In a sense, the UMD men and women have similar stories to tell this week.
You see, the Bulldog men are trying to build a strong foundation based on good fundamental hockey. “Winning hockey,” as head coach Scott Sandelin likes to say.
Meanwhile, the UMD women are navigating a short-handed bench while players perform for their national teams at the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Denmark. Doing so, the Bulldogs believe, is helping strengthen their foundation as they await some key players’ returns very soon.
10 THOUGHTS
1. Good news and bad on the injury front for the UMD men. The bad news first: If you missed it over the weekend, junior forward Callum Arnott is not going to be back anytime soon (that was Sandelin’s verbiage), thanks to an upper body injury suffered on Friday against Miami. It’s a big blow to UMD, as Arnott was drawing regular time both on the power play and penalty kill for the Bulldogs.
The news is better elsewhere. Junior forward Max Plante has been practicing this week, albeit in the Bulldogs’ blaze orange no-contact jersey. He won’t play this weekend, but Sandelin said he’s getting closer. Junior forward Trevor Stachowiak has been skating and is not ruled out for this weekend’s games against St. Cloud State yet. Sandelin indicated they were hoping to get Stachowiak back on the ice Thursday for practice before making a decision.
On Wednesday, Arnott was the only UMD player not practicing.
The Bulldogs only had 12 healthy forwards for Saturday’s game against Miami, and all 12 played in a 2-1 UMD win.
2. While Plante isn’t going to play against the Huskies, it’s pretty clear that the day he makes his return to the lineup is approaching.
In the meantime, Sandelin said it’s been good to see him on the ice this week.
“It’s great for him,” Sandelin said at his Wednesday media conference. “Helps him get excited about when he gets back. It’s hard to sit and not be on the ice with your teammates. Obviously it’s a little bit of a limited role right now. The nice thing about that injury is he’s been able to skate. He’s been skating for awhile. Now he’s been able to get out there and be a little bit more of the no contact stuff. But he’s getting close, so it’s fun to have him out there. Even him in that type of situation elevates the whole group. But it’s more for him. It’s good for him mentally, because he’s a kid that loves to be on the ice.”
We’re certainly not going to speculate on health status in this space, but Sandelin said Plante won’t play this weekend so we at least know that. Given how he’s currently working to ramp up, it seems like we shouldn’t rule next weekend out. Stay tuned.
3. The Bulldogs’ athletic training staff, led by Dr. Suz Hoppe, has been busy. Not only have they been trying to help the sidelined players rehab, they also helped Barrett Hall get back on the ice Saturday after he left Friday’s game early, injured on a shot block.
Hoppe and UMD’s men’s hockey resident athletic trainer, Cerys Ridd, spent a chunk of Saturday working with Hall to see if he could play Saturday. The work paid off, as Hall was indeed in the lineup, and he spoke Wednesday like a guy who wasn’t expecting to be sidelined this week.
Hall was a gametime decision Saturday after leaving the first period when a puck found his right arm/wrist/hand as he was set up to block a shot.
He acknowledged it was a good 25 minutes before faceoff before he knew he was going to be able to play.
“Probably the on-ice warm-up,” Hall answered when asked at what point Saturday he knew he would be able to go. “I mean I hadn’t been on the ice or anything since since the first period on Friday night. We were kind of working on it throughout the day and seeing how it felt. Gave it a shot in warmups.”
“Everyone sees it,” junior Peyton Platter said when asked how it feels to see a teammate giving it a go through pain. “I mean, the kid works hard. He’s still blocking shots on Saturday, even though his hand was busted up. That’s just winning hockey.”
4. Obviously, Hall is a St. Cloud State transfer, and this is surely a special weekend for him, as he returns to a place he called home for three years.
“It’ll be fun,” Hall said. “Obviously a lot of lot of good memories playing in Saint Cloud and I’m a big fan of that place, so it’ll be different coming in and playing on the other side, but I’m excited.”
While he said he’s excited to return there, Hall admitted it’ll be strange to walk into the visitors’ locker room area at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
“It’s probably something I won’t truly feel till I walk in,” he said. “And I’ve kind of been thinking about that, too. I spent a little bit of time there this summer just helping out with coaching and training and stuff. And it was even weird then. And I’m sure it’s going to be even weirder now walking in to play on the other side.”
Platter said he’s excited for Hall as they make the trip down I-35 and Highway 23 on Thursday.
