The University of Minnesota Duluth will put its six-game home winning streak on the line this Friday and Saturday (Oct. 14-15) when the Bulldogs host the University of Notre Dame in a two-game non-conference series. Opening faceoff is set for 7:07 p.m. both nights at AMSOIL Arena (6,756) in downtown Duluth.

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THE RECORDS: UMD, which is off to a 2-0-2 start this season, went 19-16-5 overall last winter and 11-10-3 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (fourth place), advanced to the NCAA Northeast Regional final for the second year in a row and was ranked No. 9 in the final USCHO.com Poll. Notre Dame, which is 2-0-0 in 2016-17, posted a 19-11-7 record in all games one year ago and placed third in the final Hockey East standings with a 15-5-2 mark. The Irish's season ended with a 3-2 setback to the University of Michigan in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals last March.

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

            uscho.com    USA Today    
UMD    No. 4             No. 4    
ND        No. 5           No. 6    
        
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-Notre Dame clashes will be carried live on 92.1 FM The Fan with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play responsibilities and Bulldog hockey alumnus Kraig Karakas doing color commentary. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 FM in Grand Rapids/Hibbing, Minn. and KQ 106.7 FM in Ely/Virginia, Minn., as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and at: 921thefan.com or free via the iHeartRadio app.

Both ends of this weekend's series will also be televised -- Friday on Fox Sports North and Fox College Sports and Saturday on My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9), which has been the Bulldogs' television home for six seasons. KBJR-TV sports director Zach Schneider and former UMD standout forward Judd Medak will serve as the on-air talent both nights. The two telecasts are available on-line for a fee at: nchc.tv/umd.

THE RIVALRY: UMD and Notre Dame have met 42 times previously, including at least once in each of the past six seasons. The Irish hold a 21-15-6 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 7-5-4 versus Notre Dame since then. In their most recent confrontations (Oct. 23-24, 2015 in South Bend, Ind.) the Bulldogs and Irish played to back-to-back 3-3 deadlocks.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD and UMass Lowell were fit to be tied last weekend in Lowell, Mass. as the two clubs came away with draws both Friday (4-4) and Saturday night (1-1). In the series opener, the Bulldogs overcame a 4-1 second-period deficit and got the equalizer with 3:30 to go in regulation on Kyle Osterberg's third goal of the year. UMD and the River Hawks combined to strike six times on 19 opportunities with the man advantage. Osterberg, junior right winger Karson Kuhlman and sophomore defenseman Neal Pionk each scored once and assisted on another score while rookies Hunter Miska (starter) and Nick Deery combined to make 24 saves for the Bulldogs, who outshot UMass Lowell 21-10 in the third period and 43-28 on the night. The following evening, Pionk helped UMD salvage a tie by scoring at 16:06 of the third period after UMD had trailed for all but 3:30 of the game to that point. The Bulldogs once again held a substantial shot advantage (41-25, including a 20-4 margin in the final period of play).

Notre Dame made its 2016-17 debut by upending visiting Arizona State University twice (9-2 on Friday and 4-2 the next evening). Irish right winger Anders Bjork collected four goals and three assists over the weekend.

THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Senior center Dominic Toninato is serving as UMD's team captain during the 2016-17 season while the trio of senior defensemen Brenden Kotyk and Carson Soucy, and junior right winger Karson Kuhlman are sharing the assistant captaincy duties.

WELL DONE: For their exemplary play last weekend at UMass Lowell, Nick Deery was selected the NCHC Goaltender of the Week while sophomore Neal Pionk landed the circuit's Defenseman of the Week award. Deery came off the bench during the second period Friday and, in his collegiate debut, stopped all 13 shots he faced to preserve a 4-4 tie The next night, he got the starting call and answered that challenge by allowing just one goal -- a power play score 3:30 after the opening face off -- while making 24 saves as UMD and UMass Lowell battled to a 1-1 deadlock. Pionk scored once (on the power play) and assisted on another goal in UMD's 2016-17 road opener and then pumped in the equalizer on Saturday with 3:54 to go in regulation. He finished a +1 on the weekend and also put nine shots on goal.

