Weekend Preview: North Dakota at Omaha

Omaha has gone just 7-11-0-0 in conference play, which currently has them in 7th place in the eight-team NCHC. Despite that sub-par mark, #13 UNO is tied for 9th in the Pairwise Rankings thanks to a 7-2-1 non-conference record (against UMass-Lowell, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Northern Michigan, and Union).

On the plus side, Omaha is scoring 3.61 goals per game, the fourth-highest scoring offense in the country.

On the minus side, Omaha is allowing 3.96 goals per game, the worst scoring defense in the country.

Out of conference, North Dakota had decent success (6-2-4, .667) against Alaska Anchorage, St. Lawrence, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Union, and Bemidji State. The league as a whole went 45-22-13 (.644) in non-conference play and could easily place five or even six teams in the NCAA tournament field. If the season ended today, St. Cloud State (1st), Denver (4th), Omaha (10th), Duluth (11th), and North Dakota (13th) would all make the tourney, with only Colorado College (24th) and Miami (27th) on the outside looking in.

Fighting Hawks’ freshman forward Grant Mismash has been nearly invisible over the past twelve games. Mismash started the season with a line of 5-9-14 through his first seventeen games in a UND uniform (including two goals in a 6-2 victory over Colorado College in October) but has been held to two goal and two assists in his past eleven appearances and was a healthy scratch on January 6th vs. Omaha.

Omaha has been dealing with the loss of junior forward Mason Morelli (4-10-14 in 16 games). According to the Omaha World-Herald, Morelli tore his ACL in a freak accident over the winter break and is lost for the season.

On the injury front, North Dakota finally appears to be getting healthy after losing 67 man-games due to injury, illness, or suspension this season. UND has used a different lineup in every game this year, including 55 different line combinations at forward and ten different defensive pairings. Expect head coach Brad Berry to keep the line of junior Rhett Gardner centering junior Shane Gerisch and senior Austin Poganski together. In their past three games as linemates, the trio combined for 17 points and three victories.

If UND hopes to make a deep playoff run, Gersich (9-13-22) and Poganski (10-7-17) will need to continue their recent scoring prowess. The two combined for 33 goals and 29 assists during the 2016-17 season but struggled to find open ice in the first half of this year. From October through December, Poganski went 4-2-6 and Gersich added 5-6-11 in twenty games each. In the past ten games, the two have scored ten goals and added twelve assists.

It is worthy of note that Poganski has scored two goals and notched eight assists in fourteen career games against the Mavs while Gersich has enjoyed similar success (2-5-7 in nine career games).

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

UND leads the nation in faceoff efficiency (56.2 percent); Omaha is 24th at 50.8 percent. Of the top fifteen faceoff men in the NCHC (minimum 100 attempts), five wear a Fighting Hawks jersey:

1. Nick Jones (60.2 percent)
3. Collin Adams (58.6 percent)
5. Rhett Gardner (58.3 percent)
9. Johnny Simonson (56.6 percent)
15. Ludvig Hoff (53.6 percent)

Hoff is currently representing his native Norway at the 2018 Winter Olympics (Pyeongchang, South Korea).

On the other bench, Omaha boasts two centermen among the top fifteen:

10. Luke Nogard (55.6 percent)
14. Teemu Pulkkinen (54.1 percent)

North Dakota enters this weekend’s series needing just one more win to reach the 1,500-win plateau all-time as a program. UND has more wins over the past eleven seasons (303) than any other program in the country, with Boston College (298) and Denver (285) rounding out the top three.

UND’s senior class of Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson (97-41-18, .679) needs three more victories to become the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games.

The Fighting Hawks have eight ties already this season, one shy of the school record set by the 2000-01 national runner-up squad that went 29-8-9. With only twelve victories and eight regular-season games remaining before the NCHC playoffs, it is possible that UND will finish the 2017-18 campaign with fewer than twenty wins. The last time a North Dakota men’s hockey team fell below that number was in 2001-02, when a Dean Blais-led group went 16-19-2 (.459) and missed the NCAAs.

North Dakota has gone just 6-7-5 (.472) over the last nine weekends of hockey after beginning the year 7-2-3 (.708), and Brad Berry’s squad will need a victory or two this weekend in order to solidify their place in the NCAA tournament.

According to Jim Dahl (collegehockeyranked.com), UND would most likely stay at 8th in the Pairwise rankings (which mimic the tourney selection process) with two wins this weekend, drop to 10th with a split, and drop to 14th with two losses. Due to autobids and tournament upsets, teams with postseason aspirations hope to be no lower than 12th or 13th after the final games have been played on Saturday, March 17th.

North Dakota has made the tournament for fifteen consecutive seasons (every year since 2001-02), the longest active streak in Division I men’s ice hockey. If Brad Berry can lead the program to its sixteenth-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, North Dakota would be placed in the 2018 West Regional (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) as the host school. The 2018 NCAA Frozen Faceoff will take place at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Omaha Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Gabinet (1st season at UNO, 14-13-1, .518)

Pairwise Ranking: t-9th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #13/#13

This Season: 14-13-1 (.518) overall, 7-11-0-0 NCHC (7th)
Last Season: 16-16-5 (.500) overall (missed NCAA tournament), 9-13-2-0 NCHC (6th)

Team Offense: 3.61 goals scored/game – 4th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.96 goals allowed/game – 60th of 60 teams
Power Play: 27.0% (34 of 126) – 2nd of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 77.7% (101 of 130) – 51st of 60 teams

Key Players: Senior F David Pope (19-19-38), Senior F Tyler Vesel (10-16-26), Sophomore F Zach Jordan (13-9-22), Senior F Jake Randolph (5-17-22), Junior F Fredrik Olofsson (6-14-20), Senior D Joel Messner (5-15-20), Sophomore D Ryan Jones (1-8-9), Junior G Evan Weninger (12-10-0, 3.65 GAA, .888 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 68-31-15, .662)

Pairwise Ranking: 13th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #9/#10

