Overview:

UMD is 2-5-1 overall (0-3-1 in the WCHA) and gave their last 4 points to Nebraska Omaha where they were swept in Omaha.  The Mavs outscored the Bulldogs 9 to 5 over Saturday and Sunday.  They are currently sitting at the Bottom of the WCHA and have slowly fallen out of the rankings.

UND is 4-3-1 overall (2-1-1 in the WCHA) and split their last series in St. Cloud with the Huskies.  UND took Friday night, shutting out SCSU 3-0, but fell on Saturday to 5-2.  They are currently in 6^th place in the WCHA with 5 points and ranked 6^th in the nation.

Offense:

In 8 games the Bulldogs have scored 19 goals averaging 2.38 goals per game.  Leading scorer is Mike Seidel with 5 tallies, followed by Tony Cameranesi & Joe Basaraba with 3 and Austin Farley & Justin Crandall with 2.  Wade Bergman leads defenders with 8 points followed by Andy Welinski with 3.  On an interesting note, Caleb Herbert has yet to score this year; he had 14 goals and 33 points last year.

In 8 games North Dakota has scored 24 goals averaging 3 goals per game.  Mark Macmillan, Rocco Grimaldi and Connor Gaarder lead with 3 goals each, all freshman.  Danny Kristo leads UND in points with 7, but only 1 goal.  Derek Forbort leads all defenseman with 5 points, followed by Nick Mattson with 3.

Defense:

Minnesota Duluth allows, on average, 2.88 goals per game in the 8 games they have played against.  They have allowed the most goals in the 1^st period with 10, 6 goals in the 2^nd period and 7 in the 3^rd.

Freshman goalie Matt McNeely has played 62.2% of the time allowing 2.78 goals per game with a .892 save percentage.  He is 1-3-1 overall.  McNeely has faced 130 shots, allowing 14 goals in his 5 games.

Junior goalie Aaron Crandall has played 36.5% of the time, but no conference play, allowing 3.05 goals per game with a .898 save percentage.  He is 1-2-0 overall.  Crandall has faced 79 shots, allowing 9 goals in the 3 games he has played.

North Dakota averages only 2.12 allowed goals per game in their 8 games.  Most of those goals, 8, have come in the 3^rd period while 3 have come in the 1^st and 6 in the 2^nd.

Junior goalie Clarke Saunders has played 74.9% of the time allowing 1.98 goals per game and stopping .931% of pucks.  He is 3-2-1 overall.  Saunders has faced 174 shots, stopping all but 12.

Freshman goalie Zane Gothberg has played 24.4% of the time allowing 2.54 goals per game with a .902 save percentage.  He is 1-1-0 overall.  Gotherberg has faced 51 shots, allowing 5 of them to pass.

(Photo: Dave Harwig - http://viewthroughmylens.net/)

Special Teams:

The Bulldogs have actually had a successful power play this year.  They have converted 10 times in 43 attempts for 23.3%.  The penalty kill isn’t as good, but not terrible.  The Dogs have killed 33 of the 41 penalties for 80.5%.  Mike Seidel leads the team with 4 power play goals, followed by Tony Cameranesi with 2 then Austin Farley, Joe Basaraba, Andy Welinski and Cal Decowski with 1.

North Dakota is 5 for 29 on the power play, converting 17.2% of the time.  The strong aspect is their penalty kill with is at 87.5%, killing 21 of their 24 penalties.  UND’s Mark MacMillan, Dillon Simpson, Carter Rowney, Bryn Chyzyk and Connor Gaarder each have 1 power play goal.  Mark MacMillan has the only shorthanded goal for UND.

The Verdict:

This team is hungry.  If not hungry, starving.  The winless streak UMD is on hasn't happened since when...  2008-2009?  If we can find a way to stay out of the penalty box and play aggresively for 6 periods this weekend there is no reason tUMD can't find at least 2 points.  If anything is to happen, i'll predict UND on Friday and the Dogs on Saturyday.  UND is 0-3-1 on Saturdays this year, so that will play a key part as well.  

