North Dakota Hockey: 2008-09 Season Preview

• UND's eight seniors this season are the most at UND since 2004-05, when the Fighting Sioux had nine seniors.
• Senior forward Ryan Duncan is the leading returning scorer in the nation with 133 career points. Second is Boston College senior forward Benn Ferriero, who has 128 career points, and third is Notre Dame senior forward Erik Condra, who has 120 career points.
• Duncan, who won the Hobey Baker Award as a sophomore in 2006-07, will become the first college hockey player ever to play two more college seasons after winning the Hobey Baker Award. Four others won the Hobey and returned for one additional college season. Those players include Minnesota goalie Robb Stauber (1988 winner), Maine forward Paul Kariya (1993 winner), Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller (2001 winner) and Colorado College forward Marty Sertich (2005 winner).
• Duncan is one of two players in the WCHA to enter the 2008-09 season with more than 100 career points. The other is Colorado College senior forward Chad Rau, who has 103 career points.
• Duncan has never missed a game in his college career. He has played in 132 career games. UND will play a minimum of 40 games this season (38 regular season and two playoff). If Duncan can play in all 40 games and three additional playoff games, he could tie former UND forward Chris Porter's NCAA, WCHA and school record for consecutive games played (175).
• Duncan needs 38 points to move into a tie for 15th place on UND's all-time scoring list (Tony Hrkac ranks 15th with 170 points).
• Duncan needs 15 goals to move into a tie for 10th place on UND's all-time goal-scoring list. He has 65 career goals, and Jeff Panzer and Lee Davidson are currently tied for 10th with 80 career goals. Duncan needs 20 goals to tie Cary Eades for ninth place on the goal list (85 career goals).
• Duncan has 28 career power-play goals (eighth-best in school history). Duncan needs six PPG to move into fourth place on the all-time school PPG list and eight PPG to tie current associate head coach Cary Eades for third on the all-time school PPG list.
• Duncan has 13 career game-winning goals, tied for fourth-best on the all-time school list with Lee Goren and Cary Eades. Mark Taylor ranks first with 18, T.J. Oshie is second with 16 and Brandon Bochenski is third with 15.
• Senior defenseman Joe Finley is one of 13 players in UND history to be drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. This season Finley will become just the second of those 13 players to play his senior season at UND. The only other UND first rounder to play his senior season was former defenseman John Marks, who played three seasons at UND, including his senior season in 1969-70. Freshmen were not eligible at that time, thus the reason that Marks played just three seasons.
• Senior defenseman Zach Jones has played in 129 career games at UND and has never scored a goal. That's more games than any other player in school history without scoring a goal. Two other UND players played 50 or more career games without scoring a goal. Defenseman Travis Dunn played two seasons (1979-80) and 62 games without scoring a goal, while defenseman and school hockey pioneer Cal Marvin played three seasons (1947-50) and 55 games games without scoring a goal.
• UND has two new goaltenders this season along with senior Aaron Walski. Walski has played in just three career games, including a 1-0 shutout of Bemidji State last season in his only collegiate start.
• Walski's three games of experience marks UND's fewest games of college goaltending experience entering a season since the 1991-92 season. That year sophomore Cory Cadden returned with just three games of experience and was joined by freshmen Todd Jones and Jeff Lembke.
• UND enters the season having been ranked nationally in 36 consecutive USCHO.com polls. The school record is 99 in a row from Oct. 6, 1997 to Nov. 26, 2001. Since 1997-98, UND has been nationally ranked in 242 out of 260 USCHO polls.
• UND has a strong family connection, with eight current players having relatives who played previously for the Sioux. Father-son combinations include freshman forward Mario Lamoureux, whose father (Pierre) and brother (Jean-Philippe) played at UND; and Ryan Duncan, whose father (Bob) played for the Sioux. Brother combinations besides Lamoureux include Zach Jones (brother Matt), Chay Genoway (brother Colby), Darcy Zajac (brother Travis), and David Toews (brother Jonathan). Ryan Martens' uncle, Erwin Martens, previously played for UND, as did Brett Hextall's great uncle, Dennis Hextall.
• Thirteen players on UND's roster have been drafted by NHL teams.
• When Cornell visits Grand Forks on Nov. 28-29 for a two-game series at Ralph Engelstad Arena, it will mark the first time that the Big Red have ever played a game in Grand Forks. UND has played Cornell on just four occasions previously, all on neutral ice. The last time UND played Cornell was on Dec. 27, 1997, with UND winning 5-1 at the Pepsi Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Frequent flyer miles - UND will make six regular season flights this season after making just three in 2007-08.
• UND has qualified for four consecutive NCAA Frozen Fours, the longest active streak in the nation.
• Head coach Dave Hakstol, starting his fifth season, is only the third coach in NCAA history to take his first four teams to the Frozen Four in each of his first four seasons. The others are Boston University's Jack Parker, who took his first five teams to the Frozen Four, and former Minnesota coach Doug Woog, who took his first four teams to the Frozen Four.
• UND has improved its regular season WCHA standing each season under Hakstol. The Sioux finished fifth in the regular season in Hakstol's first season (2004-05), tied for fourth in 2005-06, were third in 2006-07 and second in 2007-08.
• Since Hakstol became head coach, UND is 14-5 in the WCHA playoffs, better than any WCHA team in the same four-year stretch. Minnesota is next best at 12-7.
• In Hakstol's four seasons, UND has a 23-9 overall playoff record (14-5 WCHA, 9-4 NCAA). The 23 playoff wins are eight more than any other WCHA team in the same stretch.
• UND's nine NCAA wins in the past four seasons are second in the nation to Boston College's 11 NCAA wins in the same stretch.
• Under Hakstol, UND has played its best hockey in the second half of the season. The Sioux are 40-30-5 (.567) in games played before Christmas and 66-26-10 (.696) in games played after Christmas.