DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth freshman goaltender Klayton Knapp considered himself a decent baseball player growing up in Ohio, batting between the third and fifth slots in the order.
“Never crazy speed, but I could hit the ball a little bit,” Knapp said.
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Hockey won out over baseball as his sport of choice in high school when he moved away to go play in the junior ranks, but Knapp did take one important thing with him from his days on the diamond — the Midnight Rule.
It was established by one of his youth baseball coaches and taught the future Bulldogs goaltender not to dwell on the past or things he can’t change. Focus on what’s important the next day.
Knapp needed his Midnight Rule last weekend at Colorado College when he was yanked 3:15 into the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots in an eventual 7-2 loss at Colorado College. He rebounded the next night to stop 27 of 28 shots in a 4-1 win.
“Friday night, I wasn’t good enough,” Knapp said. “I had a tough time falling asleep Friday night, I’ll be completely honest. I knew Saturday was going to be a different story.”
Knapp said the Midnight Rule applies to more than just bad games or losses. It applies to the good nights and victories as well. It’s not impacted by the result. Even if he’s feeling really good about himself after a big win, he flushes it all at midnight and resets for the next game, he said.
“You’re bound to have bad nights,” Knapp said. “I’ve always been able to rebound really well, and not just in hockey, but in other sports that I’ve played, too. Just being able to flush it, I haven’t even touched that Friday night video yet. I’m sure I’ll watch it with coach at some point, but I didn’t even touch the video. I just knew that wasn’t me, that’s not what my game is, that’s not what I’m about.”
Since freshman goalie Adam Gajan suffered an ankle injury in late November, Knapp has started eight of the Bulldogs' last nine games after making two relief appearances before that against North Dakota.
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He enters this weekend’s NCHC home series with Denver — puck drop scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at Amsoil Arena — with a .908 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average in 10 games. UMD is 4-3-1 in Knapp’s eight starts with one shutout.
“It’s like any player. If you don’t have a good game, you’re the only one that can change it,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “You come back and make amends for it when you have another opportunity. He did that, no question. I probably should have gotten him out of there at 3-0, but he was the guy that was going to start on Saturday. Good for him for competing and really being a big part of our win on Saturday.”
Overheard at Amsoil
Knapp isn’t superstitious, but he is a little 'stitious.' He admitted Wednesday he has other quirks besides the Midnight Rule, but didn’t want to dive too deep into the list.
“I don’t think we have the time to go through those,” Knapp said when asked about his superstitions. “No, I’ve gotten better, honestly, over the years about not being too, too crazy. But at the end of the day, I’m still a goalie.”
The Bulldogs could get three players back from injury against Denver. Sandelin listed Gajan “closer to day-to-day” on Wednesday while senior wing Carter Loney is skating and probable. Sandelin said freshman wing Harper Bentz is getting closer to returning and “probably questionable” for the series.
Gajan hasn’t dressed in nine games for UMD and with the bye weeks, hasn’t played since the Nov. 22-23 series against Western Michigan. Loney and Bentz — who didn’t travel to Colorado last week — both suffered upper-body injuries on Jan. 11 against St. Cloud State.
Hermantown’s Aaron Pionk will be one of three Minnesota Wild prospects skating at Amsoil Arena this weekend along with Denver’s Zeev Buium and Rieger Lorenz. Buium, a sophomore defenseman, was taken by the Wild in the first round, No. 12 overall, in 2024 while Lorenz, a junior wing, is a second rounder from 2022.
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Pionk, a defenseman taken in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL draft, is leading the Bulldogs in assists with 18. That’s tied for third in the NCHC with Arizona State’s Noah Beck and behind Buium’s 19 and the 27 of Denver senior forward Jack Devine.
Tied with senior center Dominic James for the team high of 19 points, Sandelin said Pionk has been “great” offensively, but the forward-turned-defenseman can still get better defensively.
“Coming out of Christmas, he’s had some better games,” Sandelin said. “I thought the first half was a little up and down. I don’t look at points. You guys all look at points. … I look at the overall play and what he needs to get better at. He’s had some better moments in the second half, which is important for our team because he’s a big part of it.”
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