Sioux Sports Talk

March 18, 2005: Denver’s Geoff Paukovitch checks Robbie Bina from behind. February 24, 2006: Mike Prpich pops Paukovitch.

February 16, 2008: The entire DU bench spills onto the ice after every period. That same night: Kyle Radke takes exception.

January 24, 2009: Denver head coach George Gwozdecky parades across the ice to protest a call. The officials bow to his authority, calling five straight penalities against the Fighting Sioux. And earlier this season, the Pioneers were awarded seven power plays in one period and defeated UND, 3-2.

So far, North Dakota seemingly has no answer for the benefits Gwozdecky enjoys from the referees. (Full disclosure: the WCHA league office is in Denver)

The other issue for UND this weekend is that sophomore forward Brett Hextall is not ready to return to the lineup. In the last series played in Grand Forks, Hextall clearly took several Pioneers off their game. In fact, in Friday’s opener, he completed a rare triple play midway through the third period: he drew three penalties at the same time. With Hextall out of the lineup, expect other Sioux skaters to make life miserable for the Pioneers and their coach.

One key area to watch this weekend is special teams play, particularly the Sioux power play against the Denver penalty kill. UND has not scored on its last 19 power play opportunities, and the Pioneers boast the league’s best penalty kill (87.2%). In a series that could turn into a steady parade to the penalty box on both sides, North Dakota will have to score at least one power play goal each night to come out on top.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: George Gwozdecky (16th season at DU, 360-223-50, .608)
This Season:  14-6-4 Overall, 10-4-4 WCHA (t-2nd)
National Rankings: #3/#3
PairWise Ranking: t-1st
Team Offense: 3.12 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.67 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 20.2% (26 of 129)
Penalty Kill: 87.2% (102 of 117)
Last Season: 23-12-5 Overall (NCAA West Regional semifinalist), 16-8-4 WCHA (3rd)
Key Players: Senior F Rhett Rakhshani (16-15-31), Senior F Tyler Ruegsegger (12-16-28), Junior F Anthony Maiani (4-13-17), Sophomore F Joe Colborne (9-14-23), Sophomore D Patrick Wiercioch (4-13-17) Junior G Marc Cheverie (12-3-3, 2.12 GAA, .928 SV%, 5 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (6th season at UND, 143-79-24, .630)
National Ranking: #4/#4
PairWise Ranking: t-10th
This Season: 13-8-5, 8-7-3 WCHA (6th)
Last Season: 24-15-4 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional semifinalist), 17-7-4 WCHA (1st)
Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.15 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 20.7% (29 of 140)
Penalty Kill: 86.6% (116 of 134)
Key Players: Sophomore F Jason Gregoire (13-8-121), Senior F Chris VandeVelde (7-12-19), Freshman F Danny Kristo (8-12-20), Junior F Evan Trupp (5-16-21), Junior D Derrick LaPoint (1-11-12), Sophomore G Brad Eidsness (12-6-4, 2.24 GAA, .906 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: November 21, 2009 (Denver, CO). After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, North Dakota committed seven penalties in the second period and could not solve the Pioneer power play. Denver won 3-2 and completed the weekend sweep.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: January 24, 2009. In a game remembered more for Gwozdecky’s antics on the dasher and on the ice, Denver twice came back to tie UND and the final score read 2-2.  Brad Eidsness made 38 saves to preserve one point for the Fighting Sioux.  A night earlier, North Dakota rolled, 8-3.

Last Ten: North Dakota has a 5-4-1 edge in the last ten games.

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.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 129-112-8 (.534), including a 79-39-5 (.663) advantage in games played in Grand Forks.

Game News and Notes

On average, North Dakota is outshooting teams 33-23 this season. Denver has only lost one game in the past five meetings between the schools. Sioux forwards Even Trupp and Chris Vandevelde each have six career points against the Pioneers. Vegas oddsmakers are offering 6 to 5 that Denver head coach George Gwozdecky stands on the dasher at least once this weekend.

The Prediction

There’s so much on the line (both in the WCHA race and nationally) this weekend that a split seems almost inevitable. But North Dakota has the home ice (and home crowd) advantage, and that should translate into an extra point. Gwozdecky is the wild card in all of this, and if he bends the ear of an official or two, anything is possible. UND 4-3, 3-3 tie.

