Minnesota vs. North Dakota Series on FSN

Good afternoon, there's some very good news for college hockey fans,  The Gophers, and the F'N Hawks will resume their historic series on November 4-5, 2016. Both games will be on Fox Sports North. For example, if you live in Texas and you have DirecTV (sports pack required) or Dish Network, you will be able to watch the series.

FOX Sports North will broadcast 17 regular-season Gopher Hockey games including the regular-season home opener vs. St. Cloud State on Oct. 21, both games in the North Dakota series on Nov. 4-5 and the regular-season finale vs. Michigan State on March 11.

Per Big Ten release, UND-Minnesota game times will be at 7 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday (on Fox Sports North).

— Brad E. Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) September 26, 2016

Sunday afternoon Pontifications

I am surprised at after all of these years, four to be exact, this hit is still a topic discussion on message boards. This check in question happened on March 13, 2010. Yep, no doubt it, this was a bad,and dangerous hit, but Frattin is no Matt Cooke and he was given a one-game suspension for this hit. I laugh at the suggestions that he should be thrown out of hockey for life.

Also, contrary to public opinion, North Dakota is no longer a bunch of knuckle dragging  Neanderthal  goons, as some opposition fans like to call them. They're not angels either. UND is ranked 18 out of 59 teams in Penalty Minutes, and averages 12.9 minutes per game. Compared to team of the past, that's not very high.

If you haven't been paying attention to UND hockey, they've changed the way they play. Gone are the big thumpers, UND is now more of a skating team, they play a smart tenacious checking game. Defensively, UND is the top scoring defensive teams in the nation, averaging  2.76 points per game.

Since NCAA went to current format in 2003, Minnesota & BC are 19-1 in regionals in their home state, 7-8 in regionals out of state.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 6, 2014

Gophers have played in 4 Twin Cities regionals, made Frozen Four all 4 times (8-0). They've played in 5 elsewhere, made 0 FFs (2-5).
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 6, 2014

This kind of piggy backs Brad's tweet. I always liked the argument that the Xcel Energy Center is not a home game for the Minnesota Gophers. Yep, and Worcester isn't a home game for the Eagles either right?  The Xcel Energy Center is about seven miles from the University of Minnesota's campus.

Breaking it down further, after winning the 2014 NCAA West Regional, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are now 23-13-0 all-time at the Xcel Energy Center. That's a .639 winning percentage. The Gophers had a (3-1-1, .700) record this season, their only loss, was to the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-1)in the Big Ten Hockey Tourney.

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A few things...

Coach Hakstol was on the 9-Noon show today. You can listen here at the 15:15 mark.

If you want to walk down memory lane here is one... [Gopher Homer Alert]

Game Day; UND vs. UMN

Game Day… It’s here, the game that fans and players mark down on their calendar.

This is one of my favorite Rivalries; it’s the day that I can’t wait for, the weekend that I look forward to and the opposition team that I hate the most. When I see the hated “M” I see red.

It’s about bragging rights in the family. My Brother-in-law Andy Brink was once a Golden Rodent.  But he was actually a Sioux fan before he became a Golden Gopher.

“My favorite memory NCAA Memory is from before I played,” Brink said. “I grew up in Bemidji and grew up a Sioux fan. I remember going to Sioux games as a kid and still have a Sioux #20 Bob Joyce jersey. UND’s 1987 NCAA Championship is my fondest memory because I followed that team really close. There were also 2 players from my hometown on their roster and George Pelawa (from Bemidji) would have been a big part of that team had he not died in a car accident in the fall of ’86.”

This is also a sad time as well; I am going to miss bantering with Andy’s Brother Steve who passed away after a battle with Skin Cancer this past year.  We had some great back and forth moments over the years on Facebook. I hope Steve’s watching down from Heaven as tonight, hopefully UND runs over UMN.  

For practical purposes, this is still Sioux vs. Gophers, at least in my mind.  

This is the last time the two teams will play during the regular season for some time. Hall of fame writer Virg Foss has this article in today’s Herald.

Former Gopher Lou Nanne would like to see the rivalry continue.  

