Ice Time - UND vs. Bemidji State

Friday, Jan. 12, 2018

No. 7 UND vs.
Bemidji State

When: 7:07 tonight, 7:07 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Sanford Center, Bemidji tonight; Ralph Engelstad Arena on Saturday.

TV: MidcoSN on Saturday only.

Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM).

Webcast: NCHC.tv on Saturday only.

Live blog: undhockey.areavoices.com.

TEAM STATISTICS

UND

Scoring

24 Christian Wolanin jr d 6-12--18

8 Nick Jones jr f 6-9--15

19 Shane Gersich jr f 6-8--14

16 Grant Mismash fr f 5-9--14

22 Rhett Gardner jr f 5-9--14

6 Colton Poolman so d 5-8--13

14 Austin Poganski sr f 6-3--9

25 Joel Janatuinen jr f 2-7--9

26 Cole Smith so f 4-4--8

2 Gabe Bast fr d 1-7--8

18 Collin Adams fr f 5-2--7

29 Jordan Kawaguchi fr f 2-5--7

27 Ludvig Hoff so f 2-4--6

28 Hayden Shaw jr d 1-5--6

3 Matt Kiersted fr d 2-2--4

5 Casey Johnson so d 1-3--4

4 Andrew Peski so d 1-3--4

10 Johnny Simonson sr f 2-1--3

9 Dixon Bowen so f 1-2--3

11 Trevor Olson sr f 0-3--3

7 Zach Yon so f 1-1--2

20 Josh Rieger fr d 0-2--2

Goaltending

33 Cam Johnson sr 7-4-2 2.00 .909

1 Peter Thome fr 4-2-3 2.28 .913

BEMIDJI STATE

Scoring

14 Kyle Bauman sr f 8-16--24

21 Gerry Fitzgerald sr f 6-17--23

6 Jay Dickman jr f 11-6--17

27 Adam Brady so f 6-10--16

32 Zach Whitecloud so d 3-9--12

11 Charlie Combs fr f 8-3--11

26 Myles Fitzgerald sr f 7-4--11

29 Justin Baudry jr d 5-6--11

15 Jordan Heller sr f 2-6--8

16 Aaron Miller fr f 1-7--8

7 T.J. Roo jr f 2-4--6

8 Brendan Harris fr f 2-4--6

20 Dillon Eichstadt jr d 1-4--5

2 Dan Billett jr d 1-3--4

3 Tommy Muck so d 0-4--4

4 Carter Struthers sr d 1-2--3

13 Mike Soucier jr f 1-2--3

23 Hampus Sjodahl so f 1-2--3

9 Ethan Somoza fr f 0-3--3

5 Ian Janco jr d 1-1--2

19 Leo Fitzgerald sr f 1-0--1

12 Dylan McCrory so f 1-0--1

1 Michael Bitzer sr g 0-1--1

22 Tyler Vold fr d 0-0--0

28 Connor Brown-Maloski fr f 0-0--0

18 Brad Johnson fr d 0-0--0

Goaltending

1 Michael Bitzer sr 11-5-5 2.19 .911

30 Jack Bugart so 0-1-0 4.16 .900

35 Henry Johnson fr 0-0-0 0.00 1.000

TALE OF THE TAPE

UND

Record: 11-6-5

Ranking: 7

Offense: 2.91 (29th)

Defense: 2.18 (6th)

Power play: 19.8 (25th)

Penalty kill: 85.7 (11th)

Goaltending: .909 (17th)

Bemidji State

Record: 11-6-5

Ranking: NR

Offense: 3.14 (18th)

Defense: 2.41 (13th)

Power play: 23.8 (10th)

Penalty kill: 90.3 (2nd)

Goaltending: .905 (20th)

NOTES

*** Since Christmas, former UND standout Nick Schmaltz is tied as the NHL’s leading scorer with 12 points. Schmaltz, who plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, is on a five-game point streak, including a three-point game against Ottawa. Patrick Kane leads Chicago in scoring. Schmaltz is second and Jonathan Toews is third.

*** Troy Stecher and Schmaltz both played in their 100th NHL game in the last week. The 2016 NCAA national championship team members at UND jumped quickly into the NHL as rookies last season. Stecher plays for the Vancouver Canucks along with NHL All-Star Brock Boeser.

*** Thief River Falls product Emily Bergland of Bemidji State is the WCHA offensive player of the week. 

*** Bismarck’s Britta Curl is the fourth-leading scorer for the U.S. at the IIHF World Under-18 tournament, which will hold its semifinal round today in Russia. Curl has three points in three games for the unbeaten Americans. Curl is committed to Wisconsin.

*** The Denver Post reported that Finland will not take Denver star Henrik Borgstrom to the Olympics, meaning the Pioneers will only lose one player during the PyeongChang Games -- forward Troy Terry (U.S.). The Pioneers could have lost as many as three.

