The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team will play in its 43rd NCAA postseason game Friday when it faces Penn State University at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The second-seeded Bulldogs will face the third-seeded Nittany Lions at 8:00 p.m. CT.


UMD RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Bulldogs return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, and for the 16th time in program history.

UMD has compiled a 29-14-0 lifetime record in the NCAA Tournament and a 23-8-0 mark since Scott Sandelin's arrival in 2000-01. That mark is punctuated by three NCAA titles that have all come during the Sandelin era in 2011, 2018 and 2019.

Sandelin is one of two head coaches in the tournament who will be making their tournament-high 12th appearance. The Bulldog bench boss also owns the most NCAA titles of any head coach in the 2026 NCAA Tournament (three).

UMD went 4-8-0 (.333) against other teams in the NCAA Tournament this season, and averaged 2.67 goals a game against those squads. Of the 32 goals the Bulldogs scored against tournament teams, 11 came off the power play. UMD allowed just five power play goals scored against in 34 attempts.

Six of the 12 games UMD played against the postseason field went to overtime where the Bulldogs went 2-4-0 overall in extra time.

Sophomore forward Max Plante leads all UMD players with 12 points (5g, 7a) in those 12 games against tournament teams for a 1.00 points per game average. Zam Plante compiled 11 points (4g, 7a) over those 12 skaters, while Callum Arnott recorded 10 points (4g, 6a).

Graduate forward Kyler Kovich is the lone Bulldog currently rostered that has skated in the NCAA Tournament. Kovich was a member of Cornell University for four seasons -- the Big Red made the NCAA postseason his last three seasons.

*For UMD's entire NCAA postseason history, see page 11.

SIZING UP THE HOBEY COMPETITION: For a second-consecutive week, UMD's own Hobey Top 10 Finalist Max Plante will hit the ice against another finalist.

Last weekend, Plante faced off against University of Denver junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship game. Plante posted a goal on six shots, went +1 and had two blocked shots, while Pohlkamp had seven shots, two blocks and was called for one penalty.

Friday, Plante will faceoff against Penn State University's Gavin McKenna. This season, Plante, a sophomore, has a heavy goals scored advantage (24 by Plante, 15 by McKenna, but the freshman owns more overall points (51-29). Against teams in the NCAA Tournament, Plante enters the NCAA postseason averaging 1.00 points per game, 12 points in those 12 games.

MAX'S MASSIVE LAST WEEK: Sophomore forward Max Plante had the biggest week of his collegiate career, winning two NCHC awards and landing a top-10 Hobey Baker Finalist spot all in the matter of four days.

Plante was named the been named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's Player of the Year last Thursday, the second Bulldog ever to land the honor, Plante is the first honoree since defenseman Scott Perunovich won the award in 2019-20. The day before, he became the 10th Bulldog to become a Hobey Baker Finalist, and along with his dad, just the second father-son duo to earn the honor.

Plante, a native of Hermantown, Minn. and the program's first NCHC Forward of the Year -- an award he collected a week ago Monday -- has spent the entire season as one of the top-point getters in the entire nation. Currently ranked ninth with  the nation with 49 total points, Plante's 24 goals rank third in the NCAA. He also sits eighth with eight power play goals, and ninth with a 1.24 points per game average.  Plante has posted 14-multiple point games, including three games with four points and five with three points or more, and has been a crucial part of UMD's second-best NCAA-best power play. That power play currently boats a 29.9 conversion rate and has registered eight power play goals and six assists for 14 power play points.

The First Team All-NCHC selection had his first career hat against the University of Omaha on Nov. 14, and has had six games with two or more goals and five games with two assists. Plante carries a +16 plus/minus, and in conference play, Plante finished fifth with both 12 goals and 25 points, including a trio of game-winners, while adding 13 assists. 

The UMD alternate captain was the NCHC's October Forward of the Month, and was also named the HCA's Forward of the Month for October, and in addition to earning a NCHC Forward of the Week nod back on Oct. 7, 2025, was also named to the NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team. He was also a member of the 2025 U.S. World Junior Team. Plante will find out Thursday if he will become the second-ever Bulldog named the NCHC Player of the Year. 

A TRIO OF 40: Three players have crossed the 40 points threshold -- Max Plante (49) and Zam Plante (47) and Jayson Shaugabay (42).

No other team in the NCAA Tourney has three players over 40 points so far this season.

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.

SPECIAL TEAM STEP-UP: The Bulldogs have spent most of the season with the nation's top power-play, which currently sits at an NCAA-second best at 29.9. 41 of UMD's 124 goals so far this season have been scored with an extra skater, and 10 goals have come from Zam Plante and eight from Max 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 third nationally with a 89.3 kill rate, and has not allowed a power play goal over its last eight games, holding opponents scoreless in their last 25 attempts. 

WINNING IS IN: UMD's 23 wins is the most it's posted in a season since the 2018-19 NCAA title winning season. That year, the Bulldogs went 29-11-2 overall, and that included four wins in the NCHC postseason (and NCHC Tournament title) and four NCAA games, including the NCAA Frozen Four.

The Bulldogs 10 win turnaround from one season ago is the second-biggest improvement behind the University of Michigan, which has won 11 more games than last year.

YOUNG GUNS: The Bulldogs have one of the youngest rosters of the 16 teams still playing this weekend, boasting 18 underclassmen -- just one behind Providence who leads with 19. 

That youth shows up no where more than in UMD's offensive sophomore class. The Bulldogs second-year players has combined for 221 points so far this season -- far ahead of any of the tournaments next highest scoring class -- Western Michigan University's junior class, which has piled up 162 total points.

THAT'S THE GOAL: UMD has scored 124 goals so far this season -- the most since 2018-19 season where the Bulldogs compiled 133 in 42 games -- a 3.16 goals per game average. The Bulldogs scored 114 over the COVID-19 canceled 34 game season for a 3.35 goals per game average. This season, far from complete, UMD has scored 124 in 38 games -- a 3.30 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 (3.30) ranks them in 14th in the the NCAA.

OVER EXTRA TIME: The Bulldogs are 5-5-1 in overtime games after last weekend and have needed extra time in three of their last four games (where UMD is 2-1). 

The program record for overtime games is 15, set in 2010-11. Currently, the five overtime losses that the Bulldogs have ties a program high for overtime setbacks, set all the way back in 2002-03. UMD's record for overtime wins in a season is seven, also set in 2010-11, an NCAA record at the time.

HE'S NOT EVEN MAXED OUT: Max Plante's 49 points marks the most now by a Bulldog since current NHLer Alex Iafallo had 51 (21g, 30a) over the 2016-17 season over 42 games. 

Plante is also sitting at 24 goals -- Ben Steeves rang up 24 in 2023-24, and prior to Steeves, the last UMD player to score 24 or more goals? Another former NHL player, J.T. Brown, who had 24 in 2011-12. 

Stat hounds will have to go back to 2010-11 NCAA title season to find a player who scored 25 or more goals -- Mike Connolly turned in 28 goals that season. Notably, Connolly was a Hobey Baker Finalist that season (he won the following year.)

UMD and Penn State have never skated against each other, but they each played a series this year against the other's conference. UMD played a Big Ten school this past season -- Minnesota -- a series sweep in Minneapolis for the Bulldogs back on Oct. 24-25 (3-0, 4-1), while the Nittany Lions opened their season again NCHC member Arizona State, sweeping Arizona State in Tempe (6-3, 4-2). UMD split with ASU back in December at home by scores of 3-1 and 3-6 on Dec. 12-13, while the Nittany Lions faced Minnesota in four games this season, going 4-1 in those five games. 

More recently, UMD had a late season surge, going 6-3-1 (.650) over its last 10 games, while PSU struggled to a 3-5-2 (.400) record. 

Against teams in the tournament, the Bulldogs have posted a 4-8-0 (.333) record, while the Nittany Lions are 3-9-1 (.269). 

This may mark the second-consecutive NCAA Tourney for PSU, who has made five in its program history, the Bulldogs have been to five-times the NCAA postseasons -- 2026 is their 16th. 

Both teams have three of the top lines inc college hockey -- though UMD's has been broken up the past two weekends. The Bulldog pairing  of Max Plante (49), Zam Plante (47) and Jayson Shuagabay (42) has produced 138 points this season, the second most in the NCAA, while Penn State's line of Gavin McKenna (51), Matt DiMarsico (42) and Aiden Fink (38) has recorded 131 -- the third most in the NCAA.

HAVEN'T WE MET BEFORE: Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky selected both sophomore center Zam Plante and sophomore goaltender Adam Gajan to the U.S. Collegiate Selects team that competed at the 2025 Spengler Cup this past winter, a team he was the head coach for. The team won Group Cattini after defeating HC Davos 5-3 in their final group game before losing the championship match to the same team.

LAST TIME OUT:  UMD faced off against the University of Denver last Saturday in the NCHC Frozen Four title game in Denver, Colo. It took double overtime for the Pioneers to sneak out with a 4-3 win, despite UMD outshooting DU 44-33 in the game.

The Pioneers stormed out to a 2-0 lead 6:37 into the first period, and owned a 3-0 lead at the 13:02 mark. But the Bulldogs came back, starting with a goal from Max Plante at 18:40.

UMD then scored two power play goals in the second period (Grayden Siepmann, Hunter Anderson) to draw even at 3-3. It took two overtimes for the Pioneers to finally break through against the grain 1:54 into the second overtime to take the NCHC postseason title.

UMD went 2-of-4 on its power play while holding DU scoreless in two attempts. Adam Gajan had 29 saves for the Bulldogs.

NOTES FROM THE DENVER FINAL: UMD is now 90-141-13 all-time against the Pioneers, and 0-3 against DU this season, with the last two games overtime skates.

-In NCHC post season play against Denver, the Bulldogs are 2-6 overall, and now 3-2 all-time in conference championship games. 

--Zam Plante extended his current scoring streaks to five games in the win. Plante now has seven points (6g, 2a), while his brother Max Plante has put up four points over his past three games -- four points on two goals and two assists.

HOT ZAM: There is arguably no offensively hotter player in the NCAA right now than sophomore forward Zam Plante. Plante has scored six goals and added two assists over his last five games. Two of those goals were game-winning overtime goals, while three of them were game-tying goals in the final minute of all three games to send them into overtime. Two of Plante's six goals were also power play tallies.

Plante has had a team-high 15 multiple point games this season and six game with two goals. In all, Plante has 47 points on 20 points and 27 assists.

GAJAN'S GOAL: Adam Gajan is having a run since he came back from making the Slovakian Olympic Team.

Gajan is 4-1-1 since returning from Milan, and has made 130 saves on 141 shots over those five games.

With total 18 wins this season, Gajan also has the most by a Bulldog netminder since Ryan Fanti recorded 20 over the 2021-22 season.

Despite only having played 30 games for UMD this season, his 18 wins ranks as the 10th most in the NCAA.

BULLDOG BITS: Max and Zam Plante are the second-highest scoring duo in the NCAA Tournament this season ... the brothers have recorded 96 points between them ... the Plante's are one of five sets of brothers suiting up in Regional later this week.