UMD at WMU: The Home Stretch

Bulldogs Take Four Game Win Streak to Kalamazoo

With three weeks left in the NCHC regular season, teams are actively jockeying for position and the Penrose Cup. North Dakota definitely has the inside track to the Cup and have already locked up home ice for the playoffs. The Bulldogs and Broncos both are currently in line for home ice, but nothing is locked up yet.

Where They Stand Now
Western Michigan is coming off of a somewhat disappointing weekend taking four points at Miami. But the Broncos are looking up losing only one game in their last 11. Their last loss was at the hands of the Bulldogs in Duluth.

The Broncos have endured more than a fair share of injuries this season and have lately looked like a top half team. As usual, seniors Hugh McGing and Dawson DiPietro lead scorers for WMU.

UMD has also improved their standing since these teams last meeting losing one game in their last 12, IF you take out the terrible sweep at the hands of Saint Cloud State.

Home ice for Duluth can happen this weekend if they sweep or SCSU is swept and many matriculations in between.

Currently the Bulldogs are lead in points by Scott Perunovich and goals by Noah Cates who is also second in points.

Prognostications
I haven't been correct often recently and have been reluctant to go full in with the Bulldogs, but I do see UMD coming on strong and sweeping the Broncos this weekend.

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Omaha at UMD: Things are Looking Up

Omaha and UMD are Both Better than Last Meeting

Almost exactly two months ago, December 6 and 7, the Mavericks and Bulldogs met in Omaha with UMD sweeping the series. Things have changed for both teams since then.

Where The Teams Are Now
Omaha has arguably been the hottest team in the NCHC since early December turning a basement place in the conference into the lead pack pushing for hime playoff series. Albeit a long shot for home playoffs, Omaha has seen great growth this year as predicted by many close to the program.

Much of Omaha's success has been an uptick in offense catapulting them into the top ten in the nation for scoring. But that is not all as freshman goaltender Isaiah Saville is getting into the groove of what it takes to play in the NCHC and has been steadily improving.

Signature wins at North Dakota and home against Western Michigan along with a road sweep of Colorado College has seen the Mavericks stock rise in 2020.

Not to take any fanfare from the host Bulldogs as they too are starting to play like a real contender for making it into April again this year.

Although it was a rough start to 2020 being swept at Saint Cloud State who is tied with Omaha for the fifth spot in the NCHC, they backed that up by beating North Dakota at home and last weekend sweeping at Denver. Those Bulldog wins last weekend broke Denver's 11 game win streak with a crash.

Similar to Omaha, UMD goaltending has seen a surge as of late with Hunter Shepard upping his GAA and save percentage while being a steady saving force in net.

Prognostications
It won't be an easy weekend for UMD by any means. But these are games that they need to win to keep the PWR momentum going. Too many losses to much lower teams has been a hinderance to the Bulldogs and these games could be more dark marks if they lose one or both.

A sweep very could be in the cards, but last time UMD played a lower team it wasn't good (swept at Saint Cloud). A sweep is likely but I still may see a Bulldog win and tie.

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UMD at Denver: We Meet Again

Second NCHC Series Between Pioneers and Bulldogs

It is a common occurrence in recent years for Denver and Minnesota Duluth to be battling for the NCHC lead and the national lead.

Not so this year.

Battling for second, and more likely for keeping out of fourth, the Pioneers and Bulldogs meet for their second NCHC series. Both teams are trying to keep up with front runner North Dakota while keeping ahead of fourth place Western Michigan. Being swept this weekend for either team will likely mean fourth place and maybe with some distance up to third.

In the national picture, Denver is at fourth in the PairWise Ranking (PWR), by losing only one non-conference game and putting in a strong season in the NCHC. Meanwhile UMD has posted a 5-5-0 record in non-conference play while playing mostly mediocre competition. Now UMD has had a good, but not great, conference record and that does make the road tougher as displayed by UMD having a PWR of 12.

Déjà vu all over again for the Bulldogs. Second straight week UMD is playing a top five PWR team and has to have a good showing to keep their PWR in good shape to even get the chance to play for a three-peat.

Prognostication.
UMD has to be more concerned with PWR implications rather than NCHC Penrose concerns. The Penrose dream for the Bulldogs pretty much flew away after being swept by Saint Cloud then splitting with NCHC leader UND. The Penrose Cup is the all elusive trophy for UMD at this point, but in the end, maybe getting into the NCAA Tournament for a chance to three-peat should be in the front of their collective mind.

If last weekend is any indication, and I think it is, UMD will have to sweep Denver to greatly improve their PWR. A split with then #1 PWR UND left the Bulldogs were they started the weekend at #12.

Unfortunately, I do not think UMD is up to it as Denver is playing very well right now. Looks like another split is in the works. And even with a split, UMD could easily find themselves in fourth for the NCHC and #14 in the PWR.

Stats.

UMD at SCSU Preview

This Isn't Your 2018-19 Huskies

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is not the official US Postal Service motto. But fans of the Bulldogs and Huskies may need to adopt a like motto is the National Weather Service is correct about the snow and wind this weekend. Rest assured that UMD is already in Saint Cloud and will be at the games, but will they be ready...

About SCSU
This is the first of two regular season series between the two schools. The second will be at UMD March 6 and 7.

As stated above, this isn't the SCSU team that UMD faced in the Frozen Faceoff Final last season in an extremely well played and entertaining 3-2 double OT win for the Bulldogs. It was arguably the most entertaining game UMD played last year. The Huskies lost so much talent up front and the scoring for this year really shows the drop. But what is more surprising is the more drastic drop off in defense/goaltending. Yes, they lost defense keys, but they retained players who saw good amounts of time last year.

Maybe the bigest surprise is net. Dávid Hrenák is returning off the season where he unseated senior Jeff Smith for the top spot. This year some of his weaknesses are being exposed with fairly seasoned, but not shutdown, defensemen.

Last weekend, Saint Cloud was swept in Denver with a pair of 6-3 games.

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