This weekend, the University of North Dakota travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to take on the Colorado College Tigers in a season-opening NCHC series.

Series History

All-time, UND leads the series against Colorado College 149-80-10 (.644), In Grand Forks: UND leads the series 97-21-6 (.806). In Colorado Springs: UND trails in the series 50-57-4 (.468). At Neutral sites, UND leads 8-2-0 (.800). Under Coach Brad Berry: This will be the first-ever meeting under coach Berry. Last 10 games against the Tigers, UND is 9-1-0 (.900).

#1 North Dakota (4-0-2, 0-0-0-0 NCHC) at Colorado College Tigers (0-6-0, 0-0-0-0 NCHC)

Date: Oct. 30-31, 2015
Time: 8:37. CT, both nights
Location: Colorado Springs World Arena (7,380) Colorado Springs, Colorado
Radio: 96.1 The Fox, IHeart Radio 
TV: None
Web: NCHC.TV
Live Stats: CCTigers.com

Tale of the Tape

North Dakota

UND Last Time Out: (2-0 W, 5-2 W)
UND Offense: 14^th, 3.67 GPG
UND Defense: 7^th, 1.83 G/GM
UND Scoring Margin: 7^th, 1.83
UND Power Play: 21^st, (5/25, 20%)
UND Penalty Kill: 48^th, (13/18, 72.2%)
UND Penalty Minutes: 33^rd, 10.2 PIM/G
Streak: 4-0-2 last six
USCHO Ranking: 1
(UND Official Game Notes)

C.C. Tigers

Tigers Last Time Out: (0-3 L, 0-5 L)
Tigers Offense: 52^nd, 1.50 GPG
Tigers Defense: 48, 3.83 G/GM
Tigers Scoring Margin: 50^th, -2.33
Tigers Power Play: 32, (4/28, 14.3%)
Tigers Penalty Kill: 42, (23/30. 76.7%)
Tigers Penalty Minutes: 23^rd, 11.2 PIM/G
USCHO Ranking: N/A
(Tigers Official Game Notes)
(s/t College Hockey Stats Net)

Players of Note

North Dakota: Forwards: Drake Caggiula (2g-6a—8pts), Brock Boeser (4g-2a—6pts), Bryn Chyzyk (5g-1a—6pts), Nick Schmaltz (0g-5a—5pts), Johnny Simonson (1g-2a—3pts), Luke Johnson (1g-3a—4pts).  Defense: Troy Stecher (2g-4a—6pts), Tucker Poolman (0g-4a—4pts), Gage Ausmus (0g-3a—3pts), Keaton Thompson (1g-1a—2pts). Goaltenders: Cam Johnson (1-0-1, 1.82 GAA, .907 SV%), Matt Hrynkiw (3-0-1, 1.76 GAA, .933 Sv%). (UND Stats)

UND Injuries: Goalies: Matej Tomek, Cam Johnson, Colten St. Clair, Shane Gersich (illness), Joel Janatuienen.

Shane Gersich may return for CC series; Tomek, Johnson slowly working their way back https://t.co/RgoiV6sDFJ

— Brad E. Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) October 27, 2015

Colorado College Tigers: Teemu Kivihalme (1g-3a—4pts), Terry Bradley (3g-1a—4pts), Sam Rothstein (0g-3—3pts). Defense: Andrew Farny (0g-2a—2pts), Ben Israel (0g-1a—1pts), Cole McCaskill (0g-1a—1pts), David Radke (1g-0a—1pts). Goalies: Tyler Marble (0-2-0, 3.44 GAA, .877 SV%), Jacob Nehama (0-4-0, 3.95 GAA, .904 SV%). (C.C. Stats)

Series Prediction

If you take a look at the Tigers statics, they’re not having a very good season at all. The Tigers are getting beat on the ice, in all three zones. Defensively, the Tigers have struggled. Offensively, they’re not scoring goals. Last weekend, the Tigers were outscored 8-0 by the Boston College Eagles. On paper, this matchup looks like it could be very one sided. Hockey isn’t played on paper, it’s played on the ice. UND sweeps 5-2 and 3-1.

Tigers Struggling

It’s well documented, in present times; the Colorado College Tigers have struggled mightily. The Tigers record under head coach Mike Haviland is (6-32-3, .241). That being said, I don’t think that Haviland should be the fall guy for the Tigers struggles. The last two seasons under Scott Owens, the Tigers went 25-43-11 (.380). So, the current slide was already in motion long before Haviland took the reins.

Let’s break this down further. Since the 2013-14 season, the Tigers have a 13-56-9 (.224) record. Under anyone’s definition, that’s not very good hockey. The Tigers haven’t made the conference tournament championship game since the 2012-13 season, where the Tigers would lose in the championship game to the Wisconsin Badgers. The Tigers haven’t made the NCAA tourney since the 2010-11 season, where they lost 2-1 to the Michigan Wolverines in the championship game of the West Regional.