The good news for the No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team was the four National Collegiate Hockey Conference points in hand it had after existing the ice of Lawson Arena in Kalamzoo, Mich. Saturday. The bad news for the Bulldogs was that No. 7 Western Michigan University managed to push past them 3-2 in overtime.
UMD's Saturday's struggles reared their heads again against the Broncos, the second overtime game the Bulldogs have dropped in three games. The last road series of 2025, UMD now falls to 8-3 away from Duluth and below .500 in the second game of the series at 4-5.
Twice UMD took the lead in the contest, including at the 9:25 mark of the first period to open up the game's scoring. That goal came from a give-and-go between Harper Bentz and Hunter Anderson that ended with Bentz finishing off a dazzling pass from Hunter for the 1-0 lead. It also marked Bentz's first goal since returning from a serious injury in UMD's season opener back on Oct. 4.
The Bulldogs 1-0 lead would last until 5:43 into the second period when Bronco William Whitelaw scored an equalizer. But UMD reclaimed the lead at 14:01 of the frame when Callum Arnott buried the puck off a Grayden Siepmann redirect. Both Arnott and Siepmann recorded their second points of the series on the tally – each finished the weekend with a goal and an assist and point in both games.
The Broncos pulled even again at 2-2 5:37 into the third period, and both teams mustered just 10 shots combined in the third period – four for UMD and six for WMU.
The result was a fourth overtime frame for the Bulldogs, but the extra 3-on-3 action was all Broncos, who outshot UMD 4-0 in the 3:04 before Whitelaw scored the game-winner to earn the extra NCHC points for the defending NCAA champions.
Adam Gajan was outstanding in net for the Bulldogs, with 27 saves against a Broncos team that outshot UMD 30-20 in the skate. UMD was scoreless in the one power play awarded in the game, and WMU dominated the face-off dot with a 28-15 advantage over the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs (13-5-0, 6-4-0) will head back to AMSOIL Arena for one final time in 2025 next weekend. The Friday-Saturday NCHC series against Arizona State University will get underway at 7:07 p.m. Friday before concluding Saturday with an earlier start time of 5:07 p.m.
