UMD Bulldogs "ALLETE" Moments: Classroom

Throughout this year, UMD Athletics is partnering with Minnesota Power, ALLETE to highlight the Bulldogs accomplishments in the 3 C's: Classroom, Competition, Community.

13 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey players were named to the 2024-2025 NCHC Academic All-Conference Team Thursday, with eight of the honorees also given NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition. 12 of the 13 are repeat selections, while seven repeat as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes

Senior defenseman Luke Bast (Red Deer, Alberta) is now a four-time honoree, while juniors Kyle Bettens (Winnipeg, Man.) Riley Bodnarchuk (Okotoks, Alb.), Aiden Dubinsky (Highland Park, Ill.), Joey Pierce (Hermantown, Minn.), Zach Sandy (Fargo, ND), and Jack Smith (St. Cloud, Minn.), as well as senior Carter Loney (Columbus, Ohio) all garner their third season on the team. Sophomores Braden Fischer (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Anthony Menghini, and Matthew Perkins as well as Aaron Pionk all join the Academic All-Conference team for the second year in a row. Will Francis (St. Paul, Minn.) also made his second appearance on the academic team

Bodnarchuk, Dubinsky, Fischer, Menghini, Pierce, Sandy, Smith and Pionk are also all repeat NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes. To garner NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete honors, a student-athlete must attain a 3.5 cumulative GPA or better with a full year of academic studies.

131 total student-athletes were been named to the 2024-2025 NCHC Academic All-Conference Team on Thursday. Among the 131 honorees are 91 players who also earned NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition. To be eligible for the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team, a student-athlete must compile a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or better, while having completed at least one full academic year at his current institution, or have transferred intra-conference and previously been on the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team. Student-athletes that have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better are honored as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, in addition to Academic All-Conference.

Here is UMD's List of 2024-25 NCHC Academic Honorees
Luke Bast****
Kyle Bettens**
Riley Bodnarchuk***#
Aiden Dubinsky***#
Braden Fischer**#
Will Francis*
Carter Loney***
Anthony Menghini*#
Matthew Perkins*#
Joey Pierce***#
Aaron Pionk**
Zach Sandy**#
Jack Smith***#

*Denotes multiple time honoree
#Denotes Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition