Sioux Sports Talk – Page 21 – UND fans discuss the Fighting Hawks

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Western Michigan

Freshmen are leading the way for the Western Michigan Broncos, as 18 of the team’s first 58 goals (31 percent) have been scored by first-year players. Forward Griffen Molino is tied for third in the league scoring race with 18 points (7g, 11a), while classmate Colt Conrad (5-8-13) is tied for ninth. First-year blueliner Oliver Kaski has also chipped in with 11 points. Among other accolades, Molino was named the NCHC Rookie of the Month for December.

The Broncos are coming off of a home shellacking at the hands of SCSU, losing 8-2 and 7-3 to the first-place Huskies. St. Cloud State scored on six of ten power play opportunities, dropping WMU’s penalty kill rate to under 70 percent, easily the worst unit in the country.

The boys from Kalamazoo, Michigan like to play a tight, physical brand of hockey, but that has meant quite a bit of time in the penalty box. WMU has been in 109 shorthanded situations already this season (compared to 79 power play opportunities). The Broncos’ power play has scored 16 goals this year (converting at 20.3%), but their penalty killers have allowed 34 goals to the opposition. By comparison, North Dakota has scored twenty power play goals and allowed fifteen in an equal number of man-advantage and shorthanded situations (101 each).

This season, the race for the Penrose is down to North Dakota and St. Cloud State. The Huskies (12-3-1-1, 38 points) are idle this weekend and have eight league games remaining, while the Fighting Hawks (11-2-1-1, 35 points) have ten. SCSU and UND, winners of the first two NCHC regular season league titles, will not meet again in the regular season.

If North Dakota is to put two more victories in the books and pass the Huskies, they will need to do it with secondary scoring. Two Hobey Baker candidates, senior forward Drake Caggiula (15-15-30) and sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz (3-24-27), are expected to miss a second consecutive weekend of action. In their absence last weekend against Colorado College, the top five forwards in the lineup for North Dakota (Brock Boeser, Bryn Chyzyk, Rhett Gardner, Luke Johnson, and Austin Poganski) accounted for eight goals and eight assists. Boeser also scored the only goal in Friday’s shootout victory over the Tigers, UND’s first shootout win in the history of the NCHC.

WMU’s Lukas Hafner, a senior goaltender who played his junior hockey with the Cornwall Colts (CCHL), has the worst numbers of his four-year career (3.49 goals-against average and a save percentage of .901), but that has as much to do with the team in front of him as it does his own play. Hafner has the ability to steal games and was a force two seasons ago, posting a 2.06 GAA and a save percentage of .925. The Toledo, Ohio native also has six assists in his career.

His counterpart in the UND net, sophomore Cam Johnson, has had two rough outings in his last four starts after going nearly 300 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal (a UND record and the second-longest in the history of NCAA Division I men’s hockey) . The Hockey Commissioners’ Association and NCHC Player of the Month for the month of December allowed four goals on 23 shots against Omaha and three goals on 11 shots against Colorado College in two consecutive Friday home starts this month. Johnson was able to bounce back from both of those outings (making 46 of 48 stops in the two Saturday rematches) and is currently first in the nation in goals-against average (1.42) and tied for second in save percentage (.942).

During the 2015-16 campaign, Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (17-0-2) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, North Dakota has gone 65 straight games without a loss when leading after the first two periods. Amazingly, UND is 8th nationally in scoring offense and 3rd in scoring defense, notching 93 goals and allowing only 46 in 26 games this season. Nationally, only St. Cloud State (113 goals for/52 goals against in 26 games), Boston College (100 goals for/45 goals against in 24 games), and Quinnipiac (92 goals for/40 goals against in 25 games) boast a better scoring margin than North Dakota.

Berry has his team in very good position for a 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. UND went 9-1-2 in non-conference games this season, with a home split with Wisconsin accounting for the only loss in twelve games. The Fighting Hawks are currently 3rd in the Pairwise rankings, one of four NCHC teams (along with St. Cloud State, Omaha, and Denver) who would make the NCAAs if the season ended today. Minnesota-Duluth (19th) and Miami (t-20th) are close, with Western Michigan and Colorado College outside the top 25.

Western Michigan Team Profile

Head Coach: Andy Murray (5th season at WMU, 80-73-27, .519)

Pairwise Ranking: t-30th of 60 teams
National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 7-14-3 overall, 4-9-1-1 NCHC (7th)
Last Season: 14-18-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 6-13-5-4 NCHC (7th)

Team Offense: 2.42 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 3.96 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 20.3% (16 of 79)
Penalty Kill: 68.8% (75 of 109)

Key Players: Freshman F Griffen Molino (7-11-18), Junior F Sheldon Dries (10-4-14), Freshman F Colt Conrad (5-8-13), Senior F Nolan LaPorte (5-6-11), Freshman D Oliver Kaski (4-7-11), Junior D Chris Dienes (2-8-10), Senior G Lukas Hafner (5-9-3, 3.49 GAA, .901 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 20-3-3, .827)

Pairwise Ranking: 3rd of 60 teams
National Rankings: #2/#2
This Season: 20-3-3 overall, 11-2-1-1 NCHC (2nd)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.58 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.77 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 19.8% (20 of 101)
Penalty Kill: 85.1% (86 of 101)

Key Players: Freshman F Brock Boeser (15-12-27), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (9-7-16), Junior forward Luke Johnson (7-7-14), Sophomore F Austin Poganski (6-9-15), Sophomore D Tucker Poolman (3-11-14), Junior D Troy Stecher (5-14-19), Junior D Paul LaDue (2-8-10), Sophomore G Cam Johnson (11-1-1, 1.42 GAA, .942 SV%, 4 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: February 21, 2015 (Kalamazoo, MI). Western Michigan scored two extra-attacker goals in the last four minutes of the third period to knot the game at two, but Drake Caggiula sent the home fans home unhappy with a goal at 3:31 of overtime. Zane McIntyre made 34 of 36 saves for the Green and White, who also won Friday’s contest by a score of 3-1. The Broncos’ lone goal in the opener came with 33 seconds remaining in the game, also with the goalie pulled. Yes, that’s right, all three of WMU’s goals on the weekend came with an extra attacker on the ice.

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 five NCAA tournament appearances but have not been in the national tournament since 2012.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Saturday, March 22nd (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 13th consecutive season.

All-time Series: In the short history between the schools, UND has won eleven of the twelve games, outscoring the Broncos 51-22. WMU’s lone victory over North Dakota was a 2-1 road win on March 8th, 2014. The teams first met in 1997.

Game News and Notes

UND forward Luke Johnson has collected three goals and four assists in seven career games against Western Michigan but was held off the scoresheet in last February’s road sweep. North Dakota is 9-1-1 on the road this season, while the Broncos are 6-2-1 at Lawson Ice Arena, suffering their first two home defeats of the year at the hands of St. Cloud State last weekend. UND has never lost in Kalamazoo (6-0-0). The Fighting Hawks and Broncos will also meet at Ralph Engelstad Arena on March 4th and 5th, the last two games of the regular season.

Media Coverage

Friday’s opener will not be televised, but Saturday’s contest will be shown live on American Sports Network, MidcoSN2, TSN2 (Canada), and WDAY’Z Extra. 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 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 can take a huge step forward in the league race with two NCHC victories this weekend. It won’t be easy, but UND showed last weekend that they can score without Caggiula and Schmaltz in the lineup. UND 4-1, 3-2.

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Colorado College

Mike Haviland’s second year behind the Colorado College bench has already produced better results than year one. Last season, the Tigers were historically bad, winning just twice (2-19-3-1) in 24 league games. This year, CC already has three conference victories (a December home sweep against Miami and a road split at St. Cloud State two weekends ago), and Haviland’s squad has posted a 5-4-0 overall record in the past nine games after opening the season with thirteen consecutive losses.

