Fresh off their first sweep of the young 2015-16 season, the University of Minnesota Duluth will now pay a visit to South Bend Ind., this weekend (Oct. 23-24) for a pair of non-conference engagements with the University of Notre Dame. The puck drops at 5:05 p.m. (CT) Friday and 5:40 p.m. the following night at the Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022) on the Notre Dame campus.

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THE RECORDS: UMD is off to a 2-1-0 start this season after it closed out 2014-15 at 22-16-3 overall, placed fifth in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings with a 12-9-3-0 record, advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA playoffs and held down the No. 6 slot in the final USCHO.com poll. Notre Dame (1-1-0 overall in 2015-16) owned a 18-19-5 mark in all games one year ago and went 10-7-5 in Hockey East play (fifth place).

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Irish stacked up in this week's USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:

    USCHO.com    USA Today/USA Hockey
UMD    No. 5    No. 5
ND    RV    RV
    
ON THE AIR: Both ends of the UMD-Notre Dame series will be carried live locally on 92.1 FM The Fan with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play responsibilities The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 FM in Grand Rapids/Hibbing, Minn.; KQ 106.7 FM in Ely/Virginia, Minn.; 105.7 FM The Fan Siren/Pine City, Minn., and Red Zone Sports Radio 930 in Aitkin, Minn., as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and at: 921thefan.com or free via the iHeartRadio app.

Friday's opener will televised nationally on the American Sports Network and locally on My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9) with Ben Holden and Fred Pletsch serving as the on-air talent. NBC Sports Network and My9 will do the honors the following evening with Steve Schlanger (play-by-by) and Anson Carter (analyst) on the call.

In addition, Friday night's telecast is available on-line at: NBC Sports Live Extra. There will be no videostream of Saturday's games.

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 in his 16th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 270-262-70 overall record -- including a 148-102-33 mark since the 2008-09 opener. Besides capturing the school's first NCAA championship four years ago, his Bulldogs have won 20 or more games in five of the last seven seasons while advancing to five NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009, 2011,2012 and 2014), 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 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 head coaching the Junior Elite Hockey League's Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the Fargo-Moorhead Express of the American Hockey Association. 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-American second team selection and All-WCHA first team pick as a senior, Sandelin went on to play professionally for seven years, 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 NCHC coaches to do time in the NHL (Denver's Jim Montgomery is the other), 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 RIVALRY: UMD and Notre Dame have met 40 times previously, including at least once in each of the past five seasons. The Irish hold a 21-15-4 lead in the all-time series, which began in Duluth on Feb. 12, 1971 when both clubs were members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Irish departed that circuit after the 1980-81 season and UMD is 7-5-2 versus Notre Dame since then. The two teams last collided at the 2014 Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend where the Bulldogs blanked the host Irish 3-0 in the third place game.

LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs put the finishing touches on a home-and-home series sweep of the University of Minnesota with a 3-0 triumph Saturday night in their 2015-16 AMSOIL Arena debut. That came 24 hours after UMD had toppled its long-time intrastate rivals 3-1 in Minneapolis, Minn. Sophomore center Jared Thomas, senior left winger Austin Farley (power play) and junior center Dominic Toninato accounted for the UMD goals Friday while Toninato, Thomas and sophomore right winger Karson Kuhlman all scored in the rematch. Sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo stopped 44 of 45 shots on the weekend and played a key role in shutting down the Minnesota power play (0-for-8 over the two games).

Notre Dame traded wins with Penn State University, taking the opener 7-4 game on Friday before falling 5-3 to the host Nittany Lions the next night.

THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Andy Welinski has been entrusted with the Bulldogs' team captaincy duties in 2015-16 after handling an assistant role as a junior last winter. The senior forward trio of Tony Cameranesi, Cal Decowski and Austin Farley are all serving as assistant captains.

