THIS WEEK: After a six-game homestand, the fourth-ranked Fighting Sioux (18-7-2, 13-5-0 WCHA) take to the road for a WCHA series at Colorado College (14-11-1, 8-8-0 WCHA) on Friday and Saturday.

UND enters the week tied for second place with Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA standings, just one point behind league leader Denver. With both UMD and Denver idle this week, the Sioux can reclaim sole possession of first place with at least a split.

CC is tied with Minnesota for sixth place, 10 points behind UND.

MEDIA COVERAGE: All Fighting Sioux men's hockey games, home and away, can be heard on 96.1 FM (The Fox) and on stations across the Fighting Sioux Hockey Network. Veteran broadcaster Tim Hennessy is in his 30th season as the voice of the Fighting Sioux. He is joined during home games by color analyst Steve Olson.

Friday's game will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports, with Matt McConnell and Jim Paradise calling the action. Saturday's game will not be televised.

Saturday's game will be streamed live at AmericaOne.com (formerly B2 Networks). Due to contractual obligations with the CBS in regard to Friday's game, only Saturday's game will be streamed live on the internet.

New this year, 'Inside Fighting Sioux Hockey' airs every Tuesday on the Fighting Sioux Sports Network and nationwide on Fox College Sports. Head coach Dave Hakstol also appears weekly on the Green Mill Coaches Show every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on the Fighting Sioux Radio Network.

TICKET INFORMATION: Visit CCTigers.com or call 719.576.2626 or 866.464.2626 for ticket information.

ABOUT CC: The series against UND marks a stretch for CC in which the Tigers will play seven of their next 10 games at home, all against league opponents.

The Tigers snapped a three-game losing skid last weekend with a home sweep of Alabama-Huntsville, CC's first at the World Arena since defeating Robert Morris University on Nov. 20 and 21, 2009.

Senior forward Tyler Johnson, who continues to lead the nation with 11 power-play goals, recorded his 10th multiple-point game of the season with a PPG and two assists last Friday. Johnson added another assist on Saturday to remain tied with senior winger Stephen Schultz for the team scoring lead with 28 points apiece.

CC COACHING STAFF: Scott Owens (CC '79) is in his 12th season as CC head coach and is 272-161-39 (.618).

Owens is assisted by Joe Bonnett (Western Michigan '93) and Jason Lammers (SUNY Geneseo '98).

SERIES HISTORY: The Sioux are 133-75-10 (.633) in the all-time series with CC and have won four of their last five trips to Colorado Springs World Arena.

Last season, UND claimed its first sweep at CC since the 1998-99 season by claiming a pair of 3-2 victories, including an overtime win in the series opener.

UND'S LAST ACTION: UND wrapped up a six-game homestand last weekend with a split against Nebraska Omaha. The Mavericks doubled up UND 8-4 on Friday and the Sioux rebounded with a 4-2 win on Saturday.

Friday's game saw UNO explode for five second-period goals, including four on the power-play, to open up a 7-1 lead. Senior defenseman Chay Genoway (Sr., Morden, Manitoba) scored twice in the loss, with single tallies added by Evan Trupp (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) and Jason Gregoire (Jr., Winnipeg, Manitoba).

Trupp and Gregoire played central roles in Saturday's victory, as UND rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the final 7:05 of the third period. Trupp tied the game and Gregoire scored twice in the final two minutes to secure the win. Gregoire also set up a Danny Kristo (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.) go-ahead goal.

RANK AND FILE: Following the split with UNO, UND dropped two spots to No. 4 in the USCHO.com and three spots to No. 5 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, both of which were released on Monday.

The Sioux dropped one spot to No. 3 in the most recent INCH Power Rankings released on Sunday.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY: UND has won an NCAA-best 18 games despite having faced the toughest strength of schedule (SOS) in the nation to date, according to the latest KRACH ratings:

RK Team SOS
1. North Dakota 233.8
2. Alaska Anchorage 231.5
3. Denver 199.3
4. Bemidji State 198.2
5. Minnesota Duluth 195.5
6. Minnesota 185.6
7. Michigan Tech 178.3
8. Nebraska Omaha 176.6
9. Alaska 170.3
10. Wisconsin 170.0

UND faced a top-13 team in seven of the first eight weekends of the season, including a stretch of six straight weekends at one point.

