Over the weekend the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) men’s hockey team was outscored 12-6 as they suffered a sweep at the hands of the University of Minnesota. A late surge by UMD made game one 7-5, but game two ended 5-1.

The mixture of young and veteran Bulldogs learned a lot from the gritty Gophers, especially about their own holes on defense. UMD goaltender Adam Gajan had to face 83 total shots over Friday and Saturday.

“We didn’t get pucks in behind people when we had to. We didn’t get exits when we needed to. And part of that, they had a lot to do with that because they were on top of you, good stick detail. But the soft plays are killing us. I mean, defensive zone, giveaways in the offensive zone, hope passes. We’re a better team than that. We’ve got to find a way to get back to making better plays,” head coach Scott Sandelin said.

“I think it’s a combination of a lot of different things that we’re close on, and we show sometimes, but it’s just being able to do that consistently is what we need,” junior defenseman Joey Pierce said.

UMD stays at home this weekend to face a brand new opponent in Stonehill College, who are in just their third season as a Division I program. Puck drop is 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at AMSOIL Arena.