The University of Minnesota Duluth will put its 10-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association road unbeaten streak on the line Friday and Saturday (Nov. 5-6) when the Bulldogs take on the University of Alaska Anchorage in a two-game series. Opening faceoff time is set for 10:07 (CST) both nights at Sullivan Arena (6,406) in Anchorage.

THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs are off to a 5-1-2 overall start in 2004-05 and lead the WCHA with a perfect 4-0-0 mark. Alaska Anchorage sports a 3-2-1 record in all games and is an even 1-1-0 in WCHA outings (sixth place tie with Michigan Tech University).

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and the Seawolves measure up in this week’s USCHO.com/CSTV and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls



Team USCHO.com USA Today

UMD 3rd 2nd

UAA NR NR

ON THE AIR: All Bulldog games during the 2004-05 season will be carried live by KDAL-Radio (610 AM). Veteran play-by-play announcer Kerry Rodd and color analyst Mike Sylvester will handle the broadcast responsibilities for the Duluth-based station, which is in its 45th consecutive year of airing UMD hockey. The broadcast can also be heard via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com

Saturday’s UMD-Seawolf clash will be televised by WDIO-TV (Channels 10 and 13). Steve Jezierski and former Bulldog left wing Kraig Karakas will provide the on-air talent for the ABC-TV affiliate, which is slated to carry 16 regular season games in 2004-05. Those 16 telecasts will also be carried live on the internet at umd.tv on a pay-per-view basis

THE COACHES: The 2003-04 American College Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is in his fifth year at UMD where has compiled a 74-81-18 overall record -- including a 55-29-11 mark (for a .637 winning percentage) since the start of the 2002-03 season. Last winter, Sandelin, 40, turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation while directing his troops to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 overall and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) since the 1992-93 season. For his efforts, the Hibbing, Minn., native was chosen the WCHA Coach of the Year as well as the national coach of the year by both insidecollegehockey.com and uscho.com. In 2002-03, Sandelin's Bulldogs went 22-15-5 in all games captured fifth place in the WCHA with a 14-10-4 mark while experiencing the greatest one-season turnaround of any WCHA club. One year earlier, he directed UMD to a 13-24-1 record in all games-- nearly doubling the number of victories from the previous season (7-28-4). Sandelin officially became a member of the Bulldog staff on March 31, 2000 after six years of assistant coaching duty at North Dakota. Prior to joining the Fighting Sioux (who won two NCAA titles during his tenure), Sandelin spent the 1993-94 season as the head coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings of the Junior Elite Hockey League after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the American Hockey Association's Fargo-Moorhead Express. He capped off his four-year playing career at North Dakota in 1985-86 by being named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. An All-WCHA first team pick and an All-American second team selection, Sandelin went on to play seven years of professional hockey, which included National Hockey League stints with the Montreal Canadiens (1986-88), Philadelphia Flyers (1990-91) and Minnesota North Stars (1991-92). Sandelin, one of just two current WCHA coaches to do time in the NHL, was the second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1982 NHL draft (40th choice overall). Later this winter, he’ll take on the head coaching duties for the U.S. entry at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Grand Forks, N.D. and Thief River Falls, Minn. Sandelin is 7-2-2 in his 11 lifetime confrontations with Alaska Anchorage.

John Hill (UAA, 1988) is in his fourth year of head coaching duty at UAA and has a 30-72-16 record to show for it (including a 1-7-3 mark against UMD). Hill became just the third head coach in the 22-year history of the Seawolf hockey program on April 24, 200l. He joined the UAA staff fresh off a two-season assistant coaching stint at the University of Minnesota after serving in that same capacity at both Colorado College (1995-99) and Alaska Anchorage (1991-95). A four-year hockey letterman with the Seawolves (1979-84), Hill was earlier employed as the head coach for the United States Hockey League's Dubuque Fighting Saints from 1989-91.

THE SERIES: This weekend’s series will mark the 52nd and 53rd meetings ever between the Bulldogs and Alaska Anchorage. UMD holds a commanding 33-9 lead (with nine ties) in the rivalry, which began on Nov. 8, 1985 in Duluth. One year ago, the Bulldogs swept the Seawolves (8-1 and 5-1 on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1) in the two club’s only regular season meetings and then posted a 4-2 triumph in the WCHA Final Five third place game (March 22 in St. Paul, Minn.)

