UMD Men’s Hockey Projected Depth Chart 2025-26

Here’s hoping the summer has brought you joy and relaxation. Please don’t take this as some sign that it’s over. Plenty of summer left, even here in northern Minnesota!

As of this writing, we are approaching the halfway mark of our 100-day UMD men’s hockey season countdown, found exclusively on BlueSky.

The nice people at UMD have released the 2025-26 rosters for the Bulldog men and women. As is custom, it’s time to project what the men’s depth chart could look like on opening night, which is Oct. 3 up in Fairbanks.

(The women open Sept. 19 at Mercyhurst. That might feel absurdly early to you, and that’s because it is.)

For those unfamiliar, here’s how this bit works: My job is to take the 26 players on UMD’s roster and line up what I think the depth chart will look like as the team reports next week to start classes Aug. 25. This exercise is performed without consulting the coaches or anyone else on staff, either on the record or off. It’s simply my opinion of where things stand. It’s a fun way to look at the roster, as well as discuss potential areas of strength and weakness.

So away we go.

(Quick note: I’ve been told in the past that the format I’m using for these depth charts isn’t the best for mobile devices. I did try something different this time, in hopes that it’ll be friendlier.)

Let’s start with the forwards. Returners are in bold.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Coach Scott Sandelin brought up the Mike Connolly – Jack Connolly – Justin Fontaine line that led UMD to its first national title in 2011 when talking about the Plantes and Shaugabay. He played them 20-plus minutes a night in the playoff series loss to Arizona State, and their play justified the heavy minutes, career-highs for all three players.

Now, the Bulldogs will need contributions from all over the lineup, and despite some transfer additions, it’s still a young group. They need a step from Arnott, impact from Shlaine, and there can’t be passengers, as many coaches call them.

It seems the transfer adds — Gaffney, Kovich, and Truman — were very intentional. Whether Kovich or Gaffney play in the middle, UMD will have a bit more size and moxie on the dot than it’s had in a while. Truman brings over 100 games and some goal-scoring punch from a good league in Hockey East. All three players come from programs coached by people Sandelin has a lot of respect for, especially Kovich (Cornell and the retired Mike Schafer), but not knocking Truman (UMass-Lowell is coached by Norm Bazin, someone Sandelin has spoken highly of) or Gaffney (Eric Largen is the head man at Alaska and has done a very nice job keeping the Nanooks pretty consistently competitive).

Anderson and Shlaine played together in Lincoln, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the coaches start the season with a transfer on Shlaine’s wing to give him more experience to his left or right (I could see Bechen and Gaffney interchanging).

Stachowiak is coming back from an injury that cost him the second half of last season, but there’s some size to his game that could play in the bottom six if he can earn a spot out of the gates. Bibby had a great second half and playoff with the Brooks Bandits as they won the BCHL playoff title.

On to the defenders.

Hanson and Kleber finished the season as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 pairing. They had some rough moments against an experienced Arizona State team, but I don’t think we need to change them, even though UMD has four lefties and four righties on the roster. Hanson has looked pretty good on the left side.

Sandelin talked about Siepmann as a guy they could use in the top four. If he adjusts well, this unit could be a strength. Pionk had an up-and-down season in some ways, but I think he’s in for a big junior season. Cleveland as a third-pair on the left side who kills penalties could be a great fit, given he’s been pretty open about wanting to use his size and stick to be a tough guy to play against. His presence would allow the coaches to bring Toll around more slowly.

Pierce and Bodnarchuk might not be big-minute players in this lineup, but their experience and leadership and work ethic will be keys as UMD continues to construct a culture it can win with in the current landscape of college sports.

Shall we present the goalies?

Probably the easiest decisions here. This feels like Gajan’s net, and it feels like a pivotal season for his development. Sandelin was clear about it in March, both during the ASU series and in his end-of-season media conference (scroll down to item 6 to see more).

(To be fair, those comments from Sandelin came before he knew Klayton Knapp was going to transfer to Michigan Tech. But he still wants more from this position than what UMD got last year, no matter who ends up playing.)

Dahlmeir is a big goalie who had a tough freshman year at Miami, a team that really struggled in all phases, no matter who was in goal. Sheffield had a nice year in the MJHL, and he comes in to compete for playing time.

But if this team is going to return to anything remotely resembling its past winning ways, it is most likely going to be with Gajan in net, showing the potential that had many in the hockey world taking notice during his impressive World Juniors performances for Slovakia.

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Quick housekeeping: This will, barring big news, be the last blog we present until the annual preseason NCHC picks. That will look a bit different this year, as the league is moving away from its in-person Media Day, at least for this year. I still plan on talking to all nine NCHC coaches in the month of September, along with all the Minnesota-based coaches. We’ll hit up some NCHC players as well, just like we have at Media Day in previous years.

Stay tuned to the radio show and podcast for more info on all of that.

And get outside, for crying out loud. Pretty soon we’ll be moving snow. Sorry to have mentioned that.