No. 4 Minnesota Duluth heads west this weekend for an early-season National Collegiate Hockey Conference test at altitude, opening a two-game set Friday night against Colorado College at Ed Robson Arena.
The Bulldogs (11-3) arrive with one of the nation’s most productive offenses and an unbeaten mark in Friday games, outscoring opponents 32-10 in series openers. The Tigers return to conference play after dropping a pair of one-goal games to fourth-ranked Denver last weekend.
Friday’s game begins at 8:07 p.m. CDT, with Saturday’s rematch scheduled for 7:07 p.m. CDT.
UMD continues to stack numbers behind one of college hockey’s hottest top lines. Sophomore forwards Max and Zam Plante hold the first and second spots nationally in scoring, with Max at 23 points and Zam at 22. Their linemate, sophomore Jayson Shaugabay, is tied for fourth nationally with 19 points. Together, the trio has combined for 22 of the team’s 49 goals and 64 total points.
UMD’s blue line has been just as influential. Sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson enters the weekend as the NCAA’s leading scorer among defensemen with 16 points, including a hat trick last Friday against Omaha — the program’s first by a defenseman in 25 years. Bulldog defensemen have produced eight of the team’s last 17 goals, and UMD has been held without a goal from its blue line in only four games all season, two of them shutouts.
Goaltender Adam Gajan shares the national lead in wins with 11 and has logged more than 820 minutes through UMD’s first 14 games. The Bulldogs own the nation’s second-highest goal total (49) and a top-10 power play at 26.9 percent.
Head coach Scott Sandelin, in his 26th season, is also nearing a milestone. This weekend marks games 996 and 997 behind the UMD bench. He is expected to coach his 1,000th career game Dec. 12 at home against Arizona State.
Colorado College (7-6) pushed Denver to overtime in the opener last weekend and outshot the Pioneers in a scoreless first period Friday. Freshman forward Brandon Lisowsky and sophomore Owen Beckner each scored in Saturday’s 3-2 loss, and Beckner — who leads CC with 14 points — was recently named to the U.S. Collegiate Selects roster for next month’s Spengler Cup. The Tigers are generating 36.8 shots per game, fifth-most in the nation, and feature nine NHL draft picks on the roster, their most in over two decades.
Sophomore goaltender Kaidan Mbereko has started the bulk of CC’s games, making 29 and 38 saves in last weekend’s pair against Denver. Freshman Wilson Bjorck and Klavs Veinbergs have also contributed offensively, with Veinbergs ranking among the NCHC’s top faceoff performers.
The teams split their series in Colorado Springs last season. CC took the opener 7-2 behind a Noah Laba hat trick before UMD answered with a 4-1 win the next night. The all-time series dates to 1961, with the Bulldogs leading 111-89-12. UMD is 18-4-2 in Colorado Springs since the 2015-16 season.
UMD is coming off a split with Omaha, highlighted by Hanson’s three-goal performance in Friday’s 5-2 victory. The Bulldogs held a 32-21 shots edge in Saturday’s 2-0 loss.
