After a three-week layoff, the University of Minnesota Duluth will return to the ice this Friday (Dec. 28) to take on Minnesota State University-Mankato in the opening round of the Desert Hockey Classic in Glendale, Ariz. The puck drops at 5:30 p.m. (CT) at the Gila River Arena (17,125) and will precede the other semifinal matchup between host Arizona State University and Clarkson University. The championship and third place games are set for 5:30 p.m. or  8:30 p.m. the following evening with Arizona State playing in the nightcap regardless of its outcome on Friday.

THE RECORDS: The defending NCAA champion Bulldogs are 10-4-2 overall and 4-3-1-0 in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play (third place) while Minnesota State sports a 14-4-0 record in all games to go with a 9-3-0-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association mark (third place). Arizona State, an NCAA Division I independent, is 14-6-0 on the year and Clarkson will come into the tournament at 9-6-0 overall while holding down a share of the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with an even 3-3-0 record.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the Desert Hockey Classic field stacked up in the most recent USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:
 

	USCHO.com	USA Today
UMD	No. 4	No. 3
MSU	No. 3	No. 8
ASU	No. 15	No. 13
CU	No. 19	RV

 
ON THE AIR: The two Bulldog outings this weekend will be carried on KDAL-Radio (610 AM and 103.9 FM) with Bruce Ciskie on the call. The broadcast can also be heard at: kdal610.com.

In addition, entire Desert Hockey Classic will be streamed at: pac-12.com/live/Arizona-state-university.

THE RIVALRY: This Friday's confrontation in Glendale will mark the 55th meeting ever between UMD and Minnesota State. The Bulldogs hold a 29-19-6 lead in the rivalry, which began back on Ocy. 17, 1997 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. After a three-year absence, the two former Western Collegiate Hockey Association rivals faced off three times last winter. The Bulldogs prevailed 3-1 on Nov. 25 in Duluth before the Mavericks returned the favor on their home ice two months later (1-0 on Jan. 23) in a rare Tuesday evening engagement. The rubber match took place in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional on March 23 in Sioux Falls, S.D., where UMD erased a 2-0 first-period by scoring three unanswered goals -- capped off by current senior right winger Parker Mackay's deal-sealer 2:28 into overtime -- in a 3-2 triumph.

LAST WEEK: UMD has been idle since coming away with one of a possible six NCHC points in a two-game set with host Western Michigan on Dec. 7-8. The Bulldogs fell 3-2 in the series opener (giving up the game-winning goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in regulation) before skating to a 1-1 overtime deadlock with the Broncos the following night. Western Michigan went on to snare the extra league point by taking the shootout, 1-0. The Bulldogs were without the services of two injured right winger -- senior Parker Mackay and Peter sophomore Nick Swaney -- all weekend and senior Peter Kreiger in the rematch.

Minnesota State's last activity were back-to-back 4-1 WCHA road losses to Bowling Green State University on Dec. 14-15.

U-S-A, U-S-A: A trio of Bulldogs -- sophomore defensemen Mikey Anderson and Dylan Samberg and rookie forward Noah Cates -- will not be paying a visit to Gila River Arena this weekend as they are skating for U.S. at the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

For the second year in a row, UMD has more players on the 23-member U.S. roster than any other school in the country (Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin and Yale University are next with two each).

Both Mikey Anderson, (who will serve as team captain -- a role his older brother and UMD hockey alum, Joey, handled in 2018) and Dylan Samberg are among the five holdovers from last year's U.S. club that captured a bronze at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo.

In all, 21 UMD products now have competed in the IIHF World Junior Championship (20 for the U.S. and one for Canada), with Samber, Mikey Anderson, Joey Anderson (U.S. in 2017 and 2018) and Brian Johnson (U.S. in 1984 and 1985) being the only Bulldogs to do so twice. Current UMD bench boss Scott Sandelin served as the U.S. head coach in 2005 and as an assistant seven years later. He will assist the 2019 U.S. National Junior Team as well.

The most Bulldogs to ever take part in the same IIHF World Junior Championship was five in 2018.

