Hockey Preview: Blue Devils to open at home Friday, Saturday

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: After three road games to start the season, the Blue Devils (0-3-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) come home for a four-game homestand beginning Friday, Nov. 14, when they host Augsburg College (3-1-0, 2-0-0 MIAC) at the newly renovated Dunn County Ice Arena for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Blue Devils will host the University of St. Thomas, (1-1-2, 1-0-1 MIAC) Saturday, Nov. 15 again at 7:30 p.m. To recognize the renovation project, a live band will play in the new community room between the second and third periods, and again at the completion of the game Saturday. Food and refreshments will also be available. Next weekend, the Blue Devils will host Finlandia University and Lawrence University.

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

THE 2014-15 BLUE DEVILS (0-3-0, 0-0-0 WIAC): The Blue Devils have a young team with four seniors, two juniors, 13 sophomores and six freshmen. Defenseman Jordan Tredinnick returns as the team's leading scorer. The question between the pipes will need to be resolved soon. Chase Hollander worked five games last season, while Spencer Viele transferred from UW-Stevens Point and saw action in two games. Gustav Griborn joins the Blue Devils out of Sweden. Hollander and Viele so far have seen time, with Viele seeing action in all three games for 134.minutes and Hollander in two games for 50 minutes. Viele has a goals against average of 3.58 and Hollander, 5.98. Seven different Blue Devils have so far scored goals - Tredinnick, Tyler Cayemberg, Justin Moody, Jake Useldinger, Riley Colvard, Craig Lindegard and Shayne McLaughlin. Cayemberg, moody and Useldinger have each added an assist. Patrick Regan has a team-best two assists. | Blue Devil Statistics

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils lost 4-2 at Hamline, Nov. 7, then took Gustavus Adolpus to overtime before dropping a 4-3 decision. The Pipers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Stout pulled to within one goal on power play markers by Tyler Cayemberg and Craig Lindegard. Hamline sealed the game with an empty net goal in the final minute. Stout matched Gustavus Adolphus goal for goal, but the Gusties scored four minuttes into the overtime period to get the win. | Hamline Story and Box Score | Gustavus Story and Box Score

AUGSBURG COLLEGE: The Auggies are coming off a 5-1, 5-2 sweep over Bethel University last weekend. Augsburg is averaging 3.2 goals per contest and their only loss of this short season so far has been a 5-1 loss to Concordia College. Mack Ohnstad is leading the team in scoring with four goals and racked up two goals in the second contest with Bethel. Rory Vesel and Dylan Meier each have two goals. Ben McClellan has a goal and five assists. Zach Dick has four assists. Frerick Melander has seen three complete games in goal, posting a 2-1-0 record with a GAA of 2.33. Augsburg was picked to finish fifth in the MIAC this season. | Auggie Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND AUGSBURG MET: Stout's Craig Lindegard scored on the power play in the first period, but the Auggies scored in the second and third periods to take a 2-1 win last November in Minneapolis, Minn. The Auggies' Nicholas Widing returned the favor with a power play goal in the second and Erik Ordahl got the winner with six minutes remaining in regulation. The Auggies outshot Stout, 31-14. | Game Story and Box Score

THE SERIES: Augsburg holds a 9-7-1 lead in the series, and the Auggies hold a 3-2-0 advantage over Stout over the last five games.

UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS: The Tommies were ranked 12th in the Nov. 3 USCHO.com Division III poll, but fell out the poll to 16th this week. The Tommies picked up their first win of the season last weekend when Michael Dockry scored at 13:45 of the third period to lift the Tommies to a 3-2 win over St. Mary's. The Tommies are at UW-Stevens Point, Friday, Nov. 14. The Tommies opened the season with a 0-0 tie with St. John's, but got the nod in a shootout The Tommies lost 2-1 to Hamline, then tied St. Mary's Nov. 8, before downing the Cardinals the next night. Willie Faust leads St. Thomas with three goals and an assist, while Jordan Lovick has three assists. Drew Fielding has gone the distance so far this year in front of the twine, with a GAA of 1.69 and a saves percentage of .921. St. Thomas was picked to repeat as the MIAC champion this season. | Tommie Statistics

LAST TIME STOUT AND ST. THOMAS MET: The Tommies' Charlie Adams scored the only goal of the game five minutes into the third period and St. Thomas made the goal standup in a 1-0 win last November in St. Paul, Minn. Both teams had power play opportunities, but neither could cash in. Stout was 0-for-4, while the Tommies were 0-for-6. | Game Story and Box Score

THE SERIES: The Blue Devils hold a 10-6-1 lead in the series. Stout won three in a row over the Tommies before St. Thomas took a 1-0 win last season. Over the last five games, Stout holds a 3-2-0 record

USCHO.com TOP 15 DIVISION III POLL: UW-Stout ranked opponents include: UW-Stevens Point (6th); UW-Eau Claire (9th); UW-River Falls (14th); St. John's (15th); St. Thomas, Augsburg, Gustavus Adolphus, receiving votes.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Jordan Tredinnick was a WIAC honorable mention choice in 2013-14.

TEAM CAPTAINS: info coming

THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (215-254-28) is in his 19th 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. Watkins reached 700 games as the head coach of a UW-Stout hockey team (varsity and club) when the Blue Devils played UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 7, 2013. AUGSBURG: Chris Brown is in his ninth year with the Auggies, and 14th overall. Brown has also been the head coach at Hamline and Marian University ST. THOMAS: Jeff Boeser is in his fifth season with the Tommies, as the head coach, but his ties to the Tommies go back to his college days when he scored 97 goals and 104 assists while wearing the purple and black. Following a stint on the 1976 US Olympic hockey team and played in the Finnish elite league. He was an assistant for the Tommies for more than 25 years.

THE CONFERENCES: UW-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. Augsburg and St. Thomas are members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athetic Conference (MIAC).

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

UP NEXT: The Blue Devils will host Finlandia University, Friday, Nov. 21 and Lawrence University, Saturday, Nov. 22 to close out their four-game homestand. The Blue Devils will then take to the road to close out the 2014 calendar year and won't return to the Dunn County Ice Arena until Friday, Jan. 9.