OMAHA, Neb.(UND Athletics) — After clinching the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s regular season title with two weeks remaining, UND head coach Brad Berry took the opportunity to allow some players that were not at full-strength health-wise a brief respite with a single game at Omaha in the road finale of the season. That meant three of UND’s leading scorers all stayed back in Grand Forks while junior Jasper Weatherby continued his hot streak to lift the Fighting Hawks to a 4-2 win Friday evening at Baxter Arena.
Shane Pinto (28 points), Jordan Kawaguchi (26 points) and Grant Mismash (18 points) were all out of the lineup along with Gabe Bast but the UND power play maintained its torrid pace over the past few weeks as North Dakota tallied three more PPGs in the win. North Dakota has now gone 6-for-9 with the man advantage in its last two wins (both over Omaha) and has tallied eight PPGs on an Omaha penalty kill unit that has allowed just five power-play goals in 67 opportunities in its other 18 games combined.
North Dakota (18-4-1) again got going early as the Fighting Hawks continued to be a thorn in the side of the Mavs on the power play. UND scored on its first man-advantage, part of a 3-for-4 night and a second consecutive 3PPG game. Junior Mark Senden tallied his first power play goal 47 seconds into that man advantage. Jasper Weatherby fired a shot on net and Judd Caulfield jammed away a few times at he reound to Isaiah Saville’s right until Senden flew in and snuck it in.
Early in the second, Omaha tied the score on Brock Bremer’s sixth goal of the season just 27 seconds into the frame. UND would strike again on the man advantage, however, as Jake Sanderson scored his second of the year, both on the power play.
After he played catch with Jacob Bernard-Docker, Sanderson got the puck back in the high slot and deked a defender, forcing him to lose his stick. He then calmly shelved it over Saville’s glove for a 2-1 UND lead.
No. 12/11 Omaha (13-9-1) would tie it late, though, with just under three minutes remaining. The Mavs, though, took an interference call at 18:07 and Weatherby made it hurt with a laser from the left wall for his eighth goal in the last seven games. Judd Caulfield added an empty netter and North Dakota secured its ninth win at Baxter Arena this season (7-2-1 in the NCHC pod, 2-1-0 since).
Adam Scheel made 30 saves to improve to 16-3-1 on the season.
The teams play one final time to conclude the regular season next Friday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
NOTES
*North Dakota played 13 games in Baxter Arena this season (9-3-1)
*Weatherby extended his goal streak to seven straight games, scoring the game-winner and adding a pair of assists.
*UND’s power play is now tops in the NCHC and fifth in the country (26.2 %).
*Scheel’s win gives him 48 for his three-year career, putting him alone in 10th place all-time at North Dakota.
*In UND’s current five-game win streak, the Fighting Hawks are 10-for-29 on the power play and is a perfect 21-for-21 on the kill.
*JUdd Caulfield registered his third multi-point game in his last seven games.
*UND now has ten players with 10 points or more on the season.
*North Dakota leads the nation in goals per game (4.00).
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 2/26/2021 11:21:00 PM | Mitch Wigness, FightingHawks.com
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