THE GAMES: Another weekend of Western Collegiate Hockey Association warfare awaits the University of Minnesota Duluth as this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 17-18) the defending NCAA champion Bulldogs hit the road for a two-game series with Minnesota State University-Mankato. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. the following night at the Verizon Wireless Center (4,837) in downtown Mankato. THE RECORDS: UMD, which is unbeaten in 22 of their last 26 outings (18-4-4), owns a 19-7-4 overall record and a 13-3-3 WCHA mark (good for second place and one point behind league-leading University of Minnesota) while the Mavericks, are 12-19-1 in all games and 8-15-1 in league play (10th place). HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and MSU stacked up in the latest USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls as well as the PairWise rankings: USCHO.com USA Today PairWise UMD 4th 3rd 3rd(t) MSU NR NR NR ON THE AIR: The two Bulldog-Maverick clashes will be carried locally on 94X (94.1/104.3 FM) with Bruce Ciskie handling the play-by-play. The broadcast can also be heard on KQ 105.5 in Grand Rapids/Hibbing and KQ 106.7 in Ely/Virginia as part of the Bulldog Radio Network and is available on the internet at: www.fan1490.com. In addition, both ends of this weekend’s series will air on Charter Communication’s state-wide system of cable networks, including in Duluth-Superior (Channels 15 and 87). The telecast will also be videostreammed as well and can be viewed for a fee through America ONE at www.b2tv.com. THE COACHES: The runnerup for the 2010-11 Spencer Penrose Award (American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division I Coach of the Year) and recipient of that honor in 2003-04, Scott Sandelin is in his 12th season behind the UMD bench where he has compiled a 211-207-56 overall record -- including an 89-47-19 mark (a .635 winning percentage) since the 2008-09 opener. Besides capturing the school’s first NCAA championship one year ago and rolling up the team’s best overall record in 19 years (26-10-6), his Bulldogs have posted three consecutive 22-plus win seasons, and advanced to three NCAA tournaments (2004, 2009 and 2011), two Frozen Fours (2004 and 2011) and six of the past nine WCHA Final Five events. In March 2009, UMD became the first play-in game participant to ever claim the Final Five title and, later that spring, strung together a school-record six-game postseason winning streak before it fell to Miami University 2-1 in the NCAA West Regional final. Eight years ago, Sandelin, 47, 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) since 1992-93. 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 that winter. 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 following six years of assistant coaching deployment 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, directing that club to a fourth-place finish, and was an assistant coach for the U.S. at that same event this winter. Troy Jutting (MSU, 1987), the 2002-03 WCHA Coach of the Year, is also in his 12th season of head coaching duty at MSU and has a 184-219-54 record to show for it (including a 13-20-5 mark against UMD). Jutting, who directed the Mavericks to their only NCAA Division I post-season berth nine years ago, was named MSU’s head coach on March 27, 2000 (four days before Scott Sandelin officially accepted the head coaching job at UMD) following a 10-season tenure as a Maverick assistant. He was a four-time hockey letterman with the Mavericks (1982-86) and attained All-Northern Collegiate Hockey Association honors as a senior. THE RIVALRY: This weekend’s series will mark the 43rd and 44th meetings ever between the Bulldogs and Mavericks. UMD holds a 22-15-5 lead in the rivalry, which began on Oct. 17, 1997 in Duluth and swept MSU earlier this season at AMSOIL Arena (5-2 and 7-3 in Nov. 18-19). LAST WEEKEND: The Bulldogs traded home wins with then-16th ranked North Dakota last weekend, rebounding for a much-needed 5-4 victory in the rematch Saturday after falling 3-1 to the Fighting Sioux the previous night. Two-time All-American senior center Jack Connolly figured in on all six goals over the weekend, scoring twice and assisting on three other tallies Saturday and helping set up J.T. Brown’s power play goal in the 3-1 setback. Travis Oleksuk also racked up four points (one goal