This Season: 13-9-8 (.567) overall, 7-7-4-2 NCHC (t-3rd)
Last Season: 21-16-3 (.562) overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.90 goals scored/game – 33rd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.33 goals allowed/game – 10th of 60 teams
Power Play: 19.5% (25 of 128) – 24th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.9% (102 of 123) – 19th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Shane Gersich (9-13-22), Junior F Nick Jones (9-12-21), Freshman F Grant Mismash (7-11-18), Senior F Austin Poganski (10-7-17), Junior F Rhett Gardner (5-11-16), Junior D Christian Wolanin (9-16-25), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (7-10-17), Freshman G Peter Thome (5-3-3, 2.15 GAA, .917 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers:

Last meeting: January 6, 2018 (Grand Forks, ND). One night after Evan Weninger made 34 saves in a 4-1 road victory, the Fighting Hawks exploded for seven goals and freshman netminder Peter Thome stopped all fifteen shots he faced. In the second period alone, North Dakota scored three goals and outshot the Mavericks 19-1 (32-15 for the game). UND senior forward Austin Poganski had a three-point night with an assist on junior Rhett Gardner’s first-period goal and two third-period tallies of his own, while Gardner added two assists to match Poganski in the scoring column.

Last Meeting in Omaha: January 7, 2017. North Dakota got to UNO netminder Evan Weninger early and often in cruising to a 7-3 victory and the weekend sweep (UND crushed the Mavericks 9-1 in Friday’s opener). Tyson Jost collected four points on the weekend after his emotional return from the World Juniors. Specialty teams were huge for the visitors, as the Fighting Hawks scored six power play goals and a shorthanded goal on the weekend while allowing Omaha just one goal with the man advantage in the two-game series.

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

Last ten: North Dakota has won seven of the last ten contests between the schools, outscoring the Mavericks 46-23 over that stretch. Maverick goaltender Evan Weninger made 56 combined saves in two road victories (February 2017 and January 2018).

All-time: UND leads the all-time series 16-9-1 (.635), including an impressive 9-3-0 (.750) record in games played in Omaha.

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. Fighting Hawks juniors Joel Janatuinen and Christian Wolanin will both appear in their 100th career NCAA contest on Friday night in Omaha. The Mavs are 10-3-1 at home this season and 4-10-0 on the road. North Dakota is 8-4-5 at home and 5-5-3 on the road.

Media Coverage

Friday’s opener (6:38 p.m. CT) will be telecast nationally on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch (7:07 p.m. CT) available on YurView. Saturday’s game will also be streamed live in high definition via NCHC.tv.

UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on 96.1 FM and on stations across the UND Sports Radio Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

The Prediction

After this weekend, North Dakota travels to Miami (10-15-3 overall, 5-11-2-1 NCHC) before hosting St. Cloud State (19-6-3 overall, 13-4-1-0 NCHC) on the last weekend of the regular season. According to collegehockeyranked.com, three victories in the last six games should keep North Dakota on the correct side of the playoff bubble. Assuredly, it will be easier to pick up wins against Omaha and Miami on the road than it will be to accomplish the same feat at home against SCSU. A split is the minimum from this weekend’s games, and that’s the result. The Mavericks are much stronger in series openers (10-4-0) than finales (4-9-1), so I’ll go with that. UNO 4-2, UND 5-1.

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. Colorado College

After winning just twenty total games over his first three seasons behind the CC bench, head coach Mike Haviland has already won eleven games during the 2017-18 campaign and has his Tigers just four points out of a home-ice playoff spot ahead of this weekend’s league series against North Dakota.

Colorado College (11-11-4 overall, 5-8-3-2 NCHC) has struggled in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, winning just sixteen conference games combined over the first four seasons of the league’s existence. Of the eight teams in the conference, the Tiger have finished last in each of the past three campaigns after a seventh place finish in 2013-14.

The feeling among the Tiger faithful has always been that new blood behind the bench would eventually translate into new life on the ice, and CC fans are finally being rewarded for their patience. Colorado College is averaging 3.04 goals per contest this year after averaging just a shade over two goals per game (215 goals in 107 games) over the past three seasons.

This season, a trio of Tiger forwards (Mason Bergh, Trey Bradley, and Nick Halloran) are leading the way offensively, scoring almost half (45.4 percent) of their team’s points. Halloran (16-23-39 in 26 games played) won NCHC Player of the Month honors in both December and January and is tied for the nation’s scoring lead on a points/game basis (both he and Northeastern junior forward Adam Gaudette [20-22-42 in 28 gp] are averaging 1.50 points per game). UND expects Mike Haviland to keep those three forwards together, and with the last line change, Brad Berry will most likely match with his top defensive pair (Colton Poolman and Christian Wolanin) and either the Rhett Gardner line or the Dixon Bowen line. Gardner is returning to the Fighting Hawks lineup after missing the past five games due to injury. UND did not win a game during Gardner’s absence (0-2-3).

The future is also looking up for Colorado College, as Mike Haviland does not have a senior on his roster this season. Former Wisconsin commit Grant Cruikshank and former Denver commit Erik Middendorf committed to CC this week, and former UND forward Chris Wilkie will be eligible to play next season (he’ll be a junior) after transferring back in May and sitting out this year under NCAA transfer rules.

Fighting Hawks’ freshman forward Grant Mismash has been invisible over the past ten games. Mismash started the season with a line of 5-9-14 through his first seventeen games in a UND uniform (including two goals in a 6-2 victory over Colorado College in October) but has been held to one goal and one assist in his past nine appearances and was a healthy scratch on January 6th vs. Omaha.

If UND hopes to make a deep playoff run, junior forward Shane Gersich (8-12-20) and senior forward Austin Poganski (9-5-14) will need to continue their recent scoring prowess. The two combined for 33 goals and 29 assists last year but struggled to find open ice in the first half of the season. From October through December, Poganski went 4-2-6 and Gersich added 5-6-11 in twenty games each. In the past eight games, the two have scored eight goals and added nine assists.

It is worthy of note that Poganski has scored three goals and notched seven assists in fifteen career games against the Tigers while Gersich has enjoyed similar success (5-2-7 in ten career games).

According to KRACH, Colorado College has played the 17th-toughest schedule in the country this season; North Dakota’s slate of games ranks 13th. The Fighting Hawks lead the country in faceoff percentage at 56.2 percent. CC clocks in at 44.4 percent (worst in the nation).

