The University of Minnesota Duluth will close the books on 2019 this Sunday and Monday (Dec. 29-30) when the Bulldogs travel to North Andover, Mass., to take on Merrimack College in their final two non-conference assignments of the season. The puck drops at 3:00 p.m. (CT) both days at the J. Thom Lawler Rink (2,549).

THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs are 9-6-1 overall and 6-1-1-0 in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play (second place) while Merrimack sports a 4-11-2 record in all games and a 2-5-2 Hockey East mark (10th place).

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and Merrimack stacked up in the most recent USCH0.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls as well as the PairWise renkings:
 

	uscho.com	USA Today	Pairwise
UMD	No. 10	No. 11	No. 13
MC	NR	NR	No. 50

ON THE AIR: The two Bulldog-Warrior clashes will be carried on KDAL-Radio (610 AM and 103.9 FM). The broadcast can also be heard at: kdal610.com.

This weekend's series will also be videostreammed at: www.cbs.com/shows/hockey-on-cbs-all-access

THE SERIES: UMD and Merrimack have met on only three previous occasions. The first of those came on Dec. 28, 2000 in the opening round of the now-defunct Silverado Shootout at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center where Merrimack skated away with a 4-2 triumph. That year was Scott Sandelin's debut season as UMD's head coach.

UMD also hosted the Warriors two years ago (Oct. 20-21, 2017 at AMSOIL Arena) and prevailed 7-2 in the series finale after the two clubs skated to a 5-5 overtime tie the previous evening.

LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs have been idle since taking down the University of Nebraska-Omaha twice (6-3 and 4-3) on Dec. 6-7 for their first road series sweep of the 2019-20 season. UMD erupted for four, third- period goals en route to a 6-3 victory, getting two goals each from sophomore left wingers Noah Cates and Cole Koepke. Koepke struck once in the rematch and was one of seven Bulldogs to pick up one point as UMD took down the Mavericks 4-3.

SERVING HIS COUNTRY: UMD head coach Scott Sandelin will not be in North Andover, Mass., for the Merrimack series as he is serving as the U.S. head coach of the at the 2020 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic. That event began on Dec. 26 and wraps on Jan. 5. In addition, veteran UMD equipment manager Chris Garner is handling that same duty with the U.S. junior team.

Sandelin has been a part of three previous U.S. National Junior Team coaching staffs, including as head coach in 2005 and as an assistant coach in both 2012 and for last year's silver medal-winning club.

BACK AS BENCH BOSS: For the second straight year, Associate Head Coach Jason Herter will fill in for Sandelin during the Holiday Break. With Herter behind the bench, the Bulldogs went 1-1-0 at the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic in Glendale, Ariz., falling 3-1 to Clarkson University in the title game after toppling Minnesota State-Mankato 4-3 in overtime the previous afternoon.

THE NEWEST OF BULLDOGS: Ben Almquist, the Austin Bruins' leading point producer this season, has joined the UMD program for the Spring Semester and is eligible to play this weekend. Almquist, a 6-0, 185-pound forward from Victoria, Minn., potted 17 goals and 13 assists in 28 games for the North American Hockey League franchise this past fall and was a +9 to boot.  He commenced the 2018-19 season as member of the United States Hockey League's Cedar Rapids Roughriders, scoring five points (four goals and one assist) in 26 outings before relocating to Austin. In 26 outings with the Bruins one year ago, Almquist amassed nine goals and nine assists in 19 regular season outings. The NAHL Player of the Month for November 2019, Almquist played five years of varsity hockey at Holy Catholic Family High School (2013-18), where he was a teammate of current Bulldog junior defenseman Matt Anderson.

Almquist has the distinction of being the first Bulldog in program history to don the No. 38 sweater. 

MERRIMACK MOJO: The last time UMD and Merrimack butted heads (Oct. 20-21, 2017) current junior right winger Nick Swaney was selected the NCHC Rookie of the Week after he amassed a team-leading four points in the two-game set. Swaney potted his first goal as a collegian in Game 1 and assisted on another score before duplicating those numbers 24 hours later.

