Monday Morning Coffee

• After earning its first sweep of the season this past weekend against Michigan Tech North Dakota will enter the holiday break on a high note. After the impressive showing in Houghton, several UND players will be strong candidates for WCHA Player of the Week consideration. Corban Knight and/or Danny Kristo could take home offensive honors, while Clarke Saunders and Joe Gleason put up very nice numbers on the defensive side. UND will next take on Holy Cross January 4-5 at REA.
• If you have not already seen it, Sports Illustrated published a very nice article on North Dakota hockey's loyal following.
• The National Post featured Toronto Marlies winger Matt Frattin in an article in which Toronto brass had a number of nice things to say about the former Sioux star. Frattin came up big over the weekend as he scored the game tying goal with just 10 seconds left in regulation and then helped seal a 4-3 victory over Rochester by scoring in the shootout. He now has 12 points (8G, 4A) in 12 games this season.
• Brock Nelson recently went one on one with The Checking Line. He is currently tied for 3rd in scoring among AHL rookies with 22 points (11G, 11A) in 25 games.
• The Des Moines Register wrote on a quartet of Iowans currently playing for the Omaha AAA Under-16 Lancers, and included in the piece is North Dakota commit Christian Evers. The Omaha AAA program, which also produced UND commit and current USA NTDP forward Chris Wilkie, has quickly developed into a very powerful hockey program.
• North Dakota recruit Tucker Poolman's (Omaha-USHL) effectiveness on the power play earned some recognition from the USHL in its weekly update. Poolman, a defenseman, added a seventh power play goal over the weekend and is now tied for the league lead in that category. Meanwhile, recruit Paul LaDue continues to lead all USHL blueliners with 21 points (4G, 17A) in 24 games.
• The recently decommitted Brendan Lemieux got himself into some trouble with an illegal hit.