North Dakota to face Colorado College in a crucial home series

GRAND FORKS – Colorado College is coming to Grand Forks.

UND and CC will face off in a season-defining series this weekend. The Fighting Hawks and Tigers sit outside the national tournament right now, and both are also on the cusp of hosting home ice for the NCHC playoffs.

North Dakota is coming off a strong weekend in St. Cloud. It tied 3-3 Friday night, winning the shootout to gain an extra point in the NCHC standings. The next night it won with a commandingly 6-2 score on Saturday.

UND coach Brad Berry spoke about the positives that drove UND this weekend.

“I think just kind of a pace of our play,” Berry said. “You know, I think it was a situation whether possession on entries or forecheck or just the urgency of our five-man units on the ice of creating opportunities off of a strong and fast pace of play…That's got to continue on  through the rest of the year here.”

Last weekend UND played without its captain, Louis Jamernik V. Jamernik was a healthy scratch and did not travel to St. Cloud.

According to Berry, Jamernik will be back in the lineup again this weekend against Colorado College. When asked why Jamernik was withheld from the lineup last weekend, Berry responded, “All I’m saying is he was unavailable last weekend, and he’s available this weekend.”

Jamernik has not recorded a point since November 9th against Duluth. He has been a strong two-way player for the Fighting Hawks, though.

The Fighting Hawks are in dire need of some consistency. For UND to earn home ice for the NCHC playoffs or make it to the national tournament, it will need two wins this weekend.

UND has struggled to put together multiple winning weekends. The Fighting Hawks's longest winning streak of the season is four games.

 North Dakota is not caught up in the tournament talk. Its focus will be set for Friday night.

“You can't really worry about what's going on around the league,” Berry said. “I know we're in a dogfight right now for the top four (NCHC seeds), but you just got to concentrate on what we have to do, and everything usually falls into place from there and making sure that we control what we can control.”

Family ties 

For Mac Swanson, this series will mean more.

Mac's father, Brian, played at Colorado College from 1995-99. Brian led the Tigers to four-straight NCAA tournaments. He recorded 232 points for the Tigers (88 goals, 144 assists). 

When asked about playing his father's former team, Mac seemed content about it but remembers owning plenty of memorabilia. 

“They play a well-rounded game,” Swanson said. “I had a lot of t-shirts and hats and stuff just from my dad playing there, but I think those are all thrown away.”

UND coach Brad Berry never played against Brian in college. But he remembers how good he was.

“Even though I was playing pro, I'd keep tabs on UND and college hockey in general,” Berry said. “He (Brian) was a guy that was an unbelievable college hockey player. When you see Mac Swanson, you can kind of tell that he's got a lot of  similar traits that his dad had.”

Injury report

Alternate captain Dane Montgomery is questionable for the weekend. 

Game notes

• CC has experienced a rollercoaster of a season, starting off with an 8-0-0 record for the first time since the 1956-57 season, but then managing to secure only five victories out of the following 18 games.

• Junior forward Noah Laba is leading the Tigers in offense once again, tallying 21 points and sharing the team lead with seven goals. However, he has faced challenges this season, having scored in only four games.

• Goaltender Kaidan Mbereko holds a record of 11-11-1 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage over 23 starts this season.

• UND is 12-5-2 this season when blocking at least 10 shots. It is 5-1-1 this season when blocking at least 15.

• Montgomery's brother, Drew, plays for Colorado College and is one of its leading scorers with 12 points (six goals, six assists).

ND Ice predictions

Friday night: UND win 5-2

Saturday night: UND win 4-3 

Puck drop is slated for 7:07 pm Friday night.