The University of Minnesota Duluth will put the finishing touches on its 2005-06 regular season this Friday and Saturday (March 3-4) when the Bulldogs travel to Minneapolis, Minn. for a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with the University of Minnesota. Opening faceoff time is set for 7:07 p.m. both nights at Mariucci Arena (10,000) on the Minnesota campus.

THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs, who have won just once in their last 13 games (1-11-1), are 9-21-2 overall and 6-17-3 in WCHA play (ninth place). Minnesota, which is riding a 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1), sports a 23-6-5 overall record and has already claimed the 2005-06 WCHA regular season title with an 18-5-3 mark.

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Hockey Notes vs. Minnesota



HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and the Gophers stack up in this week’s uscho.com/CSTV and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls and the PairWise rankings:



uscho.com USA Today PairWise

UMD NR NR NR

UM 1st 1st 1st

ON THE AIR: All UMD games during the 2005-06 season are being carried by KDAL-Radio (610 AM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play duties and Rik Jordan doing color commentary. The Duluth-based station is in its 46th consecutive year of airing the Bulldogs (which is believed to be the longest streak of its kind in college hockey). The broadcast can be heard as well via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com.

Both Friday’s and Saturday’s UMD-Minnesota clashes will also 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 will carry 14 regular season games in 2005-06.

THE COACHES: The 2003-04 American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is winding down his sixth season at UMD where he has compiled a 94-116-26 overall record -- including a 74-66-19 mark since the start of the 2002-03 season. Two years ago, Sandelin, 41, 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 overall and captured fifth place in the WCHA with a 14-10-4 mark while experiencing the greatest one-season turnaround of any league 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 signed on as 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 Montreal Canadiens’ second round pick in the 1982 NHL draft (40th choice overall). He served as Team USA’s head coach at the 2005 World Junior Hockey Championships in Grand Forks, N.D., where he directed that club to a fourth-place finish.

Don Lucia (University of Notre Dame, 1981) has compiled a 185-83-26 overall record in his seven seasons behind the Minnesota bench and directed the Gophers to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2002 and 2003 two of the last three WCHA playoff titles, and the 2005-06 WCHA regular season crown. Prior to his appointment with the Gophers, Lucia served a six-year head coaching stint at Colorado College where his Tigers laid claim to three WCHA regular season championships (1993-96) and posted a 166-68-18 mark. The Grand Rapids, MN, native also was employed for six seasons (1987-93) as head coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He fashions a 464-238-55 collegiate coaching record, including a 23-16-1 mark against UMD (13-10-1 at Minnesota, 10-4-0 at Colorado College and 0-2-0 while with the Alaska Fairbanks program).

THE SERIES: This weekend’s series will mark the 198th and 199th meetings between UMD and Minnesota. The Gophers hold a 120-66-11 lead in the rivalry, which began on Dec. 13, 1952 in Duluth. Earlier this year (Nov. 4-5), UMD took three of a possible four points from the visiting Gophers, following up a 2-2 overtime in the series opener by upending Minnesota 4-3 the following night.

LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs were swept by Colorado College in their 2005-06 home finales, falling 5-0 and 5-2. Goaltender Matt Zaba turned aside all 25 shots UMD sent his way on Friday while backstopping the Tigers to just their second win in their last nine outings with the Bulldogs. A pair of freshmen -- left wing Andrew Carroll and defenseman Josh Meyers -- accounted for the two Bulldog goals (both on the power play) in the Game 2 setback. Carroll was also credited with an assist for the Bulldogs, who outshot Colorado College 34-32.

Minnesota captured its first McNaughton Cup since 1996-97 by sweeping the University of Alaska Anchorage (4-3 and 4-0) Friday and Saturday night in Anchorage.



THEY’VE HAD THEIR NUMBER: UMD is unbeaten in nine of its last 11 confrontations with the Gophers (8-2-1) -- its most successful run in the two clubs’ storied 53-year history.

