The No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team will take on the top-seeded University of Michigan Sunday afternoon inside MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. in the NCAA Albany Regional Final. The Bulldogs and Wolverines will drop the puck at 4:30 p.m. CT.
BULLDOGS STAY PERFECT IN OPENING NCAA FIRST ROUND GAMES: UMD kept extended its perfection in the NCAA Tournament First Round, Regional Semifinal Friday night to 13 games with its 3-1 win over Penn State University.
The Bulldogs have never fallen in the opening round one game, and have advanced 13-straight times to the NCAA Quarterfinals/NCAA Regional Finals.
UMD IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS/REGIONAL FINALS: The Bulldogs enter Sunday's Regional Final with an all-time NCAA Quarterfinal record of 9-9, and 6-6 since the NCAA went to the 12 team, two regional sites in 1992 and then the 16 team, four regional site expansion in 2003.
UMD last skated in a Regional Final on March 27, 2022 in Loveland, Colo. The Bulldogs fell to the University of Denver 2-1 in that skate.
UMD RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Bulldogs are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, and for the 16th time in program history.
UMD has compiled a 30-14-0 lifetime record in the NCAA Tournament and a 24-8-0 mark since Scott Sandelin's arrival in 2000-01. That mark is punctated 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).
Over the regular season, 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 led 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 third-consecutive game, UMD's own Hobey Top 10 Finalist Max Plante will hit the ice against another finalist.
Friday night, Plante won the head-to-head battle with PSU's Gavin McKenna, recording a a goal and an assist with six shots and a +2 plus/minus effort, while McKenna was held to two shots and went -3. Plante and McKenna now each have 51 points on the season -- 25 of Plante's points are goals.
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.
BULLDOG STREAKERS: The Bulldogs are bringing some scoring streaks into the Regional Final -- Zam Plante is on career-long six-game, nine point streak that started a month ago back on Feb. 28. In that span, Plante has scored six goals and added three assists. 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 tying 15 multiple point games this season and six game with two goals. In all, Plante has 48 points on 20 points and 28 assists.
Max Plante is on a four-game, six point scoring streak that also includes a three-game goal scoring streak. Over that span, Plante has three assists and two games with two points -- the Hobey Baker Finalist also has 15 multiple-point games this season.
Two freshman enter on two-game scoring streaks -- forward Hunter Anderson, who has three points, including two goals over his past three games (and one game-winner), and defenseman Grayden Siepmann, who has a goal and an assist.
COMEBACK KIDS: The Bulldogs have surrendered the first goal in six of their last seven games, but its a span UMD is 4-2-1 over, including a three-goal comeback against Denver in the NCHC Frozen Four title game to force the game into overtime.
Here are UMD's stats when leading, trailing or tied after a period:
Leading Trailing Tied
After 1 13-1-0 6-7-1 5-6-0
After 2 17-2-0 4-8-1 3-4-0
MAX'S MASSIVE MONTH: 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, 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 third in the nation with 51 total points, Plante's 25 goals rank third in the NCAA. He also sits eighth with eight power play goals, and eighth with a 1.31 points per game average. Plante has posted 15-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 third-best NCAA-best power play. That power play currently boats a 29.7 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 +19 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 (51) and Zam Plante (48) 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.
POWERED PLAY: The Bulldogs have spent most of the season with the nation's top power-play, which currently sits at an NCAA-third best at 29.7. 41 of UMD's 127 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.
UMD's power play will face Michigan's 35th ranked penalty kill, which is killing off just 79.8 of its penalties. The Wolverines have allowed just two power play goals in 17 attempts over their last five games.
THEY'LL KILL YOU: The Bulldogs are equally good on the penalty kill as they are on the power play. UMD sits second nationally with a 89.4 kill rate, and has not allowed a power play goal over its last nine games, holding opponents scoreless in their last 26 attempts.
UMD will meet the nation's currently top-ranked power play in Michigan Sunday -- the Wolverines are sitting with a 31.3 conversion rate this season and have scored six power plays in 13 attempts over their past four games.
WINNING IS IN: UMD's 24 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 12 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 226 points so far this season -- far ahead of any of the tournaments next highest scoring class -- Western Michigan University's junior class, which had piled up 162 total points coming into the tournament.
THAT'S THE GOAL: UMD has scored 127 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 cancelled 34 game season for a 3.35 goals per game average. This season, far from complete, UMD has scored 127 in 39 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 five 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 51 points marks the most points 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 25 goals -- the last UMD player to score 25 or more goals? Mike Connolly, who had 28 in 42 games over the 2010-11 season.
Plante is now one of just 28 players to compiled 51 or more points in a single season in program history (82 seasons).
JUST LIKE HOME: The Bulldogs will play their fourth-straight game outside of Minnesota on Sunday. UMD is 3-1 over that span, and this season has gone 12-7-0 away from AMSOIL Arena.
UMD and Michigan have a long rooted past and a recent NCAA postseason that doubles as one of the biggest moments in Bulldog hockey program history. All-time, UMD is 18-24-1 against Michigan in a series that overwhelmingly was played in the first 40 years of the program. The two sides haven't played a two-game series since Feb. 23-25, 1979.
The last time the Bulldogs and Wolverines met was back on Oct. 15, 2021 at AMSOIL Arena. Michigan popped UMD 5-1 in the semifinals of the Ice Breaker Tournament. The Wolverines used special teams to get past the Bulldogs with two power play goals and a shorthanded tally, despite both teams putting 29 shots up on goal.
The two sides have met just three times in the 26 year tenure of UMD head coach Scott Sandelin, where the Bulldogs have posted a 2-1 record. The two programs were scheduled to meet in the 2021 NCAA First Round in Fargo, ND, but Michigan but the game was ruled a no contest due COVID-19 rules, and the Bulldogs advanced to the Regional Final and eventual Frozen Four.
The one and only time the two programs have met in the NCAA Tournament was the 2011 NCAA title tilt in St. Paul, Minn. where UMD defeated Michigan 3-2 in overtime en route to the program's first national title. The Bulldogs hero was another Hermantown, Minn. native, Kyle Schmidt, who scored 3:22 into overtime and whose iconic snow angle celebration down the ice is forever in UMD's fans minds, the first of three eventual national titles in the last decade one by the Bulldogs.
LAST TIME OUT: UMD fell behind after PSU scored in the first 8:37 of the first period, but a goal from Max Plante pulled the Bulldogs even at 15:01.
UMD's Hunter Anderson scored 14:47 into the third for the 2-1 lead, and Ty Hanson iced it with two seconds left for the 3-1 final.
Adam Gajan made 29 saves for the Bulldogs, who outshot the Nittany Lions 39-30 in the game.
NOTES FROM THE PENN STATE FIRST ROUND GAME: UMD is now 1-0 after its first meeting in program history against PSU.
--The Bulldogs are now 3-0 against teams from the Big Ten so far this season. UMD outscored those teams 10-2 in those three skates.
--Zam Plante extended his current scoring streaks to six games in the win. Plante now has nine points (6g, 3a), while his brother Max Plante has put up six points over his past four games -- four points on three goals and three assists.
