Oct. 18—GRAND FORKS — UND
beat Minnesota 5-2
in the series opener Friday in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The game was tied 2-2 heading into the third, but UND outshot the Gophers 11-2 and outscored them 3-0 in that period to pull away with the win.
One analytic jumped off the page showing the Fighting Hawks may have worn down the Gophers, allowing UND to gradually take over the game.
SportLogic measures offensive zone dump-in puck recoveries at even strength.
UND held a 4-3 edge in the first period and a 5-3 advantage in the second. In the third, it was 8-0 UND.
The Fighting Hawks were tracking down dump-ins, creating offensive zone time and preventing Minnesota from possessing the puck.
“I think we were getting pucks low and forechecking them,” UND forward Dylan James said. “No ‘D’ likes going back and getting pucks in the third period. We kind of knew that. Our conditioning has been amazing. We had a hard summer and got close together. Near the end of the game, it was mental toughness.”
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko told
Gopher Puck Live
that he thought his team ran out of gas after having to kill seven UND power plays.
“You’ve got to battle on the road in another league,” Motzko said. “We had some guys who ran out of gas. You have 14 minutes of penalties. Unfortunately, at 2-2, we thought we were in a good spot. Give North Dakota credit. They kept their ground game going. We made two mistakes and that’s how they scored their two goals to tie it and get the lead.”
UND defenseman Andrew Strathmann is now tied for the team lead with a plus-4 rating. He was plus-2 on Friday against the Gophers.
E.J. Emery tallied the first
two-goal game
by a UND defenseman since Logan Britt on Feb. 3, 2024, against Miami.
Minnesota was called for six minor penalties in its first four games of the season, including a pair of penalty-free games. On Friday, the Gophers were called for eight minor penalties.
Time on ice stats were heavily influenced by UND’s power play time. Jake Livanavage (27:57), Keaton Verhoeff (23:48) and Cole Reschny (20:24) led UND. Cal Thomas (27:38), Luke Mittelstadt (22:27) and Leo Gruba (21:16) led Minnesota.
The Gophers have been held under 20 shots on goal in three of the last four games. They were outshot 33-13 by Michigan Tech, 34-19 by Boston College and 32-15 by UND. The Gophers outshot Boston College 33-31 in the other game during that stretch.
Minnesota is on a four-game winless streak, its longest since a five-game streak in February and March of 2020.
In the last 20 years, only one UND team started the season 4-0. That was the 2016-17 squad.
UND freshman forward Mac Swanson has matched his goal total from last season (two). Swanson, who often looked to pass a season ago, is tied for the team lead in shots on goal with nine. James also has nine shots on goal.
Fighting Hawks senior center Ellis Rickwood has back-to-back multi-point games and now leads the team in scoring with five points.
The 50-50 jackpot for Saturday night’s series finale will be a minimum of $50,000. The 50-50 will benefit UND hockey’s NIL program.