Of the top fifteen faceoff men in the NCHC (minimum 100 attempts), five wear a Fighting Hawks jersey:

1. Nick Jones (60.2 percent)
7. Johnny Simonson (57.2 percent)
8. Rhett Gardner (56.9 percent)
9. Collin Adams (56.6 percent)
15. Ludvig Hoff (53.6 percent)

With Hoff representing his native Norway at the 2018 Winter Olympics (Pyeongchang, South Korea) and Jones out with an injury, Brad Berry will rely heavily on the trio of Simonson, Gardner, and Adams in the faceoff circle. Gardner and Jones were both out of the lineup during UND’s last series against Denver, which left Simonson (20-18, .526), Adams (14-11, .560), and Hoff (18-13, .581) to do the heavy lifting at the drop of the puck.

North Dakota enters this weekend’s series needing just two more wins to reach the 1,500-win plateau all-time as a program. UND has more wins over the past eleven seasons (302) than any other program in the country (Boston College [297] and Denver [285] round out the top three).

UND’s senior class of Cam Johnson, Trevor Olson, Austin Poganski, and Johnny Simonson (96-40-18, .682) needs four more victories to become the fifteenth consecutive recruiting class to win at least 100 games.

The Fighting Hawks have eight ties already this season, one shy of the school record set by the 2000-01 national runner-up squad that went 29-8-9. With only twelve victories and eight regular-season games remaining before the NCHC playoffs, it is possible that UND will finish the 2017-18 campaign with fewer than twenty wins. The last time a North Dakota men’s hockey team fell below that number was in 2001-02, when a Dean Blais-led group went 16-19-2 (.459) and missed the NCAAs.

North Dakota has gone just 5-6-5 (.469) over the last eight weekends of hockey after beginning the year 7-2-3 (.708), and Brad Berry’s squad will need two victories this weekend in order to solidify their place in the NCAA tournament.

According to Jim Dahl (collegehockeyranked.com), UND would most likely stay at 8th in the Pairwise rankings (which mimic the tourney selection process) with two wins this weekend, drop to 12th with a split, and drop to 15th with two losses. Due to autobids and tournament upsets, teams with postseason aspirations hope to be no lower than 12th or 13th after the final games have been played on Saturday, March 17th.

North Dakota has made the tournament for fifteen consecutive seasons (every year since 2001-02), the longest active streak in Division I men’s ice hockey.

Colorado College Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Haviland (4th season at CC, 31-90-13, .280)

Pairwise Ranking: 24th of 60 teams
National Rankings: NR/NR

This Season: 11-11-4 overall (.500), 5-8-3-2 NCHC (7th)
Last Season: 8-24-4 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 4-16-4-1 NCHC (8th of 8 teams)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.04 goals scored/game – 24th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 3.27 goals allowed/game – 49th of 60 teams
Power Play: 18.4% (26 of 141) – 30th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 73.0% (81 of 111) – 60th of 60 teams

Key players: Sophomore F Nick Halloran (16-23-39), Junior F Mason Bergh (15-19-34), Junior F Trey Bradley (5-20-25), Junior F Westin Michaud (9-10-19), Junior F Trevor Gooch (10-6-16), Sophomore D Kristian Blumenschein (2-11-13), Junior D Ben Israel (1-8-9), Junior D Andrew Farny (1-7-8), Sophomore G Alex Leclerc (11-9-4, 3.18 GAA, .903 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 67-30-15, .665)

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

This Season: 12-8-8 (.571) overall, 6-6-4-2 NCHC (t-4th)
Last Season: 21-16-3 (.562) overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.86 goals scored/game – 32nd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.32 goals allowed/game – 10th of 60 teams
Power Play: 20.0% (23 of 115) – 23rd of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.6% (93 of 114) – 29th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (9-12-21), Junior F Shane Gersich (8-12-20), Freshman F Grant Mismash (6-10-16), Senior F Austin Poganski (9-5-14), Junior F Rhett Gardner (5-10-15 in 23 gp), Junior D Christian Wolanin (8-14-22), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (6-10-16), Senior G Cam Johnson (8-6-5, 2.14 GAA, .906 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 28, 2017 (Colorado Springs, CO). North Dakota freshman forward Grant Mismash netted two goals and paced UND to a 6-4 victory over the Tigers. Colorado College won Friday’s opener 2-1 behind 26 saves from Alex Leclerc and one goal apiece from Mason Bergh and Nick Halloran.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: March 12, 2016. Mike Haviland chose to start a clearly-injured Jacob Nehama in net, and it did not go well for the Tigers. Nehama allowed four goals on fourteen shots in the first period before giving way to Derek Shatzer. Nick Schmaltz had three goals and three assists in the weekend sweep for UND, which won the first playoff game by a final score of 7-1. The Fighting Hawks went 5-0-1 against Colorado College during their most recent national championship season, outscoring the Tigers 29-10 in the six meetings.

Most Important Meeting: March 27, 1997. UND defeated Colorado College, 6-2, in the Frozen Four Semifinals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Two nights later, North Dakota downed Boston University, 6-4, to claim its sixth NCAA Championship. North Dakota and Colorado College also met in the 2001 East Regional (Worcester, Mass.), with UND prevailing, 4-1.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 156-82-11 (.649), including a sparkling 100-21-7 (.809) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1948.

Last Ten: North Dakota has seven wins and a tie in the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring CC 41-21 over that span. UND had gone unbeaten in 14 straight (13-0-1) against the Tigers until the two most recent series in Colorado Springs (January 2017 and October 2017) ended in splits.

Game News and Notes

These two coaching staffs coached against each other at the AHL and NHL levels prior to the NCHC. The Fighting Hawks are 7-3-5 (.633) at home this season; the Tigers are 4-7-1 (.375) on the road. Colorado College has won two national titles (1950, 1957). Since 1957, the Tigers have appeared in the NCAA tournament thirteen times (most recently in 2011) and advanced to three Frozen Fours (1996, 1997, 2005).

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend can be seen live on Midco Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch also available on FOX College Sports Central. A high definition webcast of the games is 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

North Dakota has several advantages in this series: more size, more depth, and all of the home ice perks – last line change, a partisan crowd, and a narrower sheet of ice. Colorado College won’t make things easy, but the Fighting Hawks will earn their first sweep in over two months. UND 4-2, 3-2.

