The No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team will pop the lid off the 2026-27 this Friday when it welcomes Long Island University to AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. for a nonconference series. Friday play gets underway at 7:07 p.m., while Saturday's game will begin at 6:07 p.m.


HONORING THE HOME OF THE HOBEY: UMD will unveil its newest -- and seventh -- Hobey Baker Award winner banner on Friday. The banner featuring 2026 award winner Max Plante will be revealed in a short ceremony pregame. The first 2,500 Bulldog fans in the door will get special UMD Seven Hobey Award feltwinning pennants as a giveway.

TAILGATE WITH THE DOGS: UMD is bringing back its pregame taligate on Friday and Saturday near the Minnesota Slip Bridge. There will be yard games, a DJ and concessions and gets underway at 5:00 p.m. Friday and 4:00 p.m. Saturday.

RETURN OF THE MAX: 2026 Hobey Baker Memorial winner Max Plante will become the first player since University of North Dakota's Ryan Duncan in 2007 to return to his college team following his win. Plante, who skated on the U.S. Men's National Team IIHF Men's World Championship roster in May, finished last season with 52 points – the most by a Bulldog since 2011-12. His 26 goals – the second most in the NCAA last season – was the most since Mike Connolly put up 28 in 2010-11. One of just 28 players to have compiled 52 or more points in a single season in UMD program history (82 seasons,) Plante ranked third in the NCAA in total points (52), game-winning goals (6), eighth in power play goals (8) and points per game (1.30 ppg).

GREAT SCOTT! SANDELIN ENTERS 27TH SEASON: UMD bench boss Scott Sandelin has begun his 27th season, the longest tenure of any Bulldog coach in program history and with a record of 493-423-105, 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 493 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 will begin their 83rd season. All-time, UMD is 1,260-1,221-182.

A GOOD RETURN ON INVESTMENT: UMD is now seasoned, with 13 upperclassmen returning and 15 upperclassmen total. The Bulldogs have 19 players who finished their season in Albany a season ago, and 12 who have skated in at least 70 collegiate games over their careers, including five with 90 or more games under their belt.

UMD lost five to graduation (Joey Pierce, Kyle Gaffney, Scout Truman, Riley Bodnarchuk and Kyler Kovich, one to the portal (Daniel Shlaine), and one to the pro ranks in goaltender Adam Gajan.

But the Bulldogs -- who owned the 11th most goals in the NCAA last season with 130 -- retain the scorers of 103 of their goals in 2025-26. 

Overall, the Bulldogs return 11 forwards, six defenseman and two goaltenders.

OH BROTHERS: UMD head coach Scott Sandelin announced to NCHC media that the debut of the all Plante brother (Zam, Max and Victor) line, will happen for the first time Friday against LIU. 

The Bulldogs become the first program since St. Cloud State had the Poehlings over the 2018-19 season to have three brothers on the same team. Freshman forward Victor Plante joins his older brothers, junior forward Max and Zam Plante as UMD's first-ever trio of siblings on a squad.

The Plantes, out of Hermantown, Minn. will become the 15th father-son Bulldog combination, along with current sophomore Ty Hanson, and freshman goaltender Carl Axelsson, to follow their fathers to UMD for their collegiate hockey careers. Derek Plante played for the Bulldogs from 1989-93, and was 1993 Hobey Baker Finalist.  Derek Plante is still tied for the second most points in program history, having racked up 219 points (96g,143a) in just 138 games for a 1.58 points per game average.  

SCORING 40: UMD's high-scoring line returns this season, the first time a 40-point scoring trio has returned to the roster since the 2009-10 season (Jack Conolly, Justine Fontaine and Mike Connolly). In 2025-26, Max Plante led UMD with 52 points, Zam Plante recorded 51 and Jayson Shaugabay turned in 43 points.

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

BULLDOG STREAKERS: The Bulldogs are bringing some scoring streaks over from the 2025-26 season, starting with Zam Plante enters the season on a seven-game scoring streak, dating back to Feb. 28, 2026. Since then, Plante compiled a career-best seven game scoring spree and elevated in the postseason, scoring six goals and adding six assists for 12 points in seven skates.