“Obviously, it’s important for him,” Platter said. “We’re going to compete with him and for him. Same as every other game. I think we’re just going to look for three points on Friday and three points on Saturday and just play the right way.”
5. UMD salvaged a split against Miami with a 2-1 win Saturday, capping what Sandelin labeled a “hard-fought series.”
After an up-and-down performance Friday, UMD played a much improved 60 minutes Saturday. Leading 2-1 into the third period, UMD locked the game down, holding Miami to just five shot attempts and two shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.
“It was really good,” Sandelin said. “I really liked how we closed the game out. Our guys played very confidently defensively when we had to. Everyone was doing what they needed to do to make it very difficult on them to create any opportunities and thought we made some smart plays too, just getting pucks out. But I think we were in the right positions and we forced them to put pucks behind us, but we got pucks out. So overall, was a real good third period.”
It’s the kind of win that can build foundations for the future.
“It’s hard to win in this league,” Hall said, “and everyone in the room knows that. That’s how you have to play in this league in the third period every night, because teams push hard and every team is good and every team can win on every given night in this league. We know that we can play like that and the consistency is going to come.”
“We played offense.” Platter said. “That is our defense when we’re playing the right way. So giving them only five shots is because we were in the (offensive) zone and we were playing to win, not not to lose.”
Platter has impressed his (and other teams’, to be accurate) coaches with his every-day character and consistency. He’s the kind of player UMD has won with many times over the years because his habits are so good.
“He brings college experience (two years at Alaska),” Sandelin said of Platter. “He was excited about coming here. We knew what kind of player he was. He was very comfortable in our discussions with where we see him fitting in our lineup. And again, he’s been really, really good for us. You can tell he’s played college hockey. But just the tenacity he plays with, the hardness he plays with. is we need more guys like that, right? And we’re not going to get everybody to do that, but he’s brought something to our team that we need a little bit more of, and he’s very consistent with it.”
“I just keep things simple and I play hard and I just compete, just always compete,” Platter said of himself. “And that’s just kind of how I play.”
6. The Bulldogs head to St. Cloud State this weekend to battle the new-look Huskies. First-year coach and alum Nick Oliver took over for Brett Larson, and SCSU overhauled its roster after a transfer portal exodus followed Larson’s departure to Minnesota.
“We’re playing a team that has a lot of new players, a new coach,” Sandelin said. “Their top line is excellent. Their power play is excellent.”
That top line, Nolan Roed, Noah Urness, and Gavin Thoreson, has combined for seven goals and 23 points in the Huskies’ nine games. They’ll be a tough matchup at home, where Oliver has control over matchups.
“Those guys have played together and they’re very good,” Sandelin said. “There’s a lot of chemistry there. They’re dangerous. They’re a dangerous line.”
Sophomore goalie Yan Shostak, who was outstanding for the Huskies against UMD in the first round of the NCHC playoffs last year, has picked up where he left off, with a .921 save percentage in eight starts.
But, not unlike UMD, SCSU is beset by injuries to important players. Captain Jack Reimann is lost long-term after suffering an upper-body injury two weekends ago against Arizona State, then the Huskies lost their leading scorer among defensemen, Minnesota transfer Finn McLaughlin, to what Sydney Wolf of St. Cloud Live reports is a broken femur suffered Saturday in Omaha.
Per source, it has been confirmed to me that St. Cloud State defenseman Finn McLaughlin did in fact break his femur during the game last night.
All the best to him and his family – hope he can make a full recovery.
— Sydney Wolf (@sydneyisawolf.bsky.social) November 8, 2026 at 3:18 PM
7. Oliver is a former St. Cloud State captain, and he said Bob Motzko planted a seed in his head about coaching as his Huskies career was wrapping up.
“I’ve always been able to be around and have had opportunities to work with really good people,” Oliver said of the path to the job at his alma mater. “Obviously my first coaching job was with Scott Owens (in Sioux Falls), long time head coach at Colorado College. Then I get to come and work with Brett here at St. Cloud, get an opportunity in Fargo to work with Cary Eades and Matt Cullen. And then obviously my last three years at Wisconsin with Mike Hastings, Todd Knott, and Kevin Murdock. So I’ve been probably the luckiest person in that regard where I’ve been surrounded with great people that I’ve been able to learn from, work with, grow under. And I think that it’s shaped myself in a lot of ways on who I am and myself as a coach.”
Oliver said the work he and his new staff in St. Cloud had to do on the roster was pretty intense. The job? Build a foundation, not only for 2026-27, but also going forward, so the Huskies can continue to compete in the meat-grinder NCHC.
