Battle Between the Dogs Returns: All Things NCHC

The NCHC series to watch this week is the St. Cloud State Huskies at the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, the league's Battle Between the Dogs.

The Huskies currently hold the series lead with a record of 81-64-10. But the Huskies have struggled in Duluth with a record of just 30-37-3 at Amsoil Arena having lost their last six appearances there. The Huskies last win at UMD came on March 5, 2022 where they won 2-0.

Last season, the Huskies finished eighth in the NCHC while the Bulldogs were just in front of them in seventh. But that's not the story of these two teams in this young 2025-26 season.

St. Cloud State is off to a 6-3 start while UMD is an impressive 8-2, but both teams come into the series 1-1 in conference play. Last week, the Huskies split with Western Michigan while the Bulldogs split with North Dakota.

The Bulldogs have arguably the best line in college hockey right now with Max Plante, Zam Plante, and Jayson Shaugabay. The first line has already produced a total of 51 points in ten games this season, creating 53 percent of the offense for the Bulldogs. Head coach Scott Sandelin was quoted by College Hockey News as saying: "They have that ability to make a play or two plays, and change a game. I'm not breaking them up, I know that."

Looking at the other side, the Huskies' first line has produced 32 points for the Huskies in ten games, making up 32 percent of the Huskies point production. But the story for St. Cloud State thus far has been the second line which includes sophomore forward Austin Burnevik who currently has ten goals, good for second in the nation. Burnevik’s line has 28 points this season which makes up 28 percent of the Huskies' points this season.

Between the pipes, both teams have seen quite a bit of success so far. The Huskies have a dueling tandem of freshman Yan Shostak and sophomore Patriks Berzins. Shostak has played in six games where he has earned a save percentage of .896 and a 2.68 goals against average, earning his first collegiate shutout a couple weeks ago against Vermont. Berzins has come in as a dark horse and has put up a .958 save percentage and 1.34 goals against average in three games played this season.

For the Bulldogs, they have more of a clear top goalie in Adam Gajan. Last season he saw his share of struggles as a freshman, but he has really stepped up his game this fall. He's played in all ten games for the Bulldogs, putting up a goals against average of 1.85 and a .917 save percentage. His lone shutout of this season came against a then-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers team.

While these games are not always super close score wise, the recent successes of their respective goaltenders and offense could create for some fun games. On top of that, there's almost always guaranteed to be a lot of physicality with hits and post-whistle scrums.

Return of the RedHawks (Soon)

Last week Miami took on Arizona State and was able to pull off a huge 5-2 win on Saturday to split the weekend series. This win marked the RedHawks first conference win since Jan. 13, 2024, when they beat Western Michigan 4-3. Their split with the Sun Devils also put them at No. 20 in the USA Hockey poll, the first time the RedHawks have been ranked since 2015.

The (somewhat) bad news for the RedHawks is that they have a bye this week before hitting the road to take on Western Michigan at Lawson Arena, one of the hardest rinks to visit. Miami will need to use the bye week for rest, while not losing momentum going into a tough matchup against the reigning national champions.

SEE ALSO: This Week's Rankings

Players of the Week

The NCHC announced the players of the week consisting of a pair of players from North Dakota in Ben Strinden and Ollie Josephson as well as Ty Hanson (Duluth), and Simon Latkoczy (Omaha).

Strinden was a major factor in North Dakota’s split with Duluth last weekend. The senior forward registered one goal and four assists with all of his assists coming in a 5-1 win on Saturday. His four assists also mark the most amount of points he has registered in a single game in his collegiate career. Strinden’s lone goal of the weekend was the game-tying goal on Friday that forced overtime with 1:11 left in regulation. In the two games, Strinden had five shots and a +5 over the weekend as well.

Josephson also helped contribute to North Dakota’s split last weekend in his own way. The freshman forward had a goal and an assist both nights for a four point weekend and his first career multi-point games. Josephson also had five shots in the series, his first time having more than one shot in a single game. He finished the weekend with three blocked shots and a +4.

On the opposite side of the North Dakota’s matchup, Hanson had a big weekend helping Duluth find a win. Hanson started the series on Friday night with a goal and an assist. But his goal was not just an average goal. The sophomore defenseman netted the overtime winner for the Duluth. He also had six shots on net and blocked four shots on Friday night. Hanson finished the series with eight shots on goal while blocking seven shots and earning a +1.

Latkoczy only played in one game over the weekend, but in his lone start, he put up 49 saves on 51 shots. 21 of his saves came in the third period and six short-handed saves, helping the Mavericks go 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. The senior goaltender now has a save percentage of .925 and a 2.82 goals against average this season.

Players of the Month

The NCHC has also announced the Players of the Month for the month of October with UMD dominating the awards. The Bulldogs took forward, defenseman, and goaltender of the month with Max Plante, Ty Hanson, and Adam Gajan. Kocha Delic from Miami took Rookie of the Month.

Plante averaged two points a game in October with 18 points in nine games. His nine goals was good for second in the nation and tied for first in the NCHC. He had two power play goals and two shorthanded goals in October. Plante had two four point games including two goals and two assists in a 4-3 win over North Dakota, helping on all four goals. Through his nine games played, Plante registered 32 shots on goal, averaging almost four shots per game, while also registering four blocks. Plante finished October with a +14, the highest plus/minus in the nation.

Hanson has been an offensive and defensive threat for the Bulldogs this season with 12 blocked shots and ten points in the month of October. His three goals were good second in the nation among defensemen and his seven assists put his third in the nation among defensemen and first in the NCHC among defensemen. The sophomore defenseman led all NCHC defensemen and was second in the nation among defensemen with his ten points. Hanson was tied for first in the nation in game winning goals with two, including the overtime game winner against North Dakota to close out October. He has also had a huge impact on the Bulldogs’ penalty kill, helping his team go kill off 27 of 30 penalties while only committing one penalty in October. Hanson finished October with a +12, best among all defensemen.

Gajan has been incredible for the Bulldogs this season, helping the team to an 8-1-0 record in October. The sophomore goaltender’s eight wins led the NCHC and was tied for first in the nation. Gajan finished October wit a .931 save percentage and a 1.45 goals against average. Gajan played a huge part in the Bulldogs sweep over Minnesota, shutting out Minnesota in the first game and only allowing one goal in the second game. In his nine games, Gajan allowed more than one goal only three times, with most goals allowed being three. Gajan had 176 saves in his nine games played, including 45 saves in the two games against Minnesota.

While in his freshman season, Delic has already been a force for the RedHawks, putting up ten points in October with 25 shots on goal. Delic also had six blocked shots and a +5. Delic had two multi-point games in October with his five points against RPI and had a four game goal streak while registering points in every game he has played this season. Delic’s seven game point streak in October is the longest point streak to start the season for a RedHawk since 2010. It is also the first time a player has started their career with the RedHawks on a seven game point streak in the last 25 years.

Beyond the Blue Line

Denver opens conference play against the reigning champion Broncos at Lawson Arena, which could be a huge series between teams with postseason aspirations. . ... Transfer senior forward Ryan Alexander returns to Arizona State, now playing for Colorado College. ... Omaha looks to stay perfect in conference play at home against North Dakota.

It’ll be a rockin' rematch this weekend in Kalamazoo! 😤#TBT to last year's thrilling, all-#NCHChockey double OT #MFrozenFour semifinal in St. Louis, where @WMUHockey clipped @DU_Hockey before moving on to capture the national title! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/oFIZ8OujFL
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) November 6, 2025