North Dakota vs. St. Cloud State: Notes & Links

• North Dakota: 3-2-1 Overall (1-0-1 WCHA)
• St. Cloud State: 5-3-0 Overall (3-1-0 WCHA)
• Gametime: Friday 7:37 CST/Saturday 7:07 CST
• Both games will be broadcast across the UND Radio Network and as always, here's the standard broadcast information. You can purchase the webstream of both games via America One Sports ($8.00/game) and NESN will carry the Saturday night game (DirecTV 628/Dish Network 434).
• Series Notes (PDF): North Dakota and St. Cloud State
• For all of the GF Herald stories, check out Brad Schlossman's Friday Morning Reading.
• St. Cloud Times: SCSU Hoping To Build On Start Against North Dakota
• St. Cloud Times: Proud Dowds To Be In Stands Versus North Dakota
• St. Cloud Times: Summer Work Has Nic Dowd Playing Hot For SCSU
• Series Numbers: North Dakota leads the all-time series 59-39-11, including a 23-17-6 record in St. Cloud. In the last eleven meetings, UND sports an 8-2-1 mark against the Huskies, having outscored SCSU 39-23 over that span. Also of note, North Dakota's .639 winning percentage against SCSU is the highest among teams they've faced 100 or more times. North Dakota's first ever official collegiate game was against SCSU (then known as St. Cloud State Teachers College) on January 6th of 1947. UND dropped an 8-1 decision, and it would be nearly 43 years before the two teams would play again.
• Corban Knight joined the UND Century Club after picking up an assist last Saturday night against Boston University. He is the 84th player to score 100 or more points during his UND career.
• Danny Kristo is averaging 1.50 points per game, which is tied for second in the WCHA. Goaltender Clarke Saunders is fourth in the conference with a 1.73 GAA.
• SCSU has four former Fargo Force (USHL) players on its roster, while North Dakota has three.
• Both UND and SCSU rank in the bottom half of the WCHA in power play efficiency. The Huskies are seventh (17.1%, 31st nationally) while North Dakota ranks ninth (14.8%, 41st nationally). SCSU has also been mediocre on the penalty kill, ranking seventh in the conference with an 83.8% kill rate, while North Dakota is fourth at 88.2%.
• North Dakota got off to a slow start in the face-off circle this season, winning just 45.2% of its draws over the first three games of the year. UND has turned it around, however, winning 57.3% of its faceoffs in the last three games. On the season North Dakota has won 51.6% of its draws, compared to SCSU's 48.6% clip. Knight leads UND with a 63.0% success rate, and he has taken 36.0% of the team's draws despite having sat out the season opener.
• SCSU goaltender Ryan Faragher's play has been either maniacal or depressive this season. Faragher has a 4-3 record, and in his four victories he has a 0.50 GAA and .981 Save Percentage. In the three losses, however, he possesses a 5.23 GAA and .854%. He was very good against North Dakota last season, posting a 1.77 GAA and .953% in four games while sporting a 2.98 GAA and .905% against all other opponents. Faragher is also the only Husky goaltender to beat North Dakota in their last 11 meetings.
• SCSU, which boasts the nation's fifth most prolific offense (3.88 GPG), has plenty of firepower this season, both upfront and on the blueline. Nic Dowd is the WCHA's leading goal scorer (6), while Drew LeBlanc and defenseman Nick Jensen are tied for the conference lead in assists (8). Dowd's 12 points lead the conference, LeBlanc's 11 are tied for second, and Jensen and freshman forward Kalle Kossila are part of a logjam of players tied for fourth with eight. A total of four SCSU defensemen have recorded four or more points.
• UND junior forward Mitch MacMillan, who transferred from SCSU at semester break last season, is ineligible to play against his former team due to NCAA transfer rules. He will, however, be eligible to play when the Huskies travel to Grand Forks in January.
• Michael Parks is out again this weekend due to the lower body injury he suffered in the exhibition game against Manitoba. At the weekly press conference North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol said Parks is still at least a couple of weeks away from returning to action. On the St. Cloud State injury front, Husky sniper and senior co-captain Ben Hanowski is out with an upper-body injury, while freshman forward Joey Benik is still recovering from a broken leg suffered in the preseason. Redshirt freshman forward David Morley returned to practice this week and is considered day-to-day with a lower body injury. SCSU injury news courtesy of the St. Cloud Times.
• Five members of this season's SCSU squad are NHL draft picks, while 14 North Dakota players have heard their names called by NHL brass.
• USCHO's This Week in the WCHA
• USCHO: WCHA Column
• USCHO's Weekend Picks
• CHN's Tale of the Tape
• CHN's WCHA Power Rankings
• CHN's WCHA 3 Up, 2 Down
• CHN's Three Things
• WCHB Weekly WCHA Preview
• WCHA Weekly Press Release
• The Hockey Writer's Combine: UND vs. SCSU Series Notes
• Sioux Sports Series Preview
• Episode 2.06 of Through These Doors: