The University of Minnesota Duluth will launch its 73rd season of intercollegiate hockey this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 1-2) when the Bulldogs host former long-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Michigan Tech University in a pair of non-conference bouts. Opening face off is set for 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 4:07 p.m. the following day at AMSOIL Arena (6,756) in downtown Duluth.

(Complete Release)

THE RECORDS: UMD went 19-16-5 overall  last winter and 11-10-3 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (fourth place), advanced to the Northeast Regional final for the second year in a row and were ranked No. 9 in the final USCHO.com poll. Michigan Tech posted a 23-9-5 record in all games and claimed a share of the WCHA regular season title with an 18-7-3 mark.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Bulldogs and Huskies stacked up in the preseason USCHO.com Poll.

        USCHO.com    
UMD    No. 6    
MTU    No. 17    
        
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-MIchigan Tech clashes will be carried live on 92.1 FM The Fan with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play responsibilities and ex-Bulldog winger Kraig Karakas providing 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 aired on My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9) with KBJR-TV sports anchor Zach Schneider and and former UMD standout forward Judd Medak serving as the on-air talent. The two telecasts are available on-line for a fee at: nchc.tv/umd. My 9, which has been the Bulldogs' television home for six seasons, is scheduled to carry 22 regular season UMD games in 2016-17.

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 17th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 287-277-75 overall record -- including a 164-117-38 mark since the 2008-09 opener. Besides capturing the school's first NCAA championship five  years ago, his Bulldogs have won 20 or more games in five of the last eight seasons. Overall, they've advanced to  to six NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009, 2011,2012, 2015 and 2016), including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Northeast Region title games the past two winters, two NCAA Frozen Fours (2004 and 2011) and one NCHC Frozen Faceoff tournament (2016). Before UMD parted ways with the WCHA following the 2012-13 season, Sandelin directed his troops to berths in seven of 11 Final Five playoff events. 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 19 different All-NCHC/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 in 2014). 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, 52, 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 three active NCHC coaches to do time in the NHL (Denver's Jim Montgomery and North Dakota's Brad Berry are the others), 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: This weekend's series will mark the 228th and 229th meetings ever between UMD and Michigan Tech. The Huskies hold a 120-86-21 lead in the all-time series, which began on Dec. 31, 1952 at the old Duluth Curling Club. The two clubs last collided on Dec. 12-13, 2014 in Houghton, Mich., where the then No. 9 Bulldogs, behind a pair of goals from current senior center Dominic Toninato, skated off with a 3-1 triumph over the No. 4 Huskies in the opener, only to fall 4-3 the following night after giving up the go-ahead goal with just 18.4 seconds to play. That loss snapped the Bulldogs' eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) at the John MacInnis Student Ice Arena.

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.

THE BULLDOGS AT A GLANCE: UMD retains the services of some 16 lettermen from a year ago, including nine of its top 12 point producers. Headlining the list of holdovers is senior left winger Alex Iafallo and his 2015-16 linemate, senior center Dominic Toninato, who finished third and fourth, respectively, on the UMD scoring charts with 23 and 21 points. Toninato, the Bulldogs' leading goal scorer for the second straight winter (15), was followed by junior right winger Karson Kuhlman (12 goals and eight assists for a career high 20 points) while Adam Johnson (6-12=18) reigned as UMD's top scoring newcomer. Six battle-tested defensemen are also back, anchored by the likes of seniors Carson Soucy (3-9=12) and Willie Raskob (2-11=13) and sophomore Neal Pionk (4-13=17).

 THEY'VE HAD THEIR NUMBER: The Bulldogs are unbeaten in seven of their last eight confrontations with Michigan Tech, going 5-1-2 since being blanked 5-0 on Jan. 28, 2012 at AMSOIL Arena. That is only one of two times UMD has been derailed by the Huskies in the last 17 dates between the two clubs (12-2-3) with the other coming on Dec. 12, 2014 (a 4-3 decision in Houghton).

