Where were you last Halloween?
Many of us were in our seats at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 31st, witnessing North Dakota trailing Minnesota Duluth 3-1 late in the third period. Not only was the situation dire, but the first month of the season had been a mixed bag…
Yes, UND had put together a home-and-home sweep of St. Thomas (6-2, 5-2), but there were two splits to follow: a home series against Minnesota (5-2, 1-5) and a road series at Clarkson (2-5, 1-0).
First-year head coach Dane Jackson was about to see his team drop its conference opener at home and fall to 4-3 on the young season.
Enter Mac Swanson. The sophomore forward brought the home team within one with just under four minutes to go in the hockey game. And with just over 70 seconds remaining, senior captain Ben Strinden scored an extra attacker goal to send the game to overtime.
Yes, it is true that the Bulldogs picked up the extra league point with a fluky goal less than a minute into the extra session, but it is also true that UND’s comeback was a sign of things to come.
The following night, North Dakota put together a complete effort and dismantled Minnesota Duluth by a final score of 5-1.
Beginning with that game back on November 1st, the Fighting Hawks have gone 23-5-1, secured the program’s seventh Penrose Cup in thirteen NCHC seasons (as well as its 22nd overall regular-season conference title, the most in NCAA history), and guaranteed themselves one of the four #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, which begins in less than two weeks.
Minnesota Duluth was in the mix for the Penrose Cup as recently as late January but lost four straight games (vs. Western Michigan and at Denver) and had an up-and-down February which saw them finish in fourth place in the NCHC. That spot in the league standings led to a home matchup against St. Cloud State last weekend.
Astonishingly, the Bulldogs swept the Huskies by tying each game late in regulation (23 seconds left on Friday night, 31 seconds left on Saturday night) and scoring the game-winner early in each night’s first overtime session (3:30, 5:11). More amazingly, UMD sophomore forward Zam Plante scored all four of those series-altering goals.
UND had an easier time last weekend against Omaha (5-3, 5-1), giving them a six-game season sweep over the Mavericks.
On Saturday night in Grand Forks, #2 North Dakota (27-8-1) will host #8 Minnesota Duluth (22-13-1) in the NCHC semifinals. If UND wins, they will host the winner of #4 Western Michigan (26-9-1) at #6 Denver (23-11-3) at Ralph Engelstad Arena next Saturday, March 21st for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship. If the Bulldogs earn the victory, they will travel to either Denver, Colorado or Kalamazoo, Michigan for next Saturday’s league playoff title.
Many of us are lamenting the loss of the league playoff weekend in the Twin Cities; please click on this link for a trip down memory lane.
This season’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals offer less intrigue than most years, as all four participants – North Dakota (NPI 2), Western Michigan (NPI 4), Denver (NPI 6), and Minnesota-Duluth (NPI 8) – are all safely in the national tournament regardless of league playoff results. The NCAA tourney will begin with a regional round taking place from March 26th through March 29th at four sites (Loveland, CO; Sioux Falls, SD; Worcester, MA; Albany, NY); the winners of those four regionals will advance to the Frozen Four (April 7th and 9th in Las Vegas, Nevada).
While North Dakota is not guaranteed to be placed in the Sioux Falls regional, it is likely that the committee will place them there to boost attendance. UND can also help its own cause with good results in the NCHC tournament, as a higher NPI rank could keep the Fighting Hawks closer to home.
What can fans expect from UND and Duluth on the ice this weekend?
As mentioned above, North Dakota took four of six points from the Bulldogs on Halloween weekend in Grand Forks. In early February, UND wrote a similar script in Duluth, coming back from a two-goal deficit late in the third period before falling in overtime on Friday night. In Saturday’s rematch, the visitors won 4-1 with all five goals coming in the final frame. UND’s Mac Swanson and Will Zellers gave the Fighting Hawks a lead they would never relinquish, and Dylan James added a pair of goals for a 4-1 North Dakota victory.
