Bulldog Insider

This week on the News Tribune's Bulldog Insider Podcast, it wasn't just the new WCHA commissioner joining Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider. Michelle McAteer is an original Bulldog — or OG as she likes to tell people — whose college career began in 1999-2000 with the first ever varsity women's hockey team at UMD. The WCHA also began play that season, and a year later the NCAA started awarding a nati...

Minnesota Duluth's senior captain Dominic James had only been to the state of Minnesota once in his entire life growing up, coming to the Twin Cities when he was around 12 years old for a youth hockey tournament. James talks with News Tribune Bulldogs beat reporter Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports about those experiences, and we get to know his roommates back here in Duluth and on th...

After two years apart, brothers Zam and Max Plante are back home in the Twin Ports, and roommates again. The Hermantown natives both moved away in 2022 to play hockey elsewhere following a win for the Hawks in the Minnesota Class A state championship game. Zam Plante went to Chicago, and later Fargo, to play in the United States Hockey League while younger brother, Max, moved to Plymouth, Michigan...

When Maura Crowell left the Bulldogs this year to become the head coach at Dartmouth, Schuler finally got the job she sought after nine years ago. The new UMD women's hockey coach joined the Bulldog Insider Podcast to record an episode prior to the season-opening series at Ohio State, to share what she's learned along the way. Bulldog Insider  is co-hosted by Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider. Episo...

The Bulldog Insider Podcast is back for its seventh season with Matt Wellens of the News Tribune, Zach Schneider of My9 Sports and KDAL's Bruce Ciskie previewing the 2024-25 UMD women's and men's hockey seasons. The Bulldogs women open the year with a key WCHA series Sept. 21-22 at Ohio State, while the men ease into things with a nonconference home game against Bemidji State on Oct. 5, followed b...

The 2023-24 Minnesota Duluth men's and women's hockey seasons came to a close less than two weeks ago, but the offseason news is only heating up. And we know you have lots of questions about the programs moving forward. The Duluth News Tribune's UMD hockey beat reporter Matt Wellens, Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports and Bruce Ciskie of KDAL get together on a snowy day in the Twin Ports to try and ans...

The 2023-24 Minnesota Duluth men's and women's hockey seasons have come to a close following the UMD women's loss to Ohio State in the NCAA tournament and the Bulldogs men getting swept by Denver in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Duluth News Tribune's UMD hockey beat reporter Matt Wellens, Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports and Bruce Ciskie of KDAL get together on a snowy day in the Twin Ports to break do...

The Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team is hitting the road this weekend for the NCHC quarterfinals, and while senior defenseman Darian Gotz would much rather be playing at Amsoil Arena this weekend, the destination this week of Denver is an OK consolation prize. Gotz joins the podcast this week, and we ask him about his favorite desintations in the NCHC over the last four seasons. We also talk abo...

The Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team is heading to the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, and after that, the Bulldogs will very likely be playing in the NCAA women's hockey tournament for a fourth-straight season. One player who has stepped as of late to get the Bulldogs where they are is redshirt sophomore forward Mary Kate O'Brien. She holds the distinction of b...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, we breakdown and debate the UMD Women's Hockey 25th anniversary team that has now been released in its entirety. The authority on UMD women's hockey, UMD director of athletic communications Kelly Grgas-Wheeler, joins Matt and Zach to talk about the process of putting the team together, and to highlight players who are not just legends at UMD, but in the sp...

Duluth News Tribune sports reporter Matt Wellens provides an update in Bulldogs Hockey for the men and women's teams. Matt also discusses what to expect for the next episode of Bulldog Insider.  Bulldog Insider is co-hosted by Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan Williamson. You can find more Bulldog hockey...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth fifth-year seniors Luke Loheit and Quinn Olson join the podcast to reflect on their Bulldogs hockey careers and share what could be coming next for both. Loheit and Olson both arrived at UMD in the fall of 2019 when the program was chasing a third-straight NCAA title. They look back on that season, and what it was like to play with members...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth women's captain Mannon McMahon makes her long overdue debut. It comes at the perfect time as she is approaching two significant UMD women's hockey program records. McMahon, who has been in the Bulldogs lineup since Day 1 of her college career, has played in 164 career games at UMD, all consecutively. She can break the program's consecutive...

