How UMD became Minnesota’s premier college hockey program this decade
The Bulldogs celebrate their first national title at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota on April 9, 2011. Photo courtesy of UMD
Lake Superior has a shoreline of over 1,800 miles. Off the shore, in the port city of Duluth, Minnesota, sits a couple of hockey rinks that occupy 400 feet of that shoreline.
The University of Minnesota Duluth, a campus in the University of Minnesota system, has a student population of just about 11,000 students and is the second biggest school in the system, just about 150 miles north of the flagship campus in Minneapolis.
Since 1966, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) and AMSOIL Arena have been home to the UMD hockey programs — a school that has claimed eight national championships between their men’s and women’s hockey programs since the 2000s.
AMSOIL, seating about 6,700 fans, has been rated the best rink in college hockey by Stadium Journey. This past January, the arena set an attendance record of 7,711 for a single game and a series high of 14,727 for the weekend when the Bulldogs played the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
The old place
The Bulldogs take on the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers inside the DECC Arena. Photo courtesy of UMD Athletics
In 76 seasons of UMD men’s hockey, the Bulldogs have faced off with numerous rivals at the DECC complex. Some of these teams include the Minnesota Golden Gophers, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Denver Pioneers and the St. Cloud State Huskies. Bob Nygaard, the former Sports Information Director at UMD, called the DECC Arena the place opponents never liked to play.
“When you saw opponent polls of favorite and least favorite rinks to visit, [opponents] wanted to hate the DECC … from the pink locker rooms to having the crowd right on top of you, it made the opponent feel like they were playing in a lion's den,” Nygaard said. “The atmosphere in the late ’70s and ’80s was really something, probably with the smaller packed-in size of the area.” The DECC rink held 5,300 fans.
Another unique feature of the arena is that the rink was only 190 feet long, compared to the NCAA-standard 200 foot long rink.
“It really made for action-packed hockey,” Nygaard said.
Kevin Pates, the Bulldog Hockey beat writer for the Duluth News Tribune at the time, wrote about his memories from the DECC arena — including his last trip up the “36 concrete steps from the concourse to the press box.”
A couple of things that Pates notes is that he could watch “the Maroon Loon walk on stilts, UMD’s old mascot; Brett Hull, an offensive-minded player who went on to dominate in the NHL, crush the puck; Curt Giles apply a hip-check and Norm Maciver finesse a defender.”
Both Giles and Maciver were defensemen for UMD who lived up to the school’s second nickname often referred to by the media, “Defensemen University.” The program has been a powerhouse on the blueline, which is where defensemen tend to be positioned during the hockey game.
All these icons and players are long gone from UMD but are reminisced within Bulldog Hockey history. After 862 games, the DECC Arena would officially close for UMD games on December 5, 2010, as the Bulldogs would move next door to the new $80 million AMSOIL Arena.
On to the championships
UMD lifts their third banner this decade into the rafters of AMSOIL Arena before they open their regular season against UMass-Lowell on October 11, 2019 . Photo by Drew Smith
In 2011, UMD claimed its first national title in front of a crowd of 19,000 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Bulldogs were the only team from Minnesota competing in the Frozen Four.
In 2018, UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin brought the Bulldogs back to the Xcel Energy Center and won the program a second title. On April 9, 2019, UMD traveled to Buffalo, New York in hopes of capturing a third title. The Bulldogs, the No. 2 seeded team in the tournament had a target on their back as they had to defend their 2018 title. UMD defeated Providence 4-1, then shut out Massachusetts 3-0 to win their second-straight, and third total, national title.
Top Dogs of their class
Scott Perunovich, the 2020 Hobey Baker winner skates in to celebrate a goal against St. Cloud State on March 7, 2020. Photo by Drew Smith
Following every season, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee awards the best player on the men’s side of college hockey with the Hobey Baker. On April 11, 2020, in the age of social distancing and remote events, UMD’s Scott Perunovich received the award live on ESPN’s Sports Center, on the night of when the 2020 Frozen Four would have taken place in Detroit.
What is different about Perunovich is that he has the hockey vision to make plays that lead to goals. The Bulldogs currently hold the record of the most Hobey’s in the country out of any school.
Tom Kurvers, the Assistant General Manager of the Minnesota Wild; Bill Watson, operations assistant at UMD for the men’s hockey program; Chris Marinucci; Junior Lessard and Jack Connolly all welcomed Perunovich into this exclusive club this past April. Perunovich, with six goals and 34 assists is the sixth Bulldog to accept the award. At the start of the 2020–21 National Hockey League season, Perunovich will join the St Louis Blues.
A global pandemic pauses a chance for a 3-peat
Noah Cates plays the puck against St. Cloud State in the last hockey game of the season on March 7, 2020, before the pandemic would cancel the season. Photo by Drew Smith
No one could have ever predicted that the 2019–20 hockey season would come to a halt. After the regular season came to a close, the Bulldogs were set to be the fifth-seed in the national tournament, according to pairwise rankings. As the push for the playoffs began in early March, the unexpected happened.
Four days after the Bulldogs left the ice following a sweep of St. Cloud State at AMSOIL Arena, a global pandemic would sideline sports worldwide and pause the hopes of winning the national championship for the third year in a row. Even though the Bulldogs didn’t get a chance to compete for the NCAA National Championship in 2020, they now have another Hobey Baker winner, and still hold their three national championships and their seven NCAA Frozen Four appearances.
UMD hopes to see the day when captain Noah Cates plays the puck, Nick Swaney delivers a goal or Scott Sandelin leads the team to the Frozen Four. It’s all just a matter of when.