The University of Minnesota Duluth has long been known as a hockey powerhouse. The school’s men’s and women’s teams have combined for eight NCAA championships since 2000, tied for the most with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Both UMD’s men’s and women’s hockey sit atop the standings in their respective conferences as of Monday morning. The men, who are tied for first with North Dakota and St. Cloud State, boast a 3-0 record while the women lead their field at 4-2, losing only a pair of matchups against Minnesota.

Men’s Hockey

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) announced in October a pod system in which the eight teams in the conference would compete in a controlled environment at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska.

Home games are expected to be allowed beginning Jan. 1, if conducted in accordance with state and local laws and guidelines.

A positive COVID-19 test result within Colorado College’s program forced the NCHC to adjust it’s schedule, bumping up UMD’s opener by one day.

UMD’s first match came against the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Though Head Coach Scott Sandelin would not commit in preseason conferences as to who would fill the net following the departure of longtime goalie Hunter Shepard, sophomore Ryan Fanti tended goal for all 180 minutes of play so far.

UMD’s Koby Bender scored the Bulldog’s first goal of the season less than two minutes after the puck dropped, but Omaha answered twice in the first period and led 2-1.

A scoreless second period was followed by an action-packed third period, which saw the Bulldogs tally four goals to Omaha’s one for a 5-3 win in the season opener. 

A quick overnight turnaround led to UMD’s second contest against Denver University.

Denver scored early in the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but two UMD power play goals came only 48 seconds apart in the third period to put the Bulldogs in the lead. Denver operated on a power play advantage for the final minute of the game, but failed to capitalize, and UMD would leave the ice with their second win.

After a day of rest, UMD returned to the ice again to take on Miami University (Ohio). 

A quick first-period goal by UMD’s senior forward Kobe Roth was answered only seconds later by the opposition. Each team would score again, skating off tied 2-2 after the first period.

Two Bulldog goals would only be answered by one Miami goal in the second, and another Roth goal in the third would seal the deal for UMD and advance them to a 3-0 start to the 2020-21 season.

Plenty of Bulldogs find themselves among the top of individual rankings thus far. 

Roth’s four goals ties him for leading the NCHC with Denver’s Carter Savoie, and senior forward Nick Swaney is tied with Denver’s Mike Benning for the lead on assists with five.

Fanti finds himself alone at the top of the win column, with three, as well as second in saves with 79. He is one of only five goalies in the conference to stop over 90% of shots so far this season.

“These games we’ve got here, we’ve put ourselves in a great situation,” Roth said after the win against Miami. “We’ve just gotta turn the page and keep going.”

UMD will face Miami again on Tuesday night at 7:35 p.m. All games within the NCHC Pod are broadcast on MidcoSN, as well as streamed with subscription on NCHC.tv.

Women’s Hockey

The Women’s League of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) announced in November it’s schedule for women’s hockey. 

A press release detailed a schedule consisting of eight league games between Nov. 20 and Dec. 19, with further competition unspecified.

The Bulldogs opened their season strong with a two-game sweep against Minnesota State.

The first game saw five different Bulldogs score one goal each. Junior forward Taylor Anderson scored the team’s first goal of the season, followed by two more in the following ten minutes of play. One goal in both the second and third period led to a 5-0 win. 

The second game of the series saw UMD surge in the last two periods. A slow one-goal first period was followed by three goals each in the second. The Bulldogs scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 7-3 win to complete the sweep against the Mavericks.

The following weekend welcomed UMD to back home to AMSOIL Arena for a two-game series against Minnesota.

Despite scoring two unanswered goals in the first period, the Gophers dominated the scoring box for the following two periods. Minnesota topped UMD 4-2 in game one. Game two saw Minnesota score one in both the first and second periods, before UMD’s senior forward Ashton Bell scored in the third. Minnesota led the series on shots 70-60, and swept UMD.

The third series this past weekend saw UMD sweep St. Cloud State at home.

Game one saw UMD tally 27 more shots than St. Cloud, something that paid off for redshirt junior Naomi Rogge. She scored two goals in the second less than two minutes apart. The Bulldogs took the first match 4-0. 

Game two appeared to be a repeat in the shots department, as St. Cloud shot the puck 34 fewer times than UMD. Senior forward Anna Klein scored her sixth goal of the season while Rogge scored her fourth. UMD prevailed 5-1 to take the series and move to a 4-2 overall record.

The Bulldogs are putting up impressive numbers thus far — Anna Klein, Clara Van Wieren and Naomi Rogge lead the league in goals with six, five and four, respectively. UMD leads the league in total goals by more than double the second place team.

“We talk about ourselves more than who we’re playing,” head coach Maura Crowell said in a press conference following the St. Cloud series. “We’re happy with the way we played and where we’re at now. We just look to improve every time we get the chance to play.”

UMD’s season has come to a pause as Wisconsin will be unable to meet minimum player requirements due to COVID-19. The Bulldogs were supposed to travel to Madison this upcoming weekend, but the series has been postponed, according to a WCHA news release.

No games have been scheduled beyond the series at Wisconsin, but play is expected to resume for all member-schools in January after a holiday break.

The WCHA is streaming all of the Bulldogs’ games on FloHockey.tv and btnplus.com.