Behind a balanced offensive attack and a two-goal effort from Dominic James, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team defeated Stonehill College 5-1 Friday night at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth.

The Bulldogs first win at home of the season came complete with nine players on the scoresheet, including three-point efforts from James (2g, 1a) and Aaron Pionk (3a). 

"I think there are some areas of the game that got better, especially the defensemen, still some areas that are a work in progress, but I liked our third period and I thought we played more of the game the right way," said head coach Scott Sandelin. "It's what you need to do, you're up 4-1, you have to learn to close games out the right way and I thought the first two periods were ok, but too riverboat for me. I felt we didn't have our footing early, but I thought in the third period we got back closer to where we need to be and just how we need to play, and hopefully tomorrow we can build off that and play better."

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead 5:46 into the first period on rookie center Callum Arnott's second goal of the season. Arnott redirected a shot from the point from junior defenseman Joey Pierce, with the secondary assist credited to Aaron Pionk. 

UMD doubled up that lead at the 15:48 mark when James picked a Skyhawks player clean at center ice and skated in alone, beating Stonehill goaltender Connor Androlewicz stick-side to push UMD ahead 2-0.

Stonehill made it a 2-1 game off a Bulldog turnover at 4:41 of the second period, but UMD quickly retook a two-goal lead less than three minutes later. Rookie Harper Bentz rocketed from his own defensive end all the way up to Stonehill's net with the puck and fed sophomore Anthony Menghini on the back post for the 3-1 lead at 7:05 of the frame. Just over three minutes later, James piled on another power play goal off a pass across the ice from Owen Gallatin from the right face-off dot that James one-timed for his second goal of the game. 

UMD tacked on one final power play tally in the third period from Jayson Shaugabay, the recipient of a brilliant pass from James from below the circle that the rookie forward buried from the slot at 8:40 to extend the Bulldogs to its eventual final 5-1 score.

The Bulldogs – who outshot the Skyhawks 43-17, including 20-4 in the final frame – went 2-of-5 on their power play on the night. Freshman goaltender Adam Gajan earned his second win of the season behind a 16 save effort, while his counterpart for Stonehill Androlewicz had 38 saves. The Skyhawks fell to 2-4-0 overall with the setback.

"It feels good, it's fun," said James after the game. "It's fun to win and you could feel it on the bench, we were having fun. That's just what it is to win, you know, you love to win, but for us, I think, it's going to be hating to lose more than we love to win."

UMD (2-4-0) will finish out the series at AMSOIL tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m.

 

BULLDOG NOTES: Friday's two-goal performance was only the second of Dominic James' Bulldog career – he also rang up two tallies on Oct. 29, 2022 against Cornell … it's the fourth time the senior center has had a three point game … Aaron Pionk now has seven assists in his past three games, and seven in his last two Friday night skates … Harper Bentz earned the first point of his Bulldog career with an assist on Anthony Menghini's goal … UMD is now 2-0 when it leads after the first period and wins its first game of the season while outshooting its opponent.