The No. 6/7 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team was 17 seconds away from forcing a tie with the defending national champions, but Saturday night inside AMSOIL Arena, No. 3 Western Michigan University wasn't will to surrender it.
The Broncos struck on its power play in overtime to sneak by the Bulldogs 4-3 for a second-consecutive night, sweeping UMD in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series in Duluth, Minn. With the win, WMU finishes 3-1 against UMD in the regular season.
"I thought our guys played a good game," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "It was a tight checking game all the way through, and I thought we got better as a game went on. ?I thought our third period was good, and again, we don't win a face off, there are details. The last two goals, right? ?We lose face offs and you know, again, they got to their guy on the winner, he's a shooter of the puck, made a great shot. It's not like we didn't have chances. ?You have to win here, again, I asked our guys to play a better game with they did. That's the fine line, right? ?We had our opportunities. You know, in the overtime, again. we didn't capitalize."
After a scoreless first period where both teams put eight shots on goal, the Bulldogs jumped on the board 55 seconds into the second. Jayson Shaugabay redirected a shot from Ty Hanson on the left point to give UMD its first lead of the weekend, and Adam Kleber, with the secondary assist, had his fourth assist in the last three games.
But the Broncos responded with an odd-man rush goal of their own 1:07 later to draw the contest even at 1-1.
The Bulldogs regained the lead at the 8:25 mark, scoring their second power play goal of the weekend on a 5-on-3 skater advantage on a puck that hit off Callum Arnott and fluttered up and over Hampton Slukynsky. Max Plante's primary assist on the goal pushed the sophomore into 40 points on the season – the first player in the NCAA this season to reach the milestone.
WMU pulled even once more off its power play at 15:58 of the second, and after 40 minutes of play, the Bulldogs and Broncos were even at two goals apiece.
Midway through the third, UMD looked like it might pull away for good when Scout Truman finished off a breakaway at 9:11, the senior's 10th goal of the season. But the Broncos had other plans, and a goal from Bobby Cowan at 16:33 knotted the game up at 3-3. The Bulldogs did kill off a penalty at 17:22, and after three periods of play, the two NCHC heavyweights were headed to overtime.
50 seconds into extra time, Max Plante was hauled down on an outside drive to the net to put UMD on a 4-on-3 power play, but the Broncos wouldn't break. Minutes later, Bulldog goaltender Adam Gajan was then called for a trip after her cleared the puck with just 26 seconds left in overtime, and in heartbreakingly cruel fashion, WMU scored on the power play – 17 seconds from the game officially set to end in a tie.
The Bulldogs went 1-of-3 on their power play, the Broncos went 2-of-3. UMD outshot WMU 33-28, including 3-1 on overtime – Gajan had 24 saves on the night.
UMD will head to Denver, Colo. next weekend to face the University of Denver in NCHC play. The opening game of the series gets underway at 8:00 p.m. CST.
BULLDOGS NOTES: Jayson Shaugabay and Callum Arnott led UMD with two points on the night on a goal and an assist … Shaugabay now has 14 points (4g, 10a) over his past six skates …Arnott has had three-straight games with a goal and an assist … Max Plante continues to lead the nation with 40 points … Plante is the first UMD player to hit the total since UMD defenseman Scott Perunovich rang up 40 (6g, 34a) over 34 games in his Hobey Baker winning season of 2019-20 … over that past 15 seasons, only two other players besides Perunovich -- Alex Iafallo in 2016-17 (51 points in 40 games, 21g, 30a) and Jack Connolly in 2011-12 (60 points in 41 games, 20g, 40a) have hit 40 or more points.