UND: The Weekend Ahead (1/18-1/19).

Tyler Buckentine and Joe Paisley from USCHO make their picks for this weekend’s games. Both writers are predicting a split.

Breaking down the Minnesota vs. North Dakota Rivalry.

The Grand Forks Herald has five memorable UND wins… Of those five, the 2005 and 2007 regionals are two of my favorite games.

UND: The Weekend Ahead (1/18-1/19)

The University of North Dakota travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take on the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in a pivotal two game WCHA series at Mariucci Arena.

Matchup: North Dakota (16-6-3, 8-3-3 WCHA) #6 versus #1 Minnesota (16-3-3, 8-3-3 WCHA).

Dates: January 18-19, 2013

Times: Jan. 18: 7:07p.m. (CT); Jan. 19: 5:07 p.m. (CT)

Radio:  UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM) – The Fox.

TV: Fox Sports North, DirecTV 668.

Live Stats:  GopherSports.com

Series History: UND trails the all-time series with the Gophers 130-137-14 (.488). UND has a 51-73-6 against the Gophers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under head coach Dave Hakstol, UND has a 17-13-3 (.561) record against the Gophers. UND was 2-4-0 against the Gophers last year.

Players to Watch:

North Dakota: Forwards: Danny Kristo (13g-17a—30pts), Rocco Grimaldi (7g-10a—17pts), Mark MacMillan (8g-9a—17pts), Corbin Knight (10g-21a—31pts), Drake Caggiula (5g-6a—11pts). Defense:  Dillon Simpson (2g-11a—13pts), Andrew MacWilliam (1g-5a—6pts), Derek Forbort (4g-7a—11pts). Goaltenders: Clarke Saunders 10–3, 2.28 GAA, .919 save percentage, Zane Gothberg 3-2-0, 2.99 GAA, .897 save percentage.

Minnesota Golden Gophers: Forwards: Erik Haula (9g-17a—26pts), Kyle Rau (13g-12a—25pts), Nick Bjugstad (12g-10a—22pts), Zach Budish (7g-12a—19pts), Defense:  Nate Schmidt (3g-19a—22pts) Mike Reilly (2g-9a—11pts). Goalies: Adam Wilcox 15-2-3, 1.65 GAA, .925 save percentage, Michael Shibrowski 1-1-0, 3.18 GAA, .881 save percentage.

UND Official Web Page

Minnesota Golden Gophers official Web Page

Cross posted at the Hockey Writers Combine...

Sioux nickname reason UND's not playing UMN

There is an old saying, ‘I guess if you repeat something enough times it becomes true’. Doh’k! I have pretty much covered this subject in this blog post and here as well.

Roman Augustoviz, The Roman Empire --- These strong rivals will not meet in the regular season again until the 2016-17 season, according to what Gophers coach Don Lucia said on his weekly radio show on Monday.

"We are going to get them the first available opportunity back on our schedule," Lucia said.

That opportunity won't come until the 2016-17 season. Yikes. Of course, they could meet in the NCAA tournament, but that's not a given.

Next season the Gophers will be in the new six-team Big Ten Conference, UND in the new eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Lucia said the Gophers couldn't schedule North Dakota as a nonconference opponent because, at the time the current agreements were being made, UND still had an American Indian nickname. (The U of M has a policy prohibiting its teams from playing nonconference opponents with such nicknames. Now, of course, UND has dropped its Fighting Sioux nickname.)

I think keeping this rivalry series alive, is a no-brainer  I don’t know any UND fans that want this historic rivalry to end. In my humble opinion, this is one of the great rivalries in college hockey. I read some statements from Minnesota Gopher fans this past week that are head scratchers; do they really want to watch a tame, unexciting series where there is no emotion on the ice? That's what you're going to get with Penn State and Ohio State.

If you ask the players, they love playing in these games; I have never heard any of them say that they don’t want to play Minnesota. The UND vs. UMN games for the players, is one of these series that they look forward to. I have hard them say this at the Wednesday press conferences.

