UND Crushes Miami, 7-1. Advances to the Frozen Faceoff

There's an old hockey cliche: It's very hard to end a team's season. On Saturday night, the UND hockey team looked like a determined team. They were determined not to play game three. It was pretty straightforward: Lose to the lowly RedHawks, and they'd be back on the ice on Sunday night. Mission accomplished: When the final horn sounded, the Hawks left no doubt as they crushed the Miami RedHawks 7-1 and sent them home looking for answers. 

Seven different players scored goals for UND - at the 13:17 mark of the first period, Riese Gaber scored his 18th goal of the season to give UND a 1-0 lead. Gaber is two short of 20 goals, and if he can reach 20 goals, it will be the first time since the 2005-06 season that three UND players have had 20 or more goals: Drew Stafford, 24; Jonathan Towes, 22; and T.J. Oshie, 24.

The Hawks scored another in the second and five in the third period to blow the game open. It was an impressive win against a bad hockey team. 

In one of the nice stories of the year, graduate forward Hunter Johannes scored the first UND goal of the season at Ralph and the last goal of the season at Ralph. This was a player that wanted to play at UND but didn't get the opportunity. After playing three seasons at AIC, he transferred to Lindenwood College. Due to COVID-19, he benefited from having a fifth year and transferred to UND—his dream school. He's made the most of his opportunity. 

The three stars of the game were 1st star Jackson Blake (1g-2a-3pts), 2nd Star Jackson Kunz (1g-2a-3pts), and third star of the game Hobie Hedquist 28 saves. It was the second multipoint game of Kunz's career and the first three-point game of his career. Kunz has (5g-6a-11pts) in his last 13 games. When asked about having his first three-point game of his career, Kunz was pretty low-key.

"I don't like talking about myself too much," Kunz said. "You're playing with good players, making one pass, and you don't know what they will do with it. I'm lucky to be able to be out there with the guys we have."

It didn't matter what the RedHawks game plan was; the Fighting Hawks had an answer for everything they tried. When a shot got through, the defense either blocked it, or freshman goalie Hobie Hedquist saved it. 

"We had the puck on our stick," Miami head coach Chris Bergeron said. "(We) don't do what we're asking them to do; we turn the puck over to the wrong guy, and it's one zero." 

This past weekend, UND's starting goalie was out with an undisclosed issue (injury or illness). During Saturday's post-game press conference, Brad Schlossman asked UND head coach Brad Berry for an update on his starting goalie. It was Mum's the word. 

"We're not going to divulge very much information because it's the playoffs," Berry said. "As the week progresses, we'll share more information, but right now, it's undisclosed." 

No matter what the issue was, UND didn't need Persson. The rookie phenom stopped 51 of 53 shots (.962). During the first period of Saturday's game, Hedquist was tested early and made quite a few difficult stops. 

Hedquist's play caught the eye of the Miami coach.

"For a guy who hasn't played much, he hasn't lost yet; he's 5-0 over 90 save percentage," Bergeron said. "They don't have bad players here. Whether he's played a bunch or not that much, he's proven he's a good player."

During the post-game press conference, I asked Coach Berry if he was tempted to ride a hot goalie and start him on Friday at the Frozen Faceoff. 

"Yeah, everything's on the table, Berry said. "You've known us long enough that we will put a lineup together that gives us a chance to win. We have two very good goaltenders. Hobie proved himself now, and Ludvig proved himself in the past. We will go through the week here. We'll keep moving forward. It's nice to know guys get to come in and contribute."

Goon's Takeaways: UND Rallies, Wins 5-4 in OT

Good teams find ways to win games. On Friday night, it was an adventure that didn't lack excitement. Entering this weekend's series against the RedHawks, some probably thought this series was an easy six points. As we've discovered over the years, you can't take any NCHC team for granted. Any team can win on any given night. That's why UND head coach Brad Berry has called this league the gauntlet. On Friday night, the UND Hockey team flirted with defeat. 

