Game Week Finally Arrives for UMD Men’s Hockey

This Saturday's home opener will be the first game for UMD since winning the national championship.

DULUTH, Minn. – This weekend, the Northland will have one thing on its mind as the UMD men’s hockey team will take the ice for the first time this season.

The Bulldogs have been in camp mode for the past month, getting ready for their home opener this weekend against the University of Minnesota. The team is getting anxious though as it will be time to play hockey, instead of talking about playing hockey.

“It’s been a long month here of practicing. It’s all been leading up to this weekend and it’s finally here so I think we’re all excited to get it going,” defenseman Dylan Samberg said.

“We had a lot of energy these last couple of days just getting excited and foreseeing what going to happen on Saturday and Sunday. We’re definitely excited for the weekend. It was a bit of a long month, but this week, it definitely feels good to be out there preparing for a real game,” forward and team captain Parker Mackay.

“It’s hard, too, because we don’t have an exhibition game. You can tell already their getting sick of practice. They want to get going with the season. We just got to prepare our guys the best we can. If we need to make adjustments in-game or game-to-game, we’ll try to do that,” head coach Scott Sandelin said.

Puck drop for Saturday’s game will be just after 7 o’clock at Amsoil Arena. The series will then shift to St. Paul as the Gophers host Sunday’s game.