MEDIA PICK UMD AS NCHC'S TOP DOG IN 2015-16: Media who cover the NCHC collectively saw the Bulldogs as the team to beat in 2015-16. UMD received 17 of 30 first-place votes and totaled 208 points to place first in the NCHC Preseason Poll. The University of Denver was picked second with 187 points and seven first-place votes followed by the University of North Dakota, the defending Penrose Cup champions (183 points and four first-place votes), the University of Nebraska-Omaha (148 points.), Miami University (142 points and two first-place votes), last year's NCHC Frozen Faceoff titleholder, St. Cloud State University (117 points), Western Michigan University (60 points) and Colorado College (35 points).

This is the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Bulldogs have been picked first in any preseason league poll. UMD was at that time a member of the WCHA.

OH WHAT A NIGHT: A school-record home crowd of 7,569 jammed the 6,756-seat AMSOIL Arena last Saturday evening to see the Bulldogs extend their winning streak to a program-best six games over Minnesota. The previous attendance mark was set one year earlier against those same Gophers (7,424). UMD is now also unbeaten in eight of its last nine outings with the Gophers (7-1-1).

OH WHAT A NIGHT II: Kasimir Kaskisuo, a member of the 2014-15 NCHC All-Rookie Team who last spring became just the third NCAA I-era (1961-present) freshman to be named UMD's Most Valuable Player, continued his mastery over the Gophers last weekend with 3-1 and 3-0 wins. In six lifetime starts against Minnesota, Kaskisuo is 5-1-0 with a 1.19 goals against average and sizzling .950 saves percentage. The Bulldogs have held Minnesota scoreless only only five times in 230 lifetime meetings and Kaskisuo has two of those shutouts (he also pitched a 3-0 gem on Nov. 14, 2014 in Minneapolis -- his only other shutout in at Bulldog uniform this far). Prior to last Friday night, UMD hadn't blanked an opponent at home since March 9, 2013 when goaltender Aaron Crandall did in Omaha 6-0.

THEY CAME TO PLAY: Both senior center Tony Cameranesi and senior defenseman Andy Welinski have taken shifts in all 117 games since the start of the 2012-13 season.

LUCK OF THE IRISH: Senior Matt McNeely made his first collegiate start against Notre Dame on Oct. 18, 2012 at the Compton Family Ice Arena and backstopped (29 saves) the Bulldogs to a 3-1 victory. In his last visit to that same facility (Oct. 12, 2014), the Lakeville, Minn., product turned aside all 23 shots the Irish sent his way in a 3-0 triumph -- the latest of his four lifetime shutouts.

BULLDOG BITS: The Bulldogs retain 21 of 25 lettermen from last year's club and those 21 veterans accounted for 85 percent of UMD's scoring production (255 of 300 points) and 81.7 percent of its goal total (94 of 115). Eight of the Bulldogs' top 10 point producers from a year ago are back, including senior center Tony Cameranesi, who finished atop the UMD scoring charts for the second time in three years with 30 points on nine goals and 21 assists. Junior center Dominic Toninato (a team-leading and career-high 16 goals) was next followed by junior left winger Alex Iafallo (8-17=25) and senior left winger Austin Farley (8-16=24).

• Tony Cameranesi is the lone Bulldog to pick up at least one point in all three UMD games to date (a single assist in each outing). He currently paces all active Bulldogs in lifetime points (88) while senior left winger Austin Farley ranks first in both career goals (32) and power play scores (16). Junior defenseman Carson Soucy, the lone Bulldog to ever be drafted by the Minnesota Wild (fifth round in 2013) sports the best plus-minus figure (+21).

• Senior center Cal Decowkski is expected to take part in his 100th collegiate game this Saturday evening.

•The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 6-1 in in opening two periods of play through three games.

• Eight different Bulldogs picked up one point each during both ends of the Gopher series.

