Bulldogs lose another goalie, then game at Arizona State – Duluth News Tribune

TEMPE, Ariz. – Minnesota Duluth not only lost the opening game of its NCHC series at No. 19 in Arizona State 5-3 Friday at Mullett Arena, the Bulldogs lost another goaltender to injury.

Freshman goalie Klayton Knapp made his first collegiate start against the Sun Devils and stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced before leaving the game with a lower-body injury in the third period after giving up his fourth goal.

Freshman starter Adam Gajan did not suit up for the Bulldogs on Friday because of an ankle injury he suffered during practice during the bye week. UMD coach Scott Sandelin said it’s possible Gajan could return to the lineup on Saturday.

Junior Zach Sandy finished the game in goal for UMD, stopping all three shots he faced over the final 14 minutes of regulation, and will likely make his second start of the season Saturday.

“It’s tough to see Knapp go down after the battle he’s put up for us,” Bulldogs senior captain and top line center Dominic James said. “It was his first start so we were happy for him, but (Sandy) jumps right in and didn’t miss a beat. It means something to us and we’re just as excited to get (Sandy) back in the net and see what he can do for us. He has been really good in practice. He has a huge heart for our team.”

James scored two goals and freshman wing Max Plante had the other goal as UMD fell to 5-9 overall and 2-5 in the NCHC with its third straight loss.

“We can’t take a moral victory from this game,” James said. “We’ve got to start winning. We’ve got to start getting three points. Whatever it takes to do that, we’ve got to do it.”

Friday was Sandy’s first action since the season opener after Gajan started the previous 12 games for UMD. Knapp’s only action this season had been two relief appearances of Gajan on 8-9. November in a home loss to North Dakota.

Teammates credited Knapp for keeping the Bulldogs in the game early, including two or three big saves in the opening minute.

“Huge,” James said of the saves Knapp made. “You see it every week in practice. He fights endlessly, so we weren’t too worried about him. You see it in the game. That translates to the game. He made some big, important saves for us and really kept that game from getting out of hand.”

UMD’s urgency came too late Friday. The Bulldogs gave up two goals in a span of 1 minute, 52 seconds in the first six minutes of the third period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-1 deficit.

“We took our foot off the gas,” UMD junior defensive end and alternate Aiden Dubinsky said. “We had the momentum pretty much the whole game, outplayed them, outplayed them, and we just can’t hold on for breaks. We should have won that game.”

UMD outscored the Sun Devils 38-28 on Friday, including 12-9 in the third period.

Max Plante and James scored two goals within a minute of each other to pull UMD back within a goal, but the rush was too late for Sandelin, who is tired of just being close to winning.

“We definitely had opportunities,” Sandelin said. “We had to hang on and play with the desperation or the urgency that you saw in the last 10 or 12 minutes. If you do that for 60 minutes, you give yourself a chance to win. It doesn’t mean, that you’re going to win, but it’s going to give you a chance to win. You can’t wait until you’re down 4-1.”

The Bulldogs failed to finish off a number of Grade A scoring chances on Friday with sophomore wing Matthew Perkins and junior defenseman Joey Pierce coming up empty on a pair of looks each in the first two periods.

Junior wing Kyle Bettens was also stopped on a solo layup in the second, and freshman wing Harper Bentz was robbed by ASU senior goalie Luke Pavicich early in the third.

“You have to persevere, it’s that simple,” Sandelin said. “We could have had four or five goals if the guys were just down, but we’re not. You’ve got to reduce the chances. Some games you might get two or three, but you’ve got to score on one or two of them. You must.”

Sandelin said the team’s inability to finish scoring chances is frustrating.

“You have to be ready,” Sandelin said. “You can’t be, ‘Oh wow’. If you want to score goals, you have to be ready in those areas. A couple of times the guys weren’t ready. It’s that simple. Take the chances and maybe it’s a different game. Maybe whether it ends up being a 7-6 game, I don’t know.”

James scored on two of his three Grade A chances, early in the second period, he put away his first feed from first wing Max Plante to tie the game at 1–1, but then received a feed from Plante late in the second period.

He connected fully with a puck thrown his way by sophomore wing Anthony Menghini in the third period that pulled the Bulldogs within a goal, redirecting the puck out of the air and into the net, top shelf.

Max Plante scored his first college goal on Friday after big brother and freshman Zam Plante jumped his younger brother for a solo breakout. Max Plante also had an assist Friday to give him five points in four games this season.

Fifth-year senior wing Joe Molenaar was also out Friday after being ruled questionable during the week with a lower body injury.

UMD’s penalty kill got off to a rough start Friday, gave up two goals on his first kill 8:14 into the game when senior defenseman Owen Gallatin was called for hooking. The first goal was wiped out when Scott Sandelin successfully challenged for offside and the clock was turned back 16 seconds. It took ASU 19 seconds after the turnover to get the power play goal back.

The Bulldogs finished 1-for-2 on the penalty kill Friday and 0-for-1 on the power play.

Arizona State freshman Cullen Potter is the son of former Bulldog Jenny Potter. Cullen Potter was the Sun Devils’ top line center on Friday, and he scored his fourth goal of the season 5:15 into the second period to put ASU up 2-1.

Ty Jackson, Ryan Alexander, Dylan Jackson and Sam Court also scored for ASU, with Court being the empty-netter to get the win.

Cullen Potter is just 17, having played just one season in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program with the U17s in 2023-24. He decommitted from Michigan State to enter college a year early and play for Arizona State.

Jenny Potter is the all-time leading scorer for the UMD women’s hockey program, having amassed 256 points in 102 games over three seasons from 1999-2000 and 2002-04. She was part of UMD’s third straight NCAA title in 2003.

The Bulldogs and Sun Devils meet again at 6pm CST at Mullett Arena in Tempe. It is the Bulldogs’ final game before a 24-day holiday layoff that culminates with a New Year’s Eve game at Bemidji State.

Minnesota Duluth 0-1-2—3
Arizona State 1-1-3—5
First period
1. ASU, Ty Jackson (Dylan Jackson, Sam Court), 9:53 (pp)
Second period
2. UMD, Dominic James (Max Plante, Jayson Shaugabay), 0:52
3. ASU, Cullen Potter (Bennett Schimek, Lukas Sillinger), 5:14
Third period
4. ASU, Ryan Alexander (Artem Shlaine, Anthony Dowd), 4:04
5. ASU, D. Jackson (T. Jackson, Ryan Kirwan), 5:56
6. UMD, M. Plante (Zam Plante), 7:58
7. UMD, James (Anthony Menghini, Aiden Dubinsky), 8:59
8. ASU, Court, 19:51 (da)
Saves — Klayton Knapp, UMD, 20; Zach Sandy, UMD, 3; Luke Pavicich, ASU, 35.
power play – UMD 0-1; ASU 1-2. Punishment – UMD 2-4; ASU 1-2.