#2 North Dakota (9-2-1) at RV/18 Denver (4-7-1)
Jan. 17-18, 2021
Magness Arena
8:07 PM CT Sunday-Monday
All-time Series: UND leads, 150-129-16 (.536)
RADIO
PxP: Tim Hennessy
Radio: 96.1 FM (Flagship) Sunday 740 The Fan Fargo. Monday 790 KFGO & Home of Economy Radio Network
Web: FightingHawks.com
ON TAP
North Dakota heads back to Colorado to take on the Denver Pioneers for another Sunday-Monday series.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
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.
CBS SPORTS NETWORK GAMES ANNOUNCED
The first half of the NCHC schedule with CBS Sports Network offerings was release Dec. 29 and North Dakota will have one in the four announced games. UND’s game at Denver on Jan. 18 will air on CBS Sports Network with the final four weeks still yet to be determined.
HOW WE GOT HERE….
The Pioneers were forced to sit last week with COVID issues and North Dakota played a delayed series at Colorado College last week (also Sunday-Monday). CC will be playing Omaha on Monday and Tuesday this week, so UND’s home openers have been pushed back a day to Saturday-Sunday.
THIS ONE GOES TO 11…
Jordan Kawaguchi’s recent season-opening point streak finally came to an end Monday. Previously, Kawaguchi had registered the longest active point streak in the NCAA to date with 11. It marked the longest point streak of his career (previous high: 8, last season)
COLLEGIATE DEBUT
Louis Jamernik made his NCAA debut in Sunday’s win at Colorado College. He joined UND at the semester break and found himself in the lineup, centering the fourth line.
POLL POSITION
Five NCHC teams are nationally ranked in the newest USCHO.com poll release Monday with four of them in the top 10. North Dakota, after three weeks at No. 3, moved up a spot and tallied eight first-place votes with St. Cloud State garnering a first-place vote and a fourth-place ranking. Minnesota Duluth slipped to seventh and Omaha moved to 10th. Denver is 18th in the USCHO.com poll.
THIS YEAR AGAINST THE PIOS
The teams split their two meetings in the NCHC pod. UND took the first game, 4-3, thanks to a Jordan Kawaguchi overtime goal at 1:18 to seal it. Four days later, Carter Savoie’s power-play goal during a major penalty at 18:58 of the third proved to be the difference. That loss snapped a five-game unbeaten streak for North Dakota over Denver.
WORLD BEATERS
North Dakota made its last scheduled trip to Colorado College’s Broadmoor World Arena a memorable one. UND allowed just one goal the entire weekend, marking the lowest goals allowed for a series at World Arena for North Dakota.
TAMING THE TIGERS
UND stretched its winning streak over Colorado College to five with the 2-1 Jan. 11 win. North Dakota has allowed just three goals in that span with a pair of shutouts and three one-goal games.
WELCOME BACK (BIRTHDAY) PARTY
Freshman Tyler Kleven made his return to UND from the World Juniors on his birthday, and delivered himself a gift with a game-winning goal. Midway through the first, he blasted a shot past Matt Vernon to put UND on the board first and it held up as Adam Scheel shut things down in net. It was Kleven’s second collegiate goal (five games).
ADAMS’ APPLES
Senior Collin Adams recently strung together four straight games with a goal after his tally in the second period in Sunday’s win at Colorado College. Adams now has five goals and seven assists on the year with eight of those points coming during his current six-game point streak.
SCHEEL STANDARD
Scheel’s career 2.03 goals against average currently ranks at the top of UND’s record books for lowest GAA in a career. He sits well in front of leaders Cam Johnson and Zane McIntyre (2.10). His save percentage (.911) is just outside the top five in the UND record books.
POWER PLAY PROFICIENCY
North Dakota’s power play has operated at an NCHC-best 28.0 percent (14/50) so far this season. UND has a power-play goal in 11 of 12 games this season and each of the last six.
JAMERNIK JOINS
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 became 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 44 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 eight goals, tied for the most in the NCHC.
QUICK DRAW
North Dakota’s centermen have been great in the faceoff dot, currently third in the NCAA in faceoff win percentage (.564). Shane Pinto’s .640 win percentage is among the leaders in the country and his 178 draws won are the third-most in NCAA D1. Jasper Weatherby is second-best on the team at .539, 16th-best in the NCHC.
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
CAPTAIN KAWA
Jordan Kawaguchi was selected as the captain of the 2020-21 team. The returning Hobey Hat Trick finalist goes into his senior season as the leading returning scorer in the country from last season. He’s joined in the leadership group by four other assistant captains: defenseman Matt Kiersted (2nd season), defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, forward Mark Senden and forward Jasper Weatherby (all 1st season).
GOOD HOSTS
North Dakota will be the host school for the 2026 NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas, Nev., (T-Mobile Arena) and the 2023 and 2025 NCAA Regionals at SCHEELS Arena (Fargo, N.D.), announced in October by the NCAA. This adds to UND’s long resume of hosting NCAA events, including this coming season’s NCAA Midwest Regional in Fargo. North Dakota has previously hosted NCAA Regionals in 2015, 2017 and 2019 at SCHEELS Arena, 2006 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks and 2018 at Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., in the past 15 years.
OFF TO THE PROS
North Dakota again sent several players to the professional ranks after last season, all four coming on free agent deals. Colton Poolman inked with the Calgary Flames with the NHL while Cole Smith signed with the Nashville Predators organization. Westin Michaud signed with the Manitoba Moose, the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets and Dixon Bowen signed on to play in Finland.