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

Weekend Preview: North Dakota vs. Denver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now, on to the games this weekend…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Denver Team Profile

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

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

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

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

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

North Dakota Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

By The Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game News and Notes

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

Media Coverage

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

The Prediction

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

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

Weekend Preview: North Dakota at Minnesota-Duluth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minnesota-Duluth Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

North Dakota Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

By The Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game News and Notes

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

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

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

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

Weekend Preview: North Dakota vs. Bemidji State

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For North Dakota, three things are key:

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

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

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

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

Two players to watch for Bemidji State:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bemidji State Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

North Dakota Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

By The Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

Game News and Notes

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

The Prediction

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

Media Coverage

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

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

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Omaha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Omaha Team Profile

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

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

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

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

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

North Dakota Team Profile

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

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

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

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

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

By The Numbers:

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

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

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

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

Game News and Notes

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

Media Coverage

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

The Prediction

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

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

Weekend Preview: North Dakota at St. Cloud State

Last season, North Dakota and St. Cloud State battled six times, with UND clearly having the better of it:

NCHC Regular Season
November 18, 2016 (St. Cloud): UND 4, SCSU 0
November 19, 2016 (St. Cloud): UND 3, SCSU 0

NCHC Regular Season
February 3, 2017 (Grand Forks): SCSU 3, UND 1
February 4, 2017 (Grand Forks): UND 2, SCSU 1 (OT)

NCHC First Round Playoff Series
March 10, 2017 (Grand Forks): UND 5, SCSU 2
March 11, 2017 (Grand Forks): UND 6, SCSU 5 (OT)

I would expect this weekend’s games to be less like the November series in St. Cloud and more like the NCHC playoff series that these two teams played back in March, with plenty of offense and end-to-end action.

#2 St. Cloud State boasts the nation’s most potent offense (4.54 goals scored/game) and the third-best power play (17 of 62, 27.4 percent). For many teams, that commitment to getting the puck up the ice and at the net will result in plenty of chances the other way, but the Huskies also have the country’s fourth-best team defense (2.15 goals allowed/game).

SCSU is even more effective on home ice, using the wide sheet to their advantage at even strength and on the power play. Through their first eight home games (all victories), Bob Motzko’s squad has scored forty goals (5.00 goals scored/game) and allowed only fifteen (1.88 goals allowed/game).

Offensively, the Huskies are led by four forwards and a defenseman who have already reached the double-digit point plateau this season:

Junior D Jimmy Schuldt: 5-14-19
Junior F Robby Jackson: 6-10-16
Sophomore F Ryan Poehling: 3-11-14
Junior F Mikey Eyssimont: 4-9-13
Junior F Jacob Benson: 5-5-10

This quartet of forwards have led the charge, with freshman forward Kevin Fitzgerald (4-5-9), senior forward Judd Peterson (1-8-9), junior forward Patrick Newell (2-6-8), and sophomore forward Jack Poehling (6-1-7) also contributing handily. The offensive talent is spread throughout the lineup and will be a matchup nightmare for Brad Berry and his staff, as UND’s second and third defensive pairs are relatively inexperienced.

Through the first eleven games, St. Cloud State had traveled outside of Minnesota just once, losing a pair at Denver but winning all nine games played in the State of Hockey. The Huskies answered some critics last weekend, however, by sweeping a weekend series at Omaha (7-4, 5-0). Despite the disparity in home and away games through the first half of the season, SCSU has played the 4th-most difficult schedule in the country (according to KRACH). By comparison, North Dakota’s strength of schedule weighs in at #12.

It’s been up and down for the Huskies in the first five seasons of the NCHC. 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.

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 their 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)

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

Last season was far from a milestone season for Bob Motzko’s squad, as the group sputtered to a record of 16-19-1 (.458) and missed the NCAAs for the first time since the 2011-12 team finished at .500 (17-17-5). North Dakota has made fifteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, the longest active streak in Division I men’s ice hockey and the second-longest streak of all time (Michigan appeared in 22 straight NCAA tourneys from 1991 to 2012).

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.

North Dakota and St. Cloud State will also face off in Grand Forks on March 2nd and 3rd, one week before the start of the league playoffs. It is very likely that the games this weekend and the series in March will determine whether one of these two teams (or Denver) will win the NCHC regular season title. Furthermore, the games this weekend give UND a chance to take over the top spot in the NCHC standings heading into the Christmas break, with the Fighting Hawks (5-2-1-1 in the NCHC, 17 points) trailing St. Cloud State (6-2-0-0 in the NCHC, 18 points) by a single point in the league standings.

For both UND and SCSU (and for the league as a whole), non-conference records will definitely help them down the road. St. Cloud State is a perfect 5-0-0 against Minnesota State (one game), Alaska, and Boston College while North Dakota is 5-2-3 against Alaska Anchorage, St. Lawrence, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Union.

In the second half, the Huskies will face Princeton, Minnesota, and Minnesota State (one game), while UND has only a home-and-home series with Bemidji State on the second half schedule. The league as a whole has gone 36-16-9 (.664) in non-conference play and could easily place five teams in the NCAA tournament field.

On the injury/illness front, St. Cloud State is completely healthy and North Dakota is…well….getting there. Senior goaltender Cam Johnson (7-2-1/1.71/.921 this season; 51-19-6/2.00/.918 in his UND career) and junior forward Joel Janatuinen (1-6-7 this season; 13-22-35 career) made their return to the lineup in last weekend’s sweep of Western Michigan. Junior forward Nick Jones (6-7-13) also played last Saturday after missing Friday due to illness.

Senior forward Trevor Olson (0-2-2 in seven games this season; 9-16-25 career) is expected to return and bring his physical style of play to the lineup this weekend, but the Fighting Hawks are still without the services of Dixon Bowen (1-2-3 this season; 7-6-13 career). UND has definitely missed Bowen’s speed, particularly on the penalty kill.

Sophomore forward Ludvig Hoff (2-4-6 this season; 6-16-22 career) and sophomore defenseman Andrew Peski (0-2-2 this season; 0-5-5 career) both left the UND lineup last weekend against the Broncos, and it is unclear whether either one will be available for Brad Berry in the last hockey action before the holiday break.

