Hockey Preview: Stout to play home-and-home series with Superior

Blue Devil home games: Live Stats | Live Video vs. UW-Superior               
at UW-Superior: Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (3-8-1, 0-2-0 WIAC) return to WIAC play this week with a home-and-home series with UW-Superior (7-8-0, 0-2-0 WIAC). The teams will meet Friday, Jan. 16 at the Dunn County Ice Arena at 7:30 p.m. in Menomonie, then travel north to meet the Yellowjackets at Wessman Arena, Saturday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.

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 will also be available for home games.

THE 2014-15 BLUE DEVILS (3-8-1, 0-2-0 WIAC): When Stout scored eight goals against Concordia-Wisconsin, it was the biggest offensive output since Nov. 8, 2013, when the Blue Devils put up 10 goals against Hamline University. The Blue Devils have shown they are capable of putting the puck into the net. In their final game of the 2014 calendar year, Stout scored five goals against nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point, and the night before, they scored three against nationally ranked UW-River Falls. But then, throw in the MSOE clinker where the Blue Devils were blanked the night before playing Concordia. Stout has averaged 4.0 goals over the last four games, but they have also given up an average of just over six goals per game. With the exception of the MSOE game, leading scorer Justin Moody has tallied at least one point in six of the last seven games. Moody has a team-best six goals and have five assists for 11 points. Jake Useldinger has five goals and a team-best six assists. Joey Haydock and defensemen Jordan Tredinnick each over five assists. Craig Lindegard has four goals, while Haydock and Tyler Cayemberg have three goals. Tredinnick, Danny Ray, Carl Bombardier and Shayne McLaughlin each have two goals. Ray has four assists. The Blue Devils have gotten goals from 14 different players, assists from 16 different players and total points from 19 different players. The Blue Devils are a young team with four seniors, two juniors, 13 sophomores and six freshmen. Defenseman Tredinnick returns as the team's leading scorer. All three goalies on the roster have seen time between the pipes, but Spencer Viele has now worked 10 starts and has a GAA of 3.63, with a saves percentage of .891. Chase Hollander has started two games and has seen action in five games, with a saves percentage of .845and a GAA of 6.92. Gustav Griborn has seen limited action, with a GAA of 5.26. | Blue Devil Statistics

PENALTY FREE: When Jordan Tredinnick was whistled for tripping against Concordia University, it was the first time he was sent to the penalty box since Jan. 31, 2013 against UW-River Falls. That is 42 consecutive games without getting an inside view of the penalty box.

POWER PLAY: Even with the fewest wins in the league, the Blue Devils are competitive on the power play and rank second in the league in number of power play goals with 12. Only UW-River Falls has more (19). Craig Lindegard has three power play goals, and Joey Haydock and Tyler Cayemberg each have two. The Blue Devils have a power play pecentage of 23.1, again second behind River Falls (33.9 percent). Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they have also given up the most power play goals in the league with 14 for a penalty kill of 77.0 percent. The Blue Devils are also second in the league in shorthanded goals with three. UW-Eau Claire has four. Jake Useldinger has two shorthanded goals and Jordan Stejskal has one. But conversely, the Blue Devils have given up six shorthanded goals and no other WIAC team has given up more than one.

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: It was a tale of two different offenses last weekend. The first offensive could not find the back of the net in a 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Jan. 9. It was a different story the following night as the Blue Devils defeated Concordia University of Wisconsin, 8-5. Justin Moody scored two goals and added an assist in the win. Defense went out the window in the second period when both teams scored four goals apiece for an eight-goal assault on the goalies. | MSOE Story and Box Score | Concordia Story and Box Score


SCOUTING UW-SUPERIOR: Tanner Dion leads the Yellowjackets in points with 14, tallying eight goals and six assists. Tom Paine is the team leader in assists with eight, and he also has one goal. Jordan Neduzak has five goals, as does Jake Johnson. Cody Hotchkin has four goals and ifve assists. Cory Simons has collected the most minutes in the net, with seven decisions in eight games and has a GAA of 2.19 with a saves percentage of 92.2 percent. Zach Thompson has seen action in five games, with a GAA of 2.58 and a saves percentage of 89.6. Superior is outscoring their opponents, 2.9-2.5. The Yellowjackets snapped a three game losing skid just before Christmas with a 4-1 win at MSOE, only to see MSOE hand them a loss last Saturday. | Yellowjacket Statistics

SUPERIOR LAST TIME OUT: The Yellowjackets and the Blue Devils both played Concordia and MSOE last weekend with the same results. The 'Jackets defeated Concordia, 6-2, Jan. 9, then lost 3-2 to MSOE the following evening. Against Concordia, the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 3-0 win, allowed Concordia back in at 3-2, before burying the Falcons in an avalance of goals to close out the game. Against MSOE, the Yellowjackets allowed three second period goals, pulled to within one goal with a third period goal by Alex Thompson, but that would be the end of the scoring. | Concordia Story and Statistics | MSOE Story and Statistics

LAST YEAR WHEN STOUT AND SUPERIOR MET: The teams met four times last year, three times in the regular season, then again in the first round of the WIAC Tournament with Superior taking that game 6-3 in Superior. The Yellowjackets took three of the four contests. Superior dominated the first game, 6-1, but Stout bounced back the next night for a 2-1 decision. In the final regular season game of the year, the Yellowjackets captured a 3-2 decision, | WIAC Game Box Score

THE SERIES: Superior leads the series,.52-18-4. Over the last five years, Superior leads the series, 8-6.


USCHO.com TOP 15 DIVISION III POLL: UW-Stout ranked opponents include: UW-Stevens Point (7th); UW-Eau Claire (12th); UW-River Falls (3rd); St. John's (14th); St. Thomas and Lake Forest are receiving votes.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Spencer Viele was selected the WIAC player of the week Nov. 25 after recording wins over Finlandia (4-1) and Lawrence (2-1)...Jordan Tredinnick was a WIAC honorable mention choice in 2013-14.

TEAM CAPTAINS: info coming

THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (218-259-29) 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. UW-Superior: Dan Stauber (247-123-54) is in his 15th season at the head of the UW-Superior program and needs two wins to become the school's all-time wins leader. Stauber took the reins of the program in August of 2000 and enjoyed immediate success. His first team set several school records, including most wins in a season (30), longest unbeaten streak (23 games) and longest winning streak (19 games). They claimed the school's second NCHA regular season championship and second straight NCHA playoff title. The team entered the NCAA Final Four regarded as a favorite, but fell short and had to settle for third place. The following year, the Yellowjackets won the NCAA crown, the school's second NCAA title.

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. MSOE and Concordia are members of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).

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 be at St. John's University, Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the National Sports Center in St. Cloud, Minn. Stout returns to the Dunn County Ice Arena for a pair of games with first year program Aurora University, Friday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m.