The University of Minnesota Duluth will engage in its first road activity of the new year this Friday and Saturday (Jan. 18-19) when the Bulldogs pay a visit to Oxford, Ohio, for a two-game National Collegiate Hockey Conference series with Miami University. The puck drops at 6:35 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 6:05 p.m. the following night at Steve Cady Arena (3,019) on the Miami campus.

THE RECORDS: The defending NCAA champion Bulldogs are 12-6-2 overall and 5-4-1-0 in NCHC play (fourth place) while Miami sports an even 9-9-4 record in all games to go with a 3-5-2-1 NCHC mark (sixth place).

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and Miami stacked up in the most recent USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls as well as the PairWise rankings:
 

	USCHO.com	USA Today	PairWise
UMD	No. 5	No. 4	No. 4
MU	RV	NR	No. 26

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

Both ends of this weekend's series will also be televised locally on My9 (Channel 6.3; Channel 9 on Charter, Mediacom, and Dish Network and Channels 19 and 519 on Paul Bunyan Cable), which has been the Bulldogs' television home for the last 10 seasons. KBJR-TV sports director Zach Schneider will be on the call. The two telecasts are available on-line as well at: nchc.tv/umd.

LAST WEEK: The Bulldogs and then-top ranked St. Cloud State traded wins in a pair of NCHC heavyweight bouts at AMSOIL Arena. In Friday's series opener, UMD got goals from three different players -- sophomore right winger Nick Swaney, freshman left winger Noah Cates and sophomore center Justin Richards -- and a sparkling puckstopping performance (30 saves) from junior Hunter Shepard and took down the Huskies 3-1. The ensuing evening, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead (on tallies from Richards and junior left winger Riley Tufte) only to see St. Cloud State strike for four straight times in a 4-2 setback. UMD, which was outshot 31-18 one night earlier, held a 32-22 shot advantage in the rematch.

Miami was swept by NCHC rival Western Michigan University, falling 4-3 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday in Kalamazoo, Mich. Right winger Gordie Green scored twice for the RedHawks in the 4-3 loss while center Ben Lown and right winger Brian Hawkinson each had a pair of assists 24 hours later.

THE RIVALRY: UMD and Miami have butted heads on 21 occasions previously, including four times last year when the Bulldogs went 3-1-0 against its NCHC rival. UMD holds a commanding 15-4-2 lead in the all-time series, which started at the NCAA West Regional title game in Minneapolis:

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS: UMD is unbeaten in 13 of its last 14 meeting against Miami, going 10-1-2 with the lone loss during that stretch coming on the Bulldogs' last strip to Oxford (3-2 on Nov. 18, 2017).

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS II: Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard and the Bulldogs have held Miami scoreless for the last 137:08, posting back-to-back shut outs in their most recent confrontations (4-0 and 3-0 on Feb. 16-17 in Duluth).

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS III: UMD head coach Scott Sandelin's lifetime winning percentage against Miami (.761 off a 15-4-2 record) is his best versus any NCHC opponent (Western Michigan is next at .722).

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS IV: Of junior defenseman Nick Wolff's 34 career points, nearly one-fourth(23.5 percent) have come at the expense of Miami.

A REAL BUZZ KILL: UMD enters the weekend ranking first in the nation in penalty kill efficiency at .920. The Bulldogs have given up just one power play goal in their last nine games and the last 35 times they've been a man down. That lone score was registered by St. Cloud State this past Saturday night. Opponents are a mere 6-for-75 on the power play this season, with those six goals spread over six different game.

VIEW FROM THE TOP: For just the second time since Nov. 9, 2017, sophomore All-American defenseman Scott Perunovich does not occupy the No. 1 spot on the Bulldog scoring charts (the other time was after the 2018-19 season opener). That honor now belongs to sophomore center Justin Richards, who is riding a four-game scoring streak (equalling a career high), and has racked up seven goals and 19 points (both personal bests) through 20 games. Perunovich, anks just behind Richards with 18 points.

BONUS HOCKEY HAS BEEN A BONUS: UMD is now unbeaten in the last 22 games that have gone into overtime, going 10-0-12, since falling 2-1 to host North Dakota on Feb. 19, 2016. Just three current Bulldogs -- Parker Mackay, Cole Koepke and Nick Swaney -- 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. Keopke did his in a 4-3 triumph at Denver on Nov. 17, 2018 and Swaney his damage in UMD's 4-3 overtime takedown of Minnesota State-Mankato in the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic semifinals.

PUCK HUNTER: Hunter Shepard, the NCHC Goaltender of the Month for December, is tied for sixth among NCAA puckstoppers in wins (12) and also owns the nation's eighth best goals against average (1.92), He's now made 59 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.

PUCK HUNTER II: In four lifetime appearances against Miami, Shepard is 3-1-0 with a 1.01 goals against average, a .961 saves percentage and two shutouts.

FLEXING SOME SOPHOMORE MUSCLE: UMD possesses the fifth-highest scoring sophomore class in the country (79 points on 26 goals and 53 assists) and that group has accounted for 49.1 percent of the Bulldogs' entire point production thus far and 43.3 percent of their goals.

