GRAND FORKS, North Dakota (KNFL/KFGO) – No. 2/3 North Dakotaopened up postseason play with a 5-3 victory over Omaha on Friday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
The win gives UND (26-8-1) a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three NCHC Frozen Faceoff Quarterfinals and extends the program’s home postseason winning streak to 17 straight games.
Despite missing two key regulars in the lineup due to illness, it was the depth that rose to the top again as eight different forwards and two defensemen potted at least one point in the win. Freshmen forwards Jack Kernan (1G, 2A) and Ollie Josephson (1G, 2A) each tallied a trio of points while sophomore forward Cade Littler (1G, 1A) was the third Fighting Hawk with multiple points to pace the offensive attack.
Dalton Andrew (1) and Mac Swanson (9) were the other two Hawks to find the back of the net while rookie netminder Jan Špunar bounced back from a tough first period and finished with 17 saves on 20 shots to notch his first postseason win as a collegian and improve to 17-3-1 on the season.
NoDak jumped out to a quick start on the power play, as Littler tipped home a shot from Kernan to give the hosts a 1-0 lead just over seven minutes into the period. After the goal, however, it was Omaha (12-23-0) who seemed to have the better play, as the Mavericks answered with a pair of tallies just 1:31 apart to take a 2-1 lead after one.
The intermission seemed to awaken the Hawks, with the green and white exploding for four goals in the second period to flip the game and grab a 5-2 advantage.
Kernan got it started in the early moments of the frame, as the rookie got his stick on a shot from Bennett Zmolek to score his ninth of the season and knot the contest at 2-2. Just under two minutes later, Andrew, playing in his first game in nearly two months, drove hard to the net and fired a shot that trickled over the goaltender’s pad and into the net for his first goal of the season and a 3-2 NoDak lead.
Josephson got in on the action as well, as he had Tyler Young’s centering pass legally deflect off his skate and in for his sixth of the season to make it 4-2 UND just over five minutes into the middle stanza.
Swanson capped off the dominant period for UND with a power play goal off a slick feed from Kernan to pot his ninth of the year and send the hosts into the locker room with a 5-2 cushion after 40 minutes.
Omaha pulled one back in the third period but could not get any closer as UND closed out the 5-3 victory.
North Dakota will go for the series sweep and will look to advance to the Frozen Faceoff Semifinals with a win on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 44-23-2 all-time against Omaha and 23-11-1 in Grand Forks
- Forwards Ben Strinden, Will Zellers and David Klee all missed tonight’s game due to illness
- The Hawks are now 7-2-0 all-time against Omaha in postseason games
- UND has now won 17 straight home playoff games dating back to 2014
- The Hawks are 20-4-0 in NCHC Quarterfinal games, 10-0-0 as a No. 1 seed and 16-1-0 at home
- Jack Kernan scored a goal and dished out two assists for a career-high three points
- Ollie Josephson also scored and had two helpers to match his career-high three points
- Josephson has six points (3G, 3A) over his last four games
- Cade Littler tallied his fourth multi-point game of his career with a goal and an assist
- Littler now has four goals in three postseason games against Omaha in his career
- Dalton Andrew scored his first goal of the season in only his fourth appearance
- Cole Reschny extended his point streak to six (1G, 6A) with a helper
- Mac Swanson has 10 points (5G, 5A) over his last 11 games after scoring tonight
- EJ Emery dished out an assist to give him 10 points (3G, 7A) this season
- Emery also has five points (1G, 4A) over his last six games
- Omaha went 1-for-2 on the power play while UND was 2-for-4
- NoDak improves to 20-1-0 this season when scoring a power play goal and 9-0-0 when scoring 2+
- UND is also riding a seven-game winning streak over Omaha – the longest in school history
- Jan Špunar finished with 17 saves to improve to 17-3-1 this season
- Shots were 28-20 in favor of UND
- Faceoffs were 32-17 in favor of UND, with Ellis Rickwood pacing UND at 13-7
How It Happened
First Period:
07:26 | UND – Cade Litter (5, PP) from Jack Kernan (8) and Ollie Josephson (11)
11:06 | OMA – Samuel Huo (7) from Ryan McCleary (1) and Trevor Wong (15)
12:37 | OMA – Maxime Pellerin (9, PP) from Luke Woodworth (16) and Jeremy Loranger (12)
Second Period:
01:23 | UND – Kernan (9) from Bennett Zmolek (3) and Cole Reschny (27)
03:10 | UND – Dalton Andrew (1) from Littler (8) and Anthony Menghini (7)
05:48 | UND – Josephson (6) from Tyler Young (6) and EJ Emery (7)
18:23 | UND – Mac Swanson (9, PP) from Kernan (9) and Josephson (12)
01:23 | UND – Kernan (9) from Bennett Zmolek (3) and Cole Reschny (27)
03:10 | UND – Dalton Andrew (1) from Littler (8) and Anthony Menghini (7)
05:48 | UND – Josephson (6) from Tyler Young (6) and EJ Emery (7)
18:23 | UND – Mac Swanson (9, PP) from Kernan (9) and Josephson (12)
Third Period:
16:00 | OMA – Myles Hilman (6) from Pellerin (13) and Aidan de la Gorgendiere (10)
16:00 | OMA – Myles Hilman (6) from Pellerin (13) and Aidan de la Gorgendiere (10)
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