The University of Minnesota Duluth will put the wraps on the home portion of its 2018-19 regular season schedule this Friday and Saturday (March 1-2) when the Bulldogs play host to Miami University in a two-game National Collegiate Hockey Conference series. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. at AMSOIL Arena (6,756) in downtown Duluth.

THE RECORDS: The defending NCAA champion Bulldogs are 19-9-2 overall and 11-6-1-0 in NCHC play (second place) while the RedHawks sports a 11-17-4 record in all games to go with a 5-13-2-1 NCHC mark (seventh).

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. 3	No. 3	No. 3
Miami	NR	NR	No. 35

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

Both ends of this weekend's series will also be televised -- Friday on Fox Sports North My9 (KBJR DT 6.2/KRII DT 11.9) and Saturday on My9, which has been the Bulldogs' television home for the last 11 seasons. Zach Scheider and former UMD standout forward Judd Medak will serve as the on-air talent both nights. The two telecasts are available on-line at: nchc.tv/umd.

LAST WEEK: UMD traded wins with North Dakota in a pair of NCHC bouts in Grand Forks, N.D., falling 4-1 on Friday before bouncing back with a 3-2 triumph in ensuing evening. Sophomore right winger Nick Swaney accounted for the lone Bulldog score in the opener, which deadlocked the game at 1-1 just 1:25 after the opening faceoff. North Dakota struck twice withing a span of 71 seconds midway through the first period than iced the victory with an empty net goal at 18:30 of the third. On Saturday, senior center Peter Krieger potted a pair of power play goals -- including the eventual game-winner -- while sophomore defenseman Scott Perunovich and freshman left winger Noah Cates each were credited with two assists.

Miami likewise split a NCHC road series, using a 46-save outing from goaltender Ryan Larking to take down the University of Denver 3-1 on Friday only to see the Pioneers salvage a split with a 5-2 win 24 hours later.

THE RIVALRY: UMD and Miami have butted heads on 23 occasions previously, including a pair of times earlier this year in Oxford, Ohio where the Bulldogs prevailed twice (3-0 and 4-0 Jan. 18-19). UMD holds a commanding 17-4-2 lead in the all-time series, which started at the NCAA West Regional title game in Minneapolis:

THIS IS YOUR NIGHT: Saturday's regular season home finale with Miami has been designated as the Bulldogs' annual Senior Night and UMD will recognize itsthree seniors -- forwards Billy Exell, Peter Krieger and Parker Mackay -- and fourth-year junior goaltender Nick Deery with a special pre-game ceremony. During that quartet's time at UMD, the Bulldogs have captured one NCAA national championship,appeared in two NCAA Frozen Four title games, made four NCAA Tournament appearances, claimed one NCHC Frozen Faceoff playoff crown and rolled up a 91-48-17 overall. All four of those Bulldogs are scheduled to graduate this May.

SOME TOUGH SLEDDING FOR THE REDHAWKS: Miami's lifetime winning percentage at AMSOIL Arena (.125 off a 1-10-1 record) is the worst of any NCHC club at the moment.

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS: UMD is unbeaten in 15 of its last 16 meetings against Miami, going 13-1-2 with the lone loss during that stretch coming on Nov. 18, 2017 (3-2).

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS II: Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard and the Bulldogs have held Miami scoreless for the last 257:08, posting four consecutive shutouts (3-0 and 4-0 on Jan. 18-19, 2019 in Oxford, Ohio and 4-0 and 3-0 on Feb. 16-17, 2018 in Duluth). Josh Melnick was the last RedHawk to score on UMD, doing so at 2:52 of the third period on Nov. 18, 2017 on Miami's home ice.

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS III: UMD head coach Scott Sandelin's lifetime winning percentage against Miami (.782 off a 17-4-2 record) is his best versus any NCHC opponent (Western Michigan is next at .678).

HAWKISH ON THE REDHAWKS IV: Of junior defenseman Nick Wolff's 40 career points, one-fifth (eight) have come at the expense of Miami.

A REAL BUZZ KILL: UMD continues to rank first in the nation in penalty kill efficiency at .915. The Bulldogs have given up just four power play goals in their last 19 games and the last 66 times they've been a man down. Omaha is the only opponent that has struck on the power play in both ends of a weekend series this season (Jan. 25-26). Bulldog foes are a mere 9-for-106 on the power play this season, with those nine goals spread over nine different games.

A REAL BUZZ KILL II: UMD has won only one of the last nine games (1-7-1) in which it has given up multiple power play goals. That came last year -- a 6-5 triumph at Colorado College on Jan. 12, 2018, when the Tigers struck twice with the man advantage.