UND is nine years removed from its eighth national championship but has made the national tournament in just four of the past eight seasons. That track record – and some early playoff exits – led to a coaching change, and Dane Jackson is now leading the charge. His first year as bench boss is eerily reminiscent of Brad Berry’s exactly ten years ago, with great goaltending, an impressive defensive corps, and remarkable scoring depth. While Brad Berry had a bit more top-end offensive talent (Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser, and Nick Schmaltz) during the 2015-2016 season, this year’s version of the Fighting Hawks is wearing teams down and owning the third period, outscoring opponents 58-19 and either pulling away on the scoreboard or mounting one impressive comeback after another.
In the NCHC preseason poll, UND was picked to finish in third place (behind Western Michigan and Denver), while the Bulldogs were tabbed to end up in sixth (ahead of Omaha, St. Cloud State, and Miami). With the addition of St. Thomas to the NCHC (and a new schedule format) beginning in 2026-2027, the Fighting Hawks and Bulldogs will meet for four regular-season games each year.
After an impressive run of eight straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2015 to 2022 (including two national titles), UMD missed the NCAAs in each of the last three seasons and sputtered to a combined record of just 41-60-9 (.414). After 25 seasons behind the Bulldog bench, some were asking whether head coach Scott Sandelin was on the hot seat.
Back in October, those questions were largely answered, as Duluth got off to an 8-1 start (including a road sweep of the Golden Gophers). Thankfully for fans of the Bulldogs, Scott Sandelin has his squad in line for another NCAA tournament appearance (currently NPI 8).
UMD also boasts one of the top two forward lines in the country, a trio of second-year players:
Sophomore Max Plante: 22-25-47 in 36 games played
Sophomore Zam Plante: 20-25-45 in 36 games played
Sophomore Jayson Shaugabay: 10-31-41 in 36 games played
These three forwards (jersey numbers 10, 17, and 27) have scored 52 of UMD’s 116 goals and collected nearly half of the team’s points (133 of 311).
There have been eight games this season in which neither Plante brother registered a point; the Bulldogs are 0-8 in those games.
Of the three forwards, Max is the largest at 5-11 and 180 pounds. A key for North Dakota will be to win faceoffs in their own end, play a hard, physical game, and pay attention to line matchups – not just the defensive pair but all five skaters on the ice.
The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past ten seasons. The nine teams in the league have gone 602-310-81 (.647) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent fifteen teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, Denver and Duluth in 2019, Duluth and St. Cloud State in 2021, Denver in 2022 and 2024, and Denver and Western Michigan in 2025 over that nine-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022, 2024), Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019), and Western Michigan (2025) have won seven of the last nine national titles.
Turning our attention to this weekend…
A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and – aside from Shaugabay and the Plantes – Scott Sandelin’s squad has just five other lineup regulars who meet that threshold: sophomore forward Callum Arnott (11-14-25), freshman forward Hunter Anderson (5-11-16), senior forward Scout Truman (13-5-18), sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson (8-24-32), and freshman defenseman Grayden Siepmann (5-12-17).
North Dakota is hoping to have eleven players in the lineup this weekend who have met that same offensive threshold: senior forward Ellis Rickwood (8-26-34), senior forward Ben Strinden (15-18-33), freshman forward Will Zellers (18-12-30), sophomore forward Mac Swanson (11-16-27), freshman forward Cole Reschny (5-28-33), senior forward Dylan James (18-10-28), freshman forward Jack Kernan (9-10-19), freshman forward Ollie Josephson (6-14-20), junior defenseman Jake Livanavage (5-20-25), junior defenseman Abram Wiebe (5-22-27), and freshman defenseman Keaton Verhoeff (6-14-20).
Ben Strinden and Will Zellers both missed last Friday’s series opener against Omaha (illness); Zellers returned to the lineup on Saturday.
Remarkably, North Dakota already has ten players with twenty or more points this season, the most since 2014-15. If freshman Jack Kernan can add one more goal or assist to his line of 9-10-19, UND will have the most players with 20-plus points since 2003-04.
