THE MATCHUP Minnesota Duluth will appear in it's sixth straight NCHC Frozen Faceoff this weekend in St. Paul, Minn. The No. 8 Bulldogs will meet the No. 3 Denver Pioneers for the fifth time this season. UMD and DU have split their four previous meetings this year with each team earning a road victory. Denver enters the weekend as the top seed in the NCHC tournament, while UMD holds the No. 5 seed in the bracket.
LAST TIME OUT The Bulldogs recorded their first NCHC sweep of the season this past weekend in St. Cloud. UMD rolled off 5-2 and 4-3 OT victories to sweep the Huskies and earn a spot in the conference semifinals. In overtime in game two, senior captain Noah Cates buried his second goal of the night and fifth point of the weekend to send UMD to the next round. The Pioneers easily took care of eighth seeded Miami this past weekend. 5-2 and 5-1 wins helped the Pioneers to back-to-back sweeps and a spot in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN During UMD's NCHC quarterfinal series at St. Cloud, senior captain Noah Cates notched three goals and two assists in two games, including the overtime winner on Saturday night. Cates currently sits with 99 career collegiate points, and would become the 60th Bulldog in program history to hit 100 points in a career. At the moment, Cates is tied for fourth on the team in points with 24 on the season.
BEND IT LIKE BENDER During Minnesota Duluth's 5-2 win over St. Cloud on Friday evening, 5th-year senior Koby Bender notched his first career hat trick. Bender scored three straight second period goals to record the natural hat trick and help UMD to a game one win. It was Minnesota Duluth's first hatty since Nick Swaney scored three against St. Cloud on Feb. 27, 2021. It was also UMD's first post season hat trick since MacGregor Sharp on March 21, 2009.
BACK-TO-BACK With their win on Saturday night over St. Cloud, the Bulldogs captured back-to-back wins for just the sixth time this season. Prior to this past weekend, UMD hadn't taken back-to-back wins since their sweep of Alaska Fairbanks in late November.
COMEBACK KIDS UMD's 4-3 victory on Saturday evening was just the second time all season that the Bulldogs were able to win a game when trailing entering the third period. Minnesota Duluth is now 2-11-1 when they head to the third period with a deficit.
BOBBY ON THE BRINK Denver junior forward Bobby Brink currently leads the nation in points with 55 points in 36 games this season. Brink also leads the NCAA in assists with 41 helpers. With just the conference tournament and NCAA tournament left to play, Brink sits seven points ahead of both Nathan Smith and Julian Napravnik from Minnesota State. Brink could be on the brink of winning the 2022 Hobey Baker Award.
OFFENSE VS. DEFENSE Denver enters the weekend with the best offense in both the NCHC and the NCAA. The Pioneers are averaging 4.50 goals per game. On the flip side, UMD sits in second in the conference and 15th in the nation in goals against. The Bulldogs are giving up just 2.37 goals per game as a team.
LINES IN A BLENDER UMD entered last weekend seventh in the NCHC and 42nd in the nation in scoring offense with 2.50 goals per game. Head Coach Scott Sandelin decided to move Noah Cates down to the second line to play with Jesse Jacques and Koby Bender, while Kobe Roth moved up to play with Casey Gilling and Tanner Laderoute. The changes worked as UMD posted five and four goal games this past weekend in St. Cloud.
J.O.B. STEPS UP UMD's third line of Dominic James, Blake Biondi, and Quinn Olson all provided depth scoring during UMD's sweep of St. Cloud State. In game one, James and Olson each tallied an assist on Biondi's second period goal. In game two, Biondi notched the primary assist on James's third period game-tying goal. The JOB line has remained together all season long for Head Coach Scott Sandelin.
OUR LAST TRIP TO ST. PAUL Because of COVID-19, the NCHC Frozen Faceoff has not taken place in St. Paul since March of 2019. During the 2019 Frozen Faceoff, UMD defeated Denver 3-0 in the semifinals, before securing a 3-2 overtime win over St. Cloud in the conference championship game. During the championship game, both Jesse Jacques and Tanner Laderoute noted assists on Nick Swaney's OT winner.
PP STAYS HOT UMD entered last weekend with the seventh best power-play in the NCHC and 38th best power-play in the nation. However, this past weekend against St. Cloud, UMD noted three power-play markers in just six attempts, including two during Saturday night's win. Minnesota Duluth's man-advantage goals also came against the NCHC's top penalty-killing unit in SCSU.
ANOTHER DANGEROUS UNIT The Pioneers feature the nation's fifth best power-play unit, which is clicking at 25.1%. Additionally, Denver sophomore forward Carter Savoie ranks third in the NCAA in power-play goals with 11 on the season. When these two teams met back in mid-February, UMD held the Pioneers to just one power-play goal in nine chances. This past weekend against Miami, Denver notched four power-play goals during their two game series.
CLINCHING AN NCAA BID UMD is looking to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season. Following their sweep of St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth has moved up to ninth in the PairWise Rankings. Denver currently sits in third in the PairWise heading into the Frozen Faceoff weekend.