Minnesota Duluth sophomore center Jack Smith grew up in St. Cloud watching the St. Cloud State hockey team. He played for St. Cloud Cathedral in high school against Blake Biondi, Joey Pierce, Aaron Pionk and the Hermantown Hawks. Now Smith is in his second season at Minnesota Duluth, playing alongside the former Hawks with the Bulldogs. On this week's episode of Bulldog Insider, Smith talks about...

Two of the top up-and-coming goaltenders for the Canadian women's national hockey team hail from opposite ends of the country, however, both can be found this season in Duluth, Minnesota. Sophomore Hailey MacLeod of Abbotsford, British Columbia, and freshman Eve Gascon of Mascouche, Quebec, have been a formidable 1A-1B punch in goal this season, giving the Minnesota Duluth women's hockey program a...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth freshman Aaron Pionk of Hermantown talks about his transition from forward to the defenseman, and what it was like growing up with four older brothers. Pionk was a forward throughout his high school days with the Hermantown Hawks, making the move back to the blue line when he was 18 and playing junior hockey in Cloquet with the Minnesota W...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Hanna Baskin joins the show to talk about her breakout season on the Bulldogs blue line and how she got to this point in her college career. Baskin shares the story of her freshman year of high school when her coach asked her to switch from forward to defenseman, and go play another season with Minnetonka's 15U team to le...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth junior defenseman Will Francis joins us fresh off his first game back on the ice with the Bulldogs last Saturday at St. Thomas. Francis was away from the team and UMD campus for the entire first semester after announcing in August that his leukemia had relapsed. Francis takes us through his journey over the past five months, from the days...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, we bring you Part II of our mini-series of Nittany Lions-turned-Bulldogs with UMD women's senior forward Olivia Wallin. Like Bulldogs senior forward Connor McMenamin, Wallin transferred this offseason from Penn State to Minnesota Duluth. A civil engineering major, Wallin credited McMenamin with encouraging her to come to Duluth once she entered her name in...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, the so called "Bulldogs Insiders" who follow the UMD hockey teams all year long take a look back at the first half of the 2023-24 season and see how their preseason predictions are holding up. Matt Wellens of the News Tribune, Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports and Bruce Ciskie of KDAL hand out some unofficial awards as well, taking a look at the most impactful...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, freshmen forwards Anthony Menghini and Matthew Perkins of the UMD men's hockey team dish on life as college freshmen, sharing what has stood out to them about life as Bulldogs on the ice and off it. Both took different paths to Duluth with Menghini growing up in Baxter, Minnesota, and Perkins coming from Balgonie, Saskathchewan. The two were adversaries in...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, Minnesota Duluth fifth-year senior wing and assistant captain Connor McMenamin shares what it's like going from a Big Ten program at Penn State to an NCAA Division II school like Minnesota Duluth, that plays Division I hockey. The short answer from McMenamin is that the Nittany Lions and Bulldogs programs are quite similar when it comes to resources and am...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, UMD men's fifth-year senior captain Luke Loheit reveals the keys to growing a good mustache during November for the Movember Foundation, which raises awareness and funds for men's physical and mental health issues. It's a campaign that the men's hockey community has really rallied around, and that includes the Bulldogs. Many members of the UMD men's hockey...

Duluth News Tribune sports reporter Matt Wellens provides an update in Bulldogs Hockey for the men and women's teams. Matt will also discusses what to expect for season 6, episode 8 of Bulldog Insider, which drops Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023.  Bulldog Insider is co-hosted by Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth News Tribune digital producers Wyatt Buckner and Dan...

This week on the Bulldog Insider Podcast, it's Luke Bast's turn to faceoff against his former team when the Minnesota Duluth men's program hosts North Dakota at Amsoil Arena. Bast transferred to UMD in the offseason after two years at North Dakota, where injuries derailed much of his sophomore season. He spoke about what was important to him when he began his search for a new school, what it's lik...