Hockey Preview: Young Blue Devils to hit the ice Saturday vs. Marian

Complete 2013-14 Preview | Live Stats | Live Video

THIS WEEK'S GAME: UW-Stout (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) will open the 2013-14 season when they host Marian University 0-0-0, 0-0-0 NCHA), Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Dunn County Ice Arena..

WEBCASTS:  All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by Blue Devil Video.Join Brady Burzynski and Josh Halling on the call.  Live Stats should also be available for most home games.

2013-14 BLUE DEVILS (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WIAC): It's a new season, with an old twist. The Blue Devils, along with the other four UW schools, pulled out of the NCHA and will play solely in the five-team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). When Stout started playing a varsity program back in the early 1970s, they were a member of only the WIAC. But when Stout returned to varsity status after a nearly 15-year hiatus in 1996, they brought the WIAC back to a five-time league, thereby sponsored by the league, and also joined the NCHA, making that league an eight-team league. The Blue Devils bring a team to the new season where the roster is half new with 14 first year players to the 28-man roster. Stout does return their top scorer in senior forward Kevin O'Donnell, who scored 12 goals and 12 assists. But they return only three of their top 10 scorers from last year. O'Donnell leads the way. Zach Vierling scored eight goals and eight assists, while defenseman Jordan Tredinnick scored four goals and 10 assists. O'Donnell, Vierling and Tredinnick were all key players on the power play. O'Donnell had two power play goals and four assists. Tredinnick had one power play goal and five power play assists, while Vierling had two power play goals and two assists. Stout returns no goalies that saw starting time. Eric Wobschall saw action in two games for 28 minutes, while Brad Wohlers was added to the roster at mid-season, but did not see the ice. Wohlers saw ice time in 2001-12. Newcomers Corey Koop and Chase Hallander are expected to vie for time between the pipes.

2012-13 BLUE DEVILS (10-13-2, 5-13-0 NCHA): After a hot start to the season, Stout finished the 2012-13 season with a 10-15-2 overall record, 5-13-0 in their last season in the NCHA and 2-10-0 in the WIAC.  | 2012-13 Statistics

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: UW-Stout lost a pair of 3-2 NCHA quarterfinal contests at St. Norbert College to close out the 2012-13 season.

SCOUTING MARIAN UNIVERSITY (0-0-0, 0-0-0 NCHA): Similar to UW-Stout, Marian University brings 12 first year players to their roster, but do return three of their top four scorers and their top goalie from last season. Forward Tyler Klein led the Sabres with 15 goals and six assists. Defenseman Brian Berger scored eight goals and 11 assists, while junior forward Aaron Leonard popped in four goals and 12 assists. Josh Baker logged in nearly 1200 minutes and posted a 2.44 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and an 11-8-1 overall record. The Sabres posted an overall 13-12-1 record with a 12-8-0 conference record, finishing second in the MCHA. Marian ended their season with a 1-0 loss to MSOE in the semifinals of the MCHA playoffs.  | 2012-13 Statistics | Complete Season Preview

THE SERIES: Stout holds a 5-2-2 lead in the series. Over the last three seasons, the teams are deadlocked at 1-1-1.

LAST TIME THEY MET: UW-Stout got a power play goal from Kevin O'Donnell midway through the second period to take a 3-2 lead, but Marian's Aaron Leonard scored on a power play goal in third period to forge a 3-3 tie in Fond du Lac last October. The team's traded goals in rapid fire in the first period. Stout's Carl Bombardier scored at 11:14, but Marian's Andy Kuechler matched the score about a minute later. Stout took the lead back on a goal by Jordan Tredinnick, but Marian's Brian Berger locked the score at 2-2 only 20 seconds later. Stout outshot Marian, 34-28. | Story and Box Score

USCHO.com POLL: The USCHO.com preseason poll has not yet been released

RECORDS AND MILESTONES: Kevin O'Donnell has worked his way onto the UW-Stout all-time career scoring list. His 66 total points (28-40-68) ranks him 23rd and his 40 assists rank him 23rd. Thirty career goals is the cutoff to appear on the UW-Stout all-time goals list.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Kevin O'Donnell was a first team all-WIAC selection last season.  Jordan Tredinnick and Zach Vierling honorable mention all-WIAC.

THE COACHES: UW-Stout:  Terry Watkins (207-233-28) is in his 18th season as the head coach of the Blue Devils' varsity program. Watkins spent eight years coaching the club team (104-102-16) as Stout prepared to return to varsity status in 1997. Watkins was the 2006-07 NCHA coach of the year when Stout finished in a three-way tie for first. Watkins had a Hall of Fame career at Stout as a defenseman. Stout won a WIAC title in 2010-11, and an NCHA title during the 2006-07 season. Marian University:. The 2013-14 season will mark the second for A.J. Aitken as head coach of the Marian men's ice hockey program. He led the Sabres to a 13-12-1 overall mark and the program's fourth straight MCHA North Division title after spending the previous nine seasons as associate head coach of the St. Norbert College men's hockey program.

THE CONFERENCES: Stout is a member of the five team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The WIAC is made up of Stout, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior and UW-River Falls. Marian University is a member of the 10-team NCHA, but were a member of the MCHA. Teams in the MCHA include: St. Norbert, St. Scholastica, Adrian, Finlandia, Lake Forest, MSOE, Lawrence, Concordia-Mequon and Northland.

STOUT'S RANKED HISTORY: Stout finished the 2008-09 season as the second ranked team in the USCHO.com poll. With the exception of the Nov. 17, 2008, USCHO.com poll, Stout had been ranked in the top 15 since the Nov. 13, 2006, poll. Stout made their first appearance in the poll on Nov. 27, 2000, when they received one vote, then moved up to 10th the following week. The 2008-09 season ending poll matched Stout's previous high mark of second  in the Jan. 29, 2007, poll. Stout opened the 2009-10 season ranked third, their highest-ever season-opening ranking, but fell out of the polls midway through the season and returned to the top 15, Nov. 22, 2010. Stout was in the 2011-12 USCHO.com poll early in the season, dropped out, returned again, but  dropped out. Stout returned to the poll after a win over top-ranked St. Norbert, Jan. 18, garnering eight votes in the Jan. 21 poll, effectively ranking the Blue Devils 19th. | USCHO.com Division III poll

STOUT'S PETERS CUP HISTORY: Since they joined the NCHA for the 1996-97 season, UW-Stout has compiled an overall record of 14-21-3 in Peters Cup games. Upon joining the league, Stout went winless in their first eight playoff series. Since their first victory in 2004-05, Stout is 14-7-1. In recent years, Stout's record is not terrible, but they have not advanced out of the first round for three years. In both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, Stout went 1-1 on their home ice before losing a mini-game to end their season. Then last year, as the seventh seed, they went 0-1-1 at St. Scholastica to again end their season early. As it pertains to their series this weekend, Stout has not fared well on the road, especially against St. Norbert. The Blue Devils are 4-17-3 in road Peters Cup games and are 0-5-0 against the Green Knights, with each loss coming in De Pere.

UP NEXT: The Blue Devils will host Lake Forest College, Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Dunn County Ice Arena. Lake Forest was a member of the NCHA, but pulled out several years ago to join the MCHA. The MCHA merged with the NCHA last spring to form a new NCHA.