The feeling among the Tiger faithful is that new blood behind the bench will eventually translate into new life on the ice, and that has certainly been true since the end of November. Haviland is new to Division I hockey, but he was named the AHL coach of the year in 2006-07 (Norfolk Admirals) and served as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks for four seasons (2008-12), winning a Stanley Cup in 2010. He was most recently head coach for the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

UND and Colorado College met six times last season (twice in Colorado Springs), with North Dakota winning all six games and outscoring the Tigers 25-10. Without those six victories, UND’s record last year would have looked far less impressive at 23-10-3 (.681). This season, Brad Berry’s first trip to Colorado Springs as head coach resulted in a pair of victories (5-2, 2-0).

This weekend’s games are critical for UND’s Penrose Cup hopes. Last year, North Dakota went 10-2-0 against the bottom four teams in the league (Colorado College, Western Michigan, St. Cloud State, and Minnesota-Duluth) en route to a 16-6-2 conference mark and the NCHC regular season title. A second reward for the Green and White was a first-round playoff series against Colorado College, the 13th time in a row that UND hosted the opening round of the conference tournament. The Green and White dispatched the Tigers in two games (5-1, 3-2) and advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

This season, the race for the Penrose is down to North Dakota and St. Cloud State. The Huskies (10-3-1-1) have ten league games remaining, while the Fighting Hawks (10-2-0-0) have twelve. SCSU and UND, winners of the first two NCHC regular season league titles, will not meet again in the regular season.

If North Dakota is to put victories in the books and keep pace with the Huskies, they will need to do it with secondary scoring. Two Hobey Baker candidates, senior forward Drake Caggiula (15-15-30) and sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz (3-24-27), are expected to miss this weekend’s action. Freshman Brock Boeser (15-10-25) will be paired with new linemates but will need to finish his chances, as will senior forward Bryn Chyzyk (8-5-13). Other likely contributors among the forward group include junior Luke Johnson, sophomore Austin Poganski, and freshmen Shane Gersich and Rhett Gardner, all of whom have already netted five goals.

Colorado College has seen a resurgence in their offensive numbers since assembling a forward line of Hunter Fejes, Sam Rothstein, and Luc Gerdes eight games ago. The three upperclassmen (Fejes is a senior; the other two are juniors) have combined for 11 goals and 15 assists over the past four weekends, and the Tigers have averaged 2.88 goals per game over that same stretch, a far cry from the 1.57 goals/game over the first 14 games of the season.

Another storyline for the boys from Colorado Springs has been the play of freshman netminder Jacob Nehama. The Allen, Texas native has all five of the Tigers’ victories this season (junior Tyler Marble is 0-7-0), and those five wins have all come in his last eight starts.

His counterpart in the UND net, sophomore Cam Johnson, has been absolutely incredible since returning from injury in late November. Johnson leads the nation in both goals-against average (1.28) and save percentage (.949). The Flint, Michigan native went nearly 300 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal (a UND record and the second-longest in the history of NCAA Division I men’s hockey) and was named both the Hockey Commissioners’ Association and NCHC Player of the Month for the month of December.

Johnson’s play, equal parts steady and spectacular, has meant that North Dakota has been able to hold leads. During the 2015-16 campaign, Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (16-0-1) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, North Dakota has gone 63 straight games without a loss when leading after the first two periods. Amazingly, UND is 11th nationally in scoring offense and 3rd in scoring defense, notching 83 goals and allowing only 40 in 24 games this season. Nationally, only Quinnipiac (92 goals for/40 goals against in 25 games) boasts a better scoring margin than North Dakota.

Berry has his team in very good position for a 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. UND went 9-1-2 in non-conference games this season, with a home split with Wisconsin accounting for the only loss in twelve games. The Fighting Hawks are currently 3rd in the Pairwise rankings, one of four NCHC teams (along with St. Cloud State, Omaha, and Denver) who would make the NCAAs if the season ended today. Minnesota-Duluth sits squarely on the bubble (tied with Minnesota at 17), with Western Michigan, Miami, and Colorado College outside the top 25.

Colorado College Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Haviland (2nd season at CC, 11-43-3, .219)

Pairwise Ranking: t-52nd of 60 teams
National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 5-17-0 overall, 3-9-0-0 NCHC (8th)
Last Season: 6-26-3 overall, 2-19-3-1 NCHC (8th)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 2.05 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 3.59 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 15.4% (14 of 91)
Penalty Kill: 81.1% (73 of 90)

Key players: Senior F Hunter Fejes (9-5-14), Junior F Luc Gerdes (4-9-13), Junior F Sam Rothstein (5-7-12), Senior F Cody Bradley (5-4-9), Sophomore D Teemu Kivihalme (3-9-12), Freshman D Andrew Farny (2-7-9), Freshman G Jacob Nehama (5-10-0, 3.37 GAA, .905 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 19-3-2, .833)

Pairwise Ranking: 3rd of 60 teams
National Rankings: #2/#2
This Season: 19-3-2 overall, 10-2-0-0 NCHC (2nd)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.46 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.67 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 20.7% (19 of 92)
Penalty Kill: 85.1% (80 of 94)

Key Players: Freshman F Brock Boeser (15-10-25), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (8-5-13), Junior forward Luke Johnson (5-6-11), Sophomore F Austin Poganski (5-6-11), Sophomore D Tucker Poolman (3-11-14), Junior D Troy Stecher (5-14-19), Junior D Paul LaDue (2-6-8), Sophomore G Cam Johnson (10-1-1, 1.28 GAA, .949 SV%, 4 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 31, 2015 (Colorado Springs, CO). The Tigers could not solve UND’s Matt Krynkiw, as the junior netminder stopped all 29 shots he faced (earning his second shutout) and propelled North Dakota to a 2-0 victory (goals by Christian Wolanin and Shane Gersich). On the weekend, the Green and White put 79 shots on goal and scored seven times (UND won 5-2 in Friday’s opener).

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: March 14, 2015. Senior forward Connor Gaarder potted the game-winner with under 90 seconds remaining in the hockey game to propel UND to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Tigers. Colorado College forward Luc Gerdes scored a wraparound goal at 6:10 of the third period to knot the game at 2. CC outshot the Green and White 33-31, but Zane McIntyre was up to the challenge, making 31 saves in the victory. North Dakota won Friday’s opener by a much more comfortable 5-1 margin.

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, 151-80-10 (.647), including a blistering 97-21-6 (.806) mark in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1948.

Last Ten: North Dakota has won nine of the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring CC 38-18 over that span. The only Tigers victory was an overtime win in the 2014 NCHC quarterfinals.18 of the last 21 games have been decided by two goals or less.

Game News and Notes

In first periods this season, North Dakota has outscored opponents 27¬-13 while Colorado College has been outscored 22-8. These two coaching staffs coached against each other at the AHL and NHL levels prior to the NCHC. Only six teams in UND men’s hockey history have won 20 games before the calendar turned to February. With four January games remaining on the schedule, Brad Berry currently has his team’s record at 19-3-2.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend will be televised on Midco Sports Network. Saturday’s contest will also be featured 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 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

If UND was healthy, I would have the home team winning by three goals each night, but that’s obviously not the case. Question marks abound: How will Brad Berry shuffle the lines to get the most out of his forwards? Will North Dakota’s top four defensemen be able to handle the Rothstein line? How will freshman goaltender Jacob Nahama respond in his first Ralph Engelstad Arena appearance? I’m giving the Fighting Hawks the edge in both contests, but these games will be much closer than most people expect. UND 3-2, 3-1.

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Omaha

Nebraska-Omaha has finally figured out who will replace Ryan Massa in net (the four-year starter logged over 4000 career minutes between the pipes for the Mavs and was a key component in their Frozen Four run a year ago). In twelve starts, freshman netminder Evan Weninger ranks second in the league in save percentage (.942) and third in goals-against average, allowing less than two goals per game.

