The University of Minnesota Duluth will launch its 71st season of intercollegiate hockey this Friday (Oct. 10) when the Bulldogs renew their long standing intrastate rivalry with the University of Minnesota in the opening round of the Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind. The puck drops at 1:05 p.m. (CT) at the Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022) and will precede the other semifinal clash between the University of Notre Dame and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Ice Breaker championship is scheduled for either 2:35 p.m. or 11:05 a.m. depending on how Notre Dame fares Friday (the Irish will play the later game Sunday regardless of the outcome with RPI.)

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THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs closed out the 2013-14 season with an even 16-16-4 overall record and went 11-11-2-2 in their first year of National Collegiate Hockey Conference play. That was good for a share of fourth place in the final league standings with Western Michigan. Minnesota was 28-7-6 in all games and advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four final before succumbing to Union College 7-4. The Gophers also laid claim to the first-ever Big Ten regular season championship with a 14-3-3 mark.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and the rest of the Ice Breaker Tournament field stacked up in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:

	USCHO.com	USA Today
UMD	RV	RV
Minnesota	No. 1	No. 1
Notre Dame	No. 12	No. 13
RPI	RV	NR

ON THE AIR: Both of the UMD's games at the Ice Breaker Tournament will be carried locally on 94X (94.1/104.3 FM) with Bruce Ciskie on the call. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 FM in Grand Rapids/Hibbing; KQ 106.7 FM in Ely/Virginia; Red Zone Sports Radio 910 AM in Hayward, Wis.; Red Zone Sports Radio 1350 AM in Pine City; and KKIN-AM 930 in Atkin as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and at: www.fan1490.com.at: 94xrocks.com.

In addition, My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9) will air Friday's bout with Minnesota and its Sunday bout against Notre Dame or RPI.  If the Bulldogs draw the host Irish on Sunday, that game will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Tom Hansen and former UMD standout forward Judd Medak will serve as the on-air talent for My9, which is also available locally on Charter and Mediacom cable. The entire tournament will be videostreammed as well at: watchnd.tv and NBCSports.com (games involving Notre Dame).

THE COACH: 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 beginning his 15th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 247-245-67 overall record -- including a 125-85-30 mark (for a .583 winning percentage) since the 2008-08 opener. Besides capturing the school's first NCAA championship four years ago, his Bulldogs have won 22 or more games in four of the last six seasons while advancing to four NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012), two Frozen Fours (2004 and 2011) and seven of 11 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five playoff events between 2002-13. 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. In addition, Sandelin has seen 16 of his UMD pupils go on to do time in the National Hockey League and one take part in the Winter Olympic Games (Justin Faulk for Team USA in last winter). During the course of the 2011-12 season, the Bulldogs set a team 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, 50, 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.

THE SERIES: Friday afternoon's clash will mark the 224th meeting ever between the Bulldogs and Gophers. Minnesota holds a 133-73-17 lead in the rivalry, which began back on Dec. 1, 1952 at the Hippodrome in Eveleth, Minn. The two clubs last squared off on Jan. 25, 2014 in the inaugural North Star Cup title game at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn., where they battled to a 2-2 overtime tie before Minnesota claimed the championship in a shoot out, 2-0. Earlier that season (Nov. 24), UMD throttled their former WCHA adversaries 6-2 in Minneapolis after the host Gophers had skated off with a convincing 6-1 win two days prior to that.

A FINAL TUNE UP: Just 48 hours after convening for their first official practice of 2014-15, the Bulldogs took to the ice and rallied for a 4-2 exhibition victory over visiting Lakehead University Monday at AMSOIL Arena. UMD overcame a 2-1 deficit by scoring three times in a span of six minutes late in the third period and wound up outshooting the Thunderwolves 61-21 on the night. Four different Bulldogs collected goals in the win, including senior right winger Justin Crandall, who bagged the game-winner (a shorthanded tally with 1:35 to go in regulation) and assisted on another score.

NCHC FORECAST: In the 2014-15 NCHC Preseason Media Poll, UMD was projected for a fifth-place finish in the second-year circuit while North Dakota received top billing among the conference's eight schools with 181 points and 12 first-place votes. North Dakota was followed by Miami University (167 pts.; nine first-place votes), defending NCHC regular season champion St. Cloud State University (151 pts. and the remaining four. first-place votes, the University of Denver (117 pts.), UMD (112 pts.), the University of Nebraska-Omaha (73 pts.), Western Michigan University (67 pts.), and Colorado College (32 pts.).

AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN: For the second straight season, Adam Krause has been entrusted with the Bulldogs' captaincy duties (he shared that role with the since-graduated Joe Basaraba in 2013-14) while fellow senior right winger Justin Crandall and junior defenseman Andy Welinski are serving as assistant captains.

TOURNEY TIDBITS: During their seven decades of existence, the Bulldogs have been beaten in back-to-back games only once in any of their 33 regular season tournaments. That occurred two years ago at the Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla. (1-0 to the University of Maine and 6-2 to Ferris State on Dec. 28-29, 2012).

