Preview: No. 12 Western Michigan at UND

Jan. 13—GRAND FORKS — UND defenseman Tyler Kleven had a pair two-goal games last weekend.

He didn't get any great looks to finish off a hat trick.

So, the improbable drought continued.

UND has not had a hat trick since Nov. 2, 2018, when Rhett Gardner did it against Wisconsin. It is one of the longest hat trick droughts for any team in the country.

Only three teams, who have continuously played during that timeframe, have longer hat trick droughts — Ferris State (Nov. 24, 2017, Mitch Maloney), Vermont (Jan. 20, 2018, Liam Coughlin) and Maine (Feb. 2, 2018, Brendan Robbins).

Three other teams — Alaska Anchorage, Union and Yale — also have longer droughts, but their programs were on hiatus for at least a year.

What makes UND's hat trick drought so odd is that the Fighting Hawks have not had trouble scoring during that span. They ranked No. 1 in the nation in offense for one year in that stretch. They ranked No. 4 in another.

UND players have had two-goal games with a shot at a hat trick 53 times since Gardner's, led by Jordan Kawaguchi's seven and Shane Pinto's six. Current UND forward Riese Gaber has done it five times.

But that third goal has been elusive.

That will be a major contrast with UND's opponent this weekend, Western Michigan, where hat tricks are coming like a waterfall.

Jason Polin has five hat tricks since Halloween.

The senior winger has had back-to-back hat tricks on the same weekend twice — once against Miami on Nov. 4-5 and again in the Great Lakes Invitational against Michigan Tech and Ferris State. He also had a hat trick against Northeastern and reigning Mike Richter Award winner Devon Levi.

Polin leads the country with 19 goals. He's only seven shy of last year's NCAA leader, who also happened to be a Western Michigan Bronco — Ethen Frank (26 goals).

In all, Western Michigan has had 16 hat tricks since UND's last one. Yes, sixteen.

Considering the teams have scored almost an identical amount of goals since UND's last hat trick — Western Michigan 538, UND 516 — the stat becomes even stranger.

Rhett Gardner — Nov. 2, 2018, vs. Wisconsin

Shane Gersich — Nov. 18, 2016, at SCSU

Brock Boeser — Oct. 21, 2016 vs. Bemidji State

Joel Janatuinen — Oct. 15, 2015, vs. RPI

Drake Caggiula — Nov. 20, 2015, at SCSU

Jason Polin — Dec. 28, 2022, vs. Ferris State

Jason Polin — Dec. 27, 2022, vs. MTU

Jason Polin — Nov. 25, 2022, vs. Northeastern

Jason Polin — Nov. 5, 2022, vs. Miami

Jason Polin — Nov. 4, 2022, vs. Miami

During the early December series between the teams, UND did a terrific job against Polin and his linemates Max Sasson and Ryan McAllister, who leads the country with 38 points. That trio was held without a point in the two-game series.

UND had a shootout victory in the series opener and a 3-0 shutout win in the series finale.

"We talked about our track and our forecheck a lot this week," UND forward Gavin Hain said. "I think we did a very good job of that in Western, getting on their D-men, not losing our F3 high, and then tracking them hard and standing them up. I thought we played them tight all around the rink and we have to do that again."

Hain, Mark Senden and Louis Jamernik V will likely get the assignment of going head-to-head with the McAllister-Sasson-Polin line this weekend.

Hain and Senden have routinely drawn the toughest defensive assignments ever since they stepped foot on campus five years ago.

"It's fun," Hain said. "You like to be able to shut those guys down and flip the switch on them sometimes. We've kind of done it our entire career and it's always fun to be able to do that."

UND Stat WMU

3.48 (12th) Off 4.23 (1st)

3.10 (41st) Def 2.86 (34th)

29.9 (2nd) PP 24.5 (14th)

84.2 (13th) PK 76.1 (50th)

53.2 (12th) FO 50.9 (27th)

.873 (60th) SP .885 (56th)

National rank in parenthesis. Categories are: offense, defense, power play, penalty kill, faceoffs and team save percentage.

Plenty has been written about McAllister, Polin and Sasson. Everyone knows they're ones to watch. But they're not Western Michigan's only weapon.

Fifth-year senior Jamie Rome, who had three goals in his first four years on campus, has exploded offensively in his final year of eligibility. Rome has nine goals this season, tripling his career total from his first four years.

Rome — not Polin, Sasson or McAllister — is the No. 1 weapon on Western Michigan's top power-play unit.

The left-handed shooting Rome is stationed in the right circle for one-timers. Defenseman Carter Berger, who runs that unit from the top, first looks to pass to Rome for a one-timer. If that's not there, Berger will give it to McAllister in the left circle, and McAllister will look to pass it through the box to Rome.

If that's not available, McAllister will then either shoot or look to give the puck to Sasson or Polin. But getting the puck to Rome is the No. 1 play for that unit.

Six of Rome's nine goals have come on the power play (one of his three even-strength goals came against UND in December). He also has set up rebound goals for others because goalies have trouble with his heavy shot.

Is there any question who this would be?

Caulfield scored his first two collegiate goals against Western Michigan, and it seems every time the Broncos are on the other side, Judd Caulfield turns into Cole Caufield.

Caulfield has nine goals in 12 career games against Western Michigan. That's 35 percent of his career goals.

When the teams faced off in Lawson Ice Arena in December, Caulfield scored both nights.

Both teams have had goaltending issues this season. Western Michigan ranks 56th of 61 Division-I teams in save percentage. UND is tied with Air Force for dead last.

However, when they met in Kalamazoo in December, both UND's Drew DeRidder and Western Michigan's Cameron Rowe turned in excellent performances and both games were uncharacteristically low scoring.

The teams combined for four goals in the series opener, three in the finale, hitting the under both nights.

It's hard to envision these teams continuing to play low-scoring games, so look for some fireworks in Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend.

Friday: Western Michigan 5, UND 4

Saturday: UND 5, Western Michigan 3