North Dakota Fighting Hawks
vs. #1 St. Cloud State Huskies
Friday, Jan. 25 • 7:37 pm (CT) • Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,634) • Grand Forks, N.D.
Saturday, Jan. 26 • 7:07 pm (CT) • Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,634) • Grand Forks, N.D.
TV: CBS Sports Network (Friday); Midco SportsNet/Fox College Sports/TSN2 (Saturday)
Radio: Home of Economy Radio Network
Webcast: NCHC.tv
Live stats: www.fightinghawks.com
 
THIS WEEKEND:
North Dakota welcomes new No. 1 St. Cloud State to the Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend. SCSU returned to the top spot after slipping to No. 2 for one week.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Receive live updates and news during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Friday's game will be telecast live on CBS Sports Network while Saturday will be on Midco Sports Network (and TSN2 in Canada). These games will also be available via streaming at NCHC.tv.
 
ST. CLOUD STATE COACHING STAFF
Brett Larson joins the staff at St. Cloud State with a decorated college hockey coaching resume that includes helping lead NCHC rival Minnesota Duluth to one of its most successful runs in the history of that program – including two NCAA championships.
 
Larson opened his career at SCSU with a 3-2 win at Alaska on Oct. 12, 2018 in his first game as a collegiate head coach. He currently owns a 17-3-2 record with the Huskies.
 
He is the third coach at St. Cloud State in the history of the University's NCAA Division I men's hockey program, and SCSU's 17th head coach since the program stared intercollegiate play in 1931-32.
 
SERIES HISTORY
North Dakota owns a 71-43-14 all-time mark against St. Cloud State, including a sparkling 35-18-7 mark at home.
 
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
St. Cloud State comes into the weekend with a 9-1-2 record in NCHC play, leading second-place Minnesota Duluth by eight points.  They are paced by Patrick Newell's 11 goals and 21 points, part of nine different players that have tallied at least 15 points already this season. In net, David Hrenak has started 15 games with an 11-2-1 mark, a 2.18 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.
 
LAST MEETINGS BETWEEN THESE TEAMS:
These teams met in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals last season. After Jordan Kawaguchi had tied the score in regulation to send it to overtime, SCSU's Nick Poehling scored 1:47 into the extra frame to move the Huskies into the championship game (lost 4-1 to Denver).
 
During the regular season, SCSU went 2-0-2 against North Dakota en route to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies would fall 4-1 to Air Force in the NCAA Regional in Sioux Falls, S.D.
 
LAST SERIES
North Dakota dropped a 4-3 decision Saturday at Omaha as the Mavericks salvaged a split. UND won Friday with a similar 4-3 win on Jackson Keane's game-winner with 1:50 left in regulation. Saturday, Omaha rallied from a 3-1 deficit to score three unanswered goals for the win.
 
POLL POSITION
UND is receiving votes in the Jan. 21th USCHO.com poll (would be 21st). North Dakota did not appear in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll also released this week.
 
STRONG NCHC FLAVOR IN THE POLLS
Not only does St. Cloud State top both polls, but two other NCHC teams find themselves in the top 5. Denver sits at No. 3 in the USCHO poll and fourth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine while Minnesota Duluth is fifth in both polls.
 
HANDLING THE RANKED TEAMS
North Dakota has seven wins against teams that were ranked when they played. UND is 7-4 against ranked teams this season.
 
FIRST L AFTER LEADING THROUGH FORTY
The Fighting Hawks took a loss for the first time this season when leading after two periods Saturday at Omaha. North Dakota went into the third period with a 3-2 advantage but the Mavericks got a pair of third-period goals to take a 4-3 win and put UND's record at 8-1-1 when leading after 40 minutes this season. UND had lost the lead in each of the previous three occurances but had rallied to post the win until Saturday.
 
FACE OFF FACTS
North Dakota won a whopping 54 of 73 draws (74%) in the win at Omaha Friday. Rhett Gardner won 23 of 28 faceoffs taken (82.1%). Those 54 wins as a team marked the most of the season for North Dakota. UND has won the faceoff battle in all but four games this season (vs. WMU Nov. 16-17, vs. Denver Dec. 8 and Jan. 18 at Omaha-- all four losses).
 
