North Dakota vs. Denver, a Series Preview

by | Feb 11, 2016

North Dakota vs. Denver, a Series Preview

by | Feb 11, 2016

The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks travel to Denver, Colorado, to take on the Denver Pioneers in an important two-game conference series. A sweep for either team would be huge. North Dakota and Denver occupy two of the top three spots in the National Colligate Hockey Conference Standings.

There are eight games remaining in the season and only 24 possible conference points. This weekend, UND needs points if they want to pass St. Cloud for the Penrose Cup. UND was idle last weekend and has two games in hand on the Huskies.

Series History

All-time, the University of North Dakota UND leads the series against Denver 142-120-10 (.540). In Grand Forks, ND, the Fighting Hawkes lead the series 84-42-7 (.658). In Denver, CO, the Pioneers Lead the series 70-53-3 (.567). At Neutral sites, DU leads 8-5-0 (.615). In the Last 10 games against the Pioneers, UND leads 6-3-1 (.650).

This season, UND swept the Pioneers at the Ralph on December 04-05, 2015. Note: the last six games that UND has played in Denver, the teams have split the series 3-3-0. UND also has a 3-1-1 record against UD the last five games.

Tale of the Tape

#2 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (22-3-3, 13-2-1 NCHC) at #13 Denver Pioneers (13-8-5, 9-5-2 NCHC).
Date: February 12-13, 2016
Location: Magness Arena, Denver, Colo.
Time: Feb. 12, 8:06 p.m. MT, Feb. 13, 7:06 p.m. MT
Radio: Home of Economy UND Sports Radio Network
Webcast: None
Friday TV: CBS Sports Network, DirecTV 221, DISH Network 158
Saturday TV: ROOT Sports, DirecTV 683, DISH Network 5414

North Dakota

North Dakota Last Time Out: Swept Western Michigan (2-0 W, 2-1W)
North Dakota Offense: 9th, 3.46 GPG
North Dakota Defense: 2nd, 1.68 G/GM
North Dakota Scoring Margin: 5th, 1.79
UND Power Play: 23rd, (21/110, 19.1%)
North Dakota Penalty Kill: 7th, (95/110, 86.7%)
North Dakota Penalty Minutes: 19th, (12.0 PIM/G)
North Dakota USCHO Ranking: 2
North Dakota Corsi Ranking: 57.0%
North Dakota Pairwise Ranking: 3
North Dakota Record during January: 6-1-1 (.812)
North Dakota Home Record: 10-2-1 (.807)
North Dakota Away Record: 11-1-1 (.875)
North Dakota Neutral Ice: 1-0-1 (.750)
North Dakota Last 10 Games against Pioneers: 6-3-1 (.550)

Denver Pioneers

Denver Last Time Out: Split with Miami (1-3 L, 5-3 W)
Denver Offense: 21st, 2.88 GPG
Denver Defense: 23rd, 2.58 G/GM
Denver Scoring Margin: 24th, .31
Denver Power Play: 36th, (16/96, 16.7%)
Denver Penalty Kill: 24th, (66/79, 83.5%)
Denver Penalty Minutes: 48th, (8.3 PIM/G)
Denver USCHO Rankings: 13
Denver Corsi Rankings: 53.6%
Denver Pairwise Ranking: 12
Denver Record during January: 6-1-3 (.750)
Denver Home: 7-2-3 (.708)
Denver Away: 6-6-2 (.500)

Players of Note

North Dakota Fighting Hawks: Forwards: Brock Boeser (18g-13a—31pts), Drake Caggiula (15g-15a—30pts), Nick Schmaltz (3g-24a—27pts), Bryn Chyzyk (9g-8a—17pts), Austin Poganski (6g-9a—15pts), Luke Johnson (7g-7a—14pts), Johnny Simonson (2g-10a—12pts), Defense: Troy Stecher (5g-14a—19pts), Tucker Poolman (3g-12a—15pts), Keaton Thompson (1g-11a—12pts), Christian Wolanin (3g-8a—11pts), Paul LaDue (2g-9a—11pts). Goaltenders: Cam Johnson (13-1-1, 1.31 GAA, .948 save percentage), Matt Hrynkiw (9-2-2, 2.18 GAA, .908 save percentage). (UND Stats)

UND Injuries: None.

Denver Pioneers: Forwards: Dylan Gambrell (7g-19a—26pts), Trevor Moore (4g-20a—24pts), Danton Heinen (10g-10a—20pts), Quentin Shore (8g-6a—14pts), Matt Marcinew (9g-3a—13pts). Defense: Will Butcher (5g-14a—19pts), Nolan Zajac (2g-12a—14pts). Goalies: Tanner Jaillet (7-3-5, 2.52 GAA, .916 save percentage), Evan Cowley (6-5-0, 2.44 GAA, .917 save percentage). (DU Stats)

Grant Arnold on the Series against UND

“We learned a lot from that series in December,” Pioneer captain Grant Arnold told the media. “(The Fighting Hawks) thoroughly outplayed us in both games and it was a real eye-opener for us in terms of how much better we need to be if we want to accomplish the goals we’ve set for ourselves this season.”

Arnold continued: “We’re a different team now than we were when we played UND a couple of months ago and we’ll be ready for a battle when the puck drops on Friday night.”

Series Prediction

I know it sounds cliché, but sweeps don’t happen in this series very often. Especially in Magness Arena. The last time UND swept the Pioneers in Denver was November 21-22, 2003 (6-2 W, 8-2 W). On the other side of the ice. The last time Denver swept UND in Denver was November 20-21, 2009 (1-0 W, 2-3 W). So, keeping with that theme this weekend, I am going to say series split.

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