From the familiar to the unknown.

One week after traveling to Mariucci to face the Golden Gophers in a series that marked the 270th game played between the two teams, North Dakota heads to Ithaca, New York for the first time ever. UND has played Cornell just six times in school history, with four of those meetings in the NCAA tournament and the last two games played in Grand Forks last season.

The Big Red are on a bit of a slide, going just 2-2-2 in their last six games and scoring more than three goals just once in the last eight. Cornell opened the season 7-2-1.

For North Dakota, it’s more of the same. With Chay Genoway in the lineup, the Fighting Sioux were 7-1-1. Without him, the Green and White are a sub-par 5-6-4. Talk has ramped up in recent weeks regarding the possibility that Genoway might apply for a medical hardship year and return to UND next season.

As for this weekend’s action, I expect the games will be played much like Saturday’s finale in Grand Forks last season, a tight-checking affair won and lost on special teams. If the Big Red can keep the game close, senior goaltender Ben Scrivens can and will be the difference.

For North Dakota, the power play is a recent concern after UND went 0 for 10 last weekend in Minneapolis.

Cornell Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Schafer (15th season at Cornell, 285-153-52, .635)
National Rankings: #9/#7
PairWise Ranking: 17th-tie
This Season: 9-4-3 overall, 7-2-2 ECAC (2nd)
Last Season: 22-10-4 overall (Midwest Regional Finalist), 13-6-3 ECAC
Team Offense: 3.31 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.12 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 24.3% (18 of 74)
Penalty Kill: 88.0% (73 of 83)
Key Players: Senior F Blake Gallagher (11-9-20), Senior F Colin Greening (7-13-20), Junior F Riley Nash (5-9-14), Senior D Brendon Nash (2-8-10), Freshman D Nick D’Agostino (2-7-9), Senior G Ben Scrivens (9-4-3, 2.04 GAA, .928 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (6th season at UND, 142-77-23, .634)
National Ranking: #5/#6
PairWise Ranking: 12th-tie
This Season: 12-7-5, 8-7-3 WCHA (6th)
Last Season: 24-15-4 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional semifinalist), 17-7-4 WCHA (1st)
Team Offense: 3.12 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.25 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 22.0% (29 of 132)
Penalty Kill: 85.8% (97 of 113)
Key Players: Sophomore F Jason Gregoire (12-7-19), Senior F Chris VandeVelde (6-12-18), Freshman F Danny Kristo (8-11-19), Junior F Evan Trupp (5-15-20), Junior D Derrick LaPoint (1-11-12), Sophomore G Brad Eidsness (11-6-4, 2.29 GAA, .906 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last meeting: November 29, 2008 (Grand Forks, ND). One night after the Fighting Sioux drubbed Cornell 7-3, the teams played a tighter contest on Saturday, with the Big Red scoring the game winner with under four minutes to play. UND had a power play goal disallowed earlier in the contest.

Last meeting at James Lynah Rink: These will be the first two games played between the two schools at Lynah.

Most important meeting: The teams have met twice in the NCAA semifinals, with Cornell coming out on top 1-0 in 1967 and North Dakota returning the favor the following season, 3-1.

All-time: North Dakota leads the all-time series 4-2-0 (.667). The teams have never met in Ithaca, NY.

Game News and Notes

Ben Scrivens has started every game in net for Cornell this season, ranking sixth nationally in goals-against average and fourth in the nation in save percentage. UND junior forward Brad Malone will play in his 100th career game this weekend, joining seniors Chris Vandevelde, Darcy Zajac, and Chay Genoway in reaching the century mark in games played.

The Prediction

Cornell has the edge playing at home, and if Scrivens is on his game, North Dakota will struggle. Call it a hunch, but UND should come out firing after a disappointing weekend at Mariucci, and the Big Red will lock it down on Saturday night. UND 4-2, Cornell 2-1.

A couple weeks ago in my post, First Look at PWR contributor — non-conference records, I suggested that it’s not clear that non-conference games have as profound an impact on PWR as conventional wisdom has grown to suggest.

