The No. 10/11 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team dropped its first game on the road this season to the No. 8 University of North Dakota Saturday night, settling for a series split after a 5-1 setback at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

The Bulldogs leave their first National Collegiate Hockey Conference series 1-1-0 in league play after defeating the Fighting Hawks 4-3 in overtime Friday night.

UMD struck first when sophomore defenseman Adam Kleber walked the blueline and scored his first goal to put the Bulldogs up 1-0 at 8:49 of the frame. But the Fighting Hawks drew even at the 17:42 mark when Adam Gajan was screened, and after 20 minutes of play, the game was 1-1.

Kleber rings up his FIRST of the season!! pic.twitter.com/E3xHnlCc0g

— UMD Men's Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) November 1, 2025

For just the second time this season, the Bulldogs found themselves trailing in the second period when North Dakota opened the frame on its power play, and took the 2-1 lead 1:09 into the frame on Will Zellers' third goal of the season. Three minutes later, UMD went down by two goals for the first time in six games when Keaton Verhoeff went shortside on Gajan to push North Dakota ahead 3-1.

The Fighting Hawks added on two more even scores – including one to open the third period just 16 seconds in, and another at 4:40 to round out the game's scoring at 5-1.

North Dakota outshot UMD 38-20 – the most shots UMD has allowed in a game so far this season – and held the Bulldogs high-flying power play scoreless for the first time in six contests. Gajan made 23 saves in 44:40 of action, while Ethan Dahlmeir had 10 in 15:20 of relief – his first appearance as a Bulldog. 

Spunar had 19 saves for the Fighting Hawks, who improved to 5-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the NCHC.

The Bulldogs (8-2-0, 1-1-0) return home to the confines of AMSOIL Arena next weekend for more NCHC play when they host St. Cloud State University in a Friday-Saturday series that gets underway at 7:07 p.m. Friday.

BULLDOG NOTES: Saturday was UMD's first road loss of the season … UMD had run off a 6-0 record before Saturday, their most since the 2014-15 season … with an assist, Max Plante brought his series point total to five (2g, 3a) … Plante now leads the NCAA with 19 points – almost a two goals per game average at 1.90 ppg, which leads the nation with players who have skated in at least three games … Plante also has an NCAA-best 13 plus/minus rating … the Bulldogs didn't score a power play goal for the first time since Oct. 11 – they had five-straight games with at least one power play goal prior to Saturday ... UMD's five goals against Saturday was a season high ... the Bulldogs blocked a combined 41 shots in the series for a season-series high.