For a four-year stretch, Minn.-Duluth owned Miami, winning 14 of 15 games.
And while the overall numbers are still one-sided, recently the RedHawks have treaded water vs. the Bulldogs, going 2-3-2 in the teams’ last seven meetings.
These teams met in Oxford last month, with Miami salvaging a tie in Game 1 and losing the finale at Cady Arena.
VFTG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (7-13-2, 1-10-1 NCHC) at Minn.-Duluth (8-11-4, 4-7-1).
WHERE: Amsoil Arena (6,756), Duluth, Minn.
WHEN: Both games — 8:07 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Minn.-Duluth leads, 30-7-4.
MIAMI RADIO: Both nights — WKBV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind..
MINN.-DULUTH RADIO: Both nights — KDAL-AM (610), FM (103.9), Duluth, Minn.
STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
NOTES: As a freshman last season, Ben Steeves went 21-7-28 to blow away all Bulldogs skaters in goals and tie for the team lead in points.
This year he again leads UMD with a lopsided line that includes 17 goals, tied for fifth in the NCAA, and the Chicago Blackhawks draft pick has recorded seven assists for a team-best 24 points.
Ten of those markers have come on the power play — and he has also recorded seven assists for 24 points. Steeves has scored 23.4 percent of UMD’s goals since hitting the ice in the fall of 2022.
Up front, Quinn Olson (3-12-15) and Blake Biondi (6-8-14) are still major scoring threats, although the Bulldogs lost Domonic James for the season to a shoulder injury in October. He tallied 28 points in 2022-23.
Minn.-Duluth boasts two of the leagues’ best two-way defensemen in Owen Gallatin, who is 5-12-17 and one of the NCHC’s ice time leaders, and former forward Aaron Pionk — the younger brother of Winnipeg Jets blueliner Neal Pionk — has a goal and 12 assists as a freshman.
Duluth has rotated its goalies in an unorthodox manner, using the same one for both games of weekend series rather than alternating nights.
Maine transfer and Vancouver draftee Matthew Thiessen played both games last weekend, stopping 74 of 80 shots in a split at Western Michigan.
Senior Zach Stejskal went 1-1 the previous weekend, turning 62 of 67 shots aside vs. Colorado College.
Stejskal played both games in Oxford last month and was 45-for-49, going 1-0-1. He has the better overall numbers, with a 2.54 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
Both teams are battling significant injuries. Two-thirds of Miami’s top line — points leader Matthew Barbolini and Raimonds Vitolins — are doubtful for this weekend, as is goalie Logan Neaton.
Defenseman Michael Feenstra, who has logged 18 minutes per game this season, is out with a shoulder injury.
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