Goon's Takeaway: Not Their Weekend, UND Swept 7-1, and 6-2

On Saturday, the UND hockey team looked to avenge their 7-1 loss from the previous night. UND came out, pushed the pace, and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission with goals from Abram Wiebe and Cameron Berg. In the first period, UND played well, but Kaiden Mberko stood tall in the net and was almost impenetrable. UND also benefited from a five-minute major penalty and a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. In the end, the Hawks could only score once on the power play, failing to put the Tigers away when they had the chance. The Tigers tied the game in the second period with a goal from Evan Werner. 

The game got away from the Hawks in the third period. They gave up four goals in eight minutes and 41 seconds with goals from Logan Will, Gleb Veremyev (X2), and Noah Laba. We all know the end result, a 6-2 loss.

Waking up on Sunday morning, some in the NoDak Nation hockey fanbase are unhappy. Some are questioning the coaching staff and player's efforts. Some appear to be in panic mode. While the wins were not there this past weekend, not all is lost. Despite two resounding defeats, UND is "still" sitting third in the Pairwise Rankings and leading the NCHC by one point. What they do from here on out is up to them. 

When the ink dries on the UND hockey team's 2023-24 season, the final line and box scores will read. UND was swept (7-1 L, 6-2 L) by the Colorado College Tigers. Will this be a defining moment for UND's season? Will it be a blip on the radar? During the 2015-16 season, UND traveled to Denver on February 12-13, 2016, and was swept (4-1 L, 6-4 L). UND would return home, go 12-1-1, and win a national title. Looking at the schedule and the record, it's eerily similar. Is this the same kind of team as the 2015-16 team? I don't know. UND has a team to make a run. I wonder if they have the mental makeup to do it. They have the talent. 

The goaltending has to be better, but it's not all Ludvig Persson's fault; I thought his d-corp left him out to dry a few times. He also needs a better save percentage than .899, which isn't good enough for the NCAA playoffs. 

The post-game comments from the team are subdued, but they know what they have to do. 

"There was a little desperation trying to get that next goal," Berry said. "We played a pretty good game. That kid at the other end made 43 saves and had a career-high in saves to win a game, and I thought he was the difference tonight." 

The Players echoed their coach's sentiments. 

"I thought we had breakdowns; honestly, when we had those breakdowns, it ended up in our net," Jake Schmaltz said. "We had a lot of looks -- we had a lot of shots, but they weren't going in. It's just frustrating. We got to protect Ludvig a little better." 

 "We got a few things to work on, Garrett Pyke said. "Friday night, we didn't come out, we didn't have our legs, and we didn't execute like we wanted to. Today was a better game, but we will watch the film and learn from a few things. We're going to keep on growing." 

"Our program has high expectations," Berry said. "Our players expect a lot. Our fans expect a lot. We got to stay positive and work on the things we need to work on to get better, which we will do this week. There's no room for negativity in our group. We've done a lot of good things with a body of work together with positive attitudes, and the guys are working extremely hard. The main thing is the 25 guys in that locker room staying together and believing in each other."