Russell Hons credit UND Athletics
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Graduate student T.J. Semptimphelter stopped all 24 shots fired his way to help No. 16/18 North Dakota take down No. 9 St. Cloud State, 2-0, on Friday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (10-7-1, 5-2-0) has now won three straight games and moves into a tie for second place in the NCHC standings with 15 points. The Fighting Hawks, who have one game remaining before the holiday break, came take sole possession of second place and inch within a point of top-ranked Western Michigan with a regulation win on Saturday.
Semptimphelter was at his best in the victory, finishing with 24 saves to notch his first shutout in a green and white sweater. The Marlton, N.J., native had to shut it down over the final 20, making 13 stops and thwarting a pair of SCSU (10-6-0, 4-3-0 NCHC) power play opportunities to secure his ninth clean sheet of his career.
NoDak received goals from Carter Wilkie (3) and Jake Livanavage (2) while Sacha Boisvert notched an assist to extend his point streak to three games and give the rookie nine points (5G, 4A) over his last eight contests.
After a slow first period, UND started to pick up its play in the middle frame, as the hosts finished with a 13-3 shots on goal margin to take control of the game. Wilkie opened the scoring just prior to the midway point of the contest by finishing off a perfect back door feed from Boisvert just after a power play expired to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Looking to close out a third period lead once again, Livanavage added some insurance early in the frame when Cade Littler won a battle along the wall to Dane Montgomery who centered the puck to Livanavage and the sophomore sniped home his second of the season to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage.
Semptimphelter and the rest of the Fighting Hawks closed out the victory and the shutout by a 2-0 score and will go for the series sweep on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- Caleb MacDonald returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with an injury
- UND improves to 82-49-18 all-time against St. Cloud State and 42-19-9 in Grand Forks
- T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 24 saves to record his first shutout at UND
- The Hawks have won three straight games for the first time this season
- NoDak is now 4-6-0 this season against ranked opponents
- Carter Wilkie scored his third goal of the season and second in the last four games
- Jake Livanavage tallied his second goal of the year
- UND finished with 20 blocked shots, with Caleb MacDonald leading with five
- SCSU went 0-for-4 on the power play while UND was 0-for-3
- The win was only the second in eight tries when UND does not score on the power play (2-5-1)
- NoDak is now 9-1-0 this season when scoring first
- UND is 17-for-19 over the last six games on the PK
- The Hawks are outscoring opponents, 7-1, in the third period over the last six games
- Sacha Boisvert recorded an assist to give him nine points over his last eight games
- The Hawks held a 31-24 shot advantage
- Faceoffs were even at 29-29, with Carter Wilkie pacing all skaters at 14-5
How It Happened
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
09:57 | UND – Carter Wilkie (3) from Sacha Boisvert (9) and Owen McLaughlin (11)
Third Period
07:20 | UND – Jake Livanavage (2) from Dane Montgomery (5)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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