The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey program entered its NCAA Tournament First Round game unbeaten all-time in NCAA Regional Semifinal games, and when the Bulldogs exited the ice of MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. late Friday night, UMD remained unbeaten in NCAA First Round games.
The No. 6 Bulldogs sent No. 9/10 Penn State University packing with a 3-1 win to setup a NCAA Regional Final showdown with the top-ranked University of Michigan Sunday afternoon.
"Real good win, It's a really good team," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin, who is now 24-8 all-time in NCAA postseason games at the helm of the Bulldogs. "I thought we started a little slow, but I thought we kind of found our game as it went on. It was a different game with delays like the glass and with the TV timeouts, that's how these games are. Sometimes it doesn't feel like you're getting into a rhythm, but our guys stayed on it into the third period. We got a big goal from Ando (Hunter Anderson) and sealed it with the empty-netter and Adam made some great saves. I liked out game after maybe the first 10 minutes. It reminded me a lot of the championship game against Denver where we maybe weren't as good as we needed to be to start, but our guys just stuck with it like they've been doing and they got it really good one."
Penn State struck first on a goal from Shea Van Olm 8:37 into the opening frame, but the Bulldogs, no strangers to surrendering the first goal over five of their last six games, pulled even at the 15:01 mark on Max Plante's 26th of the season. Plante's 50th point came off a pass from his brother Zam Plante, who put the puck on the younger Plante's stick for the quick finish and 1-1 equalizer.
The Nittany Lions outshot the Bulldogs 17-9 in the first 20, but the second period belonged to UMD, who outshelled PSU 17-6 in the second frame.
The scoreless second period gave way to the third period, and then, minutes after killing off their lone penalty of the game, UMD finally got on the board at the 14:47 mark. Freshman defenseman Grayden Siepmann forced a Nittany Lion turnover in the defensive zone and the puck ended up on red-hot Hunter Anderson's stick inside the left circle. The rookie took gathered the puck and buried past PSU goaltender Joshua Fleming to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game – and one they would never relinquish.
Despite a two minute empty net effort by the Nittany Lions, the Bulldogs iced the game with a empty net goal from Ty Hanson after Max Plante carried the puck over two lines and fed Hanson, who scored at 19:58.4 to seal the 3-1 win for UMD.
Adam Gajan had 29 saves in his NCAA postseason debut for the Bulldogs, who outshot PSU 39-30 in the game and forced Fleming to make 36 stops in the contest. Neither team scored on the one power play the had – Penn State ends the season 21-14-2 overall.
The Bulldogs (24-14-1) picked up their first NCAA win since 2022 and 30th in program history. UMD will attempt to punch its ninth all-time ticket to the NCAA Frozen Four Sunday when it faces the Wolverines inside MVP Arena Sunday afternoon. The puck is scheduled to drop on the NCAA Regional Final at 4:30 CT.
BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now 13-0 all-time in NCAA First Round/Regional Semifinal games ... Max Plante becomes the first Bulldog to score 50 or more points since current NHLer Alex Iafallo had 51 points over the 2016-17 season ... Plante now has 51 points on 26 goals and 25 assists ... Hunter Anderson has now scored goals in back-to-back games (as has Plante) ... UMD is now 30-14 all-time in NCAA postseason games and 24-8 under head coach Scott Sandelin.
