The University of Minnesota Duluth will begin its fourth season of National Collegiate Hockey Conference warfare this Friday and Saturday (Oct. 28-29) when the Bulldogs host the University of North Dakota in a two-game series featuring the two top-ranked clubs in the nation. Opening faceoff is set for 7:07 p.m. both nights at AMSOIL Arena (6,756) in downtown Duluth.

(Complete Release)

THE RECORDS: UMD, which is off to a 3-1-2 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. North Dakota, which is 5-0-0 in 2016-17, posted a 34-6-4 record in all games one year ago captured its second straight NCHC regular season title with a 19-4-1 mark. The Fighting Hawks went on to claim the NCAA national championship -- their first since the 1999-2000 season -- last April in Tampa, Fla.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Fighting Hawks stacked up in the this week's USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
          uscho.com    USA Today    
UMD    No. 2        No. 2    
UND    No. 1        No. 1    
        
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-North Dakota 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 (Pacific) and Saturday on My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9), which has been the Bulldogs' television home for the last seven 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 North Dakota will meet for the 232nd time ever Saturday afternoon. North Dakota holds a 144-78-9 lead in the all-time series, which began on Nov. 26, 1954 at the old Duluth Curling Club, and is unbeaten in 16 of its last 21 engagements with the Bulldogs (15-5-1). The Fighting Hawks swept UMD twice during the 2015-16 regular season, posting a pair of 3-0 triumphs on Dec. 11-12 at AMSOIL Arena before downing the Bulldogs twice by identical 2-1 scores (the first of which came in overtime) two months later (Feb. 19-20) in Grand Forks, N.D. The Bulldogs, however, got the best of North Dakota last March when they skated off with a 4-2 victory in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

LAST TIME OUT: UMD suffered a 2-1 exhibition loss to the U.S. National Under-18 Team last Saturday night at AMSOIL Arena, giving up the game-winning goal with 32.4 seconds left in regulation. Senior center Dominic Toninato accounted for the lone Bulldog goal, which he scored midway through the first period to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Each of UMD's three freshmen goaltenders saw one period of activity -- starter Hunter Miska (five saves on five shots), Nick Deery (four saves on five shots) and Hunter Shepard seven saves on eight shots) -- while their counterpart, Dylan St. Cyr, made 32 stops in the victory.

North Dakota swept former WCHA rival Bemidji State University in a pair of home bouts, prevailing 3-2 on Friday and 5-4 the following night. In the opener, the Fighting Hawks erased a 2-0 second-period deficit thanks to Brock Boeser's natural hat trick. The last of the sophomore forward's three goals came on a penalty shot at 12:52 of the third period that sealed the North Dakota triumph. Boeser struck for two more scores on Saturday while sophomore forward Shane Gersich contributed three points (one goal and two assists) to the North Dakota attack.

NOT YOU AGAIN: The Bulldogs have faced North Dakota on more occasions (231) than any other opponent in their 73-year history. The University of Minnesota (230) is next on that list followed by Michigan Tech University (229).

THIS ISN'T THEIR FIRST RODEO: This weekend will mark the fourth time in program history UMD has ever been involved in a No. 1 versus No. 2 confrontation. The first of those came on Feb. 2-3, 1979 after the Bulldogs had secured their first No. 1 ranking ever (in the WMPL-Radio Poll) and went on to split a two-game WCHA road series with No. 2 North Dakota. Six years later in the semifinal round of the NCAA Frozen Four at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, No. 2 UMD fell 6-5 in three overtimes to No. 1 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The following winter (Feb. 1-2, 1986), the No. 1 Bulldogs and No. 2 University of Denver traded WCHA wins in Denver.

Since moving to AMSOIL Arena in December 2010, UMD has been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 on 11 occasions (prior to this week) and never faced an opponent -- home or away -- ranked higher than No. 8 (Western Michigan University on Jan. 6-7, 2012 in Kalamazoo, Mich.) during that time.

DEJA VU: The last time the Bulldogs butted heads with a No. 1-ranked club was on March 18, 2016 when they took down Fighting Hawks in the opening round of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. North Dakota has not lost a game since then, going 9-0-1.

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE FIGHTING HAWKS: Senior defenseman Willie Raskob has registered more of his 45 lifetime points against North Dakota than any other opponent. In 11 career bouts with the Fighting Hawks, Raskob has one goal and eight assists for a team-leading 9 points. He collected two of those points (both assists) in the last meeting between the two rivals -- UMD's 4-2 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal round triumph on March 18, 2016 -- on his way to being chosen to that event's All-Tournament Team.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS:  Bulldog bench boss Scott Sandelin and Fighting Hawks' second-year head coach Brad Berry were teammates -- and fellow defensemen -- at North Dakota for three seasons (1983-86). Those two, along with Denver's Jim Montgomery, are the only three NCHC head coaches to do time in the NHL.

