North Dakota heads back to the Frozen Faceoff semifinal for a fourth straight year

GRAND FORKS --- St. Paul is not unfamiliar territory for the Fighting Hawks.

The University of North Dakota has made it to the Frozen Faceoff nine times in the last eleven years. They missed out in 2018-19, and more than likely would have made it in 2020, but the postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although UND routinely makes it to St. Paul, the Hawks have hoisted the NCHC championship trophy only once, which was in Grand Forks when the tournament was held in 2021.

“We just got to be ready come Friday night,” UND captain Riese Gaber said in Tuesday's online press conference. “You know, hopefully, the result takes care of itself. Obviously, we hope to play in a championship game on Saturday.”

North Dakota will face the University of Nebraska-Omaha at 4:07 PM Friday. The Mavericks and Hawks are highly familiar with each other, and this will be their fifth matchup this season. A few weeks ago in Omaha, a desperate Mavericks team stole two games from the Hawks, beating them 3-2 Friday and 4-1 Saturday, even though UND outshot the Mavericks 73-48.

UND played a strong series against Miami in the first round of the NCHC playoffs, sweeping them last weekend, 5-1 Friday and 7-1 Saturday. North Dakota did many good things that they hope to carry over into Friday's semifinal matchup.

“I think the two big things that come to mind for me are definitely effort and urgency,” Gaber said. “This time of year, every team is so hungry and so well-coached and played, you know. I think it’s just a matter of working hard. That hungry team is always going to come out on top, and I think just as long as we are playing within our structure, our habits, and details, just like we practice, we’ll be okay.”

UND played through the onslaught of the NCHC this year while building a resume with some challenging non-conference games. UND head coach Brad Berry talked about how that will help them moving forward into the rest of the post season.

“We had a gauntlet of a schedule in our non-conference play, playing Minnesota and Boston University, and you know what I really like about our group here is, you know, we did win the Penrose. But I’m even more proud of our first half of the season when we went through the whole first half with only two regulation losses. And that tells me that everybody was on the same page from day one, and everybody was willing to do whatever it took for the team,” Berry said.

North Dakota will undoubtedly have their work cut out for them Friday night.

Hobey Blaker?

Jackson Blake was announced as North Dakota’s lone top 10 candidate for the Hobey Baker race. Blake has accumulated 57 points in 38 games (21 goals, 36 assists). He also set the NCHC record for points in North Dakota’s final regular-season series against Omaha, passing Bobby Brink and Brock Boeser with 37 points in 24 league games.

Blake also has a great chance to become only the second UND player in the last 30 years to hit the 100-point mark in just two seasons, following in the footsteps of Zach Parise in 2003-04. Blake has scored 37 goals and 62 assists for a total of 99 career points, making him a key player to watch in the upcoming Frozen Faceoff.

Past Frozen Faceoff semifinal results

2023 - 3-2 OT loss vs. St. Cloud State

2022 - 4-2 loss vs. Western Michigan

2021 - 2-1 OT win vs. Denver

2020 - season canceled (COVID - 19)

2019 - Did not make semifinal

2018 - 3-2 OT loss vs. St. Cloud State

2017 - 1-0 win vs. Denver

2016 - 4-2 loss vs. Minnesota Duluth

2015 - 3-1 loss vs. St. Cloud State

2014 - 3-0 loss vs. Miami