Armed with a seven-game unbeaten streak, the University of Minnesota Duluth will return from a 20-day layoff this Friday (Jan. 2) when the Bulldogs head to Hoffman Estates, Ill. to take part in the first-ever Shillelagh Tournament. UMD opens play with a 5:05 p.m. matchup against the University of Massachusetts-Lowell while the University of Notre Dame and Union College will meet in the other first round clash at 8:05 p.m. The host Fighting Irish will play the Bulldog-River Hawks winner/loser at 7:05 p.m. the following night with the other club facing Union at 4:05 p.m. at the Sears Centre (9,700 capacity).
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THE RECORDS: The Bulldogs, who haven't tasted defeat in their last seven outings (4-0-3), are 8-4-6 overall and 5-4-5 in WCHA play (fifth place). UMass-Lowell, which is mired in a three-game losing skid, sports an even 8-8-0 record in all contests and a 5-6-0 Hockey East mark. Notre Dame, the owner of a 14-game unbeaten streak (12-0-2) is 14-3-2 overall and leads the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with a 10-2-2 record while Union College is 8-7-1 in all games, including a 2-4-0 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association Hockey mark (ninth place tie with Brown University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how the four Shillelagh Tournament participants stack up in the latest uscho.com/CBS College Sports XXL and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls:
uscho.com USA Today
UMD RV NR
UML RV NR
UND 1st 1st
UC NR NR
ON THE AIR: This weekend's tournament will be carried live by 102.5 The Hog (KHQG-FM) with Jeff Papas handling the play-by-play. The broadcast can be heard as well via the internet at: www.umdbulldogs.com.
THE COACH: The 2003-04 American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (Spencer Penrose Award), Scott Sandelin is in his ninth season at UMD where he has compiled a 130-164-43 overall record in addition to taking the Bulldogs to three of the last five WCHA Final Five tournaments. Four years ago, Sandelin, 44, turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation, marshaling his troops to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 overall) and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) in 11 seasons. 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 overall and captured fifth place in the WCHA with a 14-10-4 mark while experiencing the greatest one-season turnaround of any league club. One year earlier, he guided 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 signed on as 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 as a senior, 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 Montreal Canadiens' second round pick in the 1982 NHL draft (40th choice overall). He served as Team USA's head coach at the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and directed that club to a fourth-place finish.
UMD VS. THE COMPETITION: The Bulldogs and UMass-Lowell have met on 12 occasions previously, with the last coming one year ago (Jan. 25-26, 2008) when UMD upended the River Hawks twice (1-0 and 4-1) on the road. The Bulldogs hold a commanding 9-2-1 lead in the all-time series, which began on Jan. 4, 1985 in Duluth.
The Bulldogs are 10-17-4 all-time against Notre Dame going back to their inaugural meeting with the Irish on Dec. 12, 1971 when both teams were members of the WCHA. The last time the two clubs squared off (Oct. 7-8, 2004 in South Bend, Ind.), UMD followed up a 2-2 overtime tie with a 4-1 victory.
UMD is unbeaten in its seven lifetime engagements with Union College, going 6-0-1, and rolled past the Dutchmen 7-4 in the most recent confrontation on Nov. 22, 2003 in Schenectady, N.Y.
LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs have been idle since taking three of a possible four points in a two-game WCHA homes series with Michigan Tech University on Dec. 12-13. Sophomore right wing Justin Fontaine scored once and assisted on two other goals in propelling UMD to a 3-1 victory in the opener before the two long-time rivals battled to a 1-1 overtime deadlock the following evening.
THREE'S COMPANY: For only the second time in its 65-year history, UMD is utilizing the services of three team captains. The senior trio of left wing Andrew Carroll, an alternate team captain last winter and a co-captain as a sophomore, defenseman Josh Meyers and left wing Matt Greer have all been entrusted with that role in 2008-09.
HO, HO, HO-CKEY: This marks the third time in the past four seasons the Bulldogs will take part in a Christmas/New Year's holiday tournament. UMD went 1-0-1 at the Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla, three years ago and 1-1 at the Ohio Hockey Classic on Dec. 29-30, 2007 in Columbus Ohio.
TOURNAMENT TIDBIT: UMD has never been beaten in back-to-back games in any of the previous 31 regular season tournaments it has participated in during the program's 65-year history.
TOURNAMENT TIDBIT II: The last time the Bulldogs laid claim to a regular season tournament title (excluding the past two Superior Cups) was in 2001-02 when they opened the season with successive victories over the University of Nebraska Omaha (5-2) and the University of Michigan (3-2) to capture the Maverick Stampede championship in Omaha, Neb.
LEAD 'DOG: Sophomore right wing Justin Fontaine, who had a hand in all four Bulldog goals three weekends ago against Michigan Tech en route to landing WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors, paces the WCHA in overall scoring with a 1.39 points per night average. That figure, which comes off of nine goals and 16 assists, is the fifth best in the NCAA I ranks as well. The 2007-08 Bulldog Rookie of the Year award winner also is tied for first in power play goals (seven) and is third in power play points (15) among WCHA combatants. Fontaine, who has racked up three goals and seven assists in his last five games, already has four, three-point nights to his 2008-09 credit.
POWER SURGE: UMD, which sports the fifth most efficient power play in the country -- and second in the WCHA -- at 22.0 percent, has scored at least once with the man advantage in 17 of its 18 games to date. The exception was on Nov. 7 when the Bulldogs went 0-of-5 at Denver. The Bulldogs have already accumulated nine more power play goals in 2008-09 than they did all of last season (18) when they connected at just 11.5 percent with the man advantage.
