UND Athletics Clint Austin, Duluth News Tribune
DULUTH, Minn. (UND Athletics) – Tenth-ranked North Dakota jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after 20 minutes and kept control throughout, notching a 4-1 victory over Minnesota Duluth and securing the series sweep on Saturday night from AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
UND (5-4-0, 2-0-0 NCHC) notches its first sweep of the season and records its sixth straight win over Minnesota Duluth (3-6-0, 0-2-0 NCHC). The Fighting Hawks have also dominated at AMSOIL Arena, notching their third straight series sweep in the arena and grabbing their seventh straight victory at the barn.
The Hawks once again spread out the scoring, with Cade Littler (2), Ben Strinden (3), Cameron Berg (4) and Jackson Kunz (4) each finding the back of the net in the win. Defenseman Jake Livanavage continued his torrid weekend, dishing out another pair of assists to give him five for the weekend and back-to-back games with multiple points.
Goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter was big between the pipes once again, finishing with 26 saves on 27 shots against to notch his second straight win. The graduate student was big over the final 40 minutes, stopping 19-of-20 to finish the weekend with zero goals allowed at even strength.
North Dakota, searching for its first Saturday win of the season in a series, was the team with the jump in the early going. The visitors fired the game’s first eight shots on net and buried a pair of them to take a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into the game and chase UMD starting goaltender Adam Gajan.
Littler opened the scoring with his second goal of the weekend by wiring a shot from the high slot before Strinden pounced a rebound following a Dane Montgomery shot just over two minutes later to quickly the Hawks a 2-0 advantage and pot his second of the weekend.
UND kept pouring it on as the period wore on, striking for a third time on a Berg blast from his spot on the power play to increase the lead to 3-0 at the end of 20 minutes.
The biggest moment of the middle frame came in the final eight minutes, as Jayden Jubenvill was whistled for a facemasking major penalty to give the Bulldogs a massive chance on the power play to climb back into the game. Semptimphelter and his penalty killers held strong for a majority of the major, with the goaltender making a highlight, diving save to rob the hosts of a sure goal, but UMD eventually broke through in the final two seconds of the penalty to cut the deficit to 3-1 after two.
In the third, UND was able to lockdown the offensive push from the Bulldogs before Kunz added an empty netter in the final minutes to secure the sweep with a 4-1 win.
North Dakota will return home and look to remain perfect in NCHC play against top-ranked Denver beginning on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Postgame Notes
- North Dakota had all 19 healthy skaters in the lineup, with no healthy scratches for the entire weekend
- UND has now won six straight over Minnesota Duluth for the first time since Mar. 11, 2005 to Feb. 18, 2006
- The program has also won seven straight in Duluth for the first time since a 13-game winning streak from Dec. 19, 1962 through Nov. 29, 1968
- Dane Montgomery extended his point streak to three, matching his career high
- Ben Strinden potted goals in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 3-4, 2023 at BU
- UND finished with 18 blocked shots, with Caleb MacDonald and Louis Jamernik V each leading with three
- Jake Livanavage tallied two more assists to finish the weekend with five
- Four-different players scored a goal on Saturday
- NoDak finished with a 28-27 shot advantage
- T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 26 saves on 27 shots against to notch his second straight win
- UND finished 1-for-3 on the power play while UMD was 1-for-4
- The Hawks have now scored first in back-to-back games and are 4-0-0 this season when doing so
- The win was the first this season on a Saturday during a two-game series, improving to 2-3-0 this season
- Owen McLaughlin tallied another assist to pull into a tie for the team lead with seven
- Cameron Berg now has four goals in seven games this season, including three on the power play
- UND gets all six points on the road for the first time since Nov. 10-11, 2023 at Minnesota Duluth
- North Dakota finished with a 34-28 advantage in the faceoff dot, with Cameron Berg pacing UND at 12-1
How It Happened
First Period
03:25 | UND – Cade Littler (2) from Jake Livanavage (6) and Louis Jamernik V (5)
05:38 | UND – Ben Strinden (3) from Dane Montgomery (3) and Mac Swanson (4)
15:19 | UND – Cameron Berg (4, PP) from Livanavage (7) and Owen McLaughlin (7)
Second Period
16:24 | UMD – Harper Bentz (1) from Aaron Pionk (9) and Matthew Perkins (3)
Third Period
17:37 | UND – Jackson Kunz (4, EN)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 11/9/2024 9:00:00 PM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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