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The University of Minnesota Duluth will begin its fifth year of National Collegiate Hockey Conference play this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 3-4) when the Bulldogs pay a visit to St. Cloud, Minn., for a two-game series with intrastate rival St. Cloud State University. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 4:07 p.m. the following afternoon at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,371) on the SCSU campus.
 
THE RECORDS: UMD is 4-2-2 overall while St. Cloud State is off to a 5-0-0 start and, like the Bulldogs, will be making its NCHC debut this weekend.

HOW THEY RANK: This is how UMD and St. Cloud State stacked up in this week's USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
 

	USCHO.com	USA Today
UMD	No. 8	No. 8
SCSU	No. 2	No. 2

 
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-St. Cloud State clashes will be carried on KDAL-Radio (610 AM and 103.9 FM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play responsibilities This marks the 50th year KDAL has been the radio home for Bulldog hockey. The broadcast can also be heard at: kdal610.com.

Both ends of this weekend's series will also be televised on Fox Sports North Plus with Fox College Sports (Central) also airing the series finale. The two telecasts are available on-line for a fee at: nchc.tv/umd

THE RIVALRY: UMD and St. Cloud State have met on 122 previous occasions in a rivalry which stretches back to the 1946-47 season. The Huskies hold a 64-49-9 lead in the all-time series and are 61-44-8 versus the Bulldogs since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1987-88. UMD was 3-1-1 against its intrastate one year ago and prevailed in the two clubs' most recent confrontation (a 2-1 overtime triumph in the championship game of the fourth, and final, North Star College Cup on Jan. 28, 2017 at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.) The Bulldogs also bested the Huskies twice by identical 5-3 scores last season in St. Cloud (Nov. 4-5).

LAST WEEK: UMD engaged in its first road series of the young 2017-18 season and came back from the University of Maine with a pair victories in tow. The Bulldogs, who were paying their first trip to Orono, Maine, in nearly 30 years, upended the hosts 2-1 on Friday and then completed their first sweep of the year with a 2-0 takedown of the Black Bears the ensuing evening. In the series opener, sophomore left winger Riley Tufte and sophomore center Jade Miller accounted for the two Bulldog goals, with Miller's score coming with 8:57 to go in regulation and breaking a 1-1 deadlock. Junior right winger Parker Mackay's power play goal 14:28 into the first period on Saturday proved to be all the scoring the Bulldogs would need as sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard turned in a 27-save shutout. Tufte added an insurance goal late in the second period while junior center Peter Krieger and rookie defenseman Scott Perunovich each assisted on both of the Bulldog tallies.

St. Cloud State has been idle since sweeping Boston College (5-2 and 3-1) in St. Cloud.

THE PUCK STOPPED HERE: Sophomore Hunter Shepard was chosen the latest NCHC Goalie of the Week after backstopping to a pair of wins over Maine last weekend. The Cohasset, Minn., native stopped 52 of 53 shots in the two outings as the Bulldogs posted their first series sweep of 2017-18. He turned aside each of the 26 shots the Black Bears sent his way Saturday night while registering his first collegiate shut out (in just his sixth lifetime start) in a 2-0 triumph. Shepard also made 26 saves one night earlier in the series opener and allowed just one goal (which came midway through the second period) while helping UMD hold off the Black Bears 2-1. He is the third Bulldog this season to collar a NCHC weekly citation -- both right wing Nick Swaney (Oct. 23) and Scott Perunovich (Oct. 9) were previous Rookie of the Week honorees.

THE PUCK STOPPED HERE II: Hunter Shepard has now made three straight starts and during that stretch he is  3-0-0 with a 1.01 goals against average and a .960 saves percentage. Of the 10 goals Shepard has allowed this season, only three have come on the power play. Fellow sophomore Nick Deery, the only other Bulldog to see crease time in 2017-18, has given nine total goals with seven of those coming on man advantage situations.

GO FIGURE: Over the past few years, home ice advantage has been basically non-existent in the UMD-St. Cloud State series. The Bulldogs are just 2-5-1 in their last eight engagements with the Huskies at AMSOIL Arena but 6-0-0 in their last six appearances at St. Cloud State's Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

BIG ICE IS NICE: Since falling 5-3 to St. Cloud State on Feb. 14, 2014, the Bulldogs have gone a sizzling 13-1-1 on Olympic-sized sheets. During that stretch the UMD is 3-0-1 at Colorado College, 2-0 at the University of Minnesota, 6-0 at St. Cloud State, 1-0 at Minnesota State University-Mankato and 1-1 at Northern Michigan University. The loss to the Wildcats came on Jan. 29, 2016 (4-3).

ROOKIES ON THE RISE: UMD currently possess the nation's second-highest freshmen scoring class (they are tied for that spot with the University of New Hampshire. as that group has amassed 22 points on six goals and 18 assists. Only the University of Massachusett's rookies (with 40 points) have generated more.

ROOKIES ON THE RISE II: Nick Swaney, who is sidelined for the St. Cloud State series, is tied for fourth among all NCAA I freshmen in both points (a team-leading seven) and assists (five). Mikey Anderson and Scott Perunov have both produced the fourth-most points (sixth) of any rookie defensemen in the country and Perunovich also has five power play points, which leads all NCAA rookies.

ROOKIES ON THE RISE III: In what is believed to be a program first, UMD dressed five freshmen defensemen in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Maine.

