The University of Minnesota Duluth will engage in its first two non-conference road assignments of the young 2013-14 season this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 1-2) when the Bulldogs pay a visit to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-game series with Ohio State University. The puck drops at 6:05 p.m. (CT) both nights at Value City Arena (17,500 capacity) on the Ohio State campus.

(Complete Release-pdf)

THE RECORDS: UMD is 3-2-1 overall and 1-1-0 in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play this season while Ohio State owns an event 3-3-0 record in all games and has yet to make its Big Ten debut.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and Ohio State stacked up in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:

        USCHO.com    USA Today    
UMD        No. 20    RV
OSU        NR    NR

ON THE AIR: The two UMD-Ohio State outings 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 Sports Radio Network and is available on the internet at: 94xrocks.com.

In addition, both games will be videostreammed as well and can be viewed at: go.osu.edu/mhkygameday

THE COACHES: The runnerup for the 2010-11 Spencer Penrose Award (American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year) and recipient of that honor in 2003-04, Scott Sandelin is in his 14th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 234-231-64 overall record -- including a 112-71-27 mark (for a .598 winning percentage) since the 2008-08 opener. Besides capturing the school's first NCAA championship three years ago, his Bulldogs have won 22 or more games in four of the last five seasons while advancing to four NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012), two Frozen Fours (2004 and 2011) and seven of the past 11 WCHA Final Five playoff events. He has also helped produce a pair of Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners (Jack Connolly in 2011-12 and Junior Lessard in 2003-04), six NCAA All-Americans and 17 different All-WCHA selections. Sandelin has also seen 16 of his UMD pupils go on to do time in the National Hockey League, with the latest being winger Justin Fontaine earlier this month (Minnesota Wild). During the course of the 2011-12 season, the Bulldogs set a club record by going unbeaten in 17 straight games and were ranked first in both major weekly polls (USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine for a program-best nine consecutive weeks. In March 2009, UMD became the first play-in game participant to ever claim the Final Five title and, later that spring, strung together a school-record six-game postseason winning streak before it fell to Miami University 2-1 in the NCAA West Regional final. Nine years ago, Sandelin, 49, 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) since 1992-93. 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 charges 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 member 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 with the Bulldogs on March 31, 2000 following six years of assistant coaching deployment at North Dakota (which won two NCAA titles during his tenure). Prior to that, 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 active National Collegiate Hockey Conference 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, directing that club to a fourth-place finish, and was an assistant coach for the U.S. entry at that same event in 2011-12.

Steve Rohlik (University of Wisconsin, 1990) was named Ohio State's head coach this past April following a three-season associate head coaching stint with the Buckeyes. Rohlik, a native of St. Paul, Minn., was part of Scott Sandelin's original coaching ensemble at UMD and spent 10 seasons as his chief assistant. He joined the Bulldog program in 2000-01 after spending the previous three years in an assistant coaching role at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Before signing on with the Mavericks for their inaugural season of NCAA I hockey (1997-98), Rohlik was the head hockey coach fat his alma mater, Hill Murray High School in St. Paul, where he amassed a 107-20-1 overall record in five seasons and piloted the Pioneers to a pair of Minnesota State High School Tournaments (runnerup in the 1993 Tier I event and fourth place in the 1997 Class AA championships). Rohlik culminated a rewarding four-year playing career at the University of Wisconsin in 1989-90 by captaining the Badgers to the NCAA championship.
 
THE SERIES: UMD and Ohio State have met only five times previously, including twice last October in the 2012-13 season openers for both clubs at AMSOIL Arena. The Bulldogs are 1-3-1 lifetime against the Buckeyes.

Date          Result                 Site
10/13/12    OSU 3, UMD 2    Duluth, Minn.
10/12/12    UMD 6, OSU 2    Duluth, Minn.
12/29/06    OSU 4, UMD 1*    Columbus, Ohio
12/19/79    OSU 6, UMD 1    Duluth, Minn.
12/27/74    UMD 3, OSU 3#    St. Louis, Mo.