The Bulldogs played ten games at the Division I level in the early 1930s but didn’t really get started until after World War II. Its first nineteen seasons after the war were played as an independent before joining the WCHA in 1965. It would take eighteen seasons – and a head coach named Mike Sertich – before UMD would make the NCAA tournament, and Sertich would take them there in three consecutive seasons:
1982-1983: National Quarterfinalist
1983-1984: 2nd Place (National Runner-Up)
1984-1985: 3rd Place (Consolation Champion)
In 1984, Duluth was tantalizingly close to winning its first title. The Bulldogs defeated North Dakota 2-1 in overtime (behind a goal by Bill Watson) to advance to the championship game, where they would face Bowling Green in the longest NCAA final in Division I men’s hockey history. Gino Cavallini scored for the Falcons in the fourth overtime session, ending a game that took over 97 minutes of game action to complete.
And, perhaps, fittingly, UMD would find themselves locked in overtime contests in 1985 as well. The Bulldogs took RPI to three overtimes in the national semis before falling 6-5. Back in those days, there was still a third-place game, and so Duluth faced Boston College (which had also played three overtimes in its semifinal) for no reason at all. Of course, that game also went to overtime, with UMD defeating the Eagles 7-6.
After that three-year splash on the national scene, Mike Sertich would manage just one more tournament appearance (1993) over the final fifteen years of his head coaching career before giving way to Scott Sandelin, who has guided the Bulldogs to the NCAAs eleven times in his 24 completed seasons behind the Bulldog bench. It is worth noting, however, that Duluth has had two consecutive losing seasons (28-40-6) overall and has missed the last two NCAA tourneys.
Even though UMD has been a more frequent participant over the past two decades than at any other point in team history, Duluth and North Dakota have only met twice in the national tournament (1984 and 2021). UND had a chance to meet the Bulldogs in the 2011 title game but fell to the Wolverines in the semifinals 2-0 (with an empty-net goal) despite outshooting Michigan 40-20.
Before the Wolverines were forced to withdraw from the 2021 tournament, UMD and Michigan were set to square off in the national tournament for the first time since that overtime thriller in St. Paul.
North Dakota was down 2-0 to Minnesota Duluth with just 101 seconds remaining in the third period of the 2021 NCAA Midwest Regional final at Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota. The Bulldogs had built their lead with two goals just 80 seconds apart early in the final frame on a pair of fluky plays. A partially blocked shot off the stick of Jackson Cates fluttered past Fighting Hawks’ netminder Adam Scheel, and a broken stick at the blue line sent Cole Koepke in alone on a breakaway. UND scored two extra-attacker goals in the final two minutes of regulation to send the game long into the night. Minnesota Duluth outlasted North Dakota 3-2 in five overtimes to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. The three goaltenders involved in the contest combined to make 114 saves.
With three national titles in a nine-year stretch, the Bulldogs could certainly be considered the best team of the 2010s; North Dakota’s eight national titles have been spread out across the decades: 1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000, and 2016.
The Wolverines have won nine NCAA titles but only two since 1964, those coming in 1996 and 1998. For that reason, I consider North Dakota (eight titles) and Denver (ten titles) the two best programs in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey history.
Last season, North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth squared off four times…
On November 8th and 9th, 2024, UND traveled to Duluth and swept the homestanding Bulldogs 7-3 and 4-1. North Dakota chased highly-touted netminder Adam Gajan on two consecutive nights after scoring five goals on twenty shots in 34:18 of game action in the opener and besting that with two goals on eight shots in 5:38 on night two.
The Bulldogs made the return trip to Grand Forks on February 21st and 22nd, 2025. In Friday’s opener, North Dakota scored an empty-netter to escape with a 4-2 victory after UMD drew within one with two goals in the middle frame. Adam Gajan and UND’s T.J. Semptimphelter each made thirty saves.
In Saturday’s rematch, UND went 4-for-6 with the man advantage, including three second-period goals during the same five-minute power play after UMD’s Jack Smith was penalized and given a game misconduct for checking from behind. Gajan (nine saves, one goal allowed) and Klayton Knapp (thirteen saves, five goals allowed) each played in the rematch.
