After 48 seasons of competition and some 1,357 games, the University of Minnesota Duluth will bid a final regular season farewell to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this Friday and Saturday (March 8-9) when the Bulldogs host the University of Nebraska-Omaha in a pair of league clashes. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m both nights at AMSOIL Arena (6,737) in downtown Duluth.
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THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs, who are unbeaten in four of their last five outings (2-1-2), are 12-17-5 overall and occupy ninth place in the WCHA standings at 8-13-5 while Nebraska-Omaha sports a 18-14-2 record in all games to go with a 14-10-2 league mark (sixth place)..
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the UMD and Nebraska-Omaha stacked up in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls as well as the PairWise rankings:
USCHO.com USA Today PairWise
UMD NR NR NR
UNO 16th RV 25th(t)
ON THE AIR: UMD's two bouts against the Mavericks 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, My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9) will televise both ends of this weekend's series. Veteran sports anchor Tom Hansen and former Bulldog puck standout Judd Medak will serve as the on-air talent. My9, which will is scheduled to carry 21 games during the 2012-13 regular season, is also available locally on Charter and Mediacom cable. The telecast will be videostreammed as well and can be viewed for a fee at: americaonesports.com.
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 13th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 229-227-63 overall record -- including a 107-67-26 mark (for a .600 winning percentage) since the 2008-08 opener. Besides capturing the school's first NCAA championship two years ago, his Bulldogs have won 22 or more games in each of the past four seasons while advancing to four NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012), two Frozen Fours (2004 and 2011) and seven of the past 10 WCHA Final Five playoff events. He has also helped produce a pair of Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners (Jack Connolly last year and Junior Lessard in 2003-04), six NCAA All-Americans and 17 different All-WCHA selections. Sandelin has also seen 15 of his UMD pupils go on to do time in the National Hockey League. 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, 48, 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 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, directing that club to a fourth-place finish, and was an assistant coach for the U.S. entry at that same event last winter.
Dean Blais (University of Minnesota, 1973) is in his fourth season of head coaching activity with the Mavericks and has a 73-64-16 record to show for it. Blais served in that same capacity for 10 years (1994-2004) at North Dakota where his troops captured two NCAA championships (1996-97 and 1999-2000) and five WCHA regular season crowns. He is 335-179-49 as a collegiate head coach, which includes a 31-12-2 mark against UMD. During Blais's first six years at North Dakota, one of his assistant coaches was current Bulldog bench boss Scott Sandelin.
THE RIVALRY: UMD and UNO will meet for just the 12th and 13th times ever this weekend. The Bulldogs hold a slim 6-5-0 lead in the all-time series, which began on Dec. 5, 1997 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, but were ambushed twice by the Mavericks earlier this year in Omaha (3-2 and 6-3).UMD is 3-1-0 lifetime against the Mavericks in Duluth and an even 1-1-0 at AMSOIL Arena.
LAST WEEK: The Bulldogs took one last break from WCHA warfare by sweeping the University of Alabama-Huntsville, 4-2 and 4-0, at AMSOIL Arena. In the opener, UMD got goals from four different players, including sophomore right winger Justin Crandall and sophomore defenseman Chris Casto, who each scored once and had one assist. Freshman center Cal Decowski also helped set up two goals while rookie goaltender Matt McNeely turned aside 25 of 27 shots. Freshmen linemates Tony Cameranesi and Austin Farley both turned in three-point nights on Saturday (one goal and two assists) and junior Aaron Crandall, making only his second start in the last 14 games, finished with 23 stops in the shutout victory.
Nebraska-Omaha dropped a pair of WCHA home engagements to the University of Wisconsin, falling 4-3 on Friday and 6-2 the following night.
SENIOR SWAN SONG: Saturday night's regular season finale will mark the last home appearance ever for UMD's seven seniors -- wingers Cody Danberg, Dan DeLisle, Keegan Flaherty and Mike Seidel, center Jake Hendrickson, and defensemen Wade Bergman and Drew Olson. That group will be recognized during a first-intermission ceremony Saturday as part of UMD's annual Senior Night.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Both UMD and Nebraska-Omaha, along with current WCHA colleagues Colorado College, the University of Denver, North Dakota and St. Cloud State University, will join forces with Miami University and Western Michigan University of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in the new eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference next fall. The Bulldogs have been members of the WCHA since the 1965-66 season.
