UMD men’s hockey falls out of top-25, will face No. 19 SCSU

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team is on the road as they face 19th-ranked Saint Cloud State University in an away series.

The two National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) foes face off for the first time this season but last year UMD had the upper hand in the regular season, defeating them in three out of the four matchups. However, SCSU got the best of the Bulldogs in the NCHC playoffs winning the best-of-three series 2-1.

Both teams are currently riding opposite trends, UMD is winless in their last six, while SCSU has won their last four.

Despite the lull head coach Scott Sandelin is focused on the defensive end but believes all facets of the game need to improve.

“We’ve got to tighten up, tighten up defensively. We are giving teams way too much time and space and ya know offensively I think there were some better things, but again we’ve got to start scoring and can’t rely on the powerplay to score goals all the time,” said Sandelin. “We need some guys to step up their play quite frankly, they’re guys we’re waiting on.”

“It’s not for lack of effort, it’s not for lack of focus I’d say, it’s just execution I’d say is the word we’ve been using a lot and I think we’ve been trying to overcomplicate a lot,” said team captain Luke Loheit. “We haven’t been holding onto pucks as much and yeah just being willing to make plays, not being scared of making mistakes, I think that’s been a little bit of the tone lately.”

Friday’s game begins at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday’s game begins at 6 p.m. with both games being broadcast on the MY9 Sports Network.

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