Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Feb 13, 2021 1:39 PM
UMD’s latest stay atop the NCHC lasted long enough for everyone involved in the title race to play one (1) more game.
The Bulldogs’ stay in first, along with their six-game winning streak, came crashing down Friday in Kalamazoo, where Western Michigan was in control throughout a 4-0 victory over UMD.
Senior Josh Passolt, a Hayward native, had his hands in all three shots that beat UMD goalie Ryan Fanti (Ethen Frank’s empty net goal was unassisted). Passolt scored the first goal by tipping a Michael Joyaux point shot home at the tail end of a power play in the second period (initially, this was labeled an even strength goal, but was changed back to a power play goal upon further review by the thorough crew led by WMU sports info guy Adam Bodnar). He assisted on Cole Gallant’s odd-man rush goal later in the period, then sniped home the third goal by winning a race to a puck that UMD lost at the Western Michig
Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Feb 4, 2021 7:01 PM
One of the low-key really weird things about this 2020-21 NCHC season is the frequency of opponents. It’s something Scott Sandelin talked about Wednesday on his weekly Zoom session with local media.
During a “normal” 24-game NCHC season, teams will play five of the seven other NCHC teams four times each (two home and two away), the other two twice in one venue. In order to make this pandemic-hampered season work as well as possible, the league divided into divisions and took care of all the cross-division play at the NCHC Pod.
Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Jan 25, 2021 9:43 AM
UMD head coach Scott Sandelin knew Western Michigan wouldn’t make it easy on his team Sunday at Amsoil Arena. The Bulldogs weathered an early storm from the Broncos, were buoyed by a strong penalty kill, and got to work in the offensive zone. Opportunistic on scoring chances early, UMD was able to ride out a 4-1 victory for a two-game sweep that could be a real shot in the arm for the Bulldogs.
“Good game for us, hard-fought,” Sandelin said. “They were a better team than (Saturday). They came out, which we knew they would. Zach (Stejskal) made some huge saves. I thought the last 15 minutes, we were playing very well.”
DULUTH, Minn. – This was not the home opening weekend that the UMD men’s hockey team was hoping for by getting swept by St. Cloud State. But it was a weekend to remember for the new guys. Two rookies scored their first career goals while one had a stellar home debut in net. Forwards Luke Mylymok and Blake Biondi both.
Duluth, MN, USA / NewsTalk 610 AM & 103.9 FM
Jan 9, 2021 12:06 PM
UMD is not the 1,000-day reigning national champion in college hockey by accident. The Bulldogs have done this by consistently playing to their identity as a program, which surrounds strong neutral zone play, puck possession, and wearing down opponents with depth. Hockey analyst Pat Micheletti once told me a hallmark of Scott Sandelin’s teams over the last eight to ten years is that you wouldn’t know what line is on the ice if you didn’t have a chart in your hand to tell you. In other words, when UMD is going, the fourth line plays like the top line, and vice versa.