It’s obviously fairly trivial to mentally construct a scenario in which a single non-conference game has a larger impact than other games because it’s one of very few games that contribute to the common opponents comparisons with quite a few other teams in the other conference. However, it’s not obvious how common and influential such situations are in real life.

Some Sioux fans, disappointed in last week’s outcome versus Minnesota, noted that next week really matters because it’s against a non-conference foe from a major conference. Without further ado, a comparison of the effect on UND’s PWR of the games vs. Minnesota and Cornell.

UND’s PWR after next weekend if…

Swept by Cornell*	16
Sweep Cornell*	8
Swept by Minnesota+	14
Sweep Minnesota+	5

* – Minnesota games recorded with actual results
+ – Cornell games included (to have same number of GP as Cornell comparison) assumed a split

All scenarios assume only the actual games played to date with the addition of two games between UND and Cornell. The actual PWR after next weekend may look quite different because dozens of other games will actually be played.

As of a PWR calculated today, the outcome of the Cornell games actually matters slightly less than the outcome of the Minnesota games, in the scenarios provided. It’s close enough that it’s easy to shift the outcome (e.g. omitting the split vs. Cornell pushes UND up to #4 with a sweep of Minnesota, etc…).

You can play around yourself using Whelan’s Build your own rankings calculator.

Well, this is how I expected it to shake out – really the best possible solution to a tough problem (twelve teams in the league and only 28 conference games allowed).

The traditional travel partners will remain the same (North Dakota/St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech/Minnesota-Duluth, Denver/Colorado College, Minnesota/Wisconsin, and Minnesota State-Mankato/Alaska-Anchorage), with the addition of Bemidji State being paired with Nebraska-Omaha.

In 2010-11, UND and SCSU will be joined by BSU and UNO to form a four-team “cluster“. The Sioux will play each team in the cluster four times (two games each at home and away) for a total of 12 games. North Dakota will then play the remaining eight teams in the league two games each, for a total of 16 games, with eight on the road and eight at home. Home series in 2010-11 for the Sioux include Alaska-Anchorage, Denver, Minnesota, and Duluth. UND will travel to Colorado College, Michigan Tech, Mankato and Wisconsin.

The “cluster mates” will rotate in each of the five seasons. In 2011-12 UND and SCSU will be joined by Minnesota and Wisconsin. In that season, UND will also host CC, Tech, Mankato, and UNO. The Fighting Sioux will travel to UAA, BSU, Denver, and UMD (in addition to their cluster mates) in 2011-12.

Under this schedule every team in the league will play every other team at home three out of five years (except for the travel partners, who will play each other four times every year). Over the course of the five year schedule, every team plays every other team the same amount of times – home and away.

Tell me what you think. Do you like the new system? Which teams benefit the most? How do you see the league race being affected year in and year out?

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

When the Sioux and Gophers met in Grand Forks in January of last season, Minnesota was ranked third nationally, while North Dakota was unranked. The Fighting Sioux routed the Maroon and Gold in two straight games, pulled even with Minnesota in the conference standings, and rode that momentum all the way to the WCHA conference championship and the NCAA tournament. Starting with that weekend, North Dakota went 13-2-3 on their way to the WCHA Final Five, while Minnesota went 7-10-2 the rest of the way and failed to make the national tournament even though they were serving as host of the West Regional.

Coming into this weekend’s games, the roles are reversed. The Gophers are playing at home and hoping to kick start their second half with an upset or two against North Dakota. And things are looking up for Minnesota. After allowing 41 goals in their first 13 games (3.15 goals allowed/game), they have tightened up in their last nine, giving up just 18 goals (2.0/game). Junior forward Jacob Cepis, a transfer from Bowling Green, has had an immediate impact, scoring two goals and adding an assist in his first four games with his new team.

For North Dakota, injuries continue to dominate the headlines. Defenseman Chay Genoway (4-6-10 in nine games) and forwards Brett Hextall (8-4-12) and Corban Knight (3-0-3) will miss this weekend’s action. Senior forwards Darcy Zajac (4-7-11) and Chris VandeVelde (6-12-18) are finally healthy, and the return of Danny Kristo (6-11-17) from the World Juniors and Matt Frattin (13-12-25 last season) from suspension give UND some depth up front.

