It's National College Hockey Conference playoff time for the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey this weekend in Tempe, Arizona for the Bulldogs, who will face No. 12 Arizona State University inside Mullet Arena in the best-of-three quarterfinal series. The showdown gets underway at 9:00 p.m. CT Friday night, and Saturday and if needed Sunday at 8:00 p.m. CT.

UMD IN THE NCHC POSTSEASON: UMD is 10-8 all-time in the NCHC Quarterfinals, and 15-11 overall in the conference postseason.

The Bulldogs have not advanced out of the quarterfinals since the 2021-22 season -- the last time they won the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Since then, UMD has gone 2-3, losing in three games to St. Cloud State in 2022-23 and to the University of Denver in 2023-24, both away series.

All-time, UMD owns three NCHC Frozen Faceoff titles -- 2022, 2019 and 2017.

POSTSEASON POINT GETTERS: Senior center Dominic James leads all UMD players with four goals and two assists for six points in five NCHC post season appearances, while junior forward Kyle Bettens has posted four points on a goal and three assists in five skates. Senior defenseman Owen Gallatin has recorded three assists in seven conference postseason contests. 

 

PLANTE NAMED TO NCHC ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Freshman forward Max Plante was named to the 2024-25 NCHC All-Rookie Team Tuesday, the second Bulldog player to land the honor in three seasons.

The Hermantown, Minn. native led all NCHC rookies with 21 points in conference play, despite only playing 20 NCHC games, while his 1.05 points per game was eighth among all skaters in NCHC action. The Detroit Red Wings draft pick buried seven goals and added 14 assists in conference play, with his 14 helpers tied for second among all freshmen. In all games, Plante has 23 points (7g, 6a) in 21 games after missing most of non-conference play with an injury. He was twice named Rookie of the Week this season.

Plante follows Ben Steeves, who made made in 2022-23. All-time, UMD now has had eight NCHC All-Rookie Team selections. Prior to joining the NCHC, the Bulldog program had 12 selections to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's All-Rookie Team.

WILL POWER: Senior defenseman Will Francis made his first return to the UMD lineup last Saturday against the Huskies since Nov. 8. Francis had announced in early January that he was fighting a return return of leukemia. 

The St. Paul, Minn, native missed last season due to his first go round with cancer.

CATCH THE CAPTAIN: Dominic James has scored 12 goals this season, rolling right past his previous season high of 10 set in his sophomore year (2022-23). In all, James leads the Bulldogs with 28 points, which also ties his career high of 28 put up in 2022-23.

ON THE LINE IN EXTRA TIME: The Bulldogs have skated into overtime in five of their last eight games, and finally won their first game in regulation  last Saturday in St. Cloud since Jan. 24. With an overtime game against the Huskies, both games against Miami into OT the weekend before and both games against Arizona State University back on Feb. 14-15, UMD went 2-1-2 in those five skates and is 2-4-3 overall when the Bulldogs play in OT.

THE SERIES: UMD leads the fairly new rivalry against ASU 3-2-1 all-time. Over the regular season, the Sun Devils held the slight edge over the Bulldogs, who went 1-2-1. The two sides needed overtime in their last three showdowns, and if not for the empty net goal in their first meeting, all four games would have been decided by just a single goal. Ironically, five of the six games the program's have skated in have been decided by one goal.

UMD has averaged 2.75 goals against ASU this season, while the Sun Devils have averaged 3.25. The Bulldogs have outshot ASU 134-125, and averaged 33.5 shots a game to the Sun Devils 31.2.

Top-5 UMD Players vs ASU

Dominic James GP=6 G=4 A=1 P=5

Max Plante GP=4 G=3 A=2 P=5

Aiden Dubinsky GP=4 G=0 A=3 P=3

Ty Hanson GP 4 G=1 A=2 P=3

Aaron Pionk GP=4 A=3 P=3

All Games, UMD vs ASU  (3-2-1)

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

UMD was unbeaten in its last series  against Arizona State back in February, picking up a 3-2 overtime win Friday night before settling for 3-3 overtime tie Saturday.

UMD's power play was once again clicking Friday night, and it was activated with a goal by Dominic James 13:27 into the first period for the early Bulldog lead. James' goal, his first in seven games, snapped from the right circle, his 11th of the season.

The Sun Devils responded with a power play tally of their own from Artern Shlaine 39 seconds later to pull ASU even, a score that would hold through the rest of the opening frame.

ASU went ahead 2-1 4:55 into the second period when Lukas Sillinger somehow pushed the puck through the UMD goaltender Klayton Knapp's pads. But UMD responded again with another power play goal, this time from Callum Arnott. After Ty Hanson's hit traffic in the front of the net, Arnott corralled it and popped it at 7:07 to knot the game up at 2-2.

A scoreless third period led to overtime, and UMD jumped all over the extra time opportunity, including a puck off the pipe just 15 seconds in. The Bulldogs finally got their redemption at the 2:37 mark when James carried the puck into the ASU zone, cycled and played the to Aaron Pionk, whose sharp cut in the slot to his left froze the Sun Devil defender just long enough to bury the puck far post for the game-winner.

UMD outshot ASU 26-25 and 3-2 in overtime, and got 23 saves from Knapp in his sixth win of the season. The Bulldogs were 2-of-3 on their power play, while the Sun Devils went 1-of-1. 

On Saturday, Hanson opened the game's scoring after he took a feed from Adam Kleber from the red lion and skated through the left circle and unloaded on ASU goaltender Gibson Homer for his fourth of the season at 2:52 of the opening frame.

