FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS AND NOTES
• All eight NCHC teams were in action Friday, all in conference play, as the home team won all four games. Of 28 conference games played so far this season, the home team has gone 16-10-2 (.607) in those games.
• North Dakota senior forward Drake Caggiula recorded his second straight three-point game in No. 4/4 UND’s 5-1 win over No. 9/9 Denver. Caggiula scored a goal and added two assists, giving him 100 points for his career as he is the 85th player in UND history to join the century club. Caggiula has 12 goals on the season, which ties for first nationally along with Omaha junior forward Austin Ortega and New Hampshire’s Andrew Poturalski. Caggiula now has eight points (5g, 3a) in his last three games.
• UND sophomore forward Nick Schmaltz scored his third goal of the season in Friday’s win to extend his point streak to eight games with 16 points (3g, 13a) in that span. He is tied for first nationally with 19 assists on the season. Caggiula is third nationally with 24 points while Schmaltz is tied for fifth with 22 points. Freshman linemate Brock Boeser tallied two goals in the win, giving him 10 goals this season, which leads all NCAA rookies.
• No. 17 Minnesota Duluth pitched its third straight shutout with a 7-0 win over Western Michigan. Sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo has been in net for all three shutouts as he now has four shutouts on the season, which is tied for third nationally with SCSU junior Charlie Lindgren. Kaskisuo joins Lindgren as the only NCHC goalie to pitch three straight shutouts (Lindgren did so to start this season) while Kaskisuo is the only one to ever do it in conference play. He extended his UMD and NCHC record shutout streak to 230:20 and now has five shutouts in his career.
• UMD’s seven goals Friday marked a season high as the Bulldogs have outscored opponents 18-0 over the three-game shutout streak. Sophomore forward Karson Kuhlman scored two goals in the win for his first career multi-goal game as a Bulldog.
• Colorado College earned its first conference win of the season with a 2-1 comeback victory over Miami. Senior forward Hunter Fejes scored a pair of third period goals to lift CC to the win, doubling his season goal total in the process. It was his third career multi-goal game and first since Jan. 16, 2015 against Omaha. The Tigers have now won two games in a row, their first back-to-back wins since Jan. 6 and 16 last season against UConn and when Fejes had two goals against the Mavericks.
• CC junior forward Luc Gerdes assisted on both Tiger goals Friday, giving him three multi-point games this season (all six of his points). He had two career multi-point games entering this season with one each season.
• St. Cloud State freshman forward Robby Jackson scored two goals in the Huskies’ 4-1 win over No. 6/6 Omaha, marking his second career multi-goal game with his first in his collegiate debut (10/10/15 at UAA). SCSU has scored at least three goals in all seven conference games this year (29 goals total in its last five conference games) and ranks third nationally averaging 4.27 goals per game overall this season.
• Omaha junior forward Jake Guentzel scored UNO’s lone goal short-handed. The Mavericks lead the NCAA with six short-handed goals this season, two more than any other team, half of which are by Guentzel.