MINNEAPOLIS -- Big opportunity for UMD, a chance to pick up a weekend sweep over longtime nemesis Minnesota on the road. It will not be easy. Minnesota got pushed around to an extent on Friday, with UMD largely putting on a defensive clinic in a 3-0 victory. Now we'll see how the Gophers respond, and how UMD follows up...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Going to try something new on the blog this season. After select road games, we'll do some takeaways instead of a full-on 9 Thoughts. UMD beat Minnesota 3-0 Friday night in Minneapolis to emphatically open a two-game series. Some thoughts ... 1. Even though the Bulldogs didn't start the game very well, t...

MINNEAPOLIS -- No one is attempting to disrespect any of the teams UMD has played so far. Bemidji State played St. Cloud State close twice and bludgeoned Alaska-Anchorage twice. Augustana swept Arizona State last weekend in Sioux Falls, rallying from an early 2-0 deficit in the Friday game and not trailing again the re...

For both UMD hockey teams, it doesn't get much more intense in October than when Minnesota appears on the schedule. Big games lie ahead, which we'll look at here. 9 THOUGHTS 1. UMD's top line continues to generate headlines, but the play of sophomore goalie Adam Gajan has been a huge part of the Bulldogs' 5-1 start. Ma...

Expected goals can be a funny thing. For those unaware, here is the definition, per a pretty basic Google search. Expected Goals (xG) in hockey is a metric that measures the probability of a shot becoming a goal, based on historical data and various factors like shot location, type, and game situation. Instead of simpl...

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- After last season's weird "Let's play in the season opener and then randomly on a Tuesday that doubles as New Year's Eve" home and home series, we are back to a "normal" home and home series between longtime Highway 2 rivals UMD and Bemidji State. Sanford Center is the site for the...

No matter how many players return to a team, every season is a little different, and every group has to learn how to win their way. The UMD men and women are no different, especially considering they combine to ice 25 new players for the 2025-26 season. That learning process continued last weekend. It will do so again ...

Good win for UMD to kick off the home schedule Friday, as a four-goal second period propelled the Bulldogs to a 4-1 victory. Augustana started well, hemming UMD in at times in the first period with a strong forecheck and some poor decisions from the home team. But UMD, led mostly by the line of Kyle Gaffney between Sco...

Something about the smell of the ice in an empty building a couple hours and change before puck drop. It's nice to be back. This offseason felt especially long. UMD got off to a good start last weekend in Alaska, but now comes the challenge of defending home ice. One of the points of emphasis for this group is to be a ...

For the newcomers, 9 Thoughts is a weekly column where we look in-depth at the UMD men and women, along with the NCHC and college hockey. The format is blatantly stolen from SportsNet's Elliotte Friedman, who has a 32 Thoughts column and podcast because there are 32 teams in the NHL. There are nine teams in the NCHC, s...

DEFINITELY NOT FAIRBANKS -- It's one game, but UMD absolutely sent a clear message in Friday's impressive 5-1 win over Alaska. For starters, that top line (Zam Plante between Max Plante and Jayson Shaugabay) is going to be a bear for adversaries to deal with. The three combined for 20 shot attempts on Friday -- 19 of t...

SOMEWHERE THAT IS NOT FAIRBANKS -- Greetings from mission control in downtown Duluth, where we'll be chronicling the events unfolding at Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska, some 3,023 miles and 51 hours of drive time away. Studio Hockey is back, in a decision that was not made lightly. With the NCHC going to a fully o...

After UMD swept St. Cloud State at home in January, our radio analyst, Kraig Karakas, and I were chatting. It was looking more and more like the freshmen standouts on UMD were trying to drive more and more of the team's play and attitude. We saw that as a positive. No, the results weren't necessarily immediate. UMD los...

We have a new addition to the preseason process in 2025-26 across the NCHC. Teams have been together for some time now, but the plethora of new faces on basically every team has slowed the process used by every individual team to name its leadership group for the upcoming season. As of Labor Day weekend, only St. Cloud...

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...

Hope everyone's "summer" is going well. (Sorry, it's foggy, windy, and in the 50s as I start this blog, and none of us are surprised, so I'm cynical.) As you read this, we're close to the geographic midpoint of the UMD offseason. The actual halfway mark is either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how you cou...

There's a lot to cover here. I apologize for how long it took, but I wanted to get a look at what was going to happen in the transfer portal (I did not see what happened coming, promise!). Anyway, another hockey season has come and gone for UMD. For first-year coach Laura Schuler, it was an unqualified success. For 25t...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- UMD coach Scott Sandelin was asked about his young players' experience they've had winning in junior hockey. He pointed out a key difference, in that junior hockey playoffs are typically best of five. "You can get away with a bad game in a best of five," he said. UMD didn't play a poor game Fr...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Friday night's playoff series opener at Mullett Arena was UMD's entire season wrapped into one game. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 miles and 34 hours of driving away, the UMD women find themselves one win away from a return to the Frozen Four. 9 THOUGHTS 1. "It was just so much fun to watch." Fir...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- It always feels like a sprint, even though the college men's hockey calendar is basically the longest of any college sport (I think baseball might be close). Either way, 34 down, and no more than two more are guaranteed for either of these teams. As noted this week, only Western Michigan and Denver out ...