No. 7 Denver (14-6-3, 6-6-1-1 NCHC) vs. North Dakota (13-11-1, 7-7-0 NCHC)

Friday and Saturday, 7:07 p.m., at Magness Arena

TV / Radio: Altitude2 (Friday), NCHC.tv (Saturday) / 104.3 FM (both nights)

Series: North Dakota leads 146-124-14; the teams split at Grand Forks on Dec. 7-8

Overview

Was last weekend an aberration or a harbinger of things to come? While Denver was getting swept in fairly convincing fashion at Western Michigan, North Dakota split with No. 1 St. Cloud State, winning the series finale 5-1. That output nearly doubled what the Fighting Hawks have been averaging per game (2.64). … This series has huge implications for NCHC playoff seedings as Denver sits one point behind North Dakota for fourth – and home ice in the first round of the NCHC postseason. … One of the more intriguing story lines is the matchup of freshman goaltenders – Adam Scheel for North Dakota and Filip Larsson for Denver. Scheel allowed just three goals in two games against the Pioneers earlier this season, while Larsson earned the first victory of his NCAA career, a 2-1 overtime gem, in Game 2 of that series. Larsson has started six games in a row for the Pioneers after Devin Cooley was first injured at Wisconsin on Jan. 4 and then battled an illness that lingered into this week. Cooley has practiced but if he gets a start it likely will be a game-day call. … Sophomore Jordan Kawaguchi leads NoDak with 18 points and senior Nick Jones has 15 in 18 games. … Denver averages about three-fourths of a goal per game more and continues to get strong production from its freshman class (82 points, second most in D-I). The group has 40 percent of the team’s points. Emilio Pettersen (22 points), Cole Guttman (18), Brett Stapley (17), Tyler Ward (12) and defenseman Slava Demin (11) have all but two of them. Ward was the NCHC’s Rookie of the Month for January after Pettersen won it in October. … Junior Liam Finlay leads the Pioneers in points with a career-high 25, 12 of which have come since the Christmas break. Senior Jarid Lukosevicius has four of his team-best 13 goals in that time.

Three keys for Denver

Regain that special feeling – As we detailed this week, Denver has struggled of late with both its power play and penalty kill. In what should be a close, physical series, special teams likely will have a say in the outcomes of both games.

Pay attention to the points – The Fighting Hawks generate a lot of offense from their defense, so the Pioneers’ wings need to remain disciplined in the defensive zone. Freshman Jacob Bernard-Docker, a first-round pick by Ottawa last June, has 14 points, sophomore Matt Kierstad has 12 and junior Colton Poolman has 11.

Take the hit to make the play – After watching what Omaha, Colorado College and Western Michigan did to try to throw the Pioneers off their game with physical play, expect more of the same this weekend. If the games turn into track meets that plays into Denver’s hands. The Pioneers will have to get their hands dirty to pick up crucial NCHC points.

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