Fortunately for North Dakota, Weninger will not be in uniform this weekend due to an injury. Surprisingly, Mavericks’ head coach Dean Blais has elected to give freshman Alex Blankenburg his first career start in Friday’s opener rather than tab junior Kirk Thompson, who has performed capably in eight starts this season. Thompson has amassed a record of 4-3-1 with a 2.75 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage. Blankenburg has no official NCAA statistics (of course) and is listed at 5-8 and 162 pounds.

His counterpart in the UND net, sophomore Cam Johnson, has been absolutely incredible since returning from injury in late November. Johnson has won eight consecutive games (four by shutout) and allowed a total of four goals over that stretch (one each in the other four victories). The Flint, Michigan native went nearly 300 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal (a UND record and the second-longest in the history of NCAA Division I men’s hockey) and was named both the Hockey Commissioners’ Association and NCHC Player of the Month for the month of December.

Johnson’s play, equal parts steady and spectacular, has meant that North Dakota has been able to hold leads. During the 2015-16 campaign, Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (11-0-1) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, North Dakota has gone 62 straight games without a loss when leading after the first two periods. Amazingly, UND is 11th nationally in scoring offense 2nd in scoring defense, notching 75 goals and allowing only 35 in 22 games this season. By comparison, UNO has outscored opponents 66-47 over their first 20 games. Nationally, only Quinnipiac (87 goals for/35 goals against in 23 games) boasts a better scoring margin than North Dakota.

Omaha was swept by visiting Denver last weekend, the second sweep the Mavericks have suffered this season (UNO also lost a pair of games at Western Michigan in late October). Omaha’s first period on Friday night will set the tone for the entire weekend, as head coach Dean Blais will have his squad prepared to rebound from their first two home losses of the season.

Berry has his team in very good position for a 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. UND went 9-1-2 in non-conference games this season, with a home split with Wisconsin accounting for the only loss in twelve games. The Fighting Hawks are currently 2nd in the Pairwise rankings, one of four NCHC teams (along with Omaha, St. Cloud State, and Denver) who would make the NCAA’s if the season ended today. Minnesota-Duluth sits squarely on the bubble at 16, with Western Michigan, Miami, and Colorado College outside the top 25.

Omaha will host North Dakota in late February for UND’s first games in the newly-opened Baxter Arena (capacity 7,898). With hockey back on the UNO campus, North Dakota can expect a raucous, rowdy atmosphere next month. Brad Berry has his squad playing well on the road, going 10-1-2 in the first half of the season. No team in the country has more road wins than North Dakota.

UND’s next home victory will mark 200 home wins since the current Ralph Engelstad Arena opened prior to the 2001-2002 season. North Dakota is 199-73-34 (.706) all-time at the Palace on the Prairie, including an 8-1-1 record this season. The team will be wearing green jerseys at home for the first time in the Ralph, and a Green Out is planned for Friday’s opener. Fans are encouraged to wear green to match and support the home squad. NCHC teams will wear dark jerseys at home and white jerseys on the road for the second half of the season (conference games only).

Nebraska-Omaha Team Profile

Head Coach: Dean Blais (7th season at UNO, 125-104-25, .541)

Pairwise Ranking: 7th of 60 teams
National Rankings: #9/#9
This Season: 14-5-1 overall, 4-5-1-0 NCHC (5th)
Last Season: 20-13-6 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 12-8-4-3 NCHC (3rd)

Team Offense: 3.30 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.35 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.9% (14 of 78)
Penalty Kill: 87.5% (70 of 80)

Key Players: Junior forward Jake Guentzel (10-17-27), Junior F Austin Ortega (16-8-24), Junior F Justin Parizek (6-15-21), Sophomore F Jake Randolph (8-9-17), Sophomore D Luc Snuggerud (2-6-8), Junior D Ian Brady (1-5-6), Freshman G Evan Weninger (10-2-0, 1.99 GAA, .942 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 18-2-2, .864)

Pairwise Ranking: 2nd of 60 teams
National Rankings: #1/#2
This Season: 18-2-2 overall, 9-1-0-0 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.41 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.59 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.9% (15 of 84)
Penalty Kill: 84.7% (72 of 85)

Key Players: Senior F Drake Caggiula (14-15-29), Sophomore F Nick Schmaltz (3-23-26), Freshman F Brock Boeser (13-8-21), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (8-3-11), Sophomore D Tucker Poolman (3-11-14), Junior D Troy Stecher (3-12-15), Freshman D Christian Wolanin (3-6-9), Sophomore G Cam Johnson (9-0-1, 1.07 GAA, .957 SV%, 4 SO)

By The Numbers:

Last meeting: January 31, 2015 (Omaha, NE). UND flipped the script from Friday’s opener as Brendan O’Donnell potted the game-winner two minutes into overtime to give North Dakota a 4-3 victory. One night earlier, Omaha forward Austin Ortega’s goal with 33 ticks remaining in the extra frame spoiled UND’s third period comeback. Five of the twelve goals in the series were scored on the power play.

Last meeting in Grand Forks: November 29, 2014. Zane McIntyre made 32 saves as the Green and White built a 3-1 lead and held on for a 3-2 home victory. North Dakota senior forward Mark McMillan scored a second period goal that withstood a lengthy review, and senior captain Stephane Pattyn potted a shorthanded tally late in the middle frame for the game winning goal. UND and UNO skated to a 2-2 tie in Friday’s opener, but Nebraska-Omaha won the shootout for the extra league point.

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.

All-time: UND leads the all-time series 9-6-1 (.594), including a 4-3-1 (.563) record in games played in Grand Forks. North Dakota has picked up six wins and a tie in the last ten games between the schools, outscoring the Mavs 30-27 over that stretch. Three of the last four games have gone to overtime.

Game News and Notes

Dean Blais, who was the head coach at UND from 1994-2004, collected 262 victories at North Dakota and led the school to national titles in 1997 and 2000. Senior forward Drake Caggiula has appeared in 144 games in his North Dakota career, tied with Minnesota State’s Bryce Gervais for the most among all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players. Prior to last weekend’s sweep at the hands of Denver, UNO had gone 8-1-1 in its previous ten games. Both UND and Omaha are tied for second in the nation with six shorthanded goals, one behind first-place Penn State. North Dakota has not lost since November 21st, a string of eight consecutive victories.

Media Coverage

The Prediction

Here are the key questions for this series: Which defensive pairing will Brad Berry match up against Jake Guentzel’s line (with RW Austin Ortega and whoever plays left wing), and will those blueliners be effective? How will the CBS line (Caggiula, Brock Boesser, and Nick Schmaltz) fare against a rookie netminder making his first start in a hostile environment? And how will the officials call a game that is certain to be hard-nosed, gritty, and physical? The fans are in for a treat this weekend, and both teams will leave with points. 2-2 tie (North Dakota wins the shootout), UND 4-1.

NCHC 2015-16 Midseason Report

At the beginning of the season, I gave you my predicted order of finish in the NCHC:

1. Minnesota-Duluth
2. Denver
3. North Dakota
4. Omaha
5. Miami
6. St. Cloud State
7. Western Michigan
8. Colorado College

And here’s how the race stacks up heading into this weekend’s action:

NCHC 2015-16 Current Standings

Team	Record	Points
North Dakota	9-1-0-0	27
St. Cloud State	8-2-0-0	24
Minnesota-Duluth	4-5-1-1	14
Omaha	4-3-1-0	13
Western Michigan	4-6-0-0	12
Denver	3-4-1-0	10
Miami	2-7-1-1	8
Colorado College	2-8-0-0	6

It is worth noting that Omaha and Denver have each played only eight conference games, while the other six NCHC teams have already played ten. It appears that North Dakota and St. Cloud State have all but locked up home ice for the first round of the conference playoffs, with Minnesota-Duluth, Omaha, Western Michigan, and Denver battling for the other two places in the top half of the league.

