The University of Minnesota Duluth engage in its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association road activity in 2010-11 Friday and Saturday (Oct. 29-30) when the Bulldogs head to Bemidji, Minn. for a two-game series with Bemidji State University. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. the following night at the Sanford Center (4,373).
The Bulldogs are off to a 5-0-1 overall start in 2010-11 and sport a 2-0-0 WCHA mark while league newcomer Bemidji State is 0-2-0 in all games as well in WCHA play.
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HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Beavers stack up in the latest uscho.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
uscho.com USA Today
UMD 3rd 3rd
BSU RV NR
ON THE AIR: The UMD-Bemidji State series will be carried locally on 94X (94.1/104.3 FM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play. 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 can be accessed on the internet at: 94xrocks.com.
Friday night's game will also be televised on WDSE (8.4
in Duluth/Superior and on 31.4 on the Iron Range) which is available on Charter cable and Mediacom Saturday night's game will be shown on PBS North 8.1
and 31.1 as well as 8.4 and 31.4. PBS North is found on Charter and Mediacom as well as DirecTV and Dish Network.
THE COACH: The 2003-04 American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is in his 11th year behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 171-190-47 overall record -- including a 49-30-10 mark (a .607 winning percentage) since the 2008-09 opener. In addition to posting back-to-back 22-win seasons, his Bulldogs have advanced to five of the past eight WCHA Final Five tournaments and, in March 2009, became the first play-in game participant to win it all in that event's history. 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, 46, 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 following 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 National Hockey League, 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.
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State, 1982) is in 10th season as the head coach with the Beavers and has a 163-130-33 record -- including an even 9-9-0 career mark against UMD -- to show for it. His Beavers captured five regular season titles in the now-defunct College Hockey America (2003-05 and 2007-10) in addition to securing NCAA I playoff berths in 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09 (when they advanced to the Frozen Four) and 2009-10. Serratore, a former Beaver team captain and a member of Bemidji State's 1986 NCAA Division III championship club, was a St. Cloud State University assistant coach for five seasons before he began a three-year stint (1998-2001) as an associate head coach at Bemidji State. He was officially named the Beavers' head coach on April 23, 2001, succeeding the legendary Bob Peters, who stepped down after overseeing the Bemidji State program for 35 years.
THE SERIES: This weekend's series will mark the 28th and 29th meetings ever between the Bulldogs and Beavers. UMD holds an 18-9-0 lead in the all-time series, which began back on Feb. 8, 1948 and are 13-9-0 against the Beavers since that club joined the NCAA I ranks in 1999-2000. One year ago, then No. 4 UMD dropped both ends of its home-and-home series with Bemidji State, falling 4-1 on Jan. 22 at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse in Bemidji before suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss one night later in Duluth. In that rematch, Bemidji State scored with 1.3 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra session then sealed the sweep with a goal :36 seconds into overtime.
LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs launched their 46th season of WCHA competition by sweeping the University of Alaska Anchorage, following up a 3-2 overtime win Friday with a 6-0 whitewash the ensuing evening. Junior left winger Mike Connolly scored twice and freshman right winger J.T. Brown nailed the game-winner 31 seconds into the extra session in the opener while junior center Travis Oleksuk and sophomore left winger Dan DeLisle each had a pair of goals on Saturday. Redshirted freshman Aaron Crandall notched his first collegiate shutout in his second career appearance by stopping all 26 Alaska Anchorage shots.
Bemidji State has been idle since being derailed twice -- both by 5-2 counts -- at home by North Dakota on Oct. 15-16.
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Defenseman Mike Montgomery, one of six seniors on the 2010-11 Bulldog roster, has been entrusted with team captaincy responsibilities this year while All-American junior center Jack Connolly and junior left winger Mike Connolly will serve as alternate captains.
HE PUT THE “O” iN “O”-LEKSUK : Travis Oleksuk was cited as the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week after collecting a team-high four points in UMD's series sweep of Alaska Anchorage. The Thunder Bay, Ontario, product scored twice and helped set up one other goal in Saturday's 6-0 triumph after picking up an assist on UMD's overtime goal the night before. One of his two scores Saturday was a shorthander while his first tally of the evening turned out to be his NCAA-leading third game-winner of the year. He also finished a plus-four on the weekend.
SAY GOOD NIGHT, DECC: Only two more series (vs. Michigan Tech University on Nov. 12-13 and the University of Denver on Dec. 3-4) remain on the Bulldogs' DECC docket as UMD will christen the new $70 million, 6,732 seat AMSOIL Arena on Dec. 30, 2010 with a U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame clash against the University of North Dakota. The Bulldogs have racked up a 456-351-51 record (for a .562 winning percentage) in 856 lifetime outings at the DECC, its home for the past 45 seasons and are 28-12-3 there since the start of 2008-09.
