As the season gets closer and closer to getting off the ground. UND finally “released” their non-conference portion of their schedule so far.
I put “released” in the Dr. Evil quotes because like most things during COVID, they are subject to change, and as Sather noted, UND is actively looking to add more to their schedule. So as of this posting, this is what we know
11/25 @ Miami (OH)
12/2 @ Dixie State
12/4 @ Minnesota
12/10 @ USD *Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls
12/11 @ SDSU *Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls
12/12 @ NDSU *Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls
12/22 @ Drake
First thing that jumps out right now is that UND doesn’t have any home games in non-conference. This certainly can change, but even without fans, it certainly would be nice for the team to have at least one home game before conference play.
Love the trip out to Oxford (should be familiar to UND hockey fans) to start the year. It too bad they couldn’t find another team in the area to play for a two-fer that weekend. First time opponent. Should be a nice test against a former Matt Painter disciple.
Get to head out to Utah to take on Dixie State, a recent move up. Another first time opponent. Former RMAC school, so Mr. Sueker should be well familiar with them.
A trip to Barn is always fun, no matter what the occasion. Can they pick off the Gophers like they did Nebraska last year? Unlikely, but again… one can dream. Son of Pitino gets to have Son of Mashburn.
The NCC Holiday Tournament (or whatever they are calling it) was a masterstroke idea and is a great way for these schools to get in 3 non-conference games. Even better, they will be playing at the Pentagon, which is a really cool place (never been there, but it looks great on TV. The NSIC plays their championships there).
Drake should be a nice challenge for UND to finish the non-conference schedule. They should be a mid-pack team in a tough MVC conference.
Will this be the final schedule? Who knows. With COVID, nothing is guaranteed. Worst case, just play NDSU, USD, and SDSU and Omaha twice in non-conference, problem solved.