal (29.9/game) while allowing 969 (28.5/game).

Currently, UND leads the nation in faceoff efficiency (57.0 percent); DU is 18th at 51.9 percent. North Dakota is 2nd in the country in puck possession stats, outpacing Denver in both Corsi (58.3 to 52.3 percent) and Fenwick (58.4 to 51.1 percent). Corsi measures the percentage of shot attempts by a team compared to that of its opponents; Fenwick measures the percentage of unblocked shot attempts by a team compared to that of its opponents.

According to KRACH, Denver has played the fifth-toughest schedule in the country this season; North Dakota’s slate of games ranks as the seventh-most difficult out of sixty men’s Division I hockey programs.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: David Carle (Denver ’12, 1st season at DU, 19-10-5, .632)

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

This Season: 19-10-5 (.632) overall, 11-1-3-3 NCHC (4th)
Last Season: 23-10-8 overall (NCAA Midwest Regional Finalist), 12-6-6-4 NCHC (2nd)

2018-19 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.79 goals scored/game – 29th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.15 goals allowed/game – 10th of 60 teams
Power Play: 15.7% (22 of 140) – 44th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.1% (103 of 127) – 33rd of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F Jarid Lukosevicius (16-9-25), Freshman F Emilio Pettersen (6-20-26), Junior F Liam Finlay (13-19-32), Freshman F Cole Guttman (11-10-21), Sophomore D Ian Mitchell (4-17-21), Junior D Michael Davies (4-8-12), Sophomore G Devin Cooley (10-6-2, 1.89 GAA, .933 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (4th season at UND, 90-50-19, .626)

Pairwise Ranking: 18th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #19/NR

This Season: 18-15-2 (.543) overall, 12-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)
Last Season: 17-13-10 (.550) overall (missed NCAA tournament), 8-10-6-1 NCHC (4th of 8 teams)

2018-19 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.60 goals scored/game – 37th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.40 goals allowed/game – 16th of 60 teams
Power Play: 14.9% (21 of 141) – 50th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 79.6% (109 of 137) – 36th of 60 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jordan Kawaguchi (10-16-26), Senior F Nick Jones (7-11-18), Senior F Rhett Gardner (8-7-15), Junior F Cole Smith (5-11-16), Freshman F Mark Senden (6-8-14), Freshman D Jacob Bernard-Docker (5-11-16), Sophomore D Matt Kiersted (7-11-18), Junior D Colton Poolman (5-12-17), Sophomore G Peter Thome (5-5-0, 2.74 GAA, .884 SV%)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: February 2, 2019 (Denver, CO). DU’s Brett Stapley scored with just eighteen seconds remaining in the 3-on-3 overtime session to earn the extra conference point for the Pios. That point ended up being the difference in the standings between the schools, as Denver (11-10-3-3 in league play) finished in fourth place with 39 points, two ahead of fifth-place North Dakota (12-11-1-0; 37). In Friday’s opener, UND peppered Filip Larsson with nineteen shots on goal in the opening period (46 for the game) but lost 2-1 to the homestanding Pioneers.

Last Playoff Meeting: March 17, 2017 (Minneapolis, MN). North Dakota got an early third-period goal from junior forward Austin Poganski and made the lead hold up thanks to 21 saves by Cam Johnson. The 1-0 victory in the NCHC semifinals assured UND a berth in its fifteenth consecutive NCAA tournament (the longest active streak in Division I men’s ice hockey). The teams combined to go 0-for-7 with the man advantage. Denver had won thirteen games in a row coming into the contest.

Last Ten Games: UND has three victories and three ties over the past ten games, with Denver outscoring North Dakota 21-20 over that stretch. Four of the last six meetings have gone into overtime.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 146-126-15 (.535), although Denver enjoys a 74-54-4 (.576) advantage in games played at altitude. The teams first met in 1950, with North Dakota prevailing 18-3 in Denver.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota has not swept in Denver since 2003. Four current active UND players have multiple career goals against the Pios (Matt Kiersted, Colton Poolman, Hayden Shaw, and Cole Smith, with two each). Denver and North Dakota have been in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff every year since its inception (2014-2018), but of course only one of them can advance this season and become the only program to play in all six tourneys in league history. UND has advanced past the first round sixteen straight times, while Denver last missed the WCHA Final Five semifinals in 2013, the Pios’ final season in that conference. 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