ONE MIGHTY FINE LINE: The high-octane trio of senior right winger Justin Fontaine (4-8=12), and junior left winger Mike Connolly (5-6=11) and junior All-American center Jack Connolly (3-7=10) hold down the top three spots in the WCHA scoring charts at the moment. Fontaine, a two-time All-WCHA second team selection, ranks third nationally in that same department and is the only Bulldog who has marked in the points column in all six games do date.
... AND THESE THREE AIN'T SO BAD, EITHER: Linemates Travis Oleksuk and J.T. Brown have each produced the sixth most overall points (nine) of any WCHA skater this far while their left winger, senior Kyle Schmidt is not far behind with four goals and two assists.
SO FAR, SO GOOD: The last time the Bulldogs found themselves unbeaten through the opening six games of the season was in 2004-05 when UMD also enjoyed a 5-0-1 start and earned the school's first no. 1 rating in a national poll (uscho.com) in 15 years.
THE PUCK STOPPED HERE: Since giving up a goal to Providence College on the first shot he faced as a collegian one week ago (Oct. 16), freshman goaltender Aaron Crandall has held the opposition off the scoreboard for the last 119:02 of play. That includes this past Saturday night, when he posted his first shutout in the second fewest number of appearances (two) of any Bulldog in team history. Only Brant Nicklin, who blanked visiting Army 3-0 in his collegiate debut on Oct. 12,1996, did it any quicker.
THE EXTRA WORK HAS BEEN WORTH IT: UMD is unbeaten in 17 of its last 18 games which have required overtime (7-1-10) with that lone setback being inflicted by Bemidji State last winter (5-4 on Jan. 23 at the DECC). Mike Connolly leads all current Bulldogs in career overtime goals with three, including the memorable one that capped off a 5-4 comeback win over Princeton University in the 2009 NCAA West Regional semifinals in Minneapolis.
BULLDOG BITS: UMD will enter this weekend's series at Bemidji State armed with the WCHA's most potent offense (5.00 goals a game) and the nation's longest current unbeaten streak ... Of the 15 goals senior left winger Kyle Schmidt has racked up over the past two seasons (including four in 2010-11), 14 have come in even-strength situations. No Bulldog has more during that stretch ... The 2010-11 season marks the Bulldogs' 50th year as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks ... Right winger J.T. Brown is currently second only to the University of Wisconsin's Mark Zengerle in scoring among WCHA rookies with nine points on three goals and six assists. Two weeks ago (Oct. 16), he turned in a four-point night as UMD crushed Providence College 7-1 at the DECC. The four points were the most collected by a UMD newcomer since Tim Stapleton was credited with a goal and three assists on Feb. 15, 2003 at Michigan Tech University ... UMD is winless in its last three visits to Bemidji since posting a 5-2 win on Feb. 26, 2006 ... Defenseman Trent Palm and fellow defenseman Kyle Schmidt need one and two more games, respectively, to hit the century mark ... UMD has outscored the opposition 30-14 so far this season and has held the upper hand in shots on goal in all six outings to date .... Junior left winger Mike Connolly is the only current Bulldog veteran who is averaging a point a game or better for his career (93 points in 87 outings) although his linemates, Jack Connolly (88 in 89) and Justin Fontaine (118 in 123), are both within striking distance. Jack Connolly has skated in all 89 games since joining the UMD program -- the longest such ironman streak of any current Bulldog ... The Bulldogs haven't been shut out in the regular season since dropping a 2-0 decision to North Dakota on March 1, 2008 in Duluth, but have been blanked twice since then --- in the WCHA playoffs by Denver (1-0 on March 15, 2008) and North Dakota (2-0 on March 15, 2010). Prior to the that 2-0 loss to the Fighting Sioux last March at the WCHA Final Five tournament -- which ended the Bulldogs' season -- UMD had gone 82 straight games without being held scoreless ... The two goals sophomore left winger Dan DeLisle contributed to Saturday's 6-0 victory over Alaska Anchorage were his first two in a Bulldog uniform ... This week's No. 3 rating in both the uscho.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls is the highest for a Bulldog club since Nov. 1, 2004 when UMD was slotted second by the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine pollsters ... UMD has never played a two-game series in Bemidji.
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will remain on the road to take on North Dakota in a two-game WCHA set on Nov. 5-6.
