Bulldogs hang tight to beat No. 5 Denver

DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth, with its 11 freshmen, scored its biggest win of the 2024-25 season on Friday at Amsoil Arena, beating No. 5 Denver 4-3 in NCHC play.

Sophomore defenseman Aaron Pionk and freshman wing Max Plante both scored on the power play for the Bulldogs while junior wing Kyle Bettens got his first goal of 2024-25 late in the second period.

Sophomore wing Anthony Menghini added what proved to be a key goal for the Bulldogs in the third.

“I’m really happy for our guys," said coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs have gone 4-1 against ranked opponents from the NCHC to start 2025. UMD has climbed from eighth place in the league to fifth, and is one point back of fourth-place North Dakota. “I like how we stayed with it. It obviously wasn’t easy at the end.

“Winning isn’t pretty, but it’s a great win for our team.”

Sophomore wing Sam Harris, junior wing Jared Wright and senior wing Jack Devine scored for Denver with Lorenz and Devine getting goals in the third period to turn a three-goal Bulldogs lead into one.

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Bulldogs freshman goaltender Klayton Knapp made 42 saves while Denver sophomore goalie Freddie Halyk stopped 26 shots in his second start of the season, playing over senior Matt Davis on Friday.

“I’m really happy for our guys,” Sandelin said. “It’s a win against a quality team. We got better as the game went on. I thought Denver was good in the first period, but Knapper held fort and did his job again.”

Owen Gallatin made the save of the game with 40 seconds left, sweeping a puck away from the goal line after it snuck by Knapp. Denver pulled Halyk with 3:16 left in regulation after UMD iced the puck, and that was its best chance to tie the game before the buzzer.

“They were moving the puck around pretty well with the goalie pulled,” Gallatin said. “It was a nice shot from the point, but Knapper got 95 percent of it. I turned around and it was slow motion, puck slowly trickling toward the back of the net. It was just a desperation play late in the game. I hope it cleared well enough to not create a second scoring chance.”

Max Plante said he, Jayson Shaugabay and Callum Arnott went to see some kids from Shaugabay’s hometown of Warroad after the game, and none of them were interested in seeing the UMD freshmen forwards. They wanted No. 20, the senior defenseman, Gallatin.

“Some little kids were talking about it,” Max Plante said. “They’re like, ‘You know, if No. 20 wasn’t on the ice, you guys wouldn’t have won,’ he said.”

It was a good night for UMD’s Hermantown Hawks. Four of the Bulldogs’ five Hermantown natives combined for two goals (Max Plante and Pionk) and three assists (freshman wing Zam Plante, Max Plante and freshman defenseman Ty Hanson).

The fifth of the bunch, junior defenseman Joey Pierce, had a solid shoulder-to-chest hit on Pioneers’ senior captain Carter King in the second.

The Bulldogs’ power play made quick work of Denver, going 2-for-2 while using a combined 31 seconds to score the two power play goals. Pionk’s goal — which whizzed down the middle past a screen set by freshman center Callum Arnott — came 19 seconds into the advantage. A tic-tac-toe play that ended with an Arnott feed to Max Plante in the middle required only 12 seconds.

“The way they play, they were kind of a little passive,” Max Plante said of the Pioneers’ penalty kill. “It works in a way, we’re smart hockey players and we make plays fast.”

Both goals came from the new-look first UMD power play unit of the Plante brothers, Shaugabay, Pionk and Arnott. The Plantes, Shaugabay and Arnott are all roommates, which Max Plante said could contribute to their chemistry.

“I joke with them, I say, ‘This is the first time in 25 years I’ve had a household together on a power play, so don’t screw it up,’” Sandelin said. “They just laugh with it.”

Bettens has had good luck scoring on the Pioneers. While his top-shelf shot in the second period was his first of the season, it’s his 12th goal in 90 career games at UMD. His last goal came in the last game of the 2023-24 season. He had a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the NCHC quarterfinal series at Denver.

Carter Loney and Adam Gajan returned from injury on Friday. Loney, a senior wing, missed last weekend’s series at Colorado College with an upper body injury while Gajan, a freshman goaltender, missed the previous nine games with an ankle injury. Gajan, who started 12 of the first 13 games, was listed as UMD’s third goaltender on Friday.

Sandelin said it meant a lot to get Loney back. He was bumped up to the top line with senior center Dominic James and Menghini. He’s trustworthy, reliable and can play anywhere in the lineup, Sandelin said of him.

“He’s been playing great,” Sandelin said. “We missed him last weekend and certainly glad he’s back in there. I thought he had another strong game.”

Freshman wing Harper Bentz remained out of the lineup with an upper-body injury. He also did not make the trip to Colorado College last week after getting injured on Jan. 11 against St. Cloud State.

Denver sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp took a skate to the chin after colliding with UMD fifth-year senior forward Joe Molenaar midway through the first period. Pohlkamp skated straight to the bench where he was attended to before going back to the locker room. Usually wearing No. 23 — but that jersey had blood on it — he returned in the second period wearing a No. 29 jersey with no name plate. He got his No. 23 washed in time for the third period.

The Bulldogs and Pioneers return to Amsoil Arena at 6:07 p.m. Friday to wrap up their only regular season series of 2024-25. UMD gets its final bye week Jan. 31-Feb. 1 before traveling to Omaha on Feb. 7-8.

Denver 0-1-2—3
Minnesota Duluth 1-2-1—4
First period
1. UMD, Aaron Pionk (Zam Plante, Max Plante), 17:05 (pp)
Second period
2. DU, Sam Harris (James Reeder, Samu Salminen), 2:31
3. UMD, Max Plante (Callum Arnott, Jayson Shaugabay), 13:14 (pp)
4. UMD, Kyle Bettens (Ty Hanson), 17:45
Third period
5. UMD, Anthony Menghini (Dominic James, Carter Loney), 6:39
6. DU, Jared Wright (Kieran Cebrian, Eric Pohlkamp), 11:07
7. DU, Jack Devine (Zeev Buium, Aidan Thompson), 12:47 (pp, ea)
Saves — Freddie Halyk, DU, 26; Klayton Knapp, UMD, 42
Power play — DU 1-4; UMD 2-2. Penalties — DU 2-4; UMD 4-8.

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