North Dakota Talks Today. Four Flames First-Rounders Meet in Texas on Halloween.
UND holds its media day today, and the season it opens has a date already circled: North Dakota against Michigan State in Texas on Oct. 31, with four Calgary first-round picks on the ice.
North Dakota holds its media day today, which means the next two weeks of college hockey talk start in Grand Forks. Before anyone in the room says a word, a lot about this season is already settled. One date matters more than the rest to anyone following Calgary’s prospects.
Halloween, in Texas
On Saturday, Oct. 31, North Dakota plays Michigan State in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, outside Austin, at 7:07 p.m. Central. It is the first time the program has gone to Texas.
It is also a regular-season college game with four Flames first-round picks in it, two on each bench: Carson Carels and Cole Reschny for North Dakota, Jack Hextall and Cullen Potter for Michigan State.
Potter transferred to Michigan State from Arizona State. Hextall arrives from Youngstown of the USHL. A freshman can sit on any given night, so the full set of four is the plan rather than a promise, but it is a good plan.
North Dakota will wear something new for it. The school’s “NoDak Two Step” jerseys, revealed Sept. 24, are green with “NoDak” written diagonally across the front, a nod to the ones worn when the Ralph opened, the Grand Forks Herald reported. Equipment manager Dan Johansson and CCM designed them.
North Dakota introduces its "NoDak Two Step" uniforms, via @UNDmhockey on X
A closer look at the NoDak Two Step jersey, via @UNDmhockey on X
The captain and the freshman
Reschny was voted captain by his teammates on Sept. 16, the youngest in program history. A day earlier he was named to the NCHC preseason all-conference team with 17 votes, alongside defenceman Keaton Verhoeff and goaltender Jan Špunar.
Carels is the third-highest pick North Dakota has ever had. He and Verhoeff, who went 9th to San Jose, were the first UND pair taken in the top 10 of the same draft.
Where North Dakota starts
Fourth in both national preseason polls: 859 points and two first-place votes in USCHO’s, 589 points and one first-place vote in USA Hockey’s. In the NCHC’s own media poll, Denver was picked first with 304 points. North Dakota had 302.
The building turns 25
This is the 25th season of hockey at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The exhibitions come first, Augustana on Saturday, Oct. 3 and Manitoba on Sunday, Oct. 4, the second of them billed as the anniversary celebration. The season opens at Bemidji State on Friday, Oct. 9, with the home opener against the same team the next night.
The Ralph is marking the year by holding concession prices for a third straight season, adding perogies and poutine to the menu, and finishing a new roof. And Tim Hennessy is back on the radio for his 47th season calling North Dakota home games. The school says it will be his last.
What comes next here
Anthony Dillett of the Dakota Student is in the room today with our questions, and his media day Q&A runs here next week. His piece on Reschny’s first weeks as captain follows it. Later this month, the view from the seats at the Ralph. Then Austin.
Next in Rinkside Dispatch → The Lawn Chairs: Carson Carels and Cole Reschny at UND Media Day Flames prospects Carson Carels and Cole Reschny at North Dakota media day: draft night on the farm, captain at 19, and coach Dane Jackson on both. 
