The University of Minnesota Duluth will engage in its final road assignments of the 2015-16 regular season this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26-27) when the Bulldogs renew their intrastate rivalry with St. Cloud State University. Opening face off is set for 8:08 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. the following night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,159) on the St. Cloud State campus.

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THE RECORDS: UMD owns an 11-14-5 overall record and a 7-10-3-1 NCHC mark (tied for fourth place with Miami University and the University of Nebraska-Omaha) while St. Cloud State, unbeaten in nine of its last 10 outings (8-1-1), is 25-6-1 in all games and 15-4-1 in NCHC play (tied for first place with the University of North Dakota).

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

           USCHO.com    USA Hockey    PairWise
UMD         NR                    NR             No. 25
SCSU      No. 3                No. 3            No. 2
    
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-St. Cloud State bouts will be carried live 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 via the iHeartRadio app.

Friday's series opener will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden, Dave Starman and Shireen Saski serving as the on-air talent.

Saturday's game will be aired on FSN Plus and Fox College Sports (Central). The videostream of that telecast is available on-line for a fee at: nchc.tv/umd

THE RIVALRY: UMD and St. Cloud State have met on 114 previous occasions in a rivalry which stretches back to the 1946-47 season. The Huskies hold a 62-43-9 lead in the all-time series and are 59-39-8 versus the Bulldogs since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1987-88. Prior to last season, UMD had won just one of its eight previous matchups with the Huskies (1-6-1), but the Bulldogs reversed their fortunes in 2014-15 by going 3-1-0 against their longtime intrastate rivals. Last month in a two-game set at AMSOIL Arena, St. Cloud State toppled the Bulldogs 3-1 on Jan. 15 before the two clubs skated to a 1-1 draw the ensuing evening.  (The Huskies, who were outshot 39-22,  claimed the extra NCHC point by prevailing in the 3 x 3 shootout).

LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs returned from a bye weekend and dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions to then No. 4 North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. In Friday's NCHC series opener, Fighting Hawks winger Austin Poganski scored on a penalty shot with 1:14 remaining in overtime after Bulldog junior defenseman Carson Soucy was whistled for tripping.  Junior center Dominic Toninato's power play goal at 15:49 of the first period held up until midway through the second when  Coltyn Sanderson drew North Dakota even with an unassisted score. UMD outshot North Dakota 11-5 in that period and 33-25 on the night.  The Bulldogs struck first again in the rematch with senior center Cal Decowski doing the honors with 14:02 gone in the second, but It took the Fighting Hawks a little over four minutes to answer.   With 5:21 to go in regulation, Brock Boeser scored to clinch the win -- and series sweep -- for North Dakota and its sophomore goaltender Cam Johnson, who turned aside 59 of 61 shots on the weekend  (and 137 of the 139 shots he has faced this year in four victories).

St. Cloud State remained in the thick of the NCHC regular season title hunt by upending the University of Nebraska-Omaha twice in Omaha -- 4-1 on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday.  Joey Benik potted two goals in the opener while Blake Winiecki duplicated that feat   24 hours later.

THE BIGGER THE BETTER: Since falling 5-3 to St. Cloud State on Feb. 14, 2014, the Bulldogs are 8-1-0 on Olympic-sized sheets. During that stretch the Bulldogs are 2-0 at Colorado College, 2-0 at Minnesota, 2-0 at St. Cloud State, 1-0 at Minnesota State University-Mankato and 1-1 at Northern Michigan University.  The loss to the Wildcats came earlier this winter (4-3 on Jan. 29).

HOW SWEEP IT WAS:  The last time the Bulldogs paid a visit to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (Nov. 7-8, 2014) they won 3-2 in overtime and 3-1 while posting their first road sweep over the Huskies since Nov. 12-13, 1999.

WELCOME BACK: Senior left winger Austin Farley, who tops the Bulldogs in goals, power play tallies, plus-minus rating (+19) and game winners (four), is expected to return to the UMD lineup this Friday after a three-game stay on the injured list (upper body).  Farley has racked up 13 goals (three short of his career high set three years ago) and has accounted for eight of UMD's 18 power play scores. Those eight man-advantage goals are second nationally only to Connecticut's Tage Thompson's nine tallies.

FIRE AWAY: UMD is averaging 35.77 shots on goal per night this winter -- the third highest average in all of college hockey, taking a backseat to only Penn State University (42.56) and the University of Michigan (38.43). Senior center Tony Cameranesi is 26th nationally in shots per game (3.64) and ranks third among NCHC skaters in that department. On that same league chart, junior center Dominic Toninato and junior left winger  Alex Iafallo are tied for 11th with a 3.03 mark. The Bulldogs have held the upper hand in shots in 26 of their 30 games this season -- including 17 of the past 18 -- and are 0-4-0 when they've not done so. On the flip side, UMD has allowed the fourth fewest shots in the nation (a NCHC-leading 25.283 while its shot margin average (+10.53) ranks second nationally to Minnesota State-Mankato (11.94).

BUT MAKE THOSE SHOTS COUNT:  UMD is  53rd among the 60 NCAA I schools in shot percentage (.073) while  its opponent this weekend, St. Cloud State, is first at .139

FIRE AWAY II: The 2015-16 Bulldogs are on pace to break the school records for both fewest shots allowed (the current mark of 27.5 was set in 2014-15, 2009-10 and 2007-08) and shot differential (+9.0 in 2011-12). They've also put the third most shots on target of any UMD club since the 1983-84 season, surpassed only by the 2011-12 (36.6) and 1992-93 (36.5) units. 

YOU DON'T SAY: For the first time in the 72 seasons it has sponsored ice hockey, the Bulldogs have lost three straight games by 2-1 decisions. The most recent of those two setbacks came last Friday and Saturday at North Dakota. UMD lost the opener to the Fighting Hawks on an overtime penalty shot -- a program first. Prior to that, the opponent to score a power play goal at UMD's expense was Miami University's Blake Coleman in a 4-3 Bulldog loss on Nov. 1, 2014 at AMSOIL Arena.

DANDY ANDY: Minutes-munching team captain Andy Welinski, who leads all active Bulldogs in career points against St. Cloud State (two goals and five assists in 12 outings) has taken a shift in all 144 games since joining the UMD program in 2012-13. The Duluth native is one of two league defensemen (Denver's Will Butcher is the other) with a shorthanded goal to his credit this season. That came in the 2015-16 opener at Bemidji State -- the second shortie of his career. Last winter, Welinski became the first individual in 31 years to lead all Bulldog point men in scoring for a third straight winter. (Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Tom Kurvers was the last, accomplishing that feat four times from 1980-84). He currently ranks  sixth among NCHC blueliners in points with 17 and his fourth in shots (2.47 per game).

CLOSE SHAVES: UMD is 2-7 in one-goal games thus far and each of its last six losses have been by that margin.

FREE HOCKEY:  UMD has won just three of the last 25 games that have required overtime, going 3-6-16. Only three active Bulldogs -- junior left wingers Alex Iafallo and Kyle Osterberg and senior center Cal Decowski -- have an overtime goal on their collegiate resume. UMD's most recent extra-session victory came on Dec. 5, 2014 -- a 3-2 decision over Colorado College at AMSOIL Arena in which Osterberg scored the game winner. The Bulldogs are 0-2-9 in overtimes since (0-1-5 this winter).

ROAD, SWEET ROAD: Of UMD's eight lifetime NCHC sweeps, five have been registered on the road -- Colorado College (Nov. 20-21, 2015), St. Cloud State (Nov. 7-8, 2014), Miami (Feb. 28-March 1, 2014), Western Michigan (Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2014) and Omaha (Jan. 10-11, 2014). The Bulldogs' other three sweeps came on Dec. 4-5, 2015 vs. Western Michigan and on Feb. 5-6, 2016 and Dec. 5-6, 2014 against Colorado College at AMSOIL Arena.

ROAD, SWEET ROAD II: Seventeen of senior center Tony Cameranesi's team-leading 27 point this winter have come in someone else's building as have seven of his nine overall goals.