MERRIMACK MOJO II: Junior defenseman Dylan Samberg's single-game high for points (three) came at the expense of Merrimack College on Oct. 20, 2017.

NO POWER SHORTAGE HERE: UMD has collected more of its total goals on the power play this season -- 40.4 percent (19 of 47) -- than all but two NCAA I clubs in the country, trailing only Mercyhurst College (41.2 percent) and Canisius College (40.7 percent). The Bulldogs currently are tied for fourth nationally in power play efficiency (.275) and for fifth in power play goals.

NO POWER SHORTAGE HERE II: UMD has scored at least once with the man advantage in 13 of their 16 games to date. The Bulldogs were blanked on the power play  against Omaha on Dec. 6, but still went on score their most goals in one game since at 6-5 takedown of visiting Miami University on March 2, 2019.

NO POWER SHORTAGE HERE III: The Bulldogs' 19 power play goals to date have been generated by eight different players.

NO POWER SHORTAGE HERE IV: Going back to Dec. 4, 2015, UMD is 27-3-2 when scoring multiple times with the man advantage. One of those losses occurred earlier this year -- on Oct. 18 at Wisconsin when UMD went 2-for-3 with the man advantage in a 6-2 setback.

NO POWER SHORTAGE HERE V: The Bulldogs are connecting at 20.6 percent on the power play against non-conference foes but are 12-for-35 (34.3 percent) with the man advantage in NCHC play.

ON A ROLL: Sophomore left winger Cole Koepke has picked up at least one point in nine of the last 10 outings.

HE KEEPS GOING, AND GOING AND ...: Junior center Justin Richards, the 2018-19 NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year, has skated in all 102 outings since joining the program two years ago. He is the fourth active Bulldog to eclipse the century mark for appearances, joining senior center Jade Miller (109), senior goaltender Hunter Shepard  and senior defenseman Nick Wolff (138).

SAVING THEIR BEST FOR LAST: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 24-16 in the third period so far in 2019-20. A total of 51.1 percent of UMD's goals have been produced in the final 20 minutes of regulation, a figure bettered nationally by only one other institution (Canisius College at 51.9 percent)..

PUCK HUNTER: Senior All-American Hunter Shepard Shepard, the reigning NCHC Goaltender of the Year, has now made 97 consecutive starts (which is seven shy of the NCAA record set by Cornell University's Ben Shrivens from 2007-10). Shepherd's streak dates back to Oct. 21, 2017.

PUCK HUNTER II: Hunter Shepard now has a school-record 17 shutouts to his collegiate credit (more than any active NCAA puckstopper), including a pair this season. The only two NCHC clubs Shepard has yet to blank are Omaha and St. Cloud State.

PUCK HUNTER III: Last month, Hunter Shepard became UMD's career leader in victories (the old mark was 60 wins, held by both Rick Kosti, 1983-85, and Taras Lendzyk, 1992-96). Shepard sports a 63-33-4 lifetime record as a Bulldog.

THE EARLY GOAL GETS THE WIN: Going back to March 6, 2018, the Bulldogs have won 34 of the last 36 games in which they have gotten on the scoreboard first. Their two losses in that situation were inflicted by St. Cloud State on March 9, 2019 and Jan. 12, 2019. UMD is 7-0-0 when it has taken a 1-0 lead in 2019-20.

OFF AND RUNNING: At 6-1-1, UMD is enjoying its second best start ever in NCHC play, bettered only by the 7-1-0 mark turned in by the 2016-17 Bulldogs.

GREAT SCOTT: Despite being held to just one point the past four outings, two-time All-American Scott Perunovich still holds down the No. 2 spot on the NCAA assist charts with 19 and is second among all of the nation's defensemen in scoring with 21 points. Of those 21 points, 12 have been registered in the third period, ranking Perunovich second among his NCAA brethren.

