Saunders Sinks Huskies 3 - 0 (RW77)

I have said it before and I'm saying it again:  I love what our goaltenders are doing this season thus far.  Tonight, Saunders nails shut an amazing performance shutting out the Huskies while posting 32 saves.  Many of the saves were outstanding scoring opportunities by the Huskies.

The Huskies

The Huskies were without Hanowski so they weren't at full strength, but nevertheless I thought their main downfall was inconsistent play and special teams.  It seemed like SCSU had the edge on Special Teams time tonight but they couldn't make it count.  Ryan Farragher again played a solid game against UND but the Huskies just couldn't get it going.  I also think that Nick Jensen had a pretty solid game despite muffing the puck that set up the final goal of the game. 

The Scoring

Brendan O'Donnell started the scoring just 48 seconds into the game by deflecting a centering pass by Connor Gaarder.

Carter Rowney was next to hit the back of the net, but it wouldn't come until 43 seconds into the second period.  Rowney was left open and Knight won a battle along the boards, centered to Rowney, who buried it.

The final goal occurred in the third period and it was UND's first shorthanded goal of the season at 17:33 mark.  It was made by Mark MacMillan and it appeared it was a breakaway.  Not all that surprising because at that point SCSU was trying to do anything to get something going and got burnt.

Players of the Game:

Third Star:  Derek Forbort - Ok, I could've given it to Rowney, Gaarder, O'Donnell, Mattson, Grimaldi, the entire fourth line, Knight.....I had to go with Forbort because he was ALWAYS around the puck when SCSU was pushing (and he was on the ice).  He always got timely clears on the PK. 

Second Star:  Mark MacMillan - 1 goal, 1 assist.  Helped on the first goal of the game and potted the last goal of the game.  Really good game.

First Star:  Clarke Saunders - DUH.  Shutout.  32 saves.  ULTRA Solid in net.  Do I need to go on?

The Key:

I think the key to this game wasn't really one person on offense.  Overall, I think the entire team played well.  Any opportunities SCSU got was handled by Saunders, Forbort, or Grimaldi (with a nice diving block).  I think the bonus was the shutout, but I think that if UND plays like this every night then us fans can expect great things every night because we won't be losing very often.