St. Cloud State Team Profile

Head Coach: Bob Motzko (13th season at SCSU, 262-185-43, .579)

National Rankings: #2/#2

This Season: 11-2-0 overall, 6-2-0-0 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 16-19-1 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 10-13-1-0 NCHC (5th)

2017-18 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 4.54 goals scored/game – 1st of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.15 goals allowed/game – 4th of 60 teams
Power Play: 27.4% (17 of 62) – 3rd of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.1% (43 of 53) – 33rd of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Robby Jackson (6-10-16), Sophomore F Ryan Poehling (3-11-14), Junior F Mikey Eyssimont (4-9-13), Junior F Jacob Benson (5-5-10), Junior D Jimmy Schuldt (5-14-19), Sophomore D Jack Ahcan (1-7-8), Junior D Will Borgen (1-7-8), Sophomore G Jeff Smith (7-1-0, 2.13 GAA, .927 SV%, 1 SO), Freshman G David Hrenak (3-1-0, 1.50 GAA, .959 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 65-26-11, .691)

National Rankings: #5/#5

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.94 goals scored/game – 23rd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.17 goals allowed/game – 5th of 60 teams
Power Play: 20.5% (16 of 78) – 24th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 87.0% (67 of 77) – 8th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (6-7-13), Freshman F Grant Mismash (5-9-14), Junior F Shane Gersich (5-6-11), Junior F Rhett Gardner (3-7-10), Junior D Christian Wolanin (5-9-14 and a wicked slap shot for a shootout goal), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (4-7-11), Senior G Cam Johnson (7-2-1, 1.71 GAA, .921 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 11, 2017 (Grand Forks, North Dakota). North Dakota finished off St. Cloud State in a wild contest that featured eleven goals, six lead changes, and an overtime winner by junior forward Trevor Olson. UND sophomore defenseman Christian Wolanin tied the game at 5-5 with just over four minutes remaining to send the game to an extra session. SCSU sophomore blueliner Will Borgen was ineligible to play in the first two games of the playoff series due to his suspension for physically abusing an official in a game against Colorado College. Had the Huskies held on to defeat the Fighting Hawks,

Last Meeting in St. Cloud: November 19, 2016. One night after making 26 saves in a 4-0 road victory, North Dakota netminder Cam Johnson bettered himself by making 36 stops in a 3-0 win. In the impressive weekend sweep, the Fighting Hawks went 3-for-8 on the power play and held SCSU scoreless on eight man-advantage situations. North Dakota sophomore forward Shane Gersich found the net four times over the two games, including a hat trick in Friday’s opener. The two wins, coupled with a 2-1 overtime victory in February, meant that UND won the Challenge Cup outright 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, 71-40-12 (.626), including a 29-21-6 (.571) record in games played in St. Cloud. Aside from their 2015 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal victory, 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: UND holds a 7-3-0 (.700) edge in the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring the Huskies 31-24 over that stretch of games.

Game News and Notes

St. Cloud State is perfect at home this season (8-0-0); North Dakota is 4-2-2 (.625) on the road. UND forwards Shane Gersich and Austin Poganski have each scored eight career points against SCSU, although it took Poganski fourteen games and Gersich only seven. The Fighting Hawks (57.0 percent) and Huskies (55.3 percent) are the top two faceoff teams in the country. Furthermore, nine of the top twenty centermen in the NCHC (according to faceoff stats) will be on the ice this weekend in St. Cloud. North Dakota netminder Cam Johnson is undefeated in his career against SCSU, with a 5-0-0 record, a goals-against average of 1.45, a save percentage of .931, and two shutouts.

Media Coverage

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

A Personal Note

All North Dakota and St. Cloud State hockey fans are invited and encouraged to attend an informal pre-game social on Saturday, December 9th beginning at 4:00 p.m. at Brothers (119 5th Avenue South in St. Cloud). Just a note that there will not be food or door prizes provided, but the Challenge Cup will make an appearance. Come and meet fans on both sides of this rivalry – here’s to hockey!

The Prediction

It will take North Dakota’s young group of defensemen some time to adjust to the wide sheet, particularly in the corners. I give St. Cloud State the advantage in the opener, with the Fighting Hawks roaring back to earn a road split. SCSU 4-2, UND 4-3.

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

Weekend Preview: North Dakota vs. Western Michigan

Before last season’s December home series against WMU, I wrote the following:

North Dakota and Western Michigan have faced off sixteen times since 1997, with UND claiming victory in fifteen of those contests and outscoring WMU 68-28 in the process.

The Fighting Hawks will be fortunate to win two of the four regular-season games against the Broncos this year.

How can both of these statements be true?

Through recruiting and player development, Western Michigan head coach Andy Murray has finally been able to put his mark on the team. Freshmen and sophomores are leading the way for the Broncos, and the combination of speed, size, and skill is one that will be barely recognizable to North Dakota fans.

And it was certainly prophetic to suggest that UND would struggle last season against the new-look Broncos, as Andy Murray’s squad split the series in Grand Forks (1-5, 3-1) and swept North Dakota at home in February (4-2, 3-2).

It appears that WMU will bring that same combination of speed, size, and skill to Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend, having scored 27 goals in six conference games (5-1-0). For the Broncos, junior forward Colt Conrad (9-12-21) and sophomore forward Wade Allison (10-9-19) both rank among the top ten nationally in scoring, with two other second-year forwards (Hugh McGing [4-13-17] and Dawson DiPietro [7-9-16]) not far behind.

The offensive success of Conrad, Allison, and McGing is not surprising (the trio combined for 80 points last season), but DiPietro came out of nowhere after appearing in just one game a year ago.

By comparison, junior transfer Nick Jones leads all UND forwards with a line of 5-6-11.

After this weekend, North Dakota will travel to St. Cloud to face the #2-ranked Huskies. If UND hopes to end 2017 on a high note, it will need to get more offensive production from senior Austin Poganski and juniors Shane Gersich, Rhett Gardner, and Joel Janatuinen. The quartet has just eleven goals in 62 combined games this season after potting 49 goals in 154 games last year.

