DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth starting goaltender Adam Gajan is heading to the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, Italy, next month. The sophomore was named to Slovakia’s Olympic team on Thursday morning.
The 21-year-old from Poprad, Slovakia, is a second-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks. He was the top goaltender taken in the 2023 NHL Draft at No. 35 overall.
A two-time goaltender for Slovakia at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2023 and 2024, Gajan has bounced back from an up-and-down freshman season at UMD. He started all 20 games for the Bulldogs in the first half — finishing all but one — posting a .919 save percentage and 1.92 goals against average with two shutouts.
The Bulldogs have gone 14-6 overall this season with Gajan between the pipes to climb to No. 4 in the NCAA Percentage Index — the rankings used to select at-large teams and seed the NCAA tournament — going into this weekend’s nonconference home series with Lindenwood.
Sophomore Ethan Dahlmeir, a transfer from Miami, is the only other goaltender to see time during the regular season, so far. He stopped 10 of the 10 shots he faced on Nov. 1 at North Dakota when he replaced Gajan for the final 15 minutes, 20 seconds of a 5-1 loss.
Dahlmeir and freshman Cole Sheffield split time in goal last Friday in the 4-0 exhibition win over Manitoba, combining for 13 saves in the shutout.
The Olympic men’s hockey tournament gets underway on Feb. 11 and runs through Feb. 22, and the Bulldogs only have one series scheduled during that time frame at Miami on Feb. 20-21.
UMD hosts North Dakota on Feb. 6-7 before having a bye week on Feb. 13-14. The Bulldogs close the regular season at home against Colorado College on Feb. 27-28.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