The special teams battle is one to watch this weekend. Minnesota is a -4 this season (14 power play goals scored, 18 allowed), while North Dakota is a +13 (29 scored, 16 allowed). But the Gophers have been better lately, scoring a power play goal in six straight games after opening the season 8 of 66 (12.1%) with the man advantage.

Minnesota Team Profile

Head Coach: Don Lucia (11th season at Minnesota, 267-136-46, .646)
National Ranking: NR/NR
PairWise Ranking: 25
This Season: 11-10-1 overall, 6-7-1 WCHA (7th)
Last Season: 17-13-7 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 12-11-5 WCHA (5th)
Team Offense: 2.64 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.68 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 15.7% (14 of 89)
Penalty Kill: 81.6% (80 of 98)
Key Players: Junior F Mike Hoeffel (10-7-17), Sophomore F Jordan Schroeder (4-11-15), Senior F Tony Lucia (5-12-17), Junior D Cade Fairchild (1-9-10), Junior G Alex Kangas (9-7-0, 2.59 GAA, .910 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (6th season at UND, 142-77-23, .634)
National Ranking: #4/#4
PairWise Ranking: 9
This Season: 12-6-4, 8-6-2 WCHA (5th)
Last Season: 24-15-4 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional semifinalist), 17-7-4 WCHA (1st)
Team Offense: 3.23 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.09 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 23.8% (29 of 122)
Penalty Kill: 85.8% (97 of 113)
Key Players: Sophomore F Jason Gregoire (12-7-19), Senior F Chris VandeVelde (6-12-18), Freshman F Danny Kristo (6-11-17), Junior F Evan Trupp (5-13-18), Junior D Jake Marto (3-6-9), Sophomore G Brad Eidsness (11-5-3, 2.13 GAA, .912 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last meeting: October 17, 2009 (Grand Forks, ND). Fighting Sioux defenseman Jake Marto tied the score late in the third period and blocked a shot with under two minutes to play as North Dakota salvaged a tie with the visiting Gophers. UND dominated Minnesota 4-0 in Friday’s opener.

Last meeting at Mariucci Arena: February 2, 2008. The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie and combined for 164 penalty minutes in the series finale. North Dakota took the opener 2-1 in overtime on Evan Trupp’s spectacular game winner.

Most important meeting: March 24, 1979 (Detroit, MI). North Dakota and Minnesota met to decide the national championship, and the Gophers prevailed, 4-3.

All-time: Minnesota leads the all-time series, 130-125-13 (.509), including a 70-51-5 (.575) mark in games played in Minneapolis.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota has had the better of the play lately, going 10-2-2 in the past four seasons (outscoring the Gophers 47-27 in that stretch and losing both games by one goal). Minnesota has not lost this season when leading after two periods of play (8-0-0). UND is unbeaten in its last five games at Mariucci Arena (4-0-1). After this weekend’s home series against the Fighting Sioux, the Gophers have only four home games remaining among their twelve WCHA contests.

The Prediction

Three will be the magic number this weekend. If North Dakota can hang three or more goals on the Gophers, they will win. Saturday’s game will be a battle until the final horn (and possibly longer), and UND could take three points on the weekend, but I’ll call it a split. UND 4-2, UMN 3-2.

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

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

1. Denver
2. North Dakota
3. Minnesota
4. Wisconsin
5. St. Cloud State
6. MSU-Mankato
7. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Colorado College
9. Alaska-Anchorage
10. Michigan Tech

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

WCHA 2009-10 Current Standings

Team	Record	Points
Denver	10-3-3	23
Minnesota-Duluth	10-5-1	21
St. Cloud	9-5-2	20
Colorado College	8-5-3	19
Wisconsin	8-4-2	18
North Dakota	8-6-2	18
Minnesota	6-7-1	13
MSU-Mankato	5-10-1	11
Alaska-Anchorage	4-11-1	9
Michigan Tech	2-14-0	4

It is worth noting that while the majority of teams have twelve games remaining, Wisconsin and Minnesota have fourteen games left to play. Amazingly, only five points separate the top six teams in the standings. More impressively, the top nine teams can still finish with a winning record in league play.

