#9/9 North Dakota (7-1-1, 2-0-0 NCHC)  at #2/1 Denver (8-1-1, 0-1-1 NCHC)
Nov. 15-16, 2019
Denver, Colo.
Magness Arena (11,643)
Friday: 7:07 pm CT
Saturday: 7:07 pm CT
Series: UND leads 146-128-15 (.531)
Last year: DU, 1-4-1
 
TV
Midco SportsNet (Sat )
Web: nchc.tv
 
RADIO
PxP: Tim Hennessy
Analyst: Steve Olson
Radio: 96.1 FM (Flagship) & Home of Economy Radio  Network
Web: FightingHawks.com 
 
THIS WEEK
North Dakota takes to the road for the first time in NCHC play, heading to #2/1 Denver Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena.
 
SATURDAY REWIND
Miami and North Dakota combined for six first-period goals, four from UND, as the home team hung on for a 5-4 win at Ralph Engelstad Arena. With the sweep, the Fighting Hawks are alone atop the league standings thus far.
 
FRIDAY SYNOPSIS
Twelve different UND players recorded points and three of them had three in a 7-1 rout of Miami to open NCHC play. Six of UND's goals came in an 11:54 span to end the first and open the second period in the win.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday's game will be shown live on Midco Sports Network, the primary TV home of North Dakota hockey. MidcoSN will be picking up the Denver broadcast for the final night of the series. Both games will also be available via streaming at NCHC.tv.
 
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 flagship station for the network is 96.1 FM (The Fox). Longtime broadcaster Tim Hennessy, in his 41st season as the voice of UND men's hockey, calls the action while Steve Olson provides color analysis.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow along with the action live during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter. Fans can also read the action via live chat via the Grand Forks Herald and beat writer Brad Schlossman.
 
STAR-AGUCHI
Jordan Kawaguchi piled up six points in the NCHC-opening sweep of Miami, tallying a goal and five assists. He had three points each night, giving him three games already this season with at least three points. For his efforts he was named the NCHC Forward of the Week (second time) and the NCAA's Third Star of the Week. He has been honored among the team's three stars of the game in five of seven home games this season (as voted on by media).
 
HOW DO YOU RATE?
Junior Collin Adams leads the NCHC in plus/minus rating this season with an impressive +13 rating. The New York Islanders draft pick has not been on the ice for an opponent goal this season.
 
ON THE POSITIVE
In fact, eight of the top NCHC players in terms of plus/minus rating are UND players. Jordan Kawaguchi is second in the league at +12, with Andrew Peski third at +8. Five Fighting Hawks are all tied at +7 with Jacob Bernard-Docker, Grant Mismash, Westin Michaud, Colton Poolman and Jonny Tychonick all turning the trick.
 
WELCOME MATT
Matt Kiersted earned his first career NCHC weekly honor, being named the league's defenseman of the week Monday. The junior recorded four assists in the sweep of Miami, including setting up all three power-play tallies.
 
SHOT DOWN
North Dakota leads the NCAA in fewest shots on goal allowed per game with just 18.44 per contest through nine games. Conversely, UND had thrown 30.67 SOG per game, a difference of +12.22, which ranks second-best in the country.
 
HALF-DOZEN
The Fighting Hawks have seven wins and six different players have the game-winning goals.  Collin Adams became the first Fighting Hawk this season with a second GWG after his second tally of the game Saturday.
 
TWO DOZEN
UND's +24 goal differential paces all Division I schools heading into the week. North Dakota as outscored its opponents, 39-15, and already has four games with five goals or more this season, just one shy of all of last season's tally.
 
POLL POSITION
UND moved up another spot this week, sneaking into the ninth spot in both national polls. Last week, UND cracked both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls' top 10 for the first time since Feb., 2018. 
 
STRONG NCHC FLAVOR IN THE POLLS
Six of the eight NCHC teams are ranked or receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll this week. Denver took over the top spot four weeks ago with two-time defending national champion Minnesota Duluth now in seventh. North Dakota moved up to 10 with Omaha making its first appearance at 20. St. Cloud State and Western Michigan are both receiving votes.
 
FIVE'LL GIVE YA TWENTY
Adam Scheel registered his fifth consecutive win to give him 20 already for his young career.
 
POWER PLAY PHOENIX
UND came into last weekend with two power play goals in seven games and without one in four consecutive games, but struck three times in the man advantage in the sweep of Miami in its nine chances. North Dakota is now 5-of-34 in power play opportunities this season (14.7%).
 
