Tough regular season ends in special fashion for UMD seniors - Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — The final game at Amsoil Arena was a special night for a Minnesota Duluth fifth-grader.

Winger Connor McMenamin had a goal and an assist, goaltender Matthew Thiessen made a career-high 52 saves, captain Luke Rohit found the back of the net off a painful block, and the Bulldogs defeated St. Cloud State by 4. -2 lead. Amsoil Arena.

McMenamin, Thiessen, and Rohit all agree to help the Bulldogs (12-18-5 overall, 8-14-2 NCHC) begin the 2023-24 regular season with a home win.

UMD will travel next week as the No. 7 seed to face No. 2 Denver in a best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal series Friday through Sunday in the shadow of the Rockies.

“The whole night was so special for the players, for the seniors, for my family, for their families, for the coaches. It's really special to go out like that.” “I don't know what to do,” Lohite said as he applied a bag of ice to the top of his foot, which was bruised by the puck. “It was crazy. Thiessen was unbelievable all night. He wasn't worried about anything getting past him. We all did a really good job of locking it down, And the guys made some good, good blocks and had good sticks. It was nice to get a little cookie at the end. It was a great, great way to end everything.”

With 11 minutes, 23 seconds left in the game, Bulldogs sophomore defenseman Aiden Dubinsky scored the winning goal, scoring almost 90 seconds into the power play, giving UMD a second-year wing who is a power play scoring specialist. tried his best to get the puck to Ben. Steve's. On Friday, Steeves won in overtime. Instead, Dubinsky, in Steves-like fashion, fired a shot to the right of the goalie for his third goal of the season (and career).

The goal came on the Bulldogs' only power play of the night, and Dubinsky's shot was one of just four shots that UMD hit the Huskies' net in the third period. SCSU outscored the Bulldogs 19-4 in the third period with Thiessen blocking all 19 shots.

Thiessen, who joined the Bulldogs in 2022 after three seasons in Maine, also stopped 20 of 22 in the second period.

One of them will stop diving Superman

to keep UMD within a one-goal lead at the time.

“It's great to finally be able to give him a win,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said of Thiessen, who is just 3-9-2 this season. “He's played some great games for us. Tonight was an unbelievable game for us. Some of the saves he made were phenomenal and they were great for scoring goals and Just as important. Lifts up the bench. So I'm very happy for him to get the win tonight. I'm glad he was able to score enough to stop it.”

College man playing ice hockey — Minnesota Duluth goaltender Matthew Thiessen, 36, makes a save against St. Cloud State University forward Mason Salquist, 16, at Amsoil Arena in Duluth on Saturday.

The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into the third period on Saturday with goals from McMenamin and junior defenseman Owen Gallatin with less than 90 seconds left, but Gallatin only had one goal on the day. and recorded an assist.

But St. Cloud State went into the third with Tyson Gross scoring on the power play and Zach Okabe scoring before the buzzer to tie the game at 2-2.

McMenamin, who transferred to UMD this year after four seasons at Penn State, scored his first goal of the game 8:48 into the second period, deflecting a shot from senior defenseman Darian Gotts. The goal was initially disallowed due to a high stick following a lengthy meeting by officials, but was later overturned by a lengthy video review by UMD Challenge.

Gallatin gave the Bulldogs a two-point advantage with 1:59 left in the second period, but two Huskies goals within 32 seconds of each other negated that advantage.

However, those two goals were all the Huskies could get from Thiessen as UMD won back-to-back games and advanced to the postseason. It was the first time the Bulldogs accomplished this over the weekend since they swept Miami at Amsoil Arena on Jan. 26-27.

“It was one of those nights where everything seemed to be going in our direction,” said Thiessen, who made 47 saves in a 3-3 overtime game against Minnesota on Nov. 4. You don't want to concede those two goals so late in the second half, but it was one of those nights where everyone came together and played for each other and more importantly for the Bulldogs.

“We had some games this year where we were able to come out of it, but tonight we showed you what we can do when everyone blocks shots, everyone chips the puck, everyone plays together. It was one of those very special nights.”

UMD sophomore center Jack Smith suffered an undisclosed injury early in the first period Friday as the St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders defeated Hermantown in the Minnesota Class A boys hockey championship. , missed Saturday's game. Sandelin did not have an update on how long Smith will be out after Saturday's game.

Senior goaltender Zach Stejskal also did not suit up Saturday, suiting up for his senior night due to a lower-body injury that bothered him in the second half, Sandelin said.

Senior wing Blake Biondi returned to the lineup on Senior Night after missing the past three games with an upper-body injury. After Loheit's empty-net goal with less than a second left, Sandelin ejected Biondi on the Amsoil Arena ice one last time. Biondi has one more season of NCAA eligibility remaining, but will any of the three return next season, as Stejskal and Gotts also played during the 2020-21 season during the COVID-19 pandemic? It is unclear.

Duluth, Minnesota 4, St. Cloud State 2

St. Cloud State University 0-2-0—2
Minnesota Duluth 0-2-2—4
First term
No points
Second period
1. UMD, Connor McMenamin (Darian Gotts, Luke Rohit), 8:48
2. UMD, Owen Gallatin (Quinn Olson, McMenamin), 18:01
3. SCSU, Tyson Gross (Diane Anhorn, Adam Ingram), 18:51 (pp)
4. SCSU, Zach Okabe (Veeti Miitinen, Jack Peart), 19:23
third period
5. UMD, Aiden Dubinsky (Aaron Pionk, Ben Steves), 8:37 (pp)
6. UMD, Luke Loheit (Gallatin, Matthew Thiessen), 19:59
keep – Isaac Posch, SCSU, 23 years old. Matthew Thiessen, UMD, 52 years old.
power play – SCSU 1-3, UMD 1-1. Penalties — SCSU 2-4; UMD4-8.