So far, the biggest surprises to me have been Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota. In my season preview, I said this about the Bulldogs:

How will goaltender Brady Hjelle (two games of collegiate experience) handle the load for the Bulldogs after Stalock bolted for the pros? Duluth will score in bunches this season, but their opponents will, too. The WCHA is not kind to freshman defensemen, but Dylan Olsen and Dan DeLisle will have to hold their own for UMD to secure home ice.

The combination of Hjelle (8-4-1, 2.94 GAA, .902 SV%) and junior Kenny Reiter (6-3-0, 2.14 GAA, .914 SV%, 1 SO) has worked well for Scott Sandelin’s club. But the story has been the offense: UMD is scoring 3.62 goals per game in conference play, and the power play is clicking at almost 25 percent. But a tough second half on the road and a suspect penalty kill have me wondering if Duluth will end up in the top five.

Minnesota, on the other hand, has struggled to find consistency in net and up front. The Gophers have a tough second half ahead of them and will need to get things going this weekend against North Dakota if they hope to be playing at Mariucci in March.

We will have a very interesting race for the league title. Take a look at the remaining opponents for the top six teams:

Denver: @ UW (2), @UND (2), vs. UMN (2), vs.MTU (2), @ MSUM (2), vs. CC (1), @ CC (1)
Minnesota-Duluth: @ MSUM (2), vs. UW (2), @ MTU (2), @ UND (2), vs. UMN (2), @ UAA (2)
St. Cloud State: vs. UMN (1), @ UMN (1), @ CC (2), vs. UAA (2), vs. UND (2), @ UW (2), @ MSUM (1), vs. MSUM (1)
Colorado College: vs. UW (2), @ UAA (2), vs. SCSU (2), @ UMN (2), vs. UND (2), @ DU (1), vs. DU (1)
Wisconsin: @ CC (2), vs. DU (2), @ UMD (2), vs. MSUM (2), vs. SCSU (2), @ MTU (2), @ UMN (2)
North Dakota: @UMN (2), vs. DU (2), @ SCSU (2), vs. UMD (2), @ CC (2), vs. MTU (2)

North Dakota plays eight of its final twelve games against the top four teams in the league. A tough test, to be sure, but also a great opportunity to move up in the standings.

Wisconsin is the only team in the mix with an extra pair of games to play, and they’re also playing two each against the four teams above them.

Colorado College ends the year with a home-and-home against Denver in a series that may well determine whether CC hangs on for a home playoff series.

St. Cloud State has to finish up with three of their last four on the road, but will be in the mix for home ice.

Minnesota-Duluth plays eight of their final twelve conference games on the road, away from the pinball action of the DECC.

Denver has been the league’s most consistent team throughout the first half. If DU can make it out of a tough January (at Wisconsin, at North Dakota) in first place, the Pioneers will win the MacNaughton Cup.

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

1. Denver
2. Wisconsin
3. Minnesota-Duluth
4. North Dakota
5. St. Cloud State
6. Colorado College

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

It’s a long held belief that in the eyes of PWR, some games are more valuable than others. In particular, record against non-conference opponents is often cited as critical (including in last year’s Swept at the GLI — how harmful to PWR? post in which I noted that the number of scenarios in which UND could finish oh, say, 8th, had fallen from 22% of all scenarios to 5% of all scenarios). That belief stems from the “common opponents” comparison, which for teams in different conferences can be dependent on just a few games that were played between teams in those two conferences.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, UND has a decent out-of-conference record this year, with 3/4 of the scheduled non-conference games already in the books. That got me wondering: 1) how UND’s interconference performance this year compared to past years, and 2) if there really were pronounced shifts in PWR based on any differences.