UND's first-half schedule included (ranking at time of matchup) No. 2 Minnesota Duluth (home), No. 4 Nebraska Omaha (road), No. 11 Notre Dame (home), No. 12 Alaska (neutral), No. 12 Denver (home), No. 12 Maine (road) and No. 13 Wisconsin (road).

The second-half schedule has already included No. 4 UMD and No. 16 Nebraska Omaha.

ROAD WARRIORS: UND's last road game was a Dec. 30 win at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth.

With that victory, the Sioux ran their 2010-11 road record to 8-3-1, including a 7-1-0 mark in the WCHA. Their lone WCHA road loss came with one-tenth of a second left in the third period of a 1-0 setback at UNO (Nov. 20).

Last season the Sioux were 8-7-1 on the road, including a 7-6-1 conference record.

FIT TO BE TIED: Senior defenseman Chay Genoway (Sr., Morden, Manitoba) scored twice in last Friday's 8-4 loss to UND, extending his career-long point streak to 12 games before having it snapped the following night.

That 12-game streak tied Bill Himmelright's 33-year old team record for longest point streak by a defenseman:
The goals were also the 25th and 26th of Genoway's career, making him only the seventh defenseman in UND history to reach the 25-goal plateau:
Genoway's 115 career points lead all active NCAA DI defensemen, and rank eighth all-time among Sioux rearguards:

Genoway also needs just one more assist to become the sixth Sioux defenseman to record 90 career assists.

A 2010-11 Hobey Baker Award candidate, Genoway leads all WCHA defensemen with 18 points (5g, 13a) in 18 games.

THE COUNT OF DANNY KRISTO: Sophomore forward Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) had an eight-game point streak (3g, 10a) snapped last Friday, but bounced back to score his fifth goal of the season in Saturday's win.

Kristo now has points in nine of his last 10 games (4g, 10a) after opening the year with only five points (1g, 4a) in his first 17 games.

Kristo was the 2009-10 WCHA Rookie of the Year after leading all conference rookies in points (36) and goals (15).

EVAN ALMIGHTY: Senior left winger Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) has scored a goal in three straight games and has notched at least one point in 10 of his last 11 games, accounting for six goals and six assists during that time.

Trupp's 11 goals in 27 games this season have already topped his previous career high of eight.

HEX MARKS THE SPOT: Junior winger Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) is on pace to play in his 99th and 100th career games this weekend.

Hextall has a goal and three assists in six games since returning from a five-game injury-related absence.

UND's power-play has gone 10-for-38 (26.3 percent) since Hextall's return to the lineup after going just 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) in the five games without him.

During Hextall's career, UND's power-play is at 20.8 percent (117-for-562) when he is in the lineup (98 games) compared to just 10.0 percent without him (15 games).

FRATT PARTY: Senior Matt Frattin (Edmonton, Alberta) is one of just three 20-goal scorers in the nation, despite having gone the last two series without a goal, his first two series this season without a goal:

Frattin reached the 20-goal plateau in his 23rd game, faster than any Sioux since Brandon Bochenski did it in 19 games in 2002-03.

Earlier this season, he put together an eight-game goal-scoring streak, tied for the fourth-longest in UND history.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Junior defenseman Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.) has gone 14 consecutive games without a negative plus/minus rating, and now ranks third in the WCHA with a team-leading +17.

Only Wisconsin's Jake Gardiner and Michael Mersch, who are each a +18, own a higher plus/minus rating than Blood.

JASON LIVES: In four games since returning to the lineup from an injury, junior winger Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) has three goals and one assist, including two goals and an assist in the final 7:05 of last Saturday's win over 4-2.

Gregoire's first goal on Saturday held up as the game-winner, which was the 13th of his career and tied him for fifth all-time at UND with current associate head coach Cary Eades and 2000 Frozen Four MVP Lee Goren:
Gregoire has 10 goals and eight assists in 20 games.

STAY GOLD, PONY BOY: Senior center Brad "Pony" Malone is enjoying the most productive stretch of his career, hitting the scoresheet in nine of the last 11 games with 16 points (7g, 9a) during that stretch. Four of his seven goals in that span have been game-winners.

Malone needs just one more point to match the career-high 25 he scored last season, and two more goals to match the career-best 11 he scored last year.

