The University of Minnesota Duluth will put the finishing touches on the 2018-19 regular season this Friday and Saturday (March 8-9) when the Bulldogs pay a visit to St. Cloud, Minn., for a pair of National Collegiate Hockey Conference bouts with regular season league champion St. Cloud State University. Opening faceoff is set for 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 4:07 p.m. the following night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,371) on the St. Cloud State campus.

THE RECORDS: The defending NCAA champion Bulldogs are 21-9-2 overall and 14-7-1-0 in NCHC play (second place) while the Huskies sport a 24-5-3 record in all games to go with a 17-2-3 league mark (first place).

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and St. Cloud State 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
SCSU	No. 1	No. 1	No. 1

     
ON THE AIR: The two UMD-St. Cloud State clashes this weekend will be carried on KDAL-Radio (610 AM and 103.9 FM) on the call. The broadcast can also be heard at: kdal610.com.

Friday's series opener will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network with Ben Holden, Dave Starman and Shireen Saski serving as the on-air talent

Fox Sports North is set to carry Saturday's rematch. Jim Rich will handle the play-by-play responsibilities and Pat Micheletti the color commentary. That telecast is available on-line at: nchc.tv/umd.

THE RIVALRY: UMD and St. Cloud State have met on 128 previous occasions in a rivalry which stretches back to the 1946-47 season. The Huskies hold a 68-51-9 lead in the all-time series and are 65-47-8 versus the Bulldogs since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1987-88.

UMD and then-top ranked St. Cloud State traded wins earlier this winter in Duluth (Jan. 11-12). In the 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 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.

LAST WEEK: The Bulldogs posted their seventh series sweep of 2018-19 by defeating NCHC Miami twice -- 4-2 and 6-5 -- Friday and Saturday in their regular season home finales. Freshman left winger Noah Cates collected a pair of second-period goals and assisted on another score in the 4-2 triumph while sophomore defenseman Mike Anderson was credited with two assists. In the series' rematch, junior defenseman Nick Wolff struck twice in the opening 1:26 of play and was one of five Bulldogs to turn in a two-point night, joining sophomore defensemen Dylan Samberg (one goal and one assist) and Mikey Anderson (two assists) and junior center Jade Miller (two assists) and junior left winger Riley Tufte (one goal and one assist). The Bulldogs, who never trailed the entire weekend, held a 39-19 shot advantage on Saturday while posting its sixth straight win over the RedHawks and running its home unbeaten streak against them to 13 games (12-0-1).

St. Cloud State likewise registered a league series sweep, defeating host Western Michigan 5-4 and 8-2.

WELL DONE: Mikey Anderson and Noah Cates each received a weekly NCHC citation after both played a key role in the UMD's two-game takedown of Miami Anderson was chosen the NCHC Defenseman of the Week while Cates landed Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Anderson paced all NCHC defensemen in scoring last weekend with four points and tied for the overall assists lead (four). For the weekend, Anderson was a +2 and blocked four shots

Cates was the lone NCHC freshman to collect more than one goal last weekend and tied for the NCHC lead in rookie scoring with three points. He did all of his scoing damage on Friday, figuring in on three of UMD's four scores (two goals and one assist), and closued out the series a +3 and while putting five shots on goal.

This marks the second NCHC award of any kind for Anderson (he was also selected the NCHC Defenseman of the Week on Dec. 3, 2018) and the first for Cates

CONSISTENTLY CONSISTENT: The Bulldogs (21-9-2 overall) have now reached the 20-win plateau for the eighth time in the last 11 seasons. They've also clinched their fifth home ice playoff berth in the six-year history of the NCHC (2013-14 and 2015-19).

THIS AIN'T THEIR FIRST RODEO: Going back to the 2014-15 season opener, the Bulldogs are 9-6-0 in 15 confrontations against No. 1 ranked teams (per the USCHO.com Poll):

Date         Team                   Result   Site
1/12/18     St. Cloud State    L, 2-4     Duluth, Minn.
1/11/18      St. Cloud State    W, 3-1    Duluth, Minn.
10/27/18    Notre Dame        W, 3-1    South Bend, Ind
10/26/18    Notre Dame        W, 3-2    South Bend, Ind
12/1/17     Denver                L, 0-1      Duluth, Minn.
12/2/17     Denver                L, 1-2      Duluth, Minn.
4/8/17       Denver                L, 2-3      Chicago, Ill.
10/29/16   North Dakota      W, 3-0     Duluth, Minn.
10/28/16   North Dakota     W, 5-2     Duluth, Minn.
3/18/16    North Dakota      W, 4-2     Minneapolis, Minn.
2/10/15    North Dakota       L, 2-5     Grand Forks, N.D.
2/9/15      North Dakota      W, 4-1     Grand Forks, N.D.
11/15/14   Minnesota         W, 2-1      Duluth, MInn.
11/14/14   Minnesota        W, 3-0       Minneapolis, Minn.
10/10/14   Minnesota         L, 3-4       South Bend, Ind.

