A Look at the Numbers: UAH vs. UND

This weekend, the University of North Dakota resumes regular season play after a 20-day hiatus. Early on, I expect both teams will experience a bit of rust after being off 2-3 weeks.

CBS Outage: The Fighting Hawks will begin the second half of the season without 2/3 of their CBS Line. Forwards Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz are currently participating in the 2016 WJC in Finland and will not be available to UND this weekend.

I don’t think this should be grounds for concern, even without Boeser and Schmaltz, UND still has more than enough weapons to beat the Chargers.

Looking at the numbers, statistically,  the Chargers are not a very good hockey team. The Chargers are in the bottom half of most statistical categories nationally. That doesn’t mean they can’t beat UND because they could. The Fighting Hawks will need to put the hammer down early and often.

This series has the potential to be a trap series for the Fighting Hawks. Also, this game has the potential to be a Pairwise ranking killer. Lose a game or two to the Chargers, and you might miss a chance at securing a number one bid.  Rest assured that head coach Brad Berry will have his team ready to play.

Fighting Hawks

UND Offense: 9th, 3.50 GPG
UND Defense: 5^th, 1.70 G/GM
UND Scoring Margin: 7th, 1.80
UND Power Play: 28th, (14/77, 18.2%)
UND Penalty Kill: 22nd, (68/81, 84.0%)
UND Penalty Minutes: 12^th, (13.2 PIM/G)
UND SOS: 24^th
UND USCHO Ranking: 2^nd
UND Pairwise Ranking: 5^th
UND Record during December: 4-0-0
UND Home Record: 6-1-0 (.857)
UND Away Record: 10-1-2 (.818)
UND Last 10 Games: 9-1-0 (.800)

Chargers

UAH Offense: 45^th, 2.33 G/GM
UAH Defense: 38^th, 3.06 G/GM
UAH Scoring Margin: 44. -.72
UAH Power Play: 47^th, (10/76, 13.2%)
UAH Penalty Kill: 13^th, (65/75, 86.7%)
UAH Penalty Minutes: 5^th, (14.9 PIM/G)
UAH SOS: 46^th
UAH USCHO Ranking: N/A
UAH Pairwise Ranking: 53^rd
UAH Record during December:
UAH Home Record: 2-8-2 (.250)
UAH Away Record: 2-4-0 (.333)
UAH Last 10 Games: 1-8-1 (.150)

North Dakota Fighting Hawks: Forwards: Drake Caggiula (13g-14a—27pts), Nick Schmaltz (3g-23a—27pts), Brock Boeser (13g-8a—21pts), Bryn Chyzyk (6g-3a—9pts), Austin Poganski (5g-4a—9pts), Johnny Simonson (2g-6a—8pts), Luke Johnson (4g-5a—9pts). Defense: Troy Stecher (3g-10a—13pts), Tucker Poolman (2g-11a—13pts), Christian Wolanin (3g-5a—8pts), Keaton Thompson (1g-6a—7pts), Paul LaDue (1g-6a—7pts), Goaltenders: Cam Johnson (7-0-1, 1.20 GAA, .955 save percentage), Matt Hrynkiw (9-2-1, 2.11 GAA, .911 save percentage). (UND Stats)

Alabama-Huntsville Chargers: Forwards: Max McHugh (4g-12a—16pts), Brennan Saulnier (6g-9a—15pts), Chard Brears (7g-6a—13pts). Defense: Brandon Parker (2g-5a—7pts), Kurt Gosselin (2g-3a—5pts), Frank Misuraca (1g-3a-4pts). Goalies: Matt Larose (2-4-0, 2.40 GAA, .918 save percentage), Carmine Guerriero (2-8-2, 2.96 GAA, .903 save percentage). (UAH Stats)