A REAL BUZZ KILL III: The Bulldogs' penalty kill on the road is a NCAA-leading .937 (59-of-63) while its .884 mark at home (38-of-43) ranks eighth nationally. In addition, both of UMD's two shorthanded goals this season were registered away from AMSOIL Arena.

A REAL BUZZ KILL IV: The UMD program record for best penalty kill percentage in a season is .885 set in 2007-08.

SECOND-HALF SURGE: Of sophomore Nick Swaney's team-leading 13 goals, nine have come in the 14 games since Dec. 28 -- including a hat trick on Jan. 26 against the University of Nebraska Omaha). Only one other league skater (Omaha's Mason Morelli with 10) has scored more times during that stretch than Swaney, the reigning NCHC Player of the Month, and no one has put more shots on target (58).

THE PUCK STOPS HERE: UMD will come into the weekend having given up the third fewest goals per game (1.90) of any NCAA I club in the country.

PUCK HUNTER: Hunter Shepard, the reigning Hockey Commissioner's Association National Goaltender of the Month and a two-time NCHC Goaltender of the Month award recipient in 2018-19 (November and January), ranks second among NCAA puckstoppers in goals against average (1.73) and is tied for third in wins (18) and shutouts (5). He's now made 69 consecutive starts (an ironman run that began on Oct. 21, 2017), which is seven starts shy of the team record set by current UMD volunteer goalie coach Brant Nicklin between Oct. 12, 1996 and March 15, 1998.

Shepard, a 2017-18 All-NCHC second team selection and Mike Richter Award semifinalist (most outstanding NCAA goalie), owns UMD records for shutouts in both a season (eight in 2017-18) and a career (13). One of those 13 lifetime blankings came at the hands of North Dakota (5-0 on Nov. 30, 2018).

FLEXING SOME SOPHOMORE MUSCLE: UMD possesses the third-highest scoring sophomore class in the country (123 points on 44 goals and 79 assists) and that group has accounted for 49.4 percent of the Bulldogs' entire point production thus far and 47.3 percent of their goals.

'TOP DOG: Sophomore center Justin Richards holds down the No. 1 spot on the UMD scoring charts with a career-high 27 points (10 goals and 17 assists). Richardsmhas taken shifts in all 74 games since joining the Bulldogs one year ago (when he went without a goal).

Prior to Jan. 18, 2019, the last time someone other than sophomore Scott Perunovich topped the Bulldogs in points entering a weekend was on Nov. 9, 2017.

GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT: The Bulldogs are averaging 35.20 shots per game to trail only Penn State (40.69 spg) and the University of Michigan (36.34) among NCAA I schools. UMD's shot differential (+12.60) continues to lead the country as does its shots allowed per game average (22.60).

GIVING IT HIS BEST SHOT: In UMD's most recent confrontation with Miami (a 3-0 victory on Jan. 19, 2019), sophomore center Justin Richards became the first Bulldog to successfully convert a penalty shot since Travis Oleksuk did so back on Oct. 15, 2010 against Providence College in Duluth.

BONUS HOCKEY HAS BEEN JUST THAT: 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. Koepke potted his in a 4-3 triumph at Denver on Nov. 17, 2018 and Swaney did his damage in UMD's 4-3 overtime takedown of Minnesota State-Mankato in the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic semifinals.

GREAT SCOTT!: Since the start of the 2017-18 season, only three other defensemen in the country have generated a higher plus-minus rating (+30) and six have collected more points (62) than Scott Perunovich.  Perunovich's 26 points this season take a backseta to only one other NCHC defensemen (St. Cloud State's Jimmy Schuldt has 25) while his 23 assists are the most accumulated by a league point man.

POWER SURGE: UMD is connecting at 22.9 percent with the man advantage -- the 11th best average in the country and second highest figure in the NCHC. Its .256 mark at home tops all league schools.

POWER SURGE II: The Bulldogs' 25 power play goals to date have been generated by 12 different players, including junior left winger Riley Tufte and sophomore right winger Kobe Roth, who both have a team-leading four tallies.

POWER SURGE III: Going back to Dec. 4, 2015, UMD is 22-1-2 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 setback.

GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME: Five UMD veterans have established or equaled career collegiate bests for points this winter:

Player                   Yr.    Pts.    Previous High
Justin Richards    So.     27      9 (2017-18)
Parker Mackay     Sr.     22      19 (2017-18)
Nick Wolff             Jr.     15      13 (2017-18)
Kobe Roth            So.    10       9 (2017-18)
Koby Bender        Fr.       4       1 (2017-18)

... while two others are knocking on the door:

Player              Yr.    Pts.    Previous High
Nick Swaney    So.    21      22 (2017-18)
Louie Roehl     So.      8        9 (2017-18)

FOR PETE'S SAKE: Senior center Peter Krieger has racked up more collegiate points (82) than any other Bulldog, with 49 of those coming during his time at UMD (2017-present) and the rest while he was a member of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks program (2014-16).

