Box Score
Every night is expected to be a grind for the University of Minnesota Duluth this season and Friday's 2013-14 opener at AMSOIL Arena was a perfect example of that.
The Bulldogs, the only team in the nation whose regular season schedule is comprised entirely of clubs ranked in the Top 30 in the latest uscho.com poll, kicked off their 70
th year of intercollegiate hockey by gutting out a 2-1 non-conference victory over Michigan Tech University. Junior left winger
Justin Crandall broke a 1-1 deadlock with 2:36 to go in regulation when he threw a puck on goal that deflected off the shin pad of Michigan Tech defenseman past Husky goaltender Phoenix Copley. The win was the Bulldogs' fifth straight at home going back to last year and extended UMD's unbeaten streak over Michigan Tech to five games (4-0-1).
"It was pretty ugly goal," said Crandall. "I guess like our coaches say, it's never a bad idea to throw pucks on net."
Sophomore center
Tony Cameranesi, who sat out last Monday's 7-1 exhibition victory over Lakehead University while nursing a lower body injury, gave UMD a 1-0 lead at the 4:55 mark of the second period with his 15th career goal.  Chris Leibringer got the equalizer for Michigan Tech 10:19 into the third period, cashing in on a 2-on-1 shortly after he came out of the penalty box but while the Huskies were still a man down. UMD went 0-for-5 on the power play and spent a combined 2:15 of 5-on-3 time, but had nothing to show for it. A lot of that had to do with the stellar work of Copley, who finished with 41 saves. His UMD counterpart, sophomore
Matt McNeely, had 15 stops. Michigan Tech, now 1-11-2 in its last 14 matchups with the Bulldogs, failed to score on all six of its power plays
The Bulldogs will square off with their former long-time WCHA rivals again tomorrow at 7:07 p.m., looking to post their first season-opening series sweep in 18 years.
"This was a good character win for us and it's something we can build off of," said Cameranesi, a member of the 2012-13 All-Rookie Team. "Michigan Tech is a tough team, but so are we and that is going to make for a great Saturday night rematch."
