The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team used a three-goal first period to offensively overwhelm the University of Alaska Fairbanks Friday night en route to a 5-1 win at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Five players recorded multiple points on the night, including Max Plante (2g, 1a), who led all scorers. Ty Hanson, (1g, 1a), Zam Plante (1g, 1a), rookie forward Ryan Zaremba (2a) and sophomore winger Jayson Shaugabay (2a) all notched two points against the Nanooks. In all, eight Bulldogs logged points in the season opener.
The season opening win was the first by a Bulldog side since the 2022-23 season, and it started with a shot by Daniel Shlaine that was tipped by Hunter Anderson for the rookie first goal of the season just 1:59 into the frame. UMD doubled that lead at 7:34 on Zam Plante's first goal of the season, a cross the crease move that the sophomore center tucked in behind Nanook goaltender Lassi Lehti.
The Bulldogs weren't done, however, and at 16:49 of the opening frame, Max Plante, who had an assist on his brother Max's earlier goal, buried a rebound to give UMD a 3-0 lead.
UMD tacked on another goal a mere 2:46 into the second period when an Adam Kleber shot from the left circle and Hanson popped in the far post rebound to move ahead 5-0 on UAF.
It wasn't until halfway through the third period that the Nanooks solved UMD sophomore goaltender Adam Gajan to make it a 5-1 game, but Max Plante capped his three-point opening night off with an empty net goal at 13:43 of the final frame to ice the game for the Bulldogs.
UMD outshot UAF 29-16 in the contest and got 15 stops from Gajan. Lehti made 24 saves for the Nanooks, who fall to 0-1-0 on the young season.
The Bulldogs (1-0-0) will do it all over again tomorrow night as they attempt to sweep their first season opening series since 2022-23. Game-time is set for 10:00 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD's five goal skate was its highest scoring opener since it rang up five goals in a 5-3 win over Nebraska Omaha during the 2020-21 COVID shortened season … with three points, Max Plante picks up where he left off a season ago and turned in his 10 career game with two or more points in 24 possible games as a Bulldog … it also matches a his career-high for points set in the final game of the 2024-25 season, a 1g, 2a effort against Arizona State University in Tempe … until Friday night, Plante had never scored two goals in a game at UMD … three Bulldog freshmen earned their first collegiate points – Ryan Zaremba (2a), Hunter Anderson (1g) and Daniel Shlaine (1a) … Adam Kleber had a game-best +4 plus/minus rating … both Joey Pierce and Kyle Gaffney both played in their 100th career game Friday.
