After a two-season hiatus, the University of Minnesota Duluth is back in the NCAA Tournament and this Friday (March 27) the Bulldogs will open Northeast Regional play against a very familiar foe, the University of Minnesota. Game time is set for 4:34 (CT) at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. That will follow the other semifinal round bout between Boston University and Yale University with the two winners moving on to the Northeast Regional championship the next day at 4:34 p.m.
Complete Release (pdf)THE RECORDS: UMD is 20-15-3 overall and placed fifth in the final NCHC standings at 12-9-3-0. Minnesota comes into the weekend with a 23-12-3 record, having won both the Big Ten regular season (12-5-3-0) and playoff titles this winter. Boston University, the reigning Hockey East regular season and playoff champion, is 25-7-3 in all games and went 14-5-3 in conference play while Yale sports an 18-9-5 overall mark and was 12-6-4 in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (good for third place).
THE SEEDS: Boston U. is the Northeast Regional's No. 1 seed followed by UMD (No. 2), Minnesota (No. 3) and Yale (No. 4).
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how this year's Northeast Regional field stacked up in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls as well as the PairWise rankings:
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| USCHO.com | USA Today | PairWise |
| UMD | No. 7 | No. 7 | No. 6 |
| Minnesota | No. 8 | No. 8 | No. 10 |
| Boston U. | No. 2 | No. 2 | No. 3 |
| Yale | No. 17 | RV | No. 13 |
ON THE AIR: All of UMD's action this weekend will be carried on 92.1 The Fan (WWAX-FM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 FM in Grand Rapids/Hibbing; KQ 106.7 FM in Ely/Virginia; WXCX 105.7 FM in Pine City; and KKIN 930 AM in Atkin as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and at:
network1sports.com/station/kqds.
The Northeast Regional will be televised on ESPNU (semfinals) and ESPN2 (championship) and streammed on
WatchESPN with Dan Parkhurst and Billy Jaffe behind the mikes.
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 winding down his 15th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 267-260-70 overall record -- including a 145-100-33 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: Friday afternoon's clash will mark the 228th meeting ever between the Bulldogs and Gophers. Minnesota holds a 134-76-17 lead in the rivalry, which began back on Dec. 1, 1952 at the Hippodrome in Eveleth, Minn.
The Bulldogs went 3-1-0 against Minnesota in 2014-15, posting three straight victories (3-0 in Minneapolis on Nov. 14, 2-1 at AMSOIL Arena on Nov. 15, and 2-1 at the North Star College Cup in St. Paul on Jan. 24) after dropping a 4-3 decision in the season-opening Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind., on Oct. 10. Do the math and that's four different games at four different sites.
LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs have been idle since being ousted from the NCHC Playoff quarterfinals with back-to-back losses (4-3 and 3-0) at the University of Denver on March 13-14. UMD held a 3-2 lead early in the third period on goals from sophomore left winger
Kyle Osterberg, junior defenseman
Andy Welinski and junior left winger
Cal Decowski in the best-of-three series opener only to have Denver score the final six goals of the weekend. The Bulldogs did outshoot the Pioneers 36-32 the next night, but couldn't solve netminder Evan Cowley, who handed the visitors their third shutout loss of the 2014-15 season.
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.
UMD IN THE BIG DANCE: This year's NCAA Tournament berth is the ninth ever for the UMD program and marks the first time any Bulldog club has made four national appearances in a seven-year stretch.
UMD qualified for NCAA postseason play in 2012-13 (it beat the University of Maine 5-2 before falling to eventual national champion Boston College 4-0 in the Northeast Region quarterfinals in Worcester, Mass.), 2010-11 (captured the school's first NCAA championship), 2008-09 (quarterfinal round) and 2003-04 (Frozen Four semifinals) under current head coach
Scott Sandelin as well as in 1992-93 (quarterfinal round), 1984-85 (Frozen Four third place), 1983-84 (Frozen Four runnerup) and 1982-83 (quarterfinal round). UMD has compiled a 14-9-0 lifetime record in the NCAA Tournament and an 8-3-0 mark since Sandelin's arrival.
