Saturday’s college men’s hockey game
U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 at Minn. Duluth
What: Exhibition
When: 7:37 p.m. today
Where: Amsoil Arena
Records: USNTDP is 2-8-1 overall, 0-5 vs. NCAA; Minnesota Duluth is 3-1-2 overall.
Rankings: The Bulldogs are No. 2 in the USCHO.com poll.
Series: The Bulldogs are 5-1 all-time against the USNTDP. UMD won last year’s meeting 4-3 in overtime.
Coaches: John Wroblewski is in his first season coaching at the USNTDP; Scott Sandelin, in his 17th season at UMD, is 290-278-77.
TV: None.
Radio: WWAX-FM 92.1
Internet:
www.921thefan.com
(audio);
http://nchc.tv/
(video)
Twitter: @mattwellens
USNTDP update: Wroblewski was hired by USNTDP this spring and installed as head coach of the U-18s after Don Granato left to become an associate head coach under his brother, Tony Granato, at Wisconsin. Wroblewski is a former USNTDP player and assistant coach. Last year he was head coach of the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League. The 2016-17 U-18s feature no future Bulldogs. Only three of the 23 players are uncommitted at this point to NCAA programs and just one - forward Grant Mismash of Edina - is committed to an NCHC school, North Dakota. Eight players are heading to Hockey East schools and the other 11 are going to Big Ten schools. Josh Norris with four goals and three assists and Evan Barratt with three goals and four assists lead Team USA in scoring. Dylan St. Cyr has been the team’s top goaltender with a 3.88 goals against average, .870 save percentage and 2-3 record in seven games this season. The Bulldogs will be the sixth NCAA team the U-18s face this year after losing 4-3 at Wisconsin on Friday. In their five games against NCAA foes - Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Boston University, Harvard and Minnesota - Team USA was outscored 31-8.
UMD update: Three current Bulldogs have played for the USNTDP, including freshman forward Joey Anderson (2014-16), freshman goaltender Hunter Miska (2011-13) and senior wing Kyle Osterberg (2010-12). Other former Bulldogs to play for Team USA were Justin Faulk (2008-10), Matt McNeely (2009-11) and Trent Palm (2004-06). UMD enters its lone exhibition of the season following three-straight regular season series to start 2016-17. Only two other teams have played six NCAA games going into the weekend. Three other schools have played five games. UMD started 2016-17 on the Oct. 1-2 with a series against Michigan Tech having not conducted a full official practice. After sweeping the Huskies, the Bulldogs then had just three days before hopping on a plane to play at UMass-Lowell. The fast and furious start is why Sandelin said during his weekly press conference on Wednesday he wanted to use this week and next week to “get more repetitions doing certain things that we haven’t had a lot of time to do over the first few weeks. It sounds kind of crazy, but it’s really true.” UMD plans to play 12 forwards, eight defenseman and all three goaltenders against Team USA. Due to injuries, sophomore wing Parker Mackay is doubtful to play tonight and freshman defenseman Will Campion definitely won’t play, Sandelin said.
Quote: “It’s a great opportunity to work on some things to get better. We want to perform well over the course of 60 minutes and hopefully that’s all it takes to win a hockey game so we have a good mindset going into the week against North Dakota.” - Sandelin, whose team begins NCHC play next weekend at home against North Dakota