LAST WEEKEND:The Bulldogs and the University of Vermont locked up in a 2-2 overtime tie Saturday, one night after the Catmounts had knocked UMD from the ranks of the college hockey unbeatens with a 3-2 win. The Bulldogs over 10 minutes of the first period shorthanded and Vermont took advantage by going up 2-0 at the first intermission. The Catamounts extended that lead to 3-1 at the 3:48 mark of the second period before UMD answered 18 seconds later on a goal from senior center Evan Schwabe and a shorthanded tally from freshman center Matt McKnight with 14 seconds remaining in that same period. UMD was held scoreless in its nine power play attempts while Vermont was 3-of-11 with the extra man. The following evening, the Bulldogs held a whopping 42-18 shots on goal advantage, but only sophomore right wing Bryan McGregor and senior left wing Marco Peluso, were able to get the puck past Vermont goaltender Joe Fallon.

Alaska Anchorage split a two-game WCHA set at Michigan Tech, falling 5-1 in the opener Friday before rebounding to win 5-4 Saturday.

ROAD TESTED TOUGH: Since Jan. 9, 2004, the Bulldogs have tasted defeat away from the DECC on just two occasions (vs. the University of Minnesota at the WCHA Final Five semifinals on March 19 and against Denver at the NCAA Frozen Four last April), going 12-2-3 during that 17-game stretch. UMD is currently in the midst of a school-record 10-game WCHA road unbeaten streak (8-0-2).

OFF AND RUNNING: During its 4-0-0 WCHA start, UMD has averaged 5.75 goals a night and are 10 of 27 (37.0 percent) on the power play

UMD TABBED AS WCHA FAVORITE: For the first time ever the Bulldogs have been picked to finish first in the Grand Forks Herald WCHA Coaches Poll which has been conducted annually for the past 34 years. The previous high was a second-place prognostication in 1984-85. The entire 2004-05 Grand Forks Herald WCHA Coaches Poll is as follows:

Team (First Place Votes) Points

1. UMD (7) 79

2. North Dakota (1) 66

3. Wisconsin (1) 64

4. Colorado College (1) 61

5. Minnesota 51

6. Denver 45

7. St. Cloud State 30

8. MSU-Mankato 27

9. Michigan Tech 1

10. Alaska Anchorage 10

A TEMPORARY POWER OUTAGE: The Bulldogs, who top the WCHA in power play efficiencythis season, were 0-of-15 with the extra man in their two-game series with Vermont, and have cashed in on just one of their last 25 power play opportunities.



SENIORS O’PLENTY: The 26-man Bulldog roster contains 11 seniors (the largest group in team history), five juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen.

GETTING BETTER WITH AGE: During Scott Sandelin’s maiden head coaching season in 2000-01, the Bulldogs averaged 2.64 goals per game. The following season, that figure increased to 2.97 and, in 2003-04, it improved to 3.64. Last winter, UMD pumped in goals at a 4.11 per outing clip -- the second best figure in the country. Thus far in 2004-05, the Bulldogs are averaging 4.12 tallies per night.

SHUNNING SHUT OUTS: The Bulldogs haven’t been held without a goal in their last 135 outings -- their longest such streak in nearly 20 years (164 games from Jan. 10, 1981-Dec. 15, 1984) and the top active string of any WCHA school. The last time UMD came up empty on the scoreboard was on March 11, 2001 (a 4-0 setback to North Dakota in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs in Grand Forks).

vTOUGH WITH A LEAD: The Bulldogs have now lost only twice (5-3 to the University of Denver in the 2004 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals and 4-3 in overtime to Colorado College in the WCHA Final Five playoff semifinals on March 21, 2003) in the last 51 games they’ve led going into the third period (46-2-3).

THEY GOT THE SEAWOLVES NUMBER: The Bulldogs have not lost in their last nine clashes with the Seawolves, going 7-0-2 since a 5-4 overtime loss in Anchorage on Nov. 3, 2001.