Gajan, a sophomore who competed in the 2023 and 2024 World Junior U-20 Championships for his native Slovakia, was a second-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2023 NHL Draft. He played in 21 games last season, with a 7-12-1 record, a goals-against average of 3.33, a save percentage of .885, and one shutout.
Fellow first-year goalie Klayton Knapp – from Sylvania, Ohio – split time with Gajan a season ago, appearing in sixteen contests, with a record of 6-6-2, a 2.67 GAA, a .907 SV%, and one shutout.
After last season, Knapp transferred to Lindenwood, and Gajan has played nearly every minute in net for Scott Sandelin’s squad, with a record of 17-11-1, a goals-against average of 2.25, a save percentage of .906, and two shutouts.
One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. To this point in the season, the Fighting Hawks have won 53.8% of faceoffs, good for 4th in the country. By comparison, the Bulldogs are 34th in the nation (49.4%).
In the faceoff circle, Dane Jackson has been relying on freshman phenom Cole Reschny ( of , ), portal transfer Ellis Rickwood (of , ), and freshman Ollie Josephson ( of , %).
For the Bulldogs, graduate student Kyle Gaffney (, %) has been the most effective, although sophomore center Zam Plante (, %) has seen more action in the dot.
Not only will North Dakota start with the puck more often than UMD in this game, they will also hold onto it.
Throughout this season, the Fighting Hawks have outpaced the Bulldogs in two key puck possession statistics:
UND: 3rd in Corsi (57.1%) and 3rd in Fenwick (57.0%)
Duluth: 10th in Corsi (54.8%) and 6th in Fenwick (55.7%)
Corsi measures the number of shot attempts for each team at even strength, while Fenwick measures the number of unblocked shot attempts for each side.
The Green and White do not want to get into a specialty teams battle with the Bulldogs. To this point in the season, North Dakota is a combined +18, with 35 power play goals (35 of 126, 27.8%, 4th in the country), nineteen power play goals allowed (91 of 110, 82.7%, 16th), six shorthanded goals, and four shorthanded goals allowed.
Scott Sandelin’s squad is a plus-26, with 39 power play goals (39 of 132, 29.5%, 2nd) and only thirteen allowed (104 of 117, 88.9%, 2nd). UMD has scored two shorthanded goals and allowed two to opponents.
Through 36 games, North Dakota has blocked an incredible 411 shots (11.4 per game), led by Bennett Zmolek with 51, Jake Livanavage with 44, and Keaton Verhoeff with 41. Zmolek has been in and out of the lineup over the past few weeks; Zmolek’s 51 blocks have come in just 29 games.
Duluth has blocked 365 shots in its 36 games (10.1/game), with senior Joey Pierce (60), sophomore Adam Kleber (45), and sophomore Ty Hanson (43) leading the charge.
Kleber was recently named the 2025-26 NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year.
North Dakota’s defensive corps has provided plenty of production from the back end, already notching 104 points (22 goals and 82 assists) in 249 combined games (0.42 points per game). Among defensemen, UND is led by two juniors – Abram Wiebe (5-22-27) and Jake Livanavage (5-20-25) – and freshman Keaton Verhoeff (6-14-20).
Verhoeff is widely expected to go in the top three of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, while Livanavage (4-24-28) and Wiebe (4-20-24) were two of UND’s top four point-getters a season ago.
By comparison, Duluth’s blueliners have scored twenty goals and 55 assists for 75 points in 252 combined games (0.30 points/game). Other than sophomore Ty Hanson (8-24-32) and freshman Grayden Siepmann (5-12-17), no UMD defenseman has more than ten points.
Not only have North Dakota’s defensemen been producing offensively, first-year head coach Dane Jackson has also put together an impressive mix of defenders he can trust in any situation. As a unit, UND’s defensemen have allowed a total of just 842 shots on goal this season in 36 games (23.4/game, 2nd-best in the country), while Duluth has allowed 890 (24.7, 5th).
