Miami was crushed by Minn.-Duluth when the Bulldogs visited Oxford in mid-November, outscoring the RedHawks, 12-2.
AMSOIL has been a notoriously difficult place for MU to win, as the RedHawks have beaten UMD once in Duluth since 2014.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Miami RedHawks (3-25-2) at Minn.-Duluth Bulldogs (11-17-2).
WHERE: AMSOIL Arena (6,756), Duluth, Minn.
WHEN: Friday — 8:07 p.m.; Saturday — 7:07 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Minn.-Duluth leads, 34-7-4.
TV: Friday — CBS Sports Network (DirecTV Ch. 221); Saturday — RESN (tape delay) in the Cincinnati metro area; My9Sports in Duluth.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO STREAMING: MiamiRedHawks.com (Greg Waddell PxP).
MIAMI RADIO: Friday — WBKV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind.; Saturday — WMOH-AM (1450), Hamilton, Ohio.
MINN.-DULUTH RADIO: KDAL-AM (610) and KDAL-FM (103.9), Duluth, Minn.
NOTES: Since these teams met over three months ago, UMD is 6-11-2 and just 1-5-1 in its last seven games, with three of those recent five losses coming by three or more goals.
Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Dominic James has continued his bounceback year following a major shoulder injury to rack up a team-best 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists.
Warroad native and Tampa Bay selection Jayson Shaugabay has impressed in his freshman season, and is currently second on the team in points (10-13-23) and has a shooting percentage of 20.4.
Both James and Shaugabay have five power play goals.
Former Buffalo Sabre Derek Plante has two freshman sons playing for the Bulldogs, and they’re third and fourth on the team in forward points in their rookie collegiate seasons.
Max Plante (Detroit pick) has seven goals and 13 assists despite missing 12 games, and Zam Plante (Pittsburgh pick) is 5-11-16.
Anthony Menghini is also a major scoring threat for UMD with nine goals.
On defense, Aaron Pionk (Minnesota pick) leads the team in assists with 19, five clear of the field as a sophomore, and Owen Gallatin is 4-9-13 and has 77 career points in nearly four seasons.
Blueliners Aiden Dubinsky and freshman Ty Hanson have identical 4-8-12 lines.
Klayton Knapp has been solid in net, posting a .907 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average in 16 games.
But Adam Gajan stopped 39 of 43 shots at North Dakota last weekend and is a Chicago second-round selection. He has played in 15 games and has a 3.55 GAA and .881 save percentage but has a huge upside.
Both Knapp and Gajan are freshmen.
Minn.-Duluth has struggled mightily on the penalty kill, as the Bulldogs’ 72.3-percent clip is sixth-last in Division I.
And while UMD averages just 2.73 goals per game, the team averages 32.5 shot, tied for ninth-most in college hockey.
Miami is the only team in the NCAA without a road win, going 0-11-2 in away contests. The RedHawks have never finished a season without a victory outside of Oxford, and their previous worst road record was 1-16-1 in 1990-91, the same season Miami set its recently-toppled losing streak mark of 17.
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