Grand Forks, ND – The mood was very somber after last night’s non-conference game between the University of North Dakota and St. Lawrence. The players held a closed door meeting after the game. UND caption Dillon Simpson wouldn’t say what they talked about during the meeting.
“We’ll keep that in the room,” Simpson said. “But guys are upset in there.”
UND head coach Dave Hakstol was not very happy with the over-all performance of his hockey team.
But why would he?
UND had just suffered a lackluster 5-2 loss in the first game of the Subway Holiday Classic.
“Not a very good performance by our team,” head coach Dave Haskstol.
The head coach continued. “Not a very good performance over-all by our team,”Hakstol said. “We didn’t do very much in the first two periods. We tried to mount a little push in the third period, but it wasn’t enough.”
All around, it was a rough night for the UND hockey team, as they found themselves flatfooted, and on their heels most of the night. Credit the St. Lawrence Saints; they were the better team all night long. The Saints went 3-for-6 (.500) on the power play. The Saints also outshot UND 25-23.
Special teams were a difference in last night’s game. UND went 1-for9 on the power play, and again took undisciplined penalties at key times in the game.
“It’s frustrating,” Simpson said. “Something we’re going to study a lot (game film) tomorrow morning I am sure. We got to have a good night if we want to win games, our power play has to be good, and our “PK” has to be even better.”
One of the turning points in the game was in the third period. UND had a five-on-three power play for 44 second, but Saints were able to kill it off. If the head coach didn’t have his team’s attention before last night’s game, he probably does now. It was obvious that the loss didn’t sit well with the players.
“Disappointing, didn’t come out the way we wanted to,” Simpson said. “We didn’t play the first forty the way we wanted to. Got to have a better effort tomorrow night.”
The UND head coach was asked if there would be changes to the lineup for tonight’s game.
“You’ll see some changes, Hakstol said. We’ll likely make a change or two.”
Rough patch for UND
UND has gone 2-7-1 in its last 10 games and is winless in four games. According to UND SID Jayson Hajdu, this is UND’s worst 10-game stretch under head coach Dave Hakstol. This is also the worst stretch for UND, since the second half of the 2002-03 season, when UND went 1-7-2.
Notes of interest
Coming into the game, UND had gone an impressive 6-0-2 record in the last eight games of the Subway Holiday Classic.
With four points in last night’s game, forward
Greg Carey of St. Lawrence , is now the leading the nation (10g-18a—28pts) in scoring.
UND is (1-2-2) in non-conference play this season. UND is (1-1-1) against the ECAC.
In the last six games, UND’s penalty kill is 25-for-36 (69.4).
UND has another chance to right the ship tonight at 7:05 p.m. central at Ralph Engelstad Arena
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