Freshman class brings excitement to Bulldogs in 2024-25
DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth senior center and captain Dominic James grew up a fan of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, having grown up in Plymouth, Michigan — a suburb west of Hockeytown.
James' fandom switched in July 2022 when one of the Red Wings' Original Six rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, selected him in the sixth round, No. 173 overall, of the NHL Draft. He no longer roots for Detroit, though, he recently became a fan of one Red Wing.
The Bulldogs captain is a supporter of a prospect named Max Plante.
"So cool to see him go the second round there," James said.
Plante — a Hermantown native and son of UMD hockey legend Derek Plante — is a 2024 second-round pick of the Wings, No. 47 overall, and one of 12 new teammates of James at UMD. Plante is one of 11 freshmen that Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin has brought in for the 2024-25 season where his team hopes to get back its winning ways and back to the NCAA tournament following back-to-back losing seasons that left UMD out of the postseason come mid-March.
From 2014-15 through the 2021-22 season, the only thing that could slow down the Bulldogs men's hockey program was a pandemic. UMD won three NCHC Frozen Faceoff championships, made seven straight NCAA tournament appearances, went to four straight NCAA Frozen Fours, appeared in three consecutive NCAA championship games and won back-to-back national championships in 2018 and 2019.
UMD went 12-20-5 last season, finishing seventh in the NCHC, for its lowest winning percentage since 11-25-4 in 2006-07.
"Our program has high standards, and our guys know that," Sandelin said. "We want to get back to where we were. The last couple years have been tough. Last year was probably a really difficult year for everybody.
"We got some really good players that are going to be fun to see grow, and they want to win. They know why they came here. They want to be part of that, and we want to try and get back there."
The Bulldogs are rebuilding — or reloading? — with just a single transfer from the portal in former St. Cloud State forward Joe Molenaar. He's also the team's only fifth-year senior in what is the final season of fifth-year seniors who received an extra year for playing during COVID-19 in 2020-21.
Sandelin's 11-member 2024-25 freshman class includes five NHL draft picks, including 6-foot-5, 210-pound defenseman Adam Kleber, who also went in the second round in 2024 along with Plante. The Chaska, Minnesota native was drafted No. 42 overall by the Buffalo Sabres.
Freshman forward Jayson Shaugabay (Tampa Bay Lightning) — the 2023 Minnesota Mr. Hockey out of Warroad — and goaltender Adam Gajan (Blackhawks) of Slovakia are both 2023 draft picks, when sophomore forward Matthew Perkins (Vancouver Canucks) and sophomore defenseman Aaron Pionk (Minnesota Wild) were also taken.
Then there is Max Plante's older brother, Zam, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2022 when James was selected. The 2022 News Tribune All-Area Player of the Year out of Hermantown finally arrives at UMD at the age of 20 with a healthy shoulder and a USHL Clark Cup title to his name, won last year in Fargo after scoring 23 goals and 51 assists in 69 games.
Talking about this year's freshmen class while recording an upcoming episode of the News Tribune's Bulldog Insider Podcast, Zam Plante used the word, "fun" three times (at least) to describe what it's like being part of this group thus far.
"It's fun. We have, how many Minnesotans?," Zam asked?
"A lot," Max replied.
"We've all played together," Zam Plante said. "We've all known each other. Then the other guys come in, we meet them in May or June. We've played against them before. It's a fun group of guys. We've been talking to each other before. It's fun to come in together. We'll see how it goes."
Max Plante said he and Kleber — the two youngest players on a UMD team with an average age of 21.11 years old — have been playing with or against each other since they were around 8, though Kleber is now 4-5 inches taller now.
The Plantes are also familiar with a defenseman named Ty Hanson, who won a state title with them at Hermantown in 2022. One of five Hermantown natives on this year's Bulldogs roster — along with Pionk and junior defenseman Joey Pierce — Hanson was second among USHL defensemen in scoring during the 2023-24 regular season with 47 points off 10 goals and 37 assists.