*Ohio Hockey Classic (opening round)
#University of St. Louis Tournament (3rd place game)

LAST WEEK: The Bulldogs traded wins with the University of Notre Dame in a two-game non-conference set in Duluth. Buoyed by a dominating first-period effort in which it scored three times in a span of 3:25 and held a 14-3 shot advantage, UMD cruised to a 4-1 triumph on Saturday, handing the No. 2 ranked Irish their first setback of the year. Senior center Caleb Herbert and his linemate, rookie left winger Kyle Osterberg, both scored once and assisted on another goal in the victory while senior goaltender Aaron Crandall turned aside 20 of the 21 shots Notre Dame sent his way. The Irish took the opener 3-2 on Friday with sophomore center Cal Decowski and sophomore defensemen Andy Welinski accounting for the two UMD goals.

Ohio State launched a seven-game homestand by besting former Central Collegiate Hockey Association rival  Bowling Green State University 5-3 Tuesday night. The Buckeyes broke a 3-3 deadlock at 9:47 of the third period on Chad Niddery's goal and then iced the victory with an empty netter with 27 seconds to go.

NCHC FORECAST: In the inaugural NCHC Preseason Media Poll, UMD was projected for a sixth-place finish in the upstart league this winter while Mia--mi University received top billing among the conference's eight schools with 115 points and seven first-place votes. The RedHawks were followed by North Dakota (109 pts., and five first-place votes), St. Cloud State University (99 and the remaining four first-place votes) the University of Denver (66 pts.), Western Michigan University (61 pts.), UMD (43), Colorado College (42 pts.) and the University of Nebraska-Omaha (41 pts.).
AYE, AYE CAPTAIN: Senior right winger Joe Basaraba and junior right winger Adam Krause have both been entrusted with team captaincy responsibilities for the Bulldogs in this, their 70th season of intercollegiate hockey. Krause is the first non-senior to serve as a UMD team captain since 2006-07.

DON'T FORGET TO WRITE: UMD won't return to AMSOIL Arena until Dec. 6 and will have series at Ohio State, North Dakota (Nov. 15-16) and the University of Minnesota (Nov. 22-23) and two bye weekends (Nov. 8-9 and Nov. 29-30) during that absence.

THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENSE: The Bulldogs have allowed the third fewest goals per game (1.67) of any NCAA I club in the country. In its six games thus far, UMD has given up just 10 goals. The only other time in program history a Bulldog club was scored upon 10 or fewer times in their opening six outings of the season was 2007-08 when UMD started the year 4-1-1 while outscoring the opposition 13-10.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Thirteen of the 19 UMD skaters who dressed last weekend against Notre Dame collected at least one point. That includes Caleb Herbert (one goal and one assist), Kyle Osterberg (one goal and one assist) and rookie defenseman Carson Soucy (two assists), who all closed out the series with a team-leading two points.  

ONE DANDY DEBUT: Talk about having an immediate impact. On his first-ever shift as a Bulldog last October, current sophomore left winger Austin Farley struck for his first collegiate goal just 65 seconds into UMD's season-opening bout with Ohio State at AMSOIL Arena. He went on to assist on another pair of scores while sparking the Bulldogs to a 6-2 triumph en route to being selected the first WCHA Rookie of the Week award recipient for 2012-13.
 
GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT: UMD ranks fifth nationally in shot margin (+10.17), having put an average of 31.50 pucks on goal per night while surrendering just 21.33 shots to the opposition. That's the second fewest in the country, taking a backseat only to Quinnipiac University's 19.14 average.  

MONEY IN THE BANK: Going back to a 5-4 home loss to Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten (31-0-4) when they've scored four of more goals. That includes a 9-0-2 mark last season and a 2-0-0 record in 2013-14.

SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES: Not only was Ohio State bench boss Steve Rohlik a member of the UMD coaching staff for 10 years, but one of his assistant coaches, Brett Larson, served in that same capacity with the Bulldogs from 2008-11. The Duluth Denfeld High School alumnus also was a four-year standout on the UMD blue line during the early 1990s.

BULLDOG BITS: UMD currently sports the seventh highest-scoring rookie class in the nation. The Bulldogs' seven freshmen have combined to amass five goals and nine assists for 14 points. Left winger Alex Iafollo ranks second among all NCAA rookies (and is tied for 19th overall) in shots on goal with 24.

• The Bulldogs have killed off all but three of the opposition's 36 power play opportunities (91.2 percent), but haven't fared a whole lot better themselves, going 3-for-33 with the man advantage (9.1 percent).

• Senior Aaron Crandall, who has made three consecutive starts in goal (equalling a career-high in that department), will take an 18-12-3 lifetime record into this weekend's series in Columbus. In his last five regular season appearances (dating back to last February), Crandall is 4-1-0 with a 1.00 goals against average, a .958 saves percentage and two shutouts. His UMD crease mate, sophomore Matt McNeely, is unbeaten in six of his last eight overall starts (4-2-2) going back to last season. McNeely (1.64) and Crandall (1.68) currently rank 9th and 11th, respectively, among NCAA puckstoppers in goals against average.

• The Bulldogs have collected only two shorthanded goals over the past three seasons with both coming on the road against Michigan Tech (by Adam Krause on Nov. 30, 2012 -- his first tally as a collegian -- and by Keegan Flaherty on Dec. 2, 2011). During that same stretch, UMD has been scored on seven times while a man up. Krause is the only 2013-14 Bulldog with a collegiate shorthanded goal.

• Senior defenseman Tim Smith leads all 2013-14 Bulldogs in career-plus minus rating at a +14 and is a team-leading +5 this season (he shares that honor with rookie blueliner Willie Raskob).

• UMD is winless in seven of their last eight road outings, going 1-5-2 since Jan. 19, 2013. The lone victory during that stretch came two weeks ago -- 5-1 at Colorado College.

• Junior right winger Justin Crandall, who was sidelined with an injury last Saturday night against Notre Dame, has a team-leading three goals on the year, two of which have been game winners.

• UMD is unbeaten in 42 of its last 48 overtime games (15-6-27; 0-1-5 in 2012-13 and 0-0-1 this season) dating back to the 2008-09 season opener, but hasn't won an extra session outing since the 2012 WCHA playoffs against Minnesota State-Mankato (3-2 in double overtime on March 10 in Duluth). No current Bulldog has an overtime goal to his collegiate credit.

• Like Austin Farley, sophomore defenseman Andy Welinski also notched his first goal in a UMD uniform against Ohio State in last year's season opener at AMSOIL Arena.

• UMD has outscored the opposition 5-1 in the opening period of play this season, yielding that lone goal to Colorado College on Oct. 18 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

• Of the 25 active players on the 2013-14 Bulldog roster, only one -- Joe Basaraba -- has taken part in more than 84 career outings. The senior team co-captain is expected to skate in his 120th outing as a Bulldog this Friday. Senior center Max Tardy is next on the list with 84 games.

• Rookie center Dominic Toninato is part of the 10th father-son combination to skate for the Bulldogs. Dominic's dad, Jim Toninato, was a four-year winger/center (1982-86) at UMD. Junior defenseman Derik Johnson's father, Jim Johnson, is also a UMD hockey alumnus (1981-85) and now an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks.

• Junior co-captain Adam Krause has now played in 60 consecutive games -- the longest ironman streak on the club.

• Sophomore left winger Charlie Sampair will turn 20 this Thursday and is one of six  Bulldogs with birthdays in October.

ON DECK: The Bulldogs will return to the ice on Nov. 15-16 for a pair of NCHC showdowns at the University of North Dakota.