The No. 17/18 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team has their first weekend series of the 2023-24 season against Northern Michigan.
THE MATCHUP While the Bulldogs started their season last weekend, the Wildcats first game will be Friday night. Going into the season, UMD was ranked 17th in both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live polls. Northern Michigan did not make the Top 20, but received votes in both preseason polls and tied for 21st overall in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live Week 2 Poll, along with Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
SCOUTING SCORING The Wildcats return their 2022-23 team point leader, Andre Ghantous. He averaged a point per game (13-25-38). Two players tied for second in points (32), with one returning, Artem Shlaine. His junior year performance after transferring from UConn earned him the 2023-24 captaincy. NMU lost AJ Vanderbeck, along with leading goal scorer David Keefer.
NEW 'CATS NMU welcomed 11 new players in the offseason, 3 transfers and 8 freshmen. Elk River-native Jack Perbix is one the Wildcats transfers, after spending the 2022-23 season with Western Michigan (NCHC) and the three seasons prior at Minnesota.
Two other Minnesotan joined NMU, freshmen forward Grant Slukynsky and goaltender Carsen Stokes. Slukynsky played for Warroad High School before transitioning to the USHL. Stokes is originally from Prior Lake and played four seasons for Shattuck's St. Mary's before heading to the NAHL.
INTERNATIONAL CORE The Bulldogs represent only two countries, rostering 19 Americans and seven Canadians. The Wildcats, however, have taken a more international approach to recruiting. While the majority of the team is still North American, they also host Swedish (Kevin Marx Noren, Viking Gustafsson Nyberg), Russian (Artem Shlaine, Matvei Kabanov), Hungarian (Kristof Papp, Halasz), and Danish players (Jeppe Urup) for a total of 7 players from another continent.
IN THE CREASE The Wildcats' started freshman Beni Halasz in net for 35 games last season and he's expected to be the main goaltender for them once again this season. He's joined by junior Charlie Glocker and freshman Carsen Stokes.
UMD has taken a slightly different approach to goaltending, relying heavily on both senior Zach Stejskal and fifth year Matthew Thiessen. Both veteran goalies will likely see plenty of time between the posts for the Bulldogs.
WEEKLY WINNINGS After the first weekend of NCHC action, UMD emerged with two of the conference's weekly player awards. After a 32 save performance Saturday night, Stejskal was awarded Goaltender of the Week. He posted a 0.941 save percentage, the best out of all NCHC goaltenders who saw action last weekend and helped bring the game to overtime and the shootout. Freshman Anthony Menghini received Rookie of the Week after scoring his first goal in his first collegiate game. He also closed out the shootout in the third round, although the goal does not officially count towards his stats.
TWO GOALS, SIX SCORERS Menghini was joined by five other players on the scoresheet against Michigan Tech. His third period goal was assisted by freshman Aaron Pionk and sophomore Jack Smith. Pionk earned his first collegiate point on the goal. In the first period, Luke Loheit opened the scoring, with the help of fellow upperclassmen Owen Gallatin and Quinn Olson.
SCORE CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! Luke Loheit's season opener goal was not the first of his career. In 2021, UMD began the season with a 4-2 win over Bemidji State, with Loheit scoring the Bulldogs' first goal of the season. The last time UMD's captain lit the lamp for the first goal of the team's season was also against Bemidji State. In 2015, Andy Welinkski scored a short-handed goal in the second period of what would eventually result in a 3-2 loss for the Bulldogs.
FIRST WEEKEND FANS Bulldog Country showed up last Saturday, with 6,017 total fans. This marks the first home opener for the Bulldogs since 2019-20 (6,041) with over 6,000 in attendance.
