UND rolls into St. Cloud after a productive bye week

GRAND FORKS —  The Fighting Hawks are running out of wiggle room.

Last weekend, Western Michigan swept UND at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, winning 3-2 in overtime Friday night and 5-1 Saturday. Western Michigan forward Alex Bump was the X factor all weekend. He scored four goals and tallied one assist.

UND has a tough mountain to climb. It sits tied for fourth in the NCHC standings with Denver. The Fighting Hawks are ranked 26th in the Pairwise. In their next 12 games, UND will need to win at least nine to give themselves a chance to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

UND will head to St. Cloud this weekend to take on the Huskies. SCSU is also in desperation mode. Since the Fighting Hawks swept SCSU to end the first half of the season, the Huskies have won only one game (2-1 over St. Thomas).

This past weekend, SCSU struggled in Omaha. The Huskies outshot the Mavericks both nights but were swept for a third straight weekend.

UND and SCSU will be fighting for a lot this weekend. Whether that is Pairwise or NCHC points, it will be an energetic series.

North Dakota forward Dylan James talked about the animosity between both programs, especially since the last meeting when UND and SCSU were jawing at each other.

“There was a lot of chirps,” James said. “I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully, there is more of that in this game. It'll be a tough one for sure.”

UND will be fresh going into St. Cloud. The Fighting Hawks did not play last weekend due to the bye. Instead, they took the opportunity to address any lingering issues and get better.

Jake Schmaltz and Dylan James expressed how tough practices were following the losses to Western Michigan while UND coach Brad Berry spoke about getting in the right mindset during practice. 

“The mindset of the intensity of what it takes to play a sixty-minute game,” Berry said. “We dove right into game-like situations that occur. Puck races and puck battles, we talk about those that lead into the intensity of a five-man unit being on the ice.”

Special teams were also addressed this week in practice.

“It was a big topic,” Berry said. 

UND has been practicing on its Olympic ice sheet, which is attached to Ralph. The Herb Brooks National Hockey Center is one of the few remaining Olympic sheets used by a college team.

• Olympic: 200 ft long by 100 ft wide

• Regular (Used by UND and every NHL team): 200 ft long by 85 ft wide

“On the Olympic sheet, the powerplay looks terrific sometimes because you got a lot of room,” Berry said. “But I think it is what you don't give up is the biggest thing. The seam plays, the free backdoor plays. I think you’ll have perimeter plays where you can hopefully get some blocks and triggers to get pucks down.”

UND will need to string together a consistent run of games going into the end of the season. For the coaching staff, the bye week was a great chance to learn about their team and prepare them for the final 12 games.

“We have tremendous leadership in our locker room,” Berry said. “Some years, you know, things are free-flowing where it’s machine-like. Some years there are inconsistencies, and a few other things have occurred to us this year.

“This is a year where coaches have to coach a lot harder now, you know, as far as situations that don’t seem as smooth. I think for us, that’s why we got to keep our foot on the gas; the players and coaches as well really have to have a pulse and be sensitive to the situation or what we need to work on and have conversations and make decisions that we need to do going forward here.”

Injury report

Freshman defenseman Andrew Strathmann is projected to play.

Dane Montgomery is currently listed as day-to-day

UND will travel to St. Cloud Thursday. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 pm Friday.

Game notes

• Freshman Austin Burnevik leads the Huskies with 10 goals and 20 points in 23 games. Gavin Enright and James Gray are sharing goaltending duties in place of injured Isak Posch.

• Record: North Dakota leads 83-49-18 - In Grand Forks: UND leads 43-19-9 - In St. Cloud: UND leads 31-26-9

• The Hawks have given up a power play goal in 14 of their 23 games this season, and their opponents have successfully converted seven out of their last 15 opportunities, which is a rate of 46.7%.