Had only the last 40 minutes of play counted Friday night at AMSOIL Arena, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team would have had a night to remember.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it was a 60 minute game, one that the No. 6 University of Minnesota was able to hold on to late in the game for a 7-5 win over UMD in non conference play. 

"I like the fight at the end, you know, we need more of that, which is what we talked about all week," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "We didn't have that in the first period at all, we weren't skating, we weren't doing anything and made it pretty easy for them. But we didn't quit, we have lots of things to clean up. You have to work and you have to compete, it starts there. It's simple, if you have that, it doesn't guarantee winning, it just makes things a little bit easier."

There was no easy way for the Bulldogs after an opening period that saw the Gophers go up 4-0 on three even strength goals and a power play tally, including two that came in the first 4:22 of play. But 3:20 into the second period, Aiden Dubinsky scored on a Matthew Perkins shot that rebounded into the slot for the junior defenseman's first goal of the year to cut the score to 4-1.

After Minnesota tacked one on late in the second period, the third frame shook loose UMD's offense. Dubinsky unloaded on a puck that had popped back out to the top of the right circle for his second of the night at the 3:20 mark. Senior center Dominic James added a power play goal at 12:56, and all of a sudden the Bulldogs were within striking distance, trailing 5-3. Minnesota responded with back-to-back goals 27 seconds apart at 14:51 and 15:18 to push their advantage back to 7-3, but UMD was far from done.

Almost a minute later, Joe Molenaar tucked in his second of the season, and then at 18:25, Jayson Shaugabay cleaned up a rebound in the slot for his third of the game to pull the Bulldogs within two goals – the closest they had been to the Gophers since 4:27 of the first period.

A late penalty against UMD snuffed out any further shot at a comeback, but the Bulldogs left the ice Friday night having outscored Minnesota 5-3 in the final two frames.

"They kind of punched us in the mouth there, did what we wanted to do," said James after the game. "They did exactly what we thought they were going to do and we just had no push back. They were making plays through sticks and we weren't playing the body at all. It starts with me, I have to have a body on Huglen there, he just walked me and that's unacceptable. So it starts with me, I know I can do better, and I'm sure tomorrow we will have a better start."

Adam Gajan had his third career start in net with 42 saves in a game that saw plenty of odd man rushes at the rookie goaltender. The Gophers outshot UMD 49-22 in the contests, but each team logged a power play goal – UMD in two attempts, while Minnesota went 1-of-3. Sophomore defenseman Aaron Pionk had a game-high four points on four assists – a career-high for the Hermantown native.
 

UMD (1-2) and Minnesota (2-1) will hit the ice for round two tomorrow at AMSOIL. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6:07 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD allowed the most goals by a Gopher team since the 2018-19 season when Minnesota defeated the Bulldogs 7-4 in Minneapolis on Oct. 7, 2018 … including Friday night, it marks the third time since that loss that UMD has put up five goals on the Gophers … the Bulldogs are now 5-3-2 against Minnesota in their last 10 skates … with four assists, Aaron Pionk now has the most career points against the Gophers of the current roster … two other players logged two or more points, including Dominic James (1g, 1a) and Aiden Dubinsky (2g).