Minnesota Duluth needs a win over Minot State and help from Grand Valley State to improve its football postseason chances, while its hockey team visits St. Cloud State with two players ruled out.
DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth enters Saturday with two teams facing important road tests. The football Bulldogs must beat Minot State, and their path to the postseason could also depend on Grand Valley State defeating Davenport, according to the Duluth News Tribune. The report describes a combination of results that could send UMD to the postseason, not a guaranteed berth.
The football game is scheduled for Nov. 14. The available coverage does not provide confirmed standings or selection figures, so the precise effect of Saturday’s outcomes remains unclear. The practical takeaway is that UMD’s own result is essential to the scenario described, while the Bulldogs also have reason to watch the Grand Valley State-Davenport game.
The Duluth News Tribune has also pointed to UMD’s recent football achievements. The Bulldogs won the NSIC tournament last season for the first time since 2003, and opened this season with a win over Concordia-St. Paul on Monday. That early victory is a positive start, but it does not settle the postseason question. Saturday’s game against Minot State is the immediate challenge in the conditional playoff picture.
UMD’s hockey team, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit St. Cloud State on Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. St. Cloud State entered the NCHC series with a 3-5-1 record, according to the St. Cloud Times on Nov. 12. Its early results include three one-goal losses as well as wins over No. 14 Michigan Tech and Boston College. Those results suggest the Bulldogs will face a team that has had close games and has also recorded wins against notable opponents; they do not determine how the weekend will play out.
UMD has several changes to track in its lineup. Defenseman Carter Murphy and forward Barrett Hall were among the players practicing, while Trevor Stachowiak came off the Bulldogs’ absence list Wednesday, the Duluth News Tribune reported. Callum Arnott and Max Plante have been ruled out for the series. Plante’s shoulder injury will keep him out for 12 consecutive games after the weekend, according to the newspaper’s Nov. 11 report.
The News Tribune’s coverage also offered background on the players. Hall, a senior wing, had already faced his former college coach and linemate when Minnesota visited Amsoil Arena. He now returns to face St. Cloud State at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Murphy’s route to college hockey was less conventional: he was born in Texas, moved to Europe before turning one, and later returned to play in Houston and Dallas. He is now playing for the same coach as his father did in college, the newspaper reported.
UMD’s hockey discussion extends beyond the two games. A recent Bulldogs Insider Podcast addressed recruiting efforts in the Twin Cities, graduate students in college hockey and early Hobey Baker candidates. The podcast topics offer a look at questions around the program, but the material provided does not report new recruiting commitments or identify a change in the team’s plans.
For residents following Duluth-area sports, Saturday brings both the Minot State football game and the second game of the St. Cloud State hockey series. The football postseason scenario remains conditional on results elsewhere, and the hockey series begins with Arnott and Plante unavailable. The verified reporting in this two-day window is concentrated on UMD athletics; it does not provide fresh, confirmed developments on local government, schools, roads, weather, outdoor seasons, property or business in Moose Lake, Kettle River, Cloquet or Carlton County.
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