OPENING DRAW The University of Minnesota Duluth are headed to Grand Forks, N.D. as they start their post season play in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff. The NCHC has elected to play the Frozen Faceoff this year in one spot, making less travel for most teams. The Bulldogs open up post season play against Western Michigan University. This will be the fifth matchup between the two teams. The format is a one and done tournament, with the semifinals taking place on Monday and the Championship taking place on Tuesday.

WESTERN MICHIGAN AT A GLANCE The Broncos have nothing but hot as of late. WMU is currently riding a five-game win streak, taking down the likes of St. Cloud State (5-4), UMD twice (4-0 & 4-1) and Miami University twice (5-2 & 4-2). They had last weekend off and have been resting for this upcoming weekend. The Broncos are 10-11-3 on the season and are 5-0 in their last five games.
Leading the way for the Broncos has been defenseman Ronnie Attard. The sophomore blueliner has been a solid man on the backend for WMU, in a two way tie for the team lead in points with 22 which leads all blueliners in the NCHC and is second in the NCAA. He has eight goals on the season, which is second on the team, first in the NCHC for defensemen and second in the NCAA. He shoots the puck and shoots it often, taking 72 on the year (2.96 per game, both lead the NCHC defensemen). He's also been able to tally three goals on the man advantage.
Ethen Frank has been a go to guy for the Broncos up front, leading the team in goals with 12 on the year to go along with seven assists for a respectable 19 point total on the year. The senior forward has tabbed five power play goals and carries a 20.7 shooting percentage.
WMU has been backstopped by a tandem this season, with Austin Cain taking slightly more time in net than his partner Alex Aslanidis. Cain has seen time in 15 games this season. In those 15 games, he's put together a 4.04 goals against average and a .870 save percetage. Aslanidis has been another solid option as well. The freshman netminder has seen action in 13 games and holds a 3.03 goals against average along with a .882 save percentage. Aslanidis carries a 5-3-1 record, Cain has a 3-8-2 record and the third option (Brandon Bussi) has a 2-0-0 record on the season in three games action.

LAST TIME OUT The Bulldogs went to battle with their intrastate rival, St. Cloud State University for a chance at the No. 2 seed in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
UMD fell 4-3 in overtime, with goals coming from junior forward Jackson Cates, who netted two in the contest, and freshman defenseman Connor Kelley. The loss brought the Bulldogs record to 13-9-2 on the year, putting UMD in the No.3 see in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

HOBEY WATCH Three Bulldogs were named to the Hobey Baker watch list. Junior forwards Noah Cates & Cole Koepke and senior forward Nick Swaney are all listed on the list.

RICHTER WATCH So. Goalie Ryan Fanti was named to the Mike Richter Award watch list.

BULLDOGS IN THE POLLS UMD stayed put in the spot in the latest national polls, claiming the No. 9 in the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO.com) Division I Men's poll and No. 9 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs were ranked 9/9 in the previous polls. UMD has cracked every USCHO.com weekly poll since March 7, 2016.

MORE FOR THE MANTLE The Bulldogs had a solid year this season, claiming six NCHC Player of the Week awards. UMD also had 15 Bulldogs named the NCHC All-Academic team this year and six honored as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes.
A quartet of Bulldogs landed on the All-NCHC teams. Senior forward Nick Swaney made it on to the All-NCHC first team this season. Junior forward Noah Cates landed on the All-NCHC second team and junior forward Cole Koepke and freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser each were namded as All-NCHC honorable mention. Kaiser also landed himself on the NCHC All-Rookie squad.

