The University of Minnesota Duluth will launch its 61st season of intercollegiate men’s hockey this Thursday and Friday (Oct. 7-8) when Bulldogs travel to South Bend, Ind., for a two-game non-conference series with the University of Notre Dame. Opening faceoff time is set for 7:35 p.m. both nights at the Joyce Center (2,713) on the Notre Dame campus.

THE RECORDS: In addition to posting a 28-13-4 overall record last winter and finishing second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings with a 19-7-2 mark, UMD advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four (where it bowed out to the University of Denver 5-3 in the semifinal round) for the first time in 19 years. The Fighting Irish, which also makes its 2004-05 debut Thursday, were 20-15-4 in all games, including a 14-11-3 Central Collegiate Hockey Association mark (fourth place tie), and earned their first NCAA playoff berth in the program’s 36-year history.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and the Fighting Irish stack up in the most recent USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls



Team USCHO.com USA Today

UMD 4th 4th

UND Rec. Votes Rec. Votes

ON THE AIR: All Bulldog games during the 2004-05 season will be carried live by KDAL-Radio (610 AM). Veteran play-by-play announcer Kerry Rodd and color analyst Mike Sylvester will handle the broadcast responsibilities for the Duluth-based station, which is in its 45th consecutive year of airing UMD hockey. The broadcast can also be heard via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com.

THE COACHES: The 2003-04 American College Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is beginning his fifth year at UMD where has compiled a 70-80-16 overall record -- including a 50-28-9 mark (for a .626 winning percentage) since the start of the 2002-03 season. Last winter, Sandelin, 40, turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation while directing his troops to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 overall and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) since the 1992-93 season. For his efforts, the Hibbing, Minn., native was chosen the WCHA Coach of the Year as well as the national coach of the year by both insidecollegehockey.com and uscho.com. In 2002-03, Sandelin's Bulldogs went 22-15-5 in all games captured fifth place in the WCHA with a 14-10-4 mark while experiencing the greatest one-season turnaround of any WCHA club. One year earlier, he directed UMD to a 13-24-1 record in all games-- nearly doubling the number of victories from the previous season (7-28-4). Sandelin officially became a member of the Bulldog staff on March 31, 2000 after six years of assistant coaching duty at North Dakota. Prior to joining the Fighting Sioux (who won two NCAA titles during his tenure), Sandelin spent the 1993-94 season as the head coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings of the Junior Elite Hockey League after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the American Hockey Association's Fargo-Moorhead Express. He capped off his four-year playing career at North Dakota in 1985-86 by being named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. An All-WCHA first team pick and an All-American second team selection, Sandelin went on to play seven years of professional hockey, which included National Hockey League stints with the Montreal Canadiens (1986-88), Philadelphia Flyers (1990-91) and Minnesota North Stars (1991-92). Sandelin, one of just two current WCHA coaches to do time in the NHL, was the second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1982 NHL draft (40th choice overall). Later this winter, he’ll take on the head coaching duties for the U.S. entry at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Grand Forks, N.D. and Thief River Falls, Minn. Sandelin is winless (0-1-1) in his two lifetime engagements with Notre Dave.

Dave Poulin is in his 10th year behind the Fighting Irish bench and has a 134-170-4 record, (1-0-1 versus UMD) to show for it. Poulin was a finalist for the 2003-04 CCHA Coach of the Year Award after the Fighting Irish turned in their most successful season ever (which included the team’s first 20-win campaign since 1987-88). A former Notre Dame standout (1978-82), Poulin played for 13 seasons in the National Hockey League with three different clubs -- Philadelphia, Boston and Washington -- before retiring in 1995.



THE SERIES: Thursday’s and Friday’s games will mark the 30th and 31st meetings ever between UMD and Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish hold a 17-9 lead (with three ties) in the all-time series, which began on Feb. 12, 1971 in Duluth. The two teams last butted heads on Oct. 11-12, 2002 when UMD launched the new season by falling 5-3 to the visiting Fighting Irish after the two clubs had skated to a 2-2 overtime tie the previous night.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Senior center Evan Schwabe, the WCHA’s top returning point producer and reigning NCAA assist leader, will serve as the Bulldogs’ team captain in 2004-05 while senior defenseman Neil Petruic and senior right wing Luke Stauffacher have been given the alternate team captain role.

TOUGH SLEDDING: UMD’S 2004-05 schedule features 14 games with teams which qualified for last year’s NCAA playoffs.

SENIORS O’PLENTY: The 26-man Bulldog roster contains 11 seniors (the largest group in team history), five juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen.

UMD TABBED AS FAVORITE IN WCHA COACHES POLL: For the first time ever the Bulldogs have been picked to finish first in the Grand Forks Herald WCHA Coaches Poll which has been conducted annually for the past 34 years. The previous high was a second-place prognostication in 1984-85. The entire 2004-05 Grand Forks Herald WCHA Coaches Poll is as follows:

Team (First Place Votes) Points

1. UMD (7) 79

2. North Dakota (1) 66

3. Wisconsin (1) 64

4. Colorado College (1) 61

5. Minnesota 51

6. Denver 45

7. St. Cloud State 30

8. MSU-Mankato 27

9. Michigan Tech 17

10. Alaska Anchorage 10

SOUTH BEND OR BUST: UMD will be paying its first visit to the Notre Dame campus since Feb. 8-9, 1980 -- the Fighting Irish’s second-to-the last year as a member of the WCHA. The Bulldogs swept the host club in a pair of shootouts (9-8 and 7-6) that season, but are still a mere 3-10-1 lifetime at the Joyce Center.