MAKING THEMSELVES FEEL RIGHT AT HOME: North Dakota is 6-1-0 (with four shutouts) in seven lifetime visits to AMSOIL Arena and that .857 winning percentage easily tops all NCHC clubs. The Fighting Hawks upended the Bulldogs 5-0 on AMSOIL Arena's opening night (Dec. 30, 2011) and their lone loss to date at that downtown Duluth facility came on Feb. 11, 2012 -- a 5-4 decision. One year ago (Dec. 11-12, 2015), North Dakota blanked the Bulldogs twice by identical 3-0 counts, becoming in the process, the fourth club to ever shut out the Bulldogs in both ends of a weekend series and the first to do so since Feb. 22-23, 2008 (Colorado College in Duluth).

MAKING A POINT : Sophomore center Adam Johnson, who earlier this month collared his first NCHC weekly honor of any kind (Offensive Player of the Week vs. Notre Dame), is the lone Bulldog to pick up at least one point in all six outings to date.

MAKING A POINT ON THE POINT: Sophomore Neal Poink is currently tied for third in scoring among all NCAA I defenseman with seven points. His three goals thus far are just one less than he accumulated during his entire 40-game rookie season.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Rookie Nick Deery leads the NCHC in both goals against average (1.54) and saves percentage (.934) coming into the weekend.

GET SHORTIE: North Dakota is the last team to collect a shorthanded goal against UMD, doing so on Dec. 12, 2015 after the host Bulldogs had pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.

BULLDOG BITS: The Bulldogs will line up against both an unbeaten and nationally-ranked club for the fourth time in as many weekends this season when it hosts North Dakota. Then-No. 17 Michigan Tech paid a visit to AMSOIL Arena for the 2016-17 season openers back on Oct. 1-2 while No. 8 UMass Lowell hosted UMD the following weekend. Two weeks ago, it was No. 5 Notre Dame's turn to take on UMD in Duluth.

• Senior center Dominic Toninato has four, two-goal nights on his collegiate resume, the latest of those was registered against North Dakota in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals last March.

• UMD has blocked more shots this season (15.17 per night) than any NCHC club and all but six teams in the entire country.

• North Dakota and Denver are the only two league clubs the Bulldogs have not swept since the NCHC began play in 2013-14.

• Of the 22 non-goalies who have seen ice time in 2016-17 for the Bulldogs only three -- rookie defensemen Will Campion and Jarod Hilderman and freshman left winger Riley Tufte -- remain pointless.

• Going back to last March, the Bulldogs have won seven of their last eight games at AMSOIL Arena with the lone loss occurring in their most recent regular season game -- 3-1 to Notre Dame on Oct. 15.

• Junior right winger Karson Kuhlman has skated in all 86 games over the last three seasons -- a claim no other Bulldog can make.

•UMD has been outshot just once this season (by Notre Dame on Oct. 15) and ranks eighth nationally in shots per game average (33.67).

•Since falling to host Miami University 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 21, 2015, the Bulldogs are 18-0-0 when taking a lead into the third period. They were 14-0-0 in that situation last winter and 2-0-0 so far in 2016-17.

• 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.

• Prior to this year, the last time the Bulldogs sported only freshmen goaltenders on their roster was in 1985-86. That was also the last time three different UMD goaltenders all made their collegiate debuts in the same season.

•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.

•Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 66 of the 67 games they've struck for more than three goals (59-1-6). The sole setback during that stretch was inflicted by Minnesota State University-Mankato on Oct. 17, 2014 in Duluth (5-4 in overtime)

• Senior defenseman Carson Soucy is a team-leading +26 for his career while junior right winger Karson Kuhlman (+23) and senior center Dominic Toninato (+20) are next.

• UMD has won just four of the last 28 games that have required overtime, going 4-6-18. Only three active Bulldogs -- senior left wingers Alex Iafallo and Kyle Osterberg and junior right winger Karson Kuhlman -- have an overtime goal on their collegiate resume.

• The 35 saves Hunter Shepard made in UMD's 3-1 loss to Notre Dame on Oct. 15 were the most by a Bulldog goalie in his first collegiate appearance since Jerome Butler also turned aside 35 shots against visiting Northern Michigan on Oct. 26, 1991 (a 5-2 UMD triumph).

• 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.

• 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 take their show on the road for a pair of NCHC clashes with St. Cloud State on Nov. 4-5. UMD is a perfect 4-0-0 in its last four visits to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.