North Dakota vs. St. Cloud State, Series Preview

by | Nov 20, 2014

North Dakota vs. St. Cloud State, Series Preview

by | Nov 20, 2014

This weekend, second-ranked North Dakota travels to Saint Cloud, MN, to take on the 16-ranked St. Cloud State Huskies in a two-game conference series at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. This series will feature the defending regular season champion against the preseason favorite. This series could go a long way in determining the regular season championship. This series will also have national implications in the Pairwise Rankings.

Series history

All-time, UND is 61-36-12 (.615) against St. Cloud State University. In Grand Forks, ND, UND is 30-16-6 (.635) against the Huskies. In St. Cloud MN, UND is 25-19-6 (.560).  At neutral sites, UND holds a 6-1-0 (.857) against the Huskies. Under head coach Dave Hakstol, UND has a 23-14-7 (.602) record against SCSU.

Lately, UND hasn’t had a lot of success against the Huskies. In the last 10 games against SCSU, UND trails 4-5-1 (.450). UND is 1-5-1 (.214) in the last seven games against the Huskies. This includes a 1-3-0 (.250) record last season.

Tale of the tape

#2 North Dakota (8-1-1, 2-0-0 NCHC) vs. #16 St. Cloud State Huskies (4-5-1, 1-2-1 NCHC)
Date: November 21-22, 2014.
Game Time: Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07 p.m. CT.
Location: Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN.
Last time out: SCSU took three points against WMU (4-3 W, 1-1 T).
Last time out: UND split with Miami (2-3 L, 4-1 W).
SCSU Offense: 39th Nationally.
SCSU Defense: 30th Nationally.
UND Offense: 7th Nationally.
UND Defense: 13th Nationally.
TV: Friday – FOX Sports North PLUS, DirecTV (668-2), DISH Network.
TV: Saturday – Charter (ch. 426/823), Comcast (ch. 999) in local St. Cloud area only.
Live Streaming: NCHC.TV.
North Dakota Series Notes
SCSU Series Notes

Key Players to Watch

North Dakota – Forwards: Drake Caggiula (6g-10a—16pts), Michael Parks (5g-9a—14pts), Mark MacMillan (6g-4a—10pts), Luke Johnson (3g-3a—6pts), Bryn Chyzyk (2g-2a—4pts). Defense: Paul LaDue (3g-5a—8pts), Troy Stecher (1g-7a—8pts) Jordan Schmaltz (1g-6a—7pts), Tucker Poolman (3g-0a—3pts), Gage Ausmus (1g-1a—2pts). Goalies: Zane McIntyre (8-2-1, 1.95 GAA, .928 SV%), Cam Johnson (0-0-0, 2.68 GAA, .800 SV%).

UND Injuries: Nick Schmaltz (1g-7a—8pts) is out indefinitely.

St. Cloud State – Forwards: Kale Kossila (2g-6a—8pts), Jonny Brodzinski (5g-3a—8pts), Joey Benik (5g-3a—8pts). Defense: Andrew Prochno (2g-5a—7pts), Ethan Prow (1g-3a—4pts). Goalies: Charlie Lindgren (4-5-1, 2.49 GAA, .909 SV%), Rasmus Reijola (0-0-0, 2.35 GAA, .889 SV%)

Special teams

St. Cloud State – The Huskies penalty kill is ranked 27th in the nation (34/40, 85.0%). The Huskies power play is ranked 6th in the nation (11/44, 26.2%).

North Dakota – UND’s penalty kill is ranked 21st in the nation (45/52, 86.5%). UND’s power play is ranked 16th  in the nation (12/57, 21.1%).

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