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 48-12 (including 14-2 in the opening period of play) in their 11 wins to date while going 13-for-50 on the power play (26.5 percent). They've connected at just 6.76 percent (5-for-74) with the man advantage in their other 19 games.

THE BIG 1-0-0: Junior center Dominic Toninato, who has points in five of the last seven games, is scheduled to skate in his 100th game this Friday at the Brooks National Hockey Center. Senior defensman Willie Corrin (Friday) and junior left winger Alex Iafallo (Saturday) hit that same milestone last weekend in Grand Forks.

THE PUCK STOP HERE: Sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo, who has started 41 of the past 42 games, is the owner of the NCHC's second-best goals against average (2.01) and sixth-best saves percentage figure (.918). The Vantaa, Finland product already has four shutouts this season -- including a program-high three in a row between Nov. 20-Dec. 4, which is one whitewash shy of the team record held by both Alex Stalock (2008-09) and Brant Nicklin (1997-98). This winter, Kaskisuo has appeared in the highest percentage of his team's overall minutes (94.70) of any NCHC netminder.

OH, SHOOT: UMD is 2-3 lifetime in NCHC shootouts (all of which have been contested at AMSOIL Arena) and junior left winger Alex Iafallo (twice -- the first of which came at the hands of Denver on Jan. 17, 2014 at AMSOIL Arena) and junior center Dominic Toninato (once) are the lone two current Bulldogs to score in the post-overtime event.

A SENIOR MOMENT: UMD currently sports the nation's 10th-highest scoring senior class. The eight, fourth-year Bulldogs have combined for 34 goals and 54 assists for 88 points and includes forwards Tony Cameranesi, Cal Decowski, Austin Farley, Charlie Sampair and Austyn Young, defensemen Willie Corrin and Andy Welinski and goalie Matt McNeely. The last time a Bulldog roster was comprised of more seniors than the current one was in 2004-05 (11).

FOREVER YOUNG: Senior right winger Austyn Young, who will sit out this weekend's series while tending to an upper body injury, and sophomore right winger Blake Young are the only Bulldog veterans (there are 19 of them) who have established career scoring highs this winter. Austyn Young's seven points (five goals and two assists) are two more than his previous best, which he amassed one year ago, while Blake Young has been credited with one point (an assist) this fall after being blanked in the scoring column as a rookie.  

BULLDOG BITS: Some 36 NCAA I skaters, including eight from the  NCHC , currently have reached the 100-point  plateau and two of those are Bulldogs -- Tony Cameranesi (112) and Austin Farley (101), who became the 57th, and most recent, member of the UMD Century Club in his last outing (Feb. 6 vs. Colorado College).

• Since ending 0-for-38 power play skid against Colorado College on Feb. 5, the Bulldogs have cashed in on three of their last 17 opportunities with the man advantage. UMD ranks 43rd in the nation in power play efficiency (14.5 percent) while St. Cloud State is second (29.8 percent). On the flip side the Bulldogs are ninth in penalty killing (85.7 percent) and the Huskies are 38th (80.9%).

• UMD's most potent period this season has been the third, where the Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 28-19.

• Senior center Tony Cameranesi holds the distinction of being the first player to score in a NCHC 3-on-3 overtime and did so following UMD's 1-1 home tie with Denver on Nov. 14. The Bulldogs are 1-2-0 in 3-on-3 overtimes this season.

• Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 59 of the 60 games they've struck for more than three goals (54-1-5). The sole setback during that stretch was inflicted by Minnesota State-Mankato on Oct. 17, 2014 in Duluth (5-4 in overtime).

• 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).

• UMD has given up two more shorthanded goals this season (four, including a pair on Nov. 7 in Omaha) than it did all of 2014-15 (in 40 games). The Bulldogs haven't surrendered a shortie, however since Dec. 12 against visiting North Dakota, which came with an empty net.

• Freshman left winger Adam Johnson, whose 13 points this winter are tops among all UMD rookies, 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 (forward Jim Toninato, 1982-86).

UP NEXT: UMD will close out the regular season with a two-game NCHC home set against Miami on March 4-5.