Max Plante begins 2026-27 on a five-game, seven point scoring streak that began in the postseason on March 7th. Over that span, Plante has four assists and three goals for seven points, and two games with two points.

Sophomore forward Hunter Anderson enters the new year on a three-game scoring streak. Anderson had four points, including two goals over his past three games -- which began on March 27 against Denver in the NCHC Championship game.

ALL IN ON THE ALL-AMERICANS: Max Plante and Ty Hanson are the first Bulldog All-Americans to return to UMD since goaltender Hunter Shepard and Hobey Baker winning defenseman Scott Perunovich did it in 2019-20.

The two programs's have never played against each other, but over the 2025-26 season faced four common opponents in Alaska Fairbanks, Minnesota, Lindenwood and Penn State. UMD went 7-0 against those squads in seven skates, while the Sharks went 2-7 against those same teams in nine games.

RANK AND FILE: UMD begins the season ranked fifth in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey national preseason polls. It marks the highest preason ranking for the Bulldogs since they were also ranked fifth in September of 2022.

Ironically, UMD was also coming off a NCAA Tournament berth that ended in a heartbreaking Regional Final the season before.

WHAT TO WATCH:

Will Special Teams Be Special Again?: The Bulldogs spent most of last season with the nation's top power-play, and finished it with the NCAA's third best unit at 29.6. 42 of UMD's 130 goals last season were scored with an extra skater, and 10 goals have come from Zam Plante and eight from Max Plante. Callum Arnott also added six power play goals last season.

The Bulldogs were equally good on the penalty kill last season, and ranked second in the NCAA with a 88.8 kill rate. While UMD allowed just one power play goal over its final 10 games of the season, it will be missing to noted penalty killers in former defensemen Joey Pierce and Riley Bodnarchuk.

Sandelin Closes in on 500 Career Wins: Bench boss Scott Sandelin will begin the season at 493 wins at UMD, just seven 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.

Pionk's a Gamer: Aaron Pionk enters his senior season having skated in 113 consecutive games as a Bulldog. While UMD's career games record was set back when teams played way more collegiate games by Jim Johnson, who skated in 174 between 1981-85, Pionk's statline is still impressive.

Three juniors have skated in all 76 games so far of their UMD careers -- Ty Hanson, Jayson Shaugabay and Callum Arnott.

Winning is in: UMD's 24 wins last year was the most it had 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 last time UMD put back-to-back 20 win seasons together? 2019-20 and 2018-19.  Of note, UMD played a shortened season in 2019-20 -- the season was cancelled ahead of the NCHC First Round of the playoffs.

PUTTING UP THE POINTS: UMD's high-scoring line over the 2025-26 season and trio of Max Plante, Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay begins the season having impressive points per game averages through their first two seasons as Bulldogs.

Max Plante leads the trio with 80 points in 63 points, good for a 1.26 PPG average, which would currently rank him as the 15th highest PPG average in program history. Zam Plante checks in just under a point a game at 0.98, while Shaugabay also comes under just a point a game at 0.90. 

While Max leads all UMD returners in points per game average, he has some work to do if he wants to catch his dad in the points per game column. Derek Plante averaged a mind-bending 1.58 points per game over his career, putting up 219 points over 138 points from 1989-93 -- the fourth highest points per game total in UMD history.

Max did beat his dad to 50 career points -- while Max needed just 35 games to reach the milestone, Derek hit it in 52 games over his 1990-91 rookie season. 

Max became the third-fastest Bulldog ever to reach 50 points in a career last year -- the fifth player to reach the milestone in less than 40 games. He trailed only Dan Lempe, who hit 50 points in 26 games in 1976-77 and Keith "Huffer" Christiansen, who recorded 50 in 34 games in 1964-65. Plante was also the first player to reach the mark in under 50 games since Bulldog and NHL legend Brett Hull did it in 1985-86.

