Mavs won't be intimidated by No. 1 Bulldogs
By Rob White
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Minnesota-Duluth.
Defending national champions. Unanimous No. 1. Undefeated since Oct. 15 at 13-0-3.
UNO knows all this and cares for none of it.
"I'll guarantee we're going after them," UNO coach Dean Blais said. "We're not going to give them the respect that they've earned over the last three months."
Minnesota-Duluth comes to the CenturyLink Center for a big — bigger for UNO — series this weekend, with games Friday night at 6:37 and Saturday night at 7:07.
The Bulldogs are 12-3-3 overall and tied with Minnesota for the WCHA lead at 10-2-2. Unranked UNO is 10-8-4 overall, but is in fourth place in the conference at 7-4-3, five points behind the leaders.
UNO wants a Friday night sellout of 15,959 after a near-miss last year in a promotion against Wisconsin, when 15,137 turned out.
"Last year we had a great crowd against (Wisconsin), and hopefully the turnout this year will be just as good," said sophomore forward Matt White, an assistant captain. "It'll help us. We feed off the crowd."
How much the crowd impacts the game remains to be seen. The Bulldogs earned three points in a weekend series at Wisconsin earlier this season, playing in front of crowds of more than 10,000 and 12,000.
"The crowd will be jacked, and we've got to give them something to cheer about," Blais said. "It's going to be interesting to see how Duluth reacts to our crowd. They haven't played in front of that. They've played at Wisconsin, but Duluth isn't (traditionally) to Wisconsin (fans) like a North Dakota or a Minnesota ... although it's getting that way."
Winning a national title will do that for a program.
At UNO anyway, the line between respect and fear hasn't been crossed yet.
"We've just got to throw it right back at them," said junior forward Brent Gwidt, another assistant captain. "They're a fast, hard-working, talented team. But so are we. We're a fast, physical team. We're going to be playing in front of our fans.
"We've been waiting for this ... it's been marked on our calendars. So if we can come out fast and physical, get them with our speed and physical play, it might be a long weekend for them."
The Bulldogs came out fast against UNO in Duluth last season, scoring three first-period goals while winning the opener 4-1. UNO turned the tables the following night in a 5-2 win.
"It was a great series, a hard-fought split," White said. "It was great to beat them on the road, but we want more than that this time."
After last year's series with UNO, Minnesota-Duluth went 6-1 the rest of the way en route to the national championship.
"On Friday night, we're going to hopefully go after them, knowing they're a fast-starting team," Blais said. "Even if we come out of the first period 0-0, it'll offset any momentum they have being No. 1 and defending national champions."
The Bulldogs are in a prominent position again despite graduation losses that led to them being picked to finish fifth in the WCHA. UNO was picked fourth.
"They're well-coached and they're really talented, all the way through their four lines, all the way down their defense, and they've got good goalies," Gwidt said. "They're talented, just like us. Hard-working, just like us. I think we match up pretty well with them."
Blais, along with forward Josh Archibald, rejoined the team late last week after being part of Team USA for the World Juniors tournament.
Blais watched Saturday's practice. He knows his team stayed sharp during the Christmas break and played well in their first series back against Quinnipiac.
So, here comes Duluth.
"They're playing with a lot of confidence, and going into (No. 8) Western Michigan and winning twice last weekend means their players went home and kept themselves in good shape and haven't lost any of their momentum that they had before Christmas," Blais said. "But we haven't lost anything, either."