WE'LL SECOND THAT: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 27-13 in the second period this season. UMD's 1.35 second-period goals per game average is the fourth best among all NCAA I teams while its goal differential in the middle period (+14) is third nationally. In addition, 45.0 percent of the Bulldogs' goal scoring has taken place in the second period, a figure that only four other NCAA I clubs can top.

GREAT SCOTT!: Despite being held off the scoresheet the past four games (the longest pointless drought of his collegiate career), sophomore All-American Scott Perunovich still shares the NCHC lead in assists with 16. Among NCAA I defensemen, he is tied for sixth in that department and is 14th in scoring (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.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN: Junior assistant team captain Nick Wolff, who has taken shifts in a team-high 93 straight games, is a +10 on the year -- the eighth-best mark among NCHC blueliners at the moment. Wolff, the NCHC leader in both overall penalties (16) and penalty minutes (62), made his 100th collegiate appearance last Friday night against St. Cloud State.

LEAD AND SUCCEED: Going back to Feb. 17, 2018, the Bulldogs have reeled off 15 straight victories when they've been up at the first intermission.

LIFE OF RILEY: Riley Tufte, who is expected to skated in his 100th game with the Bulldogs Friday evening in Oxford, tops all current Bulldogs in career goals (30), and power play scores (10). Tufte is one of seven NHL draftees on the UMD 2018-19 roster and one of four first-round NHL draft picks in program history.

POWER SURGE: UMD has struck on the power play at least once in 13 of its 20 games thus far and is connecting at 20.3 percent with the man advantage -- the 20th best average in the country and third best in the NCHC.

FOR PETE'S SAKE: Senior Peter Krieger had racked up more collegiate points (77) than any other Bulldog, with 44 of those coming during his time with at UMD (2017-present) and the rest while he was a member of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks program (2014-16).

BLOCK PARTY: The 22 blocked shots UMD registered in last Friday's 3-1 victory over St. Cloud State were its most since amassing that same total against visiting North Dakota on Jan. 19, 2018. Sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson had five of those blocks, matching his own 2018-19 UMD single-game high.

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 64 games since joining the Bulldog program last fall, has generated a team-leading 18 points, which is double what he collected all of last winter. Both sophomore wingers Kobe Roth (nine points) and Koby Bender (one point) have both equaled their personal bests from a year ago.

THE EARLY GOAL GETS THE WIN: The Bulldogs are a 10-1-0 when they've drawn first blood this season. (their one loss in that situation was inflicted by St. Cloud State this past Saturday). UMD has won 15 of its last 16 games in which it has gotten on the scoreboard first going back to March 9, 2018.

HE'S NOW THE TOP 'DOG: Even though he wasn't in Glendale, Ariz. to witness it, Scott Sandelin became the winningest coach on Dec. 28 when the Bulldogs defeated Minnesota State University-Mankato 4-3 in overtime at the Desert Hockey Classic. That gave Sandelin, who was in Victoria, Briitsh Columbia that night assistant coaching the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, his 351st career victory with the Bulldogs (he's now 352-305-86 during his 18-plus seasons). Sandelin's predecessor, UMD Athletic Hall of Famer Mike Sertich, was the previous kingpin, having amassed a 350-328-44 record from 1982-2000.

THREE'S A CHARM: UMD is 2-3-3 in eight lifetime 3-on-3 NCHC overtimes. The Bulldogs' last 3-on-3 overtime was contested against Miami on Feb. 24, 2017 in Duluth (where the RedHawks prevailed).

OH SHOOT(OUT)!: UMD is 4-4 lifetime in NCHC shootouts, but only three Bulldog shooters -- sophomores Cole Koepke (0-for-1), Scott Perunovich (0-for-1) and Kobe Roth (0-for-1) -- have ever participated in that post- overtime event. Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard has stopped two of the three shootout attempts he's faced.

POWER SURGE: UMD has struck on the power play at least once in 13 of its 20 games thus far and is connecting at 20.3 percent with the man advantage -- the 19th best average in the country and third best in the NCHC.

POWER SURGE II: The Bulldogs' 13 power play goals to date have been generated by seven different players, including junior left winger Riley Tufte and sophomore right winger Kobe Roth, who both have a team-leading four tallies and sophomore center Justin Richards, who scored with the man advantage for the first time as a Bulldog last Saturday night against St. Cloud State.

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.

POWER SURGE IV: Last Friday marked the first time since Dec. 27, 2017 (at Dartmouth) that the Bulldogs went an entire game without a power play opportunity.

GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT: The Bulldogs are averaging 34.85 shots per game to trail only Penn State (40.05 spg), the University of Michigan (37.04 spg) and the Ohio State University (35.64 spg) among NCAA I schools. UMD's shot differential (+11.85) is tops in the country while its 23.00 shots allowed per game average ranks third nationally behind North Dakota (21.65 spg) and Providence College (22.61 spg).

MAKING HIS POINT: Senior team captain Parker Mackay has marked in the points column in 12 of his 18 games this season (a team-leading 66.7 percent).

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.
UMD, incidentally has cracked every USCHO.com Top 20 Poll since March 7, 2016.

UP NEXT: UMD will return to AMSOIL Arena on Jan. 25-26 for its lone two meetings of the year with NCHC rival Omaha.