THE RIVALRY So far this year, these two teams have squared off a total of four times, with each team grabbing two wins. The first two games took place in Duluth, Minn. with UMD outscoring WMU 9-2 in the two contests.
The first game was a 5-1 affair, with junior forward Jackson Cates scoring a natural hat trick and dished an assist. Senior forwards Nick Swaney and Kobe Roth each grabbed a goal while senior forward Koby Bender handed out for assists. Roth, junior forwards Noah Cates and Cole Koepke and sophomore forward Quinn Olson all grabbed and assist as well.
The second game saw more of the same offense as the night before, with UMD taking the win 4-1. Sophomore forward Ben Almquist found the back of the net for his first career collegiate goal, which happened to be the game winner. Freshman defenseman Connor Kelley also grabbed his first career collegiate goal in the win. Koepke and N. Cates scored the other two goals while Olson and Swaney dished two assists and junior forward Tanner Laderoute, sophomore forward Luke Loheit and freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser all had one assist.
The next two games (in Kalamazoo, Mich) went the other way. The Broncos managed to out score UMD 8-1 in the next two games. The Bulldogs were shutout out, 4-0 in the first game, not being able to figure out Aslanidis. The last game saw more of the same with Koepke managing to squeak one by in the final two minutes of the game. Senior defenseman Matt Cairns and junior defenseman Jake Rosenbaum grabbing the assists in the 4-1 loss.
In total, the two teams have seen each other 37 times, with UMD holding the all-time record at 22-12-3.

GOALS? WE LIKE GOALS The Bulldogs have one of the top returning rosters in terms of goals. UMD is coming back with the fourth most goals on their roster with 90, with Bowling Green (96) sitting atop the charts, and North Dakota (96) right there with them and the University of Minnesota (93) just behind them. UMD returns seven of their top-10 from last season, with junior forward Cole Koepke being the majority holder with 16, and junior forward Noah Cates following with 14.

GREAT THINGS COME IN THREES UMD is the NCAA's leader in hat tricks so far this season, with the team netting three of them on the year. The latest coming from Swaney (SCSU, Feb. 27, 2021), with his third goal being his 100th career point. Jackson Cates netted a natural hat trick this season against Western Michigan University (Jan. 24, 2021). Junior forward Cole Koepke scored the other hat tick, coming against Miami University (Feb. 5, 2021).

GOALS? WE LIKE GOALS II The Bulldogs currently sit as the fourth best scoing team in the NCHC, netting 69 on the season. UND (94), UNO (79), SCSU (78) and Western Michigan (73) are atop the list.

GOALS COMING AT A PREMIUM The Bulldogs are currently second when it comes to goals against per game in the NCHC. UMD is only giving up 2.25 goals per game, which sits just below the University of North Dakota's 1.96.

STARTING STRONG, STAYING STRONG The Bulldogs have produced points this year left and right. Senior forward Nick Swaney is at the forefront, leading the charge for UMD and sitting in second in the NCHC (T-14th in the NCAA) with 27 points (13g, 14a) on the season up to this point. His 13 goals is second in the NCHC while his 14 assists on the season is tied for sixth in the NCHC.

STARTING STRONG, STAYING STRONG II Sophomore goalie Ryan Fanti has had a stellar start to the season and his career thus far, sitting with nine wins under his belt (fourth in the NCHC). He's been a rock-solid back stop for the Bulldogs with a .906 save percentage (fourth in the NCHC) and a 2.28 goals against average (third in the NCHC).
Freshman goalie Zach Stejskal has been another solid option in net for the Bulldogs. In seven games this season, Stejskal has produced 168 saves, averaging 24 per game. He has four wins with a 1.98 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.

STARTING STRONG, STAYING STRONG III Junior forward Cole Koepke is tied for third in the NCHC's lead in goals, sitting with 12 on the season. He also has seven assists on the year for 19 points.

STARTING STRONG, STAYING STRONG IV Senior forward Kobe Roth has 11 goals on the season, which is tied for sixth in the NCHC on the season. He also has eight assists on the year, good for 19 points overall.

SPECIAL TEAMS ARE INDEED SPECIAL UMD started the strong on the special teams, and have continued to dominate on the man advantage. The Bulldogs are currently clipping at an 18.4% (16-87) on the season. The penalty kill has been running at an 75.3% (67-89) on the season and will look to continue to improve.
SPECIAL TEAMS ARE INDEED SPECIAL II Junior forward Jackson Cates leads the way with five power play goals on the year (tied for third in the NCHC) and five power play assists. His brother, junior forward Noah Cates, and has three power play tallies and four assists while on the man advantage.

SPECIAL TEAMS ARE INDEED SPECIAL III Senior forward Nick Swaney also has three power play goals on the year, with eight assists on the man advantage (tied for third in the NCHC). His 11 power play points is tied for second in the NCHC and tied for 11th  in NCAA.
Junior forward Cole Koepke also has three power play tallies while senior forward Kobe Roth has the other power play goals.