and three assists) in the two-game set. MSU registered its first WCHA road sweep in over four years by besting the University of Alaska Anchorage twice (3-2 and 2-1) last Friday and Saturday. THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING: Center Jack Connolly has been entrusted with team captaincy responsibilities for the 2011-12 season while a pair of other seniors -- defenseman Brady Lamb and center Travis Oleksuk -- are serving as the team’s two active assistant captains. THEY’VE HAD THEIR NUMBER: The Bulldogs are unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 confrontations with MSU (10-1-1) with that lone loss coming at the Verizon Center on Feb. 18, 2011 (3-1). In addition, UMD hasn’t lost at home to the Mavericks since Jan. 28, 2006, going 7-0-1 in the interim. JACKED FOR A RUN AT THE HOBEY: Buoyed by a six-point outburst last weekend against North Dakota, which earned him his second WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honor for 2011-12, Jack Connolly moved into second place in the NCAA scoring race with 48 points -- one point behind front runner Spencer Abbott of the University of Maine. A finalist for both the 2010-11 Hobey Baker Memorial Award and this year’s Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, Connolly now ranks second nationally in assists (31) and tops the WCHA in power play scoring (24 points). For his career, he has amassed 63 goals and 122 assists for 185 points, which puts him in sole possession of 12th place (five points behind the No. 11 occupant, Bill Oleksuk, the father of current UMD senior center Travis Oleksuk) on UMD’s all-time scoring charts. Those 185 lifetime points are a hefty 35 more than the next closest active NCAA skater (Colgate University’s Austin Smith). And talk about consistency: Going back to the start of his sophomore season, Connolly has been held pointless for more than one game in a row only twice (three weeks ago when he was blanked in both ends of the Michigan Tech series, which terminated his school single-season record 22-game scoring streak, and on Jan. 23 and Jan. 29, 2010). Connolly, the nation’s top returning scorer from a year ago (he finished third in the NCAA with a career-high 59 points), was a member of both the All-WCHA first team and WCHA All-Academic Team the past two winters and is just the second two-time All-American the Bulldogs have ever had in their lineup (defenseman Norm Maciver, in 1985-86, was the other). ACTIVE NCAA CAREER SCORING LEADERS Player (Yr, School) GP G A TP 1. Jack Connolly (Sr., UMD) 155 63 122 185 2. Austin Smith (Sr., Colgate) 144 75 75 150 3. Brian Flynn (Sr., Maine) 142 65 83 148 4. Brian O’ Neill (Sr., Yale) 128 62 82 147 5. Spencer Abbott (Sr., Maine) 141 49 84 133 6. Cameron Burt (Sr., RIT) 138 41 89 130 7. Kelly Zajac (Sr., Union) 148 37 86 123 8. Chris Connolly (Sr., Boston U.)# 141 35 81 116 9. Justin Florek (Sr., No. Mich.) 150 50 59 109 10. Brad Hunt (Sr., BSU) 142 23 84 107 David Vallorani (Sr., UML) 138 39 68 107 Justin Schultz (Jr., Wisconsin) 112 36 71 107 #Jack Connolly’s older brother THE OLD ONE-TWO PUNCH: The Bulldogs continue to pace the nation in goals with an average of 3.70 per night and are also the second best team in the WCHA at preventing them (2.53 gpg). T.O. IS STILL ON THE GO: Senior center Travis Oleksuk became the 54th member of UMD’s century club last Friday night against North Dakota. In 123 lifetime outings, the Thunder Bay, Ontario product has accumulated 40 goals and 63 assists for 103 points (with all but five of those points coming since his sophomore season). Oleksuk’s career-high 41 points this winter rank fourth in the NCAA and are tied for second in the WCHA. He also has a six game-winners to his 2011-12 credit (to rank third nationally) and 15 for his career, which equals the team record set by current UMD assistant coach Derek Plante (1989-93). Oleksuk will bring a four-game scoring streak into this weekend’s series with MSU, having racked up one goal and eight assists during that stretch. THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE ROAD: The Bulldogs, who had their school-record 15-game road unbeaten streak snapped by University Nebraska-Omaha last month, have compiled a 13-2-3 mark outside of Duluth since the start of the 2011 NCAA playoffs. They are 9-2-3 on the road this winter and have outscored the opposition 53-30 in the process -- 