BULLDOG BITS:Senior team captain and current WCHA scoring leader Evan Schwabe scored one of the Bulldogs’ two goals Friday against Vermont and added an assist Saturday to boost his 2004-05 point total to 13. That figure is currently surpassed by only one NCAA skater (Miami University’s Matt Christie). Schwabe, the WCHA top returning scorer and the reigning NCAA assist champion, has collected at least one point in 14 of his last 15 games going back to last March. With 37 goals and 57 assists in 130 lifetime outings, Schwabe need just six more points to become the 48th member of UMD’s century club Last week marked the first time in 15 years, UMD occupied the No. 1 spot in a national men's hockey poll. Both the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll designated the Bulldogs as the top-ranked team in the country. It was UMD's first No. 1 ranking since Nov. 6, 1989 when the Bulldogs were 8-0-0 -- for their best NCAA I start ever -- after sweeping Alaska Anchorage ... Sophomore goaltender Josh Johnson, who faced a career-low 18 shots in Saturday’s 2-2 deadlock with Vermont, is unbeaten in his last six decisions (5-0-1) since being saddled with a 6-3 loss at North Dakota on Dec. 13, 2003, and is 7-1-1 in his nine collegiate starts to date ... The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 13-3 in the third period of play this season ... UMD experienced one of the most bizarre periods in its 61-year hockey history Friday, when two defensemen (senior Neal Petruic and freshman Jay Rosehill) both received five-minute major and game misconduct penalties and UMD wound up skating over half (10 minutes and 51 seconds) of the opening period shorthanded. The Bulldogs were already without the services of another blueliner, senior Tim Hambly, who missed the entire Vermont series while nursing a nagging back injury ... Senior left wign Marco Peluso had his career-high six-game scoring streak snapped Friday against Vermont, but came back the next night to score his team-leading fifth goal of the year ... All but five of UMD’s 29 losses over the past two seasons have been by two or fewer goals ... Center Tim Stapleton is on the verge of becoming the first junior in eight years to crack the 100-point career mark. Stapleton, one of only four Bulldogs in UMD history (NCAA I era) to score 40 or more points in each his first two seasons, has 34 goals and 57 points in 91 lifetime collegiate outings ... Center Matt McKnight, the only rookie to see playing time in all eight UMD outings thus far, pumped in the Bulldogs’ fourth shorthanded goal of the season in Friday’s 3-2 setback to Vermont. The club record in that department is set 12 set in 1992-93 ... Junior goaltender Isaac Reichmuth, a two-time All-WCHA pick, needs 79 more saves to become the 13th Bulldog to reach the 2,000-stop mark for his career. Reichmuth already ranks sixth among Bulldogs in wins (he’s 43-21-8 in 76 career starts) ... Senior right wing Nick Anderson, the only remaining Bulldog from head coach Scott Sandelin’s rookie season (2000-01), has gone goal-less in his last 17 games since tallying against the University of Minnesota back on Feb. 13, 2004 ... UMD has been able to win just three of its last 24 games which have required overtime (3-8-13) .. Senior defenseman and Anchorage native Todd Smith, tops UMD in plus-minus rating with a +8 in eight contests ... The Bulldogs are currently the nation’s second-highest penalized team (221 minutes off 94 infractions) ... UMD will not host a WCHA series at the DECC until Dec. 10-11 when defending league champion North Dakota comes to town. That will be the start of a club-record eight-game WCHA homestand for the Bulldogs ... Senior left wing Tyler Brosz, who skated alongside 2003-04 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Junior Lessard and Evan Schwabe for nearly half (20 games) of last season and ranked first in the WCHA in power play points (15), has bypassed the opening four weekends of play while recovering from shoulder surgery he underwent last month and has also been nursing an injured groin ... Right wing Mike Curry, who is tied for fourth in scoring among WCHA rookies at the moment, is the fourth Alaskan native to skate for the Bulldogs (he hails from Eagle River).



ON TAP: Following this weekend’s activity in Anchorage, the Bulldogs will be idle until Nov. 19-20 when they host Brown University in a pair of non-conference engagements.

THE SCOTT SANDELIN SHOW: The Scott Sandelin Show airs every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. throughout the 2004-05 season on KDAL-Radio. Longtime Bulldog play-by-play announcer Kerry Rodd hosts the one-hour program.