UND hopes to continue rolling into the holiday break

GRAND FORKS — The Fighting Hawks made up ground last weekend.

UND took all eight points from Miami last weekend. On Friday night, North Dakota rallied back in the third period to win the crucial game 5-4 in regulation. On Saturday night, the Fighting Hawks took care of business, defeating the RedHawks 4-2.

UND received scoring up and down the lineup against Miami. Freshmen Dalton Andrew, Cody Croal, and Andrew Strathman all scored their first career goals. Other freshmen who recorded points on the weekend were Sacha Boisvert and Mac Swanson, who quietly had a four-point weekend.

“I was proud of the way our guys played last night,” UND coach Brad Berry said following Saturday night's victory. “We found two different ways to win this weekend.”

In the final regular season matchup of 2024, St. Cloud State will travel to the Ralph Engelstad Arena in, yet again, another key series for North Dakota. 

UND hasn't won a regulation game against the Huskies at home since January 28th, 2022.

In that game, UND beat the Huskies 7-1. UND forward Riese Gaber had a four-point night (two goals, two assists).

In the last 11 years, UND or SCSU has won or clinched a share of the Penrose Cup nine times.

“We’ve won it the last four of five years, and that's a tough thing to do in college hockey,” Berry said.

While UND always prides itself on winning the Penrose Cup, its main goal this year is to go beyond that. UND will have a great opportunity this weekend to set itself up for success in the second half of the season.

“We put ourselves in a situation here where we got to keep climbing,” Berry said. We played two less games than some NCHC teams right now. These are games that if you can win, you can climb in the standing before the second half of the season.”

Injury report

Sophomore defenseman  Caleb MacDonald is expected to be back in the lineup this weekend. 

No other comments were made about the other injured Fighting Hawks (Cameron Berg, Louis Jamernik, and Bennett Zmolek).

Berry seemed very pleased with the way his team has handled the injury situation so far this season.

“What I love about our group right now is there are some guys who aren't wearing a letter that are older players that are in leadership roles right now,” Berry said. “Some of these guys are taking the leadership role to another level here while some guys are out. I think that’s going to serve us well in the second half.”

Special teams

UND’s powerplay is hot. The Fighting Hawks powerplay is running at 29.4%, the third-best in the country.

The Huskies penalty kill is the fourth-best in the country at 90.7%.

“That’s been a big factor for them,” Berry said. “It’s one of those things that you don’t know how many powerplays you’re going to get in a game. Recently, we haven't had a lot of opportunities. But you have to make sure that you get after it right away because you can’t waste a powerplay.”

Similar to UND, the Huskies also have a very talented group of underclassmen.

SCSU’s leading scorer, Austin Burnevik, is a freshman. He leads the team in points with 14 (eight goals, six assists). Burnevik leads all NCHC rookies in goals but is closely followed by UND forward Sacha Boisvert, who has seven.

Although SCSU has yet to receive a lot of scoring on the back end, it has put up a strong defensive performance.

“They’re a fast team,” Berry said. “They have guys that can execute and can make plays. They don’t give you a lot of time and space.”

But the Huskies will be missing their best player this weekend.

Sophomore netminder Isak Posch, who has been playing at a Hobey Baker level and averaging 1.68 GAA and .938 SV% will be out with a long-term injury. Gavin Enright will most likely get the nod for the Huskies. He has only appeared in one game this year, but he was very solid, only allowing in two goals and recording a .931 SV%. But Freshman James Gray might also get an opportunity.

Puck drop is slated for 7:07 p.m. Friday night.

Quick notes

• Last 10 against St. Cloud, UND leads 4-3-3

• UND has kicked off its conference play on the road with an impressive record of 4-0-0 this season.

• SCSU has experienced overtime in each of the last three weekends, with at least one game going into extra time. The Huskies have a record of 1-2-0 in those overtime matchups.

• NoDak has a record of 8-1-0 this season when they score the first goal, with their only defeat occurring against No. 1 Denver.