DID I HEAR A NINER IN THERE?
North Dakota has nine different players with game-winning goals. Jackson Keane's winner Friday at Omaha gave him two, one of only three players with more than one (Rhett Gardner, Mark Senden).
 
KEANE EYE
Jackson Keane has two collegiate goals-- both of them are game-winners. He tallied his first Nov. 23 against Alaska-Anchorage but did not have a point after that until his three points and GWG Friday.
 
GOOD, BETTER, BAST
Sophomore Gabe Bast was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week after his performance in a split at Omaha. Bast tallied his first career two-goal game Saturday and was a +2 on the weekend.
 
The sophomore is UND's sixth NCHC weekly honoree with five coming on defense, including last week (Jacob Bernard-Docker).
 
UND's NCHC weekly honorees
Oct. 29:    Colton Poolman (Defenseman)
Nov. 5:     Adam Scheel (Goaltender)
Nov. 26:    Jacob Bernard-Docker (Defenseman)
Dec. 10:    Colton Poolman (Defenseman)
Jan. 14:    Jacob Bernard-Docker (Defenseman)
Jan. 21:    Gabe Bast (Defenseman)
 
EVERYBODY HELPS
North Dakota has had 16 different goal scorers since Rhett Gardner's GWG against Alaska-Anchorage. UND has 24 goals in that stretch with only five players tallying more than one goal (Jordan Kawaguchi-4, Nick Jones-3, Mark Senden-2, Matt Kiersted-2, Gabe Bast-2).
 
Goal scorers in this stretch
Nov. 24- Rhett Gardner
Dec. 1- Jordan Kawaguchi, Grant Mismash
Dec. 7- Gavin Hain, Mark Senden, Matt Kiersted, Colton Poolman
Dec. 8- Jacob Bernard-Docker
Jan. 4- Mark Senden (2)
Jan. 5- Nick Jones
Jan. 11- Jones (2), Peski, Kawaguchi (2), Hoff
Jan. 12- Hayden Shaw, Dixon Bowen, Kawaguchi (3)
Jan 18- Matt Kiersted (2), Jones (3), Jasper Weatherby, Jackson Keane
Jan 19- Gabe Bast (2), Jordan Kawaguchi (4)
 
POOLMAN OR IRON MAN?
Junior captain Colton Poolman (East Grand Forks, Minn.) has never missed a collegiate game in his career, having played in all 103 of UND's games since he arrived on campus. Poolman is the fourth active Fighting Hawk to reach the 100-games milestone for his career. He joins seniors Rhett Gardner (135 games),  Hayden Shaw (123) and Joel Janatuinen (120). Poolman has four goals and six assists through 23 games this season.
 
SCHEEL BE COMING 'ROUND THE MOUNTAIN:
Goaltender Adam Scheel's goals against average is currently at 2.14, among the best-ever by a UND freshman. Scheel, who is second in the nation among freshmen in wins and GAA, has won 11 games this season and seven of them have come against nationally-ranked opponents.
  
THE GARDNER DID IT
Rhett Gardner (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) leads all of NCAA Division I college hockey with 359 faceoff wins this season, 37 more than his closest competitor. His 64.3 faceoff win percent is second-best in the country heading into this weekend among those with at least 100 draws. Gardner continues to climb UND's career faceoffs lists, recently passing Chris VandeVelde for second place all-time:
  
NOT SINCE 1969? NICE.
UND swept Colorado College Jan. 11-12 with a pair of overtime wins. The last time UND won a series with both wins coming in overtime? You'd have to go back to the 1969-70 season when North Dakota got Denver twice on Dec. 19-20 by 3-2 and 2-1 scores. Those games ended a stretch in which UND played four straight overtime games and five of six that went an extra session (UND went 4-1-0 in those OT tilts).
 
SENDEN IT IN
Mark Senden has three goals this season and all have been big markers for the freshman. Senden went into last weekend with a pair of goals-- both game-winners-- then added UND's first short-handed tally of the season Friday at Canisius.

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