GREAT SCOTT II: Scott Perunovich (two goals and four assists) land sophomore center Jackson Cates (three goals and three assists) top the 2019-20 Bulldogs in non-conference game scoring with six points each.

GREAT SCOTT III: Scott Perunovich has generated a team-high seven points in five road games this season.

NOT SO SWEEP: Last month, Minnesota State became the first non-conference opponent in nearly 14 years to sweep a two-game series from the Bulldogs in Duluth. The last time that happened before that  was on Oct. 7-8, 2005 when then-WCHA rival Bemidji State prevailed 3-2 and 5-1 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

NOT SO SWEEP II: UMD has been swept only six times in its last 65 regular season series overall (going back to Feb. 19-20, 2016) -- twice to both St. Cloud State(4-3 in overtime and 4-3 on March 8-9, 2019 and 5-3 and 5-0 on Nov. 3-4, 2017) and against Denver (1-0 and 2-1 on Dec. 1-2, 2017 and 1-0 and 4-3 on Feb. 2-3, 2018) and once earlier this year to the University of Wisconsin (6-2 and 3-1 on Oct. 18-19) and to Minnesota State (Nov. 29-30).

WELCOME BACK: After being sidelined with an injury the previous three games, junior right winger Nick Swaney returned to the Bulldog lineup in Omaha and responded with a four-point weekend (one goal and three assists).

BONUS HOCKEY HAS BEEN A BONUS: UMD is unbeaten in 26 of the last 27 games that have required overtime, going 13-1-13 since falling 2-1 to host North Dakota on Feb. 19, 2016. The lone setback was inflicted by St. Cloud State on March 8, 2019 in St. Cloud.

BONUS HOCKEY HAS BEEN A BONUS II: Just two 2019-20 Bulldogs -- junior right winger Nick Swaney and sophomore left winger Cole Koepke -- have scored an overtime goal as a collegian. Swaney has three (all coming in 2018-19, which tied him for the NCAA lead) doing his damage in the double-over time triumph over St. Cloud State in the NCHC Frozen Four title bout, in UMD's 4-3 takedown of Minnesota State-Mankato in the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic semifinals and its 2-1 victory over Omaha on March 15. Koepke potted his OT winner in a 4-3 win at Denver on Nov. 17, 2018.

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLFF: Nick Wolff, who has taken part in more lifetime games (138) than all but three players in the country, had his streak of 127 consecutive appearances snapped when he sat out the Nov. 30 home clash against Minnesota State-Mankato with an upper body injury. That ironman run started on Nov. 19, 2016 in Omaha.

HUNGRY LIKE A WOLFF II: Nick Wolff holds the distinction of being the only Bulldog in program history to play in three NCAA championship games. Goaltender Hunter Shepard dressed in all three of those title bouts, but did not see crease time in the 2017 Frozen Four.

ROAD SHOW: The Bulldogs are 4-3-0 away from AMSOIL Arena this season and have given up as many goals (22) as they have scored in those seven outings.

GET SHORTIE: Junior right winger Nick Swaney (two, both in 2018-19) and junior center Justin Richards (two, both in 2019-20) are the only two current Bulldogs with at least one shorthanded goal to their collegiate credit.

OH, BROTHER: The sophomore brother duo of Jackson and Noah Cates struck for goals in the same game three times last season and have done it once thus far in 2019-20. Noah Cates, who has already matched is career high for goals (a team-leading nine), was the top vote getter on last year's NCHC All-Rookie Team.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK: Since falling 4-3 at Denver in the NCHC playoff opener on March 13, 2015, the Bulldogs are 78-1-3 when taking a lead into the third period. (They are 8-0-0 in that situation this season). The only loss during that stretch was came at the hands of Western Michigan -- 3-2 on Dec. 7, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will make their 2020 debuts on Jan. 10-11 by hosting NCHC rival Western Michigan University.