GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– Being the No. 1-ranked college hockey team in the nation paints a big target on the backs of the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
Yet UND, behind another superb goaltending performance from junior Peter Thome (25 saves), completed a sweep of Denver Saturday night, downing the Pioneers 3-1 for its ninth sweep of the season in front of 11,812 fans at sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena.
A power-play goal by junior defenseman Matt Kiersted off of DU defenseman Justin Lee and a 2-on-1 snipe by junior center Collin Adams off of a Jordan Kawaguchi feed at 11:25 of the second period was all the offense UND needed on a night where offense was scarce. The goal was Kiersted’s fifth of the season.
“We started the game the right way, I thought we had energy,” UND coach Brad Berry said. “They came at us in waves there towards the last half of the game. They played a little desperation hockey. We did a good job of holding them off.”
Denver did outshoot UND for the second straight night (26-24), making it just the second time that has happened this season, the other being a split series at Minnesota-Duluth in late January.
But Thome stopped 25 of 26 Denver shots to run his season record to 6-0-1, allowing just five total goals in his last five starts. He gave up only a sharp-angle goal to DU rookie wing Brett Edwards at 16:17 of the second period that snuck past Thome on the short side.
Thome lowered his season goals-against average to 1.26 and raised his save percentage to .940.
UND iced the win when sophomore center Jasper Weatherby hit the empty net from center ice with 12 seconds left after Denver had lifted freshman goalie Magnus Chrona (20 saves) for an extra attacker with 95 seconds left in the game. Thome stopped four Denver shots during that span, including a backhander by Lee in tight in the final minute.
“I’m proud of the way the guys stuck with it,” Berry said. “They defended, they blocked shots, they found a way to get it done. At the end of the year, when you get into post-season, you need to close those games out when you have a one-goal lead. I think we grew a little bit as a team. We won two games two different ways (4-1 on Friday.)”
The game-winning goal went to Adams, who scored for the third straight game in notching his 10th of the season, three more than his combined total of seven in his first two seasons at UND. It was his sixth game-winning goal, tops on the team that is now 23-3-3 overall and 14-2-2 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and eight points ahead of second-place Minnesota-Duluth.
Kawaguchi, second in the nation in points, made a pin-point pass from left wing to the right side to Adams in stride for what proved to be the winning goal.
Berry moved Adams from wing to center this season, where he has found himself offensively and defensively. After being a minus-15 in the plus/minus ratings over his first two seasons, he is a plus-26 this season and leads the nation in that category.
“We had some hard conversations and I think a lot was up to him,” Berry said of his talk with Adams after last season. “What direction he wanted his career to go.”
He’s answered that this year, loud and clear.
UND finished with a 3-0-1 record against Denver this season, taking 11 of a possible 12 points after having their season ended with a road first-round playoff loss last season at Denver.
“That feels good,” Adams said. “They ended our season last year, so there was a little extra edge there. I think it showed.”
UND played the game without captain Colton Poolman, a top tier defenseman sidelined with illness. “We weren’t worried,” Adams said. “We’re next man up. Josh (Rieger) came in and played his shifts, and does a really good job defensively. All our ‘D’ are solid.”
Denver was missing two top players, after freshman star Bobby Brink and forward Jaako Heikkenen were injured in Friday’s game and couldn’t go on Saturday.
North Dakota takes to the road for four of its final six regular season games beginning next weekend at St. Cloud State.
Notes: UND won the faceoff battle for the second straight game, this time 39-22 led by Shane Pinto (10-2), Adams (10-4) and Weatherby (11-5) … Pinto led UND in shots on goal with 4 … Freshman defenseman Ethan Frisch blocked 4 shots to lead UND … Lee’s 4 shots on goal paced Denver … Named the three stars by the media, in order, were Adams, Kiersted and Thome … UND (23-3-3) is ahead of the NCAA championship team’s pace through 29 games (22-4-3) … Jordan Kawaguchi had a primary assist on the game-winning goal to give him points in 16 straight home games … He has 30 points (9G, 21A) in 17 home games … Thome set a new career best with his sixth win … He had five wins in each of his freshman and sophomore seasons … North Dakota now has six players in double figures in goals after Adams and Weatherby got there Saturday.
Virg Foss is in his 15th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. He covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement from newspapers. This is his 50th season — half a century — of covering UND hockey.