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Dominic Zombo finished off the weekend with 5 points against the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.  He had 2 assists on Saturday and tallied 2 goals and an assist on Sunday afternoon.  UNO swept the Bulldogs this weekend at Omaha.

(Photo: www.WCHA.com)

Denver swept Minnesota State in Mankato, North Dakota split at St. Cloud, Colorado College swept Bemidji State at home, Minnesota brought back 3 points from Alaska Anchorage and Nebraska Omaha swept Minnesota Duluth in Omaha.

Friday:
Denver 4 at Minnesota State 3
North Dakota 3 at St. Cloud State 0
Bemidji State 2 at Colorado College 3
Minnesota 4 at Alaska Anchorage 0

Saturday:
Denver 3 at Minnesota State 2
Minnesota Duluth 2 at Nebraska Omaha 3
North Dakota 2 at St. Cloud State 5
Bemidji State 3 at Colorado College 6
Minnesota 2 at Alaska Anchorage 2 OT

Sunday:
Minnesota Duluth 3 at Nebraska Omaha 6

WCHA Standings:

			WCHA					OVERALL
	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	W	L	T	GF	GA
Denver	10	5	1	0	23	12	7	1	0	33	15
Nebraska Omaha	9	4	1	1	21	15	6	3	1	34	23
Colorado College	8	4	0	0	17	9	7	3	0	36	27
St. Cloud State	8	4	2	0	19	13	6	4	0	36	25
Minnesota	7	3	2	1	18	16	6	2	1	31	18
North Dakota	5	2	1	1	12	9	4	3	1	24	17
Bemidji State	3	1	2	1	11	14	2	3	1	16	16
Wisconsin	3	1	2	1	8	10	1	4	1	11	16
Alaska Anchorage	2	0	2	2	6	13	2	3	3	17	24
Michigan Tech	2	1	5	0	14	23	2	6	0	24	31
Minnesota State	2	1	5	0	14	23	3	5	2	27	32
Minnesota Duluth	1	0	3	1	7	13	2	5	1	19	23

Scoring Leaders:

Player	Team	Goals	Assists	Points
Nic Dowd	SCSU	6	8	14
Drew LeBlanc	SCSU	5	9	14
Drew Shore	DU	5	8	13

Freshman Scoring:

Player	Team	Goals	Assists	Points
Nolan Zajac	SCSU	2	6	8
Kalle Kossila	SCSU	4	4	8
Tony Cameranesi	UMD	3	4	7

Goalies:

Player	Team	GA Avg.	Save %
Clarke Saunders	UND	1.98	0.931
Sam Brittain	DU	2.02	0.938
Adam Wilcox	UM	1.58	0.924

Scoring Offense:

Team	Goals/GM
Denver	4.12
Colorado College	3.6
St. Cloud State	3.6
Minnesota	3.44
Nebraska Omaha	3.4

Scoring Defense:

Team	Goals/GM
Denver	1.88
Minnesota	2
North Dakota	2.12
Nebraska Omaha	2.3
St. Cloud State	2.5

Penalty Minutes:

Team	Minutes/GM
Minnesota Duluth	19
Denver	17
Minnesota State	16.6
Alaska Anchorage	14.9
Michigan Tech	13.1

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Not quite sure I want to re-live what happened this weekend.  It was awful.  The Bulldogs, or better yet, the Puppies, struggled.  My whole hope for this year was for the Dogs to be able to use the talent they had without being caught up in typical freshman-like errors, which this weekend, did not happen.

highlights can be found HERE

www.omavs.com

Saturday night wasn't ungodly awful, but it wasn't by any means good.  The UMD Bulldogs opened the game giving up a goal within the first 30 seconds.  That right there can give you a pretty good idea at how the rest of the game was played.  It was ugly to listen to.  UMD proved the whole "penalty box" label with 2 majors (DQ and misconduct).  They finished off the game with 8 penalties and 38 total penalty minutes which is highly unacceptable.  Mike Seidel and Tony Cameranesi were able to score in the first period, which finished in a 2-2 tie, but it was all coasting and a simple lack of luck for UMD for the rest of the game.  The dogs led in shots with 32 to UNO's 25 but lost the game 3 to 2.

