After going 7-1 in nonconference play, the No. 10/11 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team will begin its National Collegiate Hockey Conference schedule this weekend when it heads to Grand Forks, N.D. to face the No. 8 University of North Dakota. The series, which will be held at Ralph Engelstad Arena, will get underway at 7:07 p.m. on Friday night before concluding at 6:07 p.m. Saturday evening.
UMD Men's Hockey Weekly Press Conference, October 29, 2025 -- Head coach Scott Sandelin and captain Joey Pierce
SWEET START: UMD (7-1-0) has seven wins in its first eight games for the first time since the 1989-90 season when the Bulldogs started out 8-0. UMD went 6-0-2 to begin the 2010-11 season through eight games, but had one less win than the current Bulldogs do now.
In fact, the current UMD squad is now just one of four teams to ever register seven wins in its first eight games of the season. The Bulldogs join the early season unbeaten 1989-90 team (8-0), the 1982-83 squad, who went 7-0-1 out of the gate and the 1948-49 team that went 7-0-0 to complete their entire seven game season.
POLL PUSH: UMD charged up the national polls Monday, eight spots up in the latest USCHO.com poll from 18 to 10, and eight spots up in the latest USA Hockey poll, from 19 to 11.
The Bulldogs enter the top-10 in USCHO.com poll for the first time since the Oct. 17, 2022 USCHO.com poll.
UMD's last complete sweep over a ranked opponent came last season on Jan. 10-11, 2025 when UMD defeated then No. 10 St. Cloud State University at AMSOIL Arena by scores of 2-0 and 5-2. The Bulldogs did land wins against two top-1o teams last season -- No. 5 Denver on Jan. 24 (4-3, in Duluth) and over then No. 10 Arizona State on Feb. 14 (4-3 OT).
NO OFFENSE, IT'S THE DEFENSE: The Bulldogs currently have allowed the NCAA's fewest goals per game -- 1.50 GAA -- through their first eight games.
UMD owns that top slot with three other teams -- but only Michigan has played as many games as the Bulldogs (8).
The Bulldogs stand alone in the fewest shots allowed a game -- a mere 20.4. In fact, UMD has held its opponent to 17 or fewer shots in half of its games so far, four -- including Minnesota last Friday night.
Interestingly, UMD isn't having to block a lot of shots -- the Bulldogs are averaging 9.75 blocked shots a game, the third fewest of the NCHC teams. By comparison, North Dakota is averaging 11.83 blocked shots a game.
GAJAN'S THE GUY: Goaltender Adam Gajan who recorded the first shutout against a Minnesota team since Oct. 26, 2019, is posting incredible early season numbers.
Gajan ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in wins (7), minutes played (478:22) and third with a 1.25 goals against average. In fact, the two netminders with lower GAA have only played two and four games, respectively. Of the eight players with a higher saves percentage in the NCAA, all eight of them have played four of fewer games.
BET ON THIS LINE: UMD's offensively overwhelming first line currently is the second most productive line in all of the NCAA. Sophomores Jayson Shaugabay, Max and Zam Plante have combined for 40 of UMD's 81 points so far this season, and have scored 16 of the Bulldogs 32 goals.
The trio has racked up a pile of multiple point games too -- Max Plante has done it five times (most recently Saturday with two goals against Minnesota), Shaugabay with four times and Zam Plante has three games with two or more points.
DON'T OVERLOOK THE ROOKS: While UMD's top line is getting attention it's earned, the Bulldogs rookies factored in eight of the 17 points last weekend in Minneapolis, including three goals. Two freshmen are currently on four-game scoring streaks -- Hunter Anderson (1g, 4a=5 points) and Ryan Zaremba (1g, 3a=4 points).
Anderson, along with Daniel Shlaine, both also logged multiple point games against the Gophers. On Friday, Shlaine had a goal and assist and Anderson had two assists.
Over UMD's first eight games, freshmen have scored six goals(of 31), and logged 12 total assists.
CHART TOPPERS: UMD's top line is sitting in the NCAA's top-10 for a number of categories.
Jayson Shaugabay, Max Plante are tied for third in total points (14), while Zam Plante checks in tied for seventh with 12. M. Plante is also tied for third in goals (7). and Shaugabay is tied for second in assists (10).