HEY, WE KNOW THAT GUY: Brett Larson, who spent six successful seasons -- in two separate tours of duty -- serving as UMD assistant men's hockey coach, is in his debut season at the helm of the St. Cloud State program. During Larson's tenure at UMD (2008-2011 and 2015-18), the Bulldogs rolled up a 142-79-30 overall record (for a .625 winning percentage), captured the school's only two NCAA national championships (2011 and 2018), made five NCAA Tournament appearances (2008, 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2017), and laid claim to one NCHC playoff title (2017) and another WCHA playoff crown (2009) while qualifying for the WCHA Final Five/NCHC Frozen Four tournament six times.

BULLDOG BLOODLINES: Brett Larson and Mike Sertich are the only two former Bulldogs to ever face their alma mater as a head coach. Larson did it for the first time on Jan. 11-12, 2019 while Mike Sertich and his Michigan Tech Huskies faced the Bulldogs on 10 occasions during his three-season tenure (2000-03) in Houghton, Mich. Sertich first brought his Huskies to town on Nov. 10-11, 2000 (then-UMD rookie head coach Scott Sandelin collected his first collegiate victory on the second night of that WCHA series).

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 sixth among NCAA puckstoppers in goals against average (1.89) and is tied for second in wins (20) and for third shutouts (5). He's now made 71 consecutive starts (an ironman run that began on Oct. 21, 2017), which is five 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).

Shepard's 46 wins as a Bulldogs puts him in the sixth on UMD's all-time charts -- four back of Isaac Reichmuth (2002-06), who occupies the No. 5 spot.

NOT MUCH HAPPENING HERE: In the past six games, UMD opponents are averaging just 36.8 TOTAL shot attempts per night.

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) than Scott Perunovich. Here is how the Hibbing, Minn., native ranks among his NCAA I blue line brethren in scoring during that stretch
Perunovich's 27 points this season take a backseat to only one other NCHC defenseman (St. Cloud State's Jimmy Schuldt has 28) while his 24 assists are the most accumulated by any league point man (he shares that honor with St. Cloud State's Jack Ahcan).

YOU'RE KILLING ME: Last Saturday night, Miami did something that no other club had done since March 17, 2018 -- score more than once on the power play against UMD. The RedHawks went 3-for-5 with the man advantage in that 6-5 Bulldog win.

YOU'RE KILLING ME II: UMD has now won only two of the last 10 games (2-7-1) in which it has given up multiple power play goals. Those triumphs came this past Saturday against Miami and last year -- a 6-5 triumph at Colorado College on Jan. 12, 2018, when the Tigers struck twice with the man advantage.

YOU'RE KILLING ME III: The Bulldogs' penalty kill on the road is a NCAA-leading .937 (59-of-63) while its .884 mark at home (41-of-50) ranks 32nd nationally. In addition, both of UMD's two shorthanded goals this season were registered away from AMSOIL Arena.

YOU'RE KILLING ME IV: UMD reigned as the nation's leader in penalty percentage from Dec. 1 until last Saturday when the Bulldogs gave up three power play goals in five chances to Miami. The Bulldogs now sit second among NCAA I clubs in that department at .8850 -- just .0004 ahead of No. 3 St. Cloud State

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

'TOP DOG: Although he's been held off the scoresheet the past five games, sophomore center Justin Richards continues to own a share of the No. 1 spot (with sophomore All-American defenseman Scott Perunovich) on the UMD scoring charts Richards, has taken shifts in all 76 games since joining the Bulldogs one year ago (when he went without a goal), has generated a career-high 27 points (10 goals and 17 assists) this season.

Earlier this season (Jan. 19) in a 3-0 win at Miami, 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

'TOP DOG II: Justin Richards has scored a team-high six points (two goals and four assists) in six lifetime outings against St. Cloud State.

SECOND-HALF SURGE: Of sophomore Nick Swaney's team-leading 13 goals, nine have come in the 16 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 NCHC Player of the Month for January, and no one has put more shots on target (67).