The Bulldogs are allowing 2.47 goals per game this season (18th in the nation), while North Dakota is allowing just 2.31 (8th). On the offensive side, UND is scoring 3.92 goals per game (3rd), while Duluth has scored 3.22 goals per game (20th).
Sometimes it is difficult to dissect numbers like those above, so here it is in plain terms: in 36 games, UND has outscored opponents 141-83. In the same number of games, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 116-89. I attribute those numbers to North Dakota’s roster depth, puck possession metrics, and goaltending.
Fighting Hawks’ graduate netminder Gibson Homer (9-5-0, 2.71 goals-against average, .889 save percentage) started each of the first four games of the season and then split the next four weekends with freshman Jan Spunar (16-3-1, 1.93 GAA, .917 SV%, four shutout) before giving way to Spunar entirely for the majority of the season. Homer did earn a start on Senior Night three weeks ago and again on the final night of the regular season (after UND clinched the Penrose), but I would expect Spunar to start from here on out.
UMD sophomore goalie Adam Gajan is 17-11-1 with a goals-against average of 2.25, a save percentage of .906, and two shutouts. Gajan played in both games at North Dakota during the first half of the season, making 48 of 56 saves; he was replaced in the third period of Saturday night’s 5-1 defeat after allowing goals to Ollie Josephson and Abram Wiebe in the first five minutes of the final frame.
Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs
Head Coach: Scott Sandelin (26th season at UMD, 491-421-104, .534)
National Rankings: #8/#8
NPI Ranking: 7th
KRACH Rating: 314.1 (6th)
This Season: 22-13-1 overall, 8-8-4-4 NCHC (4th)
Last Season: 13-20-3 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-11-3-3 NCHC (7th of 9 teams)
2025-2026 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.22 goals scored/game – 20th of 63 teams
Team Defense: 2.47 goals allowed/game – 18th of 63 teams
Power Play: 29.5% (39 of 132) – 2nd of 63 teams
Penalty Kill: 88.9% (104 of 117) – 2nd of 63 teams
Key players: Sophomore F Max Plante (22-25-47), Sophomore F Jayson Shaugabay (10-31-41), Sophomore F Zam Plante (20-25-45), Sophomore F Callum Arnott (11-14-25), Senior F Scout Truman (13-5-18), Sophomore D Ty Hanson (8-24-32), Sophomore D Adam Kleber (3-7-10), Freshman D Grayden Siepmann (5-12-17), Sophomore G Adam Gajan (17-11-1, 2.25 GAA, .906 SV%, 2 SO)
North Dakota Team Profile
Head Coach: Dane Jackson (1st season at North Dakota, 27-8-1, .764)
National Rankings: #2/#2
NPI Ranking: 2nd
KRACH Rating: 546.0 (1st)
This Season: 27-8-1 overall, 16-2-1-5 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 21-15-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 11-8-4-1 NCHC (5th)
2025-26 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.92 goals scored/game – 3rd of 63 teams
Team Defense: 2.31 goals allowed/game – 8th of 63 teams
Power Play: 27.8% (35 of 126) – 4th of 63 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.7% (91 of 110) – 16th of 63 teams
Key Players: Freshman F Cole Reschny (5-28-33), Senior F Ben Strinden (15-18-33), Freshman F Will Zellers (18-12-30), Senior F Dylan James (18-10-28), Sophomore F Mac Swanson (11-16-27), Senior F Ellis Rickwood (8-26-34), Junior D Jake Livanavage (5-20-25), Junior D Abram Wiebe (5-22-27), Freshman D Keaton Verhoeff (6-14-20), Freshman G Jan Spunar (18-3-1, 1.93 GAA, .915 SV%, 4 SO)
By The Numbers
Last Meeting: February 7, 2026 (Duluth, Minnesota). One night after Zam Plante (who else?) sent the home fans happy with just seven seconds remaining in overtime, things were knotted at 0-0 with just over fifteen minutes to go in the game. UND’s Mac Swanson and Will Zellers gave the Fighting Hawks a lead they would never relinquish, and Dylan James added a pair of goals for a 4-1 North Dakota victory. Freshman Jan Spunar made 25 saves for the Green and White.
