The No. 4/5 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team's 2025 portion of the current season will come to a close this weekend when the Bulldogs host Arizona State University at AMSOIL Arena in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference series. The Friday game will get underway at 7:07 p.m. and will feature the annual Teddy Bear Toss after the first period intermission. All stuffed toys will be donated to the Salvation Army. Saturday, the game will get underway at a notably early 5:07 p.m. time slot. The DECC area is expected to be extremely crowded this weekend -- fans should allow plenty of time to find parking.
UMD Weekly Press Conference, December 10, 2025 -- Head coach Scott Sandelin, Zam Plante and Adam Gajan --
SANDELIN'S GRAND: Head coach Scott Sandelin will coach in his 1,000th game on the Bulldog bench this Friday night against Arizona State AMSOIL Arena.
Sandelin will become the 27th head coach in D1 NCAA hockey history ever to reach the milestone, and he is set to become just the fifth current head coach to coach in 1,000 or more games. With his first season at UMD back in 2000-01, Sandelin is currently sitting at 999 games in his 26th season with UMD -- the longest serving head coach in program history.
During his tenure, UMD has won three NCAA titles (2011, 2018, 2019), made eleven NCAA Tournament appearances, advanced to six NCAA Frozen Fours, claimed four conference playoff titles (3 NCHC, 1 WCHA), and put together 13 winning regular seasons -- and counting.
Sandelin is also the first coach across all sports at UMD to reach the 1,000 game mark.
UMD will honor Sandelin with a short video prior to Friday's game.
A SPECIAL TEAM ON SPECIAL TEAMS: The Bulldogs currently own the second-best power play in the NCAA with a 31.1 success rate and sit fourth with a penalty kill that successful 91.8% of the time.
The only team in the country that sits in the top-10 of both categories, UMD's 19 power play goals are the fourth most in the nation. Last weekend against Western Michigan, UMD went 3-of-4, including a perfect 3-of-3 on Friday -- the Bulldogs second time this season staying perfect on the power play.
With just six goals against in 59 power play attempts by foes, UMD has not allowed a power play goal against in four games and has allowed just one over its last six games. Over the Bulldogs last four games, they have successfully killed off seven-straight penalty kills.
Max and Zam Plante lead UMD with five power play goals each (the ninth most in the NCAA), while Max ranks second in the nation with two shorthanded goals.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: UMD is unbeaten in series openers or Friday night games, a perfect 9-0 headed into the weekend. The Bulldogs have also outscored teams on Friday 40-13.
On the other side of the series, UMD is just 4-5 in its second games of the series, and has been slightly outscored 20-21.
WINNING IS IN: The Bulldogs have matched the amount of wins they had total for all of last season, and they did it in just 17 games. UMD is 13-5-0 heading into their final games of 2025 -- the Bulldogs finished 13-20-3 over the entire 2025-26 season.
STILL THE ONE: For five-straight weeks in a row, Max Plante has led the nation or been tied for the top spot in either scoring, points per game or both.
Currently, Plante has 28 points (14g, 14a) in 18 games for a 1.56 points per game average, which ranks second in the NCAA. Plante also sits second in game-winning goals (4), and third with 14 goals.
Max's older brother Zam Plante now ranks sixth in scoring (24), and fifth in assists (17).
The pair became the first-ever pair of brothers to lead the NCAA in scoring last month.
THAT'S THE GOAL: The Bulldogs currently own the ninth most goals in the country (60) in just 18 games. UMD has already scored more than half the goals they did over the entire 2024-25 season (99), and is averaging more than three goals a game (3.30) for the first time since the 2020-21 season. The Bulldogs averaged three goals a game that season and scored a total of 84 in a COVID shortened season of 28 games.
BET ON THIS LINE: UMD's offensively overwhelming first line currently ranks in the NCAA as its second most productive. Sophomores Jayson Shaugabay, Max and Zam Plante have combined for 72 of UMD's 159 points so far this season, and have scored just under half of the Bulldogs 60 goals so far this season with 26.
The trio has also racked up a pile of multiple point games too -- Max Plante has done it nine times, Zam Plante seven times and Shaugabay have done it six times.
The trio are all averaging way over a point a game -- Max Plante at 1.56 ppg, Zam Plante at 1.33 ppg and Shaugaby at 1.11 ppg.
