THE MATCHUP The University of Minnesota Duluth will host No.1 Denver, the defending National Champions, this upcoming weekend. This will be the first time the teams have seen each other in the 2022-23 campaign. UMD last saw the Pioneers in last year's NCAA Regional Finals where they lost 2-1.  During the 2021-22 season, UMD split both weekends with Denver in conference play, falling short during the Friday games, but bounced back to win the Saturday games. The Bulldogs then shut out the Pioneers last year in St. Paul during the NCHC tournament.  Scoring the lone goal for the Bulldogs in that game was Darian Gotz.  In the all-time series against DU, UMD trails 88-129-13. 
LAST TIME OUT Minnesota Duluth split last weekend's series against the Tigers. On Friday the Bulldogs were shutout 3-0, but responded back on Saturday with a 4-0 shutout. UMD was put on the board Saturday after Gotz fired a shot off the face-off. The following three goals were scored by Ben Steeves, along with fellow line mate Luke Loheit notching three assists. Back on defense, Derek Daschke contributed one assist and blocked four shots. With the split UMD holds an 8-8 record overall and are 4-4 in conference play. 
HOME SWEET HOME So far this season, UMD has played five series at home, and gone 6-4 at AMSOIL. The Bulldogs have swept at home twice, split twice, and only been swept once. 
CONFERENCE PLAY With four conference series in the books, UMD has gone 4-4. The Bulldogs have split all of their conference match-ups thus far this season. In all but one of the four series, UMD lost Friday's game, but came back to win their second game. 
IN THE CREASE Senior Matthew Thiessen was named this week's NCHC Goaltender of the Week. On Saturday, Thiessen recorded his first career shutout in the 4-0 win. During the series he made 52 saves while only allowing two goals for a save percentage of .963. On the season, Thiessen has made 246 saves and only allowing 20 goals. Thiessen is ranked second in the conference and 10th in the nation for goals against average. As for his save percentage of .925, he ranks third in the conference and 13th nationally. 
DYNAMIC DEFENSE With nine, the Bulldogs are led by Derek Daschke in assists. Daschke also has 11 points making him second on the team for points, followed by fellow defenseman Owen Gallatin who has recorded 10 points. With his goal last weekend, Gotz has now tallied two on the season, both of which were game-winning goals.  
CAN'T STOP STEEVES Another week has passed and freshman Ben Steeves continues to make his mark at UMD. Steeves was named this week's NCHC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season. On Saturday, Steeves recorded his first collegiate hat trick, and to make it more special, a natural hat trick. Steeves was the first Bulldogs since 1994 to score a hat trick as a rookie, and is now the 11th rookie in all of UMD history. Steeves leads the team in goals with 11 and points with 14. With 55 shots on goal he is shooting at a percentage of .200.  The rookie is ranked second in the country and in the NCHC for goals per game. Steeves is also ranked fifth in the NCHC and eighth nationally for power play goals, as five of his goals have come on a power play. 
DENVER DEFENSE The Pioneers have proven to be a tough team to play against. Denver is ranked second in the NCHC and seventh in the nation for scoring defense. Over the last 16 games played, they have only allowed 393 shots, and 36 goals, for a 2.3 goals against average.  
KILLING OFF THE PENALTIES Denver ranks 47th in the country on the penalty kill. Having taken 53 penalties this season, they have allowed 12 power play goals for a kill percentage of .774. 
PIONEERS ON THE POWER PLAY On the other hand, with the man advantage, DU ranks 20th in the nation and 6th in the conference.  The Pioneers have had 73 power play opportunities and found the back of the net 16 times, for a percent of .219. 
PIONEERS' GOALTENDING Back in the crease, Denver has started senior Magnus Chrona in 14 games. Chrona has a record of 10-4-0 with one shutout this season. Having stopped 315 shots and allowed 32 goals he has a save percentage of .908 and goals against average of 2.30. Of the 32 goals, 12 were power play goals, and two short handed. 
SCOUTING DENVER In this year's campaign, Denver has gone 12-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play, ranking them first in the nation and the conference. Currently they are on a three game win streak, after sweeping Arizona State and beating Omaha 6-3 the weekend prior. Their four losses have come from a series split with Omaha, an OT loss against St. Cloud, and a sweep by UMass. Having scored 54 goals this season, and an average of 3.4 goals per game, they are ranked in the Top 15 in the nation for scoring offense. Leading the Pioneers is sophomore Carter Mazur with 12 goals, and Massimo Rizzo leads with 14 assists and 21 points. Back on defense, senior Kyle Mayhew has been the leader in blocked shots with 29.