It's National Collegiate Hockey Conference time for the No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team, who will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. to face No. 9 Colorado College in the first league series for the Bulldogs this season. The Friday - Saturday series will get underway at 8:00 p.m. CST both nights inside Ed Robson Arena.
WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE, October 28, 2026 -- Head coach Scott Sandelin, juniors Jayson Shaugabay and Ty Hanson
SANDELIN CLOSES IN ON 500: Bench boss Scott Sandelin is at 498 wins at UMD, just two shy of joining the 500 win club. Only 23 Division I coaches have reached the mark, and just nine coaches before Sandelin did it all at one school.
Sandelin currently ranks third in wins among all active Division I men's hockey head coaches. The lone active coach with three NCAA titles, Sandelin is one of 12 coaches ever to run up 498 or more wins with the same school.
UMD as a program has had incredible stability from its head coach position for 51 seasons -- since the 1975-76 season, the Bulldogs have had just three head coaches -- Gus Henderickson (1975-76 to 1981-82, Mike Sertich (1982-83 to 1999-00 and Sandelin, who has been with UMD since the 2000-01 season.
As a program, the Bulldogs are in season No. 83. All-time, UMD is 1,265-1,222-184.
STILL MISSING MAX: UMD's junior forward captain Max Plante is listed as unavailable this weekend with an upper body injury. Redshirt sophomore forward Trevor Stachowiak will also miss the series.
AXELSSON'S HOT START: Rookie goaltender Carl Axelsson currently is tied for the most shutouts in the NCAA (2) and has the third lowest GAA (0.81) (and actually owns the lowest GAA (0.81) in the NCAA among all goaltenders that have played three games or more). The reigning NCHC Goaltender of the Week is coming off another impressive series where he posted 119:38 of scoreless hockey against Bemidji State. The product of Danderyd, Sweden earned a shutout Saturday night and was 22 seconds away from earning one on Friday night against the Beavers. Axelsson, who is 4-0-2, is the first rookie netminder to be unbeaten through their first six starts since Hunter Miska went 6-0-1 through seven starts over the 2016-2017 season (Oct. 10-Nov. 5, 2016). He's also the first goaltender since Miska to post two shutouts in his first six starts.
HIGH ON HANSON: Already a three-time NCHC Defenseman of the Week Ty Hanson has begun the season where he left off the last one -- as one of the nation's most offensive defensemen. Hanson is not just currently the NCAA's top scoring defenseman with seven goals and five assists for 12 points, he's one of the top point getters in the nation among all skaters. The Hermantown, Minn. product is tied for first in power play goals (2), second in goals scored (7) and is tied with teammate Jayson Shaugabay for third with 12 points.Â
Hanson ranks fifth in the NCAA in time on ice (25:28) and sixth with a +9 rating.Â
The captain has logged points in six-of-seven games and already has four multiple point games.
In 84 games over his UMD career -- (84 consecutive games, at that), Hanson has rung up 21 goals and 41 assists for 62 points.
PENALTY KILLERS: The Bulldogs have allowed just one power play goal this season, and are an impressive 25-of-26 for a NCAA third-best 96.2 success rate. In fact UMD opened the season with 21-consecutive kills. The Bulldogs were 4-of-4 against BSU last weekend.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the 2025-26 with the second-ranked PK and a kill rate of 88.8 (111 of 125 opponent attempts). UMD also has one shorthanded goal this season (Ty Hanson).
ON THE OFFENSIVE: The Bulldogs may be missing Hobey Baker winner Max Plante, but it hasn't stopped the goals from coming. UMD has scored 31 goals through eight games -- the third most in the NCAA -- and is averaging 3.9 goals a game.
13 different Bulldogs have scored through those eight games, including seven with two more more and six with three or more. Five players are averaging a point a game -- Ty Hanson and Jayson Shaugabay at 1.50 ppg, Zam Plante with 1.13 ppg, and Hunter Anderson and Max Plante, who are at 1.00. (Max Plante logged two points in his opening two games of the season.)
Four players are averaging a point or more a game after the Minnesota series -- Jayson Shaugabay (1.50 ppg), Ty Hanson (1.33), Hunter Anderson (1.17) and Zam Plante (1.00).
UMD also has three players in the top-12 in the NCAA in scoring -- Hanson and Shaugabay (3rd), Zam Plante in 12th.