FRIDAY NIGHT FALLOUT: Several notable tidbits emerged from UNO's 8-4 win over the Sioux last Friday:

It was UND's first loss by more than one goal since Oct. 30, when the Sioux fell 3-0 to Denver in Grand Forks. The other 11 WCHA teams combined for 50 such losses during that time.

It was the first time in the current Engelstad Arena an opponent has scored eight goals.

UNO's eight goals were the most allowed by the Sioux at home since a 10-1 loss to Minnesota on March 6, 1992.

It was UND's first home loss by four or more goals since a 6-2 loss to Maine on Oct. 20, 2006.

It was UND's first loss this season when scoring four or more goals (14-1-1).

DUDE, WE'VE GOT A DELL: Sophomore goalie Aaron Dell (Airdrie, Alberta) won his NCAA-leading 17th game last Saturday, his 14th consecutive start.

Earlier this season, Dell put together a shutout streak that lasted 224 minutes and 31 seconds, the second-longest in school history. Gerald "Spike" Schultz set the record of 249:41 in 1953-54 when he shut out Michigan Tech four straight times.

THE TWO JAKES: Senior defenseman Jake Marto (Grand Forks, N.D.) has played forward for each of UND's last 11 games.

During those 11 games, Marto has two goals (one GWG) and four assists with a +5 rating.

Marto played four games at forward as a freshman in 2007-08.

SIOUX-PER MARIO: The Sioux are 9-0-0 all-time when junior forward Mario Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) scores a goal.

In 26 games this season, Lamoureux has a goal and seven assists for seven points.

EIDS WIDE SHUT: Junior goalie Brad Eidsness' (Chestermere, Alberta) enters the week with 88 career apperances between the pipes, which ranks him sixth all-time at UND. Toby Kvalevog (1993-97) is the program's all-time leader with 121 career games played:
Eidsness is also just one win from becoming only the seventh Sioux goalie to win 50 career games.

300: Senior center Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick) recently became only the seventh player in Sioux history to amass 300 career penalty minutes (see right):
With 24 points (9g, 15a) in 26 games this season, Malone is well on his way to eclipsing the career-high 25 points (11g, 14a) he registed last season.

Malone is tied for fourth on the team in scoring and leads the Sioux with four game-winning goals.

A DECADE TO REMEMBER: The 2010-11 season marks UND's 10th year playing in the current Ralph Engelstad Arena.

To commemorate the milestone, fans can vote for their All-REA Decade Team at FightingSioux.com through the end of the regular season.

PROVING THEIR MEDAL: Freshmen Derek Forbort (Duluth, Minn.) and Brock Nelson (Warroad, Minn.) helped the United States win the bronze medal at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., in January.

Forbort and Nelson, both first-round NHL draft picks last summer, became the 30th and 31st players to represent UND on the U.S. National Junior roster dating back to 1979.

The Sioux hockey program has now had 45 total participants in the prestigious World Junior Hockey Championship, representing the United States, Canada and Slovakia.

SCOUTS HONOR: One current Sioux and three future Sioux appeared in the midseason NHL draft rankings released by Central Scouting earlier this month.

Freshman defenseman Dillon Simpson (Edmonton, Alberta), who has one goal and four assists in 17 games for UND this season, was ranked No. 115 among North American skaters.

The rankings also included three Sioux recruits: forwards J.T. Miller (No. 13), Rocco Grimaldi (No. 25) and Colten St. Clair (No. 83).

Simpson (65), Miller (28) and Grimaldi (31) were all ranked among the top 65 draft prospects in a list released by TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie earlier this week.

FEELING A DRAFT: UND's 2010-11 roster includes 16 players who have been drafted by National Hockey League teams. The group includes goalie Brad Eidsness (Buffalo), defensemen Ben Blood (Ottawa), Derek Forbort (Los Angeles), Joe Gleason (Chicago) Derrick LaPoint (Florida) and Andrew MacWilliam (Toronto), and forwards Brett Bruneteau (Washington), Mike Cichy (Montreal), Matt Frattin (Toronto), Jason Gregoire (New York Islanders), Brett Hextall (Phoenix), Corban Knight (Florida), Danny Kristo (Montreal), Brad Malone (Colorado), Brock Nelson (New York Islanders) and Derek Rodwell (New Jersey).