23-8 in the third period alone. Over the past two seasons, UMD has dropped just seven of its 37 away outings, going an impressive 23-7-7 (.716). THE “REIT” STUFF: Senior goaltender Kenny Reiter, a three-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honoree this winter, owns the seventh best winning percentage in the country (.714 off a 18-6-4 record), is tied for second nationally in victories (a career-best 18) and has logged the seventh most minutes of any NCAA puckstopper (1655:19). The Pittsburgh, Pa. native, has now made 25 straight WCHA starts going back to last year and currently ranks sixth in the WCHA in goals against average (2.39) and eighth in saves percentage (.912). Reiter, a four-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award recipient who earlier this season set a team record for consecutive shutout minutes (166:45 from Nov. 4-12), is now 46-23-9 for his UMD career. That translates into a .652 winning percentage, the second best figure in club history behind All-American Rick Kosti’s .753 mark (60-18-2 between 1983-85). He also holds a share of the team record (with All-American Alex Stalock, 2006-09) for career shutouts with nine and is fifth all-time in victories. Since the start of the 2011 NCAA postseason, Reiter has suffered just six losses in 32 appearances (22-6-4). His current career 2.35 goals against average and .913 saves percentage are the top two marks ever compiled by a Bulldog. The 2011 NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player, he backstopped UMD to its first national title last April while turning in the third best single-season goals against average (2.30) and saves percentage (.914) in team history. REITER’S CAREER SHUTOUTS Date Opponent Score Saves 11/11/11 Alaska Anchorage 5-0 27 11/5/11 @Denver 4-0 29 10/29/11 Bemidji State 1-0 23 3/25/11 Union College# 2-0 32 1/21/11 @Michigan Tech 5-0 14 1/14/11 Wisconsin 2-0 22 3/14/10 Colorado College* 4-0 25 1/30/10 Wisconsin 4-0 28 1/2/10 Mercyhurst+ 6-0 26 #NCAA East Regional (Bridgeport, Conn.) *WCHA Playoffs +in Burlington, Vt. WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?: Right winger J.T. Brown, who missed the final two periods of Saturday night’s 5-4 win over North Dakota with an upper body injury and is out for this weekend as well, currently paces the nation in plus-minus rating (+25) and is tied for seventh in scoring with 39 points. The reigning Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player and 2010-11 WCHA All-Rookie Team selection has also put a team-best 131 shots on goal this winter -- 25 more than the next closest Bulldog (Brady Lamb). Brown is the first Bulldog to record two hat tricks in the same season (three goals at Nebraska Omaha on Jan. 13 and four goals at Alaska Anchorage two weeks ago) since MacGregor Sharp did it in 2008-09. THAT’S A PLUS: In addition to Brown, three other Bulldogs rank among the top 11 leaders nationally in plus-minus rating -- senior center Travis Oleksuk, tied for fifth at +20), senior defenseman Scott Kishel and senior center Jack Connolly (both tied for eighth at +18). IRON JACK: When he took his first faceoff last Friday night at AMSOIL Arena, senior center Jack Connolly established a new UMD record for consecutive games played with 154. That was one more appearance than the previous recordholder, Jeff Scissons, made between 1996-2000. The following is a listing of active Bulldog ironman streaks. Name Games Streak Started Jack Connolly 155 10/10/08 Travis Oleksuk 104 11/6/09 David Grun 92 1/8/10 J.T. Brown 72 10/8/10 Keegan Flaherty 70 10/15/10 A MUCH-NEEDED POWER SURGE: UMD had connected on just three of its previous 34 power play opportunities prior to the North Dakota series, but then went 5-for-13 with the man advantage over the weekend. On Saturday night, the Bulldogs torched North Dakota for four power play goals (one shy of the program’s single-game record) in eight chances. MAKING THEIR POINT ON THE POINT: UMD has gotten more offensive production out of its defensemen (72 points on 14 goals and 58 assists) than all but six blueline crews in the entire country (the University of Michigan with 86, Minnesota with 80, University of Denver with 77, University of Wisconsin with 75, Harvard University with 74 and Ferris State University). A trio of Bulldogs currently rank among the top 15 scoring defensemen in the WCHA -- senior assistant team