ROOKIES ON THE RISE: UMD's freshmen class is the sixth highest-scoring unit in the country, having collectively amassed 84 points on 33 goals and 51 assists. Center Tony Cameranesi is tied for fifth nationally in freshmen scoring with 30 points and is third among WCHA newcomers in that department (just one point back of co-leaders Alex Petan of Michigan Tech University and Kalle Kossila of St. Cloud State). Cameranesi's seven power play goals this season are tops among all NCAA freshmen (and are sixth overall) while his 17 power play points and 3.72 shots on goal a game both take a backseat to no rookie in the nation. Cameranesi and Flaherty have combined for 58 points, making them the second-highest scoring rookie tandem in the nation (St. Cloud's Kossila and Jonny Brodzinski have 59 points) Left winger Austin Farley, who owns a four-game scoring streak and has four goals and three assists over that stretch, is now the WCHA's fifth-highest rookie point producer (28). Andy Welinski holds down the No. 2 slot in the WCHA first-year defensemen scoring race with three goals and 12 assists. Those 15 points represent the second-highest single-season point harvest since the 1998-99 season (only first-round NHL draft pick Justin Faulk had more with 33 points two winters ago). Another freshman, center Cal Decowski, has picked up five points (one goal and four assists) in his last six games.
BACK ON THE HOME FRONT: The Bulldogs are 26-17-4 in 47 lifetime engagements at AMSOIL Arena, which opened its doors for business on Dec. 30, 2010. That includes a 6-8-1 record this season. UMD is currently averaging the seventh-best home attendance (6,213 spectators a night) of any team in the nation at the moment.
FIRE AWAY: The Bulldogs, who have outshot the opposition in all but seven of their 34 engagements to date, are averaging 33.82 shots on goal per night, which ranks 10th nationally. At the same time, they are giving up 27.09 shots to the opposition, the 11th lowest figure in the country. UMD's shot margin average (+6.76) is the sixth best in college hockey at the moment.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Matt McNeely, who sat out Saturday's 4-0 victory over Alabama-Huntsville, has now made 23 starts on the year. The last Bulldog rookie goaltender to make more was Isaac Reichmuth, who accrued 32 starts in 2002-03 on his way to being just the second freshman ever to be voted UMD's Most Valuable Player. In his last five appearances, McNeely is 2-1-2 with a 1.94 goals against average and a .936 saves percentage.
OH, BROTHER: Sophomore right winger Adam Krause (two goals and two assists for four points) and sophomore defenseman Tim Smith (0-4=4) are the only two UMD veterans who have established career highs for scoring this winter (both of their previous bests were three points). Krause's older brother, Joey, is a sophomore forward at Nebraska-Omaha and has collected one point (an assist) in six games in 2012-13.
MORE POWER TO THEM: UMD has struck at least once with the man advantage in 23 of its 34 games this season and currently possess the WCHA's sixth most efficient power play at 21.5 percent. Of the Bulldogs' 86 total goals this season, 34 have come on the power play. That figures out to be 39.5 percent -- the highest total in the nation at the moment.The Bulldogs are 3-6-2 when they've been held scoreless on the power play this season and 9-3-3 when the opposition has failed to convert with the man advantage. In their 12 victories to date, the Bulldogs have killed 44 of 47 power plays (93.6 percent).
AT THE HEAD OF THEIR CLASS: A school-record six Bulldogs -- senior center Jake Hendrickson, junior goaltender Aaron Crandall, junior defenseman Tim Smith, sophomore wingers Justin Crandall and Adam Krause and sophomore defenseman Luke McManus -- were among some 51 men who earned a 2012-13 WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award. Aaron Crandall has now attained this distinguished honor three times -- something only two Bulldogs (goaltender Kenny Reiter from 2008-12 and winger Kyle Schmidt from 2008-11) had ever done since the award's inception in 2005-06 -- while McManus was a 2011-12 honoree.
THE MAGIC NUMBER: UMD has scored four or more goals on nine occasions this season and is 7-0-2 when it's done so.
