The weekly media session was this morning because the Sioux are heading down to St. Paul this afternoon.
One player was a little excited about the St. Patrick's Day holiday. Brad Malone is Irish, pretty much full-blooded, he said. He also referred to his hometown of Miramichi, N.B., as the Irish capital of Canada. He walked in to the media room and greeted everyone with a "Happy Holidays."
Coach Dave Hakstol, who is not Irish, said that defenseman Joe Gleason definitely won't be playing Thursday and is doubtful for this weekend. Beyond that, the team is taking it day-to-day, Hakstol said. That means we can expect to see Corey Fienhage and Brent Davidson back on the blue line. Hakstol discussed Davidson's play a little bit.
He also talked about the big weekend for Matt Frattin, who scored four goals in the three games. Hakstol said that Frattin is getting to a level of consistency that the Sioux haven't seen from him yet. Even if Frattin is not at the top of his game, his baseline level of play is still very high, Hakstol said.
UND will have to make an adjustment on his line, though. The team is 9-2 since putting Frattin with Evan Trupp and Brad Malone. That's the only line that hasn't changed during UND's late-season run. Expect them to be back together after Frattin serves his one game suspension for his hit on Kevin Wehrs.
If UND beats Duluth, the Sioux will have to play six games in nine days. So, UND has been very careful in trying to get players rested and healed up. Malone said the team is quite banged up right now, but they'll get the adrenaline going on game days.
Brad Eidsness trained heavily this summer in order to better condition himself. Hakstol said that's going to be very important for Eidsness right now. Eidsness certainly hasn't showed any signs of slowing down. UND could make the decision to play Aaron Dell this weekend, as the Sioux already know they are in the NCAAs.