The Sun Devils equalized at the 10:18 mark on the first of Ashhlaine's two goals on the night and after 20 minutes of action, both the game and the shots on goal (nine each)were knotted up. Almost six minutes into the second period, UMD retook the lead on a tap in rebound from Kleber, his second of the season. But the Sun Devils struck twice – Kyle Smolen at 8:55 and a power play tally for Shalaine at 14:38 to pocket the 3-2 advantage after two periods of play.

Max Plante had other ideas, however, and 11 seconds into the third period, the speedy forward popped one past Homer from the left face-off dot to pull the Bulldogs even at 3-3.

The Bulldogs battled both the Sun Devils and the box in the third, even killing off a 5-on-3 at about the 8:06 mark – the fourth penalty on UMD of the period. The score didn't budge, however, and for a second time on the weekend and third time this season, the Bulldogs and Sun Devils needed overtime to try and find a winner.

ASU outshot UMD 5-3 in the extra five minutes, but both teams had to settle for the official tie. The Sun Devils won the ensuing shootout for the extra NCHC point.

Bulldog goaltender Knapp had a 41-save performance, just one save shy of his career high of 42 set last month. For the first time in four games this season, ASU outshot UMD 44-35, but the Bulldogs kept the Sun Devils 1-of-7 on its power play. 

EXTRA NOTES ON UMD - ASU: UMD outshot the Sun Devils in three of four games this season -- UMD was 1-2 in those games, while they tied the lone game they were outshot in. 

--Max Plante led all UMD scorers in points against ASU this season with five points (3g, 2a) in four games. Both Plante and and Dominic James each logged three goals against the Sun Devils over the last four games.

--Three of UMD's six goals were scored by defenseman in the February series (Ty Hanson, Adam Kleber and Aaron Pionk.)

LAST TIME OUT: UMD secured the seventh seed last Friday night despite a 3-2 overtime loss to St. Cloud State University.

UMD's power play needed just two chances to get on the board Friday, and the game's opening goal came at 16:54 of the first period on pass from Max Plante back to his brother Zam Plante, whose wrist shot snapped over the should of SCSU goaltender Isak Posch for the 1-0 lead. It was Zam Plante's first game back in the line-up after missing the Miami University (Ohio) series, and sixth goal of the season for his 18th point.

The Bulldogs built on that lead midway through the second frame when Dominic James found Anthony Menghini all alone in the slot. The sophomore sniper patiently picked Posch's five-hole to put UMD ahead 2-1 at 9:34.

A costly Bulldog turnover in front of UMD goaltender Adam Gajan helped the Huskies cut their deficit with just 1:52 left in the second frame, and after 40 minutes of action, the Bulldogs took a one goal advantage into the second intermission.

St. Cloud State emptied their net with a little more than four minutes left in the period to play for the win, and the gamble paid off with a game-tying goal with just 22.8 seconds left in regulation. The Huskies outshot UMD 14-9 in the third period en route to the game-tying tally.

Once regulation ended, UMD had locked in seventh seed in the NCHC postseason, but overtime loomed for the Bulldogs, who have played into overtime in their last three skates. A penalty with 1:39 left in extra time led to the Huskies game-winner with a mere 28.6 left on the clock – and snapped UMD's four game-winning streak against St. Cloud State.

Gajan and Posch each made 27 saves – both teams put 29 shots on goal. The Bulldogs were 1-of-2 on the power play, while SCSU was 1-of-3.

Saturday, UMD put the wraps on the 2024-25 regular season with a 3-2 win over the Huskies.

Menghini scored twice in the opening 11 minutes of the game, and the Bulldogs never trailed the Huskies to finish the regular season against SCSU 3-1. UMD used the series to lock down the seventh seed in the National College Hockey Conference postseason that will get underway league-wide next Friday.

After scoring a goal Friday night, Menghini appeared already offensively warm just 58 seconds into the first period, burying a breakaway low and stick side to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Then, at the 10:30 mark, Menghini struck again, one-timing from the slot a pass from left to right from James to double UMD's lead to 2-0.

The Huskies added to the scoring at 11:19 on a goal from Verner Miettinen to pull within a goal, and that 2-1 count would hold until the third period.

Hometown kid Jack Smith helped UMD retake its two-goal lead 7:41 into the third frame after he tipped a shot from the point from defenseman Aiden Dubinsky. SCSU made it interesting at 14:28 on Miettinen's second of the night, but a tripping call against the Huskies with just 1:48 left in the third snuffed out SCSU's ability to gain an extra skater with their empty net.

Rookie goaltender Gajan was superb in his seventh win of the season, making 22 saves on 23 shots. Isak Posch had 26 saves for the Huskies, who, like the Bulldogs, were 0-of-1 on the power play. UMD outshot St. Cloud State 29-24 in the game.

NOTES FROM THE ST. CLOUD ST. SERIES: UMD is now 68-83-11 all-time against the Huskies and finish the regular season 3-1-0.

--Dominic James added two assists over the weekend and now has 16 points (5g, 9a) over 17 games. 

--Anthony Menghini led all scorers on the weekend with three goals. It marked Menghini's third game with two or more goals this season, and second series with three goals over two games.

BULLDOG NOTES: 

--The Bulldogs two shutouts so far this season is the most a squad has posted since it put up seven over the 2021-22 season.

--Klayton Knapp's shutout streak of 88:40 minutes is the longest of the season so far for the Bulldogs. 

THEY'RE GAMERS: Kyle Bettens and Aiden Dubinsky both hit 100 career games on Saturday in St. Cloud, while Owen Gallatin reached 150 consecutive games. 

Bettens and Dubinsky join senior center Dominic James, who skated in his 100th game as a Bulldog in Omaha on Feb. 7 (and is currently at 109). In all, six current UMD player to reach the 100 career game mark.