We will have a very interesting race for the league title. Take a look at the remaining opponents for North Dakota and St. Cloud State:

North Dakota Home: UNO (2), CC (2), UMD (2), WMU (2)
Road: WMU (2), DU (2) UNO (2)
St. Cloud State Home: CC (2), WMU (2), UMD (2)
Road: UMD (2), Miami (2), UNO (2), CC (2)

UND has one more home series than the Huskies, but St. Cloud plays four of their remaining 14 conference games against Colorado College. With a three point (one game) lead headed into the second half, I’ll give the edge to North Dakota, but it’s close.

St. Cloud State has definitely been the biggest surprise to me in the first half (I tabbed them to finish sixth in the league), while both Duluth (my preseason #1) and Denver (#2) have been a mystery. SCSU already has eight league wins after collecting just eleven a year ago, while the Bulldogs (4-5-11) and Pioneers (3-4-1-0) have just seven between them.

Here’s why I had the Huskies in 6th place headed into this season:

After winning back-to-back conference titles, the Huskies fell to 6th place in the NCHC last year. While SCSU consistently scored with the man advantage, the rest of the offense suffered. St. Cloud State only scored 1.65 even strength goals per game in 2014-15 after posting a much more respectable 2.42 goals per game in the same category two seasons ago. If Bob Motzko’s crew wants to contend for an upper-division finish, balanced scoring is key.

Fast forward to this season: Yes, St. Cloud is blistering on the power play (22 of 72, 30.6%), but they’ve also scored two shorthanded goals, five empty-netters, and 61 even-strength goals in 20 games while allowing under two goals per contest. That’s good for a scoring margin of 90-39 while playing the most difficult schedule in the country (according to KRACH).

If I had to predict how the race for home ice would play out, I would put them in this order:

1. North Dakota
2. St. Cloud State
3. Omaha
4. Duluth

Of the bottom four teams, Denver is the most likely to make a run at Duluth for the final home-ice spot, while Miami, Western Michigan, and Colorado College will be playing for seeding purposes in the second half.

Who do you think will hoist the Penrose Cup? Feel free to comment below with your predictions, and we’ll see you at the rink!

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Minnesota-Duluth

Minnesota-Duluth just might be the biggest fan of 3-on-3 overtime in the entire league.

The Bulldogs took the extra point at home against #8 Denver on November 14th to break a four-game losing streak. During those four losses, UMD was outscored 17-7. Since that night, the first instance of 3-on-3 in the NCHC, Scott Sandelin’s club has won four straight, outscoring Colorado College and Western Michigan by a combined margin of 24-2.

North Dakota has also put together an impressive stretch of hockey over the past two weekends. UND has back-to-back sweeps of Michigan State and Denver, scoring 16 goals and allowing three in those four games combined.

UND’s situation between the pipes has solidified after a rocky beginning. In 2015-16, head coach Brad Berry expected his goaltenders to be sophomore Cam Johnson and freshman Matej Tomek, but both of them went down with injuries. The job was left to junior walk-on (and practice goalie) Matt Hrnkiw, and he responded by keeping North Dakota in games and racking up wins until UND could get healthy again. Johnson has since reclaimed the crease and played very well over the past two weekends against Michigan State and Denver, stopping 97 of 100 shots and allowing only a single goal in three straight games before posting his first career shutout last Saturday night against the Pioneers. For his efforts, Johnson was named NCHC Goaltender of the Week for the second consecutive week and for the third time this season.

Minnesota-Duluth was tabbed to win the NCHC this season after finishing fifth a year ago. The Bulldogs returned goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (18-14-3, 2.30 goals-against average, .917 save percentage, one shutout) and 94 of their 115 goals (81.7%) from last season. Here’s what I wrote about UMD in my NCHC Season Preview and Predictions:

Duluth is a legitimate title contender this year, with almost all of the key pieces returning. The Bulldogs tightened up defensively last season and could be even better this time around. If UMD stays healthy, they will have their most successful season since 2011, when Scott Sandelin hung a national championship banner inside the DECC.

With those lofty expectations, Duluth’s start has to be seen as a disappointment. While it is true that UMD picked up four big league wins over the past two weekends, those victories were against Western Michigan and Colorado College. The Bulldogs were swept at Omaha and managed to pick up just two of six conference points at home while hosting Denver. If Scott Sandelin’s club expects to make a push for the NCHC title, they’ll need to do better on home ice, and it starts this weekend against North Dakota.

Junior forwards Dominic Toninato and Alex Iafallo have not been a huge factor for the Bulldogs lately but could heat up in the second half. The pair combined for 51 points in 68 combined games last season but are stuck on 15 combined points through the team’s first fifteen contests this year. Toninato had a nice October, with two game-winning goals (vs. Minnesota in the second game of a home-and-home and at Massachusetts-Lowell), and his third period goal at Minnesota in the series opener effectively iced the game just 32 seconds after the Gophers cut the lead to one. Unfortunately, Toninato, who scored 16 goals in 2014-15, has lit the lamp just three times in the past nine games dating back to Halloween night.

Toninato’s line (he has been skating with Iafallo and freshman Adam Johnson) did put together a nice weekend against Western Michigan, posting four goals and an assist. All three scored in Friday’s 7-0 win, and Johnson added a goal on Saturday for the first two goals of his NCAA career.

North Dakota forwards Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser, and Nick Schmaltz have been everything for the Green and White over the past eight games, notching 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) and posting a combined plus-48 rating. During that stretch, the ‘CBS’ line has accounted for over 60 percent of UND’s goals. Sophomore forward Austin Poganski (5-4-9) did score three goals last weekend against Denver, but Duluth is deeper at forward than UND right now. Secondary scoring will need to come from senior Bryn Chyzyk (6-3-9), junior Luke Johnson (3-4-7), and sophomore Johnny Simonson (2-6-8) if North Dakota is to stay on top of the league race.

Another big reason for UND’s success this season has been North Dakota’s ability to hold a lead. During the 2015-16 campaign, Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (7-0-1) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, over the past eight years, North Dakota is converting almost 90 percent of second intermission leads into victories and has just seven losses in the last 163 such situations (145-7-11).

North Dakota head coach Brad Berry has his team in very good position for a 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. UND’s record outside the NCHC now sits at 7-1-2, with only a January home series against Alabama-Huntsville (3-9-2, 2-8-2 WCHA) remaining on the non-conference schedule. The Fighting Hawks are currently 5th in the Pairwise rankings, one of four NCHC teams (along with Omaha, St. Cloud State, and Denver) who would make the NCAA’s if the season ended today. Brad Berry’s .833 winning percentage (14-2-2) is tied with Bob Peters (15-3-0) for the best 18-game start in program history.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference as a whole has a solid record against other leagues once again this season, particularly against the Big Ten. North Dakota’s split against Wisconsin is currently the only league loss against the six teams in the conference that destroyed college hockey as we knew it.

NCHC overall record vs. other conferences: 34-21-7 (.605, second best in the country)

NCHC record vs. Atlantic Hockey: 4-2-0 (.667)
NCHC record vs. Big Ten: 14-1-1 (.906)
NCHC record vs. ECAC: 1-6-0 (.143)
NCHC record vs. Hockey East: 5-11-4 (.350)
NCHC record vs. WCHA: 10-1-2 (.846)

The six teams in the Big Ten (Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin) are a combined 29-32-11 (.479) in non-league play, the second-worst winning percentage in college hockey (Atlantic Hockey, 10-40-3, .217). Not including a 12-2-1 mark against Atlantic Hockey and a 2-0-0 record against D-I independents, the Big Ten sports a dismal 15-30-10 (.364) record against the other four major hockey conferences.

Last season, 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.

Minnesota-Duluth Team Profile

Head Coach: Scott Sandelin (15th season at UMD, 275-266-73, .507)
National Rankings: #17/NR
This Season: 7-5-3 overall, 4-3-1-1 NCHC (3rd)
Last Season: 21-16-3 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional finalist, 12-9-3-0 NCHC (5th)

Team Offense: 3.20 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.07 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 21.7% (15 of 69)
Penalty Kill: 85.5% (47 of 55)

Key Players: Senior F Austin Farley (10-9-19), Senior F Tony Cameranesi (5-12-17), Junior F Alex Iafallo (2-6-8), Junior F Dominic Toninato (6-1-7), Senior D Andy Welinski (2-8-10), Freshman D Neal Pionk (1-7-8), Sophomore G Kasimir Kaskisuo (7-5-3, 1.82 GAA, .928 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 14-2-2, .833)
National Rankings: #4/#4
This Season: 14-2-2 overall, 7-1-0-0 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.56 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.89 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.9% (12 of 67)
Penalty Kill: 81.9% (59 of 72)

Key Players: Senior F Drake Caggiula (13-12-25), Sophomore F Nick Schmaltz (3-21-24), Freshman F Brock Boeser (11-8-19), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (6-3-9), Sophomore D Tucker Poolman (1-10-11), Junior D Troy Stecher (3-10-13), Freshman D Christian Wolanin (3-5-8), Sophomore G Cam Johnson (5-0-1, 1.53 GAA, .934 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: January 10, 2015 (Grand Forks, ND). #1 North Dakota rallied from a 4-1 defeat to earn a home split with a 5-2 win over the visiting Bulldogs. Senior Brendan O’Donnell led the way for the Green and White with a hat trick, while teammate Zane McIntyre made 41 of 43 saves and picked up an assist on Mark McMillan’s second period goal. UND would not lose again in regulation until March 7th at #5 Miami.

Last Meeting in Duluth: February 22, 2014. North Dakota blitzed the Bulldogs 6-2 to complete the road sweep (UND won 3-0 in Friday’s opener). Freshman defenseman Paul LaDue scored two power play goals while Rocco Grimaldi, Mitch MacMillan, Dillon Simpson, and Jordan Schmaltz all registered two-point nights. The Green and White went 3-for-4 with the man advantage and held Duluth scoreless on five power play opportunities.

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.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 140-77-9 (.639), including a 57-39-5 (.589) record 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: North Dakota is 6-3-1 (.650) in the last ten games between the teams, outscoring Duluth 37-29 over that stretch.

Game News and Notes

The Bulldogs are 1-4-1 against teams in the top 15 of the Pairwise rankings. The two schools did not play in Duluth last season. Senior forward Drake Caggiula became the 85th member of UND’s Century Club (100 or more career points) last weekend. Caggiula has appeared in 140 games in his North Dakota career, tied with Minnesota State’s Bryce Gervais for the most among all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players. 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.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend will be televised on Midco Sports Network (channel 322 in Grand Forks). 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 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 playing better hockey than anyone else in the country right now and could very well sweep this weekend at the DECC. However, the Bulldogs have an edge in combined specialty teams and a proven netminder in sophomore Kasimir Kaskisuo (25 career victories). I’ve got a feeling UMD will rally on Saturday night to earn a hard-fought split. UND 4-1, UMD 3-2.

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Denver

In the NCHC, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota is at the top of the league rivalries. The teams have played nine games over the past three seasons, 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 seven 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 won the four of the past five playoff games between the schools, including three consecutive victories in the WCHA Final Five (2010-2012) and the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional final which sent the Fighting Sioux to the Frozen Four. The Pioneers throttled North Dakota 5-1 back in March when the two teams met in the third-place game at the 2015 NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

This season, the Pioneers went just 3-3 in October, including two overtime losses. Denver flipped the script last month, going 4-0-2 despite playing five of six games on the road. Each DU loss this season has been by a single goal, including back-to-back heartbreakers at Boston College (4-3) and Boston University (5-4) over Halloween weekend.

This weekend’s action will feature two of the top rookies in the NCHC. North Dakota’s Brock Boeser currently leads the conference with 16 points, while Denver’s Dylan Gambrell is tied for third with 11 points. UND’s Christian Wolanin also finds himself in the top six of the freshman scoring race with eight points.

Denver goaltenders Tanner Jaillet (3-1-2, 2.11 GAA, .929 SV%) and Evan Cowley (4-2-0, 2.33 GAA, .915 SV%) have each started six games for the Pioneers, with each netminder also coming on once in relief for the other this year. Expect Jaillet and Cowley to each play one game at Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend.

UND’s situation between the pipes has solidified somewhat after a rocky beginning. In 2015-16, head coach Brad Berry expected his goaltenders to be sophomore Cam Johnson and freshman Matej Tomek, but both of them went down with injuries. The job was left to junior walk-on (and practice goalie) Matt Hrnkiw, and he responded by keeping North Dakota in games and racking up wins until UND could get healthy again. Johnson has since reclaimed the crease and played very well last weekend against Michigan State, stopping 57 of 59 shots on the weekend and allowing only a single goal each night.

North Dakota forwards Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser, and Nick Schmaltz have been everything for UND over the past six games, notching 33 points (13 goals, 20 assists) and posting a combined plus-33 rating. During that stretch, the ‘CBS’ line has accounted for nearly 60 percent of UND’s goals.

Another big reason for UND’s success this season has been North Dakota’s ability to hold a lead. During the 2015-16 campaign, Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (5-0-1) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, over the past eight years, North Dakota is converting almost 90 percent of second intermission leads into victories and has just seven losses in the last 161 such situations (143-7-11).

After last weekend’s sweep at Michigan State, Brad Berry has his team in very good position for a 14th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. UND’s record outside the NCHC now sits at 7-1-2, with only a January home series against Alabama-Huntsville (3-8-1, 2-7-1 WCHA) remaining on the non-conference schedule. The Fighting Hawks are currently 7th in the Pairwise rankings, one of four NCHC teams (along with St. Cloud State, Omaha, and Denver) who would make the NCAA’s if the season ended today.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: Jim Montgomery (3rd season at DU, 51-33-10, .596)
National Ranking: #9/#9
This Season: 7-3-2 overall, 3-0-1-0 NCHC (t-3rd)
Last Season: 24-14-2 overall (NCAA East Regional finalist), 13-10-1-1 NCHC (4th)

Team Offense: 3.50 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.25 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.4% (8 of 46)
Penalty Kill: 89.7% (35 of 39)

Key Players: Sophomore F Danton Heinen (5-5-10), Freshman F Dylan Gambrell (2-9-11), Junior F Trevor Moore (2-6-8), Senior F Gabe Levin (2-5-7), Senior F Quentin Shore (4-2-6), Junior D Will Butcher (3-9-12), Senior D Nolan Zajac (1-9-10), Sophomore G Tanner Jaillet (3-1-2, 2.11 GAA, .929 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 12-2-2, .813)
National Ranking: #4/#4
This Season: 12-2-2 overall, 5-1-0-0 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.44 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.06 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 16.7% (10 of 60)
Penalty Kill: 79.0% (49 of 62)

Key Players: Senior F Drake Caggiula (11-10-21), Sophomore F Nick Schmaltz (2-19-21), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (6-3-9), Freshman F Brock Boeser (8-8-16), Junior D Paul LaDue (1-2-3), Junior D Troy Stecher (3-10-13), Freshman D Christian Wolanin (3-5-8), Sophomore G Cam Johnson (3-0-1, 1.92 GAA, .921 SV%)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 21, 2015 (Minneapolis, MN). Denver knocked off top-seed North Dakota 5-1 in the third place game of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff behind goals from five different scorers. Nolan Zajac and Matt Tabrum led the way for the Pioneers with two points each, and netminder Tanner Jaillet made 25 of 26 saves in the victory. Conner Gaarder scored the lone goal for UND at the 14:34 mark of period one, but DU answered with two of their own before the first frame ended. Zane McIntyre stopped 30 shots in defeat.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: February 14, 2015. One night after defeating the Pioneers 4-2 on home ice, North Dakota let a two goal lead evaporate in the third period and had to settle for a 3-3 tie (Denver won the shootout for the extra NCHC point). UND built the lead thanks to two first-period power play goals just 27 seconds apart while Trevor Moore served a five minute major for clipping. Moore remained in the game and scored two of Denver’s three regulation goals.

