Oxford, Ohio – The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team completed their second weekend sweep of the year by beating Miami University 6-3 on Saturday night. The Bulldogs secured their fourth win in a row, their 10th win on the year and now sit at 10-5-2. The Redhawks fall to 4-12-2 on the year.

Sophomore goaltender Ryan Fanti got his second consecutive nod and second straight win.

"I felt really good, I enjoyed it. I'm up for the challenge," said sophomore goaltender Ryan Fanti. "It's nice to play consistently and get that feel for the puck a little bit more. Just excited to play next weekend and I'm already looking forward to it."
 
Fanti finished the evening with 32 saves and collected his eighth win of the year. He now carries an 8-4-2 overall record, with a .908 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average. Miami's goaltender Ben Kraws finished with 26 saves in the contest.

"Another good win for our guys. I thought we played a much better game from start to finish," said head coach Scott Sandelin. "We had some changes in momentum at the end, they got some power play opportunities. They're a team that's not going to quit. They're going to keep battling, but we managed to keep that lead and finish it off. It was a good weekend for us."

Scoring started much earlier than last night, with UMD scoring just past the opening five minute mark on the man advantage. After setting up, senior forward Kobe Roth passed the puck up top to senior forward Nick Swaney. Swaney then rolled to the far side and passed to freshman forward Wyatt Kaiser. Kaiser found senior forward Koby Bender, who ripped a shot in Kraws' pads. The rebound popped out to junior forward Jackson Cates who put it past Kraws.

"I think one of the biggest things for us is trying to get that first goal. Playing with a lead and having confidence is such a huge thing," said senior forward Nick Swaney. "I think once we got that first one, we built the momentum from there. Throughout the game, they got a few on the power play but I think for the most part it was a full 60 minutes from us and it's awesome to get six points no matter what weekend."

UMD found the back of the net again before the period ended. While a man up, the puck popped to the middle of the ice to junior forward Jesse Jacques. Jacques passed to Swaney, who moved it up to Kaiser. Kaiser shifted over to the far side of the blue line and threw it back to Swaney. Swaney ripped a wrist shot past Kraws' glove side to take a 2-0 lead with 5:42 remaining.

Starting early in the second frame, the Bulldogs struck again. Junior forward Noah Cates was cutting down in the Redhawks zone and dished a pass to Swaney, who skated back towards N. Cates. Swaney threw a short pass to sophomore forward Quinn Olson, who drove to the net and shelved a backhander for a 3-0 lead 1:56 into the period. Miami struck back just 22 seconds later on the man advantage after working the puck around the perimeter. Then, Redhawks forward John Sladic tipped a shot from the point past Fanti. The period went quiet from then on.

Scoring picked back up in third, when sophomore forward Luke Loheit wanted to find the score sheet. Freshman forward Blake Biondi snapped the puck up to the point, where senior defenseman Matt Cairns threw the puck towards the net. Loheit was in the right place at the right time and tipped the puck by Kraws just 5:58 into the period. The Redhawks responded just 20 seconds later to stay within striking distance. Miami gained the zone and the puck popped into the slot, where the Redhawks were able to rip it home. The Bulldogs scored again with 7:34 to go in the game. Jacques fired a shot that went wide, corralled his rebound and passed to junior forward Tanner Laderoute. Laderoute went below the goal line and found junior forward Cole Koepke who had a wide open net and ripped it in. Miami scored to pull within two goals again while on a two man advantage with 3:39 to go in the period, but Koepke netted an empty netter with just 5.3 to go in the game to seal the deal.

Koepke scored twice on the evening and finished with two points and two shots. J. Cates, Loheit, Olson and Swaney all finished with a goal, Swaney finished with two points and four shots. Jacques had two assists and two points. Nine other Bulldogs had assists in the contest.

UMD will return home to host Miami University next weekend (Feb. 5-6) and finish out their regular season series with the Redhawks.