UND grabs points in seventh straight game, clinches home ice for the NCHC Quarterfinals
DULUTH, Minn. — After playing two straight games with only five defensemen, it was the blue liners who stood out again on Friday night from AMSOIL Arena. This time, however, it was on the offensive end by striking for all four goals in a 4-3 victory to lead the ninth-ranked Fighting Hawks past No. 7 Minnesota Duluth in the series opener. Not only was it the defensemen providing the offense, but it was also the power play, striking three times on four opportunities to help North Dakota (18-11-1, 13-5-1-0-1-1 NCHC) notch its seventh straight game with points in the league standings. The victory over Minnesota Duluth (15-12-3, 8-7-3-0-1-1 NCHC) also guaranteed home ice for the NCHC Quarterfinals on Mar. 11-13, confirming that UND will finish no lower than fourth in the standings for the eighth time in the nine-year history of the league. UND had to hold off a charge from the Bulldogs, with senior goaltender Zach Driscoll stopping 36-of-39 shots thrown his way, marking a season-high for the Apple Valley, Minn., native and running his record to 4-1-0 in the month of February. Goals from Tyler Kleven (5th), Luke Bast (1st), Cooper Moore (1st) and Ethan Frisch (9th) led the way, as five of the six defensemen dressed registered at least one point. It was an early push from the Bulldogs to open the game, peppering Driscoll and earning the game’s first man advantage just 32 seconds in. After the kill, the visitors started to find its way in the offensive zone with the forecheck. Midway through the opening frame, Jake Schmaltz won a battle along the boards and feathered a pass over to Judd Caulfield. The junior centered to Kleven, who fired a wrister through traffic, off the post and in to give UND a 1-0 lead at 11:50 of the opening frame. A late goal by the Bulldogs, the first allowed at 5-on-5 for UND in three games, sent the teams to the locker room squared at 1-1 after 20 minutes, but an early power play for North Dakota in the second turned the momentum back towards the visitors. Schmaltz drew a clean faceoff victory back to Moore and allowed Bast to fire a one-timer feed past Ryan Fanti for his first-collegiate goal just 1:03 into the middle frame and restore the UND advantage. Play seemed to slow down with the Hawks nursing the one-goal lead, but Nick Portz drew a power play chance late in the period to allow an opportunity to extend the lead. This time it was Bast who set-up Moore, as the sophomore waited for his defender to slide past and wristed it into the top corner for his first of the season and a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. Special teams continued to dictate as the final 20 minutes began, with Dominic James cutting the lead to 3-2 at the 9:35 mark with a shorthanded goal. It marks the third shorthanded goal allowed by UND over the last eight games and the ninth time in 11 games during 2022 that UND has allowed a goal on special teams. The momentum didn’t last long for the hosts, however, as Connor Ford drew a holding call to put UND back on the power play just a few minutes. Frisch made the Bulldogs pay with his sixth goal of the year on the man advantage, sixth overall tally over the last seven games and third straight game with a strike to make it 4-2 with just over six minutes to play. UMD cut the lead back to one again, 4-3, on a goal from Kobe Roth with 3:57 to play, but the Hawks didn’t allow a shot on goal for the remainder of the game to close out the victory. North Dakota will go for the weekend sweep on Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. from AMSOIL Arena. Fans can catch the action on Midco Sports and NCHC.tv. NOTES: Cooper Moore scored his first goal of the season and first since Jan. 29, 2021 at Omaha … Luke Bast notched his first-career goal in his 17th game … Both also picked up multi-point efforts … Jake Schmaltz tallied two assists for the second time in his career (Nov. 27 vs. Minnesota) … UND has now taken points in seven straight NCHC games, the longest streak of the season … Driscoll stopped a season-high 36 shots … UMD finished with a 39-27 shot advantage … 15 of the 27 shots by UND came in the third period … UND finished 3-for-4 on the PP while UMD went 0-for-1 with no shots … Riese Gaber extends his point streak to five games and has nine points over that stretch … The Hawks improve to 64-43-6 in Duluth … UND improves to 14-1-0 when scoring at least four goals this season … UND went 29-20 in the dot with Connor Ford winning a game-high 12 … Griffin Ness went 5-1 … Minnesota Duluth has not been swept in a conference series this year.
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 2/19/2022 12:10:00 AM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
