Colorado College (8-13-1, 3-10-1 NCHC) at #2 North Dakota (19-3-3, 10-2-2-2 NCHC)
Jan. 31 - Feb. 1, 2020
Grand Forks, N.D.
Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,634)
Friday: 7:37 pm CT
Saturday: 7:07 pm CT
Series: UND leads 160-84-11 (.649)
Last year: UND took series, 3-1
 
TV
PxP: Alex Heinert
Analyst: Jake Brandt
Rinkside: Katie Hale
TV: Midco SportsNet
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 returns home after a four-game hiatus, hosting Colorado College in the teams' only series of the season. It marks the final series before a bye week and the stretch drive with four consecutive NCHC weekends leading up to the conference tournament. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
North Dakota scored a pair of third-period goals to rally for a 3-2 win at 11th-ranked Minnesota Duluth. Jonny Tychonick's goal at 11:58 of the third period provided the winning tally as UND sent UMD to third place in the league standings and now currently lead second-place Denver by six points.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
This weekend's games will both be telecast live on Midco Sports Network, the primary TV home of North Dakota hockey. Alex Heinert does the play-by-play, with former UND goalie Jake Brandt handling the color analysis with Katie Hale as the rinkside reporter. The series 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 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.
 
SERIES HISTORY
North Dakota owns a 160-84-11 edge in the all-time series with Colorado College. Last season, UND won three of the four contests, with oth home games coming on exciting overtime wins.
 
KAWAGUCHI KAMIKAZE
Hobey Baker Award candidate Jordan Kawaguchi has been on a hot streak of late, recently completing an 8-game point streak that saw him pile up 15 points during that stretch. The junior forward has points in 18 of the last 21 games.
 
POWER PLAY WEATHER-BY
Jasper Weatherby notched a power play goal Friday at UMD, the team-leading fourth on the man advantage for North Dakota. He now has 8 goals on the season overall.
 
WELCOME MATT
Matt Kiersted has earned back-to-back NCHC Defenseman of the Week awards with a torrid stretch that has seen him pile up nine points in the last four games. The junior has had multiple points in all four of those contests with two goals and seven assists. For the season, he is second among defensemen in the NCHC with 19 assists, eighth in the NCAA among blueliners.
 
GET IT GOING QUICKLY
North Dakota holds a 34-18 goal edge in the first period this season on its opponents. UND is out-scoring its opponent, 33-19, in the first two periods of road games this season.
 
POWER PLAY PROFICIENCY ON THE ROAD
North Dakota is humming along at a 25.0% clip on the power play in road games this season. UND has scored with the man-advantage in 8 of its last 24 opportunities on the road (33.3%).
 
NCHC HISTORY
North Dakota enters the weekend with 34 points in the NCHC standings, which is already close to securing home ice for the NCHC quarterfinals despite 10 games remaining. UND holds a 16-point lead on fifth-place Omaha, making the magic number just 14 between UND points earned and the fifth-place team's points lost for the remainder of the season. A look at the team point totals of the final home-ice team (4th place) and eventual champion in every year of the NCHC:
 
Year        Home ice       Champion
2018-19         39                62
2017-18         33                53
2016-17         35                59
2015-16         37                59
2014-15         41                50
2013-14         37                48
 
FOUR-PLAY
UND tallied its 16th four-goal game on offense Friday at UMD and suffered its first loss in those games (13-1-2).
 
SECOND TIME AROUND
North Dakota has won 11 of 12 games in the second game of a two-game series this season. UND has won 10 straight games in the second game of a series.
 
TWO GOOD
UND  remains in second place in the most-recent USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. Cornell is in its second week in the top spot. North Dakota began the season at No. 18/RV. UND's No. 1 ranking was its first since Oct. 17, 2016.
 
TOP TEN TEAMS
Three of the eight NCHC teams are ranked in the top 10 in this week's USCHO.com poll. UND sits second in the poll with Denver at four and  Minnesota Duluth sneaking back in at No. 10. Western Michigan and Omaha are both receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll.  
 
KAW PIES
Jordan Kawaguchi's numbers have been eye-popping this season. He has 13 multi-point games and currently sits second in the NCAA in points with 37.
 
HI, FRIENDS
Senior transfer Westin Michaud will be playing his first games against his old team this weekend. Michaud is on a current five-game point streak and has goals in four straight contests.
 
PETE AND REPEAT
Peter Thome made his second start of the season Saturday at Minnesota Duluth, He earned the 3-2 win to move to 12-11-4 for his career. His other start this season with a week earlier at Miami, earning the win after settling in from a 2-0 deficit in the first period.
 
NO SOUP FOR YOU!
Peter Thome stopped both shootout attempts in the Friday tie and shootout win at Miami on Jan. 17. He has now stopped all six shootout attempts in his career.
 
100
Jordan Kawaguchi and Casey Johnson each reached the 100 career games plateau in Saturday's win at Minnesota Duluth. Senior Colton Poolman is UND's active leader in games played with 137.
 
MIAMI MATT
Matt Kiersted piled up five points Jan. 17-18 at Miami. It started with a career-high-tying three-assist game on Friday and he added two more on Saturday, helping on noth the game-tying and game-winning goals. He now has 11 career points against Miami in eight games.
 
DOUBLE-DIPPING
Last season, just one player etched double figures in scoring (Kawaguchi, 10) but already three North Dakota players are in double digits in that category (Kawaguchi- 12, Pinto- 11, Michaud- 10). There are several in striking range as Cole Smith has nine, Jasper Weatherby has eight and both Collin Adams and Grant Mismash have seven. 
 
REA-LLY
Junior Hobey Baker Award hopeful Jordan Kawaguchi has been fantastic at the Ralph Engelstad Arena this season, tallying 23 total points in 13 games at home. He has seven goals and 16 assists with points in 12 straight home games.
 
TWICE IS NICE
Grant Mismash's two-goal effort Jan. 3rd marked the eighth different UND player to score two goals in a game this season. Three players have turned the trick twice: (Pinto, Smith, Kawaguchi).
 
NO, NO. WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
UND has enjoyed having scoring production from the entire roster. After Casey Johnson's Jan. 11th goal vs. Omaha, 22 different players have scored this season, most since the 2003-04 team. 17 have multiple tallies and eight different players have at least a half-dozen goals on the year.
 
ADAMS' APPLES
Collin Adams notched three assists in the Jan. 3 win over Alabama-Huntsville, tying his single-game record for helpers. He now has 21 points on the season, nearly triple his previous career best (8 in 2017-18).