A slightly edited news release from UMD:

The University of Minnesota Duluth will return from a 20-day
layoff Saturday when the Bulldogs head to Burlington, Vt.
for the Sheraton/TD Bank Catamount Cup.

UMD opens plays Mercyhurst College at 3 p.m. while the host University of
Vermont will tangle with the University of Alabama-Huntsville at 6 p.m.

The third place game is set for 3 p.m. the next afternoon with the championship to follow at 7 p.m.
at the Gutterson Fieldhouse (4,003 capacity; 200' x 90') on the Vermont
campus.

The defending WCHA playoff champion Bulldogs are 11-6-1 overall and 8-5-1 in
league play (fourth place).

Mercyhurst, riding an eight-game
unbeaten streak (7-0-1) is 9-9-2 in all contests and owns a share of
first place (with Air Force) in the Atlantic Hockey Association with a
9-5-2 mark.

Vermont heads is 8-6-2 overall
record and holds down sixth place in the 10-member Hockey East circuit
while Alabama-Huntsville is 4-9-1, which includes a 1-4-1 College
Hockey America record (tied for third place).

The Bulldogs have never faced Mercyhurst or
Alabama-Huntsville and are 6-4-1 against Vermont. Those two
clubs last played on Oct. 21-22, 2005 in Burlington when the
Catamounts posted back-to-back 5-1 victories.

This weekend marks the fourth time in the past five
seasons the Bulldogs will take part in a Christmas/New Year's holiday
tournament. UMD went 1-0-1 at the Florida College Hockey Classic in
Estero, Fla., three years ago, 1-1 at the Ohio Hockey Classic on Dec.
29-30, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio, and 1-1 at the Shillelagh Tournament in
Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Jan. 2-3, 2009 (the Bulldogs fell 3-1 to host
University of Notre Dame in championship game).

UMD has never been beaten in back-to-back games in
any of the previous 30 regular season tournaments it as participated in
during the program's 66-year history.

The last time the Bulldogs laid claim to a
tournament title of any kind was in 2001-02 when they opened the season
with successive victories over Nebraska-Omaha (5-2)
and f Michigan (3-2) en route to capturing the Maverick
Stampede championship in Omaha, Neb.

The Bulldogs have
four of the WCHA's top nine overall scorers in sophomore center Jack
Connolly (tied for first with 26 points), junior right winger Justin
Fontaine (No. 3, 24 points), junior left winger Rob Bordson (tied for
No. 4, 22 points) and sophomore right winger Mike Connolly (tied for
No. 9, 19 points).

Fontaine continues to lead the nation in power play
goals with nine (he is tied with
Wisconsin's Blake Geoffrion) and is one of five skaters who has
an NCAA-best four game-winners.

UMD has scored three or more goals in 12 of its 18
games to date and is 11-0-1 when it's done so. (Gophers coach Don Lucia often says his team needs to get to three every game and it will be OK.)


The Bulldogs possess the nation's eighth most effective
power play, having cashed in on 24.3 percent (27 of 111)
of their man advantage opportunities. They've also scored at least one
power play goal in 15 of their 18 games this season (they went 0-of-8
against Northern Michigan University on Oct. 11, 0-of-5 vs. Clarkson
University on Oct. 30 and 0-of-4 vs. North Dakota on Dec. 4 -- all at
home). UMD led the WCHA in overall power play efficiency one year ago
(21.5 percent).

UMD is off to its best
start through 18 games (11-6-1) since going 13-4-1 to open the 1995-96
season.

Junior left winger Kyle Schmidt has picked up a goal in four
of the last five games and now has seven on the year to rank third
among Bulldogs in that department. It's also three more goals than he
scored his first two years as a collegian combined.

The Bulldogs have come back from a two-goal deficit
to post wins four times already this winter. They turned the trick
twice during their series sweep at the University of Minnesota (4-3 and
3-2 on Nov. 20-21) and against Minnesota State University-Mankato on
Oct. 17 at the DECC (3-2).

UMD is averaging 35.7 shots per game in 2009-10 (only Yale University
with 37.9, Wisconsin with 37.5 and Ferris State University with 37.2
have a higher average).