Bulldog Insider

There may be no bigger Bulldog fan, and Minnesota sports fan in general, than one of our guests this week.  He has been part of UMD hockey for 39 years. He's been in former Bulldog weddings and held their newborn babies. And if you are going to have him over for apple pie you better not forget the ice cream.  UMD Athletics Hall of Famer assistant equipment manager Dale 'Hoagie' Haagenson and his g...

Coming back from a major knee injury is no easy feat as this week's guests will tell you.  During the 2017-18 season, UMD women's hockey senior forward Brooklynn Schugel's knee injury kept her on the bench all season and now junior forward Naomi Rogge is out on a medical redshirt after having knee surgery at the beginning of the season. We talk about what it takes to come back from a major injury,...

Ever since we started this podcast our listeners have been requesting we interview one UMD player in particular.  Well, today is the day you get to hear from senior defenseman Jarod Hilderman. He is the most famous Bulldog on Twitter, maybe you've seen his infamous "didn't happen" bit, and probably the only one on the team to survive driving through a tornado. Which did in fact happen. We talk wit...

Some selections were no-brainers. Others were more heavily debated. Bruce Ciskie, the radio voice of UMD hockey on KDAL, and Bob Nygaard, UMD sports information director, join us this week to help decide the all-decade team for the men's and women's hockey teams.   We go over their selection criteria, some honorable mention titles such as best sound bite of the decade, and then select our all-podc...

It's been a crazy past couple of days for this week's guests.  In the last week, UMD women's head coach Maura Crowell and the Bulldogs director of hockey operations Nick Bryant won gold with the U.S. Under-18 Women's Hockey Team in Slovakia and then came home to Duluth to win the Minnesota Cup at Amsoil Arena. Crowell and Bryant tell us about their experience in Bratislava, Slovakia, everything fr...

It's more than riding around on Zambonis all day.  They flood the rink. They paint the logos by hand. They shovel snow outside the arena after blizzards.  Brothers Jake and Zach Magdzas have been making ice and maintaining the grounds around Amsoil Arena together for the better part of a decade.  On this week's episode, we learn about what it takes to get the ice in shape for the season and keep i...

With the Bulldogs on winter break, three-time national champion coach of the men's hockey team Scott Sandelin had to find something to keep himself busy over the holidays. Why not coach the 2020 U.S. Junior National Team for the upcoming World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic?  This will be his fourth World Juniors experience, second as a head coach after leading Team USA in Grand Forks i...

UMD sophomore forwards Anneke Linser and Gabbie Hughes dug out from Duluth's recent blizzard to join us this week. The pair from Lino Lakes, Minn. have been on the same team, and often the same line, since the U8 days. And you can give credit to Gabbie's dad for first putting this successful duo together.  But college hockey almost split them up. We learn about their hockey journey over the last 1...

Although he admits to mostly chirping at his own teammates, including Coach Sandelin at the end of this episode, UMD junior defenseman Scott Perunovich doesn't mind being given the title of best chirper on the team. The two-time All-American and Hibbing native shares when the most opportune times are during a game to talk a little smack and who are the best chirpers in the NCHC.  A 2018 second-rou...

She won the NWHL Isobel Cup last season with the Minnesota Whitecaps and now she is back at her alma mater coaching the next generation of female hockey players.  Fresh off her first victory as Proctor Hermantown head coach, former Bulldogs defenseman Emma Stauber joins us this week to share how the gig is going so far, her hopes for her first season and what led to her decision of joining the fam...

We tapped into the Alberta market last year with Parker Mackay's hometown of Irma. Now it's time to see what southern Manitoba has to offer.  This week we are joined by the trio that was dubbed "The Prairie Dogs" over the summer on Twitter. Manitobans Ryleigh Houston, Jalyn Elmes and Ashton Bell tell us how that nickname came to be, what their hometowns are like and what American words we say that...

The UMD men's hockey team has won back-to-back titles, but Bulldogs junior defenseman Dylan Samberg's winning streak extends beyond that.  The Hermantown native and Winnipeg Jets prospect joins us on the podcast this week to talk about what it's like to win four straight championships, back-to-back Minnesota state hockey championships with Hermantown and back-to-back national championships with th...