YOU AGAIN?: The Bulldogs have butted heads with both Minnesota and Michigan Tech on more lifetime occasions (227) than any other opponent. UMD has also met both of those teams on an annual basis since the 1961-62 season, making each the Bulldogs' longest continuous rivalry.
The Bulldogs and Gophers have collided just once, however, in the NCAA Tournament. That came on March 28, 2004 when UMD skated off with a 3-1 victory over the two-time defending national champions in the Midwest Regional championship in Grand Rapids, Minn.
POSTSEASON PUSHERS: The top active Bulldog playoff (NCAA, NCHC and WCHA) scoring leaders are as follows:
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T'S NOT THEIR FIRST RODEO: Just two current Bulldogs -- senior right wingers
Justin Crandall and
Adam Krause -- have any previous NCAA Tournament playing experience, having skated in both of UMD's two Northeast Regional outings in 2012. The two skated on the Bulldogs' fourth line (with Crandall on the left side and Krause on the right) and combined for no points and one shot that weekend. The Bulldogs' other fourth-year senior, defenseman
Derik Johnson, made the trip to Worcester, Mass., two years ago but was a healthy scratch both nights.
WELL PLAYED: UMD did something this 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.
SCORING BY COMMITTEE: For the first time in its nine trips to the NCAA Tournament, UMD is sans a 30-point scorer (junior center
Tony Cameranesi currently tops the Bulldog scoring charts with eight goals and 20 assists). UMD came into both the 2012 and 2011 tourneys armed with six players who topped the 30-point plateau, three in 2009 and seven in 2004.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE ROAD: UMD has rolled up 12 victories away from home this winter (going 12-10-0) a number bettered by only five other clubs nationally. The last time the Bulldogs won more than 12 road/neutral site games in a season was in 2010-11 when they went 14-5-4 on their way to capturing the NCAA national championship.
BOOST FROM THE BACK END: Collectively, UMD's eight-member blue line corps has combined for 22 goals this year -- the ninth highest total in the country -- after mustering just five (all of which came off the stick of
Andy Welinski) during the entire 2013-14 season. Denver and North Dakota share the NCHC lead in defensemen goal scoring with 27, followed by North Dakota (22) and UMD. The 22 goals are the most by a Bulldog back end crew since the 2006-07 season (24 goals in 39 games) -- a team that featured the likes of current NHLers Matt Niskanen and Jason Garrison. The following is a breakdown of UMD's defensemen scoring output over the past five seasons:
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| Year | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | PPG |
| 2014-15 | 38 | 22 | 49 | 71 | 1.97 |
| 2013-14 | 36 | 5 | 48 | 53 | 1.47 |
| 2012-13 | 38 | 11 | 49 | 60 | 1.58 |
| 2011-12 | 41 | 19 | 79 | 98 | 2.39 |
| 2010-11 | 42 | 14 | 70 | 84 | 2.00 |
BOOST FROM THE BACK END II: Minutes muncher
Andy Welinski, a 2014-15 All-NCHC second team pick, has generated the second-most goals (a career-high nine) and shots (95) of any NCHC defenseman thus far. He and fellow junior
Willie Corrin have both scored shorthanded once this season -- only three other NCAA clubs (Maine, the University of Massachusetts and Rochester Institute of Technology) has two pointmen who have done that.
BETTER THAN BEFORE: Ten out of a possible 17 Bulldog veterans have established or equaled career bests for points this winter:
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Here are the seven Bulldogs who have come up short in that department:
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*out for seasonTHE PUCK STOPS HERE: Kasimir Kaskisuo, a member of the 2014-15 NCHC All-Rookie Team, was one of just two individuals to see crease time in all of his team's 24 league games this season (North Dakota's Zane McIntyre was the other). Among the nation's first-year netminders, he currently ranks second in victories (17), third in starts (34), fourth in winning percentage (.561), fifth in goals against average (2.31) and eighth in saves percentage (.915). Kaskisuo, the Hockey Commissioners' Association Rookie of the Month for November, also has one shutout (at Minnesota on Nov. 14) and a nation-leading two assists to his 2014-15 credit while his 17 victories this season are the most by a Bulldog since Kenny Reiter went 23-9-6 as a senior in 2011-12. The Vantaa, Finland, native and former Minnesota Wilderness (North American Hockey League) puckstopper is the sixth European to enlist his services with the Bulldogs and the first non-North American to play for 15th-year head coach
Scott Sandelin.