QUALITY WINS: The Bulldogs are an even 4-4-1 against teams who rank among the top eight in this week’s uscho.com/CSTV poll, going 1--0-1 against No. 1 Minnesota, 1-1-0 vs. No. 5 University of Wisconsin, 1-3-0 vs. No. 5 Colorado College, 1-0-0 vs. No. 7 University of Maine and 0-0-1 vs. No. 8 Cornell University.

BLANKING BLUES: This past Friday night, UMD was shut out for the third time this season -- something which hasn’t happened since 1999-2000 (one year before current Bulldog head coach Scott Sandelin’s arrival). It also marked the first time the Bulldogs had been held scoreless at home in 96 games, going back to a 4-0 loss to Minnesota on Feb. 24, 2001.

YOUTH IS SERVED: Nearly 57 percent (128 of 225) of the Bulldogs’ point production and 62 percent of their goal harvest (52 of 86) this winter has come from their 10 freshmen. That group currently ranks fifth among all classes in point production, trailing only the Colorado College seniors (170 points), the North Dakota freshmen (134), and the Minnesota State University-Mankato juniors (130). Of the top 26 current WCHA rookie scoring leaders (overall), no less than seven are Bulldogs -- Mason Raymond (No. 3), left wing Michael Gergen (No. 8), left wing Andrew Carroll (No. 9), center MacGregor Sharp (No. 14-tie), right wing Nick Kemp (20-tie), and defensemen Matt Niskanen (No. 20-tie) and Jason Garrison (No. 24-tie). Another first-year Bulldog, Josh Meyers, has amassed the second highest scoring average (0.47 points per game) in league play among all WCHA rookie blueliners. On the Bulldogs’ plus-minus leaderboard, the top three spots are held by freshmen (Kemp and defenseman Adam Davis at a plus-5 and Sharp at a plus-4).

LEAD ‘DOGS: The Bulldogs have yet to lose a game this season when leading (7-0-0) at the second intermission, but are winless (0-19-0) when they’ve headed into the third period behind in 2005-06. The last time UMD rallied to post a victory in that situation was on Nov. 27, 2004 when it scored three times in the third period to overcome a 1-0 deficit and defeat host St. Cloud State University 3-1. Since then, the Bulldogs are 0-28-0 in games in which they have trailed after 40 minutes of play.

THE “REICH” STUFF: In 10 career appearances against Minnesota (all starts), senior goaltender Isaac Reichmuth has compiled a 7-2-1 record, a 2.58 goals against average and a .924 saves. In the Bulldogs’ two-game series with the Gophers four months ago, he stopped 72 of 77 Gopher shots over the weekend, and allowed just two even strength goals in 125 minutes worth or work en route to earning the first of his two WCHA Defensive Player of the Week awards for 2005-06. Reichmuth, who has started 13 of the last 15 games, currently sports the best lifetime goals against average (2.88) and saves percentage mark (.899) in team history. The two-time All-WCHA honoree (second team in 2003-04 and third team in 2002-03) is also third in career wins (he’s 56-47-15 overall) and is within four wins of becoming UMD’s all-time leader in that department.

CHART CLIMBER: Senior center Tim Stapleton, who enjoyed a three-point weekend when Minnesota came to town this past November, is tied for eighth place among WCHA skaters in league power play goals with 6. Stapleton currently occupies the No. 19 post on the school’s all-time scoring charts with 61 goals and 86 assists for 147 points in 156 games. He needs two more points to supplant Mike Newton (1972-76) for 18th place.

THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Senior defenseman Steve Czech, who is an impressive plus-33 as a collegian, is serving as UMD’s team captain in 2005-06 while senior center Tim Stapleton, the Bulldogs’ top returning point-getter from a year ago, has been entrusted with one of the alternate team captain roles. The other alternate has been chosen on month-by-month basis with the February and March honors going to senior right wing Justin Williams. The following individuals have served in that capacity this winter:



Month Player

October Justin Williams

November Matt McKnight

December Andrew Carroll

January Mason Raymond

February Justin Williams

March Justin Williams



HOME ICE ADVANTAGE?: UMD finished with a 4-13-1 home record and managed to win just one of its final 10 games at the DECC. Conversely, the Bulldogs are a respectable 5-8-3 on the road this season.

