This weekend, the University of North Dakota travels to St. Cloud, MN, to take on the St. Cloud State University Huskies in an important conference matchup between the top-two teams. Unfortunately, this will be the only season series between the two teams during the 2015-16 season.

Historically: This will be UND’s first series as the Fighting Hawks.

Series History

All-time, UND leads the series against SCSU 65-38-12 (.617). In Grand Forks: UND leads the series against the Huskies 32-16-6 (.648). In St. Cloud: UND leads the series against the Huskies 26-20-6 (.558). At neutral sites: UND leads the series 7-2-0 (.778). Under head coach Brad Berry: First Meeting. Last 10: UND leads 5-4-1 (.550). For those keeping track, UND has won four of the last five games.

#4 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (9-1-2, 4-0-0 NCHC) at #7 St. Cloud State Huskies (8-2-0, 4-0-0 NCHC)

Date: November 20-21, 2015
Time: Friday 7:37 pm CT, Saturday 7:07 pm CT
Location: Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (5,159) • St. Cloud, Minn.
Radio: Home of Economy UND Sports Radio Network
Webcast: NCHC.tv
Friday TV: FSN+, FCS, DirecTV 668-2, DISH Network (446/9516)
Saturday TV: Midco Sports Network, Charter

Tale of the Tape

North Dakota

UND Last Time Out: Swept Miami (6-2 W, 4-3 O.T. W)
UND Offense: 13^th, 3.58 GPG
UND Defense: 7^th, 1.83 G/GM
UND Scoring Margin: 7^th, 1.75
UND Power Play: 41^st, (7/49, 14.3%)
UND Penalty Kill: 42^nd, (30/36, 83.3%)
UND Penalty Minutes: 29^th, 11.3 PIM/G
USCHO Ranking: 4
Corsi Ranking: 61.9%
(UND Official Game Notes)

SCSU Huskies

SCSU Last Time Out:
SCSU Offense: 6^th, 4.10 GPG
SCSU Defense: 3^rd, 1.50 G/GM
SCSU Scoring Margin: 3^rd, 2.60
SCSU Power Play: 20^th, (8/37, 21.6%)
SCSU Penalty Kill: 24^th, (22/26, 84.6%)
SCSU Penalty Minutes: 46^th, 8.3 PIM/G
SCSU USCHO Ranking: 7
SCSU Corsi Ranking: 53.6%
(SCSU Game Notes)
(s/t College Hockey Stats Net)

Players of Note

North Dakota Fighting Hawks: Forwards: Drake Caggiula (4g-9a—13pts), Nick Schmaltz (2g-11a—13pts), Brock Boeser (7g-5a—12pts), Bryn Chyzyk (6g-3a—9pts), Luke Johnson (3g-4a—7pts), Johnny Simonson (2g-4a—6pts), Defense: Troy Stecher (2g-7a—9pts), Christian Wolanin (3g-3a—6pts), Tucker Poolman (0g-5a—5pts), Gage Ausmus (0g-4a—4pts), Keaton Thompson (1g-3a—4pts). Goaltenders: Cam Johnson (1-0-1, 1.82 GAA, .907 SV%), Matt Hrynkiw (8-1-1, 1.81 GAA, .920 Sv%). (UND Stats)

UND Injuries: Goalies: Matej Tomek, Colten St. Clair.

SCSU Huskies: Patrick Russell (6g-6a—12pts), Kalle Kossila (2g-10a—12pts), Joey Benik (7g-3a—10pts), David Morley (3g-6a—9pts), Judd Peterson (6g-3a—9pts). Defense: Ethan Prow (1g-6a—7pts), Nathan Widman (0g-6a—6pts), Will Borgen (0g-5a—5pts). Goalies: Charlie Lindgren (7-2-0, 1.49 GAA, .944 SV%), Rasmus Reijola (1-0-0, 1.61 GAA, .929 SV%). (SCSU Stats)

Series Prediction

There’s a lot of hype surround this series. It’s the battle of the two top-teams in the NCHC. Historically, in St Cloud, there’s hasn’t been a sweep in the National Hockey Center since SCSU swept UND (4-8 L, 1-6 L) on November 3-4, 2001. Going with the safe bet, split: UND 4-1, SCSU 4-2.