We all have our college roommate stories. Some good. Some bad.  Joining us on the podcast this week to share their roommate tales are a couple UMD hockey defensemen, and roommates, Nick Wolff and Louie Roehl. We talk a little hockey, but mostly we learn what pet peeves they have about one another, who is the messiest and who is the better chef. We also test how well they know one another and find...

As the UMD men's hockey team heads to Madison for its first road game of the season, we are joined by three of the most well-traveled Bulldog fans to talk about what it takes to follow their favorite team around the country.  UMD alumni David Cummings, Rachel Jacob and Dan Jacobsen have been to each of the last three Frozen Four tournaments and together they may have seen more road series last sea...

UMD senior goaltender, co-captain and Cohasset native Hunter Shepard helps us preview the 2019-20 season with a little game of Over/Under as the Bulldogs go for a third consecutive national title.  Shepard shares what it's like to be a captain, a spot not usually held by goalies, what his summer looked like (mostly fishing until July rolled around), and what fuels him to be better in the net. Prod...

The UMD women's regular season gets underway this weekend with a non-conference series against Clarkson at Amsoil Arena. Joining us to preview the season are a couple of seniors and a pair of gold medalists. UMD co-captain Sydney Brodt and goaltender Maddie Rooney first share their experience from back in April at the Women's Worlds where the two helped Team USA win another goal medal. Then we hav...

This week on the podcast, we're joined by another local NHLer, one who had a pretty interesting offseason. Former New York Ranger, current Winnipeg Jet, reigning Da Beauty League champion Neal Pionk of Hermantown, talks about being traded and signing a two-year, $6-million deal with the Jets. Pionk shares what he will miss most about New York and what he looks forward to with the move to Canada. ...

Matt Wellens and fellow Forum Communications reporters were at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for the annual NCHC Media Day Thursday, Sept. 20. The group discusses their five takeaways this season after talking with the league's eight head coaches and captains, NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton and the league's director of officiating, Don Adam. Tune in every Thursday throughout the hockey season to h...

Dropping the puck for us on season two of the Bulldog Insider is a former national championship captain who grew up in Esko and played for the Stanley Cup as a rookie in the NHL. Karson Kuhlman caught up with us in mid-August before he had to report back to the Boston Bruins. He tells us about the ups and downs of his rookie season, what it was like to play in the Stanley Cup, what his offseason w...

Happy summer from the Bulldog Insider Podcast. We hope everyone is enjoying the warmth and sunshine in Duluth as much as we have. We felt it was about time to come indoors and check in with everyone.  On this offseason episode, Matt Wellens, Bulldogs beat writer at the News Tribune, is joined by the Forum Communications hockey team: Brad Schlossman of the Grand Fork Herald, Austin Monteith of the...

This week we're wrapping up UMD's second-consecutive national championship season with a pair of former Bulldogs who now provide color commentary on radio and television. Kraig Karakas, who was at UMD from 1990-94, and Judd Medak, who played for the Bulldogs from 1998-02, give us one word to describe the season and submit their season MVP and Unsung Hero award nominations. We also talk about the k...

Championship Saturday has arrived. Today we sit down with fellow hockey reporters Mick Hatten and Jess Myers to give a little pre-game analysis of tonight's championship game between UMD and UMass at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.  The game starts at 7 p.m. Central time on ESPN.

For the last three years, the Bulldogs have had their last practice of the season the day before the national championship game.  We caught up with Parker Mackay, Billy Exell, Jade Miller, Nick Deery and Jarod Hilderman after practice today in the Buffalo Sabres locker room to ask them what that experience is like.   

It's game day in Buffalo. This morning we are joined by NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton to talk about the league's postseason success. In the league's six-year history, they've had a team in the Frozen Four every year, this is the fourth time they've had two teams present, and they've produced a national champion the last three years in a row. We also learn more about Fenton, a golfer who grew up pl...

This week we are on the road in Buffalo, N.Y. for the Frozen Four.  The UMD Bulldogs just got off the ice for their first practice at KeyBank Center. On this episode we sit down with UMD alumni Bill Watson and Brant Nicklin to talk about the program's Frozen Four history, of which Bill has been a part of all six appearances.