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: North Dakota has had slightly the better of it lately, going 5-4-1 (.550) in the last ten meetings between the schools and outscoring Denver 32-29 over that span.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 140-120-9 (.537), including an 82-42-7 (.653) advantage on home ice. North Dakota last home sweep of the Pioneers came on February 15th and 16th, 2008. The teams first met in 1950.

Game News and Notes

The teams were dead even in five contests last season, with each team winning two games and the fifth ending in a tie. Denver sophomore forward Danton Heinen, last year’s NCHC Rookie of the Year and the reigning league overall scoring champion (16-29-45 in 40 games), is expected to sign with the NHL’s Boston Bruins after this season. UND senior forward Drake Caggiula needs three more points to become the 85th member of North Dakota’s Century Club (100 or more career points). Caggiula, who has collected nine points in 11 career games against the Pioneers, has appeared in 138 games in his UND career, tied with Minnesota State’s Bryce Gervais for the most among all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend will be televised on Midco Sports Network, with Saturday’s game also carried live on FOX College Sports. 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 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 teams can score and defend, but North Dakota’s penalty kill is vulnerable if the teams trade power plays. I’ve got a feeling that at least one of these games will go to overtime, with the teams shaking hands on Saturday night after a hard-earned split and the fans looking forward to the February rematch in Denver. DU 3-2 (OT), UND 4-2.

Weekend Preview: UND vs. Michigan State

Michigan State and North Dakota competed in the WCHA from 1959 until 1981, when then-head coach Ron Mason took the Spartans to the newly-formed CCHA. In their 22 seasons in the WCHA, MSU won exactly zero league titles and made only two NCAA tournament appearances. Ron Mason made the most of those chances, however, with a national championship in 1966.

Ron Mason’s clubs fared far better after switching conferences. In 21 CCHA seasons under Mason, the Spartans collected eight regular season championships, ten playoff titles, and 19 NCAA appearances, including five trips to the Frozen Four. Mason collected the progam’s second NCAA title in 1986 and finished runner-up to Gino Gasparini’s Hrkac Circus in 1987.

Michigan State has already played three ranked opponents this season, losing a pair at #5 Denver (4-2, 3-0) and a single game at #2 Boston College (6-4) before hosting #19 Michigan Tech last weekend. The Spartans played MTU tough, but managed only a 4-4 tie on Saturday night after dropping a 5-4 overtime decision the night before. MSU held third-period leads in both games against the Huskies.

The Spartans will open up Big Ten play next weekend at #20 Penn State, while North Dakota has already played six conference games, going 5-1-0-0 in sweeps of Colorado College and Miami and a split at St. Cloud State to find themselves tied atop the league standings. Michigan State finished 2nd in the six-team Big Ten last season after a fifth place finish in the first year of the league that destroyed the WCHA as we knew it.

Michigan State and North Dakota will play a rare Friday-Sunday series due to the Spartan football game vs. Penn State. UND will be on the road for Thanksgiving for the first time since 2012, when the Green and White traveled to Notre Dame and earned a split. Start times for this weekend’s games will be 7:05 p.m. Eastern time on Friday and 3:05 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. The last time North Dakota played a pair of games on Friday and Sunday was in December 2010 (Mankato, Minnesota), when a blizzard pushed Saturday’s game back to Sunday.

After turning in a fine freshman campaign last year (5-21-26 in 38 games played), UND sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz has taken his game to another level. Schmaltz (2-15-17 in 14 games this season) is fourth in the nation in scoring and leads all NCAA players in plus/minus at +19. Linemates Drake Caggiula (+17, t-3rd) and Brock Boeser (+15, t-7th) are also in the top-20 nationally in scoring. The “CBS Line” has produced eight goals and 14 assists in the past four games. A key to North Dakota’s success in the second half of the season will be offensive production from the other three lines.

Spartan senior goaltender Jake Hildebrand, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, has started all 11 games for MSU, going 4-5-1 in those games. The former Cedar Rapids Roughrider posted a 17-16-2 record in 2014-15 with a goals-against average of 2.18 and a save percentage of .930. Hildebrand could have left school after last season, but decided to stay. His numbers this season pale in comparison: a GAA of 2.84 and a save percentage of .904. Michigan State has scored plenty of goals this season (3.36/game), but the goaltending will need to improve if they hope to contend in the Big Ten.

North Dakota’s 2015-16 netminders were slated to be sophomore Cam Johnson and freshman Matej Tomek, but when both of them went down with injuries, the job was left to junior walk-on (and practice goalie) Matt Hrnkiw. North Dakota scored enough goals and defended well enough early on to allow Hrnkiw to gain confidence, but his goaltending took a step backward last weekend at St. Cloud State. The third-year netminder from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan had not seen a minute of game action before this season, but to his credit, Hrnkiw posted nine victories and kept UND in the hunt for a league title and an NCAA tournament bid while his counterparts got healthy. Cam Johnson, who is from nearby Troy, Michigan, replaced Hrnkiw in the second period last Saturday night and is expected to start this weekend against the Spartans.

UND is 5-1-1 on the road this season with a 5-1-2 non-conference record. North Dakota’s non-conference schedule will conclude with a January home series against Alabama-Huntsville (2-6-1 WCHA, 3-7-1 overall). Brad Berry is hoping to extend the nation’s-best thirteen consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, and victories this weekend will help secure that goal.

Michigan State Team Profile

Head Coach: Tom Anastos (5th season at MSU, 65-80-18, .454)
National Rankings: NR/NR
This Season: 4-5-2 overall, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten
Last Season: 17-16-2 overall, 11-7-2-2 Big Ten (2nd)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.36 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 3.09 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.6% (9 of 51)
Penalty Kill: 90.5% (38 of 42)

Key Players: Junior F Mackenzie MacEachern (7-6-13), Junior F JT Stenglein (7-6-13), Freshman F Mason Appleton (3-9-12), Senior F Michael Ferrantino (2-9-11), Freshman D Zach Osburn (3-5-8), Senior D Travis Walsh (0-5-5), Senior D Rhett Holland (0-1-1), Senior G Jake Hildebrand (4-5-1, 2.84 GAA, .904 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 10-2-2, .786)
National Ranking: #5/#5
This Season: 10-2-2 overall, 5-1-0-0 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.43 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.21 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 16.4% (9 of 55)
Penalty Kill: 77.4% (41 of 53)

Key Players: Senior F Drake Caggiula (7-9-16), Sophomore F Nick Schmaltz (2-15-17), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (6-3-9), Freshman F Brock Boeser (7-7-14), Junior D Paul LaDue (1-2-3), Junior D Troy Stecher (3-9-12), Freshman D Christian Wolanin (3-4-7), Junior G Matt Hyrnkiw (9-2-1, 2.11 GAA, .911 SV%, 2 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: October 13, 2007 (Grand Forks, ND). North Dakota blitzed the defending national champions 6-0 in the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game. Twelve Fighting Sioux players made the scoresheet, and the names read like a who’s who of UND hockey in the 21st century: Robbie Bina, Taylor Chorney, Ryan Duncan, Matt Frattin, Chay Genoway, Rylan Kaip, Andrew Kozek, Brad Malone, T.J. Oshie, Evan Trupp, Chris VandeVelde, and Darcy Zajac. Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux made 23 saves for the shutout.

Last Meeting in East Lansing: November 1, 1980. One night after doubling up the homestanding Spartans 6-3, the Fighting Sioux completed the road sweep with a 7-4 victory. UND’s 1980-81 team finished 21-15-2, but the defending national champions were left out of the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 6-3 in the national championship game, held in Duluth, Minnesota.

Most Important Meeting: March 28. 1987 (Detroit, MI). The Hrkac Circus invaded Joe Louis Arena and took home North Dakota’s fifth national championship with a 5-3 victory over the Spartans. More recently, the Fighting Sioux scored twice on “unscoreonable” Hobey Baker winner Ryan Miller and advanced to the 2001 national championship game with a 2-0 Frozen Four semifinal victory over MSU.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 62-36-2 (.630), and holds a slim edge of 22-21-1 (.511) in games played in East Lansing.