ONE TOUGH ROOKIE: Left wing Mason Raymond continues to hold down the No. 1 spot on the current Bulldog scoring charts (11 goals and 16 assists), despite being held pointless in six of the last seven games (including the last four in a row), and is second among WCHA rookies in both league points (23) and assists (15). He’s also put more shots on goal (142) than any other 2005-06 Bulldog while fellow freshman wing Nick Kemp has made the most of his shots as evident by his team-high .143 shooting percentage (7 goals on 49 shots). Rookie left wing Andrew Carroll is a distant second in the shots department with 109.

DRAWING SECOND BLOOD: UMD has gotten on the scoreboard first in just 25 of its last 72 games and only 13 of its 34 outings this winter.

LINES, LINES, EVERYWHERE LINES: In its 34 games to date, UMD has used 44 different forward line combinations and 21 different defensive pairings. The trio of freshman left wing Mason Raymond, sophomore center Matt McKnight, and freshman right wing Nick Kemp have skated together a team-leading 18 games while freshman left wing Michael Gergen, senior center Tim Stapleton and senior right wing Justin Williams as well as freshman left wing Matt Greer, junior center Jeff McFarland and junior right wing Bryan McGregor comprise the next most-popular combination (13 times each). Both freshman Jason Garrison and sophomore Travis Gawryletz along with senior Steve Czech and freshman Jay Cascalenda have been paired together in more outings (15) than any other Bulldog blueline tandem

BULLDOG BITS: Sophomore center Matt McKnight, who trails only Mason Raymond and Tim Stapleton in scoring among 2005-06 Bulldogs, has established a career high for goals (nine), assists (15), but has managed just four points in his last 15 outings ... The Bulldogs are last in the WCHA in penalty killing efficiency both overall (77.9 percent) and in league play (74.8 percent) at the moment. Opponents have cashed in on seven of their 24 power play opportunities (29.2 percent) over the past four games ... Sophomore defenseman Travis Gawryletz has been sidelined for seven of the past eight games with mononucleosis. He did skate in UMD’s 5-1 loss at North Dakota on Feb. 18, but sat out both ends of last weekend’s series with Colorado College ... In their 21 losses this winter, the Bulldogs have connected at a mere 10.7 percent clip on the power play (13 of 121), but have registered a 24.2 efficiency rate (15 of 62) in games in which they have won or tied ... Although the Bulldogs have been outscored in all three periods this season, they have still outshot the opposition in each of those three frames ... Senior defenseman and 2005-06 team captain Steve Czech has now played in 158 of a possible 159 games with the Bulldogs -- including the last 112 in a row ... Sophomore right wing Mike Curry has not had goal or and assist in his last 19 outing while junior right wing Bryan McGregor is mired in an 18-game pointless drought... UMD has not held an opponent scoreless at the DECC since Brant Nicklin turned the trick back on Feb. 28, 1998 (7-0 over North Dakota) -- a stretch of some 157 outings. Over basically that same period of time, the Bulldogs have posted six shutouts on the road -- including three by senior Isaac Reichmuth and one by junior Josh Johnson ... Junior center Jeff McFarland, whose scoring line in 2005-06 includes a personal-high five assists, has now gone 78 games without a goal. His last tally came on Oct. 31, 2003 against the University of Alaska Anchorage ... UMD has compiled a .930 saves percentage in the 13 games it has won or tied this winter and a mere .833 mark in its 20 setbacks ... The last time the Bulldogs and Minnesota butted heads (Nov. 4-5, 2005), freshman left wing Andrew Carroll scored three of UMD’s six goals, including a pair in a 4-3 win ... The Bulldogs haven’t swept a regular season finale series since 1997-98 (University of Denver).

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will hit the road for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. That best-of-three event begins on March 10.

THE SCOTT SANDELIN SHOW: The Scott Sandelin Show airs Tuesday at 6 p.m. on KDAL-Radio. Play-by-play announcer Bruce Ciskie hosts the one-hour program, which can also be heard via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com.