Behind four goals from four different players and outstanding goaltending from Adam Gajan, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team earned its first win of the young season Friday night, a 4-2 effort against the University of Massachusetts Lowell inside the Tsongas Center in Lower, Mass.

 The Bulldogs got goals from Joe Molenaar, Callum Arnott, Braden Fischer and Dominic James on the night, while Gajan had 36 saves against 38 shots in his UMD netminding debut. The win marks the first of the season for the Bulldogs, who move to 1-1 on the young year.

"You have to learn to extend leads and I thought we did that, getting the lead 2-1 and building on it," said head coach Scott Sandelin, who is now 6-2-3 all-time against the River Hawks. "I thought Dom (James) had a good game, I thought (Jack) Smith's line had a good game and our goalie played well. We know Saturday's are always hard and we have to have a better start tomorrow, can't feed teams transition, these guys had some good looks and our goalie made some key saves, so we have to clean that up, get a lead and try and make them chase the game."
 

UMass Lowell scored the game's first goal 12:36 into the opening period, but just 49 seconds later, Molenaar scored his first goal as a Bulldog – a shorthand tally at that – after he intercepted a pass under the redline and deked River Hawk goaltender Beni Halasz right out of the crease for his scoring debut, knotting the game up at 1-1. Rookie forward Arnott then followed Molenaar's lead and netted his first collegiate goal after he popped in a rebound from a James drive to the net to give UMD's its first goal advantage of the game at 13:27 of the frame.

 

At the 10:09 mark of the second period, UMD stretched that upper hand to 3-1 behind Braden Fischer's first goal of the season, burying the puck off a UML turnover. James then sharpened the Bulldogs edge on his opening goal of the season just 35 seconds into the third period. With a wrister from the slot, James scored his first official goal since missing almost all of the 2023-24 season due to injury, and was assisted by sophomore forward Matthew Perkins and senior defenseman Owen Gallatin. 

The River Hawks added one last goal at the 11:18 mark to make it a 4-2 game, but they would come no closer in their season opening skate.

Gajan's 36 saves also came against four UNL power plays, but the freshman gloved his first win in his first official start between the pipes. As a team, UMD blocked nine shots to the River Hawks three, but were outshot 38-29 in the game. Halasz made 25 stops in net for UNL (0-1-0), who was also held scoreless (and gave up a shorthanded goal) in six power play attempts.

The Bulldogs will wrap up game two of the series against the River Hawks tomorrow at 5:05 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: Graduate Joe Molenaar's shorthanded goal was the first by a Bulldog since Carter Looney rang one up on Jan. 13, 2024 against Colorado College with just 11 seconds left in the first period at AMSOIL Arena … senior center Dominic James led all UMD players and tied a game-high for both teams with two points (1g, 1a) … it marks the ninth multiple point game of his collegiate career … Callum Arnott's first collegiate goal marks the fifth freshman to log a point in the first two official games, and third to score a goal … Jayson Shaugabay (2g), Zam Plante (1g) are the other two …  senior blueliner Owen Gallatin, who led the Bulldogs with a team-best 23 assists last season, picked up right where he left off Friday night with his first assist of the season … UMD remains undefeated in Lowell, Mass. with an all-time record of 3-0-1 after Friday night.