THE PUCK STOPS HERE: Junior goaltender and current WCHA goals against leader (2.15) Alex Stalock has started 54 straight games -- the second longest active streak in NCAA I hockey (behind Boston College sophomore John Muse's 60 successive starts) -- while patrolling the Bulldog goal mouth for all but 28:16 since the opening of the 2007-08 season. In his last seven appearances, the South St. Paul, Minn. product is 4-0-3 with a sizzling 1.52 goals against average and a .947 saves percentage. He also owns the fourth best saves percentage mark (.921) in the WCHA and is one of just three conference netminders who has played in every one of his team's games this season. Stalock, a two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honoree in 2008-09, has allowed only 16 even-strength goals in 18 outings this season.
MORE POWER TO HIM: Senior defenseman Josh Meyers, who will carry a career-high nine-game scoring streak (the longest by a Bulldog since Evan Schwabe picked up a point in 14 straight outings between Nov. 22, 2003-Jan. 23, 2004) into the New Year, certainly has taken full advantage of the man advantage this season. The 2008-09 UMD tri-captain has scored 16 of his 17 points this season on the power play and those 16 points are the second most collected by any WCHA skater in 2008-09. In addition, only one other league blueliner (Denver's Patrick Wiercioch with seven) has racked up more overall goals than Meyers (6) this season. Meyers, a Los Angeles Kings draftee, now has 26 goals as a Bulldog and 19 of those are of the power play variety.
ON THE REBOUND: The Bulldogs have lost just twice in their 10 Saturday night games this year (6-2-2), but are a mere 2-2-4 in weekend openers.
SAME NAME, SAME GREAT RESULTS: Left wing Mike Connolly, who launched his collegiate career with a five-game scoring streak, has amassed the sixth highest point total (15) of any WCHA rookie in 2008-09. Center Jack Connolly (no relation), meanwhile, is eighth among league newcomers in points (13) and third in assists (11). And, talk about being a Bulldog bellwether of sorts - 12 of Jack Connolly's 13 points this season have been registered in UMD's eight wins.
PLENTY OF FREE HOCKEY: Sixteen of the Bulldogs' 54 games (29.6 percent) since the beginning of last season have required overtime. UMD has lost just one of those extra sessions affairs during that stretch, going 3-1-12 with the lone setback coming to North Dakota on March 2. The Bulldogs are one of only three WCHA clubs (Minnesota State University-Mankato and Colorado College are the others) which has won an overtime game this season. They turned the trick with a 6-5 decision over Western Michigan University on Oct. 18 at the DECC.
STAYING SHARP: Senior center MacGregor Sharp, the first reigning scoring leader UMD has retained in five years, has picked up at least one point in 13 of the 18 games thus far. Sharp, who has skated in all but one of the 133 outings over the past four seasons, ranks first among 2008-09 Bulldogs in goals (he and Justin Fontaine both have nine), game winners (he, Jordan Fulton and Nick Kemp all have two) and total shots on net (70). On the year, Sharp has accumulated 19 points, two more than he finished with last winter when he paced the Bulldogs in scoring.
BULLDOG BITS: The Bulldogs' current seven-game unbeaten streak is their longest since UMD went without a loss for a school-record 14 straight outings (13-0-1) between Jan. 2-Feb. 21, 2004 ... Junior left wing Jordan Fulton, who has been credited with six of his eight points this season in the last six games, tops the 2008-09 Bulldogs in plus-minus rating (plus-8) while sophomore Mike Montgomery, who was relocated to defense this year after being used on a limited basis at right wing last season, is next at a plus-6. Fulton's seven goals this season are a career high ... The Bulldogs are averaging 3.06 goals a game thus far after scoring at a program-low 2.06 per night clip in 2007-08. They've already rolled up five or more goals on six occasions in 2008-09 -- something they managed to do just once one year ago (5-3 vs. Bemidji State University on Jan. 4) ... Sophomore Evan Oberg, who missed nearly two months of the 2007-08 season with an ankle injury, is second among Bulldog defensemen in scoring thus far with four goals and nine assists for 13 points and also is first in penalties (15) and penalty minutes (38) ... UMD has been outshot by the opposition only four times all season (Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 25, Wisconsin on Nov. 15, North Dakota on Nov. 22 and Colorado College on Dec. 6) ... All but one of junior center Drew Akins' six points have been registered on the road ... The Bulldogs are unbeaten in 20 of the 24 games they have gotten on the scoreboard first over the past two seasons (14-4-6) and are 6-0-2 in that situation this year ... The trio of freshman left winger Mike Connolly, senior center MacGregor Sharp and senior right winger Nick Kemp have skated together more games (17) than any other UMD line combination to date ... The Bulldogs, who rank second in the WCHA in scoring defense (2.22 goals per game), have given up fewer goals in both the second (12) and third periods (12) than any other league club in 2008-09 ... Matt Greer has failed to mark in the points column in each of the past 11 games while fellow senior left wing Andrew Carroll has been blanked eight straight outings ... The Bulldogs are 7-0-1 when they've led heading into the final period of regulation this season ... This Friday will mark UMD's first game ever in the state of Illinois ... One of junior goaltender Alex Stalock's five career shutouts came at the expense of UMass-Lowell (1-0 on Jan. 25, 2008 in Lowell) ... The Bulldogs have been outscored 16-9 in the opening 20 minutes of play this season, but hold a 22-12 and 23-12 advantage in the second and third periods, respectively ... Nick Siergiej, who spent the last two seasons employed as UMD's director of hockey operations, now works for Notre Dame in that same capacity ... The Bulldogs have been beaten just once (2-0 at Bemidji State one year ago) in their last 11 non-conference games (8-1-2) going back to the middle of the 2006-07 season.
UP NEXT: UMD will resume WCHA warfare on Jan. 9-10 with a two-game set at St. Cloud State.