*** St. Lawrence's top defenseman, Ben Finkelstein, has decided to leave school. The sophomore Florida Panthers draft pick was the team's third-leading scorer with 12 points in 20 games.

*** According to TSN's Darren Dreger, UMass rookie defenseman Cale Makar turned down a spot on the Canadian Olympic hockey team. Makar just returned to school from the World Junior Championship, where he helped Canada win gold.

THE FOCUS

Bemidji State goaltender Michael Bitzer, a finalist for the Mike Richter Award as the country’s top goalie a year ago, came back for his senior season. He started the season by going 5-5-4 with a .901 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average. But since Dec. 9, Bitzer is 6-0-1 with a .934 save percentage and a 1.41 goals-against average. He can be a game-changer on any night.

THE PICK

UND has yet to lose a game when scoring more than one goal. That’s the key number. But Friday nights have been a problem -- particularly the first period -- and if the Fighting Hawks don’t get off to a strong start, it will spell a loss against one of the country’s hottest teams. On Saturday, the Beavers will have to go to The Ralph, where they are 1-16-2.

BSU 2-1, UND 4-1

NCHC

Con. Overall

W-L-T Pts. W-L-TSt. Cloud St. 7-2-1 22 12-2-3UND 6-4-2 22 11-6-5Denver 6-4-2 21 12-6-4Western Mich. 6-4-0 18 11-8-1Miami 4-5-1 13 9-9-2Colorado Coll. 3-5-2 12 9-8-3Minn. Duluth 3-7-0 9 9-9-3Omaha 3-7-0 9 10-9-1 Today’s games

North Dakota at Bemidji State, 7:07 p.m.

Miami at Omaha, 7:07 p.m.

Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7:37 p.m.

Minnesota Duluth at Colorado College, 8:37 p.m.

Saturday’s games

Bemidji State at North Dakota, 7:07 p.m.

Miami at Omaha, 7:07 p.m.

Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7:07 p.m.

Minnesota Duluth at Colorado College, 7:07 p.m.

BIG TEN

Con. Overall W-L-T Pts. W-L-TNotre Dame 12-0-0 36 18-3-1Ohio State 7-4-1 22 14-4-4Penn State 5-4-3 20 12-7-3Minnesota 4-7-1 14 13-10-1Wisconsin 4-6-2 14 10-10-3Michigan 3-7-2 12 8-10-2Michigan St. 2-9-1 8 8-13-1 Today’s games

Ohio State at Penn State, 6:30 p.m.

Michigan at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Michigan State at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

WCHA

Con. Overall W-L-T Pts. W-L-TMSU-Mankato 14-4-0 42 16-6-0Bowl. Green 9-2-5 34 12-6-6N. Michigan 9-5-2 31 11-10-3Bemidji State 8-4-4 30 11-6-5Michigan Tech 7-6-5 28 11-9-5Ala. Huntsville 6-10-2 21 7-15-2Fairbanks 6-9-1 20 8-12-2Ferris State 6-9-1 19 9-14-1Lake Superior 3-10-3 12 5-15-4Anchorage 1-10-3 9 1-15-4 Today’s games

North Dakota at Bemidji State, 7:07 p.m.

Ferris State at Lake Superior, 6:07 p.m.

Bowling Green at Northern Michigan, 6:07 p.m.

Alabama Huntsville at Alaska Anchorage, 10:07 p.m.

MSU-Mankato at Alaska Fairbanks, 10:07 p.m.

Other games

Colgate at Brown, 6 p.m.

Quinnipiac at Dartmouth, 6 p.m.

Princeton at Harvard, 6 p.m.

St. Lawrence at RPI, 6 p.m.

Clarkson at Union, 6 p.m.

Cornell at Yale, 6 p.m.

Providence at Boston College, 6 p.m.

UConn at Merrimack, 6 p.m.

Maine at Northeastern, 6 p.m.

Boston University at New Hampshire, 6 p.m.

Bentley at Army, 6:05 p.m.

Niagara at Mercyhurst, 6:05 p.m.

Air Force at RIT, 6:05 p.m.

Holy Cross at Sacred Heart, 6:05 p.m.

UMass at Vermont, 6:05 p.m.

American International at Canisius, 6:35 p.m.

UMass Lowell at Arizona State, 8:05 p.m.

PAIRWISE RANKINGS

1. St. Cloud State 13-3-3
2. Notre Dame 18-3-1
3. Clarkson 16-3-1
4. Cornell 13-2
5. Ohio State 14-4-4
6. Denver 12-6-4
7. MSU-Mankato 16-6
8. North Dakota 11-6-5
9. Minnesota 13-10-1
10. Western Michigan 11-8-1
11. Providence 14-7-1
12. Penn State 12-7-3
13. Northeastern 12-5-3
14. Omaha 10-9-1
15. Minnesota Duluth 9-9-3
16. Miami 9-9-2
17. Bowling Green 12-6-6
18. Boston College 10-8-3
19. Maine 11-7-2
20. Wisconsin 10-10-3