BULLDOG BITS: Senior right winger Mike Seidel, who, until this past Saturday, had topped the Bulldog scoring charts since the opening weekend of the 2012-13 season (he is now tied for second with Austin Farley) is tied for 25th in the WCHA in points with 28, for 13th in goals (14) and for sixth in power play points (14) and power play goals. He also has seven power play goals to his credit, a number bettered by only three other WCHA combatants (Minnesota State's Eriah Hayes with 11 and Minnesota's Nick Bjugstad with eight). Back on the blue line, senior Wade Bergman has collected three goals (including two game-winners, which is second best among all WCHA pointmen) and 13 assists for 16 points. That's the 13th most of any WCHA defenseman in 2012-13 and two points shy of his career high, which he set last winter ... UMD has given up four shorthanded goals this winter after ceding just two during all of 2011-12. Of the 12 WCHA schools, only Denver (seven) and St. Cloud State (six) have been scored upon more times thus far while with the man advantage than UMD. Nebraska-Omaha has also surrendered four shorthanded tallies. On the flip side, the Bulldogs have managed only two shorties over the past two seasons -- by sophomore right winger Adam Krause (his first UMD tally) at Michigan Tech on Nov. 30 of this year and senior right winger and assistant team captain Keegan Flaherty (at Michigan Tech on Dec. 2, 2011) ... Senior defenseman Wade Bergman snapped a 11-game pointless skid with a goal Saturday night against Alabama-Huntsville while fellow blueliner Chris Casto marked in the scoring column for the first time in 16 outings by registering the fourth two-point outing of his collegiate career the previous evening ... Junior defenseman Tim Smith (+7), who has scored each of his four points (all assists) at home this winter, sophomore defenseman Chris Casto (+4), and freshman center Tony Cameranesi (+1) are the three UMD skaters sporting positive plus-minus numbers thus far. Casto is an impressive +25 for his career, while Wade Bergman and Smith are next at a +16 and +13, respectively ... The last time the Bulldogs overcame a second-intermission deficit to win was on Nov. 10, 2010 when they erased a 2-1 Michigan Tech advantage by scoring four goals in the final 20 minutes of play on their way to a 5-3 triumph at the DECC. UMD is 0-24-3 (0-10-1 in 2012-13) in that situation since then ... Senior left winger Dan DeLisle, whose uncle, Joe DeLisle captained the Bulldogs during the 1987-88 season, is expected to play in his 100th career game this Friday ... UMD has posted just eight wins in the 13 games which it has led heading into the third period this season, going 8-3-2. All three of those losses and both ties have come in WCHA play ... This year marks only the second time since the 2000-01 that three UMD different netminders -- freshmen Matt McNeely and Alex Fons and junior Aaron Crandall -- have received crease time in the same season (2005-06 was the other). Crandall's shutout last Saturday night against Alabama-Huntsville was the third of his career ... The Bulldogs have been outscored 38-24 in the final 20 minutes of regulation this season and those 38 goals are the second most given up by any WCHA team, eclipsed only by Colorado College's 42 ... Both freshman winger Austyn Young and rookie defenseman Willie Corrin registered their first collegiate points (an assist) in last Saturday's 4-0 win over Alabama-Huntsville. With an average of 16.1 minutes of infraction time per night, the Bulldogs are the nation's third-most penalized team. Their opponents have fared worse in this department, accruing 225 penalties (five more than UMD) for a 16.8 minutes per game clip. Sophomore defenseman Derik Johnson paces the 2012-13 Bulldogs in penalty minutes (81). His father, Jim Johnson, is currently serving as an assistant coach with the NHL's San Jose Sharks and, as a UMD blueliner from 1981-85, accrued 402 minutes on 193 penalties (both program records) ... UMD is unbeaten in 40 of its last 45 overtime games (15-5-25; 0-1-5 in 2012-13) dating to the 2008-09 season opener, but hasn't won an extra session outing since the 2012 WCHA playoffs against Minnesota State University-Mankato (3-2 in double overtime on March 10 in Duluth) ... Senior center Jake Hendrickson owns the longest ironman streak among active Bulldogs, having made 99 successive appearances stretching back to Dec. 30, 2010 ... UMD is 2-9-2 against nationally-ranked opponents this winter, with wins coming at then-No. 10 Notre Dame (3-1 on Oct. 18) and against No. 12 St. Cloud State (2-1 on Nov. 23) ... Friday's 4-2 triumph over Alabama-Huntsville put the clamps on the UMD's nine-game winless skid (0-7-2) -- its longest in 12 years.