SHOOT YOUR SHOT: UMD has outshot its opponents by a wide margin so far this year, 275-184. The Bulldogs are unbeaten in games where they have outshot their foes at 5-0-2 -- their only loss, in overtime at Augustana in game one, is the lone game they've been outshot in (28-30).
Notably, UMD has had heavy shot advantages in the first and second periods (92-50 in the first, 101-64 in the second, but have just a seven shot advantage in third periods (72-65). Despite having the fewest amount of shots on goal in the third, the Bulldogs have scored 12 in that frame so far this season -- more than any other period.
THE SERIES: All-time, UMD is now 112-91-13 all-time against the Tigers and finished last season 1-2-1 against CCÂ
On Feb. 27-28, UMD suffered a 4-1 loss to Colorado College in game one before rebounding for a 2-2 overtime and shootout win. Friday night, with a pregame nod to Dale "Hoagie" Haagenson, UMD fell behind 1-0 after the first period and finally pulled even on a goal from Scout Truman 11:41 into the third frame. But the Tigers scored 25 seconds later, and added another two empty net goals in the final minute to seal the 4-1 Bulldog loss. UMD outshot CC 40-19, and Ethan Dahlmeier had 15 saves in the game. The Bulldogs dominated the faceoff dot 41-27, led by Kyle Gaffney's 10-3 advantage.
Saturday CC's Brandon Lisowsky scored two goals for the Tigers -- 1:50 into the first period and again 1:29 into the third period. But Zam Plante scored two goals in the third period, including a power play goal at 16:47 of the third to knot the game up at 2-2. UMD outshot CC 34-22 in the contest and Adam Gajan made 20 saves in his first game in between the pipes in almost a month.
UMD had a 74-41 shots on goal advantage in the series, but the Tigers had the 6-3 goals scored statline. The Bulldogs also dominated from the dot -- 78-52 -- Kyle Gaffney went 22-10.
Last 10 Games, UMD vs CC (3-5-2)
Feb. 28, 2026 UMD 2, CC 2 OT SW
Feb. 27, 2026 UMD 1, CC 4
Nov. 22, 2025 UMD 1, CC 2
Nov. 21, 2025 UMD 4, CC 2
Jan. 18, 2025 UMD 4, CC 1
Jan. 17, 2025 UMD 2, CC 7
Mar. 2, 2024 UMD 1, CC 4
Mar. 1, 2024 UMD 2, CC 2 OT
Jan. 13, 2024 UMD 2, CC 3 OT
Jan. 12, 2024 UMD 3, CC 2 OT
Top UMD Scorers vs CC
Max Plante, 6 GP 7 points (4g, 3a)
Zam Plante, 6 GP 6 points (2g, 4a)
Callum Arnott, 6 GP 3 points (1g, 2a)
LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept BSU in a home-and-home series last weekend, starting with a 4-1 win Friday night at AMSOIL and wrapping up with a 3-0 win in Bemidji inside the Sanford Center.
The Bulldogs struck once in the first (Luke Bibby, 6:51) but blew the game open in the third with three unanswered goals from three different players (Callum Arnott -- 2:00, Zam Plante -- 7:59, and Ty Hanson -- 9:47). UMD was just 22 seconds away from picking up the shutout when the Beavers scored at the end of regulation.
Bulldog goaltender Carl Axelsson made 26 saves on the night -- a career-high, and UMD outshot the BSU 32-27.
Saturday night in Bemidji, Hanson broke a scoreless game on the power play 9:32 into the second period, and the junior defenseman added another at the 17:15 mark to make it 2-0. Zam Plante added an empty net tally at 18:07, and the Bulldogs shutout the Beaver offense for their second shutout of the season.
Axelsson's second clean sheet came off 22 saves. UMD outshot BSU 30-22 in the game.
NOTES ON THE BEMIDJI STATE SERIES: The Bulldogs have had the upper hand in the rivalry as of late with an 10-1-1 record over their past 12 meetings.Â
--UMD has a five-game winning streak against BSU dating back to Dec. 31, 2024 and has outscored the Beavers 23-5 over those five games. All-time, the Bulldogs are 33-17-1 against BSU.
--With three points on the weekend, Jayson Shaugabay also now has 14 points in six career games against BSU (6g, 8a). Zam Plante, who also logged three points sits right behind him with 13 (6g, 7a) over those same six games.