TOURNEY TIDBITS II: The last time UMD laid claim to a regular season tournament title was in 2001-02 when it launched that season with successive victories over host Nebraska-Omaha (5-2) and the University of Michigan (3-2) on is way to capturing the Maverick Stampede championship. The Bulldogs have taken part in eight tourneys since, including one Ice Breaker event (2003 in East Lansing, Mich.)

TOURNEY TIDBITS III: UMD has faced Minnesota only once previously in a regular season tournament and that came last January at the North Star College Cup.

THE BEST THING ABOUT FRESHMEN ...: UMD's seven freshmen closed out last season with 35 goals and 54 assists for 89 points, making them the highest-scoring rookie class in the NCHC and 10th in the nation. Leading the way was left winger Kyle Osterberg, a four-time NCHC Rookie of the Week honoree who tied for second place on the Bulldogs scoring charts with a team-high 14 goals and 13 assists. Osterberg place among the NCHC freshmen leaders in a number of statistical categories including: goals (tied for first), goals per game (first with .40), power play goals (second with 5), overall points (third), power play points (third with 10), shots on goal (fourth with 95) and plus-minus rating (seventh with a +8). He also accumulated 22 points (11 goals and 11 assists) in wins -- no league newcomer had more. Another left winger, Alex Iafallo, generated 22 points (11 goals and 11 assists) en route to landing a spot on the NCHC All-Rookie Team.

YOU AGAIN?: The Bulldogs have butted heads with Minnesota on more lifetime occasions (223) than all but two opponents -- Michigan Tech University (225) and North Dakota (224). UMD has also met both Minnesota and Michigan Tech on an annual basis since the 1961-62 season, making each the Bulldog's longest continuous rivalry.

BULLDOG BITS: UMD retains the services of 19 lettermen from a year ago and five of its top six point scorers Among those is senior right winger Justin Crandall, who racked up 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points. That was an 11-point gain from his previous career best and the highest increase among any of the seven UMD veterans who attained personal highs for scoring. Crandall led all 2013-14 Bulldogs in power play goals with six despite the fact he didn't score with the man advantage after Dec. 14 (a span of 20 games).

•Of the NCHC eight head coaches, only one (Miami's Rico Blasi with 16 seasons) has been behind the bench at his current school longer than Scott Sandelin (15).

•Going back to a 5-4 home loss to Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in the 43 games that they've struck for more than three goals (38-0-5). They went 9-0-2 when doing that last year.

•UMD's eight defensemen combined to score five goals (to go with 48 assists) in 2013-14 and current junior Andy Welinski had all five of them. Senior Derik Johnson (one) is the only 2014-15 Bulldog blueliner besides Welinski (nine) with any career goals.

•The Bulldogs drew first blood in 14 of their 16 wins one year ago and were 14-4-2 overall when going up 1-0 (but a mere 2-11-2 when the opposition did so).

•Alex Iafallo is the only active UMD player with an overtime goal to his collegiate credit. He struck with 26.5 seconds left in sudden death to seal a 3-2 semifinal round triumph over Minnesota State-Mankato at the 2014 North Star College Cup.

•UMD was an impressive 11-6-1 record (.638) away from Duluth last winter but mustered a mere 5-10-3 record (.361) at AMSOIL Arena.

•Junior left winger Austin Farley has scored more career goals against Minnesota (six, to go with one assists in five outings) than any other opponent.

•The Bulldogs also kicked off their 2011-12 season against a No. 1 ranked opponent -- Notre Dame -- and wound up trading wins with the Irish in Duluth.

•Senior right winger Adam Krause is UMD's ninth multi-year captain and first since 2008-09 (left winger Andrew Carroll). The 2013-14 NCHC Scholar-Athlete Team honoree has taken shifts in 90 consecutive games -- the longest active ironman streak on the club.

• 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 to upend the Huskies 5-3 at the DECC. UMD is 0-40-3 in that situation since then.

•Dominic Toninato's two shorthanded goals last season (one of which came at the expense of Minnesota on Nov. 24) were the most by a Bulldog since Mike Connolly scored four times while a man down in 2010-11. Toninato is part of the 10th father-son combination to skate for the Bulldogs (his dad, Jim Toninato, was a UMD forward between 1982-86). Senior defenseman Derik Johnson is the son of Jim Johnson, another Bulldog hockey alumnus (1981-85) and now an assistant coach with the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

•Tony Cameranesi and fellow junior Andy Welinski, have taken part in all 74 games since joining the UMD program two years ago.

•Rookie goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo, who stopped all nine shots he faced in 30:02 of work Monday night against Lakehead University, is the sixth European to enlist his services with the Bulldogs and first non-North American to play for 15th-year head coach Scott Sandelin. The five previous Europeans include goaltender Nicklas Axelsson (Sweden, 1993-95), winger Pasi Korhonen (Finland; 1999-2000), winger Sergei Petrov (Russia, 1993-97), defenseman Roman Sindelar (Czechoslovakia; 1984-86), center Max Wikman Sweden, 1995-97).

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will make their first AMSOIL Arena appearance of the young 2014-15 season next Friday (Oct. 17) by hosting Minnesota State-Mankato in the front end of a home-and-home series.