SPECIAL TEAMS ARE INDEED SPECIAL IV The Bulldogs have two shorthanded goals on the season, tied for second in the NCHC.
Senior forward Nick Swaney and junior defenseman Hunter Lellig have the two shorties on the season, with Lellig's being his first collegiate career goal.

STRONG FINISH UMD has scored 38.9 percent of its goals (28-of-72) of its team goals in the third period.

SURPASSING 400 Head Coach Scott Sandelin became just the 33rd active head coach to reach the 400 win milestone on Jan. 29, 2021 when the Bulldogs beat Miami University, 2-1. He currently owns 404 wins.

KEEPING IT 100 There are a plethora of players on this years roster that are either past, or close to breaking the 100 game mark for their careers. Senior defense men Matt Anderson (135) and Louie Roehl (138), forwards Kobe Roth (130), Nick Swaney (130)  and Cole Koepke (100) all passing the mark. Four Junior forwards Jackson Cates (92), Noah Cates (98) and Tanner Laderoute (93) all have the milestone within reach.

HITTING THE CENTURY Senior forward Nick Swaney was the 59th player in Bulldog men's hockey history to reach the 100 career points milestone. He follows alum defenseman Scott Perunovich, who did it last year, and the latest forward since Alex Iafallo did it in 2016-17.
He currently sits with 100 points in his career.

BEST OF THE BEST a Pair of Bulldogs landed on the seven-man Preseason All-NCHC Team. Noah Cates and Cole Koepke were both named to the Preseason squad.
A quartet of Bulldogs landed on the All-NCHC teams this season. Senior forward Nick Swaney made it on to the All-NCHC first team this season. Junior forward Noah Cates landed on the All-NCHC second team and junior forward Cole Koepke and freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser each were namded as All-NCHC honorable mention. Kaiser also landed himself on the NCHC All-Rookie squad.
This season, the Bulldogs snagged six player of the week's. Sophomore goalie Ryan Fanti was the NCHC's first Goalie of the Week (Dec. 7) and has two on the year (Dec. 7 & Feb. 1). Freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser was named Rookie of the Week (Feb. 1), junior forward Cole Koepke was named Forward of the Week (Feb. 8) and freshman goaltender Zach Stejskal was named Goalie of the Week (Feb. 8). Senior forward Nick Swaney was the latest nominee, grabbing Forward of the Week on Feb. 27.

CAPTAIN CATES Noah Cates (5g, 12a) is stepping into the season with a 'C' on his chest. He looks to step into the roll with pride, taking over for the departed former captain Nick Wolff, who signed with the Boston Bruins. Cates returns as UMD's second top point getter, finishing last year with 33 (14g, 19a) points, and a career mark of 73 (28g, 45a) points.

'A' FOR EFFORT After a stellar sophomore season, Cole Koepke (12g, 7a) will be one of three assistant captains. He comes into his junior year with a career mark of 71 (35g, 36a) points, while finishing last year with a team second best 33 (16g, 17a) points.

'A' FOR EFFORT II Senior Louie Roehl is another will also sport the 'A' this season. Roehl looks to have another productive year for UMD, as he's been with the Bulldogs for two championships and played in 138 games. Roehl has 27 (7g, 20a) points in his career as a Bulldog and has a +31 rating for his career.

'A' FOR EFFORT III Senior Nick Swaney (13g, 14a) is the final 'A' for the team this season. Swaney is another player who has been with UMD for two championships, He has been on a slow climb in points, producing at a 0.77 points per game pace for his career. in 130 games, Swaney has put up 100 points (46g, 54a) points while sporting a solid +45 rating. He's produced eight game winners in his career with the Bulldogs.

HIT THE BOOKS Not just impressive on the ice, UMD saw 15 student athletes land on the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team this season, including returners Matt Anderson, Koby Bender, Jackson and Noah Cates, Ryan Fanti, Luke Loheit, Quinn Olson, Cole Koepke, Tanner Laderoute, Ben Patt and Nick Swaney. Ben Almquist, N. Cates, Fanti, Koepke, Laderoute and Loheit all attained NCHC Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors.