1 week Ago By Matt Wellens
DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth, with its 11 freshmen, scored its biggest win of the 2024-25 season on Friday at Amsoil Arena, beating No. 5 Denver 4-3 in NCHC play. Sophomore defenseman Aaron Pionk and freshman wing Max Plante both scored on the power play for the Bulldogs while junior wing Kyle Bettens got his first goal of 2024-25 late in the second period.
ADVERTISEMENT Sophomore wing Anthony Menghini added what proved to be a key goal for the Bulldogs in the third. Sophomore wing Sam Harris, junior wing Rieger Lorenz and senior wing Jack Devine scored for Denver, with Lorenz and Devine getting goals in the third period to turn a three-goal Bulldogs lead into one. Bulldogs freshman goaltender Klayton Knapp made 42 saves while Denver sophomore goalie Freddie Halyk stopped 26 shots in his second start of the season, playing over senior Matt Davis on Friday.
Highlights It was a good night for UMD’s Hermantown Hawks. Four of the Bulldogs’ five Hermantown natives combined to record two goals (Max Plante and Pionk) and three assists (freshman wing Zam Plante, Max Plante and freshman defenseman Ty Hanson). The fifth of the bunch, junior defenseman Joey Pierce, had a solid shoulder-to-chest hit on Pioneers’ senior captain Carter King in the second.
The Bulldogs’ power play made quick work of Denver, going 2-for-2 to start while using a combined 31 seconds to score the two power play goals. Pionk’s goal — which whizzed down the middle past a screen set by freshman center Callum Arnott — came 19 seconds into the advantage. It was a tic-tac-toe play that ended with an Arnott feed to Max Plante in the middle and required only 12 seconds.
Both goals came from the new-look first UMD power play unit of the Plante brothers, freshman wing Jayson Shaugabay, Pionk and Arnott. ADVERTISEMENT Bettens has had good luck scoring on the Pioneers. While his top-shelf shot in the second period was his first of the season, it’s his 12th goal in 90 career games at UMD.
His last goal came in the last game of the 2023-24 season. He had a goal and an assist in Game 2 of the NCHC quarterfinal series at Denver. Carter Loney and Adam Gajan returned from injury on Friday.
Loney, a senior wing, missed last weekend’s series at Colorado College with an upper-body injury while Gajan, a freshman goaltender, missed the previous nine games with an ankle injury. Gajan, who started 12 of the first 13 games, was listed as UMD’s third goaltender on Friday. Freshman wing Harper Bentz remained out of the lineup with an upper-body injury.
He also did not make the trip to Colorado College last week after getting injured on Jan. 11 against St. Cloud State.
Denver sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp took a skate to the chin after colliding with UMD fifth-year senior forward Joe Molenaar midway through the first period. Pohlkamp skated straight to the bench where he was attended to before going back to the locker room. Usually wearing No.
23 — but that jersey had blood on it — he returned in the second period wearing a No. 29 jersey with no nameplate. He got his No.
23 washed in time for the third period. Up next The Bulldogs and Pioneers return to Amsoil Arena at 6:07 p.m.
Friday to wrap up their only regular season series of 2024-25. UMD gets its final bye week Jan. 31-Feb.
1 before traveling to Omaha on Feb. 7-8..