TOURNEY TIDBITS: The Bulldogs have been beaten in back-to-back games only once in their 38 lifetime regular season tournaments. That happened six years ago at the Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla. (1-0 to the University of Maine and 6-2 to the Ferris State University on Dec. 28-29, 2012)

TOURNEY TIDBITS II: The Bulldogs have taken part in 12 regular season tournaments since Scott Sandelin assumed the UMD head coaching role in 2000-01 and have won two of those -- the 2018 Ledyard Hockey Classic in Hanover, N.H., the 2017 North Star College Cup in St. Pau, Minn. and the 2001 Maverick Stampede in Omaha, Neb.

SOME NEW TERRITORY: The Bulldogs have paid a visit to 21 different states during their 75-year history, but Arizona is not one of them (although they did square off with the now-defunct Northern Arizona University program three times in Duluth during the early 1980s).

TOP 'DOG: Scott Sandelin,who will not be in Glendale this weekend due to his assistant coaching obligations with the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, currently shares the title as the winningest head coach in UMD men's hockey history. In 18-plus seasons with the Bulldogs, Sandelin has amassed a 350-303-86 overall record while his predecessor, Mike Sertich, was 350-328-44 from 1982-2000.

YOU'RE KILLING ME: UMD will come into the Desert Hockey Classic ranking first in the nation in penalty kill efficiency at .919. The Bulldogs haven't given up a power play goal in their last five games, holding the opposition scoreless on 22 straight opportunities with the man advantage. Opponents are a mere 5-for-62 on the power play this season, with those five goals coming in five separate games.

BUSTED BY THE BRONCOS: Since falling 4-3 at Denver in the NCHC playoff opener on March 13, 2015, the Bulldogs are 63-1-3 when taking a lead into the third period. (They were 23-0-1 in that situation one year ago and are 8-1-0 this season). That lone loss came on the front end of the Western Michigan series earlier this month -- 3-2 on Dec. 7.

BETTER THAN BEFORE: Sophomore center Justin Richards is the first -- and thus far only -- 2018-19 UMD veteran to set a career best for scoring this season. Richards, who has skated in all 60 games since joining the Bulldog program last fall, is tied for second (with senior right winger Parker Mackay) on the team scoring charts with 14 points, which is five more than he collected all of last winter.

THE EARLY GOAL GETS THE WIN: The Bulldogs are a perfect 9-0-0 when they've drawn first blood this season. UMD has now won 14 straight games in which it has gotten on the scoreboard first, a run that began on March 9, 2018 versus visiting Western Michigan.

GREAT SCOTT!: Sophomore All-American Scott Perunovich will come into the weekend with a NCHC-best 16 assists to his credit. He is tied for fifth nationally in that department and is also fifth in scoring among NCAA I defensemen with 18 points.

Last winter, Perunovich became just the second UMD freshman to ever collar All-American first team honors last year (center Murray Keogan was the other in 1969-70) and was the recipient of the 2017-18 Tim Taylor Award (Hockey Commissioner's Association National Rookie of the Year) as well as both NCHC Rookie of the Year and NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year honors (both UMD program firsts). The Hibbing, Minn., product and All-NCHC first team pick also became the second defenseman to ever lead UMD in scoring and the first rookie to do so in 15 years. He racked up 36 points (a record for a first-year Bulldog blueliner and the most of any freshman defenseman in the country) on 11 goals and a team-leading 25 assists in 42 games. Among NCAA newcomers, Perunovich ranked first in plus-minus rating (+22) and third in both points and assists.

POWER SURGE: UMD has struck on the power play at least once in 11 of its 16 games thus far and is connecting at 21.7 percent with the man advantage -- the 17th best average in the country.

POWER SURGE II: The Bulldogs' 12 power play goals to date have been generated by six different players, including junior left winger Riley Tufte, who has a team-leading four tallies (his entire 2018-19 goal harvest).