GAA OF HERE
Scheel's 1.96 goals against average would rank at the top of UND's record books for lowest GAA in a career. He is just four games shy of the required games played to qualify, but sits well in front of leaders Cam Johnson and Zane McIntyre (2.10). HIs save percentage (.910) would rank tied for seventh if he met the games played minimum (four more games).
 
SEVEN DUBS
Scheel has seven wins on the season, tied for the most in the NCAA thus far. He has a personal run of five straight games with a win heading into this week and been the older goaltender to man the pipes this season for UND.
 
3 WITH 3
Three different UND players generated three points in the NCHC-opening rout of Miami (Nov. 8) as Jonny Tychonick (2g, 1a), Matt Kiersted (3a) and Kawaguchi (3a) all turned the trick. It was the first career three-point night for the first two while Kawaguchi enjoyed his second three-point game of the season and would later do it again on Saturday night (1g, 2a). 
 
JONNY NUMBER 5
Jonny Tychonick already has surpassed his freshman total for points with his three-point night Friday, giving him five. Tychonick has all three career goals in the last four games.
 
7 HEAVEN
Just nine games in, UND has two games with seven goals or more for the first time since 2016-17 when it swept No. 18 Omaha 9-1 and 7-3 on Jan. 6-7, 2017.
 
NINE TIMES? NINE TIMES
North Dakota now has nine consecutive wins at home dating back to last season. This run is the second longest winning streak at the new Ralph Engelstad Arena.   
 
DATES                  Consecutive wins
1/23/16 - 10/22/17                    12
3/8/19 - current                         9
1/11/08 - 2/24/08                        8
1/22/11 - 10/7/11                        8
11/7/15 - 1/2/16                          7
11/30/13 - 2/7/14                        7
11/30/02 - 12/28/02                    7
3/2/02 - 11/23/02                        7
 
YOU'RE KILLIN' ME SMALLS
North Dakota's penalty kill has been solid, allowing just two goals in 29 opponent man-advantage opportunities. UND's .931 kill percentage is fifth-best in the NCAA. 
 
HOME SWEET HOME
UND is 7-0 at home this season and has been good offensively and defensively. North Dakota is out-scoring its opponents, 34-9 at home this year through seven games and leads the nation in goal margin (+25), shots on goals allowed/game (17.14) and wins (7).
 
GOING (POINT) STREAKING
Two UND players have current point streaks of five games or more. Collin Adams has tallied a point in six straight games (3g, 4a) while Jordan Kawaguchi has 10 points (3g, 7a) in his last five games.
 
DID I HEAR A NINER IN THERE?
Jordan Kawaguchi has made a habit of scoring late as nine of his last 14 goals have come in the third period or overtime. Last season, Kawaguchi scored four third-period tallies and had two more overtime winners among his team-leading 10 goals.
 
POOLY BULLY
Colton Poolman missed just his third career game after sitting out the US Hockey Hall of Fame game against Michigan Tech and returned to the lineup Friday vs. Miami. His only other missed series was the Denver trip last season in the regular season. Poolman has played in 123 of 126 games in his career. 
 
SHANE POINT-O
Freshman Shane Pinto was named the NCHC Rookie of the Week for his performance at second-ranked Minnesota State Oct. 24-25. He scored a goal and added an assist, running his then-team-best point streak to four.
 
FORWARD THINKING
Junior assistant captain Jordan Kawaguchi broke a three-year curse of UND players not earning an NCHC Forward of the Week honor. Prior to Kawaguchi winning it Oct. 28, the last UND player to be honored with that particular honor was Brock Boeser after his hat trick and five total goals against Bemidji State nearly three years to the date (Oct. 24, 2016).
 
O-T FAMILIARITY
North Dakota garnered its fourth straight overtime win Oct. 28, defeating Bemidji State, 2-1, on a Westin Michaud goal. Michaud was in the building for the first two of this run, playing with Colorado College in both January games last season before UND nipped Omaha in the regular season finale in OT.
 
WEATHERING THE STORM
Jasper Weatherby has seen his role expand in the faceoff circle this season with the graduation of Rhett Gardner and Nick Jones, who handled a bulk of the faceoffs last year. In his expanded role, Weatherby has won 62.3 of his faceoffs this season (tied for best in school history since this stat has been tracked) to up his career percentage to 58.3 (5th-best).
 
**For the complete game notes package (pdf), please click here**