Last Meeting in Grand Forks: November 1st, 2025. One night after UND mounted a furious two-goal comeback in the final four minutes of regulation, it was all Green and White in the rematch. North Dakota senior captain Ben Strinden – who score an extra attacker goal to even the score in Friday’s opener – notched four assists in the 5-1 victory. UND outshot Minnesota Duluth 38-20, including 16-7 in the final frame.
Most Important Meeting: March 27, 2021 (Fargo, ND). North Dakota was down 2-0 to Minnesota Duluth with just 101 seconds remaining in the third period of the 2021 NCAA Midwest Regional final at Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota. The Bulldogs had built their lead with two goals just 80 seconds apart early in the final frame on a pair of fluky plays. A partially blocked shot off the stick of Jackson Cates fluttered past Fighting Hawks’ netminder Adam Scheel, and a broken stick at the blue line sent Cole Koepke in alone on a breakaway. UND scored two extra-attacker goals in the final two minutes of regulation to send the game long into the night. Minnesota Duluth outlasted North Dakota 3-2 in five overtimes to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. The three goaltenders involved in the contest combined to make 114 saves.
The Meeting That Never Was: Both teams advanced to the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota). UND could not get past Michigan, falling 2-0 despite outshooting the Wolverines 40-20. In the other national semifinal, Minnesota-Duluth defeated Notre Dame 4-3 and rode that momentum to the title game. The Bulldogs took the Wolverines to overtime before senior forward Kyle Schmidt scored the game winner and earned UMD their first national championship. North Dakota won two of the three games against Duluth that season, outscoring Scott Sandelin’s team 11-5.
All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 163-93-11 (.631), including a sparklng record of 89-40-3 (.686) in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1954, with North Dakota winning the first ten games between the schools by a combined score of 72-16. UMD’s first win over the Fighting Sioux (a 3-2 road victory on December 18th, 1959) did not sit well with the defending national champions. UND defeated Duluth 13-2 the following night.
Last Ten: North Dakota is 8-2-0 (.800) in the last ten games between the teams, with this season’s two 3-on-3 overtime defeats the only blemishes on the record. The combined score of the last ten contests is 45-18 in favor of the Fighting Hawks. Seven of the last ten games in this series were played in Grand Forks.
Game News and Notes
Both head coaches this weekend are alumni of the University of North Dakota; Dane Jackson (1988-1992) and Scott Sandelin (1982-86) both played for UND under John “Gino” Gasparini. North Dakota junior forward Anthony Menghini played his first two seasons at Duluth, scoring twenty goals and adding nine assists in 72 games. UND’s 163 victories over the Bulldogs are the second-most against any opponent in program history. North Dakota has outscored opponents 56-18 in third periods this season, including a scoring margin of 47-11 against conference foes. On nine occasions this season, UND has scored at least three goals in the final twenty minutes of regulation.
All Green. All In.
The University of North Dakota has announced that each home game throughout the playoffs will be a “Green Out”. All fans are encouraged to wear green to support the team!
The Prediction
I expect a fast, physical weekend of hockey out of this matchup, with plenty of talent on display. An early lead would be beneficial for UND, as they seem to play with much more purpose and poise when they aren’t chasing the game. Of course, specialty teams are always a factor, and the Fighting Hawks do not want to get into a power play contest with this Bulldogs squad. This tilt will definitely have a playoff feel, and the fans are in for a treat. I’ve got North Dakota winning another close one and advancing to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship next Saturday night in Grand Forks. UND 3-2.
Broadcast Information
Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on Midco Sports and will also be available online at NCHC.tv. All UND men’s hockey games can be heard on stations across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app. Puck drop is set for 6:07 p.m. Central Time.
Social Media
Keep up with the action live during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter. Fans can also read the action via Brad Schlossman’s live chat on the Grand Forks Herald website.
As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.