Here come the Dawgs. UMD @ The Ralph.

[Wilbur]

True test #2 visits REA this weekend.  Reigning NCHC goalie of the week Ryan Fanti and the always good defensively bulldogs are in town after taking five of six points against @Godsmack's second favorite team.

I was a bit on the fence about how good Denver was after their showing here, but they swept a pretty good Western team (albeit at Magness where the rules are different).  I think this Duluth team is better than Denver, time will tell.

The story will be the Jammer line vs. Whatever line has Noah Cates on it.  They've experimented with breaking up the Kobe (plural) line, but you could see them together again. 

Heart says 4 points, head says split.  Wife says, "shovel the driveway and stop posting."  

[cberkas]

Fanti is on a 3-game shutout streak 

[brianvf]

2 hours ago, cberkas said:

Fanti is on a 3-game shutout streak 

Sanderson has it on his list to break that during the 1st period on Friday.   

[brianvf]

The team has been playing much better since Nashville.  Need to shore up some of the PK woes and I'm sure there's a couple that Driscoll would want back from this weekend, but you can't argue with the results.

Gaber and Sanderson are playing very well, as is Calder.
Sanderson really took the game over a few times this weekend and you just knew a goal was coming.  Pretty fun to watch, we'll be able to watch him do that in the NHL next season.

The Bulldogs will be good...I agree with Wilbur that they're a better team than Denver.
This will be the toughest test for this team so far this season, so hopefully Berry has them prepped and ready to roll!

[sioux rube]

I’ll take a split and love a sweep 

[SiouxFan100]

Duluth is my most disliked opponent. 
 
I expect we sweep every weekend 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

The goofs are my most disliked, probably never will get over that.

[Sodbuster]

18 minutes ago, BarnWinterSportsEngelstad said:

The goofs are my most disliked, probably never will get over that.

I'm with you, but Duluth is a close second.

[ksl_sioux4ever]

I'm evaluate the hostility during the dawg series vs the Denver series. The crowd at the Ralph was pretty hostile towards Denver, more than I've noticed in my 16 years off attending games there. I dislike duluth but something about playing Denver seems to get the crown intense.

[farce poobah]

Keys to the weekend, IMHO:

1.  Play as much 5x5 as possible.  Especially don't give PP's in the second period, with the long change.  Sticks stay on the ice, please.

2.  Be aggressive in pressuring the UMD breakout, and force bad passes especially in the neutral zone.  Get transition opportunities.

3.  Get some good minutes early for the 3rd D pair and 4th line, because a high intensity game can create fatigue at the end. 

4.  Use last change to create mismatches.

 

I expect Duluth to:

* Goad us into penalties, driven by emotion.   We've crossed over that edge a couple times this season, and our top guys especially can't get baited into taking majors.

* Try to get scoring lines out against UND's weakest plus-minus guys (yeah the stat can be misleading but patterns can be observed already).

*  Traffic in front of Driscoll. 

 

Prediction:  The stretches of solid team play will get longer and come more often; the disconnected play continues to shrink.  UND 4-3.  UMD 3-2 ot.

[SiouxFan100]

Isn’t Duluth the team that fakes injuries - I hate that

[siouxnatty#8]

I think we are deeper than Duluth.  If Jammer line can play as well against Duluth's top line as they did against Denver's it will force Sandy to split them up like Denver tried to.  I see Jammer line making life miserable for Cates and our depth will prove too much.  Our D is also going to be a handful for Duluth especially if Sanderson does his Curly Neal act on them.

[siouxnatty#8]

This is one of the deepest teams we have had in a long time and possibly the best D corps or one of the best D corps we've ever had.  This team is loaded with talent.

 

[Wilbur]

3 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Isn’t Duluth the team that fakes injuries - I hate that

If you are insinuating that the NCAA may or may not have used a number of their "dives" in an embellishment video......

[cberkas]

3 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Isn’t Duluth the team that fakes injuries - I hate that

I feel like 59 of the 60 teams fit this description

[siouxfaninseattle]

3 hours ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

This is one of the deepest teams we have had in a long time and possibly the best D corps or one of the best D corps we've ever had.  This team is loaded with talent.

 

Kinda hard to agree at this point. The top line doesn't hold a candle to the CBS line. The Heavy Line of '15-'16 was far better than this year's version. Defense this season has the potential to be one of the top groups but after 15, 25 and 26 the talent drops off. Plenty of talent though. The next three weekends will be key. 3 and 3 would be acceptable. 4 and 2 would be better. 5 and 1 or 6 and 0 would mean @wilbur should buy me a beer.

[brianvf]

4 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Isn’t Duluth the team that fakes injuries - I hate that

They like to dive, or at least they have in the past.  I haven't seen them play yet this year.

[SiouxBoys]

4 hours ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

This is one of the deepest teams we have had in a long time and possibly the best D corps or one of the best D corps we've ever had.  This team is loaded with talent.

 

I mean, no.

[tnt]

10 hours ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

This is one of the deepest teams we have had in a long time and possibly the best D corps or one of the best D corps we've ever had.  This team is loaded with talent.

 

I would say last year was the deepest team we have had in a long time.  Remember, Griffin Ness didn't crack the lineup a lot last year, and Jake Sanderson didn't need to come in and be a huge contributor offensively for us to be successful.  We have a stretch right now that will tell a lot about where we fit into the picture nationally. 

[siouxfan512]

Anything less than a sweeps is Dawg$hit, and unacceptable!

[The Sicatoka]

14 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Duluth is my most disliked opponent. 
 
I expect we sweep every weekend 

13 hours ago, BarnWinterSportsEngelstad said:

The goofs are my most disliked, probably never will get over that.

13 hours ago, Sodbuster said:

I'm with you, but Duluth is a close second.

 

I simplify:

I just don't like college hockey teams that wear maroon and gold. (UMn, UMD, DU, BC, and if ASU gets caught up in that, meh ... )

[The Sicatoka]

11 hours ago, siouxnatty#8 said:

... possibly the best D corps or one of the best D corps we've ever had.

I'd call it a work in progress with some strong potential and good indications. 

[siouxnatty#8]

14 hours ago, SiouxBoys said:

I mean, no.

I disagree.  We don't have a CBS line but from top to bottom I believe we are one of the deepest teams at UND in some time.  We will see in due time I guess.  

[Wilbur]

The top four guys we have at D are pretty good.  IMHO not at the 2016 level though.  

Stecher, Poolman, Ausmus, LaDue, Thompson, Wolanin/Shaw....what a group.....

We've been spoiled.

[jk]

15 hours ago, siouxfaninseattle said:

Kinda hard to agree at this point. The top line doesn't hold a candle to the CBS line. The Heavy Line of '15-'16 was far better than this year's version. Defense this season has the potential to be one of the top groups but after 15, 25 and 26 the talent drops off. Plenty of talent though. The next three weekends will be key. 3 and 3 would be acceptable. 4 and 2 would be better. 5 and 1 or 6 and 0 would mean @wilbur should buy me a beer.

Not sure this year's heavy line will be taking a back seat to any recent versions, all of which are lightweights compared to Canady, Massen and Fabian, who changed the momentum back in UND's favor repeatedly in every game down the stretch.