HOME ICE IS NICE: Going back to last March, UMD has reeled off six straight victories on its home ice. That six-game winning streak is the Bulldogs' longest since they closed out 2011-12 (their first full season of occupancy at AMSOIL Arena) with wins in each of their final five games in Duluth and then opened 2012-13 with a home triumph.

TOP 'DOG: Neal Pionk not only tops the 2016-17 UMD scoring charts with three goals (one less than his entire rookie year harvest) and three assists, but he is one of just two Bulldogs who has managed to pick up at least one point in all four outings to date. (Fellow sophomore Adam Johnson is the other). Pionk's first collegiate goal, incidentally, came at the expense of Notre Dame on Oct. 24, 2015 and two days later he was bestowed with the NCHC Defenseman of the Week award.

THAT'S PROMISING: This marks the first time UMD has been unbeaten through the opening four games of a season since 2004-05 (when it was 3-0-1 at that juncture and went 5-0-1 before suffering its first defeat)

BULLDOG BITS: This is the third straight weekend UMD will line up against a nationally-ranked opponent. Then-No. 17 Michigan Tech paid a visit to AMSOIL Arena for the 2016-17 season openers two weeks ago while No. 8 UMass Lowell hosted UMD last Friday and Saturday.

• Of the 23 Bulldogs who have seen ice time this season only three -- rookie defenseman Will Campion and Jarod Hilderman and freshman goaltender Nick Deery -- remain pointless.

• Junior right winger Karson Kuhlman has skated in all 84 games over the last three seasons -- a claim no other Bulldog can make.

• Since falling to host Miami University 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 21, 2015, the Bulldogs are 17-0-0 when taking a lead into the third period. They were 14-0-0 in that situation last winter and 1-0-0 so far in 2016-17

• Prior to this year, the last time the Bulldogs sported only freshmen goaltenders on their roster was in 1985-86

• UMD outshot UMass Lowell 41-14 during the third period last weekend. The Bulldogs have put more shots on target than their opposition in all four games thus far and hold a 35.5 to 23.8 shots per game average advantage over their foes

• Scott Sandelin is in his 17th season presiding over the UMD puck program. That's the second longest continuous tenure of any NCHC head coach. (Enrico Blassi is in his 18th year at Miami). Of all-time UMD bench bosses, only Mike Sertich (18 years between 1982-2000) served longer than Sandelin

• Senior defenseman Carson Soucy is a team-leading +26 for his career while Karson Kuhlman is next at +22.

• Senior center Dominic Toninato is the second straight Duluth East High School alumnus to serve as the Bulldogs' team captain. Two-time All-NCHC second team defenseman Andy Welinski handled that responsibility in 2015-16 ...

• There is almost seven years age difference separating the oldest (senior defenseman Brenden Kotyk, who turned 25 last Aug. 27) and youngest (freshman winger Joey Anderson, whose 19th birthday doesn't come up until June 19) Bulldogs.

• UMD has more senior defensemen (four) on its 2016-17 roster than any other program in the country. It shares that distinction with Princeton University and St. Lawrence University.

• Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 65 of the 66 games they've struck for more than three goals (58-1-6). The sole setback during that stretch was inflicted by Minnesota State University -Mankato on Oct. 17, 2014 in Duluth (5-4 in overtime)

• There have been 11 father-son combination who have done time with the Bulldogs, with the most latest addition being sophomore forward Adam Johnson, whose dad (Davey Johnson), was a four-year letterman and captained the Bulldogs as a senior center in 1980-81. Senior center Dominic Toninato also followed in his father's footsteps to UMD (Jim Toninato, 1982-86) as did assistant coach and former Bulldog defenseman Brett Larson (Robert Larson, 1968-69).

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will stay put at AMSOIL Arena next Saturday to face the U.S. National Under-18 Team in an exhibition clash before hosting defending NCAA champion North Dakota the following weekend in their 2016-17 NCHC debuts.