HAVEN’T WE SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE?: Both the Bulldogs and Notre Dame participated in last March’s NCAA Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich. UMD won the tournament title by besting two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota 3-1 just one day after blanking Michigan State University 5-0. Notre Dame was bounced 5-2 by Minnesota in the opening round.

ROAD TESTED: Since Dec. 13, 2003, the Bulldogs have tasted defeat away from the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on just two occasions (vs. Minnesota at the WCHA Final Five semifinals on March 19 and against Denver at the NCAA Frozen Four last April ), going 9-2-2 during that 13-game stretch. UMD’s 13 road triumphs in 2003-04 eclipsed the old record of 12 set in both 1983-84 and 1984-85.

IMPROVEMENTS SOME MAY FIND QUITE OFFENSIVE: During Scott Sandelin’s maiden head coaching season in 2000-01, the Bulldogs averaged 2.64 goals per game. The following season, that figure increased to 2.97 and, one year ago, it improved to 3.64. Last winter, UMD pumped in goals at a 4.11 per outing clip -- the second best figure in the country. Overall, the 185 goals the Bulldogs netted were their most since 1992-93 (202 tallies in 40 games).

AVOIDING THE GOOSE EGG: The Bulldogs haven’t been shut out in their last 127 outings -- their longest such streak in nearly 20 years (164 games from Jan. 10, 1981-Dec. 15, 1984) and the top active string of any WCHA school. The last time UMD came up empty on the scoreboard was on March 11, 2001 (a 4-0 setback to North Dakota in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs in Grand Forks).

SWEET SEASONS: Ten returning Bulldog seniors, juniors and sophomores equalled or established career highs for points in 2003-04. They include:

Previous

Player G-A=TP High (Year)

Evan Schwabe 19-38=57 14 (2001-02)

Tyler Brosz 13-28=41 17 (2002-03)

Luke Stauffacher17-18=35 22 (2002-03)

T. J. Caig 12-21=33 25 (2002-03)

Marco Peluso 10-18=28 22 (2002-03)

Justin Williams 11-16=27 6 (2002-03)

Tim Hambly 5-19=24 11 (2001-02)

Neil Petruic 4-10=14 14 (2002-03)

Todd Smith 2-4=6 6 (2001-02)

Josh Miskovich 3-3=6 4 (2002-03)

HIGH RENT DISTRICT: Last season’s runnerup finish in the WCHA represented the Bulldogs’ fourth highest placing in the 39 years they’ve been aligned with that prestigious circuit. UMD captured the WCHA regular season title three times (1983-84, 1984-85 and 1992-93), but, prior to last year, had placed higher than fourth on only one other occasion (it tied for third in 1978-79).

DRAWING A CROWD: The Bulldogs drew an average attendance of 4,690 for its 20 home engagements last winter which works out to be nearly 700 more spectators a night than what they drew a year ago. UMD was 15-5-0 at DECC in 2003-04 (its most home wins 11 years) and outscored the opposition 88-53 in the process.

TOUGH WITH A LEAD: The Bulldogs were 25-1-1 when they led at the second intermission in 2003-04 and have lost only twice (5-3 to Denver in the 2004 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals and 4-3 in overtime to Colorado College in the WCHA Final Five playoff semifinals on March 21, 2003) in the last 48 games they’ve led going into the third period (43-2-3). UMD was also 22-3-0 last season when it was ahead after 20 minutes of play.

BULLDOG BITS: For the second straight season, the Bulldogs lost only four players to graduation. Among those departees was Junior Lessard, the 2004-05 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner and the nation’s leading goal scorer and point getter last winter ... Senior left wing Tyler Brosz, who skated alongside Lessard and Evan Schwabe for nearly half (20 games) of last season and ranked first in the WCHA in power play points (15), underwent shoulder surgery last month and will not make the journey to Notre Dame ... UMD has gotten off to a 2-0-0 start only once (in 2001-02 when it defeated host University of Nebraska-Omaha and nationally ranked University of Michigan in the Maverick Stampede) in the last nine years ... Junior goaltender and 2003-04 All-WCHA second team honoree Isaac Reichmuth started 24 of the Bulldogs’ final 26 games last winter, going 17-5-2 during that stretch. He finished his sophomore year sporting a school-record 2.64 goals against average and the second best single-season saves percentage mark (.909) in team history ... All but five of UMD’s 28 losses over the past two seasons have been by two or fewer goals ... Junior center Tim Stapleton, who is just the fourth Bulldog ever (joining and Dan Lempe in 1976-78, Bill Oleksuk in 1978-80 and Brett Hull in 1984-86 ) to launch his career with successive 40-point seasons, comes into 2004-05 as the leading lifetime scorer (83 points on 30 goals and 53 assists) among current UMD skaters ... Evan Schwabe, an All-WCHA second team pick as a junior, closed out the 2003-04 season by managing at least one point in each of the final seven outings.



UP NEXT: UMD will remain on the road for its WCHA openers against Michigan Technological University (Oct. 15-16) before commencing the home portion of its 2004-05 schedule the following weekend against league rival Minnesota State University-Mankato.