Both Shaugabay and Max Plante are averaging 1.75 points per game, (4th in the NCAA), while Zam Plante is averaging 1.50 (11th in the NCAA.)
Zam Plante is also tied for second in the NCAA with four power play goals and third in face-off wins (97), while Shaugabay sits fifth in the NCAA with 1.33 assists per game.
POWERED PLAY: UMD's power play has continued its rise to national prominence over the past four games, and now ranks has the sixth-best in the nation with a conversion rate of 32.3.
UMD had just one power play goal over its first four games -- one goal in 15 attempts -- and sat with the 50th in conversion percentage (6.7).
Since then, the Bulldogs power play has been on a tear with nine goals in just 16 extra skater attempts. All told, UMD has 10 power play goals on 31 attempts through eight games for a 32.3 conversion rate.
In fact, UMD's power play is so hot, it went 3-of-5 against Minnesota (60.0)
Six players have scored on the power play, including team leader Zam Plante (2nd in the NCAA) and sophomore forward Callum Arnott, who has two.
Plante, along with Jayson Shaugabay have six points on the power play so far (Plante, 4g, 2a), (Shaugabay 1g, 5a), while sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson has four assists.
SCORING STREAKERS: Four players have recorded points in UMD's last four outings: freshman Hunter Anderson (1-4=5), sophomore Jayson Shaugabay (3-6=9), freshman Ryan Zaremba (1-3=4) and sophomore center Zam Plante (4-4=8).
The streaks are career-high longs for all four players.
YOUNG GUNS: 26 of UMD's 32 goals have been scored by underclassmen so far this season.
The sophomores have netted 21, while the freshman have scored six.
Scout Truman leads the upperclassmen with four.
THE SERIES: UMD is 101-160-11 against the Fighting Hawks all-time and is winless in its last eight games against UND. Over that span, the Bulldogs have been outscored 37-11. Last season, UMD was 0-4 against the Fighting Hawks.
UMD has not won in Grand Forks since Jan. 21, 2023, and in their last meeting on Feb. 22, UMD surrendered the most power play goals (four in 10 minutes over the second period) since it gave up four against Minnesota State on Oct. 14, 2022. UND's sweep last February was its first at home against the Bulldogs since Feb. 19-20, 2016.
While UND has the current winning streak of eight games, UMD posted an eight-game winning streak against the Fighting Hawks from March 19, 2016 through Jan. 20, 2018.
UMD last sweep in Grand Forks was Jan. 20-21, 2017 by scores of 4-0 and 4-3, and its most recent sweep anywhere was Jan. 19-20, 2018 at AMSOIL Arena with 5-3 and 5-2 finals.
Last 10 Games, UMD vs UND. (1-9-0)
Feb. 22, 2025 1-6 Loss Away
Feb. 21, 2025 2-4 Loss Away
Nov. 9, 2024 1-4 Loss Home
Nov. 8, 2024 3-7 Loss Home
Feb. 24, 2024 2-4 Loss Away
Feb. 23, 2024 0-6 Loss Away
Nov 11, 2023 0-2 Loss Home
Nov 10, 2023 2-4 Loss Home
Jan. 21, 2023 2-1 Win Away
Jan. 20, 2023 2-4 Loss Away
Top-3 UMD Players vs UND
Jayson Shaugabay GP-4 G-1 A-3 P=4
Aaron Pionk GP-6 A-3 P=3
Blake Bechen GP-4 G-1, A-1 P=2
Adam Gajan 0-2 .750 SV%
UMD was swept in Grand Forks by the University of North Dakota 4-2 and 6-1 back on Feb. 21-22.
UMD fell behind early Friday night after the Fighting Hawks bookended the opening period with a goal at 1:41 and another at the 18:47 mark. But the Bulldogs split the deficit a mere 2:31 into the second period on Joe Molenaar's third tally of the year.
North Dakota retook a two-goal lead at 9:11, but UMD responded a quick 21 seconds later on Blake Bechen's snipe from the right dot, the freshman's fifth goal of the season. That 3-2 score would hold until the Bulldogs pulled goaltender Adam Gajan with 1:30 left in the third period. The result was a long empty net goal 24 seconds later for what would end up the final 4-2 score.