Without further ado…

UND’s out of conference record and final PWR

Season	out of conference record	overall record	Final PWR
2009-10	(.833) 4-0-2 (2 to go)	(.636) 12-6-4
2008-09	(.556) 5-4-0	(.619) 24-14- 4	8
2007-08	(.786) 5-1-1	(.700) 26-10- 4	3
2006-07	(.750) 6-2-0	(.613) 22-13- 5	7
2005-06	(.750) 7-2-1	(.640) 27-15- 1	6
2004-05	(.750) 5-1-2	(.598) 22-14- 5	8
2003-04	(.833) 5-1-0	(.782) 29- 7- 3	1

That’s not quite what I expected. For example, comparing 08-09 to 06-07 — UND had pretty different out-of-conference records, pretty similar overall records, and pretty similar PWR rankings. That holds true eyeballing the (admittedly small) sample — UND’s PWR seems to roughly rise and fall with its overall record, with no obvious indication that the out-of-conference record is a strong contributor.  Again: that’s a very non-scientific glance and a very small sample, but it’s what I have.

Another dead end I traveled down was trying to extend that idea to if an entire conference’s interconference record noticeably influences how many of its teams made the NCAA tournament (this one started on even shakier ground, in that the conference would clearly be better off with its interconference wins all consolidated in one group of teams and losses in another, the distribution of which I omit from this eyeball analysis).  Hat tip to CollegeHockeyNews.com interconference records for the raw data.

Interconference record and teams in NCAA Tournament

season	WCHA vs ‘Big 4’	WCHA teams in NCAA tourney
2009-10	.585
2008-09	.536	3
2007-08	.589	6
2006-07	.645	3
2005-06	.576	4
2004-05	.654	5
2003-04	.676	5

Once again, if there’s anything there, it’s not particularly obvious.

In that “Swept at the GLI” article referenced above, I went in with the assumption that losing to out-of-conference opponents was a really big deal and let the data confirm that prior.  However, as we saw through the rest of the Spring (e.g. PWR Forecast Feb. 19, vs Denver), in-conference games later in the season often had similar, if not greater, impacts.

Bottom line? Logically, wins against other conferences clearly matter a lot; it’s easy to construct scenarios where flipping a single win to a loss (or vice versa) pushes a team up or down a few slots in the PWR. However, there’s no particular evidence that a team’s or conference’s fortunes rise and fall with interconference results to quite the extent a lot of us assume.

Bonus – for sticking around and proving you really like PWR, here’s a preview of my new Team PWR details page (that will eventually replace these). Much easier to scan and see which could flip based on which criterion.

Both North Dakota and MSU-Mankato have seen a switch flip in the first half, but it could be said that the teams are headed in opposite directions….

For the Mavericks, the first half of the first half (if that makes any sense) was a struggle. MSUM went 1-6-1 in their first eight league games and found themselves on the bottom looking up. Since then, the Mavs have gone 4-2-0 in WCHA play and are coming off of a non-conference sweep of RIT, outscoring the Tigers 9-1.

For North Dakota, the first half can be summed up in two words: Chay Genoway. With Chay in the lineup, UND bolted out of the gates with a 7-1-1 overall record. Since his injury on November 13th against St. Cloud State, the Fighting Sioux have struggled with a 3-5-3 mark. All five of those losses came by a single goal. It was indeed a very unlucky Friday the 13th for the men in green.

This weekend there are some interesting lineup moves to watch on both benches. UND head coach Dave Hakstol gets three forwards back: junior Matt Frattin (13-12-25 last season) returns from suspension, senior Darcy Zajac (4-6-10) has recovered from surgery, and freshman Danny Kristo (6-10-16) comes back from winning gold with Team USA at the World Junior Championships. Sophomore forward Brett Hextall (8-4-12) will miss the next four to six weeks with an undisclosed lower body injury. It will be interesting to see the line combinations up front for the Fighting Sioux.

For MSUM head coach Trot Jutting, the question mark is in net. Will he go with junior goaltender Austin Lee, who has played in 13 games and has been steady but not spectacular, or will he give the nod to freshman Phil Cook (3-0-1, 0.87 GAA, .967 SV%, 1 SO), last week’s WCHA Rookie of the Week?