Last Ten: North Dakota has won eight of the previous ten meetings between the schools, outscoring the Spartans 43-26 in that stretch. Three of the last MSU-UND games have come in the national tournament, with North Dakota winning all three, most importantly the 1987 championship game and a 2001 semifinal contest. The Fighting Sioux also defeated Sparty 6-5 in overtime to win the 1984 third-place game (Lake Placid, NY),

Game News and Notes

Michigan State has not made the NCAA tournament since 2012 and has just two tourney appearances since their national championship in 2007. Two of North Dakota’s seven national titles have come against the Spartans (1959 and 1987). Spartan junior forwards Mackenzie MacEachern and JT Stenglein are tied for the Big Ten scoring lead with 13 points each, while freshman Zach Osburn (3-5-8) is tied as the league’s highest scoring defenseman. UND senior forward Drake Caggiula needs eight more points to become the 85th member of North Dakota’s Century Club (100 or more career points). Caggiula has appeared in 136 games in his UND career, tied with Minnesota State’s Bryce Gervais for the most among all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players.

Media Coverage

This weekend’s games will not be televised, but a live stream of both can be purchased at www.btn2go.com. 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 teams can score, but the defensive edge goes to North Dakota. UND’s six blueliners can defend, move the puck, and contribute offensively. UND is also deeper than the Spartans and will hope to roll four lines against MSU. The Fighting Hawks should sweep this weekend, with Sunday afternoon’s finale a tougher contest. UND 5-2, 3-2.

Thank you for reading. As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.

Weekend Preview: UND vs. St. Cloud State

A battle of two top-ten teams. A matchup between the first two winners of the Penrose Cup (NCHC regular season champions). A rematch of last season’s NCAA West Regional final in Fargo, North Dakota. Two teams who battled six times a year ago, with North Dakota winning four. An arena that will feel like Christmas in November, with nearly half of the fans in green to combat the hometown red. The only two undefeated teams in conference play, who have combined to score 84 goals in their first 22 games. The top two teams in the NCHC in scoring offense, scoring defense, and (of course) scoring margin. The only two times these rivals will meet during the 2015-16 regular season.

And if all of that wasn’t enough, this weekend will mark the first time that the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team takes the ice as the Fighting Hawks (UND Hawkey, anyone?). The players will continue to wear the same “North Dakota” jerseys with the crossed ND design for the forseeable future (a new logo has yet to be created), but there is still some intrigue this weekend. Will the visiting fans, typically among the most vocal and passionate in all of college hockey, rally around the Fighting Hawks? Continue to chant “Let’s Go, Sioux”? Cheer when the public address announcer mentions the new nickname?

These two teams last played at SCHEELS Arena in Fargo, North Dakota in the 2015 NCAA West Regional. With a trip to the Frozen Four on the line, North Dakota topped SCSU 4-1 behind a vocal UND fan contingent. One night earlier, in a battle of Huskies, St. Cloud State took Michigan Tech to overtime before defeating their long-time WCHA foe 3-2 and advancing to face UND. I wrote about goaltender Charlie Lindgren’s play and the ups and downs on the St. Cloud State bench in a feature for College Hockey News called “Huskies Never Say Die”.

Many of the players who featured prominently in the six UND/SCSU games last year will not take the ice this weekend. North Dakota graduated forwards Michael Parks, Mark MacMillan, Brendan O’Donnell, Connor Gaarder, Stephane Pattyn, and Colten St. Clair (plus blueliner Nick Mattson), all significant contributors to Dave Hakstol’s final Frozen Four run.

Mark MacMillan, the NCHC Defensive Player of the Year last season, sustained a lower body injury while blocking a shot during a key 5-on-3 penalty kill in a home victory against St. Cloud State that clinched a share of the Penrose Cup. MacMillan finished his North Dakota career with 99 points in 151 games at UND. The last player to fall one point short of UND’s Century Club was forward Wes Dorey (1997-2001), who collected 47 goals and 52 assists in 140 career games.

Meanwhile, St. Cloud State said goodbye to forwards Joe Rehkamp, Nick Oliver, and Brooks Bertsch and defensemen Andrew Prochno and Tim Daly after all saw plenty of action during last season’s 20 win campaign.

The Huskies were bit by the early departure bug when forward Jonny Brodzinksi (64-48-112 in 120 games) announced that he was giving up his final season of NCAA eligibility to sign with the Los Angeles Kings. There are currently four seniors on the SCSU roster, the same number that North Dakota claims.

UND defenseman Jordan Schmaltz (13-51-64 in 125 games) left one year early to sign with the St. Louis Blues, but his departure left only the second-biggest hole to fill. Netminder Zane McIntyre, last season’s Mike Richter Award winner, inked a deal with the Boston Bruins after his junior campaign. McIntyre had a career record of 58-24-9 at UND with a goals-against average of 2.10, a save percentage of .926, and four shutouts.

UND’s 2015-16 goaltenders were slated to be sophomore Cam Johnson and freshman Matej Tomek, but when both of them went down with injuries, the job was left to junior walk-on (and practice goalie) Matt Hrnkiw. North Dakota scored enough goals and defended well enough early on to allow Hrnkiw to gain confidence, and his goaltending has been better each weekend as a result. The third-year netminder from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan had not seen a minute of game action before this season.

Hrnkiw’s counterpart between the St. Cloud pipes is Charlie Lindgren, who has been everything for the Huskies during the early part of this season. Lindgren (7-2-0, 1.49 GAA, .944 SV%) has only given up more than two goals twice this year and has already posted four shutouts. The junior from Lakeville, Minnesota allowed nine goals in two losses at Quinnipiac and four goals in his other seven games combined.

UND’s freshman have been the offensive story thus far this season. The top four first-year forwards (Brock Boeser, Shane Gersich, Chris Wilkie, and Rhett Gardner) have scored 17 of North Dakota’s 43 goals through the first twelve games, and freshman defenseman Christian Wolanin has picked up two game-winners and six points overall (three goals, three assists).

According to KRACH, St. Cloud State has played the most difficult schedule in the country to this point in the season, while North Dakota’s slate of opponents ranks 47th. The Huskies were swept at Quinnipiac (10-0-0, the nation’s only remaining perfect record) but completed sweeps at the Kendall Hockey Classic (Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage), vs. Minnesota State, vs. Miami, and at Western Michigan to vault into the top ten of the USCHO rankings (currently #7).

North Dakota, meanwhile, has collected sweeps at Vermont and Colorado College and a pair of home victories vs. Miami. UND also managed a win (Lake Superior State) and a tie (Maine) at the IceBreaker and in a home-and-home with Bemidji State, but a home split with lowly Wisconsin has fans in Grand Forks hoping that the Badgers will be good for more than four victories this season (Mike Eaves’ club went 4-26-5 in 2014-15).

Perhaps the biggest reason for UND’s early success this season has been North Dakota’s ability to hold a lead. Brad Berry’s squad is unbeaten (6-0-1) when leading after the first forty minutes of play. In fact, over the past eight years, North Dakota is converting over 90 percent of second intermission leads into victories and has just seven losses in the last 162 such situations (144-7-11). The last time UND lost when leading after two periods of play was November 1st, 2013 against visiting St. Cloud State, when a 1-0 lead turned into a 3-2 defeat.

In 2004, the Center Ice Club created a commemorative trophy to mark the rivalry, and the two teams have been battling it out each season to claim the Challenge Cup.

UND had the better of the play in the first eight years of the Challenge Cup era, claiming the Cup four times and sharing the trophy three times while St. Cloud State only won the trophy once (2005-06). However, the Huskies earned the trophy two of the last three seasons. With only two regular season games scheduled this year, the Cup is on the line this weekend in St. Cloud.