THE HAWKS KEEP ON FLOCKING: To UMD, that is. The Bulldogs will have a whopping six players from Hermantown, Minn. this season, a city that shares a border with Duluth. Senior defenseman Aaron Pionk, junior defenseman Ty Hanson, junior forwards Zam Plante and Max Plante, freshman forward Victor Plante, and freshman forward Kade Kohanski.

HOBEY'S HISTORY AT UMD: Max Plante was the 7th Hobey Baker winner at UMD -- the program with the most Hobey Baker winners in NCAA history. Plante is the son of former Hobey Baker Finalist Derek Plante, who played for the Bulldogs from 1989-93, and was a 1993 Hobey Baker Finalist.  Max and Derek were the second father and son Hobey Baker Top 10 Finalists in the award's storied history.

Since the Hobey Baker Award was introduced in 1980-81, no school in the country has produced more winners than UMD (seven).

Year            Name

2025-26   Max Plante (Recipientt)

2019-20   Scott Perunovich (Recipient)

2011-12   Jack Connolly (Recipient) 

2010-11    Jack Connolly (Finalist

2003-04   Junior Lessard (Recipient)

1993-94   Chris Marinucci (Recipient)

1992-93    Derek Plante (Finalist)

1985-86    Brett Hull (Finalist)

1985-86    Norm Maciver (Finalist)

1984-85   Bill Watson (Recipient)

1983-84   Tom Kurvers (Recipient)

FANTASTIC FOUR: Four players were voted captains for the 2026-27 season in September.

Those four players include two captains -- junior forward Max Plante and junior defenseman Ty Hanson, and two alternates -- senior defenseman Aaron Pionk and junior center Zam Plante.

FAMILY MATTERS: For a third-straight season, UMD has brothers on the roster for the first time, following the last set of Bulldog brothers in Jackson and Noah Cates, who overlapped for three seasons, most recently, the 2020-21 season. Zam and Max Plante will again wear the Bulldog sweater this season as sophomores after Zam Plante spent an extra season with the Fargo Force of the USHL and Max Plante jumped right into the maroon and gold as a true freshman after spending the past two years in the USNTDP. This year, they will be joined by their younger brother Victor Plante, who like Max, joins the Bulldogs directly from the USNTDP.

The Plante brothers, out of Hermantown, Minn. are the 15th father-son Bulldog combination, along with junior Ty Hanson, and freshman goaltender Carl Axelsson, to follow their fathers to UMD for their collegiate hockey careers. Derek Plante played for the Bulldogs from 1989-93, and was 1993 Hobey Baker Finalist.  Derek Plante is still tied for the second most points in program history, having racked up 219 points (96g,143a) in just 138 games for a 1.58 points per game average.  

The family owns a unique distinction, however, within the UMD program. Max, Zam and Victor will become the first brothers to have a father who skated for the Bulldogs.

Hanson follows his father Greg Hanson, who was a defenseman for the Bulldogs from 1992-1996 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1990 in the eighth round with the 193rd pick.

Axelsson's dad Niklas was a goaltender for UMD for two seasons (1993-95).

The Plante brothers, Hanson and Axelsson aren't the only current family connections this season for UMD -- sophomore defenseman Aaron Pionk's brother Neal Pionk played for the Bulldogs from 2015-17 and currently plays for the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL. 

FEELING A DRAFT? The Bulldogs have nine players on their roster who have been drafted by NHL teams this season.  Three  of those picks are seniors, while four are juniors and two are freshmen.

UMD has five players who were selected in the second round -- the Bulldog program in its entirety has had 13 total.

