THE MATCHUP This weekend, the No. 6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs meet the No. 3 Denver Pioneers for the second time this season. During their first series of the 2021-22 season, Denver used a 5-0 win on Friday night to stun the Bulldogs. However, UMD responded with a 6-2 victory on Saturday to earn a split in the two-game series against the Pioneers in Duluth. This weekend's series will take place at Magness Arena in Denver, a place where the Pioneers have not been defeated so far this season.
LAST TIME OUT The Bulldog are coming off of a rare Tuesday night game at St. Cloud. During Tuesday evening's game with the No. 10 Huskies, UMD blew a third-period two-goal lead to St. Cloud. Though the two sides played to an official 2-2 tie, the Huskies took the extra NCHC point via. their win in the shootout. The Bulldogs are coming off of a bye-week this past weekend. Two weeks ago, UMD defeated No. 3 Western Michigan 5-4 on Friday evening, before dropping Saturday's contest 3-2 in overtime. During Friday night's game, UMD defenseman Hunter Lellig notched his first goal of the season, which would end up being the game-winner late in the third period.
SCORING ACROSS THE BOARD The Pioneers have three forwards who all rank in the top-ten in the country in points. Bobby Brink (41P), Carter Savoie (33P), and Brett Stapley (33P) are all among the top scorers in the nation.
DU'S PENALTY-KILL STRUGGLES The Pioneers penalty-kill ranks last in the NCHC and 44th in the nation at 77.9%. With a perfect 3-for-3 on Tuesday evening against St. Cloud, UMD's penalty kill percentage is up to 87.4%, good enough for fourth in the conference.
BEST DEFENSE WINS Both the Bulldogs and Pioneers sit atop the NCHC in goals against per game. Denver ranks first in the conference with an average of 2.27 goals against per game, while UMD is right behind with an average of 2.30.
BOBBY'S ON TOP Denver junior forward Bobby Brink is currently tied for first in the nation in points with Minnesota State's Nathan Smith. Brink has 41 points in 26 games on the season (9G-32A).
DENVER'S TEAM OFFENSE The Pioneers rank first in both the NCHC and the nation in goals per game with an average of 4.65.
CATES SCORES FOR USA Minnesota Duluth captain Noah Cates notched a goal and a +3 rating during his Olympic debut on Thursday morning in Beijing, China. Cates's performance helped Team USA to a 8-0 victory over Team China. Cates played a total of 11:13 and registered two shots on goal, including his goal. Cates was named an alternate captain for Team USA prior to their opening game on Thursday morning.
NCHC POSITIONING The Bulldogs currently sit in fourth place in the NCHC with 26 points. They are five points ahead of St. Cloud State. They are also just six points back of Western Michigan for third in the conference. First-place Denver has a five-point lead on North Dakota.
FACEOFF WIN % Denver's .549 faceoff percentage ranks third-best in the country.
THE RETURN OF MYLYMOK? During his weekly presser on Wednesday, UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin eluded that there may be a chance that sophomore forward Luke Mylymok makes his season debut this weekend in Denver. As a freshman last season, Mylymok noted two goals and two assists in twelve games for the Bulldogs. His overtime goal in the NCAA Regional Final against North Dakota ended the longest NCAA Tournament game ever.
DENVER'S HOME-ICE EDGE? The Pioneers have not dropped a game at Magness Arena since Feb. 6 of 2021. So far this season, the Pioneers hold a 13-0-1 record while in Denver. Their one tie came at the hands of the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks on Jan. 1.
WHO GETS THE START UMD goaltender Ryan Fanti and Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona are set to face each other for the third and fourth times this season. Chrona currently ranks fourth in the NCAA in wins with 19 on the season. During his last time out, Chrona helped the Pioneers to a 2-0 shutout victory of St. Cloud after Chrona made 22 saves. Fanti is coming off of a 30 save performance of his own against St. Cloud on Tuesday night.
WHAT'S COACH SAYING "I think our last three games have been pretty good. We've certainly played some great teams and was obviously able to get the Friday night win against Western. I thought we were in a position to win the Saturday night match, and ultimately only got one point, that's how it kind of felt like against St. Cloud on Tuesday as well. There's hard lessons you have to learn in these games, but we've got to learn them. Hopefully we continue to put ourselves in those positions. Obviously there are valuable points up for grabs every night. I don't think anything really hindered us in St. Cloud. I think we played a really good first 40 minutes. I thought we had them on the ropes in the second period, but they're a good team. They got that goal early in the third period and really started to push. We've got to build off the good things and clean up some other things in our game moving forward." - Head Coach Scott Sandelin.
DU'S POWER-Play Denver enters the weekend with the nation's sixth-best power-play. The Pioneers are clicking at 27% with the man-advantage, which also ranks them third in the conference behind only St. Cloud and Western Michigan. It'll be the third matchup in a row for UMD in-which they've faced one of the nation's best power-play units. The weekend in Denver will be a strong test for the Bulldogs penalty-killing unit.
