Some nights, a team just doesn't have it. On Friday night, the UND hockey team came out flat against the UMD Bulldogs.
When you can chase a game for almost two and a half periods of hockey and still come out of the game with a crucial NCHC conference point, it might be a win. Yes, no one likes moral victories, especially in the UND fanbase. No, it wasn't their best effort, and when the UND coaching staff looks back at Friday's game against UMD, they're going to want to come out with a better effort in game two. Poor efforts like this won't win playoff games in March and April.
Friday's game, UND played undisciplined hockey, taking senseless penalties. In the first period, UND had to kill three consecutive Bulldog Power plays. NODAK can thank their goaltender Jan Špunar (13-3-0, GAA 1.81, and .922 SV%) for keeping UND in the game during the parade to the penalty box. He made some amazing saves. UND was lucky to escape the first period tied with UMD, 0-0.
In the second period, UMD would take a 2-0 lead into the third period with goals from Hunter Anderson and Zam Plante.
In the third period, UND showed up and took over the game. At the 10:08 mark of the third period, Ellis Rickwood scored shorthanded to get UND on the board. Eight minutes later, Jack Kernan scored the game-tying goal.
Besides playing undisciplined hockey, UND took the first two periods off before taking the game over in the third. Not their best effort, and they were lucky to escape with a point on Friday.
"You don't very often get a point when you play two poor periods," head coach Dane Jackson said.
Echoing his head coach's sentiment, freshman forward Jack Kernan said, "We were kind of sleeping through the first two periods. Maybe it had to do with the bye week, bus legs, I don't know what it was."
Despite the loss in OT, here's an interesting stat: UND is 10-3-0 on the road this season, and two of those losses have come in OT. Even with the loss, UND still sits in first place of the NCHC standings, two points clear of DU, which has played two more games than UND. Looking down the standings, UND is seven points clear of Western Michigan, after losing 3-2 to Miami in OT. More importantly, UND remained in third in the NPI ratings.