This was one of my favorite statements this week, was from a fan on Gopher Puck Live. From a random fan said… “The Gophers are the better team this year, but if North Dakota is allowed to do their usual after the whistle shenanigans I can see this series getting dirty again. I totally understand why Lucia is avoiding playing the dirty Canadians after this season. Why risk one of your star players getting injured over some North Dakota cheap shot.”

By some of the comments I have read this week, you’d think that UND was a bunch of talentless hacks that have a 5-11-2 record and have yet to win a game against an opponent with a winning record. From some of the comments I have read, you'd think that UND spends all of their time skating up and down the ice taking liberties with the opposition. That hasn't happened this season. This year’s UND hockey team is not a bunch of knuckle dragging Nethanderals, UND is only ranked 30th nationally in penalties. So that dog doesn't hunt.

Maybe some need to look up the word rivalry in the dictionary.

I did and this is what Merriam-Webster has to say; a competitive or antagonistic state or condition. That would probably be an accurate definition of the UND vs. UMN rivalry.

Related articles

• A few things... UMN vs. UND (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota hesitant to play North Dakota in hockey for now... (thehockeywriters.com)

UND vs. UMN series notes

Cross Posted @ INSIDE HOCKEY...

The University of North Dakota entertains the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena.

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: TV: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FOX College Sports Central,
FOX Sports North, DirecTV 617 and 668.

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: UNDSports.com

Records and Rankings: UND (11-8-2 overall, 7-7-0 WCHA) UND is ranked 17^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota Beat Clarkson (3-1) in the College Hockey Classic.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-7-1, 10-4-0 WCHA);  ranked 5^th in the latest USCHO poll. Minnesota lost to Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame Game (4-3) last weekend.

Series History:  UND is 15-11-3 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers since head coach Dave Hastol took over the coaching reigns at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. The Gophers swept UND (2-0 and 3-2) earlier back in November.  The Minnesota Gophers lead the all-time series against UND by a 135-128-14 record.

Players to Watch:

For UND: Forwards: Danny Kristo (11-13a—24pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21pts) and Brock Nelson (15g-9a—24pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (5g-8a—13pts), Dillion Simpson, (0g-11a—11pts), Ben Blood (2g-8a—10pts).  Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .894 save percentage and a  2.77 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .918 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average.

UND Injuries: Forward Rocco Grimaldi is out, forward Corban Knight and defenseman Derek Forbort are questionable for this weekend, forward Derek Rodwell is out for the season (shoulder surgery).

For the Gophers: Forwards: Kyle Rau (12g-10a—22pts), Nick Bjugstad 17g-11a—28pts), Erik Haula (10g-17a—28pts), Zach Budish (6g-14a—20pts). Defense: Nate Schmidt (1g-23a—24pts), Mark Alt (4g-10a—14pts). Goalie: Kent Patterson .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average.

Key Numbers:

1 – UND goalie Aaron Dell has one shutout so far this season.

1 – UMN forward Kyle Rau is tied for first nationally in game winning goal with 5.

1 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked first in the nation for shutouts with 6.

1 – UMN is ranked first in scoring nationally.

3 – UMN is ranked third in the WCHA for penalty minutes.

4 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked fourth in the nation in goals per game .81.

6 – UMN is ranked sixth nationally in defense.

7 – UMN is ranked seventh on the power play

8 – UND forward Brock Nelson is ranked eight in the nation for goals per game .71.

9 – UND forward Danny Kristo is ranked ninth in the nation for game winning goals with three.

9 – UND forward Brock Nelson has nine power play goals for UND to lead the nation.

10 – UMN has 10 conference wins so far this season.

11 – UND is ranked 11^th in penalty minutes in the WCHA.

11 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked 11^th nationally for points per game.

12 – UND is ranked 12^th on the power play nationally.

13 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 13^th in the nation for assists per game with 0.83.

13 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked 13 nationally in goals against average.

18 – UND is ranked 18^th in the Pairwise Rankings.

21 – UND is ranked 21^st in scoring nationally.

23 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 23^rd nationally for points per game.

25 – UND forwards Danny Kristo and Brock Nelson are ranked nationally for points per game.

