OXFORD, Ohio — Playing their first game
since the death of Dale Haagenson,
the Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey program
on Friday.
The No. 9-ranked Bulldogs won, battling back from a two-goal deficit to beat No. 20 Miami 5-2 in the first of two pivotal NCHC games this weekend at Goggin Ice Center.
“Like we said, what does Hoagie want you to do? He wants you to win games,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “We got to go out and fight and battle just like he did and try and win some games. We needed this, we needed a win. There’s not many games left. Hopefully we can try and find our game here. Tonight was a good start.”
Freshman wing Hunter Anderson, senior wing Scout Truman and sophomore wings Max Plante, Jayson Shaugabay and Callum Arnott scored for the Bulldogs, with Truman getting the game-winning goal Friday.
The victory drops Miami (17-12-2 overall, 8-11-2 NCHC), sitting sixth in the NCHC, six points back of the fourth-place Bulldogs (19-12, 10-11) with three games left for both in the regular season.
“We’ve been really close on a lot of weekends against some really good teams, and they’re a really good team over there,” Shaugabay said. “It was really big to get that one, especially for Hoags.”
Junior wing Doug Grimes and freshman wing David Deputy gave Miami an initial 2-0 lead on Friday thanks to a strong initial effort by RedHawks sophomore goalie Matteo Drobac, who made 27 stops.
Bulldogs sophomore goaltender Ethan Dahlmeir also made 27 saves in his first game back in Oxford since transferring to UMD in the spring after one season at Miami. Shaugabay said Dahlmeir was getting chirped by his former team all night long.
“He played great, some big saves for us,” Max Plante said. “We had a couple bad breaks where we hung him out to dry. He hung in there and made the big saves he needed to since (Adam) Gajan has been gone.”
Minnesota Duluth sophomore goaltender Ethan Dahlmeir makes a stop in the crease against Miami, his former team, on Friday at Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio.
Ellie Reynolds/Miami Athletics
Friday was Max Plante’s 20th birthday. The Hermantown native scored a goal, registered an assist, and in between took one for the team when he was speared in the groin region. The spear led to Truman’s game-winning power play goal early in the third period.
“He sacrificed,” Shaugabay said.
UMD was gifted a five-minute power play just 14 seconds into the third period with the game tied 2-2 when Miami freshman wing Bradley Walker received a major penalty and game misconduct for spearing Plante off the opening faceoff of the third.
Plante spent a moment crunched over on the ice before recovering and jumping up. The officials immediately called for a video review and came out quickly with a major penalty.
Max Plante tied the game with his 30th career goal, taking advantage of a pass from sophomore wing Jayson Shaugabay into the slot. The goal ended a six-game goal drought for Plante.
Max Plante re-paid Shaugabay later for his 71st career point, springing the Warroad native free for a breakaway goal that gave the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead with less than five minutes left. Shaugabay tried to go five-hole, and Drobac ended up bobbling the puck before kicking it in.
Plante said it was a big goal by Shaugabay, a much-needed goal late in the game.
“Zam made a great play on the wall and Max buttered one up for me,” Shaugabay said. “I got a little lucky, I made an alright move and the goalie put it in for me.”
Two own-zone turnovers by UMD’s best led to Miami’s first two goals. That’s how the Bulldogs fell behind 2-0 on Friday.
Sophomore defenseman Adam Kleber fumbled a puck along the wall in the first period, leading to an unassisted goal by Grimes.
In the second period, Kleber then misfired a pass to fellow sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson in the second, and while the Plante brothers recovered the puck, they also fumbled to set up another Miami goal.
Both of UMD’s power play goals came from the second unit, and both came on extended power plays. Truman scored three minutes into the major to give UMD a 3-2 lead while Anderson’s power play goal came thanks to RedHawks fifth-year senior defenseman Kyle Aucoin getting called for holding and tripping midway through the second, leading to a four-minute UMD power play.
Anderson got a piece of a puck sent on net by freshman defenseman Grayden Siepmann in the second half of the Aucoin minors.
“I thought they got more pucks to the net, obviously Hunter got his goal off that tip,” Sandelin said of the group that also includes Arnott, Kyle Gaffney and Aaron Pionk. “Gaffney won some big faceoffs. I thought their puck pursuit on retrievals kept a lot of those (power plays) alive. It was good because they played in the zone a lot.”
Miami held a moment of silence for ‘Hoagie’ in the pregame. Hoagie — UMD’s Hall of Fame volunteer assistant equipment manager and inspirational leader —
died Tuesday at age 65 after suffering a stroke on Christmas Day.
A private funeral is scheduled for Monday and a public Celebration of Life is scheduled for noon on Tuesday at Amsoil Arena. UMD Athletics is taking donations toward Hoagie’s funeral at
“He was the true champion of the UMD Bulldogs,” Max Plante said. “He’s been here through the highs and the lows. The video I saw of him saying how he hates to lose and UMD is a winning program, I’ve probably watched it 15-20 times in the last couple days.
“It was so nice to see him every day. Coming to the rink, he always put a smile on guy’s faces. He’s awesome. It’s still hard to talk about because it feels like he’s still here. Tonight was for him.”
Friday’s game started early to accommodate Miami’s 26-0 men’s basketball team. They were hosting Bowling Green at 8:30 p.m. EST on CBS Sports Network on the north side of town, so the start time of the men’s hockey game was moved to 5:30 p.m. EST. A number of fans, including the entire pep band, left after the second period.
Meanwhile in Milan, Slovakia will play for bronze against Finland after a 6-2 loss to the United States on Friday in the 2026 Olympic semifinals in Italy. Bulldogs sophomore starting goaltender Adam Gajan has been with Slovakia in Italy the previous three weeks, but has yet to dress for Slovakia at the Winter Games. Slovakia beat Finland 4-1 on Feb. 11 to open the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.
The Bulldogs and RedHawks wrap up their regular season NCHC series at 5 p.m. CST on Saturday at Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio.
St. Cloud State went into the weekend tied with UMD for fourth in the NCHC, but the Bulldogs own the tiebreaker for winning the regular season series. The Bulldogs could potentially clinch home ice in the NCHC quarterfinals with a win Saturday, as SCSU is idle during the final weekend.
Minnesota Duluth 0-2-3—5
Miami 1-1-0—2
First period
1. MU, David Grimes, 14:04
Second period
2. MU, David Deputy (Kocha Delic), 6:15
3. UMD, Hunter Anderson (Grayden Siepmann, Kyle Gaffney), 12:34 (pp)
4. UMD, Max Plante (Jayson Shaugabay, Gaffney), 17:21
Third period
5. UMD, Scout Truman (Siepmann, Anderson), 3:13 (pp)
6. UMD, Shaugabay (M. Plante), 15:16
7. UMD, Callum Arnott, 19:33 (en)
Saves — Ethan Dahlmeir, UMD, 27; Matteo Drobac, MU, 27.
Power play — UMD 2-5; MU 0-4. Penalties — UMD 5-10; MU 6-23.