MSU-Mankato Team Profile

Head Coach: Troy Jutting (10th season at MSUM, 153-171-46, .477)
This Season: 11-9-2 Overall, 5-8-1 WCHA (8th)
National Rankings: NR/NR
PairWise Ranking: #23
Team Offense: 2.91 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.50 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 17.2% (20 of 116)
Penalty Kill: 85.1% (103 of 121)
Last Season: 15-17-6 Overall, 11-13-4 WCHA (6th)
Key Players: Senior F Zach Harrison (5-14-19), Senior F Jerad Stewart (11-7-18), Junior F Rylan Galiardi (5-8-13), Junior D Ben Youds (0-18-18), Junior D Kurt Davis (3-9-12), Junior G Austin Lee (7-6-0, 2.63 GAA, .913 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (6th season at UND, 140-77-23, .631)
National Ranking: #5/#5
PairWise Ranking: #12
This Season: 10-6-4, 6-6-2 WCHA (6th)
Last Season: 24-15-4 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional semifinalist), 17-7-4 WCHA (1st)
Team Offense: 3.20 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.15 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 23.9% (27 of 113)
Penalty Kill: 86.7% (91 of 105)
Key Players: Senior F Chris VandeVelde (6-10-16), Freshman F Danny Kristo (6-10-16), Junior F Evan Trupp (5-13-18), Junior D Jake Marto (3-5-8), Sophomore D Ben Blood (3-3-6), Sophomore G Brad Eidsness (9-5-3, 2.20 GAA, .911 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: February 14th, 2009 (Grand Forks, ND). It was not a happy Valentines Day for the Mavericks, as North Dakota came from behind to beat visiting MSUM 4-3. The Fighting Sioux won Friday’s series opener, 4-1.
All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 31-10-7 (.719), including a 19-6-3 (.732) record in games played in Grand Forks.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota is 8-1-1 in the last ten meetings between the teams. The Mavericks can leapfrog UND in the league standings with a sweep this weekend. North Dakota senior defenseman Chay Genoway (4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games) is still suffering from an upper body injury and is not expected to play against MSUM. Mavs freshman G Phil Cook put together a strong weekend between the pipes last weekend, making 70 of 71 saves in a two-game sweep of RIT. Cook was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week. The Fighting Sioux have not done well in close contests this season, winning only one of seven games decided by a single goal.

The Prediction

It will be interesting to see how Dave Hakstol shuffles his forward lines, with Zajac, Kristo, and Frattin back in the mix and Hextall out for a few weeks. It might take some time for lines to gel, or it might not. UND 4-3, 3-1.

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

Earlier this year, USCHO raised eyebrows among college hockey geeks by beginning to publish bracketology articles on Nov.10.  USCHO justified expending the effort to predict what the tournament would look like had the season ended after just three weeks by claiming it was a natural response to other sites (no names named 😉 ) making PairWise Rankings available before USCHO’s typical January date.  While some may quibble that seeding a bracket is a different activity from letting an automatically calculated rankings table be published, I became most interested in the question, “when is the appropriate time to begin looking at PWR?”

The real answer is, obviously, whenever you’re interested in it.

My primary interest in looking at rankings is to see how each team is doing — who is good, who isn’t, who is likely to make the tournament?  The value of the rankings for that purpose is dependent on their stability.  A team ranked #1 in an accurate ranking should probably be able to lose a game and still be ranked in the top few teams.  So, my first tactic for determining the quality of the PWR rankings was to determine how much ranked teams move within the rankings from week-to-week.

Before December the PWR rankings have wild swings, though settle into an average move of 2-3 slots in January and under 2 slots by March (the low movement in late December is the holiday break in which teams play fewer games).

That’s interesting, but the actual pairwise comparisons are only meaningfully performed once, after the conference tournaments.  So, the reason we really look at the PWR earlier is to get an idea of who might make the tournament.  Therefore, to determine the quality of an individual week’s PWR we’re actually most interested in how well it predicts the final PWR.

Though PWR in January seemed somewhat stable, in that teams only move a couple of slots each week, as those movements add up it actually proves a pretty poor predictor of the final PWR.  Each team has been ranked an average of 3-8 slots differently on April 1 than in January over the past six years.  Even the March 1 PWR rankings have deviated from the April 1 rankings by an average of 2-4 slots.

So, enjoy looking at the weekly PWR tables, but remember that they’re all for fun.

