Feb. 6—DULUTH, Minn. — Minnesota Duluth starting goaltender Adam Gajan is gone this weekend.
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He is with Team Slovakia at the Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.
Yes, the Bulldogs would love to have the Chicago Blackhawks second-round draft pick available for this weekend's series. But maybe it's not all bad to try someone else against UND.
Gajan, a sophomore, has started five collegiate games against UND. He's 1-4 with an .850 save percentage. He's been pulled in three of the five.
Minnesota Duluth will start sophomore Ethan Dahlmeir at 7:07 p.m. Friday at AmsOil Arena. Freshman Cole Sheffield, who has not played yet, will serve as backup.
Dahlmeir has played in three games this season.
He relieved Gajan in Grand Forks in November, stopping all 10 UND shots in 15:20 of work during a 5-1 loss to the Fighting Hawks.
Dahlmeir, a Miami transfer, earned his first two starts in January, taking Saturday night games. He's 2-0 with an .894 save percentage. Dahlmeir beat Lindenwood at home and St. Cloud State on the road.
"If he plays like he can and keeps winning games for us, we're going to have a good goalie dilemma when (Gajan) gets back — a really good problem," Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. "I told him I'm excited for him.
"The next four games, you know it's your net. Go and have some fun with it."
Dahlmeir started a game against UND last year when he was at Miami. He played 25:56, stopping 16 of 18 shots. He left the game due to an injury. The Fighting Hawks rallied against his backup Bruno Bruveris.
UND freshman forward Jack Kernan knows Dahlmeir better than anyone on the Fighting Hawks.
They were teammates with the Des Moines Buccanneers in the United States Hockey League during the 2023-24 season. Dahlmeir was Des Moines' primary starter.
"He played a lot of games for us in Des Moines," Kernan said. "He kept us in a lot of games. It will be a good test. I think if we get him moving and put a lot of pressure on him, we should be able to find cracks in him."
The Bulldogs, who have lost four consecutive one-goal games, are hoping Dahlmeir can be a spark.
Other teams around the country have gotten one from their backup goalie recently.
Providence is 7-0 since starter Philip Svedebäck went down with an injury. Backup Jack Parsons has beaten Maine three times, Boston University twice and Boston College twice.
Michigan is 5-0 since starter Jack Ivankovic suffered an injury. Backup Stephen Peck beat Notre Dame in his first game, then swept Minnesota and Ohio State on the road.
Denver is 3-0 since starter Quentin Miller went down with an injury. Backup Johnny Hicks has a .980 save percentage and has stopped 70 of 71 opponent shots since Miller's injury.
"We've seen it time and time again, whether it was playing Cornell a few years ago and they put their new guy in and he's unbelievable, or obviously Denver, their guy is going in and doing a great job," Jackson said.
Although there's not a large body of work at the college level for UND to study, Jackson said UND's keys remain the same.
"Some of the biggest things we talk about is making it a high-traffic area and getting in goalies' eyes, making the hard shots where we're wrapping and jamming and tipping and getting secondary chances with a lot of guys converging at the net," he said. "I think when you do that, it makes the game so much harder for the goaltender. So, it doesn't matter who is in there. We're going to try to make it a high-traffic area."
UND DUL
20-6 Rec 17-11
3 NPI 8
3.9 (3rd) Off 3.4 (14th)
2.2 (5th) Def 2.5 (16th)
28.6 (4th) PP 32.3 (1st)
80.2 (32nd) PK 87.6 (4th)
53.0 (12th) FO 49.7 (33rd)
.905 (21st) SP .899 (35th)
Note: National rank in parentheses. Categories are record, NPI ranking, offense (goals per game), defense (goals against per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.
UND — F Josh Zakreski out (lower body), F David Klee questionable (undisclosed)
Minnesota Duluth — G Adam Gajan out (Olympics), F Scout Truman probable (upper)
Minnesota Duluth may have the top line in the country in sophomore Max Plante, Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay. Max is the driver of the group, posting 20 goals and 40 points in 28 games. He ranks third nationally in goals and second in points. He is likely the frontrunner for the Hobey Baker Award at this point in the season.
He tallied five points in the first series between the teams — four in the series opener, one in the series finale. He factored in on every Bulldog goal that weekend.
UND freshman forward Ollie Josephson had arguably his best weekend of the year against Minnesota Duluth in November. He scored each night and tallied four points in UND's split with the Bulldogs. Josephson was named NCHC rookie of the week the following Monday.
UND-Minnesota Duluth games are often physical and tight-checking. They're not easy to play in. Josephson's style can handle weekends like that. He's deserved more points than he's generated lately. If he keeps playing like he has, he's going to be rewarded on the scoresheet soon.
"I like Ollie's game so much," Jackson said. "He's such a reliable player. He's a guy that the coaches really believe in, because he does so many good little things. It doesn't always translate to the scoresheet. But he's a highly valuable two-way player, a great penalty killer and whether he's playing in the middle or on the wing, we put a high value on him and think he's an extremely valuable player for his two-way habits and details."
