The No. 7/8 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team will head west to elevation this weekend to face No. 11 University of Denver in Denver, Colo. The National Collegiate Hockey Conference clash will get underway inside Magness Arena at 8:00 p.m. CST Friday and conclude Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CST.
UMD Men's Hockey Weekly Press Conference -- Jan. 28, 2025 -- Head coach Scott Sandelin, junior defenseman Aaron Pionk
SHAUGABAY'S 2026 SCORING SHINE: Jayson Shaugabay has put up some serious numbers in his first six games of 2026 -- 14 points on four goals and 10 assists -- to be exact.
The sophomore winger has recorded multiple point nights in four-of-the-six games, including a three-point game and two four-point skates. By contrast, in the last six games of 2025, Shaugabay had posted just two points -- two assists.
Shaugabay's point surge has come in part from his 10 assists -- which has also put him on top of the NCAA with 26 assists.
FIRST TO 40: Max Plante became first NCAA player to reach the mark this season last Saturday, and 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.
TOP DOG OF ALL: Sophomore winger Max Plante has spent almost the entire season as the nation's top scorer.
Currently sitting on top with 40 points on an NCAA-best 20 goals in 26 games and owns a 1.54 ppg average.
Third in power play goals, (8) and second in game-winning goals (6), Plante has posted 12-multiple point games, including three games with four points and five with three points or more.
In fact, foes have kept him off the scoring sheet just five times out of 24 games so far this season.
THREE GOAL ROLL: Sophomore forwards Callum Arnott and Jayson Shaugabay have both now scored a goal in each of their last three games.
35 BY THREE: Three players have already logged 35 or more points -- Max Plante (40), and Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay (35). The trio is the first group of three players to post 35 or more points in a season since 2016-17 season, where Alex Iafallo (51), Adam Johnson (37) and Joey Anderson (37) all posted 35 or high point totals.
While those points came in 42 games for Iafallo and Johnson and 39 games for Anderson, defenseman Neal Pionk was point out of the club with 34.
Currently, the Plantes and Shaugabay have reached those marks in 26 games, and their fourth closest player, also a defenseman like Pionk, is Ty Hanson, who is sitting at 26 points.
HE'S ON POINT: Max Plante is currently averaging 1.54 points per game on 40 points (20g, 20a) through 26 games so far this season.
While Plante's point output is the most by an UMD player since Scott Perunovich put up 40 in 34 games over the 2019-20 season, his points per game average is a blistering 1.54 ppg. The last Bulldog to surpass 1.40 ppg? Jack Connolly over the 2011-12 season (1.46 on 60 points, 20g, 40a).
In fact, there have only been three players over the past 25 years to average 1.40 ppg or more over a season -- Connolly twice, in 2011-12 and 2010-11 (1.40), and Junior Lessard in 2003-04 (1.40).
Notably, Connolly and Lessard both won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award during the highest scorings seasons of their careers (Connolly in 2011-12 and Lessard in 2003-04), while Perunovich, the last UMD player to score 40 or more points, also did so in a postseason deprieved 2019-20 season, in which the defenseman was also awarded the Hobey Baker.
IT'S ON THE LINE: UMD's top line of Max Plante, Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay continues to be one of the most dangerous in the NCAA this season, and is now at 110 combined points.
While Max Plante has 40 points in 26 games this season (20g, 20a), Zam and Shaugabay both have 35 points -- good for the fourth most in the nation. Zam has 11 goals and 24 assists, while Shaugabay owns nine goals and an NCAA-best 26 assists.
That offensive haul has again pushed UMD's top line to the top of the NCAA's best scoring lines. Currently, the trio together is averaging 4.23 points a game.
A SPECIAL TEAM ON SPECIAL TEAMS: The Bulldogs currently own the best power play in the nation with a 32.6 success rate, and they own the seventh-best penalty kill at a 87.1 rate.
UMD is the only team in the country with both its special teams units in the top-10.
WINNING IS IN: The Bulldogs
UMD's 17 wins are the most since they had 22 in the 2021-22 season. That season, UMD finished 22-16-2.
So far this season, the Bulldogs are 17-9-0.
THE SERIES: UMD is upside all-time against Denver, and enters the weekend with an all-time record of 90-138-13. The two sides will meet for the first -- and only time -- this season this weekend in Denver.
Last season the two sides split in late January at AMSOIL Arena, with the Bulldogs opening the series with a 4-3 win on Jan., 24 before the Pioneers picked up a 2-1 win on Jan. 25.
In game one, UMD scored two power play goals (Aaron Pionk, Max Plante) and took a 3-1 lead after the first 40 minutes. The Bulldogs then added a fourth goal in the third to help hold off DU. UMD was outshot 45-30.
While the Bulldogs had a perfect 2-of-2 power play in game one, they went scoreless in three attempts in game two. The Pioneers scored in the first and second period, and held UMD to a single second frame score for the 2-1 win. Both teams put 30 shots on goal.
Last 10 Games vs DU (2-8-0)
Jan. 25, 2025 UMD 1, DU 2
Jan. 24, 2025 UMD 4, DU 3
Mar. 16, 2024 UMD 2, DU 5*
Mar. 15, 2024 UMD 0, DU 4*
Feb. 17, 2024 UMD 2, DU 5
Feb. 16, 2024 UMD 4, DU 5 OT
Feb. 18, 2023 UMD 6, DU 5
Feb. 17, 2023 UMD 2, DU 6
Dec. 10, 2022 UMD 3, DU 4 OT
Dec. 9, 2022 UMD 2, DU 3 OT
*NCHC Quarterfinal
Top UMD Players vs DU
Max Plante GP=2 G=1 1=A P=2
Joey Pierce GP=10 G=0 A=2 P=2
OUTSIDE LOOKING UP: The Bulldogs currently sit fourth in the NCHC standings, five points below Denver (30 to 25).
Counting last weekend against Western Michigan, UMD is in the middle of a stretch with all three of the teams ahead of it on deck.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD suffered its first losing end of a split last weekend, its first back-to-back setbacks against Western Michigan at AMSOIL last weekend.
While both games ended in 4-3 Bulldog losses, skates were entirely different. Friday night, UMD scored two goals in the final 83 seconds to pull within a single goal, but it was too little, too late. Zam Plante (2a) and Callum Arnott (1g, a) led the Bulldogs with two points each. UMD outshot WMU 37-21 and went 1-6 on its power play while holding the Broncos scoreless in six attempts.
Saturday, WMU's power play struck twice, including on a game-winner with 17 seconds left in overtime to rally to defeat UMD. Arnott and Jayson Shaugabay each had a goal and an assist in the game.
NOTES FROM THE WESTERN MICHIGAN SERIES: All-time, the Bulldogs are now 29-23-3, but as of late, the Broncos have won six of five games against the Bulldogs.
--At AMSOIL, UMD is 13-14-2 against the Broncos all-time, and haven't won in Duluth since Jan, 28, 2022. Since that 5-4 triumph, the Bulldogs have lost six straight games at home to WMU.
--UMD went 2-of-9 on its power play on the weekend, while the Broncos went 2-of-9.