All games of this weekend’s series (8:08 p.m. Central Time on Friday and Saturday; 7:08 p.m. Central Time on Sunday if necessary) will be available through Midco Sports Network, which is picking up the feed from Denver’s NCHC.tv broadcast. A high-definition webcast of the games will also 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 does not want to get into a track meet with the Pios. UND definitely has a chance at taking this best-of-three series, with at least one of these tilts headed to overtime. If the Fighting Hawks can win the goaltending battle and end up on the plus side of the special teams ledger, they will head to St. Paul for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. North Dakota has been at their best when the chips are down, and I see that trend continuing this weekend, with plenty of Green and White in the stands at Magness Arena to cheer them on this weekend and even more making the annual trek to the Twin Cities one week from today. UND 2-1, DU 3-2 (OT), UND 3-2 (OT).

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. Omaha

After a trip to the Frozen Four in 2015, Dean Blais could only manage a mark of 35-34-6 over his final two seasons behind the Omaha bench. He was replaced by Mike Gabinet (Omaha ’04), and Gabinet finished up his rookie campaign with an eerily similar record of 17-17-2.

Maverick fans were certainly hopeful that improvement was coming this season, but Omaha sputtered out of the gate with a record of 0-6-1. Things have certainly leveled off since then with a mixed bag of results, and the Mavs bring an overall record of 9-20-3 into this weekend’s road series at North Dakota (16-15-2).

Omaha has had a bit more offensive success than North Dakota this season (2.59 goals scored/per game for UNO; 2.55 goals scored/game for UND), although they have not been able to keep the puck out of their own net. If three goals is the magic number for success in men’s college hockey, here’s how the two teams stack up:

Omaha scoring three or more goals: 17 times
(including both games vs. North Dakota in January)

Omaha allowing three or more goals: 25 times
(including both games vs. North Dakota in January)

North Dakota scoring three or more goals: 16 times

North Dakota allowing three or more goals: 14 times

North Dakota is allowing 2.39 goals per contest (15th-best in the country); while Omaha clocks in at an abysmal 3.72 goals allowed per game (58th).

More to the point, UND has allowed three or more goals in both games of a weekend series only twice this season:

October 19-20, 2018 vs. Minnesota State: 4-7 L, 4-3 W
January 18-19, 2019 at Nebraska-Omaha: 4-3 W, 3-4 L

That has usually translated into splits, as North Dakota has held opponents to five total goals or less in twelve of sixteen series this season (aside from Minnesota State [ten] and Omaha [seven], Duluth scored six goals in a home series and Western Michigan scored eight at REA in November).

Omaha has struggled mightily in conference play this year, with only five victories (5-15-2-1). UNO has allowed a league-high 82 goals in NCHC play this season while scoring the second-fewest (51). By contrast, North Dakota (10-11-1-0 in league play) has scored 52 but allowed only 53.

Two familiar names in UND hockey history – Morelli and Ward – have been leading the charge for Mike Gabinet’s squad. Senior forward Mason Morelli (grandson of Reg Morelli; 19-13-32 this season) and freshman forward Taylor Ward (son of Dixon Ward; 8-18-26) rank 1st and 3rd in team scoring for the Mavericks. Those two followed in the footsteps of Josh Archibald (son of Jim), Dayn Belfour (son of Ed), and Dominic Zombo (son of Rick) as “legacy” players who followed Dean Blais down I-94 from Grand Forks to Omaha.

North Dakota hockey fans will also recognize another name on the Omaha roster. Junior goaltender Matej Tomek (0-1-0, 4.73 goals-against average, .845 save percentage in five appearances) spent the 2016-17 at UND, appearing in two games while backing up Cam Johnson. Tomek, who spent last season with the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, is a 3rd round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (#90 overall in 2015)

Last year’s senior class at North Dakota (Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson) went 101-45-20 (.669) and became the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games. This year’s group (Ryan Anderson, Rhett Gardner, Joel Janatuinen, and Hayden Shaw) currently sits at 88-50-19 (.621) and will be unable to continue that impressive streak, as only ten possible victories remain on the schedule.

Currently, UND leads the nation in faceoff efficiency (57.3 percent); UNO is 56th at 44.9 percent. North Dakota outpaces Omaha in both Corsi (58.1 to 45.8 percent) and Fenwick (58.0 to 45.2 percent). Corsi measures the percentage of shot attempts by a team compared to that of its opponents; Fenwick measures the percentage of unblocked shot attempts by a team compared to that of its opponents.

As a whole, the NCHC fared extremely well in non-conference action, collecting a combined record of 50-21-8 (.684) and sporting a winning record against four of the other five leagues across the college hockey landscape (losing the head-to-head with the ECAC, 2-3-1). Here are the inter-conference records, from best to worst:

NCHC: 50-21-8 (.684)
Big Ten: 34-22-5 (.598)
Hockey East: 52-44-8 (.538)
ECAC: 43-46-6 (.484)
WCHA: 22-38-5 (.377)
Atlantic Hockey: 14-44-6 (.266)

Not only could the NCHC as a whole field four or even five teams in the NCAA tournament, but North Dakota’s record against Minnesota (1-0-0) and Wisconsin (2-0-0) will also help them specifically in Pairwise comparisons against all of the Big Ten teams. If the season ended today, St. Cloud State (1st in the Pairwise rankings), Duluth (3rd), Denver (6th), with Western Michigan (14th) on the bubble and North Dakota (20th), Colorado College (31st), Miami (34th), and Omaha (44th) even further back.

According to KRACH, Omaha has played the second-toughest schedule in the country this season; North Dakota’s slate of games ranks as the fifth-most difficult out of sixty men’s Division I hockey programs.

This weekend marks the last weekend of the regular season, and UND is currently in fifth place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, four points behind fourth-place Western Michigan. At 10-11-1-0 (31 points) in league play, North Dakota will need to earn five more league points than the Broncos (11-10-1-1, 35 points) this weekend to secure home ice for the first round of the NCHC playoffs. Over the first five seasons of the league, the fourth-place finisher (final home ice spot) has averaged roughly 36 points (11-11-2-1). UND has hosted the first round of its league playoffs (WCHA/NCHC) for sixteen consecutive seasons.

If UND fans are hopeful that Miami can sweep WMU this weekend in Oxford, Ohio, there is this: MU hasn’t swept a league opponent since January 6-7, 2017 vs. St. Cloud State (a stretch of 30 series without a sweep) and are 2-12 in their last seven weekends against NCHC teams. The RedHawks lost a pair of one-goal games in Kalamazoo back in January

According to Jim Dahl of collegehockeyranked.com, UND is most likely to end up at #16 in the Pairwise with a sweep over Omaha and at #20 with a split. A Mavericks sweep would most likely drop North Dakota to #22.

On the injury front, North Dakota sophomore goaltender Peter Thome (upper body injury) has played well over the past two weekends in place of freshman netminder Adam Scheel, who suffered a lower body injury three weeks ago at Western Michigan. The timeline for Scheel’s return is officially listed as week to week.

Thome (2-2-0, 1.78 goals-against average, .928 save percentage over his last four games) helped UND earn splits vs. Duluth and at Colorado College.

Forwards Joel Janatuinen and Grant Mismash are also out this weekend, although Mismash has resumed skating. Senior center Nick Jones (undisclosed) is expected to return to the lineup against Omaha.

One bright spot for Omaha has been their power play efficiency; the Mavericks clock in at just under 24 percent (8th-best in the country). To this point of the season, 33 of UNO’s 83 goals have been scored with the man advantage. On the flip side, Omaha has been dreadful on the penalty kill, allowing 28 goals in 131 shorthanded situations (78.6 percent, 44th).

By comparison, UND’s power play has been stuck all season long and currently sits at just 15.0 percent (20 of 133; 50th). The Fighting Hawks have allowed 26 power play goals on 129 attempts (79.9 percent; 37th) for a special teams differential of minus-six.

Slow starts have plagued UNO this season, as the Mavericks have been outscored 43-24 in the first period and 42-27 in the second. The final frame has been a wash for Omaha (32 goals scored, 33 goals allowed). Overall this season, UNO is allowing 34 shots per game while generating an average of 28 shots on goal.

North Dakota has been best in first periods this season, outscoring opponents 34-20 and outshooting teams by a collective margin of 341-240. In 33 games, UND has put 1027 shots on goal (31.1/game) while allowing just 771 (23.4/game).