“It was a busy summer,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re really excited about the type of people and players that we were able to add and just really going to help us set as a staff the foundation of where we can take this thing next. And we were able to do it, adding a handful of transfers, a few guys that will be seniors for us through the transfer portal that will give us some experience. We’re also going to some recruits that we think are going to step in and have a chance to impact our lineup right away. So we’re excited about the mix. I think anytime there’s change, it creates equally a fresh opportunity to, as a staff, as players, to continue to grow and set the course for our program. What I also love is it creates a lot of competition. And I can even tell you through our recruiting process this summer with the guys that were coming in, it’s fresh for everyone and a clean slate. The internal competition and guys being able to push each other and have opportunities to go earn roles and their opportunity, I think is great and it’s going to make everyone around us better.”
8. Elsewhere in the NCHC this weekend, Colorado College heads to Western Michigan. The Tigers really impressed me against UMD two weekends ago, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this series goes. Western will play Friday without its leading scorer and top line center, as freshman Adam Benak was suspended for an ill-advised slash to North Dakota’s Cody Croal after Croal sealed Saturday’s 4-1 win over Western with an empty-net goal.
St. Thomas has a doozy for its first NCHC home series, welcoming North Dakota to Anderson Arena. The Tommies have been a bit up-and-down at the start of the season, and UND is coming off its best weekend games so far, controlling the play against the Broncos last weekend. Also, Omaha heads to Miami for two games. Lindenwood is at Denver for two non-conference games, while Arizona State takes the weekend off before playing in Duluth next weekend.
9. The UMD women return off a bye to face No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus this weekend. Polls don’t matter, right? Like, not even a little. But when you see a result like “Minnesota sweeps UMD in Duluth” and follow it up with “UMD moves up a spot in the human polls,” it should tell you how well the short-handed Bulldogs accounted for themselves in a pair of 3-2 (one of them in overtime) over Halloween weekend.
Moral victories don’t exist in sports, but if they did, that series might have qualified for a UMD team that was down five important players, including top goalie Eve Gascon and leading scorer Caitlin Kraemer.
“I was really happy with our team’s performance,” Schuler said of the Gophers series. “Obviously not quite the outcome that we wanted. Really would have liked to have taken that to them in overtime. I thought we had the puck the majority of the time and overtime. I thought both games were really good. Back and forth hockey, obviously really close scores. And for us, these past three weeks here was about showcasing how strong our foundation is. I thought we did that. Just a great opportunity for so many different players to step up and to lead in different roles. And so I was really happy with that.”
“Obviously not the result we wanted, but I’m super happy with the group,” sophomore forward Rae Mayer said. “We’re missing so many girls, but we also have a super good foundation. Like we’re a young team and we may be short on numbers, but we have so much passion and so much heart. Like, I mean, we, I thought we looked so good against the Gophers and I just can’t imagine what we’re going to look like when the whole team comes back.”
10. This weekend in Columbus will be like a youth hockey tournament. UMD will be missing four players — Gascon, Kraemer, Ida Karlsson, and Tuuli Tallinen — while Ohio State is missing six. The benches will be short for both teams.
“It’s another opportunity for our young players to really step up and continue to build our foundation,” Schuler said. “I’ll tell you this, I believe in the people that we have in our locker room. I believe in the standards that we have. I think we have everything that we need to be successful this weekend.”
Schuler was asked if having byes on both sides of the Minnesota series has helped her and her staff manage the need for rest given the short bench they’ve had to run.
“In those two games, our workloads were really, really high,” she said. “We just ended up taking the weekend off, did a game simulation last weekend to help prepare us for this weekend. And so many players came back saying just that they felt so rejuvenated from that. So yeah, I think having the bye weekends are helping us, just because we’re limited on our numbers. But at the same time, I’ve just been so happy with their intensity of which they’re playing with in practice every single day.”
“I think the off weekends are super important,” Mayer said. “I think it just gives our girls time to regroup, especially the younger girls. It’s their first year away from home, some of them. And I think it’s really good just to have a little mental reset. And on top of that, when we have those bye weekends, it isn’t like we’re not doing anything. We’re still in the rooms doing video, putting the work in, scrimmages. We’re still building, which I think is good, but it also gives us a chance to kind of relax and get ourselves together and regroup.”
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We’ll be in St. Cloud this weekend, coverage at 6:30pm Friday and 5:30pm Saturday.
Back pregame with the lines.
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