Western Michigan is sitting in first place in the NCHC standings but has played only one league series away from home, a split at Duluth (WMU swept both Denver and Omaha at home). Overall, Andy Murray’s group is 9-5-1 through the first fifteen games of the season but have played only four games on the road (1-3-0). This next stretch of games will feature a much tougher test for the Broncos, with nine of their next thirteen contests away from Lawson Ice Arena.

The Fighting Hawks are getting healthier, with senior goaltender Cam Johnson (5-2-1/1.63/.925 this season; 49-19-6/2.00/.919 in his UND career) and junior forward Joel Janatuinen (1-5-6 this season; 13-21-34 in his UND career) expected to return to the lineup. Freshman netminder Peter Thome filled in admirably over the past eight games (3-2-3, 2.56 GAA, .907 SV%), but there’s no replacing Johnson’s talent and experience.

Sophomore forward Dixon Bowen (1-2-3 this season; 7-6-13 in his UND career) and senior forward Trevor Olson (0-2-2 this season; 9-16-25 in his UND career) remain out of the North Dakota lineup. UND has definitely missed Olson’s physicality up front and Bowen’s speed, particularly on the penalty kill.

Western Michigan Team Profile

Head Coach: Andy Murray (7th season at WMU, 112-102-33, .520)

National Rankings: #10/#8

This Season: 9-5-1 overall, 5-1-0-0 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 22-13-5 overall (NCAA East Regional semifinalist), 13-9-2-1 NCHC (3rd)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.67 goals scored/game – 4th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.73 goals allowed/game – 24th of 60 teams
Power Play: 16.0% (13 of 81) – 41st of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 85.7% (72 of 84) – 12th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Colt Conrad (9-12-21), Sophomore F Wade Allison (10-9-19), Sophomore F Hugh McGing (4-13-17), Sophomore F Dawson DePietro (7-9-16), Sophomore D Luke Bafia (1-8-9), Sophomore D Cam Lee (3-5-8), Sophomore G Ben Blacker (8-5-1, 2.48 GAA, .914 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 63-26-11, .685)

National Rankings: #6/#6

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

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.81 goals scored/game – 28th of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.19 goals allowed/game – 7th of 60 teams
Power Play: 20.0% (13 of 65) – 25th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 88.1% (59 of 67) – 5th of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Nick Jones (5-6-11), Freshman F Grant Mismash (4-7-11), Junior F Shane Gersich (5-4-9), Junior F Rhett Gardner (3-6-9), Junior D Christian Wolanin (5-8-13 and a wicked slap shot for a shootout goal), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (4-6-10), Senior G Cam Johnson (5-2-1, 1.63 GAA, .925 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: February 18, 2017 (Kalamazoo, MI). North Dakota outshot WMU 46-19 (including 34-7 over the final two periods) but could not rally from a 3-0 deficit as the Broncos held on for a 3-2 victory and a series sweep over the Fighting Hawks. UND sophomore forward Brock Boeser assisted on both North Dakota goals (Shane Gersich, Austin Poganski). The goal by Gersich came just nine seconds after WMU’s Taylor Fleming made it 3-0 early in the middle frame. Western Michigan won Friday’s opener by a score of 4-2 (ENG).

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: December 10, 2016. One night after dominating every aspect of play in a 5-1 victory, UND outshot Western Michigan 33-22 (21-7 in the third period) but went 0-for-6 on the power play and allowed the game-winner with under eight minutes remaining. The Broncos’ Michael Rebry added an empty-net goal to make the final score 3-1 in favor of WMU.

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 sixteen of the twenty games, outscoring the Broncos 78-39. Before last season, 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: North Dakota is 7-3 in the last ten meetings between the teams, although the Broncos have turned the tables in the series and have won the past three games.

Game News and Notes

With six more wins, North Dakota will reach the 1500-victory milestone as a program. No other program in the country has as many wins in the past eleven years as UND (298). WMU head coach Andy Murray’s son Brady played two seasons at North Dakota (2003-05) and finished with a scoring line of 27-39-66 in 63 career games. Brady Murray 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.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend will be carried live by Midco Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch also available on FOX College Sports. This weekend’s series will also be streamed live via NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games (home and away) can be heard on 96.1 FM and on stations across the UND Sports Network (as well as through the iHeart Radio app). Follow @UNDMHockey for real-time Twitter updates, or follow the action via live chat at UNDsports.com.

On A Personal Note

I have participated in Movember for the past five years and have proudly raised almost $9000 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

We are bound to see quite a bit of racehorse hockey this weekend, with the first team to four goals usually emerging victorious. I give the edge to the visitors in game one, with North Dakota rebounding on Saturday night for a split. WMU 4-2, UND 4-3

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

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 sixteen times during the first three seasons of the new conference, but the feud goes all the way back to Geoff Paukovitch’ illegal check on Sioux forward Robbie Bina during the 2005 WCHA Final Five.

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

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

And now, on to the games this weekend…

On the injury front, North Dakota senior netminder Cam Johnson (49-19-6, 2.04 goals-against average, .917 save percentage, and ten shutouts in his UND career) remains out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury he suffered during the morning skate last weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. In his absence, freshman goaltender Peter Thome has gone 2-0-2 for the Fighting Hawks with a goals-against average of 1.92 and a save percentage of .929. Thome is expected to start both games this weekend in Denver, with junior Ryan “Bob” Anderson backing him up.

Up front, UND is getting healthier, with sophomore forward Ludvig Hoff (5-4-19 in 44 career games played) and junior forward Joel Janatuinen (12-23-33 in 83 gp) available for Brad Berry this weekend. North Dakota will, however, be without the services of senior forward Trevor Olson (9-16-25 in 100 gp), who sustained an upper-body injury at Colorado College three weekends ago.

Playing at altitude is always a challenge for teams visiting Denver, but North Dakota’s depth should mitigate that somewhat. With the last line change, the Pioneers will make things difficult for UND’s defensemen and centers by splitting up their big guns across multiple lines. Here are the top four forwards for DU:

Junior forward Troy Terry: 5-13-18
Sophomore forward Henrik Borgström: 11-6-17
Junior forward Dylan Gambrell: 5-11-16
Junior forward Jarid Lukosevicius: 4-6-10

Terry and Borgström currently sit 1-2 in the NCHC scoring race, with Gambrell in fourth place.

