No. 3 North Dakota finally set to open second half
Fluid schedule leads to Sunday-Monday series at Colorado College
#3 North Dakota (7-2-1) at Colorado College (3-5-2)
Jan. 10-11, 2021
8:07 CT both nights
Broadmoor World Arena
All-time Series: UND leads 162-84-11 (.651)
RADIO: Sunday 740 The Fan. Monday 790 KFGO Fargo & Home of Economy Radio Network
PxP: Tim Hennessy
Web: FightingHawks.com
ON TAP
North Dakota finally begins the second half of the season by grabbing a Sunday-Monday series at Colorado College. These games will now replace the originally-scheduled Feb. 12-13 series slated for Colorado Springs, Colo.
All UND men’s hockey games, home and away, can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network, Longtime broadcaster Tim Hennessy, in his 42nd season as the voice of UND men’s hockey, calls the action while Steve Olson will provide color analysis.
HOW WE GOT HERE….
The original start to the second half was to be a return trip to Omaha to face the Mavericks. Due to positive COVID-19 tests within the Omaha program, that series got moved to Jan. 29-30. The following week, Omaha was still saddled with COVID issues and forced the postponement of what would have been UND’s home openers on Jan. 8-9.
Colorado College’s scheduled opponent for this week was rival Denver. The Pioneers were forced to sit with COVID issues, making CC and UND both with open dates. The teams decided to play Jan. 10-11 to replace their Feb. 12-13 series.
POLL POSITION
Five NCHC teams are again ranked in both national polls. UND sits at third in both rankings for the third straight week with Minnesota Duluth down a spot to five. St. Cloud State sits at sixth to give NCHC half of the top six. Omaha is 11th while Denver is 17th in the USCHO.com poll.
JAMERNIK JOINING
The semester break provided an opportunity for North Dakota to bring in a player. With the AJHL on pause, recent signee Louis Jamernik enrolled in the Spring semester and will be immediately eligible for the Fighting Hawks. The 5-11 forward has spent the last three seasons in the AJHL with the Okotok Oilers, the same developmental league as UND alums Brad Eidsness, Rhett Gardner, Corban Knight and Derek Rodwell in addition to current Fighting Hawk Jacob Bernard-Docker.
GOLDEN AGAIN
North Dakota once again had a gold medal-winning player at the IIHF World Junior Championships, and this time it was a pair of athletes. Last season, Jacob Bernard Docker’s Team Canada turned the trick. This season, Team USA thwarted a back-to-back effort from the Canadians, taking gold with Jake Sanderson and Tyler Kleven on board for the Americans.
UND has now had 15 gold medalists all-time, including 10 since 2004. North Dakota can boast 25 medalists all-time at the tournament.
FEENEY TIME
Sophomore goaltender Harrison Feeney made his official collegiate debut in the 6-2 win over Miami Dec. 20 in the NCHC pod finale. He played the final 3:33, stopping all three shots he saw, including killing a man-advantage opportunity.
SPREADING IT OUT
North Dakota’s 39 goals have come from 15 different players. Mark Senden’s goal in the 4-3 win over St. Cloud State was the 15th different player to score in UND’s first eight games. Riese Gaber leads the team with seven goals, one shy of the NCAA lead.
JORDAN JAMMING ALONG
Jordan Kawaguchi had a point in all 10 games in the NCHC pod, the only player to be able to make that claim. He was in on five game-winners for North Dakota as well, setting up the winners against Miami (Dec. 2) and both Western Michigan wins (Dec. 6, Dec. 13) while scoring the overtime clinchers vs. Denver (Dec. 4) and St. Cloud State (Dec. 16).
DECEMBER MAN
Jordan Kawguchi earned his third NCHC Player of the Month award after his performance in the Omaha pod. The senior captain tallied a team-high-tying 13 points with five game-winning points. He scored a pair of overtime goals to help North Dakota etch a 7-2-1 record.
COMIN’ FOR YA, COACH
Kawaguchi has a few former players now on the coaching staff in his sights on UND’s all-time scoring list. He passed Jason Ulmer and caught assistant head coach Dane Jackson with his assist in the win against Miami in the NCHC pod finale:
PLAYER YRS G A PT
- Dane Jackson 88-92 59 44 103
Jordan Kawaguchi 17-pres 33 70 103
- Ed Thomlinson 57-60 49 53 102
Jason Ulmer 96-00 33 69 102
Rob Mihulka 75-79 40 62 102
Jason Notermann 99-03 40 62 102
QUICK DRAW
North Dakota’s centermen have been great in the faceoff dot, currently fourth in the NCAA in faceoff win percentage (.571). Shane Pinto’s .651 win percentage is among the leaders in the country and his 157 draws won are the second-most in NCAA D1. Jasper Weatherby is close behind at .566, sixth-best in the NCHC.
OT WINNERS
Jordan Kawaguchi’s OT winner Dec. 16 vs. St. Cloud State just 8 seconds into the extra frame marked his fifth career OT GWG. Dating back to 1964 (since records are immediately available on this stat), no other UND player has more than three OT winners in his career.
UND players with multiple OT winners
(Division I era)
Jordan Kawaguchi 5
Greg Johnson 3
Roger Bamburak 2
Dean Barsness 2
- Bochenski 2
Drake Caggiula 2
Justin Duberman 2
Bob Duncan 2
Matt Frattin 2
Lee Goren 2
Gerry Kell 2
Bill Reichert 2
Drew Stafford 2
Phil Sykes 2
Glen White 2
Darcy Zajac 2
POWER PLAY PLUGGED BACK IN
North Dakota’s power play has operated at an NCHC-best 27.9 percent (12/43) in the first half of the season.
UND has a power-play goal in nine of 10 games this season and each of the last four.
KAWAHOBEY OT
Senior captain Jordan Kawaguchi has now scored a school-record 5 overtime goals in his career following his game-winner just eight seconds in vs. #9 St. Cloud State Dec. 16. Kawaguchi now has 28 game-winning points in his career, including 10 GWG.
Kawaguchi career game-winning points
2020-21 5
2019-20 13*
2018-19 7
2017-18 3
*led NCAA
Overtime winners for Kawaguchi
Dec. 16, 2020 vs St Cloud State
Dec. 4, 2020 vs Denver
Nov. 23, 2019 vs. St Cloud State
Mar. 9, 2019 vs. Omaha
Jan. 12, 2019 vs. Colorado College