Sunday afternoon I figured would be better, and it seemed to start out that way.  UMD took its first lead of the series with thanks to Mike Seidel making it 1 to 0 just 4 minutes into the game.  The lead fell before the period could expire but Joe Basaraba was able to bury one just before the end of the first period sounded.  The second period belonged to the Mavs, scoring 2 more goals, making the score 4 to 2.  The third period started with a nice goal from Austin Farley which game me a little hope of a comeback, but UNO was able to put 2 more by UMD goalie Matt McNeely to make the final score 6 to 3.  UMD was able to reduce its penalties to 4 and did outshoot the mavericks34-28, but it wasn't enough.

Team chemistry will come in time as well as the needed discipline to stay out of the box.  As for now, UMD will have a short week of practice before heading to Grand Forks to play an even more difficult series between North Dakota.  We can all pray something clicks this week at practice!

Scoring from this weekend:
Tony Cameranesi - 1-3-4
Wade Bergman - 0-3-3
Mike Seidel - 2-0-2
Austin Farley - 1-1-2
Joe Basaraba - 1-0-1
Justin Crandall - 0-1-1
Andy Welinski - 0-1-1

Matt McNeely - 0-2-0, 9 goals on 66 shots.


The University of Minnesota Duluth's longest winless streak since the '08-'09 season :(

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Here at Bulldog Country I am privileged to use photographs taken by a very skilled individual.  I give him credit in his photos but his photography is very good and deserves a special attention.

Dave Harwig is a photographer that captures many events around the greater Duluth area for the website viewthroughmylens.net.  He has many great action shots located on his website and if you enjoy photography or Duluth sports in general, I urge you to check out his pictures.

Thank you Dave for sharing such amazing shots and also for letting me post them!

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Now, 4 weeks down in the WCHA, where does each team stand?  How do they compare to the preseason polls?  And by the way, 6 teams ranked on the national level in the WCHA isn't to shabby aye?

(http://letsgodu.blogspot.com/)

1) (3)Denver   3-1-0 (5-1-0)

Denver had a little bit of a bump last weekend as they lost to St. Cloud at home, but came back to beat them 6 to 1.  They lead the league in both scoring offense and defense and have one hell of a power play.  This week they're at Mankato State.

2) (6)North Dakota   2-1-0 (3-2-1)

North Dakota has been playing pretty well, despite some early season bumps.  They split with a ver good Boston University team at home last weekend, putting 6 total goals in the back of the net throughout the weekend.  This week they play at SCSU, which will be a very good test for this team.

3) (15)St. Cloud State   3-1-0 (5-3-0)

Since SCSU's losses to New Hampshire at the beginning of the year, they have out-scored their opponents 26 to 11.  But at home, they're outscoring foe 22 to 6.  Its hard to look past this team.  They play North Dakota this coming weekend, at home, so there is a definite possibility the Huskies may find a way to run up the scoreboard and continue the home win streak.

4) (2)Minnesota   2-2-0 (5-2-0)

I can't say I'm to impressed with the way the Gophers have been playing, but they have to much talent to place them any lower then this, right now anyway.  The Gophs suffered a loss to the Mankato State Mavericks last weekend which made some fans panic.  Lucia and the gang head up to Alaska Anchorage this weekend to play the Seawolves, whatever that is, hoping for an away sweep.

5) (19)Colorado College   2-0-0 (5-3-0)

This is one tricky team to rank.  They went hard at the beginning of the season winning the first 4 games, only to lose the next 3.  They just were able to sweep Wisconsin in Madison last weekend which may end up meaning they fixed the 3 loss "glitch".  CC heads to Bemidji State this weekend.

