The No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey will closeout the 2025-26 regular season with a series against Colorado College at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Friday and Saturday. Friday night's game, which will is second annual Adam Johnson Night, will get underway at 7:07 p.m., while Saturday will drop the puck at 6:07 p.m.

UMD Men's Hockey Weekly Press Conference -- Scott Sandelin and seniors Scout Truman, Kyler Kovich and Kyle Gaffney



HATS OFF TO HOAGIE: A fixture on the UMD hockey bench for over four decades, Dale "Hoagie" Haagenson passed away last Tuesday at the age of 65. 

Friday, the UMD men's hockey team will honor Haagenson with a video tribute and moment of silence prior to the national anthem.  

SATURDAY'S A SENIOR SALUTE: Saturday, the Bulldogs will honor their 2025-26 senior class in a pre-game ceremony. UMD has five players who will exhaust their collegiate eligbility at the end of this season -- captain defenseman Joey Pierce, defenseman Riley Bodnarchuk, forward Scout Truman, forward Kyle Gaffney and graduate center Kyler Kovich. 

Four players will be honored pre-game on Saturday.

HOME SWEET HOME PLAYOFFFS: UMD clinched NCHC postseason first round ice last weekend, and will host an NCHC playoff game at AMSOIL for the first time since the 2018-19 season. 

Of note, UMD did clinch home ice in 2019-20 and was set to host Omaha when the collegiate hockey season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Bulldogs also technically would have hosted in 2020-21 after finishing third in the league, but the NCHC elected to play the Frozen Faceoff that year in one spot, making less travel for most teams. 

WINNING IS IN: UMD's 20 wins is the most it's posted in a season since the 2021-22. That year, the Bulldogs went 22-16-4 overall, and that included four wins in the NCHC postseaon (and NCHC Tournamnet title) and two NCAA games.

THAT'S THE GOAL: UMD has scored 107 goals so far this season -- the most since 2021-22. The Bulldogs scored 109 that seson over 42 games for a 2.59 goals per game average. This season, far from complete, UMD has scored 107 in 32 games -- a 3.34 goals a game average.

The last team to average three or more goals a game? The 2020-21 team, who averaged 3.0. UMD's current goals a game average ranks them in 14th in the the NCAA and fourth in the NCHC.

SPECIAL TEAM STEP-UP: The Bulldogs have spent most of the season with the nation's top power-play, which UMD retook last weekend after scoring four power play goals and own the top spot with a conversion rate  of 31.4. 37 of UMD's 107 goals so far this season have been scored with an extra skater, and eight goals have come from Max and Zam Plante. Callum Arnott has also added six power play goals this season.

The Bulldogs on the other hand are almost as equally good on the penalty kill as they are on the power play. UMD sits fourth nationally with a 88.0 kill rate, and has allowed just two power play goals over 26 attempts in their last six games. 

Last weekend, the Bulldogs kept the RedHawks scoreless on 11 attempts.

TO THE MAX: Max Plante has spent almost the entire season as the nation's top scorer.

Currently tied for third in the nation with 44 total points, Plante's 22 goals rank second in the NCAA. He also sits fourth with five game-winning goals, sixth with eight power play goals, as well and tied with a 1.35 points per game average.  

Plante has posted 13-multiple point games, including three games with four points and five with three points or more.

A TRIO OF 40?: Three players have either crossed the 40 points threshold -- Max Plante (44), and two are just a single point away from the mark -- Jayson Shaugabay (39) and Zam Plante (39).

The last time the Bulldog program had three players register 40 or more points? 2011-12, when Jack Connolly (60), Travis Olesuk (53) and J.T. Brown (47) all blew past the 40-point mark.

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, currently tops in the NCAA and is now at 122 combined points.

While Max Plante has 44 points in 32 games this season (22g, 22a), Zam has 39 points (14g, 25a) and Shaugabay has 39 points (10g, 29a). 

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 3.59 points a game.

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs and Tigers  have previously met 114 times, dating back to to their first head-to-head inside the Duluth Curling Club in Duluth, Minn. on Jan. 4, 1961 -- a 6-4 UMD win.

Since then, the Bulldogs have pulled ahead in the all-time series with a record of 112-90-12. Over the past 10 games between them, the Tigers have an game up at 4-5-1, including a road split with the Tigers in November. The Bulldogs are 38-59-5 all-time in Duluth.

Last 10 Games, UMD vs CC (4-5-1)

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

Dec. 3, 2022 UMD 4, CC 0

Dec. 2, 2022 UMD 0, CC 3

Top UMD Scorers vs CC

Max Plante, 4 GP 6 points (4g, 2a)

Zam Plante, 4 GP 4 points (4a)

Callum Arnott, 4 GP 3 points (1g, 2a)

In their last meeting in November, Max Plante led all UMD scorers with three goals, while Zam Plante had two assists. UMD won game one 4-2 before dropping a 2-1 overtime decision.

In game one, Max Plante led the Bulldogs with three goals -- his first collegiate hat trick -- with power play goal in the second and third periods and an empty net goal with 32 seconds remaining -- a natural hat trick at that. Senior cetner Kyler Kovich had UMD's other goal in the game -- his first of the season. The Bulldogs went 2-of-5 on their power play and UMD outshot the Tigers 30-20.

In game two, Scout Truman scored the Bulldogs lone goal midway through the second, but CC scored early in the second and then 50 seconds into overtime to steal the split. UMD only had one power play in the game (0/1) and were outshot 40-30 by the Tigers.

LAST TIME OUT:  UMD swept Miami (OH) by scores of 5-2 and 4-1 last weekend in Oxford, Ohio to lock down home first round NCHC ice.

The Bulldogs fell behind 2-0 less than seven minutes into the second period, but stormed back with four unanswered goals, kicked off by a power play goal from Hunter Anderson at 12:34 of the second. Max Plante added a goal late in the second, and Scout Truman (PP), Jayson Shaugabay and Callum Arnott (EN) all added goals in the the third period. UMD went 2-of-5 on its power play and outshot the RedHawks 32-29.

UMD had three-straight goals in the second period Saturday to break open the contest, started by Aaron Pionk. Anderson and Truman then both added their second power play goals of the series, and Max Plante netted an empty net goal with 1:09 left in the third. UMD again went 2/5 on the power play, and Miami outshot the Bulldogs 25-21.

Ethan Dahlmeir made 51 saves in the series and earned two wins against his former team.

NOTES FROM THE MIAMI SERIES: UMD is now 37-7-5 all-time against Miami and own a 10-game unbeaten streak still intact. The Bulldogs are also 16-4-2 in Oxford.

----UMD's penalty kill held the RedHawks scoreless in 11 power play attempts last weekend, including seven attempts in game two.

--Hunter Anderson's -- named the NCHCs Rookie of the Week for his performance in Ohio, had back-to-back two point games for the first time in his collegiate career … his four series points was also a career-best.

--The Bulldogs had two or more power plays in consecutive games for the first time since they put up seven total on three and four power play outing efforts against Lindenwood back on Jan. 9-10.

--UMD has now three times posted a series with two or more power plays on back-to-back nights (Bemidji State, back on Oct. 17-18 was the other).