It has now been over six years since Minnesota Duluth has beaten UND in AmsOil Arena. The last time was Jan. 24, 2020. The Fighting Hawks have won seven in a row since that night — 3-2, 4-3, 3-2, 4-2, 2-0, 7-3 and 4-1. There's no way that streak gets to nine games, right?
Friday: 3-2 Minnesota Duluth
Saturday: 4-2 UND
TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD). My 9 Sports locally in Duluth. Zach Schneider play-by-play, Judd Medak analyst, Daniel Chiarelli rinkside.
Stream: NCHChockey.com/tv.
Radio: 96.1 The Fox. Darrin Looker play-by-play, Mike LaMoine analyst.
GFH:
Anthony Menghini never gave up on his childhood dream
GFH: Q&A with goalie Zach Sandy
GFH:
Can UND shut down Minnesota Duluth's big line?
GFH:
Josh Zakreski returns to practice for the Fighting Hawks
GFH:
What did we learn during UND's off week?
GFH:
Tucker Poolman learning to live with rare autoimmune disease
GFH:
Lamoureux twins return to the Olympics
DNT:
Why the Bulldogs shook up their lines last weekend
DNT:
Bulldogs want to show urgency, not panic, during losing skid
Scoring
21 Ben Strinden (NSH), sr, f, 14-12—26
17 Cole Reschny (CGY), fr, f, 4-21—25
29 Ellis Rickwood, sr, f, 6-18—24
26 Dylan James (DET), sr, f, 15-7—22
4 Jake Livanavage, jr, d, 4-18—22
9 Will Zellers (BOS), fr, f, 13-8—21
18 Keaton Verhoeff (2026), fr, d, 6-11—17
7 Mac Swanson (PIT), so, f, 4-13—17
25 Abram Wiebe (CGY), jr, d, 3-12—15
8 Ollie Josephson (SEA), fr, f, 3-9—12
15 Jack Kernan, fr, f, 6-5—11
20 Cade Littler (CGY), so, f, 4-7—11
19 Cody Croal, so, f, 6-3—9
27 Anthony Menghini, jr, f, 5-4—9
14 Tyler Young, sr, f, 2-5—7
13 Sam Laurila (NYI), fr, d, 0-7—7
6 E.J. Emery (NYR), so, d, 2-3—5
22 David Klee (SJS), fr, f, 2-3—5
16 Andrew Strathmann (CBJ), so, d, 1-2—3
2 Bennett Zmolek, sr, d, 1-2—3
24 Josh Zakreski, fr, f, 1-2—3
3 Jayden Jubenvill, so, d, 0-2—2
28 Dalton Andrew, so, f, 0-0—0
11 Ian Engel, fr, d, 0-0—0
35 Jan Špunar, fr, g, 0-0—0
31 Gibson Homer, sr, g, 0-0—0
1 Zach Sandy, sr, g, dnp
Goaltending
35 Jan Špunar, fr, 13-2, 1.73, .923
31 Gibson Homer, sr, 7-4, 2.57, .893
1 Zach Sandy, sr, dnp
Scoring
10 Max Plante (DET), so, f, 20-20—40
27 Zam Plante (PIT), so, f, 11-24—35
17 Jayson Shaugabay (TBL), so, f, 9-26—35
2 Ty Hanson, so, d, 8-19—27
25 Callum Arnott, so, f, 10-14—24
24 Scout Truman, sr, f, 10-3—13
37 Grayden Siepmann, fr, d, 5-6—11
11 Hunter Anderson, fr, f, 2-9—11
13 Daniel Shlaine, fr, f, 5-4—9
6 Adam Kleber (BUF), so, d, 2-7—9
23 Kyle Gaffney, sr, f, 2-6—8
22 Ryan Zaremba, fr, f, 1-7—8
8 Aaron Pionk (MIN), jr, d, 0-7—7
19 Harper Bentz, so, f, 4-0—4
18 Joey Pierce, sr, d, 3-1—4
16 Blake Bechen, so, f, 0-4—4
5 Brady Cleveland (DET), jr, d, 0-2—2
38 Kyler Kovich, 5th, f, 1-0—1
21 Braden Fischer, jr, f, 1-0—1
39 Trevor Stachowiak, so, f, 0-1—1
30 Adam Gajan (CHI), so, g, 0-1—1
28 Luke Bibby, fr, f, 0-0—0
20 Riley Bodnarchuk, sr, d, 0-0—0
3 Jake Toll, fr, d, 0-0—0
35 Ethan Dahlmeir, so, g, 0-0—0
36 Cole Sheffield, fr, g, dnp
Goaltending
30 Adam Gajan (CHI), so, 15-11, 2.29, .905
35 Ethan Dahlmeier, so, 2-0, 3.10, .894
36 Cole Sheffield, fr, dnp