DULUTH — Fifth-ranked Minnesota Duluth held off Arizona State for a 3-1 victory in NCHC play Friday at Amsoil Arena, improving to 10-0 this season in series openers on Friday nights.
Sophomore wing Max Plante, the nation’s leading scorer with 29 points, senior center Kyle Gaffney and freshman wing Daniel Shlaine scored for the Bulldogs (14-5 overall, 7-3 NCHC), who had to kill off a major penalty in the final six-plus minutes.
Bulldogs sophomore goaltender Adam Gajan made 16 saves as the Sun Devils were limited to just 17 shots on goal. ASU (7-9-1, 3-5-1) had just five shots on goal in the third period, despite being on a major power play for five minutes.
“I thought it was an interesting call, but anyway, our guys on the bench were great,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “They were like, ‘Hey, whether it’s two or five, we got to go get the job done,’ and we did. Adam made a couple saves, but those guys did a great job.”
ASU senior goalie Connor Hasley, a transfer from Bentley, finished with 36 saves. Sophomore wing Ty Nash, an Arizona native who transferred home from University of Alberta, scored the Sun Devils’ goal.
Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin talks to his players against Arizona State on Friday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. The game was Sandelin’s 1,000th career game.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Friday was Scott Sandelin’s 1,000th game as head coach of the Bulldogs.
He’s the first bench boss at UMD to coach a thousand games,
and he’s the 27th in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey to accomplish the feat. Sandelin was honored before Friday’s game with a video tribute after introductions. He was celebrated again by his team in the locker room after the win.
Sandelin said he told the team before the game that all he wanted was a win to celebrate Game 1,000. Senior captain and defenseman Joey Pierce of Hermantown said it was really special to get Sandelin that win.
“I’ve been a small part of his time here. It’s pretty crazy how long he’s been here. A thousand games in college hockey is crazy,” Pierce said. “We were watching that video. I was standing next to Adam Kleber and he said, ‘I got chills right now watching all the national championships.’ When we got around the net, I said, ‘If you can’t get excited after watching that, I don’t know what you’re going to get excited for.’ It’s special that we got to be part of it and unbelievable that we got a win.”
Minnesota Duluth defenseman Joey Pierce (18) shoots the puck against Arizona State on Friday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Arizona State junior captain Kyle Smolen had to be carried back to the locker room with 6:11 to play in the game after getting leveled by Kleber, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-6, 229-pound sophomore defenseman. The hit resulted in an interference major on Kleber and a five-minute power play for ASU after a video review.
The Bulldogs killed off the major, getting an empty-net goal from Shlaine just as Kleber was released to clinch the win. ASU only mustered two shots on goal during the major, while needing two saves on shorthanded solo breakaways by Max Plante.
“The hit, we thought it was clean, I don’t know,” Pierce said. “That gives us more motivation when it’s a hard penalty like that. It’s not someone slashing someone, or what we call a lazy penalty. It’s a hard penalty, and it gives us a little more motivation to kill. We said we were going to take quick shifts and we’re going to kill it off regardless if it was a two or five.
“We were probably 100% sure Max was going to score on one of those, he didn’t, but I think he won’t miss the next one.”
Minnesota Duluth forward Max Plante (10) shoots the puck against Arizona State goaltender Connor Hasley (33) on Friday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Arizona State was unable to provide an official update on Smolen’s condition Friday night. Smolen was unable to stand up or leave the ice under his own power after the hit.
Gaffney scored his first goal as a Bulldog on his new-look line. Sandelin mixed up his forward lines Friday, moving sophomore forward Callum Arnott from second-line wing to third-line center while Shlaine was moved out of the middle to wing beside Arnott.
Freshman wing Hunter Anderson took Arnott’s spot with Gaffney and fellow senior transfer Scout Truman. The trio teamed up to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead late in the second period with Anderson feeding a wide-open Gaffney for a shot on a wide-open ASU net.
Minnesota Duluth forward Scout Truman (24) skates with the puck against Arizona State on Friday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“Just trying some things,” Sandelin said of the switches. “We’re still not where we need to be, but I saw some good things. You got to try things, right? You try things in practice, too, but you got to see guys in games.”
The change resulted in the first goal at UMD for Gaffney, who came in this offseason from Alaska. He had five assists in his first 18 games as a Bulldog. Truman, out of UMass Lowell, picked up his first assist at UMD after scoring eight goals in the first 18 games.
“I’ve had some chances throughout the year, I probably should have buried some of them,” said Gaffney, who then took the blame for Truman not getting an assist earlier at UMD. “I should have buried some earlier in the year and gave him some assists as well.
“We’ve been working well together. Nice to finally get him his apple, too.”
Minnesota Duluth forward Max Plante (10) skates with the puck against Arizona State on Friday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Max Plante and Co. ran it back on the power play in the second period, scoring on the exact same play that they used to convert on the man advantage exactly one week ago against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sophomore wing Jayson Shaugabay sent the puck down to Arnott who hit Plante in the slot for a quick shot.
The power play goal was UMD’s fourth in its last five power play attempts. UMD is 6-for-10 on the power play over the last five games.
The Sun Devils struck first to lead 1-0 after the first on Friday. ASU, which was held to five shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, had just as many odd-man rushes into the UMD zone. As the shots on goal stat suggests, few resulted in a scoring chance until Nash was able to beat UMD junior defenseman Brady Cleveland on a 2-on-1 attack late in the first period.
“It was an interesting game, it was kind of helter-skelter,” Sandelin said. “I felt at times that our first period was not great. I thought our second period got back to doing some better things. We have some things to clean up for tomorrow. We’ll take the win. It’s never easy to win in this league.”
The Bulldogs play one final game in 2025 at 5 p.m. Saturday against Arizona State at Amsoil Arena before taking a two-week holiday break. UMD returns to Amsoil Arena on Jan. 2 to host Manitoba in an exhibition.
Minnesota Duluth forward Daniel Shlaine (13) celebrates with the bench after scoring a goal against Arizona State on Friday.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Arizona State 1-0-0—1
Minnesota Duluth 0-2-1—3
First period
1. ASU, Ty Nash (Sean McGurn, Noah Powell), 17:00
Second period
2. UMD, Max Plante (Callum Arnott, Jayson Shaugabay), 7:37 (pp)
3. UMD, Kyle Gaffney (Hunter Anderson, Scout Truman), 15:31
Third period
4. UMD, Daniel Shlaine, 18:50 (en).
Saves — Connor Hasley, ASU, 36; Adam Gajan, UMD, 16.
Power plays — ASU 0-2; UMD 1-1. Penalties — ASU 1-2; UMD 2-7.
Minnesota Duluth forward Zam Plante (27) skates with the puck against Arizona State forward Noah Powell (15) on Friday.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Minnesota Duluth forward Zam Plante (27) skates with the puck against Arizona State forward Bennett Schimek (23) on Friday.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Minnesota Duluth players celebrate a third-period goal against Arizona State on Friday.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Minnesota Duluth forward Hunter Anderson (11) passes the puck against Arizona State on Friday.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group