A couple notes:

• April 1 isn’t quite the final PWR because some NCAA tournament games have been played by that date.
• The average movement in each of the above charts is mean movement of those teams that had PWR rankings in: 1) both weeks, and 2) the week in question and on April 1.  No attempt was made to determine variance, or whether that mean was overly influenced by a few large moves.

References/links of interest:

• USCHO’s Bracketology blog: http://www.uscho.com/blogs/uscho/bracketology
• SiouxSports.com PWR: http://siouxsports.com/rankings/pwr/
• CollegeHockyNews explanation of PWR: http://www.collegehockeynews.com/info/?d=pwcrpi

Last season almost ended with a glass slipper for the Bulldogs. Duluth went on the road in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and swept Colorado College before running the table at the WCHA Final Five, becoming the first team to win three games at the league’s post-season tournament. After defeating Princeton 5-4 in overtime (thanks to two goals in the final 40 seconds of regulation), the Bulldogs fell 2-1 to national runner-up Miami.

This season, UMD has not been swept in a weekend series and has won three conference games in a row (vs. Michigan Tech and a road sweep at Minnesota). North Dakota had to settle for a 5-5- tie with #1 Miami last weekend after defeating Ohio State in the tournament opener.

Minnesota-Duluth Team Profile

Head Coach: Scott Sandelin (10th season at UMD, 153-177-46, .468)
This Season:  9-4-1 Overall, 6-3-1 WCHA (3rd)
National Rankings: #12/#12
PairWise Ranking: #7
Team Offense: 3.50 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 2.71 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 25.5% (24 of 94)
Penalty Kill: 78.5% (62 of 79)
Last Season: 22-13-8 Overall (NCAA West Regional Finalist), 10-11-7 WCHA
Key Players: Sophomore F Jack Connolly (10-11-21), Junior F Justin Fontaine (11-9-20), Sophomore F Mike Connolly (5-9-14), Sophomore D Brady Lamb (5-3-8), Sophomore G Brady Hjelle (6-2-1, 2.86 GAA, .909 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Dave Hakstol (6th season at UND, 138-75-21, .635)
National Ranking: #3/#3
PairWise Ranking: #9
This Season: 8-4-2, 5-4-1 WCHA (t-4th)
Last Season: 24-15-4 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional semifinalist), 17-7-4 WCHA (1st)
Team Offense: 3.29 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.93 goals allowed/game
Power Play: 24.1% (20 of 83)
Penalty Kill: 88.3% (68 of 77)
Key Players: Senior F Chris VandeVelde (4-9-13), Freshman F Danny Kristo (5-8-13), Junior F Evan Trupp (4-9-13), Sophomore D Ben Blood (1-3-4), Sophomore G Brad Eidsness (7-3-2, 1.89 GAA, .920 SV%, 1 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 20, 2009 (St. Paul, MN). Duluth continued to ride goaltender Alex Stalock on its improbable Final Five run, downing the Fighting Sioux 3-0 and advancing to its first Final Five championship in team history.

Last Meeting in Duluth: November 22, 2008. After beating UND just twice in the previous 20 meetings between the schools (2-16-2), the Bulldogs defeated UND 3-1. Duluth scored a goal in each period and Alex Stalock stopped 37 of 38 North Dakota shots.

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, 125-69-8 (.639), including a 52-37-4 (.580) record in games played in Duluth.

Game News and Notes

Bulldog sophomore F Jack Connolly leads the nation in scoring with 21 points. The Fighting Sioux scored just three goals in three games against Duluth last season. North Dakota senior defenseman Chay Genoway (4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games) is still suffering from an upper body injury and is not expected to play against UMD.

The Prediction

UND should be content with a road split against an excellent team, and that’s what they’re getting. North Dakota will win a close one on Friday and the Bulldogs’ power play will click in Saturday’s finale. UND 3-2, UMD 5-2.

Bonus Prediction

I will be vacationing next week, and I will not be posting a full UND/Wisconsin preview. So here is your bonus prediction: This is not the defensive Badger squad that we’ve seen over the past few years; this year’s version is scoring almost four goals per game. North Dakota will be able to contain Bucky for much of the weekend, but the Badgers will squeeze out a point on Saturday night. UND 4-2, 4-4 tie.