FAMILIAR FOES, INDEED: The Bulldogs have faced Michigan Tech on more occasions (227) than any other  opponent except for North Dakota (231 times) and the University of Minnesota (230). Last year marked the first time since the 1960-61 season that UMD and Michigan Tech did not butt heads at least once.

SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY: Seven current Bulldogs made their collegiate debuts against Michigan Tech three years ago at AMSOIL Arena in UMD's 2013-14 season openers. That group included 2016-17 seniors Alex Iafallo, Dan Molenaar, Kyle Osterberg, Willie Raskob, Carson Soucy and Dominic Toninato and junior Sammy Spurrell, who was redshirted his sophomore year. Osterberg was the lone member of that seven-member freshmen class to collect his first collegiate point (an assist) that weekend.

WHY WAIT?: Prior to this year, the earliest date that the Bulldogs had ever started a season on was Oct. 4, which they did against the University of North Dakota in the 2003 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Grand Forks, N.D.

PUCKSTOPPING PUPS: Not one of the UMD's three goalies -- Nick Deery, Hunter Miska and Hunter Shepard -- has ever appeared in a regular season collegiate game. The last time the Bulldogs sported nothing but freshmen netminders on their roster was in 1985-86. Miska and Shepard joined the UMD program this season while Deery was redshirted as a first-year Bulldog freshman one year ago. Deer ydid play played the entire third period of UMD's 6-1 exhibition victory over visiting Lakehead University on Oct. 4, 2015 and stopped all four shots the Thunderwolves sent his way.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE: The last time the Bulldogs got off to a 2-0-0 start was in 2001-02 (Scott Sandelin's second year behind the UMD bench) when they captured the Maverick Stampede title by downing host Nebraska-Omaha (5-2) and the University of Michigan (3-2) on back-to-back days. UMD hasn't posted a season-opening series sweep of one opponent since it bested visiting Ferris State University twice (3-0 and 5-3) in Duluth.

MAKING A POINT ON THE POINT:  Senior defenseman Willie Raskob comes into the 2016-17 season sporting UMD's longest active scoring streak at four games. The Hastings, Minn., product was one of just three Bulldogs to collect at least one point on both nights of last March's Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass. (Junior Karson Kuhlman and the since-graduated Tony Cameranesi were the two others).

LEAD 'DOGS: Since falling to Miami 4-3 in overtime om Feb. 21, 2015, the Bulldogs are 16-0-0 when taking a lead into the third period. They were 14-0-0 in that situation last winter.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: During the entire weekend, the Bulldogs will sport throwback jerseys which the program used from 1990-96. Those jerseys will be auctioned off at the conclusion of the series.

BULLDOG BITS: The Bulldogs gave up on average of 25.62 shots per night last winter -- an all-time program best and the seventh fewest in the country.  UMD ranked fifth nationally in shots on goal (34.52 per game, the fourth best total in team history) and third in shot differential (+8.90, which is No. 2 all-time for a Bulldog club), but was 50th among the 60 NCAA I clubs in shot percentage (.077)  ... Scott Sandelin is beginning his 17th season presiding over the UMD puck program. That's the second longest continuous tenure of any NCHC head coach. (Enrico Blassi is entering his 18th year at Miami). Of all-time UMD  bench bosses, only Mike Sertich (18 years between 1982-2000) served longer than Sandelin ...  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 ... Karson Kuhlman has skated all 80 games the past two seasons -- the only current Bulldog who can make that claim ... 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 ... Speaking of birthdays, UMD assistant coach Jason Herter will celebrate his 46th on Oct. 2 ... 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) ... Scott Sandelin has posted more career victories over Michigan Tech  (he is 29-16-9 lifeime) than any other opponent. His first collegiate head coaching victory was against the Huskies (5-3 on Nov. 11, 2000 at the DECC) ... This year's senior class is the first which has played exclusively in the NCHC. The exception in that group is Brenden Kotyk, who competed in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association as College of St. Scholastica freshman in 2012-13.

UP NEXT:  UMD makes its 2016-17 road debuts next Friday and Saturday night with a pair of non-conference clashes at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.