The UMD men continue their homestand this weekend against Omaha, and one of the big stories is the return of the Maroon Loon.
The Loon was part of UMD games at the DECC for around a quarter century, starting in the 1980s. Its last appearance at a Bulldog game was the DECC’s last game in December 2010. As we approach the 15th anniversary of Amsoil Arena’s opening, the legendary mascot will be on hand for this weekend’s games against Omaha.
UMD coach Scott Sandelin couldn’t offer up any memories of the Loon from his playing/coaching career at North Dakota, when asked at his weekly media conference. Forward Zam Plante said he remembered seeing the Loon at that DECC finale, but Max Plante said he was too young (Zam was six years old that night, Max was four, so that checks).
(Also, when did I get so old?)
9 THOUGHTS
1. By now, dear reader, I’m trusting that you’re aware Max Plante joined some elite company on Saturday night, when his overtime goal beat St. Cloud State and brought his career point total to 50 in all of 35 total games. Only Dan Lempe (26 games) and Huffer Christiansen (34) did it faster at UMD.
That means Max Plante got to 50 faster than Brett Hull. Faster than Bill Watson. Faster than anyone else, including Derek Plante, Max’s father.
“That’s awesome,” Sandelin said. “Probably would have been quicker if he would played last year. He’s in great company. Some big time names that have been in our program.
“Pretty special company.”
Did Derek hear about that from his child?
“We had dinner last night,” Max Plante said Wednesday. “We didn’t talk about that.”
What did you guys talk about?
“We just got some pointers on the power play,” Max said.
The advice? “Keep making plays,” Zam said.
“When we get in the zone,” Max said, “I feel like we make a lot of stuff happen. So just like using different techniques to get into the zone.”
2. It was not lost on us that Zam Plante tried to score a “Michigan” (a lacrosse-style goal, for those unaware) on Friday night against St. Cloud State. At least, it looked like he was going to try it.
“I got it up,” he said, “got a little ‘ooh’ from the student section, and put it back down. With my two attempts in the history, it’s been pretty much the same thing. Goes up, everybody goes ‘ooh’, and then I put it back down and reset the puck. It’s fun.”
Zam Plante said he tried it during the quarterfinals of the 2022 Class A state tournament, which Hermantown ended up winning (in a classic of a final against Warroad, featuring some guy named Jayson Shaugabay).
“I got stuck behind the net and put it on my stick and then didn’t do anything, put it right back down. It’s never worked.”
Fret not, because one of the Plante brothers has pulled off a Michigan goal in their lives. It’s the youngest, Victor Plante, who is on track to join UMD next season.
“Victor’s pulled it off,” Zam said. “He’s got a sick picture of it, too,” Max added.
(Zam said Victor was “probably 12 years old” when he did it.)
3. Zam Plante wasn’t the only UMD player to try something cool during Friday’s 4-0 win over St. Cloud State.
Sophomore goalie Adam Gajan got possession of a puck off a St. Cloud dump in late in the game, with Huskies goalie Patriks Berzins pulled for an extra attacker. He got the puck to his forehand and tried to send it into the empty net.
Didn’t work. SCSU defenseman Cooper Wylie was waiting for it at the center point to hold the puck in the UMD zone.
“Get it higher,” Zam said when asked if he had any pointers for his goalie.
Sandelin, by the way, said the same thing.
4. It’s your humble correspondent’s view that unconfident players don’t try things like this. I’m not saying that all confident players do. But the moxie necessary to even consider a “Michigan” or a goalie goal doesn’t exist in a player who isn’t feeling it. Whatever “it” actually is, because us mere mortals don’t necessarily get to do that.
“They have confidence because they prepare the right way,” Sandelin said. “They prepare through practice. When you have preparation, preparation leads to confidence. If you don’t prepare properly, you don’t have as much confidence. You’re seeing that with the way they play. But it’s not any different every day.
“That’s what I keep saying. They’re the same in practice. They work hard. They prepare themselves. They do the things they need to do to get ready for every day, not just the weekends. And that’s why they’re getting rewarded with what their starts have been.”
5. One player who appears to be really gaining confidence as we go is freshman defenseman Grayden Siepmann. UMD’s only recruit out of the major junior ranks this season, Siepmann’s skating has stood out from the start, but now you can see he’s starting to gain more and more understanding of when he can jump up into the offense and how to make a difference when doing so.
“It’s still a learning curve, yes,” Sandelin said, “but I think him finding the net a little bit and contributing on the offensive side. certainly probably helps his confidence a little bit too. But yeah, I think he’s played well. Some of his D zone exits and the way he protects pucks and makes little subtle plays under pressure. We’ve seen that pretty much all year, but I hope it’s a sign that he keeps going the way we’re seeing right now.”
Sandelin was asked about moving Siepmann from the second pairing with Aaron Pionk to the third with Brady Cleveland.
“I like the pairing on paper,” Sandelin said, “because I think you got a big guy that can bring a physical presence, you got a guy that’s got really good feet and can make good outlet passes. I think that’s a good compliment and I think they’re growing together. Earlier in the year, we had Aaron and Sieps (Siepmann) and when we switched we just felt maybe these are better pairings for how guys need to play. I think it’s been good and I still think it’s growing.”
(Worth noting that UMD has dressed seven defensemen for each of its 12 games so far this season, so either Riley Bodnarchuk or Jake Toll will rotate in with the “main” pairings.)
6. Sandelin challenged his group after a tough second period Saturday against St. Cloud. The Huskies outshot UMD 12-5 in that second period, scoring their only two goals of the weekend series.
The Bulldogs responded. Siepmann scored inside of three minutes into the third to tie the game, and the Bulldogs had impressive control over the last five-ish minutes of regulation time.