POWER SURGE III: Going back to Dec. 4, 2015, UMD is 19-1-2 when scoring multiple times with the man advantage. That lone loss came earlier this year (Oct. 7) at Minnesota when UMD went 2-for-5 with the man advantage in a 7-4 home victory.

PUCK HUNTER: Hunter Shepard, who is tied for fourth among NCAA puckstoppers in wins (10) and owns the nation's ninth best goals against average (1.77, has now made 55 consecutive starts -- an ironman run that began on Oct. 21, 2017. The 2017-18 All-NCHC second team selection and Mike Richter Award semifinalist (most outstanding NCAA goaltender) has also posted a pair of shut outs this year giving him 10 for his career -- a UMD program record.

FLEXING SOME SOPHOMORE MUSCLE: UMD possesses the 4th highest scoring sophomore class in the country (65 points on 19 goals and 46 assists) and that group has accounted for 47.1 percent of the Bulldogs' entire point production this far.

BONUS HOCKEY HAS BEEN A BONUS: UMD is unbeaten in the last 21 games that have gone into overtime, going 9-0-12, since falling 2-1 to host North Dakota on Feb. 19, 2016. Just two current Bulldogs -- senior Parker Mackay and rookie left winger Cole Koepke -- have an overtime goal as a collegian. Mackay has two, striking in the 2017-18 season opener against Minnesota and in the 2018 NCAA West Regional semifinals versus Minnesota State. Koepke did his damage in UMD's 4-3 win at Denver on Nov. 17.

ROAD NUGGETS: Of sophomore right winger Nick Swaney's nine points this season, seven (two goals and five assists in seven games) have been accumulated away from AMSOIL Arena. That puts him second among 2018-19 Bulldogs in road scoring (Scott Perunovich has accumulated eight points in nine outins).

ROAD NUGGETS II: In their nine road appearances this season, the Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 24-22, yet has collected just two goals (vs. Western Michigan on Dec. 7 and Notre Dame on Oct. 27) in the first period.

WE'LL SECOND THAT: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 26-9 in the second period this season. Those 26 second-period goals are the third most among all NCAA I teams (Penn State is first with 34 while Minnesota State follows with 27). UMD's goal differential in the middle period (+20) also takes a backseat nationally only to Penn State (+27). In addition, 52.3 percent of the Bulldogs' goal scoring has taken place in the second period, a figure that on;y one other NCAA I club -- Brown University at 59.1 percent -- can top.

GET SHORTIE: Sophomore right winger Nick Swaney's shorthanded goal on Oct. 26, 2018 at Notre Dame was the first of his career and the first by a Bulldog since March 17, 2018 (current sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson vs. North Dakota in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals). Anderson, Swaney and Parker Mackay are the lone three Bulldogs with a shortie to their collegiate credit (one each).

VIEW FROM THE TOP: UMD has sat atop the USCHO.com Poll on four occasions this season and its three -week stay at the No. 1 position (Oct. 29-Nov. 12) was the program's longest since a piecing together another three-week run between Jan. 30-Feb. 13, 2017.

LIFE OF RILEY: Riley Tufte, one of seven NHL draftees on the UMD 2018-19 roster and one of just four first-round picks in program history, tops all current Bulldogs in career goals (29) and power play scores (10).

A PLUSS FOR WOLFF: Junior defenseman and assistant team captain Nick Wolff, who has taken shifts in a team-high 89 straight games, is a +12 on the year -- the fourth best mark in the NCHC at the moment.

GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT: The Bulldogs are averaging 36.06 shots per game to trail only Penn State (40.47 spg) and the University of Michigan (36.94 spf) among NCAA I schools. UMD's shot differential (+13.50) is tops in the country while its 22.56 shots allowed per game average ranks fourth nationally, just behind No. 3 Minnesota State (22.28).

MAKING HIS POINT: Senior team captain Parker Mackay, who was sidelined the entire Western Michigan series, has marked in the points column in 10 of the his 14 games (a team-leading 71.4 percent).

UP NEXT: UMD will usher in the New Year with a Jan. 5 exhibition clash against the U.S. National Under-18 Team at AMSOIL Arena.