Off to its best start in 14 years and armed with a three-game winning streak, the University of Minnesota Duluth will return to the ice this Friday and Saturday (Dec. 4-5) to host the University of North Dakota in a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdowns. Opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. both nights at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (5,294).
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THE RECORDS: The defending WCHA playoff champion Bulldogs are 9-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in league play (third place). North Dakota, which captured the 2008-09 WCHA regular season title, owns an 8-4-2 record in all games and shares fourth place (with St. Cloud State University and the University of Wisconsin) in the WCHA standings with a 5-4-1 mark.
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and North Dakota stack up in the latest uscho.com/CBS College Sports and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:
uscho.com USA Today
UMD 12th(t) 12th
UND 3rd 3rd
ON THE AIR: This weekend's series will be carried locally on 1490 The Fan (KQDS-AM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play assignment. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 in Grand Rapids/Hibbing and KQ 106.7 in Ely/Virginia as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and is available on the internet at: www.fan1490.com.
The two Bulldog-Fighting Sioux clashes will also be televised live by Charter Communications. Mark Fleischer and former UMD hockey standout Judd Medak are serving as the on-air talent for Charter Communications, which is slated to air 13 regular season outings in 2009-10. The series will be carried on Charter Communication's state-wide system of networks, including the Duluth-Superior (Channel 15), Brainerd, Bemidji, St. Cloud, Rochester, Mankato, and Albert Lea/Austin markets. Mediacom cable, which serves the Cloquet/Hermantown/Esko/Proctor (Channel 10), Moose Lake (Channel 13), North Shore (Channel 5), Iron Range (Channel 22) and Mankato (Channel 10) areas, as well as Comcast Cable in the Twin Cities, will air those same games.
In addition, both games will be webstreamed live and be available on a pay-per-view basis through B2Networks at: www.b2livetv.com.
THE COACHES: The 2003-04 American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is in his 10th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 153-177-46 overall record -- including a 31-17-9 mark the past two seasons. His Bulldogs have advanced to four of the past seven WCHA Final Five tournaments and, last March, became the first play-in game participant to win it all in the 17-year history of that event. UMD also strung together a school-record six-game postseason winning streak in 2008-09 until it fell to Miami University 2-1 in the NCAA West Regional final. Six years ago, Sandelin, 45, turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation, marshaling his troops to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 overall) and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) in 11 seasons. 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 that winter. One year earlier, he guided 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 deployment 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 as a senior, 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 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and directed that club to a fourth-place finish.
Dave Hakstol (North Dakota, 1996) is in his sixth season at North Dakota and has a 138-75-21 record to show for it, including an 11-4-2 career mark against UMD. Hakstol, who succeeded Scott Sandelin as a North Dakota assistant coach in the summer of 2000, has led his troops to four NCAA Frozen Four appearances (2005-08), one WCHA regular season championship (2009) and one WCHA Final Five tournament title (2006). Hakstol patrolled the blueline for 107 games during a four-year career at North Dakota (1989-92) and captained the club as a senior. He went on to skate for a two seasons each with the Indianapolis Ice (1992-94) and the Minnesota Moose (1994-96) of the now-defunct International Hockey League before being appointed head coach of the United States Hockey League's Sioux City Musketeers. Hakstol spent four seasons with that franchise and landed the USHL's Coach of the Year award in 1997-98.
THE RIVALRY: This weekend's series will mark the 210th and 211th meetings ever between UMD and North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux hold a 128-72-9 lead in the all-time series, which began on Nov. 26, 1954 at the old Duluth Curling Club, and are 54-38-6 in 98 lifetime confrontations in Duluth. The Bulldogs were unbeaten in their three meetings with the Fighting Sioux one year ago, taking three of four points at the DECC on Nov. 21-22 (a 2-2 tie and 3-1 win) before skating off with a 3-0 victory in the WCHA Final Five semifinals.
LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs have been idle since sweeping the University of Minnesota (4-3 in overtime and 3-2) on Nov. 20-21 at Mariucci Arena.
North Dakota followed up a 4-1 victory over Ohio State University Friday by battling No. 1 Miami University to a 5-5 overtime tie the following night in the Subway Holiday Classic in Grand Forks.
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Senior center Drew Akins has been entrusted with team captaincy responsibilities for the 2009-10 Bulldogs while senior left winger Jordan Fulton and junior defenseman Mike Montgomery are serving as alternate captains.
THAT'S A FACT, JACK: UMD sophomore center Jack Connolly continues to top the nation in scoring with 21 points (he share that distinction with three other players -- Bemidji State University's Matt Read, University of Maine's Gustav Nyquist and University of New Hampshire's Bobby Butler). Connolly, who will bring a four-game scoring streak into this weekend's series with North Dakota, has points in 12 of UMD's 14 outings thus far.