• The Bulldogs' eight defensemen finished with 25 goals in 2014-15 -- the seventh highest output in the nation. Those 25 goals were also the most by a UMD blue line ensemble since 2003-04 (also 25) and 20 more than the previous winter when all five scores came off the stick of Andy Welinski. Welinski became the first individual in 31 years to lead all Bulldog blueliners in scoring for a third straight winter. (Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Tom Kurvers did it four times from 1980-84). He's the lone UMD defenseman to collect a goal thus far in 2014-15 (a shortie at Bemidji State on Oct. 10).

• Senior defenseman Willie Corrin -- Irish surname and all -- has never suited up against Notre Dame during his career (he's had five opportunities to do so).

• Four of UMD's five freshmen -- wingers Bill Exell and Adam Johnson and Parker Mackay and defenseman Nate Pionk -- have made their collegiate debuts with goaltender Nick Deery being the one exception.

• Of the eight NCHC head coaches, only one (Miami's Enrico Blasi with 17 seasons) has been at his current school longer than Scott Sandelin (16 seasons). During his Bulldog tenure, Sandelin has compiled a 73-40-14 record in 127 non-conference assignments.

• Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 53 of the 54 games they've struck for more than three goals (48-1-5). The sole setback during that stretch was inflicted by Minnesota State-Mankato on Oct. 17, 2014 in Duluth (5-4 in overtime).

• Two of UMD's five 2015-16 rookies -- left winger Adam Johnson and defenseman Neal Pionk -- debuted with the Bulldogs last Saturday night. Johnson is part of the 11th father-son combinations that have been part of the UMD program. His dad, Davey Johnson, was a four-year letterman and captained the Bulldogs as a senior center in 1980-81. Junior center Dominic Toninato also followed in his father's footsteps (Jim Toninato, 1982-86).

• 2015-16 Preseason praise was heaped upon senior defenseman Andy Welinski (College Hockey News All-American Team and All-NCHC Team) as well as sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (All-NCHC Team).

• UMD's eight-member senior class is its largest since the 2003-04 season (11). That group consists of forwards Tony Cameranesi, Cal Decowski, Austin Farley, Charlie Sampair and Austyn Young, defensemen Willie Corrin and Andy Welinski and goalie Matt McNeely.

•UMD did something last winter it had done only one other time in 54 years of competing at the NCAA I level -- go through an entire regular season without being swept. (The Bulldogs also accomplished that feat in 2010-11). North Dakota was the only other 2014-15 NCHC school to make that claim.

• Excluding a season-ending injury to sophomore right winger Sammy Spurrell (which he incurred three weeks into the year and was granted an extra year of eligibility for it as a medical redshirt), injuries and illnesses to seven other Bulldogs cost UMD 53 man games in 2014-15. Topping that list was current junior defenseman Dan Molenaar (13 games) and sophomore pointman Nick McCormack (11).

• UMD was slotted second in the first USCHO.com poll and that represented its highest preseason ranking in that poll's history (bettering the No. 5 position it occupied in 2004-05).

•The Bulldogs were 11-8-0 on the road last winter (excluding neutral site games) and those 11 victories took a backseat nationally only to the 12 Michigan Tech University rolled up.

•UMD announced last Saturday that it will host the 2017 Ice Breaker Tournament. Joining the Bulldogs in the four-team field at AMSOIL Arena will be Minnesota, long-time rival Michigan Tech and 2014 NCAA champion Union College. UMD has competed in two previous Ice Breaker Tournaments -- in 2003 in East Lansing, Mich. and one year ago in South Bend, Ind. In 2017, Minnesota will make its fourth Ice Breaker Tournament appearance while Union and Michigan Tech will both be first-time participants.

UP NEXT: UMD will return to AMSOIL Arena to host the University of Massachusetts-Lowell (which held down the No. 7 spot in this week's USCHO.com Poll) on Oct. 30-31. On Friday night, the Bulldogs will officially retire the No. 1 jersey of Glenn "Chico" Resch, a charter member of the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame who tended goal for the Bulldogs for three seasons (1868-71) before launching a 14-year NHL career.