Sandelin spoke about his team’s response.
“Well, we didn’t have a choice. I mean, we didn’t play very good second period. We didn’t play a very good 25-30 minutes from the end of the first period to there. We got through it only down a goal, which was good. And so we talked about ‘You’ve got a period to win a game,’ and thought our third period was our best period. Had opportunities, especially at the end of the game, to put it away in regulation. I like how we bounced back because I think St. Cloud had all the momentum. Adam (Gajan) was a big part of that too, keeping it a one goal game.
“Our team needs to be in those situations. We’ve had the lead a lot. We’ve played with the lead a lot, unlike last year where we played from behind a lot. But you’re going to be in those situations where you got to find ways to win games, whether you’re down a goal, two goals, maybe even three goals, or even tied. When you’re ahead, you gotta learn how to close out games. It was a good situation to be in, and I like how our guys played in the third period to give ourselves a chance to win a game.”
“Sandy wasn’t too pleased with our first two periods,” Max Plante said. “We thought we were playing all right, but we obviously weren’t very good. He just wanted 20 minutes. It’s a 60 minute game. If win the final 20, you can have a chance to win the game.”
7. The Bulldogs will face an Omaha team coming in hungry this weekend. After a two-game sweep at Colorado College to start NCHC play, the Mavericks were swept at home (an aggregate of 11-3) last weekend by North Dakota.
Omaha coach Mike Gabinet went a different route to build his 2025-26 roster, bringing in a group of 15 newcomers heavy on CHL and USports (Canadian college hockey) experience.
Two such players, sophomore Maxime Pellerin and freshman Luke Woodworth, are tied for the team lead with eight points in eight games. Senior goalie Simon Latkoczy will look to shake off a tough weekend against North Dakota, one that brought his save percentage from .925 down to .898 (he allowed 10 goals on 50 shots).
(Some of that is a product of the chances Omaha has been giving up. The Mavericks have been hemorrhaging chances so far this season, and it finally caught up with them last weekend, facing a North Dakota team with some serious skill all over the ice. If Omaha isn’t stronger defensively, it’ll be interesting to see if UMD can experience similar success, or if Latkoczy can pull another rabbit or two out of his hat, something he’s done plenty of against UMD in his career.)
“They’re good,” Sandelin said of Omaha. “Their MO doesn’t change. They work hard. They’ve got some talent. Obviously a really good goaltender in Latkoczy who can win games for them, like he’s done in the past. He’s had a good start too.
“It’s an NCHC game. It’s going to be a major challenge. I’m sure they’re not happy about last weekend. We can’t live off last weekend. We’ve got to get better and get ready to play. Again, it’s going to be a real hard series. They’ve always been a team that plays hard, plays heavy, plays fast.
“Some of their guys I’m seeing for the first time on tape. They’ve got some talent and experience. It will be a good challenge.”
8. Going to be a really intriguing weekend in the NCHC. A Western Michigan team that just got swept at home by Denver will try to turn things around against Miami. It’s exceptionally early, still, but if the season ended today (I hate this phrase but it must be used here), Western Michigan would be the team left out of the NCHC playoffs.
Miami, meanwhile, is one of the stories of this season. Anthony Noreen brought in 21 new players, and many of them are leading the way in what’s been a pretty significant turnaround. The RedHawks won three games all of last season, and they are now 7-1 this year. Their win over Arizona State Nov. 1 was their first NCHC win since January of 2024.
If Miami takes points out of Lawson, a lot of people — present company included — will be looking to throw their NCHC preseason predictions into the nearest fire pit.
Elsewhere, Colorado College and Denver start their annual Gold Pan series in Denver, playing Saturday in Colorado Springs (where we will head next week). Arizona State makes its first-ever trip to North Dakota, something I know Greg Powers told me last year he was psyched to do and mad he had to wait a year on it, as the Sun Devils didn’t play there last year.
9. The UMD women return to action this weekend at St. Thomas, with Friday’s game at UST’s new practice rink (don’t get me started). They play Saturday afternoon at the new Anderson Arena (the practice rink is attached to the new building, which is in use for women’s basketball Friday).
The Bulldogs had last week off, giving sophomore forward Caitlin Kraemer and junior goalie Eve Gascon the chance to play for Canada at the Rivalry Series against Team USA in Cleveland and Buffalo. Both made their senior national team debuts, with Gascon drawing the start last Thursday in Cleveland, a 4-1 U.S. win.
While they were away at a pre-Rivalry Series camp (and also getting to attend Games 6 and 7 of the World Series in Toronto*), UMD swept St. Cloud State in its last games on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Freshman goalie Sophia Villanueva, pressed into duty by a Gascon injury against Minnesota the previous weekend, earned WCHA Rookie of the Week honors with 63 saves on 68 shots. Head coach Laura Schuler said that, while the circumstances of her college debut against the Gophers weren’t ideal for anyone, the experience was useful.
(* – Kraemer was quick to point out that Gascon was learning finer points of baseball on the fly from her Canadian teammates, and Gascon admitted she wasn’t a baseball fan growing up.)
“I think it got some of the nerves out,” Schuler said. “At the same time, I think our our team prepares everybody every single day in practice. We talk about earning it every single day in practices and competing hard, so that when it comes to game time, it’s almost — I wouldn’t say easier — but we’re ready for it.”
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We’ve got the Omaha games on Northland News Radio. Pregames at 6:30pm Friday, 5:30pm Saturday. Don’t forget that, if you’re attending Saturday, the team is signing autographs after the game in the arena lobby. Always a fun bit for the kids and a chance to get to meet the players in person.
Back pregame Friday with lines and other notes.
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