Kaskisuo's 3-0 triumph over Minnesota on Nov. 14 was only UMD's fourth shutout ever against its long-time rivals and just the second on the Gophers' home ice (with the other coming on Feb. 23, 1973).
GET SHORTIE: The seven shorthanded goals UMD has amassed this year rank in a tie for fifth among NCAA clubs and are three more than its 2013-14 output. The school single-season record for shorties is 12 set by the 1992-93 Bulldogs. That club was captained by current UMD assistant coach
Derek Plante (who scored four times that year while his team was a man down). Five Bulldogs have bagged their first collegiate shorthanded goals this season -- senior right winger
Justin Crandall, junior defensemen
Willie Corrin and
Andy Welinski, junior center
Tony Cameranesi and freshmen right winger
Karson Kuhlman.
FREE HOCKEY: UMD has managed to win just three of its last 19 games that have gone beyond regulation, going 3-5-11. Those three victories came against Colorado College on Dec. 6, 2014, St. Cloud State on Nov. 7, 2014 and Minnesota State-Mankato (Jan. 24, 2014). Only three active Bulldogs -- sophomore forwards
Alex Iafallo and
Kyle Osterberg and junior center
Cal Decowski -- have an overtime goal to their collegiate credit (one each).
THEIR BEST PERIOD, PERIOD: UMD has outscored the opposition 47-34 in the third period this season. Those 47 goals pace the NCHC and rank eighth nationally. The following is the Bulldogs' period-by-period breakdown and how they measure up against their league and NCAA I colleagues:
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| Period | Goals | NCHC Rank | NCAA Rank |
| 1st | 24 | 7th(t) | 41st(t) |
| 2nd | 36 | 4th | 28th(t) |
| 3rd | 47 | 1st(t) | 8th(t) |
| OT | 2 | 2nd(t) | 13th(t) |
A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH: Excluding a season-ending injury to sophomore
Sammy Spurrell (which he incurred three weeks into the year), injuries and illnesses to seven other Bulldogs have cost UMD 53 man games in 2014-15. UMD, however, is expected to enter this weekend's Northeast Regional with a full and healthy compliment of forwards, defensemen and goaltenders (again with the exception of Spurrell). That's a luxury the Bulldogs have had on only three occasions since mid-December (vs. Denver on Jan. 30-31 and Northern Michigan on Feb. 6). Here are the Bulldogs who have been sidelined for at least one game this winter:
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BACK TO WHERE THEY BELONG: Injuries and illnesses left the Bulldogs so depleted at forward that sophomore
Dan Molenaar (five games) and rookie
Nick McCormack (four games) were relocated from their blue line positions in eight straight outings from Feb. 21 to March 14. UMD was, in fact, forced to use both of those defensemen up front in its 4-3 setback to Denver in the NCHC playoff series opener on March 13.
Both sophomore left winger
Alex Iafallo (mononucleosis) and freshman left winger
Blake Young (lower body) are expected to return to the Bulldog lineup this Friday after missing the past six and eight games, respectively. Iafallo has collected a career-best 25 points this season and 20 of those (a team high) have been part of Bulldog wins.
THE MAGIC NUMBER: Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 52 of the 53 games they've struck for more than three goals (47-1-5). The sole setback during that stretch was inflicted by Minnesota State-Mankato earlier this year (5-4 in overtime on Oct. 17 in Duluth)
BULLDOG BITS: Only 11 (Western Michigan University both on March 6-7 and on Jan. 16-17, St. Cloud State University on Feb. 13-14, Northern Michigan niversity on Feb. 6-7, Bemidji State University on Jan. 23, and Colorado College on Dec. 5-6) of UMD's 38 games thus far have been against unranked opponents. The Bulldogs are 14-11-2 against nationally-ranked clubs this winter (3-2-0 vs. No. 1s, which includes wins over Minnesota on Nov. 14-15 and North Dakota on Jan. 9) and 6-4-1 versus the rest. This marked the second straight year UMD finished the regular season ranking first among NCAA I schools in strength of schedule.