In a strange set of stats, Omaha senior netminder Evan Weninger has seen his numbers drop every season in college hockey:

2015-16: 13-8-0, 2.46 goals-against average, .923 save percentage
2016-17: 11-11-4, 2.94 goals-against average, .907 save percentage
2017-18: 15-14-1, 3.36 goals-against average, .899 save percentage
2018-19: 9-19-3, 3.56 goals-against average, .897 save percentage

Omaha Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Gabinet (2nd season at UNO, 26-37-5, .419)

Pairwise Ranking: 44th of 60 teams
National Rankings: NR/NR

This Season: 9-20-3 (.328) overall, 5-15-2-1 NCHC (t-7th)
Last Season: 17-17-2 (.500) overall (missed NCAA tournament), 10-13-1-0 NCHC (t-5th)

Team Offense: 2.59 goals scored/game – 39th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.72 goals allowed/game – 58th of 60 teams
Power Play: 23.9% (33 of 138) – 8th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 78.6% (103 of 131) – 44th of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F Mason Morelli (19-13-32), Senior F Fredrik Olofsson (10-21-31), Junior F Zach Jordan (7-17-24), Freshman F Taylor Ward (8-18-26), Junior D Dean Stewart (5-15-20), Junior D Ryan Jones (0-11-11), Senior G Evan Weninger (9-19-3, 3.56 GAA, .897 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (4th season at UND, 88-50-19, .621)

Pairwise Ranking: 20th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #19/NR

This Season: 16-15-2 (.515) overall, 10-11-1-0 NCHC (5th)
Last Season: 17-13-10 (.550) overall (missed NCAA tournament), 8-10-6-1 NCHC (4th of 8 teams)

2018-19 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.55 goals scored/game – 41st of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.39 goals allowed/game – 15th of 60 teams
Power Play: 15.0% (20 of 133) – 50th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 79.8% (103 of 129) – 37th of 60 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jordan Kawaguchi (8-16-24), Senior F Nick Jones (5-10-15), Senior F Rhett Gardner (8-6-14), Junior F Cole Smith (4-10-14), Freshman F Mark Senden (6-7-13), Freshman D Jacob Bernard-Docker (5-11-16), Sophomore D Matt Kiersted (7-10-17), Junior D Colton Poolman (5-10-15), Sophomore G Peter Thome (3-5-0, 2.80 GAA, .883 SV%)

By The Numbers:

Last meeting: January 19, 2019 (Omaha, NE). The Mavericks scored three unanswered goals over the final 27 minutes of the hockey game to come from behind for a 4-3 win. Eleven different players figured in on the scoring for UNO, who got 31 saves from senior netminder Evan Weninger. One night earlier, UND’s Jackson Keane scored the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining for a 4-3 road victory. North Dakota outshot Omaha 71-44 in the two-game series.

Last meeting in Grand Forks: March 10, 2018. In the second and decisive game of the NCHC quarterfinal series between North Dakota and Omaha, Fighting Hawks’ forward Nick Jones scored the game-tying goal at 10:45 of the third period and the game-winner 53 seconds into overtime to propel the Green and White to their sixteenth-consecutive Twin Cities tournament weekend (WCHA Final Five/NCHC Frozen Faceoff). UND won Friday’s opener 4-0 on the strength of three second-period goals (by Christian Wolanin, Jones, and Joel Janatuinen).

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 six of the last ten contests between the schools, outscoring the Mavericks 35-27 over that stretch.

All-time: UND leads the all-time series 20-11-1 (.641), including a 9-6-1 (.594) record in games played in Grand Forks. North Dakota owns a record of 15-8-1 (.646) against the Mavericks since both teams joined the NCHC. The teams first met on November 19, 2010.

Game News and Notes

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. Since joining the WCHA in 2011 (and later the NCHC), the Mavs have never reached the Twin Cities for the second weekend of the conference tournament despite having home ice in three of those eight years. North Dakota ended UNO’s season in the first round of the league playoffs one year ago (4-0, 4-3 OT). The Mavs are 2-11-1 on the road this season, UND is 10-6-1 at home. Hawks’ junior defenseman (and captain) Colton Poolman has two goals and twelve points in twelve career games against Omaha.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend can be seen live on Midco Sports Network and Fox College Sports, with a high definition webcast of the series also available to NCHC.tv subscribers. All UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). The flagship station for the network is 96.1 FM (The Fox). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

The Prediction

If the faceoff percentages and fancy stats (Corsi, Fenwick) are any indication, North Dakota will have the puck most of this weekend. The results of this series will rest on the goaltending efforts of Omaha’s Evan Weninger. In nine victories, he has allowed fifteen total goals (1.67 goals allowed/game) with four shutouts; in nineteen losses, he has given up 79 (4.16 goals allowed/game). The Fighting Hawks are still in the mix for home ice and will celebrate Senior Night on Saturday, and both of those things should translate into some intensity from the Green and White side. The first team to three goals will win each contest, and it will be North Dakota on back-to-back nights. UND 4-3, 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!