For a second-straight night, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team used power play goals – four, exactly Saturday night – to push past Bemidji State University 5-1 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
Sophomore winger Jayson Shaugabay's two-goal game was the second of his career against the Beavers – he opened his collegiate hockey career with two against BSU back on Oct. 5, 2024 – and his six tallies in four skates against the Beavers the past two seasons.
"We just clicked really well this weekend, I don't really know what it was, but it's the standard that we want to hold for our line because I know we can do that every weekend," said Shaugabay when asked about his line and the production they had against the Beavers. "We work really well together and those two (Max and Zam Plante) are obviously very elite and this weekend we just played really well."
The Bulldogs power play that delivered two goals Friday night was fired up again Saturday, and while it took a period longer for UMD to find the goal, once it did, it was all systems go. Shaugabay started it with an extended goal line score off a pass from Ty Hanson at 9:00 of the frame, and then the sophomore winger struck again at 19:30, burying a breakaway fresh out of the penalty box.
UMD piled on three power plays in the third period, but it started on the penalty kill when goaltender Adam Gajan met a BSU player in the high slot. Gajan dove at the runway puck and knocked it away, and the ensuing chaos led to a Beaver tripping penalty that paved the way for the Bulldogs third goal. Zam Plante made BSU pay less than a minute later to run the score to 3-0.
The Beavers finally found the net at the 8:41 mark, but the Bulldogs still had two power play goals up their jerseys. Callum Arnott finished off a textbook tic-tac-toe passing play that started with Shaugabay, went to Max Plante and ended with Arnott tip in the slot for the 4-1 lead.
Rookie forward Ryan Zaremba scored the first goal of his career in the closing minutes of the game, a wrist shot above the circle that closed up scoring shop for UMD at 5-1.
Gajan again was brilliant in the back for the Bulldogs, making 22 saves in his fifth win of the season. Overall, UMD outshot the Beavers 36-23 and went an impressive 4-of-7 on the power play against BSU on the night. The Beavers, who had 31 saves from Max Hildebrand, fell to 2-4-0 overall.
The Bulldogs (5-1-0) will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. next weekend to face the No. 13 University of Minnesota. Game times for both Friday and Saturday night at Mariucci Arena are set for 7:00 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD now has a three-game winning streak against BSU dating back to Dec. 31, 2024 and has outscored the Beavers 16-4 over those three games … Jayson Shaugabay led all scorers on the weekend with three goals and four assists for seven points … Shaugabay has now racked up six goals and six assists for 12 points against BSU in just four games – a 3.00 points per game average … this marked Shaugabay's third career game with two goals – two of them have come against the Beavers … Zam Plante has also piled up points against the Beavers – the sophomore center has four goals and six assists for 10 points over those same four games … UMD's top line of the Plante brothers and Shaugabay scored eight of UMD's 12 goals on the weekend … Ty Hanson had a career-high three assists Saturday night, the most points in a game for the sophomore defenseman so far in his career … UMD's four power play goals was the most its had in a single game since it landed four against Northern Michigan University back on Oct. 14, 2023.