FLEXING SOME SOPHOMORE MUSCLE: UMD possesses the third-highest scoring sophomore class in the country (143 points on 46 goals and 87 assists) and that group has accounted for 51.8 percent of the Bulldogs' entire point production thus far and 44.7 percent of their goals

GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT: The Bulldogs are averaging 35.22 shots per game to trail only Penn State (40.41 spg) and the University of Michigan (36.00) among NCAA I schools. UMD's shot differential (+12.78) continues to lead the country as does its shots allowed per game average (22.44).

GIVING IT THEIR BEST SHOT II: UMD has been outshot in only four of its 32 games this winter.

GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME: Six 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.    23    19 (2017-18)
Nick Wolff    Jr.    17    13 (2017-18)
Dylan Samberg    So.    13    13 (2017-18)
Kobe Roth    So.    11    9 (2017-18)
Koby Bender    Fr.    4    1 (2017-18)

... while three 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)
Matt Anderson    So.    5    6 (2017-18)

POWER SURGE: UMD is connecting at 23.9 percent with the man advantage -- the ninth best average in the country and second highest figure in the NCHC. The Bulldogs sport a NCHC-high .277 mark at home and a 21.7 percent figure on the road.

POWER SURGE II: The Bulldogs' 27 power play goals to date have been generated by 12 different players, including junior left winger Riley Tufte, who has a team-leading five tallies.

POWER SURGE III: Going back to Dec. 4, 2015, UMD is 23-1-2 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.

FLASHBACK: Sophomore defenseman Matt Anderson struck for his lone collegiate goal to date against St. Cloud State in a 5-3 setback on Nov. 3, 2017 in St. Cloud.

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

FOR PETE'S SAKE: Senior center Peter Krieger has racked up more collegiate points (84) than any other Bulldog, with 51 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).

THE EARLY GOAL GETS THE WIN: The Bulldogs are 19-1-0 when they've drawn first blood this season and have won 23 of the last 24 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.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN: Junior Nick Wolff, who has taken shifts in a team-high 105 straight games, is a +19 on the year -- the third best mark among NCHC blueliners (St. Cloud State's Jack Ahcan and Nick Perbix rank 1-2, respectively, with +26 and +21 marks). Wolff's career plus-minus rating (+41) tops all current Bulldogs.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN II: Nick Wolff is the NCHC overall leader in both penalties (22) and penalty minutes (74).

CLAP FOR THE WOLFFMAN III: No player in the country has scored more goals (two) or points (three) in the opening two minutes of play this season than Nick Wolf.

SOMETHING TO SHOOT FOR: UMD needs one more win to equal the program record for NCHC victories. That mark was set two years ago (15-5-4).

TAKE IT TO THE BANK: Since falling 4-3 at Denver in the NCHC playoff opener on March 13, 2015, the Bulldogs are 71-1-3 when taking a lead into the third period. (They were 23-0-1 in that situation one year ago and are 16-1-0 this season). The only loss during that stretch was inflicted by Western Michigan -- 3-2 on Dec. 7, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

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.

WE'LL SECOND THAT: The Bulldogs have outscored the opposition 49-20 in the second period this season. UMD's +29 second-period goal differential is tops among all NCAA I schools while its goals per game average (1.53) ranks second nationally. In addition, 47.6 percent of the Bulldogs' goal scoring has taken place in the second period, a figure unmatched in the country.

NOT SO SWEEP: UMD has been swept only three times in its last 57 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).

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.

GET SHORTIE: Sophomore right winger Nick Swaney 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.

A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN: Earlier this season, Scott Sandelin became the NCHC's all-time winningest coach (league games only). Here are the top six individuals on that list:

Name                  School    W    L    T       Pct.
Scott Sandelin    UMD       76    53    13    .580
Jim Montgomery Denver    70    35    15    .646
Bob Motzko         SCSU     69    41    10    .617
Andy Murray        WMU      56    74    12    .437
Brad Berry           UND       48    37      9    .558
Enrico Blasi         Miami      45    82    15    .370
Dean Blais          Omaha    42    45      9    .484

Sandelin, incidentally, has never finished a season (there have been six) with a sub-.500 NCHC record.

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.

The Bulldogs have now cracked every USCHO.com Top 20 Poll since March 7, 2016.

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).

ON TAP: The Bulldogs will return to AMSOIL Arena to host a first-round NCHC playoff series against a to-be-determined opponent. That best-of-three event starts on March 15.