Game 26: Colorado College at UMD

From the friendly confines of Amsoil Arena. Well, they have yet to be as friendly as we'd like. Still need to work on that.

In UMD's last nine home games, it is 2-5-2 while being outscored 22-19. If you remove the two wins (both over Western Michigan), that margin is 20-6. Six goals in seven games on home ice. And trust me, UMD head coach Scott Sandelin hasn't forgotten about the importance of winning here.

"I think we've got to take advantage," he said. "The bottom line is we've got to establish this as a tougher place to play, and we haven't done that this year. We've kind of been Jekyll and Hyde in our own building."

Vastly improved Colorado College is the opponent in this series. The Tigers are 6-6-1 since a ghastly 0-13 start, and if any of you think we'll seeing the same team it saw in November in Colorado Springs, you're sadly mistaken. CC is probably one of the more improved teams in the country when you look at the start to the season and the way the Tigers are playing now.

Reminder, I'm on Beyond The Pond with Brandon Mileski and crew Saturday at 10:25 on KFAN FM 100.3 in the Cities. The show normally airs in Duluth, but will be pre-empted by Hockey Day coverage from Bayfront. Duluth folks can listen live on iHeartRadio if you're so inclined, and the show is usually available on podcast, too.

Also, if you're a TV watcher, Friday's game is on FSN. Or just #ListenToTheRadio so my son can eat.

Lines?

Lines.

UMD
Farley - Toninato - Kuhlman
Iafallo - Thomas - Cameranesi
Johnson - Decowski - Mackay
Sampair - Spurrell - Young (Austyn)

Welinski - Pionk
Soucy - Molenaar
Corrin - Kotyk

Kaskisuo - McNeely - Deery

CC
Gooch - Ockey - Bergh
Fejes - Rothstein - Gerdes
Bradley (Trey) - Bradley (Cody) - Heil
Burmaster - Hansen - Roos

Kivihalme - Kwiecinski
Farny - McCaskill
Israel - Emilio

Nehama - Marble