By comparison, North Dakota is led by freshman forward Grant Mismash (4-7-11) and junior defenseman Christian Wolanin (3-7-10). No other Fighting Hawks skater has reached double-digit points this season, although seven other players have multiple goals and another seven have lit the lamp once.

If UND hopes to make a deep playoff run, junior forward Shane Gersich (4-4-8) and senior forward Austin Poganski (2-1-3) will need to find their scoring touch. The two combined for 33 goals and 29 assists last year but have struggled to find open ice through the first twelve games of this season.

If Denver has a weakness, it’s on the blue line. Of the six defensemen who suited up during DU’s national title run last season, only two will be in the lineup this weekend against North Dakota. Will Butcher (28-75-103 in 158 career games played) and Matt VanVoorhis (4-19-23 in 139 gp) graduated, and current seniors Tariq Hammond (5-15-20 in 94 gp) and Adam Plant (8-27-35 in 132 gp) are out of the lineup with injuries.

Hammond, the team captain, still hasn’t been cleared from off-season ankle surgeries. He’s practicing with contact but is still not skating effectively. Plant, an alternate captain, suffered an upper-body injury in the third period of last Saturday’s 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State and hasn’t practiced this week. It is still possible that Plant returns to the DU lineup on Saturday night.

Here’s a look at the likely defensive pairs for Jim Montgomery’s squad this weekend at Magness Arena (NCAA career stats in parenthesis):

Junior Blake Hillman (6-16-22 in 92 career games)
with freshman Ian Mitchell (0-8-8 in 10 career games)

Sophomore Michael Davies (4-17-21 in 54 career games)
with sophomore Erich Fear (0-1-1 in 14 career games)

Junior Sean Mostrom (0-1-1 in 4 career games)
with freshman Griffin Mendel (1-0-1 in 10 career games)

Both Mitchell and Mendel are 18-year-old freshmen.

Because of inexperience on the back end, Denver is allowing 2.80 goals per game this season after giving up just 1.82 goals/game last year.

Special teams play is always a factor in tightly-contested games, and I expect this weekend to be no different. One key situation to watch will be Denver’s power play (13 goals scored in 47 chances; 27.7 percent) against North Dakota’s penalty kill (2 goals allowed in 48 chances; 95.8 percent). UND has also been efficient with the man advantage, scoring 12 goals in 55 opportunities (21.8 percent). DU’s penalty killing has been miserable, allowing 8 goals on 36 opponent power plays.

Denver has one shorthanded goal on the season (Borgström), while North Dakota is still looking for its first.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: Jim Montgomery (5th season at DU, 108-49-20, .667)

National Rankings: #1/#1
This Season: 6-2-2 overall, 2-2-0-0 NCHC (t-4th)
Last Season: 33-7-4 overall (NCAA Champions), 18-3-3-2 NCHC (1st)

Team Offense: 4.20 goals scored/game – 2nd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 2.80 goals allowed/game – 27th of 60 teams
Power Play: 27.7% (13 of 47) – 4th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 77.8% (28 of 36) – 42nd of 60 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Henrik Borgström (11-6-17), Junior F Troy Terry (5-13-18), Junior F Jarid Lukosevicius (4-6-10), Junior F Dylan Gambrell (5-11-16), Junior D Blake Hillman (2-1-3), Freshman D Ian Mitchell (0-8-8), Sophomore D Michael Davies (1-3-4), Senior G Tanner Jaillet (5-1-2, 2.46 GAA, .911 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 62-24-10, .698)

National Rankings: #3/#3
This Season: 7-2-3 overall, 2-1-1-1 NCHC (3rd)
Last Season: 21-16-3 overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th of 8 teams)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game – 22nd of 60 teams
Team Defense: 1.75 goals allowed/game – 3rd of 60 teams
Power Play: 21.8% (12 of 55) – 20th of 60 teams
Penalty Kill: 95.8% (46 of 48) – 2nd of 60 teams

Key Players: Junior F Shane Gersich (4-4-8), Junior F Rhett Gardner (3-4-7), Freshman F Grant Mismash (4-7-11), F Nick Jones (5-4-9), Freshman F Collin Adams (4-1-5), Junior D Christian Wolanin (3-7-10 and a wicked slap shot for a shootout goal), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (2-5-7), Freshman G Peter Thome (2-0-2, 1.92 GAA, .929 SV%)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: Saturday, 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 Meeting in Denver: February 13, 2016. Dylan Gambrell scored two goals (with Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore assisting on both) as the Pioneers downed UND 4-1 to earn the home sweep. North Dakota outshot DU 35-25 for the game (and 80-56 on the weekend) but could only manage a first-period goal from Austin Poganski. Junior netminder Tanner Jaillet made 75 saves over the course of two games to continually frustrate the Fighting Hawks, who lost Friday’s opener 6-4.

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

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

Last Ten Games: The teams have split the last ten games with four victories each and two ties. In those ten meetings, UND has a slight 24-23 edge in combined score.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 144-123-12 (.538), although the Pioneers hold a 72-53-3 (.574) advantage in games played in Denver. The teams first met in 1950, with North Dakota prevailing 18-3 in Denver.

Game News and Notes

UND senior forward Austin Poganski has five goals and two assists in fourteen career games against the Pioneers. Denver (16) and North Dakota (15) have more consecutive seasons with twenty or more victories than any other Division I men’s hockey team in the country (Boston College is third with eight straight twenty-win seasons; Quinnipiac has accomplished the feat six consecutive times). Denver has not lost at home this season (3-0-1). 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

Both games this weekend will be televised live on Altitude 2 and DirecTV, with Friday’s game also available on TSN3 and TSN GO. A high-definition webcast of the series is 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

Earning more than a split at Denver is a mighty tall order, especially considering that North Dakota is without senior netminder Cam Johnson. These games will come down to goaltending and special teams, with Denver’s top-end talent possibly earning an extra point or two in the skills competitions (3-on-3 play and shootouts) that are likely this weekend. I see the Pios handling the Fighting Hawks in the opener, with the visitors rebounding to earn a hard-fought split. DU 4-2, UND 3-2.