St. Cloud State Team Profile

Head Coach: Bob Motzko (11th season at SCSU, 212-157-41, .567)
National Rankings: #7/#7
This Season: 8-2-0 overall, 4-0-0-0 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 20-19-1 overall (NCAA West Regional finalist), 11-12-1-0 NCHC (6th)

Team Offense: 4.10 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.50 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 21.6% (8 of 37)
Penalty Kill: 84.6% (22 of 26)

Key Players: Sophomore F Patrick Russell (6-6-12), Senior F Kalle Kossila (2-10-12), Senior F Joey Benik (7-3-10), Sophomore F Judd Peterson (6-3-9), Senior D Ethan Prow (1-7-8), Sophomore D Nathan Widman (0-6-6), Junior G Charlie Lindgren (7-2-0, 1.49 GAA, .944 SV%, 4 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (1st season at UND, 9-1-2, .833)
National Ranking: #4/#4
This Season: 9-1-2 overall, 4-0-0-0 NCHC (t-1st)
Last Season: 29-10-3 overall (NCAA Frozen Four appearance), 16-6-2-0 NCHC (1st)

Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.58 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.83 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 14.3% (7 of 49)
Penalty Kill: 79.1% (34 of 43)

Key Players: Senior F Drake Caggiula (4-9-13), Sophomore F Nick Schmaltz (2-11-13), Senior F Bryn Chyzyk (6-3-9), Freshman F Brock Boeser (7-5-12), Junior D Paul LaDue (1-2-3), Junior D Troy Stecher (2-7-9), Junior G Matt Hyrnkiw (8-1-1, 1.82 GAA, .920 SV%, 2 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 28, 2015 (Fargo, ND). 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.

Last Meeting in St. Cloud: November 22, 2014. On his 21st birthday, North Dakota freshman Trevor Olson potted the first two goals of his career (including the game-winner) and led UND to the 3-2 road victory over the Huskies. St. Cloud native Austin Poganski assisted on both Olson goals against his hometown team, and Brendan O’Donnell also scored for the Green and White. UND outshot the Huskies 39-29, and both teams went 0-for-3 with the man advantage. SCSU won Friday’s opener 3-2.

Most Important Meeting: The aforementioned NCAA West Regional final was the most important meeting between the two teams. The schools also faced off on March 20th, 2015 in the NCHC semifinals (Minneapolis, MN). St. Cloud State silenced the pro-North Dakota crowd with two goals in a span of 19 seconds late in the first period to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes of play. SCSU forward Joe Rehkamp added an empty net goal with 1:05 left in the game and the Huskies advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game. Zane McIntyre made 21 saves for UND; Charlie Lindgren stopped 19 of 20 North Dakota shots on goal.

All-time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series, 65-38-12 (.617), including a 26-20-6 (.558) record 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. UND is 10-3-0 (.769) against St. Cloud State in the conference playoffs, with their most recent triumph coming in the 2012 WCHA Final Five quarterfinals. The teams have only met once in the NCAA tournament (2015).

Last Ten: UND holds a 5-4-1 (.550) edge in the last ten meetings between the teams and has outscored St. Cloud State 24-23 over that stretch of games. The last twenty games are just as close, with North Dakota holding a slim 10-9-1 (.525) advantage.

Game News and Notes

St. Cloud State has not lost at home this season (4-0-0), while UND is 5-0-2 away from Ralph Engelstad Arena. North Dakota sophomore forward Austin Poganski (St. Cloud, MN) has four points in six games against his hometown team. No team has swept this series in the past 14 years.

Media Coverage

Both games this weekend will be televised. Friday’s opener can be seen on FOX Sports North Plus/FOX College Sports (Channels 339/639 in Grand Forks), and Saturday’s finale will be available all across the Midco Sports Network (27/322/622). A high definition stream of both games 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.

Pregame Event (from Center Ice View)

The annual gathering of SCSU and North Dakota fans will take place on Saturday, November 21st from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on the second level of Brothers Bar and Grill (119 5th Avenue South) in St. Cloud. Complimentary appetizers will be served, and the Challenge Cup will be on hand. All St. Cloud State and UND fans are encouraged to attend.

The Prediction

St. Cloud State would love for each side to get four power plays per game, while North Dakota would rather roll four lines and take their chances at even strength. UND netminder Matt Hrnkiw has not faced a team with this much firepower, nor has he played in such a hostile environment. The early edge will go to the Huskies on the wide sheet of ice, with Brad Berry claiming the first Fighting Hawks victory in Saturday’s rematch. SCSU 3-1, UND 4-3.

UND/SCSU Challenge Cup

Beginning with the 2002-03 season, the WCHA changed its schedule rotation, creating “rivals” which would play each other four times each season. St. Cloud State and North Dakota were partnered up in a scheduling system that ended in 2009-10.

At that time, even though the WCHA expanded to 12 teams (adding Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha) and implemented a new rotating schedule, UND and SCSU continued to play four games each year. In the NCHC, that will not be the case. This season (2015-16) will be the first time since 2001-02 that the two teams will not play four times in the regular season.

Over the past eleven seasons, the fans have made their mark on the partnership between the schools. The UND/SCSU rivalry has a commemorative fan trophy, thanks to the Center Ice Club at St. Cloud State University:

The UND/SCSU Challenge Cup is awarded to the team that wins the regular season series. As you may be able to see in the photo above, the winning team is engraved for each year.

UND won the Challenge Cup in 04-05, going 3-0-1 against the Huskies. St. Cloud took the trophy back in 05-06, sporting a record of 3-1-0 against North Dakota. In 06-07, the Sioux won two games and tied the other two, collecting six points and the Challenge Cup. The next season, the teams shared the Cup, with UND and SCSU each winning one game and tying the other two. In 08-09, North Dakota sprinted to the lead in the Challenge Cup race by winning both games in Grand Forks but needed a Saturday victory in St. Cloud to salvage a split on the weekend and reclaim the Cup. The following year (09-10), both series were splits, and the Challenge Cup was shared once again. In 2010-11, UND claimed seven of eight points (3-0-1) and took back the trophy, while the 2011-12 campaign went down as another tie. The Huskies claimed the Cup for two consecutive seasons (2012-14) by going 5-2-1 over North Dakota, but UND pulled off a Challenge Cup-worthy sweep last season in Grand Forks that also earned them a share of the Penrose Cup.

If you’re keeping track at home, UND has won the Cup five times, St. Cloud has claimed the trophy three times, and the schools have shared the Challenge Cup three times.

Since the two teams will not play in Grand Forks during the regular season this year, the Cup is on the line this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

The Challenge Cup will be on display at the UND/SCSU pregame event on Saturday, November 21st at Brothers in St. Cloud. This is a great opportunity to meet fans on both sides of this hockey rivalry. There will be complimentary appetizers and fabulous door prizes. The event is free and open to the public.

Check back on Friday for a full preview of this weekend’s game action.

UND/SCSU pregame event set for Saturday, November 21st

Please join us for the UND/SCSU pregame social, an event which takes place in both Grand Forks, North Dakota and St. Cloud, Minnesota each hockey season. This is an opportunity for fans of the University of North Dakota and St. Cloud State University to gather, celebrate the great sport of hockey, and view the Challenge Cup, a traveling trophy which is presented to the team that wins the regular season series. North Dakota claimed the Cup last season with a record of 3-1 against SCSU, outscoring the Huskies 10-8 in the four contests. The teams also met twice in the postseason. St. Cloud State bested UND 3-1 in the NCHC semifinals, while the Green and White earned revenge eight days later with a 4-1 victory in the NCAA West Regional final.

The pregame event will be held on Saturday, November 21st from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the second floor of Brothers Bar & Grill (the same location as the past two years). The address is 119 Fifth Avenue South in St. Cloud, within walking distance of the Kelly Inn. The event is free and open to the public. A free appetizer bar will be available, and everyone in attendance will have the opportunity to win door prizes.

Fans of both teams enjoy the camaraderie at these social events and regularly comment that the connection between the two fan bases is among the best in college hockey.

Mark your calendars and join us for this event!