10 Things to Know about UNO

1) If you've been under a rock, or simply don't follow college hockey much in the offseasonn, they're in the WCHA now, and they're off to a 4-0-0 start overall and a 2-0-0 start in their new conference, following a sweep at Minnesota last weekend. They also have wins over RIT and Clarkson. Currently, they sit at #10 in the USCHO poll.

2) They sit first in the nation in scoring, averaging 5.50 goals per game over their first 4. There are 15 players in the country right now who are scoring 2 points per game or better. UNO has four of them: Rich Purslow (3-6--9), Joey Martin (1-7--8), Matt Ambroz (that's the extreme version of being Matt Ambrose) (5-3--8) and Alex Hudson (3-5--8). Ambroz is second in the country in goals (Carter Camper), and Martin is tied for first in the country in assists.

3) In net is John Faulkner, who has started and finished every game. He has a 2.25/.928 early on this season. Last year he was 13-10-4 with a 2.60/.905. He got the nod in net in both games against Michigan, giving up 4 goals on the weekend. In the Saturday night game, he stopped 36 of 37 shots. Their 2.25 goals per game allowed is good for 10th in the country right now. Defenseman Eric Olimb was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week after putting up a 0-4--4, +4, 5 blocked shot line against Minnesota last weekend.

4) They're also 10th in the country in PIMs at 20.5 per night. That's still far behind Michigan's national lead at 26.2 minutes a night. You know the CCHA officials are salivating. Don't expect much flow to these games.

5) If there are a lot of penalties, we'll see two of the hottest power plays in the country. The Wolverines are tops in the country at a blistering 41.2% (7 for 17). The Mavericks come in 7th in the country at 31.6% (6 for 19). Both teams have done a good job killing off penalties as well. UNO is at 88.2% and Michigan is at 86.7% (though we have two shorties).

6) Both games this weekend will air on BigTenNetwork.com. It looks like it'd be $7.95 to get all the streaming Michigan games for the next month. According to the MGoBlue schedule, they're also covering the Michigan/Notre Dame game on 11/12, so 3 games for $8 isn't too shabby. (Assuming they go by full months and not calendar months).

7) After being a big-time scorer in juniors (27-55--82 his last year in the USHL), Purslow hasn't done much in his college career, though he's off to a great start this year. He has 30-37--67 in 111 games. He has 3 goals and 2 assists against Michigan in 6 career games.

8) Michigan has quite a few guys who have lit the lamp against Nebraska-Omaha, despite that debacle of a series last year. Louie Caporusso has 4-5--9 in 7 games. Hagelin has 4-3--7 in 8 games. Langlais has 6 assists and Glendening has 3-2--5 in 4 games against the Mavs. I feel like I would expect to see both goalies this weekend. Bryan Hogan is 1-2-0 with a 3.84/.849. Hunwick saw, I believe, the first action of his Michigan career when he came in for a couple of minutes in a blowout win in the CCHA Playoffs a couple of years ago.

9) The Wolverines are 14-1-0 all-time against the Mavericks at Yost. UNO's only win came back in the 04 CCHA Playoffs. I recall being really pissed off after that one. This is the first time we've played a ranked UNO team since 2006. They took 3 of 4 points from us that weekend. This is the highest UNO has been ranked when we've played them since 2001 when they were ranked 7th, and we took 3 of 4 points from them.

10) UNO has never started a season 5-0-0. The fewest shots they've put up in a game this year has been 35, and they cracked the 60 mark against Clarkson (who must be just awful again).