Ready to roll as the homestand continues. Defensive hockey will be the law of the land this weekend, though. Omaha has been bleeding chances at its end of the ice, as goalies Simon Latkoczy and Dawson Cowan have seen over 40 percent of the shots they've faced come from high-danger areas. Omaha's penalty kill comes in u...

The UMD men continue their homestand this weekend against Omaha, and one of the big stories is the return of the Maroon Loon. The Loon was part of UMD games at the DECC for around a quarter century, starting in the 1980s. Its last appearance at a Bulldog game was the DECC's last game in December 2010. As we approach th...

Running a bit behind. Fun game on Friday, a 4-0 UMD win. A win in this rematch, and UMD will have exceeded its total for series sweeps from last year (three) by getting its fourth. The season is barely a month old. UMD swaps seventh defensemen, as Jake Toll draws in for Riley Bodnarchuk. St. Cloud State changes startin...

Nice to be back home for a few games. The Bulldogs started the season with seven of ten on the road, but now will play four straight at home, six of the ten games UMD has before break will come in this building. I've beaten to death Scott Sandelin's preseason comments about being good at home and making this a tough pl...

Going into the season, UMD men's hockey coach Scott Sandelin talked a couple times about the importance of turning Amsoil Arena into a tough place for teams to come in and play the Bulldogs. UMD was just .500 at home over the previous two seasons, and while it's always important to win on the road, it's equally if not ...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Already this season, UMD has done a few things that have either rarely or never been done in program history. --> First road season opening two-game sweep ever --> First time starting a road schedule 6-0 either ever or since 2014-15, depending on how many semantics you want to play --> Fir...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Strange game on Friday, some ugliness both ways, and in the end it was UMD picking up the NCHC season-opening win over North Dakota, 4-3 in overtime at Ralph Engelstad Arena. A few takeaways on the opener... 1. The top line was the top line. With UND junior Jake Livanavage on the ice basically ever...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Enjoy the 250ish-mile trek to Grand Forks on Halloween, kids. It won't be this way very often going forward. Starting next season, UMD and North Dakota will be protected rivals in the new ten-team NCHC. That means they are guaranteed to meet four times, two home and two away, every season. (The oth...

Loud "Let's go Bulldogs" chants were heard last weekend as the UMD men swept Minnesota in Minneapolis. And, Bulldog Country, your work did not go unnoticed. Meanwhile, the UMD women are preparing for the possibility of two top players being out for this weekend's series in St. Cloud. Lots to discuss, so let's...

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...