UMD men’s hockey at home for first series of the season

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team picked up a shootout win against Michigan Tech last weekend for their first victory of the season.

The No. 17 Bulldogs get to stay in Duluth again as the Northern Michigan Wildcats open their season on the road.

After last week’s win, the Bulldogs have moved to 17th ranked in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings (USCHO).

For the first game of the season, UMD had a lot of positives, of course, the shootout victory, being the first to score, two freshmen being a part of the scoring, one of them earning rookie of the week honors, and goaltender Zach Stejskal earning goaltender of the week honors.

Due to all the positives, head coach Scott Sandelin is planning on not making any line changes for the first game against Northern Michigan.

However, Sandelin does want the team to create more opportunities during power plays as he prepares for an offensive battle versus the Wildcats.

“(We) Got the job done in the shootout, and we haven’t won a shootout in a long time, so that’s a good sign,” said Sandelin as he hopes for it to continue. “Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come, but there’s a lot of things I liked in the game, more good than bad, but a long way to go. There is a long way to go and we will see a different team this weekend that probably has a lot more offensive firepower, and plays the game that way, they’re okay winning 5-4.”

The puck drop for each game is set for 7:07 p.m. on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 at Amsoil Arena and will be broadcast on the MY9 Sports Network.

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