Gajan made 30 saves in his second start since he had been injured before the holiday break. North Dakota outshot UMD 34-32, and also had 30 stops from goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter. Neither team had success on the power play – UMD went 0-of-3, while the Fighting Hawks were 0-of-2.
On Saturday, a five-goal second period by UND blew away any chances UMD had to reconcile the series.
After a scoreless first period, North Dakota scored back-to-back goals at 1:47 and a power play tally at 2:24 of the second period to take a 2-0 lead. But it was a five minute major that ultimately put the game out of reach. After Jack Smith was given a game misconduct for checking from behind at 9:51 of the frame, the Fighting Hawks struck three times with an extra skater – the first just 19 seconds into the power play. In fact, in a span of 2:13, UND scored three power play goals, and when the dust settled on the second period, the Fighting Hawks owned a 5-0 advantage.
Any chance of a comeback was formally snuffed out 3:06 into the third period when the UND took a 6-0 lead. UMD did end the Fighting Hawks bid for a shutout on a power play goal from Jayson Shaugabay at 19:01 for the 6-1 final.
Former goaltender Klayton Knapp took the UMD loss in 32:24 of play and five goals against with 13 saves, while Gajan played 27:36 of the contest with one goal against and 13 saves. Semptimphelter had 27 stops for the Fighting Hawks, who were 4-of-6 on their power play. UMD went just 1-of-5 with the extra skater against UND.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept Minnesota last weekend at Marucci Arena, the first for the Bulldogs over a Gopher squad since UMD posted a home-and-away cleaning of Minnesota on Oct. 23-24, 2021, and it marks the first series sweep inside Marucci for the Bulldogs since Nov. 20-21, 2009.
In Friday night's 3-0 shutout, freshman scored two of UMD's three goals, starting with Danile Shlaine at 6:59 of the first period. Zam Plante doubled the lead at 9:43 on the power play, and that 2-0 lead would hold until rookie defenseman Grayden Siepmann's first career goal off a rebound at 2:23 to put the Bulldogs up 3-0.
The Bulldog defense, which started in the back with Adam Gajan's outstanding backstopping effort, did the rest, and allowed just five shots in the final 20 minutes of play. In all, UMD outshot the Gophers 24-17 – the Bulldogs fourth game this season, keeping its opponents to 17 or fewer shots. Gajan made saves on all 17 shots he faced en route to the second shutout of his career and first against a ranked foe.
Freshmen line pair Shlaine and Hunter Anderson each had two points for UMD on the night -- Shlaine had a goal and an assist and Anderson two assists. Six of the nine points scored by the Bulldogs came from rookies and none of the seven players that recorded points had ever played in Mariucci before Friday night.
Saturday night, the Bulldogs 4-1 win started with a power play goal from Scout Truman at 16:49 of the first . Anderson added a goal at 6:34 off the 2-on-1 rush, and a Gopher goal at 9:25 of the second frame finally snuck past Gajan to make it a 2-1 games.
But Max Plante added a power play goal at 12:08 of the third and an empty netter at 19:11 to wrap up the scoring -- and game -- in UMD's favor.
Minnesota became the first team to outshoot the Bulldogs on Saturday (29-24), but it was no match for Gajan, who made 28 stops.
NOTES ON THE MINNESOTA SERIES: UMD is now 97-138-19 all-time against Minnesota with the sweep.
--Adam Gajan's shutout was the first by a Bulldog goaltender against Minnesota since Hunter Shepard did it on Oct. 26, 2019 and the first in Minneapolis, Minn. since Nov. 14, 2014, a 3-0 win for Kasimir Kaskisuo. (Kasimir actually had two career shutouts against Minnesota after shutting them out again the following season 3-0 on Oct. 17, 2015 in Duluth, Minn.
--Saturday the Gophers put the most shots on goal of any team this season (29), but scored just one goal. In fact, Gajan had 89:25 straight minutes against Minnesota with a goal.
--UMD outscored the Gophers 7-1 but posted just two more shots on goal (48-46) than Minnesota.
--The Bulldogs were 3-of-5 on their power play and held the Gophers scoreless in four total attempts.
--Freshman forward Anderson Hunter led UMD with a goal and two assists on the weekend.
SCORE LINE: UMD has scored 10 of its 25 goals in the second period, and nine in the opening period. The Bulldogs have allowed the most goals in the third period, however -- six of the 11 scored against them.
