North Dakota
Fighting Hawks
vs.
Minnesota
Golden Gophers

This Week                 
North Dakota renews its storied rivalry with Minnesota on Saturday night in the 2018 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game in Las Vegas. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Pacific/9:07 p.m. Central at Orleans Arena.

The game was first announced at a Las Vegas press conference on July 26, 2016. The announcement was made jointly by officials representing UND, the Orleans Arena and a special appearance by the Lieutenant Governor for the State of Nevada, Mark Hutchison.

The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game is a regular-season game played each season to generate revenue for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum in Eveleth, Minn. Ralph Engelstad Arena purchased the rights to the 2018 event.

Visit the official event website at www.vegas18.com for additional information.

Broadcast Coverage     
All UND men's hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network, as well as through the iHeart Radio app. The flaghsip station for the network is 96.1 FM (The Fox). Longtime broadcaster Tim Hennessy, in his 40th season as the voice of UND men's hockey, calls the action while Steve Olson provides color analysis.

Saturday's U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game will be telecast live on Midco Sports Network with Alex Heinert (play-by-play), Jake Brandt (analyst) and Katie Hale (rinkside reporter) calling the action. 

The game will also be available via streaming at NCHC.tv.

Social Media    
Receive live updates during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter. Fans can also follow the action via live chat at FightingHawks.com, featuring Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald and Jayson Hajdu of UND Athletics.

Ticket Information    
The 2018 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game is sold out.

UND's Vegas Connections    
Five UND products played professional hockey in Las Vegas for a pair of now-defunct franchises, most recently defenseman Robbie Bina with the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers in 2009-10. 

Additionally, Bob Joyce (1993-95), Nick Naumenko (1998-99), Russ Romaniuk (1997-99) and Paxton Schulte (1997-98) each played for the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder.

Most famously, North Dakota now plays its home games at Ralph Engelstad Arena, built by and named for the former UND goaltender (1948-50) and Las Vegas entrepreneur, gaming executive and philanthropist.

About Minnesota    
The Golden Gophers are coming off of a pair of 7-1 exhibition wins over Trinity Western (last Saturday) and the U.S. Under-18 Team (Oct. 13).

Minnesota opened the regular season back on Oct. 6-7 with a home-and-home, non-conference series against in-state rival Minnesota Duluth. The two teams skated to a 1-1 overtime tie in the season opener, following by a 7-4 Minnesota win in the series finale.

The Gophers return 18 letterwinners from last year's team that went 19-17-2 overall and finished fifth in the Big Ten with a 10-12-2-1 conference record.

Junior forward Rem Pitlick led the team in points (31) and tied for the lead in goals (12) a season ago, while junior Mat Robson and two-time Big Ten Goaltender of the Year senior Eric Schierhorn return between the pipes.

Click HERE for a complete version of this week's game notes.