In front of a sold out crowd of 7,052 – the 11th biggest crowd in AMSOIL Arena history – the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team trounced the No. 22/RV University of Minnesota 7-1 in the opening game of the nonconference series.
"I thought it was great,?I love seeing this building like that," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin when asked about the AMSOIL crowd Friday night. "There was energy in the building. The students were awesome. ?It's fun for the guys. It gets you into it. Obviously, I'm glad we could help them by scoring some goals and keeping them in it ?I think the third period was a little boring, but that's okay. The result is what we wanted, but it was a fun a fun building. It's a big rivalry going back to the WCHA, but the building was good, like I said, I'm glad we could give people something to cheer about and stay energized about."
The Bulldogs scored early and often, with a whopping 10 players on the scoresheet and five that had two points or more, including Zam (3a) and Victor Plante 1g, 2a), who had three points each.
Luke Bibby opened the scoring just 1:08 into the game, and a Braden Fischer from Blake Bechen goal at the 10:32 made it a 2-0 skate. The Gophers lone goal of the game came with just 1:02 left in the opening frame, and after 20 minutes of play, the Bulldogs owned a 2-1 lead.
Victor Plante buried his first collegiate goal 4:58 into the second period, but it was five minute major for boarding against the Gophers at 9:18 that led to an onslaught of UMD goals. The Bulldogs bludgeoned Minnesota three goals in less than two minutes – one by Hunter Anderson (10:46) and two by Ty Hanson (11:48 and 12:40) that were just 52 seconds apart from the junior captain defenseman. When the power play dust settled, UMD owned a 6-1 lead it would never come close to surrendering.
Anderson added a tally for good measure 4:23 into the final frame to run the goal count to seven – UMD's first seven goal game against the Gophers since the 1998-99 season and first six-goal advantage on Minnesota since the 1982-83 season.
Freshman goaltender Carl Axelsson had 24 saves on 25 shots, while the Gophers had two netminders – Luca Di Pasquo had 17 stops and four goals against, while Melvin Strahl had three goals against and 14 saves. The Bulldogs help the Gophers scoreless on two power play attempts, and have now not allowed a power play goal in 22 attempts so far this season.
UMD went 3-of-7 on its power play and outshot Minnesota 31-16 in the game.
The Bulldogs (2-1-1) and Gophers (0-3-0) will do it all over again tomorrow night at AMSOIL Arena. Puck drop is set for 6:07 p.m., with a special jersey retirement ceremony for Dale "Hoagie" Haagenson prior to the game.
BULLDOG NOTES: The last time UMD defeated the Gophers by six goals was Feb. 11, 1983 … the last time the Bulldog put up seven goals on Minnesota was Feb. 27, 1999 – ironically a 10-7 loss for UMD … UMD remains tied with the nation's best penalty kill, perfect through 22 attempts this season … Jayson Shaugabay has logged multiple point games now in four of his first five games this season … the junior forward has a goal and seven assists for eight points through five games for a 1.80 points per game average … the Bulldogs jumped up to the NCAA's third-leading goal scoring team (22) Friday and is averaging 4.4, the sixth most … UMD has now won three-straight games against the Gophers and earned its first win against Minnesota inside AMSOIL since Oct. 23, 2021 … UMD's sell-out Friday night was its 11th biggest crowd at AMSOIL Arena … six of the top 10 biggest crowds have come against the Gophers.
