Bulldogs handle RedHawks in 4-0 home rout

Written by Austin Rush | Archived Nov. 10, 2020

Billy Exell breaks the puck out of the defensive zone. Photo courtesy of Dave Harwig

No. 11 University of Minnesota Duluth took care of business tonight and buzzed to a 4-0 home victory over Miami University.

Having dropped their last three games, the Bulldogs came out fast early in their attempts to get back in the win column and earn three National Collegiate Hockey Conference points.

Freshman defenseman Mikey Anderson ended the Bulldogs power play drought putting home a shot from the point 8:19 into the first period. Coming into the contest, UMD was 0-for-11 on the power play with their last goal coming against North Dakota on January 20.

Junior forward Billy Exell was credited with the Bulldogs second goal two minutes later as Grant Hutton mistakenly knocked the puck into the Redhawk net.

The Bulldogs third goal was set up by superb passing and an aggressive offensive zone sequence. Mikey Anderson earned his second point of the night when he found sophomore forward Jade Miller in the slot for a perfect tip in on net that found the back of the twine just 3:15 into the middle frame. UMD used more pretty passing on its fourth and final goal of the night as freshman forward Justin Richards sauced a backhand pass to breaking Louie Roehl who roofed the pass into a yawning Miami net with 10:08 left in regulation.

"I liked our start and I thought we played a pretty good game," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "Our guys had their legs tonight and defensively I thought we did a good job by limiting them to just 16 shots."

The penalty kill shined once again for the Bulldogs as they killed all four RedHawk attempts. UMD has killed off 34 consecutive opponent power play attempts dating back to January 13 against Colorado College.

Sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard earned his fourth shutout of the season tonight turning away all 16 shots he faced. UMP peppered the Miami net with 35 shots on net.

With tonight’s victory, the Bulldogs pull even with North Dakota for fourth in NCHC standings as the Fighting Hawks fell to Omaha tonight 6-3.