GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics) – No. 7 North Dakota exploded for five goals in the opening 20 minutes and never let up, rolling to a 7-2 victory over No. 3 Boston University on Friday night from a sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (3-1-0) needed only 13 minutes of that opening frame to do its damage, getting goals from Jackson Kunz, Mac Swanson, Louis Jamernik V, Abram Wiebe and Jake Schmaltz to grab its largest win over Boston University (3-1-0) since an 8-3 trouncing on Jan. 25, 1986.
The Fighting Hawks didn’t just control those opening 13 minutes, however, suffocating the high-powered Terrier offense and goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter stopping 27-of-29 shots to help UND record its third victory over a ranked opponent this season.
It was a balanced offensive attack for the green and white, with 13 skaters recording at least a point and six notching multiple points. Jamernik V tallied his first three-point outing of his career on a goal and two helpers while Kunz potted a pair of goals for the first time as a collegiate player to pace the outburst up front.
Special teams defined the contest, with UND finishing 2-for-3 on the man advantage and BU capitalizing just once on five tries.
The power play went to work early for North Dakota, with Kunz striking for his first of the year just 2:37 in by cutting to the net and roofing a backhand shot over the glove of the BU goaltender to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
Swanson added a second power play tally a few minutes later, finishing off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play from Jayden Perron and Carter Wilkie to notch his first goal as a Fighting Hawk and double the advantage early before Jamernik V redirected a Schmaltz shot to make it 3-0 just 44 seconds later.
UND chased goaltender Mathieu Caron just beyond the midway point of the opening stanza when Wiebe snuck in from the point and roofed home his first of the year for a 4-0 lead while Schmaltz capped off the opening period onslaught with a shot that snuck through the wickets to send the hosts into the locker room with a 5-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Hawks played with fire in the second period, having to kill three penalties in the stanza, but Semptimphelter and the PK were up to the task to preserve the five-goal cushion heading into the final frame.
Kunz potted his second of the night just 40 seconds into the third, finishing off a slick feed from Caleb MacDonald before Ben Strinden answered a pair of Terrier goals with his first of the year off the rush to close out the 7-2 victory.
North Dakota will shoot for its first sweep over BU since Jan. 25-26, 1986 on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m.
Postgame Notes
- UND honored former standout Dixon Ward with “One More Shift” prior to the game
- Bennett Zmolek missed his third straight game with an injury while Caleb MacDonald returned to the lineup
- The seven goals by UND are the most against BU since scoring eight on Mar. 16, 1990
- Friday marked the largest margin of victory over BU for UND since an 8-3 win on Jan. 25, 1986
- Jackson Kunz tallied his first two-goal game of his career
- Louis Jamernik V notched a trio of points for the first time in his career
- UND improves to 19-1-1 when Jamernik V scores a goal in his career
- Mac Swanson scored his first collegiate goal and added an assist for his first multi-point game at UND
- Jayden Perron dished out two helpers for his first multi-point contest this season and third of his career
- Jake Schmaltz scored a goal and added an assist for his 12th multi-point game of his career
- Caleb MacDonald recorded his first point in a UND uniform, assisting on Kunz’s second goal
- Cade Littler notched his first-career point with an assist on Striden’s tally
- T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 27 saves to improve to 3-0-0 this season
- UND is now 3-1-0 this season against ranked teams
- NoDak goaltenders have allowed just two goals in every start this season, excluding an empty net
- The Hawks went 2-for-3 on the power play and held BU to just 1-for-5
- UND is now 5-for-10 with the man advantage this season (50.0%)
- The Hawks improve to 14-12-2 all-time against BU and 7-1-1 at home against the Terriers
- BU held a 37-35 advantage in the dot, with Schmaltz leading everyone at 13-5
How It Happened
First Period
02:37 | UND – Jackson Kunz (1) from Jayden Perron (1) and Mac Swanson (1)
06:22 | UND – Swanson (1) from Carter Wilkie (1) and Perron (2)
06:56 | UND – Louis Jamernik V (2) from Jake Schmaltz (1) and Cody Croal (2)
10:31 | UND – Abram Wiebe (1) from Owen McLaughlin (3) and Jake Livanavage (2)
13:12 | UND – Schmaltz (1) from Jamernik V (2) and Wiebe (3)
Second Period
No scoring
Third Period
00:40 | UND – Kunz (2) from Caleb MacDonald (1) and Jamernik V (3)
01:37 | BU – Tristian Amonte (1) from Matt Copponi (2) and Tom Willander (3)
05:54 | BU – Quinn Hutson (2) from Cole Hutson (3) and Shane Lachance (6)
13:07 | UND – Ben Strinden (1) from Cade Littler (1)
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