The UND hockey team didn't have their A-game in the first period. They came out a step slow and let the opposition forwards roam in the UND D-zone. The two teams traded goals, by Miami's Thomas Daskas and UND's Jake Livanavage. Lucky for NoDak, the score was only 1-1 after one period of play.  

In the second period, the RedHawks outscored the Fighting Hawks 3-1 and took a 4-2 lead into the third period. 

In the final 20 minutes, UND went to work. They chipped away and fought back, scoring two goals by Logan Britt and Riese Gaber in the final 10.33 to tie the game with just under a minute remaining in regulation. 

At the 1:24 mark of the 3-on-3 overtime, Jackson Blake completed the comeback with his third game-winning overtime goal of the season. That leads UND. 

 

With the win, UND head coach Brad Berry is one win away from his 200th win and its 20th win of the season. Berry's teams have won 20 or more games five times in his nine seasons as the UND head coach.  All-time, Berry is 199-98-33 (.653).

With the comeback win in overtime, UND extended its impressive run without a regulation loss in 20 games, one game shy of tying the program record.

When UND play-by-play announcer Tim Hennesy brought it up during the post-game radio interview, Berry played it off. Rightfully so, Berry is more focused on team goals than personal success. 

With the win, UND improves to 28-8-1 all-time against Miami and 11-4-2 in Oxford, OH.

UND Sweeps Pioneers, 4-2. UND Sits All Alone on Top of the NCHC Standings

After a successful weekend by the hometown team, NoDak Nation is all smiles. The UND hockey dominated all weekend, sweeping their arch-rival, the Denver Pioneers (5-2 W, 4-2W). I would classify this past weekend's series as an ice-bag series. UND was the first team in 2023-24 to beat Denver in back-to-back games. What's more impressive, UND held the Pioneers top line of Mckade Webster, Massimo Rizzo and Jack Devine to a single point all weekend long. 

For the second straight game in a row, UND held DU to less than three goals, the first time that has happened this season. 

I think sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin said best: "They're a really good team, we don't like them."

With UND sweeping DU and Boston College sweeping BU, UND vaults into second place in the all-important Pairwise Rankings. If UND can maintain a top-four spot, that's Huge. With the sweep and Omaha taking four of six points against SCSU, UND is four points ahead of the Huskies and nine points ahead of DU and CC. During the regular season, UND went 3-1-0 against DU and took 10-of-12 points against the Pioneers. UND swept the Pioneers for the first time since November 5-6, 2021 (3-1 W, 4-1 W) in Grand Forks. 

At the 8:35 mark of the third period, the game was tied 2-2 when Pioneers defenseman Sean Behrens was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The Hawks would go on the power play and cash in with goals from McLaughlin and Riese Gaber. 

"Let's get one early, and let's get another," Gaber said. 

"This has to be the nail in the coffin," UND head coach Brad Berry said in the post-game press conference after his team went on the game-changing five-minute power play. 

UND had the attack mentality all weekend long. 

"Having that attack mentality, whether you're up in a game, we want to continue to build our lead; whether you're down, you're never out of it, UND head coach Brad Berry said. "Each game presents a different scenario, and you must make the most of it."

 

UND extended its regulation unbeaten streak to 19 games, the third-longest in school history. They can add to that total against the Miami RedHawks in Oxford, OH.

UND's top pointgetter, Jackson Blake, had another great weekend; he recorded a pair of assists to extend his point streak to eight games. Blake now has (16g-18a-34pts). Blake has nine multi-point games and six three-point games. 

Sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin has caught fire and has multiple points in five of his last eight games. He had another three-point game on Saturday night, his fifth of the season. He's tied with Blake with nine multi-point games. McLaughlin now has (9g-19a-28pts). That's good for second on the team in points. McLaughlin has accomplished this impressive point total despite being held pointless in his first four games of the season and a three-game stretch in December where he was held pointless. 

Junior forward Cameron Berg remained hot, scoring a goal for the fifth straight game, giving him 10 points (7g-3a-10pts) in the last nine games.