The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team honored the best player in college hockey last season prior to dropping the puck Friday night, but the No. 5 Bulldogs showed their roster is deep in their 7-4 season opening win against Long Island University at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
Six players had multiple point nights, including four that had three – Jayson Shaugabay, Hunter Anderson, Ty Hanson and Callum Arnott led UMD with three points on a goal and two assists.
UMD honored the program's seventh Hobey Baker winner Max Plante pregame, but it was newly acquired senior forward Barrett Hall that turned the already loud volume up a notch in AMSOIL with the first goal of the night. Hall finished off a pass from Hunter Anderson at the 8:03 mark for the first goal of his Bulldog career – Shaugabay picked up the second assist for his first point of the brand new season.
A minute later, Adam Kleber took a high-low feed and roofed the puck past Shark goaltender Daniel Duris to double UMD's lead. Hanson had the first assist on his blueline partner's score, while Callum Arnott was credited with the secondary helper.
The second period was home to four goals by the two sides combined. The Sharks bit back behind two goals from Luc Bydal just over three minutes apart to make it a 2-2 game at 11;45. Anderson's one-timer from the slot off a brilliant drive to the net and dish from Max Plante pushed UMD back out in front 3-2 at 14:01, but again LIU equalized late in the frame on a front net mistake by the Bulldogs.
Leading 26-13 in shots on goal after 40 minutes of play but not on the scoreboard, UMD found another gear in the third period, despite LIU taking the 4-4 lead 3:08 into the frame.
After falling behind, the Bulldogs rattled off four-unanswered goals, beginning with Shaugabay's tally just 18 seconds later to draw UMD even. Luke Bibby held his own in front of the net and redirected a Ty Hanson shot for what would stand as the eventual game-winner at 13:57, and a power play goal from Callum Arnott less than a minute later made it a 6-4 UMD advantage.
Hanson flipped an empty net, shorthanded goal in with less than 22 seconds on, and the season-opening win was on for the Bulldogs, who have now won-back-back season openers.
Junior goaltender Ethan Dahlmeir earned the win in net for UMD with 19 saves, while Duris took the loss for LIU with 29 stops. The Bulldogs had a 36-23 shots on goal advantage, though teams put 10 on in the final frame.
UMD was 1-of-6 on its power play while it held the Sharks scoreless in four attempts and netted a shorthanded goal.
The Bulldogs (1-0-0) and Sharks (0-0-0) will do it all over again tomorrow night at AMSOIL. The puck is set to drop at 6:07 p.m.
SANDELIN SPEAK: "I thought we found our game a little bit after the first five minutes, got a goal and then we got another goal and had opportunities to make it more and we didn't. The second period was, you know, I'm not sure what we were doing. We got away from a simple game, got a little too cute."
"Even at the end, a lot of one on one, you know, talk about just getting back to it, more of a simple direct game, in the third period, I like that we had to face a little adversity right away, guys responded. ?We had a better third period, but that's where you play and certainly a lot easier when you win to teach. We've got a lot of things to keep working on and get better."
BULLDOG NOTES: In addition to Ty Hanson, Jayson Shaugabay, Callum Arnott and Hunter Anderson compiling three points each, Adam Kleber had two (1g, 1a), while Max Plante had two assists … Zam Plante and Arnott led UMD with five shots … Hanson was a game-high +4 plus/minus.
