A rousing win for UMD on Friday night. And maybe the kind of game that wakes up a fanbase that's, to be blunt, not come out in droves since the team stumbled out of the gates to start the season. Had nearly 6,000 paid for Friday, and most of the folks who showed up were more than engaged with the happenings on the ice....

For the pregame interview you'll hear if you #ListenToTheRadio at around 6:50, I always like to ask UMD coach Scott Sandelin for a few keys to success for his team against whatever adversary it faces for a particular weekend. Listen closely, and Sandelin offers some cool Xs and Os hockey insight that will help you be a...

Apologies to the legendary John Cena. Denver is in town for two, so a tremendous challenge awaits the UMD men, the UMD women battled illness and a top-tier adversary simultaneously last weekend, and plenty to do and see in the next nine thoughts. Go time. 9 THOUGHTS 1. "Bottom line, I wasn't good enough." Kla...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- It's funny how the perspective can change on weather. In northern Minnesota, everyone is preparing as best they can for some bitingly cold wind chills (50 below zero for many), and no matter what some rando on Facebook wants you to think, it does not get that cold every January. Meanwhile, he...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- But not for the visitors. Colorado College beat a short-handed UMD team 7-2 Friday night. This will be somewhat short and not at all sweet to summarize. 9 THOUGHTS 1. Let's start with some updates. If you didn't listen Friday, you might not have caught me covering for an earlier mistake. Norm...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Nothing has come easy for either UMD or Colorado College this season. The teams enter this weekend series tied for seventh in the NCHC at 13 points apiece. But that only tells part of the story. UMD started 3-7 and has only recently steadied itself a bit with a 3-1-1 run since break ended. Co...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Before we get to hockey, the passing of Bob Uecker has to be acknowledged. To a certain degree, your humble correspondent is likely not your humble correspondent were it not for many a night staying up past bedtime to listen to Bob Uecker (alongside current Cubs radio voice and also legend Pa...

Off a 2-0 win Friday, we'll see if UMD can secure the sweep while clearly fighting through illness, which is not at all atypical of a hockey team this time of year. (Trust me, it's going around big-time. I've already had COVID since the Arizona trip and am using my ninja skillz to avoid the latest rush of viruses as mu...

Nine weekends. Eight series. 16 games. All in NCHC play. This is the stretch that will teach us so much about this UMD team. No, eighth place on a nine-team table is not what anyone had been hoping to see this season. But the opportunity exists now to change that. UMD can put itself within striking distance of the midp...

Plenty to discuss this week, as the UMD women begin a critical stretch of conference games in their quest to hold on to a top-four spot in the PairWise, while the UMD men look to start the 2025 portion of their NCHC schedule strong against a longtime rival. Oh, and it's Ice Breaker weekend, combined with a visit from S...

UMD head coach Scott Sandelin minced few words when talking about Friday's game with Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune. "I liked our first 10-12 minutes," Sandelin told Wellens postgame. "After that, we weren't a very good hockey team. We weren't. They were the better team. Knapper got us a tie.&qu...

Off a strong performance Tuesday night in Bemidji, UMD will try to keep the good vibes going, but the challenge faced from Alaska this weekend is a stiff one. Since starting the season 0-4 with sweeps by Penn State (home) and Michigan Tech (road), Alaska has picked up at least one win or draw each weekend. They split a...

Lots to get to here this week, with the UMD men starting their second half with a win before ringing in the new year on a Highway 2 bus ride, and now both UMD teams are starting multi-weekend homestands below a new video board at Amsoil Arena. But the news to start is not great. 9 THOUGHTS 1. Will Francis' cancer has r...

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Let's just all hope the snow that wasn't forecasted stops so I don't regret cancelling that hotel room. (Not that I can't get another one.) Anyway, Happy New Year to all. No better way to ring in 2025, in my opinion. Bulldogs and Beavers. Max Plante and Adam Kleber are in Ottawa, and we hope they stay...

Is this on? What day is it? Anyway, hope everyone has enjoyed this holiday season. I'm currently on the tenth of 12 straight days not going into the office, and I've put this off long enough. It's time to do something that's kind of work-related. Thanks for reading. Plenty to get to here. 9 THOUGHTS 1. The first half d...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- What's been a weird first half of the season closes out here in sunny, warm Arizona, as UMD faces Arizona State to wrap up this series and play for the last time before Christmas. A 24-day break begins for the Bulldogs once this game concludes, a break that will take us up to a New Year's Eve trip to Be...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Tough loss for UMD Friday night, 5-3 at Arizona State. It was a game where the Bulldogs appeared to have control of big chunks of five-on-five play, but couldn't cash in at any point to get a lead. Oh, and with one goalie watching the game injured, UMD lost another goalie to an injury that looked not ve...

TEMPE, Ariz. -- First off, a couple pictures from our guided tour of Mullett Arena earlier Friday. More on my BlueSky account. Thanks to Paige Shacklett of Arizona State for getting that set up for Matt Wellens, my son Hunter, and me. Apologies for the weirdness of the layout here, as I am not a pro at this and it show...

POOLSIDE in TEMPE, Ariz. -- Traveling around the country covering a college hockey team is a fun job, no complaints. But when you hop a bird and land in Phoenix, followed by a short bus ride to Tempe and the campus of Arizona State University, well the job becomes a bit cooler. Been here only a few hours of daylight, a...

Friday was one of those nights. UMD controlled large chunks of the game's five-on-five play, but Western goalie Cameron Rowe was outstanding, and the Bulldogs struggled to finish some glorious scoring chances. Meanwhile, it felt like every UMD turnover or coverage breakdown led to a goal. Defenseman Joey Pierce was eje...