#14 UMD Men’s Hockey Preps for Bemidji State Without Assistant Captain Dominic James

The Bulldogs enter their series without top center Dominic James, who will be out for the year with an upper-body injury.

DULUTH, Minn.- The UMD men’s hockey team moved up the polls after a successful weekend against Northern Michigan.

The Bulldogs are now number fourteen in the country.

UMD continues the non-conference portion of their schedule this upcoming weekend with a home and home series against Bemidji State.

Both enter the contest with one victory so far this season.

The Bulldogs put up 13 goals last weekend in the series against the Wildcats.

However, against the Beavers this weekend, head coach Scott Sandelin sees a lower-scoring affair.

“I know they’ve probably scored a lot right now. Just watching the games, they were both tight games against Army and Wisconsin. But just knowing from playing them over the years, we know it’s going to be a really really hard series. That’s good, that’s good for us. Northern was tough in different ways. Who knows you might see another 8-5 game but I’m expecting a little bit lower scoring games,” said Sandelin.

The Bulldogs enter their series without top center Dominic James, who will be out for the year with an upper-body injury.

That leaves guys like Cole Spicer to step up.

“I think losing Dom obviously sucks but it’s a good opportunity for me and hopefully I can rise up and take his spot. I think the biggest thing is taking in every game, it’s a pretty special opportunity to be here and play in front of all of those people. Just give it everything, that’s all that Sandelin asks is for us to work our butts off. You do that and you’ll be pretty successful here,” added Spicer.

Puck drop is set for 7:07 on Friday at AMSOIL Arena.