​Oct. 22—MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s record isn’t fooling UND coach Dane Jackson.After watching game video on the Gophers, Jackson concluded that special teams have gotten Minnesota in trouble at times, but overall, the Gophers are much better than their 0-3-1 record indicates.”Their 5-on-5 play looks pretty darn good to me,” Jackson said. “They’ve had some goals scored on them on their penalty kill, but overall, there’s a lot of good play 5-on-5.”UND and Minnesota are set to renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday in 3M Arena at Mariucci.UND comes in with a perfect 4-0 record after sweeping Bemidji State and Bentley. Three of the four games were at home.The Gophers are winless through four games for the first time since 2009-10, but have played theHerald’s preseason favoritesin the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (Michigan Tech) and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (Minnesota Duluth). All four games were on the road.”I just hope we keep building,” Minnesota first-year head coach Brett Larson said. “I thought our best game of the year was Saturday night and we want to build off that. I think it gave the guys some confidence that we’re learning to play winning hockey, we’re learning to play the right way.”Minnesota will now play nine consecutive games at home, beginning with the sold-out homecoming weekend series against UND.”It’s been an incredibly odd schedule in some ways,” Larson said. “I think our players are excited to play in front of our fans finally. I think they can’t wait to feed off their energy.”One area where UND holds a statistical edge is in the faceoff dot.The Fighting Hawks have won 61.1% of their faceoffs, ranking No. 1 nationally. The Gophers are at 43%, ranking 54th of the 57 teams that have played.Minnesota has made slight changes at center from game to game. Last Saturday, L.J. Mooney, Wyatt Cullen, Brooks Cullen and Tanner Ludtke lined up in the middle.UND’s usual centers are Cole Reschny, Ollie Josephson, Hudson Malinoski and Gavin Lindberg.”We’ve got to play fast,” UND forward Will Zellers said. “That Minnesota team is so highly skilled. They’ve got a bunch of the top players in the country. If we’re turning pucks over and creating their offense for them and not playing too hard, they’re going to feed off that.”On the back end, both teams look significantly different than last season.Five of Minnesota’s eight blue liners are new — All-American transfer Evan Murr, transfer Tanner Henricks, transfer Finn Loftus, freshman Axel Löfgren and freshman Tarin Smith, who is nearing a return from an injury he sustained last spring.Five of UND’s eight blue liners are new — transfer Brasen Boser, freshman Carson Carels, freshman Ethan MacKenzie, freshman Garrett Lindberg and freshman Bauer Dumanski.”With a young group, you’ve got a lot to teach them details and also bring them together,” UND assistant coach Dillon Simpson said. “I’ve been super proud of how all eight of them have worked and really