{"id":179556,"date":"2026-03-30T11:51:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T11:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/179556\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T11:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T11:51:29","slug":"minnesota-duluth-takes-on-top-seed-michigan-in-albany-regional-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/179556\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Duluth takes on top seed Michigan in Albany Regional final"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth sophomore Max Plante plays the puck in front of Penn State junior Reese Laubach during the NCAA Albany Regionals on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth celebrates a goal during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth goalie Adam Gajan makes a save off the stick of Penn State sophomore Charlie Cerrato during the NCAA Albany Regionals on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth celebrates after scoring a goal to go ahead 2-1 lead during the NCAA Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth freshman Hunter Anderson celebrates after scoring a goal to give his team a 2-1 lead during the NCAA Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth fans cheer for their team during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Michigan<\/p>\n

Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato talks to his team during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Bentley on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Michigan<\/p>\n

Michigan celebrates a goal during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Bentley on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union\"Michigan<\/p>\n

Michigan senior T.J. Hughes scores a goal during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Bentley on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n

ALBANY \u2014 College sports fans recognize the big-name schools, and many of them \u2014 Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State, et al \u2014 are among the elite in college hockey.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What makes the sport distinctive at the collegiate level is that some of the powerful aren\u2019t from the power conferences. The Capital Region claims two-time national champion RPI and 2014 winner Union from the ECAC. Union is the host school for this weekend\u2019s NCAA regionals at MVP Arena.<\/p>\n

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Minnesota Duluth of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference fits the same mold. Few fans outside of the upper Midwest appreciate the legacy formed by the three-time NCAA titlist Bulldogs, who will vie for their seventh Frozen Four appearance Sunday evening against Michigan in the Albany Regional final (5:30 p.m., ESPN).<\/p>\n

The winner between Duluth (24-14-1) and Michigan (30-7-1), which is the tournament\u2019s overall No. 1 seed, will advance to the Frozen Four on April 9 and 11 in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The last time Minnesota Duluth and Michigan met in the NCAA tournament was 2011, when the Bulldogs pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory for their first national crown.<\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin during the NCAA Albany Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember one thing about that game,\u201d said Duluth sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson, who, as a youngster in Hermantown, Minn. (seven miles from Duluth), watched that game 15 years ago. \u201cWhen UMD scored, I jumped right in my dad’s arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Duluth won its second and third championships back-to-back, in 2018 and 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve grown up just watching the Bulldogs,\u201d said sophomore teammate Max Plante, also from Hermantown. \u201cThat was one of my earliest memories of the Bulldogs and just seeing them win that, and then \u201918, \u201919, just the success they had my whole childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UMD lineage runs deep. Plante\u2019s father, Derek, was an eight-year NHL player who served on the Bulldogs coaching staff for seven years. He is now an assistant with the NHL\u2019s Blackhawks. Max\u2019s older brother, Zam, is also on the team.<\/p>\n

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Hanson\u2019s father, Greg, played defense for Duluth in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to those guys,\u201d Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. \u201cThey wanted to play here. They wanted to do that themselves. They want to try and win a championship. Last year, they were freshmen, and we didn’t have a good year (13-20-3). From the end of the year, they were champing up a bit to make sure this year was better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Duluth freshman Hunter Anderson celebrates after scoring a goal to give his team a 2-1 lead during the NCAA Regionals against Penn State on Friday, March 27, 2026, at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n

Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs, who trimmed Penn State 3-1 Friday night to advance to the regional final, have been coached the past 25 seasons by Sandelin. He has a 486-414-104 career record, but more impressive is his 23-8 mark in 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have an appreciation for coach Sandelin and three national championships,\u201d fourth-year Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. \u201cI don’t want to make up the number, but I feel like a few years ago, they were going to the Frozen Four every single year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan, coming off a 5-1 tournament victory over Bentley on Friday night, is looking to stay on the road for a 10th NCAA title, although the Wolverines haven\u2019t won any since 1998. In fact, they haven\u2019t made a final since that 2011 loss to Minnesota Duluth.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines are one of five Big Ten schools to earn a berth in the 16-team field. Four won first-round games. The Bulldogs took care of the other (Penn State) and now will try to conquer another from the power conference.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of holes,\u201d Sandelin said of Michigan, which leads the nation in scoring. \u201cTheir goaltending has been good. Their d-corps can really transport the puck up the rink and kick-start their offense. Then you throw it to the forwards. \u2026 They\u2019ve got a good mixture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes: The announced attendance of 5,237 for Friday night\u2019s session at MVP Arena was the highest among the four regional semifinal sites. The others: Sioux Falls, S.D. (5,114), Loveland, Colo. (4,217), and Worcester, Mass. (4,018). \u2026 Naurato did not offer an update on sophomore forward Michael Hage, who missed the Bentley game with an undisclosed injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Duluth sophomore Max Plante plays the puck in front of Penn State junior Reese Laubach during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30394,72554,610,9,11,10,49,51,50,319],"class_list":["post-179556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alco","tag-college-hockey","tag-local","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}