captain Brady Lamb (tied for eighth with 20 points) and senior Scott Kishel (tied for 12th with 17 points) and junior Wade Bergman (tied for 14th with 16 points). Kishel, arguably one of the leading candidates for the WCHA’s mythical Most Improved Player Award, has established personal highs for goals (three) and assists (14) after coming into the year with 11 total career points -- all assists. The Montreal Canadien draftee skated in just seven games all of last winter (he was a healthy scratch in the other 35 outings) and had just one point to show for it. Bergman, who has also established career bests for points (16) and assists (14) this winter, is now a +26 for his career. That’s third only to Jack Connolly’s +51 figure and J.T. Brown’s +31 mark among active UMD pucksters. LEAD ‘DOGS: Since the 2010-11 opener, UMD is 31-1-3 (11-0-2 this winter) when taking a lead into the final period of play with the lone loss coming at the hands of Bemidji State University at the WCHA Final Five last March. FREE HOCKEY: The Bulldogs are now unbeaten in 32 of their last 36 overtime games (13-4-19, 0-1-4 in 2011-12) stretching back to the start of the 2008-09 season. A school-record 15 of UMD’s 42 engagements last winter (35.7 percent) required an extra session, and UMD was 7-2-6 in those. The seven sudden-death victories also eclipsed the previous club standard of five set in 1984-85. Senior Travis Oleksuk leads all active Bulldogs in career overtime goals with three and also assisted on Kyle Schmidt’s sudden-death score in UMD’s 3-2 win over Michigan in the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four title game. Player OT Goals Travis Oleksuk 3 J.T. Brown 1 Jack Connolly 1 Cody Danberg 1 HOME, SWEET HOME: UMD is averaging 6,455 spectators a night during its first full season at AMSOIL Arena. Only six other schools in the country -- the University of Wisconsin (11,532), North Dakota (11,267), the University of Minnesota (9,446), Nebraska-Omaha (7,468), Colorado College (6,939), Boston College (6,493) -- have drawn more. Since moving into that new $80-million, 6,726-seat downtown facility on Dec. 30, 2010, the Bulldogs have rolled up a 15-9-3 record there (10-5-1 in 2011-12). GET SHORTIE: The Bulldogs have scored the fewest handed goals (one) of any WCHA club in 2011-12, but have also given up a league-low two of their own (both at home against Michigan Tech on Jan. 27 and the University of Notre Dame on Oct. 8). PLENTY OF SENIOR MOMENTS: UMD continues to sport the highest-scoring senior class in the NCAA. The seven Bulldogs in the group, including goaltender Kenny Reiter (two assists) and left winger Cody Danberg, who has been out of action with injuries since the 2011-12 opener, have combined to produce 40 goals and 83 assists for 123 points. BOMBS AWAY: The Bulldogs have outshot the opposition in all but eight of their 30 games this season and are tied for third in the country with a 35.3 shots per game average. ON TOUGH ROOKIE: Left winger Caleb Herbert, one of 13 Bulldogs to take part in all 30 games to date, has produced the fifth highest scoring yield (25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists) of any WCHA rookie at the moment. A RECORD RUN: UMD’s 17-game unbeaten streak, which came to an end on Jan. 14 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, was three games better than the previous team record set between Jan. 2-Feb. 21, 2004. (The Bulldogs, who went 13-0-1 during that torrid stretch, proceeded to earn a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four later that same season.) EIGHT WAS GREAT: After holding down the No. 1 spot in the uscho.com poll since Dec. 5, the Bulldogs dropped to third one week ago. That eight-week run marked the longest run a Bulldog club had ever resided atop any national poll. (They enjoyed three-week stays as the nation’s top dog in both 2010-11 and in 1985-86). ONE CLASS ACT: Jack Connolly is one of 10 NCAA I hockey players -- and the lone WCHA representative --- who has been chosen as finalists for the 2011-12 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented annually to an NCAA I athlete in 10 sports (men’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, men’s lacrosse, softball, football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball) based on achievement in the “Four C’s” -- classroom, character, community and competition. Connolly, UMD’s second Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist (Andrew Carroll was the first in 2008-09), maintains a 3.30 cumulative GPA as a communication major and will graduate this May. BULLDOG BITS: Since being upended twice at North Dakota on Feb. 19-20, 2010, the Bulldogs have been swept just once in 27 WCHA series (vs. Minnesota on Oct. 14-15, 2011 in Duluth) ... Senior center Jack Connolly paces the 2011-12 Bulldogs in road scoring with 22 points (six goals and 16 assists) while Travis Oleksuk is next with 21 points ... Minnesota State and Nebraska Omaha are the only two current WCHA members who have never shut out the Bulldogs. UMD’s only blanking of MSU to date came on Jan. 23, 2009 -- a 4-0 victory by Alex Stalock in Duluth ... Over the past two seasons, the Bulldogs are unbeaten in 29 of the 31 outings junior left winger and good luck charm Mike Seidel has marked in the points column (25-2-4) ... In their seven losses thus far in 2011-12, the Bulldogs have connected on just five of their 34 power play opportunities (14.7 percent) while the opposition is a sizzling 12-for-30 (40.0 percent) with the man advantage ... After going his first two seasons -- 74 games worth -- without a goal, junior right winger Keegan Flaherty has scored five times in 2011-12 and recorded the Bulldogs’ lone shorthanded tally thus far (Dec. 2 at Michigan Tech -- the only shortie the Huskies have allowed this season) ... In nine lifetime road appearances, sophomore goaltender Aaron Crandall is 6-2-1 with a 2.31 goals against average and a .914 saves percentage -- a noticeable contrast to his home numbers (6-2-0, 3.43 and .857 in nine outings). He and his younger brother, rookie left winger Justin Crandall, are the first siblings to play together for the Bulldogs in 11 season ... The three-game losing streak which the Bulldogs extinguished at Providence College earlier this season was their longest slump since Feb. 19-26, 2010 when they also dropped three straight outings, including a pair to North Dakota. UMD was one of just two teams in the entire country (Boston College was the other) who went through the entire 2010-11 season without suffering any back-to-back losses ... Junior left winger Dan DeLisle picked up his first collegiate point -- an assist -- versus Minnesota State on Oct. 17, 2009 while senior right wing David’s Grun’s first goal as Bulldog came against those same Mavericks on Jan. 15, 2010 ... The 2011-12 active UMD roster (junior center Aaron Jamnick, a transfer from Providence College, has to sit out all of this season per NCAA rules) consists of seven seniors, six juniors, five sophomores, and seven freshmen ... Sophomore defenseman Tim Smith is the first UMD newcomer with previous Division I experience (Providence College in 2009) since Jesse Unkelsbay, who joined UMD as junior in 2002-03 following two years at Alaska Anchorage ... When rookie defenseman Derik Johnson took the his first shift in October against Minnesota, it completed the ninth father-son combination to play for the Bulldogs. Derik’s father, Jim Johnson, also patrolled the UMD blueline and during his senior season in 1984-85 served as team captain before going on to enjoy a 13-year National Hockey League career. (He currently is an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals). The father of senior center Travis Oleksuk -- Bill Oleksuk -- also played for the Bulldogs and captained UMD in 1981-82. He’s currently the school’s 11th all-time leading scorer ... ... UMD posted a 6-1-1 non-conference record in 2011-12 for a .813 wining percentage. The last time a Bulldog club turned in a better mark was in 1995-96 (4-0-0) ... The 5-0 setback to Michigan Tech three weeks ago brought the Bulldogs’ nine-game home unbeaten streak to a close (they were 8-0-1 going back to a 5-4 setback to Minnesota on Oct. 15) and was their first loss by a shut out in 105 WCHA games. The last club to hold UMD scoreless in league play prior to that was North Dakota, which skated off with a 2-0 triumph on March 1, 2008 in Duluth ... Senior center Jack Connolly has scored more career points at the expense of Minnesota State (19 points on seven goals and 12 assists) than all but one opponent (Michigan Tech with 21 points in 16 outings). NEXT UP: The Bulldogs will wrap up the home portion of its 2011-12 regular season schedule by hosting Colorado College on Feb. 24-25.
