DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin provided a positive update surrounding the status of sophomore winger Max Plante ahead of the Bulldogs’ series against Lindenwood this weekend.
Plante, who suffered an upper-body injury during the second period of a World Junior Championship preliminary game against Slovakia on Monday, Dec. 29, appears poised to make his return to the ice against the Lions.
“He has a really good chance to play this weekend,” Sandelin said at Wednesday’s press conference. “He’s had a couple of good days of practice.”
As a result of the injury, Plante was forced to miss Team USA’s final two games of the tournament against Sweden and Finland.
He finished the tournament with one goal in three games.
“(I’m) disappointed I couldn’t be out there battling for the boys,” said Plante. “… It was over faster than I thought it even started.”
According to Plante, his inability to finish the tournament provides extra motivation for the latter half of the season.
“It’s just a little more fuel for the fire now for playing here at UMD,” he said.
Prior to his participation in the World Junior tournament, Plante had compiled 30 points (16-14—30) in 20 games for the Bulldogs, which currently ranks third in the country behind only Bennett Schimek (10-21—31) and Cruz Lucius (12-20—32) of Arizona State.
His impact extends well beyond the stat sheet, however.
“He’s not out there so much worried about points,” said Sandelin. “At the end of the day he wants to win.”
The Bulldogs (14-6-0) open their post-holiday break with their final nonconference series of the season, against Lindenwood, a team coming off a road split against Canisius last weekend.
Minnesota Duluth forward Ryan Zaremba (22) skates with the puck against St. Cloud State defenseman Mason Reiners (6) on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
The Lions fired 75 shots on goal in the series finale on Saturday, Jan. 3, in what amounted to a 4-3 regulation loss to the Golden Griffins.
Sandelin expects a motivated group coming to Amsoil Arena this weekend.
“This is good preparation for the rest of the second half, and we’re going to get challenged by a team that’s not going to give you a lot,” he said. “They’re going to work extremely hard—they’re very competitive.”
Matching their compete level will be crucial, he added.
“Anybody that you play in college hockey, if you don’t respect them the way you should, you’re going to get beat,” said Sandelin.
For Plante, the focus remains on exceeding their goal of an 8-2 nonconference record with a series sweep over the Lions before turning their attention back to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference for the remainder of the season.
“We want to win the Penrose (Cup), we want to win our league, and I think to achieve that we just need to have a better second half than we had in the first half,” said Plante.
Knapp returns to Amsoil Arena
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Klayton Knapp (37) lifts his helmet and sprays his water bottle during a pause in the game against Arizona State on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
The second half of the Bulldogs’ 2024-25 freshman goaltending duo, Klayton Knapp, returns to Amsoil Arena this weekend as one half of Lindenwood’s 2025-26 goaltending rotation.
Knapp, one of seven Bulldogs to transfer out of the program after last season, has started 10 of the Lions’ 18 games this season after transferring in over the summer. He originally transferred to Michigan Tech, but head coach Joe Shawhan was replaced in May by Bill Muckalt,
who brought his own goalie with him from Lindenwood.
Knapp, a sophomore, has struggled, with an .874 save percentage and 4.64 goals against average. He got back-to-back starts early in the season against Wisconsin, Denver and Miami — making 30 saves in an upset win over the Pioneers, but getting yanked halfway through a loss to the RedHawks after giving up four goals on 19 shots.
Knapp, who is 3-6 as the goalie of record, didn’t play for the Lions last weekend against Canisius, with freshman Liam Beerman getting both starts in the split. Beerman has a .918 save percentage and 2.59 GAA with a 6-3 record.
Jake Przytarski is a sports reporter for the Duluth News Tribune covering a mix of local prep and collegiate teams.