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

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Miami

Over the first four seasons of the NCHC, Miami has averaged a fifth-place finish (8th, 2nd, 5th, 7th), with a combined league record of 34-53-9-7 (.410).

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 and 2010. 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, and 4th in the first four seasons of the new league.

Back in March, UND traveled to Ohio to face the RedHawks while also keeping an eye on the out-of-town scoreboard. North Dakota was battling Miami on the ice but also competing with Omaha and St. Cloud State for the last home-ice playoff spot. The Fighting Hawks earned a road sweep and clinched home ice in the first round of the league playoffs for the fifteenth consecutive season.

On the injury front, North Dakota senior netminder Cam Johnson (49-19-6, 2.04 goals-against average, .917 save percentage, and ten shutouts in his UND career) remains out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury he suffered during the morning skate last weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. In his absence, freshman goaltender Peter Thome made 58 saves against the Badgers in a win and a tie (allowing two goals each night), earning NCHC Goaltender of the Week honors for his efforts. Thome is expected to start both games this weekend against Miami, with junior Ryan “Bob” Anderson backing him up.

UND will also be without senior forward Trevor Olson (9-16-25 in 100 career games played), while sophomore forward Ludvig Hoff (5-14-19 in 44 gp) is questionable for this weekend. Both Olson and Hoff sustained upper-body injuries at Colorado College two weekends ago. On the plus side, junior forward Joel Janatuinen (12-23-33 in 81 gp) will play after leaving the Kohl Center ice last Saturday with an upper-body injury he sustained as a result of a high hit from Wisconsin defenseman Tyler Inamoto late in the first period. Inamoto was assessed a major penalty for contact to the head and was ejected from the game.

Both teams are clicking on the power play this season, with Miami at 27.9 percent (12 of 43) and North Dakota at 22.9 percent (11 of 48). UND has a decided advantage on the penalty kill, having killed 39 of 41 opponent power plays through the first ten games (95.1 percent, third-best in the country). The RedHawks, on the other hand, have already allowed eight power play goals (35 of 43, 81.4 percent).

Miami Team Profile

Head Coach: Enrico Blasi (19th season at Miami, 379-272-67, .575)

National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 4-4-0 overall, 1-1-0-0 NCHC (t-4th)
Last Season: 9-20-7 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 5-14-5-3 NCHC (7th)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.38 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.75 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 27.9% (12 of 43)
Penalty Kill: 81.4% (35 of 43)

Key Players: Sophomore F Gordie Green (4-9-13), Junior F Josh Melnick (2-6-8), Junior F Kiefer Sherwood (2-2-4), Sophomore F Carson Meyer (1-2-3), Senior D Louie Belpedio (4-3-7), Junior D Grant Hutton (5-3-8), Sophomore G Ryan Larkin (4-4-0, 2.71 GAA, .884 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (3rd season at UND, 61-24-9, .697)

National Rankings: #2/#4
This Season: 6-2-2 overall, 1-1-0-0 NCHC (t-4th)
Last Season: 21-16-3 overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 11-12-1-1 NCHC (4th of 8 teams)

2017-18 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.90 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.70 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 22.9% (11 of 48)
Penalty Kill: 95.1% (39 of 41)

Key Players: Junior F Shane Gersich (3-3-6), Junior F Rhett Gardner (2-4-6), Freshman F Grant Mismash (3-5-8), Junior F Joel Janatuinen (0-5-5), Junior F Nick Jones (3-4-7), Junior D Christian Wolanin (3-6-9), Sophomore D Colton Poolman (1-3-4), Freshman G Peter Thome (1-0-1, 1.63 GAA, .925 SV%)

By The Numbers:

Last Meeting: March 4, 2017 (Oxford, OH). After a scoreless first period, North Dakota’s Tucker Poolman led the way in the final forty minutes with two goals and two assists as UND downed Miami 5-2. The Fighting Hawks outshot the RedHawks 27-11 on the night (and 68-27 on the weekend). In Friday’s opener, North Dakota got a rare unassisted shorthanded tally from Trevor Olson with 100 seconds remaining to win 3-2.

Last meeting in Grand Forks: January 14, 2017. UND outshot Miami 34-15 and got points from seven different players (including a second-period shorthanded goal from Rhett Gardner) to defeat the RedHawks 3-1 and salvage a split of the weekend series. In Friday’s opener, MU used five third-period goals from five different goal scorers to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 victory, chasing Fighting Hawks netminder Cam Johnson in the process. Incidentally, Miami’s comeback was the first time North Dakota had lost when leading after two periods of play since November 1st, 2013.

Last Ten: UND has picked up seven wins in the past ten contests, outscoring Miami 35-27 over that stretch of games. The RedHawks have only hosted four of the past ten meetings between the schools.

All-time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series 12-5-1 (.694), including a 6-2-1 (.722) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first played in 1999 (Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI).

Game News and Notes

Both UND (on the road) and Miami (at home) have earned splits with Colorado College this season. North Dakota’s Grant Mismash (3-5-8 in nine games) is the top-scoring freshman in the NCHC. Miami’s Phil Knies (2-3-5) is tied with UND’s Collin Adams (4-1-5) for sixth among first-year players, one point ahead of North Dakota’s Gabe Bast (1-3-4). UND has received 21 points from its freshman class (Mismash, Adams, Bast, Jordan Kawaguchi, Matt Kiersted, and Josh Rieger), the seventh-most productive rookie class in men’s college hockey. The Fighting Hawks lead the nation in average attendance (11,643 per home game), while the RedHawks are 36th (2,509 per home game).

Media Coverage

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

The Prediction

Miami has not seen a team like North Dakota this season, while UND has already been tested in non-conference action. I see the Fighting Hawks jumping all over the RedHawks (particularly in Friday’s opener) and allowing freshman netminder Peter Thome time to get accustomed to playing in front of the home fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Saturday’s contest will be a bit tighter, but North Dakota has too much depth to let conference points slip away at home. UND 4-2, 3-2.

On A Personal Note

Please consider donating to my Movember campaign and help me change the face of men’s health!

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!