MINNESOTA DULUTH BULLDOGS
Conference: NCHC
Record: 23-16-3
2017-18 results: Third in NCHC, West Regional champion
Ranking: No. 11 in final USCHO.com regular-season poll
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NCAA history: The Bulldogs are appearing in back-to-back Frozen Fours for the second time in program history. This is their sixth Frozen Four overall and second in St. Paul, where they won the 2011 NCAA title. This is UMD's 12th trip to the NCAA tournament and fourth straight.
Players to watch: Scott Perunovich, fr. D, 11-25-36; Peter Krieger, jr. F, 11-19-30; Riley Tufte, so. F, 16-13- 29; Karson Kuhlman, sr. F, 12-5-17; Hunter Shepard, so. G, 1.95/9.24.
Coaching record: Scott Sandelin, in his 18th season in Duluth, is 338-300-85. He was nominated for the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year this season. He won the award in 2004 and was runner-up in 2011.
Small world: Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik served as a Bulldogs assistant during Sandelin's first 10 seasons in Duluth. Sandelin won their first meeting as head coaches last year 3-2 in overtime in the NCAA West Regional semifinals in Fargo, N.D. During Rohlik's three seasons as an assistant coach at OSU, the Bulldogs and Buckeyes split a pair of series in Duluth and Columbus in 2012 and 2013. Ohio State leads the all-time series 4-3-1.
Win when it counts: Sandelin holds a 15-6 NCAA tournament record as head coach. His .714 winning percentage in the NCAA tournament is tops among all active coaches (minimum eight games) and trails only former Minnesota coach Herb Brooks (.889), Michigan's Vic Heyliger (.800) and North Dakota's Gino Gasparini (.789) all-time.
Let's get close: The Bulldogs have played in nine consecutive one-goal NCAA tournament games dating to a 3-2 loss to Boston University in the 2015 NCAA Northeast Regional final. UMD is 6-3 in those games.
Free hockey is fun hockey: UMD has seen nine NCAA tournament games go to overtime and won eight of those. The only loss came in four overtimes to Bowling Green State in the 1984 NCAA championship.
Home ice: UMD is 13-9-1 in its 23 games at Xcel Energy Center, which opened in 2000. The Bulldogs won the 2011 NCAA title there and last year's North Star College Cup. Most recently they went 0-2 at Xcel at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
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Record-setting rookie: Perunovich set a program record for most points by a freshman defenseman with 36 in 40 games, topping the previous high of 33 set by Justin Faulk during his one season in 2010-11. Perunovich was named NCHC Rookie of the Year and to the All-NCHC first team. The only other Bulldogs freshman to make an all-conference first team was Murray Keogan in 1969-70 in the WCHA.
UMD's Ironman: Kuhlman has yet to miss a game in his four years at UMD, playing in 162 straight. If the Bulldogs play for a national championship for the second consecutive season, Kuhlman will tie the program record of 164 set by Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Jack Connolly from 2008-12.
The puck stops here: Sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard set a single-season program record with eight shutouts. He picked up five between Feb. 16 and March 10.
Historic senior class: UMD's six-member senior class is the first to take the program to four straight NCAA tournaments (fifth-year senior Sammy Spurrell missed the NCAAs his freshman year and senior transfer Avery Peterson made the first of his four tournament trips with Nebraska-Omaha as a freshman). Kuhlman and fellow senior forward Jared Thomas are the first Bulldogs to play in four NCAA tournaments.
They said it: "They are a team that can attack. They can score in bunches. They've got some great talent at forward, just like I mentioned last year in Fargo. I thought their forward group was really good. They've got some big bodies. They can control the wall. They really get to the net well. Their 'D' are involved in the offense. They can play a fast game, they can score goals. They can also defend well." - Sandelin on the Buckeyes