TAKE THAT TO THE BANK: The Bulldogs are 31-0-3 when they've held a lead heading into the third period since falling 3-2 at St. Cloud State in three overtimes in the third, and decisive, game of the 2007 WCHA playoffs (March 11).
ONE FONT-ASTIC FORWARD: Junior right winger Justin Fontaine has scored more times on the power play (eight) this season than any other skater in the nation and leads the WCHA in overall goals with 11 (the fourth best figure in NCAA hockey). The 2008-09 All-WCHA second team selection trails only teammate Jack Connolly on the WCHA scoring charts (20 points) and tops the league in game-winning goals with three.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: A early front runner for the WCHA's mythical Breakthrough Player of Year award, junior left winger Rob Bordson has racked up three goals and a WCHA-leading 16 assists in 14 games this season after coming into year having scored seven points in 42 career outings. No less than 13 of his 19 points this winter have come on the power play -- a figure unsurpassed by any WCHA skater at the moment (Jack Connolly also has accumulated that same total).
BULLDOG BITS: The Bulldogs are enjoying their best start through 14 games since going 10-4-0 to commence the 1995-96 season ... In UMD's last appearance at the DECC -- a 8-1 triumph over Michigan Tech on Nov. 14, Justin Fontaine and sophomore right winger Mike Connolly each collected five points -- one shy of the school's single-game record. Fontaine became just the ninth Bulldog ever -- and first since March 13, 1998 (Jeff Scissons vs. Minnesota in the WCHA playoffs) -- to turn in a four-goal night while Connolly scored once and helped set up four other tallies The Bulldogs are averaging a 37.6 shots a night in 2009-10 (only Wisconsin with 38.8 and Yale with 38.3 have outdone them in the NCAA ranks) while giving up just 29.4 ... Going back to the opening of the 2009 postseason, UMD has amassed a 15-5-1 record ... Dylan Olsen ranks second among WCHA rookie defensemen in scoring with eight points (all assists) thus far. The Calgary, Alberta product who was the Chicago Blackhawks' first-round pick in the 2009 National Hockey League draft, takes a backseat only to Michigan Tech's Steven Seigo (one goal and eight assists) in that department ... UMD will come into the weekend possessing with the nation's ninth most effective power play. The Bulldogs have cashed in on 25.5 percent (24 of 94) of their man advantage opportunities and have scored at least one power play goal in 12 of their 14 games to date (they went 0-of-8 against Northern Michigan University on Oct. 11 and 0-of-5 vs. Clarkson University on Oct. 30 -- both at home). UMD led the WCHA in overall power play efficiency one year ago (21.5 percent) ... Sixteen of Justin Fontaine's 20 points and 16 of Jack Connolly's 21 points this season have been registered at the DECC. All but two of Mike Connolly's 14 points have also come at home ... The Bulldogs are the third-most penalized NCAA I club at the moment, averaging 19.9 minutes of penalty box time a night. .... Sophomore defenseman Brady Lamb has collected a personal-high eight points thus far in 2009-10, half of which were collected in the Bulldogs' last home series with Michigan Tech (two goals and two assists) ... Talk about a couple of good luck charms: UMD is 24-6-1 in games in which sophomore center Jack Connolly has picked up a point during the past two seasons and 13-1-1 when senior left winger Jordan Fulton has done so ... UMD is unbeaten (5-0-1) in the six games they have gotten on the scoreboard first this season ... Right winger Mike Seidel is the lone UMD rookie to score a goal thus far in 2009-10 -- having done so once in four consecutive games between Oct. 31-Nov. 13 (that was the longest such streak by a UMD newcomer in almost seven years) ... Twenty one of the Bulldogs' 93 games (22.6 percent) since the beginning of the 2007-08 season have required overtime. UMD has lost just one of those extra session affairs during that stretch, going 5-1-15 with the lone setback being inflicted by North Dakota on March 2, 2008 ... This marks the final full season the Bulldogs will call the DECC home as they will move to a new $70 million, 6,800-seat facility a few hundred feet away next December. UMD will christen their new digs with U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame engagement against North Dakota on Dec. 30 ... Mike Connolly is the only Bulldog who is averaging a point a game or better for his career (56 points in 55 outings) althought Jack Connolly (50 in 57) and Justin Fontaine (80 in 91) are closing in ... The Bulldogs are 6-2-0 at the DECC this season and have outstcored (31-17, 14-3 in the second period) and outshot (339-205) the opposition by substantial margins in the process ... UMD junior defenseman Chad Huttel will celebrate his 21st birthday Saturday.
COACHES LUNCHEON: The Bulldog Coaches' Luncheon will be held this Friday at 12 p.m. at Grandma's Sports Bar. The public is cordially invited to the event, which costs $8.00 for an all-you-can eat buffet and features a live radio show on The FAN 1490 with UMD head coach Scott Sandelin.
UP NEXT: UMD will remain at the DECC to face the University of Denver on Dec. 11-12 in its final two assignments of 2009.