TAKE IT TO THE BANK: Since falling 4-3 at Denver in the NCHC playoff opener on March 13, 2015, the Bulldogs are 70-1-3 when taking a lead into the third period. (They were 23-0-1 in that situation one year ago and are 15-1-0 this season). The only loss during that stretch was inflicted by Western Michigan -- 3-2 on Dec. 7, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN: Junior Nick Wolff, who has taken shifts in a team-high 103 straight games, is a +17 on the year -- the third best mark among NCHC blueliners. Wolff's career plus-minus rating (+39) tops all current Bulldogs.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN II: Nick Wolff is the NCHC overall leader in both penalties (21) and penalty minutes (72) and ranks ninth in blocked shots (47).

NOT SO SWEEP: UMD has been swept only three times in its last 56 regular season series overall (going back to Feb. 19-20, 2016) and all three of those occurred last year -- at St. Cloud State (5-3 and 5-0 on Nov. 3-4) and against Denver (1-0 and 2-1 on Dec. 1-2 and 1-0 and 4-3 on Feb. 2-3).

A TWO-FER: Both senior center Peter Krieger (at North Dakota on Feb. 23) and sophomore right winger Kobe Roth (versus North Dakota on Nov. 30) both have scored twice with the man advantage in games this season. Prior to this year, the last Bulldog to turn in a multiple-power play goal outing was Austin Farley against Western Michigan on Dec. 5, 2015.

THE EARLY GOAL GETS THE WIN: The Bulldogs are 17-1-0 when they've drawn first blood this season and have won 21 of the last 22 games in which they have gotten on the scoreboard first (going back to March 9, 2018). Their one loss in that situation was inflicted by St. Cloud State on Jan. 12, 2018.

SOME CLOSE SHAVES: Going back to the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs have won 10 of the last 13 games decided by one goal.

WE'LL SECOND THAT: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 45-17 in the second period this season. UMD's +28 second-period goal differential is tops among all NCAA I schools while its goals per game average (1.50) ranks second nationally. In addition, 48.4 percent of the Bulldogs' goal scoring has taken place in the second period, a figure unmatched in the country.

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

GET SHORTIE: Sophomore right winger Nick Swaney, the NCHC Player of the Month for January, has both of UMD's two shorthanded goals in 2018-19 (at Miami on Jan. 18 and at Notre Dame on Oct. 26)Swaney, sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson (one) and senior right winger Parker Mackay (one) are the only other two Bulldogs with a man down goal to their collegiate credit.

AT THE HEAD OF THEIR CLASS: Nine Bulldogs earned NCHC Academic All-Conference Team status for 2018-19. That group includes senior Billy Exell, junior Jade Miller and Nick Deery and sophomores Matt Anderson, Mikey Anderson, Koby Bender and Nick Swaney, and redshirt freshman Ben Patt. With the exception of Miller (a first-time honoree) all are repeat qualifiers -- Matt Anderson (twice), Mikey Anderson (twice), Bender (twice), Deery (four times), Exell (four times), Patt (twice), Richards (twice) and Swaney (twice).

In addition, Matt and Mikey Anderson were also named NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes for 2018-19.

To be eligible for the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team, a student-athlete must compile a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or better while having completed at least one academic year at his current institution. Those student-athletes who have accrued a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above are cited as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes as well.

THREE'S A CHARM: UMD is 2-3-3 in eight lifetime 3-on-3 NCHC overtimes. The Bulldogs' last 3-on-3 overtime victory came on Jan. 6, 2017 against visiting Colorado College.

OH SHOOT(OUT)!: The Bulldogs are 4-4 all-time in NCHC shootouts, but only three UMD shooters -- Cole Koepke (0-for-1), Scott Perunovich (0-for-1) and Kobe Roth (0-for-1) -- have ever participated in that post-overtime event (and all did so this season). Hunter Shepard has stopped two of the three shootout attempts he's faced (all coming in 2018-19 as well).

AT THE TOP OF THE HEAP: 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, British Columbia that night assistant coaching the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, his 351st career victory with the Bulldogs (he's now 359-309-86 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.

ON TAP: The Bulldogs and 2018-19 regular season champion St. Cloud State University will collide in St. Cloud, Minn., on March 8-9 in the regular season finales for both clubs.