UMD coach said his players know what they have to do

Four UMD seniors will be honored between the first and second periods of Saturday's game with Minnesota at the DECC on the last regular-season game there this season. And one of the last WCHA games ever. A new arena will open Dec. 30 against North Dakota.

The seniors are captain Drew Akins, who has a blog on UMD's hockey web site; left winger Jordan Fulton, and defensemen Trent Palm and Chase Ryan. The first two are regulars.

"There certainly will be emotions that night," Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said but they should not be distracting. "We have a couple seniors, but there are a couple every year. Right now our guys are focused on what they need to do, like finishing the regular season on a good note."

After playing the Gophers, UMD travels to Alaska Anchorage the next weekend. Remember, it was the Seawolves who swept UMD at home a year ago in the final regular-season series forcing UMD to be on the road for the playoffs.

UMD is on a 2-6-0 skid. "Obviously we are not scoring a lot of goals," Sandelin said. "The goal production is down, some of that is the power play which if six for 50. Every team has bad stretches.

"Our power play was important the first half of the year when it was pretty good. Certainly, 5-on-5 goals are hard to score in this league. Our goaltending has been OK. There have been a couple weekend s when it was not as good.

"We got to score goals. We've got behind the 8-ball a lot."

"He's day to day," Sandelin said. "We'll see. I know Mike will be ready to play."

Sandelin said the Gophers have looked pretty good lately. "They are a lot different team than they were in November," he said. "No question. [Jacob] Cepis brings a lot to them. Certainly, those two [Cepis and Jordan Schroeder] makes that a very dangerous line.

"They've looked like a different team. They move the puck and have a lot more confidence and the results have showed that. ... They are on more of a high than we are. They are a talented team."

Sandelin said he expects tight, exciting games. 'We are both battling for the last home ice spots," he said.

To improve the power play, which is six for 50 recently, Sandelin said he is tinkering with the second unit. The first is staying the same: Jack and Mike Connolly, Justin Fontaine, and Travis Oleksuk -- four forwards -- and defenseman Brady Lamb,.

UMD has played well at home this season. The Bullodgs are 11-6-0 at the DECC but have not played there since beating Wisconsin 4-0 on Jan. 30. UMD has outscored visiting teams 63-42.

Sophomore center Jack Connolly is one player the Gophers better watch. He had three goals against them in mid-November. But he is really dangerous at the DECC where 27 of his team-high 40 points have come.

Junior winger Justin Fontaine has 13 power play goals, which leads the nation. He is two points away from 100 points for his career.

Gophers coach Don Lucia said games for his team often seem to be, first one to three goals wins. UMD is much the same. The Bulldogs are 17-1-1 when they score three or more goals. The loss was 4-3 in OT to Bemidji State.