Adam Kleber, a 6-5 defenseman from Chaska, Minn., was taken 45th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2024, while Max Plante,a 5-11 forward and native of Hermantown, Minn. was selected just two spots later at 47th by the Detroit Red Wings. The duo are also just the 10th and 11th ever second round UMD draft picks, and this summer were joined by freshman forward Victor Plante, who like Max was taken 47th overall by the Red Wings in the second round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

Senior defenseman Brady Cleveland joins the trio as the fourth current Bulldog to be take in the second round -- the Colorado College defenseman transfer was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round (pick 47) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

UMD's other NHL draft picks are rookie goaltender Carl Axelsson (Utah, Round 4, pick 115), junior forward Jayson Shaugabay (Tampa Bay, Round 4, pick 114), junior forward Zam Plante (Pittsburgh, Round 5, pick 150) senior defenseman Aaron Pionk (MInnesota, Round 5, pick 149), and senior forward Barrett Hall (Seatle, Round 6, pick 164).

NINE FORMER BULLDOGS EARN NHL OPENING NIGHT ROSTER SPOTS: 10 former University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey players in all landed National Hockey League roster spots ahead of the 2026-27 opening Tuesday.

Four players return to the Winnipeg Jets, including former Hermantown natives and defenseman Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg. Winger Alex Iafallo and forward Cole Koepke -- another Hermantown, Minn. product -- make Winnipeg the NHL team with the most former Bulldogs for yet another season. Ironically, both Iafallo and Pionk were not drafted prior to their UMD careers and played their ways into the professional ranks as Bulldogs -- both signed as free agents in the spring of 2017.

Long-time NHL defenseman Justin Faulk -- who starts the season having already skated in 1,058 games -- returns to the Detroit Red Wings for his 16th pro season and first season start with the Wings after being traded in season from the St. Louis Blues last season.  Three other former Bulldogs with roster spots around the league include forward Noah Cates with the Philadelphia Flyers, and a pair of defenseman -- Wyatt Kaiser with the Chicago Blackhawks and Mikey Anderson -- newly named an alternate captain -- with the Los Angeles Kings. UMD's most recent alum in the league, Dominic James, returns to the Tampa Bay Lightening after cracking the roster as a rookie in 2025-26. After breaking his right hand in offseason training, James is expected to miss the first two weeks of the regular season.

Carson Soucy officially signed with the Columbus Bluejackets on Tuesday. The veteran defenseman signed a one-year contract after he joined Columbus' camp on a professional try-out. 

UMD is tied for the seventh most current NHL players (10) and ranks ninth all-time in the NCAA for NHL alums (69).The Bulldogs are also represented on benches, in several front offices around the league, and even have an NHL linesman among alumni in the NHL. 

Former Hobey Baker Finalist Norm Maciver is the associate general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, while fellow Hobey Baker Finalist Derek Plante, also father to current Bulldogs Zam, Max and Victor Plante, is in his second full season as an Amateur Scout for the Ottawa Senators. Derik Johnson is in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the LA Kings, where he has been a part of the organization in some capacity since 2018.

Additional Bulldogs include: Jim Johnson (Anaheim Ducks Director of Player Development, fourth season), Parker Mackay (sixth season as a Boston Bruins Amateur and College Scout), and UMD alum Travis Gawryletz returns for his ninth season as an NHL linesman.

UMD ranks ninth all-time in the NCAA for NHL alums (70). The Bulldogs have the second most alumni of any team in the National College Hockey Conference.

The Bulldogs are also represented on benches, in several front offices around the league, and even have an NHL linesman among alumni in the NHL. 

Former Hobey Baker Finalist Norm Maciver is the associate general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, while fellow Hobey Baker Finalist Derek Plante, also father to current Bulldogs Zam and Max Plante, is in his first full season as an Amateur Scout for the Ottawa Senators. Derik Johnson is in his third season as an assistant coach with the LA Kings, where he has been a part of the organization in some capacity since 2018.

Additional Bulldogs include: Jim Johnson (Anaheim Ducks Director of Player Development, third season), Parker Mackay (fifth season as a Boston Bruins Amateur and College Scout), and UMD alum Travis Gawryletz returns for his eighth season as an NHL linesman.


UMD WEEKLY PRESSER, Sept. 30, 2026 -- Scott Sandelin, Zam, Max and Victor Plante