Bulldog Men’s Hockey welcomes Stonehill to AMSOIL this weekend

The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s ice hockey team will welcome Stonehill College to AMSOIL Arena this weekend for a Friday-Saturday non-conference series. Game one begins on Friday evening at 7:07 p.m., while the second showdown takes place on Saturday at 6:07 p.m

THE SERIES: UMD and Stonehill have never played each other and the Skyhawks are only in their third season as a Division I program.

The two teams have had only two common opponents in the past two seasons – Northeastern University last season and Arizona State University in the 2022-23 season.

Both teams played the Huskies last season, with Stonehill opening the away season against Northeastern on October 7, 2023, suffering a 7-0 loss. UMD played the Huskies on December 28, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and also lost 3-2. Current Bulldogs Aaron Pionk, Aiden Dubinsky, Jack Smith And Luke Bast all had assists in skating.

The Skyhawks also played in a Tempe series against the Sun Devils last season. ASU won back-to-back games by a single goal and defeated Stonehill in overtime in their first-ever meeting on Nov. 5. On November 4, 2023, the Skyhawks lost to the Sun Devils 3-2.

The Bulldogs last played at AMSOIL against newly minted NCHC member ASU in Stonehill’s first year Division I season on October 1-2, 2022. UMD won that series with a 3-2 overtime victory in the first game and a 4-1 win the following day. Current senior defender Owen Gallatin As a current senior forward, he had two assists in the second game Dominic James had a goal assisted by Dubinsky in the first game.

UMD vs. current independents

Alaska (Fairbanks) … 6-0-0 all-time … 2-0 since independence 2021-22

Alaska-Anchorage…All-time 45-20-12…N/A since independence in 2022-23

Lindenwood…N/A All-time…Independent since 2022-23

LIU…N/A All-Time…Independent since 2020-21

Stonehill…N/A All-time…Independent since 2022-23

Overall, Stonehill has posted a 19-40-2 record since independence.

LAST TIME: The Bulldogs suffered their first loss to a University of Minnesota team since the 2011-12 season when the sixth-ranked Gophers defeated UMD 7-5 on Friday night and 5-1 last weekend at AMSOIL Arena.

On Friday night, the Bulldogs fell behind 4-0 in the first half before rallying offensively in the final 40 minutes. In fact, UMD outscored Minnesota 5-3 in the second and third periods combined.

Aaron Pionk had a career-best four assists and two other players scored two or more points, including Dominic James (1g, 1a) and Aiden Dubinsky (2g).

Adam Gayan He posted a career-high 42 saves in net for the Bulldogs. The Gophers outscored UMD 49-22 in the contest, but each team scored on the power play – UMD on two attempts while Minnesota shot 1 of 3.

UMD allowed the most goals by a Gopher team since the 2018-19 season when Minnesota defeated the Bulldogs 7-4 in Minneapolis on Oct. 7, 2018. Including Friday night, it was the third time since that loss that UMD scored five goals on the Gophers.

In Saturday night’s second game, the Bulldogs fell 5-1 to the Gophers, a result that included a late empty-netter, while giving up a non-conference series win against Minnesota – their first win over a UMD team since 2011. 12 season.

The Bulldogs improved their defense in the opening period Friday night, but the Gophers still managed to get on the board at 9:24 and 17:23 to take a 2-0 lead.

But after a seemingly quick whistle prevented a potential UMD goal with less than eight seconds left, the Bulldogs beat the ensuing faceoff. Rookie striker Zam Plante played the puck out of the confusion Joey Pierce at the left point. Pierce found the lead blueliner Owen Gallatin at the right point, and Gallatin’s shot past Gopher goaltender Liam Souliere brought UMD within a single goal with four seconds left before the first intermission.

Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud scored the only goal of the second period at 9:12, and after 40 minutes the Bulldogs trailed the Gophers 3-1.

UMD had two consecutive power plays (4:00 and 6:41 minutes) early in the third frame but was unable to score, and Minnesota increased its goal total to four on its own power play at 13:37. Moments later, UMD brought in freshman goaltender Gajan for an extra skater, but the Gophers smothered that 6-on-5 attack with an empty net, taking the final score to 5-1 after just over four minutes of play.

Gajan made 29 saves in his fourth straight start for the Bulldogs, and the Gophers held a slight advantage in shots on goal (34-32). UMD went 0 of 5 on the power play, while Minnesota, which improved to 3-1-0 on the season, went 1 of 3.

NOTES FROM THE MINNESOTA SERIES: UMD is now 95-138-19 against the Gophers in 252 games of a series that began on December 12, 1952.

—He was a second-year defenseman after dishing out four assists against Minnesota on Friday night Aaron Pionk joined Senior Blueliner Owen Gallatin (2g, 2a) as the two players with the most career points against Minnesota of all current Bulldogs. Both Gallatin and Pionk have scored these four points in the last four skates againT The Gophers are from last season.

—Dominic James had two points in the series (1g, 1a). James leads UMD with five points (2g, 3a).

– UMD’s five goals against Minnesota on Friday night are a current season high and the Bulldogs’ most in a game since they scored six goals in a 6-5 AMSOIL win at St. Cloud State University on March 8, 2024.

– While the Bulldogs are winless at 0-3-1 in their last four games against last season’s Gophers, they are 4-4-2 in their last 10 head-to-head meetings.

—Scott Sandelin has a 29-27-8 record against Minnesota since being named bench boss in 2000. The Bulldogs have had an even better winning percentage since the Gophers joined the Big Ten – 13-5-2 since 2013.

Rank and rank: The Bulldogs fell from the No. 18 spot they started the season and are no longer receiving votes in the final USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll this week, but UMD is still receiving votes (7) from USCHO.com this week national survey

Stonehill is not currently listed in any of the surveys.

ADDITIONAL BOOK ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: UMD has been defeated in its last four games and has outscored its opponent – Bemidji State University – just once so far this season, 40-23. Those 40 shots also currently represent UMD’s highest output of pucks on net. Overall, the Bulldogs have gone 144-180 and scored 14-22 in their first five games.

–UMD has scored just 2 of 18 points on its power play so far this season, for a conversation rate of 11.1.

–Freshman forward Max Plante missed the series with an upper-body injury that is expected to keep him out for a few more weeks.