DI hits the road to see #16 Midland; DIII welcomes Pacific Region rival

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Photo credit: Edward Matthews

On November 11 & 12, the University of Arkansas Division I Men’s Ice Hockey (4-14-2) team travels to Fremont, Nebraska to take on the #16 Midland Warriors (9-7-0).  The puck drops at 7:30 pm on Friday and 4:00 pm on Saturday.  Midland University will broadcast the games here.

The Warriors enter the series having recently been swept last weekend in a pair of close games (4-2 and 4-3 losses) against #7 Robert Morris.  The sweep aside, Midland is enjoying a stellar season having already compiled a pair of wins against #23 Colorado State University, a win over #18 Indiana Tech, and a shootout win over #8 Jamestown University.  Junior forward Sam Turner leads the way for the Warriors, having already put up 32 points in 14 games.  In goal, 6’3″ freshman Dakota McDonald has started 9 games and posted an impressive 2.60 GAA and .921 save percentage.

Coming off of their lone bye weekend, the DI Hogs are 1-1-1 in their last three games.  The Razorbacks were last in action at home against #2 Arizona State and Arizona.  On October 27, Arkansas dropped a competitive contest 5-2 to Arizona State (listen to a recap here) but rebounded on October 28 to earn a WCHL league point by taking Arizona to overtime before losing in a shootout.  Then, in the third game in three days, the Hogs earned their first WCHL win by defeating the Wildcats 5-4.

Arkansas owns an 6-2 lifetime record over Midland, dating back to 2014.  Last season, the two teams split a pair of games in Springdale before Arkansas swept the Warriors on the road to open the second semester.

Back home, the DIII Razorbacks (7-11-0) will host Pacific Region rival McKendree University (2-8-0) in a pair of games at the Jones Center this Friday and Saturday night.  The puck drops on both nights at 8 pm.  For the Hogs’ part, Arkansas looks to build on the momentum generated by last weekend’s 6-4 victory over Vanderbilt.  November 11 is the program’s first ever Veteran’s Night and the team will wear special camouflage jerseys to commemorate the event.