HE'S A WINNER: Goaltender Adam Gajan has already won 13 games so far this season -- and is already the first Bulldog goaltender to reach that mark in four seasons -- since Ryan Fanti turned in 20 triumphs in 2021-22.
Gajan's 13 wins ranks second in the nation's, and has also played the third most minutes (1066) and has played the second most games played (18).
THE SERIES: UMD is 3-4-3 all-time against ASU in a series that just began three seasons ago on Oct. 1, 2022 (a 3-2 OT win at AMSOIL).
UMD and ASU last met in the First Round NCHC postseason in March (Sun Devil sweep), the two sides played into overtime in four of six games last season -- UMD was 1-2-1 in those games. The Bulldogs outshot the Sun Devils 214-187 in six games last year, but it was ASU that outscored UMD 23-19. UMD averaged 3.17 goals a game vs. ASU in 2024-25, more than the 2.80 it averaged against the rest of its schedule.
The Bulldogs are unbeaten at home against the Sun Devils with a 3-0-1 all-time, and last season defeated and tied ASU by scores of 3-2 and 3-3 (both games were overtime skates.)
All Games, UMD vs ASU (3-4-1)
Mar. 15, 2025 UMD 5, ASU 6 Loss OT*
Mar. 14, 2025 UMD 3, ASU 4 Loss*
Feb. 15, 2025 UMD 3, ASU 3 OT Tie
Feb. 14, 2025 UMD 3, ASU 2 OT
Dec. 7, 2024 UMD 2, ASU 3 OT
Dec. 6, 2024 UMD 3, ASU 5
Oct. 2, 2022 UMD 4, ASU 1
Oct. 1, 2022 UMD 3, ASU 2 OT
*NCHC First Round
Top-5 Returning UMD Scorer vs ASU
Max Plante GP=6 G=5 A=5 P=10
Aaron Pionk GP=6 G=1 A=4 P=5
Zam Plante GP=6 G=2 A=3 P=5
Jayson Shaugabay GP=6 G=2 A=3 P=5
Ty Hanson G= 6 G=1 A=3 P=4
LAST TIME OUT: UMD split with No. 7 Western Michigan University last weekend in Kalamazoo.
The Bulldogs rode a perfect 3-of-3 power play effort Friday night to defeat the Broncos 4-1.
Multiple players turned in multiple point nights, including Scout Truman's two goals, Max Plante with a goal and an assist, and Kyle Gaffney's first two-point game as a Bulldog with two assists.
Rookie Grayden Siepmann scored the game's opening goal at 12:33 of the first, and the Bulldogs never trailed from there, with Plante's power play goal and Truman's first of two power play tallies coming in the second. Truman's second power play goal came 10:03 in the third.
Goaltender Adam Gajan had 22 saves on the night, and UMD outshot WMU 30-22.
On Saturday evening, UMD fell 3-2 in overtime despite leading the game twice. The Bulldogs got goals from Harper Bentz (9:25, 1st) and Callum Arnott (14:01), but surrendered the game-tying goal early in the third.
It marked UMD's second-straight overtime loss in three games. Gajan had 27 stops while the Broncos outshot UMD 30-20.
NOTES FROM THE WMU SERIES: UMD is now 29-21-3 in 116 all-time meetings against WMU and now 13-10-1 in Kalamazoo.
--UMD is 2-2 in overtime games this season and 1-2 in extra time on Saturdays. All five of the Bulldogs losses have come on a Saturday this season.
--The Bulldogs landed just 20 shots Friday night -- tying a season low that UMD also had against North Dakota back on Nov. 1.
--Scout Truman's two goal night last Friday was his second two-goal outing of the season and the goals accounted for two of his three power play tallies so far. Truman joins the Plante brothers as the third UMD player this season to scored two power play goals in a game.
--After putting UMD on three successful power plays Friday night, the Broncos committed just one penalty on Saturday night -- also a season-low by a UMD opponent. The Bulldogs played their first game of the season without a penalty on Saturday.
--Aaron Pionk posted his first point of the season, an assist on Scout Truman's second power play goal.
--Friday was UMD's fifth time scoring two or more power play goals in a game this season and second time logging three or more.
Over the past decade, UMD is an even 8-8 against current title holders, and in those 16 games, have just a one goal lead at 41-40. In road games against defending champs, UMD is 6-4 since the 2015-16 season.