A total of 26 Sioux have been drafted during the tenure of seventh-year head coach Dave Hakstol, including first-rounders Forbort (Los Angeles, 2010), Nelson (New York Islanders, 2010), Jonathan Toews (Chicago, 2006), T.J. Oshie (St. Louis, 2005), Brian Lee (Ottawa, 2005) and Joe Finley (Washington, 2005).

ALL IN THE FAMILY: UND's 2009-10 roster features four players who have had family members previously play for the Fighting Sioux: defenseman Chay Genoway (Sr., Morden, Manitoba) and forwards Mario Lamoureux (Jr., Grand Forks, N.D.), Brett Hextall (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Brock Nelson (Fr., Warroad, Minn.).
Genoway's brother, Colby, was a forward at UND from 2002-05 and scored 81 points in 115 career games. He played professionally in the Czech Republic and Finland last season.

Lamoureux's family ties to the program are extensive. His brother, Jean-Philippe, was a goalie at UND from 2004-08 and is the school's all-time co-leader in goals against average (2.14). His father, Pierre, was a goalie for the Sioux from 1979-82 and was a member of UND's 1982 NCAA championship team. Another brother, Pierre-Paul, is in his second year on UND's coaching staff as an assistant video coordinator, while twin sisters Jocelyne and Monique are sophomore forwards on the Fighting Sioux women's hockey team. Additionally, mother Linda was a swimmer at UND.

Hextall's great uncle, Dennis, was a forward at UND from 1964-66 and scored 101 career points in 63 career games. Hextall's hockey bloodlines extend to his father (Ron), grandfather (Bryan Jr.) and great grandfather (Bryan Sr.), each of whom enjoyed lengthy NHL careers. His father, Ron, is currently the assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Kings.

Nelson had two uncles and one great uncle don the Kelly Green and White. Uncle Dave Christian played at UND from 1977-79 and won Olympic gold with the United States' famed "Miracle on Ice" team in 1980 before going on to play in more than 1,000 career NHL games with Winnipeg, Washington, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. Another uncle, Eddie Christian, played for the Sioux from 1980-84. Nelson's great uncle, Gordon "Ginny" Christian played at UND from 1947-50 and won Olympic silver with the United States in 1956.

FOREVER SIOUX: Every member of UND's coaching staff is a graduate of the University of North Dakota.

Head coach Dave Hakstol (1989-92), associate head coach Cary Eades (1978-82), assistant coach Dane Jackson (1988-92) and volunteer assistant Karl Goerhing (1998-2001) each played for the Fighting Sioux.

Additionally, nearly every member of the support staff is also a graduate of UND: director of hockey operations Pat Swanson (2002), athletic trainer and strength coach Mark Poolman (1992), team physician Dr. Greg Greek and media relations director Jayson Hajdu (2000) are also UND graduates.

PRO-FILES: Fourteen former Sioux have played in the National Hockey League in 2010-11: Jason Blake (Anaheim Ducks), Taylor Chorney (Edmonton Oilers), Mike Commodore (Columbus Blue Jackets), Matt Greene (Los Angeles Kings), David Hale (Ottawa Senators), Ryan Johnson (Chicago Blackhawks), Brian Lee (Ottawa Senators), T.J. Oshie (St. Louis Blues), Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils), Chris Porter (St. Louis Blues), Matt Smaby (Tampa Bay Lightning), Drew Stafford (Buffalo Sabres), Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks), Travis Zajac (New Jersey Devils).

Toews captained the Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup championship last season, while also leading Canada to a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he was named the tournament's top forward.

An additional five former Sioux are currently in the NHL coaching ranks: reigning Jack Adams Trophy winner Dave Tippett (head coach, Phoenix Coyotes), Brad Berry (assistant coach, Columbus Blue Jackets), James Patrick (assistant coach, Buffalo Sabres), Steve Peters (video coach, Phoenix Coyotes) and Rick Wilson (assistant coach, Minnesota Wild). A sixth coach, Edmonton Oilers head coach Tom Renney, graduated from UND but did not play for the Sioux.

Also of note:

Former Sioux defenseman, Brad Bombardir, is the director of player development for the Minnesota Wild.

Former Sioux assistant coach Don Boyd is the Columbus Blue Jackets' assistant general manager.

Former Sioux forward Troy Murray is the radio color analyst for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Ron Hextall, father of current Sioux forward Brett Hextall, is the vice president/assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Kings.