• Dominic Toninato continues to pace the Bulldogs in goals with a personal-high 16. A NCHC-high twelve of those scores have come outside of Duluth as have 19 of his 24 points.. The All-NCHC honorable mention selection is one of seven league combatants with two shorthanded goals to his 2014-15 credit. 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, the oldest player in the NCHC (he turned 25 last month), is the son of Jim Johnson, another UMD hockey alumnus (1981-85) and now an assistant coach with the NHL's San Jose Sharks. Both the elder Toninato and Johnson were members of the last UMD team to win both a conference (WCHA) regular season and playoff title in the same year. That came exactly 30 years ago and also included a third-place finish at the NCAA Frozen Four. Johnson served as co-captain on that 1984-85 squad.
• UMD's 20 overall victories (20-15-3) are three more than its 2013-14 output (16-6-4) while their 12 NCHC triumphs (12-9-3) were two more than it finished with last year (10-10-4). The Bulldogs have now reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.
• The Bulldogs have racked up a 3-1-0 record vs. Minnesota this season. The last -- and only -- time UMD claimed more than three wims in one year at the expense of their long-time rivals was in 2003-04 when it when 5-1-0 (4-0 during the regular season, 0-1 in the WCHA playoffs and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament).
• Sophomore
Carson Soucy, the only Bulldog to ever be drafted by the Minnesota Wild (fifth round in 2013), is tied for sixth in plus-minus rating among NCHC defensemen (+11). He's also a +18 for his career -- tops among all 2014-15 Bulldogs.
• After going without a goal in his first 58 games as a Bulldog, junior defenseman
Willie Corrin has scored three times in the 12 outings since.
• UMD is 10-4-2 when holding the opposition scoreless on the power play this season.
• UMD currently sports two of the NCHC's top nine plus-minus leaders in sophomore left winger Alex iafallo (tied for fifth at +16) and senior right winger
Adam Krause (tied for seventh at +15). Krause, who is UMD's ninth multi-year captain -- and first since 2008-09 (Andrew Carroll), has finished with a negative plus-minus rating in just four of his 28 assigments this season while rookie defenseman/forward
Nick McCormack has yet to do so as a collegian (12 games thus far).
• Center
Tony Cameranesi and defenseman
Andy Welinski, who were both members of the WCHA All-Rookie Team in 2012-13, have taken a shift all 112 outings since joining the UMD program two years ago.
• Eight different Bulldogs attained NCHC Player of the Week honors in 2014-15 -- only North Dakota with 10, had more. UMD was the only program to have two goalies recognized this year (
Kasimir Kaskisuo on Oct. 27 and Nov. 17 and
Matt McNeely on Oct. 13).
• UMD is mired in a seven-game postseason losing streak. The Bulldogs' last playoff victory of any kind came against Maine (5-2) in the Northeast Regional semifinals on March 24, 2012.
• 90.9 percent (20 of 22) of
Justin Crandall's regular season points this winter came in NCHC play. That's a figure unrivaled by any of the 37 league skaters with 20 or more points.
• The Bulldogs have drawn first blood in 28 of their 36 victories the last two seasons, going 28-9-4 in that situation -- 14-5-2 this winter). On the other hand, they are a mere 8-21-3 when the opposition has taken a 1-0 lead during that stretch (6-10-1 in 2014-15).
• The Bulldogs are 1-for-23 on the power play over the last six games.
• Among NCHC newcomers, right winger
Karson Kuhlman is fourth in shots on goal (78), fifth in goals (eight) and ninth in scoring (17 points), and is one of only two league rookies with a shorthanded goal on his 2014-15 stat line. Center
Jared Thomas has won the second most faceoffs (167) of any league novice.
• The Bulldogs average home attendance of 6,411 this winter was not only a program record (eclipsing the previous full-season mark of 6,328 set in 2011-12), but was the fifth highest figure in the country.
BEANTOWN OR BUST: The champions from each of this weekend's four regionals will advance to the NCAA Frozen Four, which is set for April 9 and 11 in Boston.