6) (20)Minnesota Duluth   0-1-1 (2-3-1)

The Puppies are coming off a restful bye week, but previously were outplayed by the Badgers at home, only managing 1 point from the series.  Be mindful that this team is very young and will make the mistakes you see young teams make, but the talent they have makes me want to place them where they are.  Once lines start to click, watch for the UMD Bulldogs to start climbing.  Dogs are away at Omaha this weekend.

7) Nebraska Omaha   2-1-1 (4-3-1)

UNO has had its fair share of wins and losses this year to teams all over the boards, talent wise.  After managing only 1 point from Bemidji State at home 2 weekends ago, UNO went to Michigan Tech and swept the Huskies.  So, it's hard to say where the Mavs are exactly.  They host UMD this weekend in what should be a fun match-up.

8) Bemidji State   1-0-1 (2-1-1)

Bemidji State is my "surprise" team this year.  I'm hoping they end up getting home ice and can shock the rest of the conference in it's last year (as it stands now).  The Beavers are playing pretty well, only losing one game so far this year.  Much credit should be given to goalie Andrew Walsh, who leads the WCHA with a 1.44 GAA and a .955 save percentage, so he's a stud to say the least.  Bemidji had a bye week last week but took 3 points from UNO at Omaha the week before.  This week they're at CC.

9) Michigan Tech   1-5-0 (2-6-0)

Michigan Tech has been performing under expectation for many people who follow college hockey.  After beating Minnesota 5 to 3 at home, Tech has been unable to find a win, losing 5 straight games and letting opponents score 20 times.  This weekend Tech gets a break before traveling to Bemidji State.

10) Wisconsin   1-2-1 (1-4-1)

If you haven't heard yet, Mark Zengerle, Wisconsin's leading scorer from last year and debatably one of the top offensive players in the league broke a finger and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks.  That is why Wisconsin is so low on my list.  Also, being swept at home by the Colorado College Tigers doesn't help them out either.  Sorry Badger fans, but until Mark and Nik are back in the lineup, this team could potentially have some problems.

11) Alaska Anchorage   0-1-1 (2-2-2)

I suppose ranking UAA isn't any easier than most other WCHA teams.  To sum up UAA, they have tied with North Dakota, beat Merrimack, but then lost to North Dakota as well.  Looking at they're record it looks like they're a pretty decent team, but i'm not convinced yet.  The seawolves take on the Minnesota Gophers at home this weekend.

12) Mankato State   1-3-0 (3-3-2)

After watching this team play last weekend I am having trouble believing in them.  MSU did just beat the Gophers, I'll give them that, but the Gophs are strugging right now, only an ignorant fan will argue that.  Mankato also we demolished by SCSU and even tied Alabama Huntsville.  They had a lot of bad passes in the game I was able to watch and struggled breaking out.  I'm hoping for the best for this team but they travel to Denver this weekend, and those games will not be easy.



As always, if you disagree, tell me!  I want to here what you have to say :)

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This week we have many interesting games to be played in the WCHA.  Teams are starting to set themselves apart from others, some going in to panic mode and others embracing strengths and earning wins.  Denver and St. Cloud State stand in first place in the WCHA with 6 points each.  My predictions didn't go so hot last week but hell, why not give it another go.

Denver at Minnesota State:
Honestly, to me, this one is pretty easy to predict from looking at stats, but this is college hockey.  Denver is coming off a big 6 to 1 win over SCSU, but lost on Friday night.  Denver leads the league in both scoring offense and defense at 4.33 goals per game while only allowing 1.67.  Pretty impressive.  Mankato on the other hand is towards the bottom in both categories.  But I wouldn't necessarily guarantee anything.  Mankato is coming off a big win against Minnesota and if they can find a way to stay out of the box and kill the penalties they do get, they could put up a decent fight.  BUT, Denver sweeps.