29 – UND is ranked 29^th nationally in defense.

Other games in the WCHA: Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech, Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha, Wisconsin at Minnesota State, Bemidji State at Denver, Saint Cloud State at Colorado College

A battle between two states; Minnesota vs. North Dakota?

Tonight the 17th ranked University of North Dakota; formerly known as the Fighting Sioux hockey team, hosts the No. 5th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers in a two-game series at Ralph Engelstad Arena (7:37 tonight, 7:07 p.m. Saturday); it will be the last time these two teams play at the Ralph Engelstad Arena as WCHA foes.

On a sad note; this series is historic because it will be the first series that the UND Men’s Hockey team will no longer be known as the Fighting Sioux as well.

Here are some of the stories of significance leading up to this historic series between UND and UMN. Roman Augustoviz and Chris Miller of the Star and Tribune break down their picks for this weekend’s WCHA series.

Minnesota at North Dakota

Chris: So Roman tells me one of my favorite hockey teams can’t use its nickname any more and I say “What? I have to call them the Charleston hockey club now? And what’s the story with that dog?” Prediction: Two ties.

Roman: The Gophers have either beat or played everybody close. Six of their seven losses have been by one goal. So Chris is not being totally silly be forecasting two ties. U beat UND 2-0 and 3-2 in series at Mariucci in early November.

But UND is surging, 7-1-1 in its last nine games and it’s after Christmas now. Coach Dave Hakstol’s team always get better. His teams have a winning percentage of .577 before Christmas in his eight years at UND, and .707 after. He needs two wins to reach 200. Gino Gasparini is the winning coach at North Dakota with 392 wins, Blais is next with 262. Prediction: Split

Roman Augustoviz from the Star Tribune has a story about the Erratic Gophers hockey team remains a mystery [Star Tribune]

A Tradition of Excellence has his Thursday Morning and Friday Morning Coffee additions. I also like coffee, Caribou or Starbucks are my poison.

Brad Schlossman has a bunch of good stuff to read leading up to the tilt at the REA; UND - Minnesota week: One last WCHA tilt at The Ralph [Grand Forks Herald]

UND Men's hockey: UND, Gophers to resume rivalry [Grand Forks Herald]

UND Men's Hockey: Finding a way to get it done [Grand Forks Herald]

Here is the Gophers Puck Live Podcast. [Click to Listen]

Here is the link to KFAN and Cardinal’s Country Clomp Feast [KFAN.COM]

Tyler Buckentine and Brian Halverson from USCHO.COM broke down this weekend’s series between UND and UMN.

No. 5 Minnesota (15-7-1, 11-3-0 WCHA) at No. 17 North Dakota (11-8-2, 7-7-0 WCHA)

Tyler: The Gophers have played rather sluggish since Christmas, with home losses to Northeastern, and then Notre Dame last weekend. What a great time to have a rivalry game on the schedule to wake Minnesota up. UND isn’t head-and-shoulders above the Gophers in the physical play department as evidenced by the first two games between these teams in November. UND is banged up but slowly getting healthier but nothing will slow the team down this weekend. This one’s going to be fun to watch as always and I don’t see either team letting the other grab a big edge all weekend. Split

Brian: Minnesota holds a 5-3-2 edge over the series’ last 10 games but North Dakota is 6-3-1 vs. the Gophers in the most recent 10 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The last time Minnesota traveled to Grand Forks holding a double-digit lead in the rankings, No. 17 UND swept the seventh-ranked Gophers (5-3, 7-3) on Jan. 9-10, 2009. Neither team has swept a four-game season series since Minnesota managed the feat in 1991-92 (4-2, 8-2 in Mpls.; 10-1, 5-3 in GF) and it won’t happen this year either. North Dakota, winners of seven of its past nine (7-1-1) games, sweeps the series.

Nate Wells from SBNation has this write up on the Minnesota Gophers. Gophers Hockey: Erratic Play Catches Up To Minnesota In 4-3 Loss [Daily Gopher]

Sean Lee talks to assistant UND coach Carey Eades about the Gophers, Canada and the Packers [UND Sports]