After an injury early in the season and Junior World Championship duties last week kept him out of the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team's previous six triumphs, Plante and the Bulldogs went back into the win column Friday night, complete with a shutout of No. 10 St. Cloud State University at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.

The shutout win – the first clean sheet of rookie goaltender Klayton Knapp's collegiate career – is the second for UMD in National Collegiate Hockey Conference action so far this season, and the win marks the first over a top-10 opponent.

"Got my first collegiate win!" said Plante, who had noted at Wednesday's press conference he had now won a gold medal but not a collegiate game. "Obviously wish it came a lot sooner, and hopefully we can build on that. We didn't play our best game tonight, but we had Knapper in net. He keeps playing like that, I think we are going to start winning a lot of games. "

It was Plante's third goal of the season that broke the scoreless stalemate 16:42 into the second period. Plante tipped down a shot from sophomore blueliner Aaron Pionk from the left point, and the Bulldogs had the only lead they would need for the rest of the game.

UMD – which outshot the Huskies in every period – withstood some late charges, in no short thanks to Knapp, who used every inch of his 6-2 frame to keep St. Cloud State at bay. The Bulldogs finally got some breathing room in the final minute of the third period on a quick wrister from Owen Gallatin from the left boards that found the empty net, sealing the 2-0 win at 19:33.

Knapp made 28 saves and picked up his second win of the season, while SCSU goaltender Gavin Enright had 32 for the Huskies. Both teams were scoreless in two power play attempts, and UMD outshot SCSU 34-28 overall in the contest. The Huskies fall to 11-8-0 and 4-5-0 in the NCHC.

"Getting the experience of winning, it's different winning games over losing games," said Plante, when asked if his time with the U.S. gold medal squad had an impact on the night. "There's a fuel in you when you start losing games, you just want to win, win, win. And when you're winning, it just comes so easy and you kind of expect to win. So I think if we can bring that to our group, kind of expect to win every game, I think we will win more games."

The Bulldogs (7-11-1, 3-6-0) will drop the puck on game two of the series at 6:07 p.m. Saturday night.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD has now won five-straight games against the Huskies at AMSOIL Arena dating back to Jan. 27, 2023 … Max Plante has now recorded seven points in his first six collegiate games (3g, 4a) and has scored a goal in his last three outings … Aaron Pionk extended his scoring streak to five games Friday night with a primary assist on Plante's goal … Pionk has now scored five points (1g, 4a) over that five game span … Owen Gallatin now has seven career goals against St. Cloud State and 12 points overall in 18 career meetings.