Hanson is one of four undrafted, incoming UMD freshman coming off a big second full season at the junior level. Forwards Callum Arnott of King City, Ontario; Blake Bechen of Dubuque, Iowa; and Harper Bentz of Moorhead, Minnesota, scored 20 or more goals during the regular season. Bechen and Bentz both produced in the USHL while Arnott led the Penticton Vees in scoring, finishing top 10 in goals (27) and points (53) in the BCHL during the regular season.
James said it's an exciting freshmen class that is excited to be Bulldogs. It's a class he's been hearing about for a while, and it's been fun to see them in action so far this preseason.
"It's going to take some time here, but when it clicks, it's going to be awesome," James said. "I definitely believe we can get back to where we were."
Sandelin is excited about his freshman class, but he's also encouraged about what he's seen from the 15 players returning from the 2023-24 Bulldogs. They've been some of the best players early on and leading the way, Sandelin said.
"There's some guys that have some things that they personally want to prove," Sandelin said, "that maybe they haven't been able to do based on either not being in the lineup as much or having some injuries that have kept them out."
Senior defenseman Owen Gallatin — named an alternate captain this fall along with Pierce and junior defenseman Aidan Dubinsky — is the Bulldogs' top returning scorer from last year. His 30 points were second on the team — first among defensemen — and his 23 assists led.
UMD returns six of its seven defensemen from last season, not including the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Will Francis, who redshirted in 2023-24 while undergoing cancer treatment for a second time in his young life.
Sandelin said they've missed the "edge" that Francis plays with. Francis is one of a handful of returnees who have dealt with health issues — though none as life-threatening as Francis — the past couple seasons, and the coach is excited to see what they can do when healthy.
That includes a couple of centers like junior Jack Smith, and senior Carter Loney. Sandelin said many people probably don't know that Loney has been playing through injuries each of the previous two seasons.
"It's fun to see him healthy, and I want him to stay that way so he can have the kind of year that he's been wanting to have as a healthy player," Sandelin said.
UMD's biggest question mark going into the 2024-25 season is in goal, because it features a trio of goaltenders who have played a combined 64 minutes, 53 seconds in a regular season NCAA Division I hockey game.
Those minutes all belong to junior Zach Sandy, the third-stringer the last two years, who made his one and only regular season appearance in a 6-5 win over St. Cloud State at Amsoil Arena on March 8 — the second-to-last game of the regular season.
Sandelin's 11-member freshman class includes two goalies. Gajan — the highest goaltender drafted in 2023, going No. 35 overall in the second round to the Blackhawks — is the goalie most see as the prospective No. 1.
The 6-foot-2, 20-year-old who shined for Slovakia at the last two IIHF World Junior Championships had a breakout year in 2022-23 with the NAHL's Chippewa Steel and USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, but struggled in 2023-24 playing a full season with Green Bay. Though, despite finishing with a sub-.900 save percentage and over 3.00 goals against average, he still went 23-12-4 as the starter.
His competition, in addition to Sandy, will be Klayton Knapp, who turns 21 in October. The Waterville, Ohio, native also stands 6-foot-2, has bounced between the NAHL and USHL the last three years, also playing in Green Bay for a short stint like Gajan did in 2022-23. Knapp is coming off a season in which he finished with a .921 save percentage and 2.32 GAA in 30 games with the Bismarck Bobcats of the NAHL.
Gajan had a .917 save percentage and 2.57 GAA in 34 NAHL games in 2022-23.
"Adam comes in with high, high credentials, and Klayton had a really good junior career," Sandelin said. "(Knapp) knew the situation and still wanted to come here. He knew Adam was coming, so it tells you a lot about him, that he's not afraid of competition. I think that position is going to have it."
Sandelin thinks every position will have competition this year, not just goaltender.
That's a good recipe for success. It's a better one than how many NHL draft picks you have, or how high those picks have been.
"I've said this every year: We need competition," Sandelin said. "The last couple of years we haven't had it because of injuries, or as much as we need to. I don't think that's helped us get better as a team. This year I'm hoping that we can have that at the forward position with 15, and we've got nine defensemen and three goalies. It's probably one more player we're carrying than we always have. It should be good."