IRONMAN KUHLMAN HAS SOME CLASS: Senior team captain Karson Kuhlman, who leads all current Bulldogs in career goals (27), assists (36), points (62) and plus-minus rating (+38), has not missed a game since joining the Bulldog program in 2014-15. His active ironman streak of 130 consecutive appearances is the longest in NCAA I hockey at the moment. Earlier this week, Kuhlman was announced as one of 20 candidates for the 2017-18 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to an NCAA I athlete in 10 sports (men's hockey, baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's lacrosse, softball, football, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball) based on achievement in the "Four C's" -- classroom, character, community and competition.

FIRE AWAY: UMD has outshot its opponents 304-183 this season and that +121 shot differential tops all NCAA I schools at the moment. In addition, the Bulldogs are tied for third nationally in shots taken (38.00 per game) and are sixth in shots allowed (22.88). UMD has held the upper hand in shots in all eight games to date.

FIRE AWAY II: UMD sophomore wingers Joey Anderson and Riley Tufte have both put 36 shots on net this year, which is tops in the NCHC and ranks sixth nationally.

POWER OUTAGE: After giving up a four power play goals (their most since the 2012-13 season) in a 5-5 overtime tie with visiting Merrimack College on Oct. 20, the Bulldogs are a perfect 11-for-11 on the penalty kill.

WORKING OVERTIME: The Bulldogs are unbeaten in the last 16 games that have gone beyond regulation, going 7-0-9 since falling 2-1 to North Dakota on Feb. 19, 2016 in Grand Forks, N.D. That includes a 1-0-2 in three overtimes this season (Only Quinnipiac University with four has played in more overtime games this season than UMD). Just two current Bulldogs -- senior team captain Karson Kuhlman and junior assistant team captain Parker Mackay (one each) -- have an overtime goal to his collegiate credit.

BLOCK PARTY: Defenseman Dylan Samberg was credited with a UMD 2017-18 single-game high six blocks last Saturday night at Maine, giving him 15 on the season -- the third most of any NCAA rookie.

HOW SWEEP IT IS (NOT): UMD has not been swept in their last 21 regular season series since falling twice at North Dakota on Feb. 19-20, 2016. Last year marked just the third time 56 years of competing at the NCAA I level that UMD went through an entire regular season without being beaten on back-to-back nights by the same opponent UMD also accomplished that feat in 2010-11 (when it won its first, and only, NCAA championship) and in 2014-15.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Of the 22 non-goalies who have taken a shift this season, only four (freshmen defenseman Matt Anderson, senior defenseman Matt McCormack rookie left winger Kobe Roth and senior center Sammy Spurrell) are still without a point.

GET SHORTIE: The Bulldogs have given up just one shorthanded goal since Dec. 12, 2015 (a run of 73 games) and that was to Colorado College's Sam Rothstein on Jan. 6, 2017.

LONG IN THE TOOTH: The 18 seasons Scott Sandelin has presided over the UMD puck program is the second longest tenure of any NCHC head coach. (Enrico Blassi is in his 19th year at Miami). It also ties him with Mike Sertich (1982-2000) as the longest serving bench boss in Bulldog history. Sandelin currently ranks 15th among all active NCAA I coaches in career victories (he is 319-286-84 overall). Sertich (Sandelin's predecessor) closed out UMD career with a 350-328-44 lifetime record.

Sandelin's 300th lifetime coaching win came at the expense of St. Cloud State in its most recent bout at AMSOIL Arena (4-3 in overtime on Jan. 14, 2017).

TAKE IT TO THE BANK: Since falling 4-3 to host Miami in overtime on Feb. 21, 2015, the Bulldogs are 35-0-3 when taking a lead into the third period. They were 17-0-2 in that situation last season and 2-0-1 thus far in 2017-18.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK II: Going back to a 5-4 loss to visiting Minnesota on Oct. 15, 2011, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 83 of the 85 games in which they have scored more than three goals. The sole two setbacks during that stretch were inflicted by Minnesota State-Mankato on Oct. 17, 2014 in Duluth (5-4 in overtime) and Western Michigan on March 3, 2017 (7-4).
 
OH, SHOOT: UMD is 4-3 lifetime in NCHC shootouts, but no current Bulldog has ever attempted a shot in this post-overtime event.

BULLDOG BITS: Scott Sandelin's 300th lifetime coaching win came at the expense of St. Cloud State in its most recent bout at AMSOIL Arena (4-3 in overtime on Jan. 14, 2017).

• Hunter Shepard has tended goal in all three road games thus far.

• Sophomore center Jade Miller's goal last Friday night against Maine was the third of his career and first collegiate game winner.

•UMD has trailed the opposition 16 times at the second intermission since the 2016-17 opener and has suffered only six losses in those outings (5-6-5).

• The Bulldogs are a perfect 3-0-0 when junior right winger Parker Mackay has collected a point this season.

• UMD went 1-1-2 in NCHC 3-on-3 overtimes one year ago

• The scoreless deadlock with Bemidji State earlier this month was UMD's fifth in 74 years of hockey and the first since March 3, 2007 (against the University of Wisconsin in Duluth). It also marked the first time the Bulldogs had been held off the scoreboard in 108 games going back to Dec. 12, 2015 (3-0 vs. North Dakota). Sophomore Nick Deery's first career shut out that night came in just his fourth collegiate start and fifth appearance overall.

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will return to AMSOIL Arena on Nov. 10-11 to host NCHC colleague Western Michigan University.