North Dakota at St. Cloud State:
This is one of my "series to watch".  North Dakota hasn't been as consistant as Hakstol may like, but you can't count these guys out, ever.  They split with Boston University last weekend at Ralph in what was actually a pretty great series.  What we do know is SCSU has been playing very well and averages 3.88 goals per game which may be deadly against if North Dakota can't get their defense going.  On the other hand, ND only allows, on average, 2 goals per game which could give the Huskies a world of problems.  Split.

Bemidji State at Colorado College:
We're full of good match-ups this week, I like this one as well.  Colorado College is coming off a sweep of Wisconsin at Kohl, so they high expectations and rolling thunder on their sides.  But Bemidji looks a hell of a lot better than last year.  BSU Goalie Andrew Walsh leads the all WCHA goaltenders in GGA and save percentage with a 1.48 and .955%.  Those numbers alone aren't going to help anything that CC can bring to the table as far as their offense is concerned.  I'm sure Colorado College is hoping for a sweep here but I'm going with the Beavers taking at least one night.  Split.

Minnesota at Alaska Anchorage:
Gophers say they're not in panic mode just yet, but the pressure is on for Don Lucia and his gang.  After suffering 2 loses to 2 unranked teams thus far, the Gophers have fallen short of preseason polls and Minnesota expectations, but there is still plenty of hockey to be played.  UAA isn't exactly an easy team to predict, either.  Anchorage was able to tie North Dakota and beat Merrimack 6 to 3.  Another interesting note is both teams have played Canisius, Minnesota beat them 1 to 0 and Anchorage beat them 2 to 0.  I'm sorry but I am unable to count Minnesota out here, but cannot give them the sweep.  Split.

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Chris Knowlton was able to score a hat trick on Saturday night as the Denver Pioneers skated by the St. Cloud State Huskies 6 to 1.  Knowlton finished the night with 4 total points and DU split the home series with SCSU.

(DenverPioneers.com)

Denver Split with SCSU at home, Minnesota Split with Mankato State in a home-home series, Colorado College swept Wisconsin in Madison and North Dakota splits with Boston University at Ralph.

Friday:
Nebraska Omaha 2 at Michigan Tech 1
Colorado College 5 at Wisconsin 4 OT
Minnesota State 2 at Minnesota 3
St. Cloud State 3 at Denver 0

Boston University 2 at North Dakota 4

Saturday:
Nebraska Omaha 5 at Michigan Tech 3
Colorado College 3 at Wisconsin 0
Minnesota 3 at Minnesota State 5
St. Cloud State 1 at Denver 6

Boston University 4 at North Dakota 2

WCHA Standings:

			WCHA					OVERALL
	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	W	L	T	GF	GA
Denver	6	3	1	0	16	7	5	1	0	26	10
St. Cloud State	6	3	1	0	14	8	5	3	0	31	20
Nebraska Omaha	5	2	1	1	12	10	4	3	1	25	18
Colorado College	4	2	0	0	8	4	5	3	0	27	22
Minnesota	4	2	2	0	12	14	5	2	0	25	16
Bemidji State	3	1	0	1	6	5	2	1	1	11	7
North Dakota	3	1	0	1	7	4	3	2	1	19	12
Wisconsin	3	1	2	1	8	10	1	4	1	11	16
Minnesota State	2	1	3	0	9	16	3	3	2	22	25
Michigan Tech	2	1	5	0	14	23	2	6	0	24	31
Alaska Anchorage	1	0	1	1	4	7	2	2	2	15	18
Minnesota Duluth	1	0	1	1	2	4	2	3	1	14	14

Scoring Leaders:

Player	Team	Goals	Assists	Points
Nic Dowd	SCSU	6	6	12
Nick Shore	DU	5	6	11
Drew Shore	SCSU	3	8	11

Freshman Scoring:

Player	Team	Goals	Assists	Points
Kalle Kossila	SCSU	4	4	8
Rocco Grimaldi	UND	3	3	6
Nolan Zajac	DU	1	5	6
Ethan Prow	SCSU	2	4	6
Alex Petan	MTU	3	3	6

Goalies:

Player	Team	GA Avg.	Save %
Andrew Walsh	DU	1.48	0.955
Sam Brittain	BSU	1.68	0.946
Matt McNeely	UW	1.64	0.935

Scoring Offense:

Team	Goals/GM
Denver	4.33
St. Cloud State	3.88
Minnesota	3.57
Colorado College	3.38
North Dakota	3.17

Scoring Defense:

Team	Goals/GM
Denver	1.67
Bemidji State	1.75
North Dakota	2
Nebraska Omaha	2.25
Minnesota	2.29

Penalty Minutes:

Team	Minutes/GM
Minnesota Duluth	17.7
Denver	17
Minnesota State	15.9
Bemidji State	14
St. Cloud State	14

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No unfortunately the Pups don't play today, but there are other interesting series going to be played this weekend!  So, instead of studying for that accounting test I have to take at 2, lets review each series for this weekend and maybe throw in a pick or two!

(Photo: LetsGoDU.blogspot.com - awesome pic, I wanna shake the guys hand who made it)

(Even if Wisco is shown as the dominate team...  PSH!)

Nebraska Omaha at Michigan Tech

Being it's at home, Im going to give Tech the nod for a nice sweep this weekend.  UNO just hasn't been consistant in the few games they have played, which is okay!  The season is still very young.  But, MTU is very good at home, actually this year they've only lost once at home and are outscoring opponents 21-12.  Especially after being swept by Denver, Tech will come back strong.

Colorado College at Wisconsin

Ohh now this is going to be a fun one.  Wisconsin had a very nice 3 point weekend against tUMD Bullpuppies and played pretty decent.  CC is coming off a bad weekend at Cornell and going to be hungry for some wins.  Even after Bucky swept us here in Duluth, I'm still not convinced.  Split.

Minnesota State and Minnesota

Home and home series are always fun.  Friday the Gophs play at home and Saturday the Mavs get to play at home.  Although on paper Mankato sucks, but lets be real...   This is the WCHA, teams compete with each other no matter how good, bad or what they're nationally ranked.  This is going to be a fun series between 2 aggressive teams.  If Minnesota can eliminate defensive turnovers they've got a sweep, if not?  Mankato State gets the win on Saturday.  So thats my call.  Gophs get the W on Friday and Saturday is up for grabs.

St. Cloud State at Denver

After last weekend, we should have two games this weekend in Denver that are tied at 5's.  Both teams scored a total of 10 goals last weekend, but they both played at home.  Denver gets to say in CO this weekend as they host SCSU in what should be a fabulous series.  We know both teams can score, so which defense is going to break down first?  We'll find out.  Split.

Boston University at North Dakota

If I could afford to drive out to Forks for the weekend I would.  Talk about the hockey match-up of a the month, right?  Props to North Dakota for scheduling a tough opponent as non-conference game, and also to BU for the same.  This game is going to be rough, aggressive and yes, dirty.  If you can get the game on TV or something, watch it.  I'm not even going to publicly pick a team to win or split.  Holy wowsers get your College Hockey hat on and stay tuned.  Puck drops in a couple hours.

Dogs were not let out.  Beavers stayed in the dam and everyone found out Seawolves don't exist.

Your tUMD Bullpups, BSU Beavers and UAA Seawolves all get the weekend off.  So feel free to get any fall chores done outside or catch up on some work because it looks like the NHL just isn't going to make this year, so weekend belong to College Hockey.  Have a good weekend and enjoy the games we can watch!  WCHA recap coming sunday!

What are your predictions??  Tweet or comment!  twitter: @bulldog_country

as always comment whether you love or hate my writing and...

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