Weekend Preview: UND at Cornell

#6 North Dakota (3-2-0) travels to Ithaca, New York this weekend to face #9 Cornell. The Big Red have yet to play a game this season, and it will be interesting to see whether Mike Schafer’s squad can pick up where they left off a year ago (22-7-6 in 2023-24).

Cornell was impressive in the NCAA tournament last season, besting Maine 3-1 before meeting up with eventual champion Denver in the regional final. Denver scored a power play goal with four seconds remaining in the second period to break a 1-1 tie and made that lead hold up despite a furious third period that saw the Big Red outshoot the Pios 9-3.

Cornell returns all but one player from last year’s squad, which was the best defensive team in the country in 2023-24 (1.86 goals allowed/game).

That one player – center Gabriel Seger – is a big loss for Mike Schafer’s crew. Seger put up a line of 14-30-44 in 35 games last season and was the team’s leading scorer.

Two other Cornell players – sophomore forward Luke Devlin and sophomore defenseman George Fegaras – are expected to be out of the lineup this weekend. In the 2022 NHL Draft, Devlin was a sixth-round pick (#182 overall) of the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Fegaras was a third-round draft pick (#83 overall) of the Dallas Stars.

Remarkably, Cornell has THIRTY players on its hockey roster, with a breakdown of eleven defensemen, sixteen forwards, and three goaltenders. By comparison, UND has a far-more-normal roster of 26 players (8-15-3).

North Dakota bench boss Brad Berry will be without four of those 26 players in this important non-conference series:

Junior defenseman Bennett Zmolek remains out of the lineup; Zmolek has missed the last four games.

Fellow blueliner Tanner Komzak, a sophomore, was injured in practice this week and also did not travel.

Junior goaltender Kaleb Johnson remained in Grand Forks this week; the team is still determining how long Johnson might be sidelined.

And perhaps most importantly, senior forward Cameron Berg, the team’s leading scorer (3-3-6), was injured late in Saturday’s loss to Boston University when he got tangled up with two other players in his own end. Berg was on the ice for the final fourteen seconds of the game and participated in portions of practice this week but is unable to return to the lineup.

All four players are dealing with lower-body injuries.

Without Zmolek and Komzak, North Dakota’s defensive corps consists of three freshmen and three sophomores. Junior forward Dane Montgomery is another option on the blue line for Brad Berry this weekend.

UND has played Cornell just ten times in school history, with three of those meetings in the NCAA tournament. Before the January 2022 series in Grand Forks (a 4-3, 3-1 Big Red sweep), the two teams last squared off in January 2010 in the first two UND games ever played in Ithaca, New York. Cornell won the opener 1-0 before North Dakota evened the series with a 3-1 victory.

This season, #6 North Dakota followed up a 5-2 victory over #12 Providence in its home opener with a road split at #16 Minnesota State (3-2, 0-3). Curiously, UND actually played better in Saturday’s loss than in Friday’s victory; in the finale, the Fighting Hawks were done in by 34 blocked shots and a 27-save shutout performance from Mavericks junior netminder Alex Tracy.

Last weekend, the Fighting Hawks put together a solid 120 minutes of hockey in a home split (7-2, 3-4) with #5 Boston University. If Brad Berry’s crew can put together efforts like that each and every weekend, this year’s version of the Green and White will win a LOT of hockey games.

One key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s ninth-best team on draws (55.8%). Last season, Cornell clocked in at 54.2% (7th).

For UND, senior Jake Schmaltz has been making a living on draws, winning 56 of 80 (70.0%). Graduate forward Louis Jamernik V has been stellar as well (21 of 32; 65.6%). Brad Berry will miss Cameron Berg’s presence in the dot; Berg has won 37 of 69 faceoffs to this point of the season (53.6%).

If UND will miss the presence of Berg this weekend, Cornell will CERTAINLY miss center Gabriel Seger. Seger took by far the most draws for the Big Red last season, winning 488 of 830 (58.8%). Left to do the heavy lifting inside the circle are sophomore Ryan Walsh (251 of 492, 51.0% last season) and classmate Jonathan Castagna (220 of 403, 54.6%).

North Dakota has five drafted skaters among its eight first-year players, including a pair of highly-touted recruits:

Forward Sacha Boisvert: 2024 Round 1 #18 overall to the Chicago Blackhawks

Boisvert last played with the Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL).

Defenseman E.J. Emery: 2024 Round 1 #30 overall to the New York Rangers

Emery spent the last two seasons with the U.S. National Development Team in Ann Arbor.

Other North Dakota freshmen who were drafted by NHL teams over the past three years include:

Defenseman Andrew Strathmann: 2023 Round 4 #98 overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets

Forward Mac Swanson: 2024 Round 7 #207 to the Pittsburgh Penguins

Forward Cade Littler: 2022 Round 7 #219 overall to the Calgary Flames

The three freshman forwards listed above have combined for two goals and five assists in thirteen games played this season, while Emery and Strathmann have each picked up an assist while playing heavy minutes for the Hawks (Emery 22:24, Strathmann 12:49).

For North Dakota, the goal is simple: take another step in the national tournament. There is reason for optimism in Grand Forks, with an experienced d-corps, plenty of returning grit and skill, and a crop of freshmen with a tremendous amount of upside.

Non-conference games are critical in determining the sixteen teams for the NCAA tournament, and this weekend is North Dakota’s next opportunity to bolster their resume. After these two road games against Cornell (a member of the ECAC) UND has four non-conference games remaining this season:

November 22-23: vs. Robert Morris (AHA)
November 29-30: at/vs. Bemidji State (CCHA)

So far this season, UND is 2-1 against Hockey East and 1-1 against the CCHA. A split or better this weekend would be an excellent result for North Dakota, as they would then have an overall non-conference record of 4-3 with four winnable games remaining

Incidentally, the twelve teams in the ECAC have combined to win seven NCAA titles, with only two of those (Yale in 2013 and Union in 2014) coming in the last 35 years. Before the league’s two recent national championships, the last conference member to claim college hockey’s biggest prize was Harvard in 1989. Cornell lays claim to two of those seven crowns, with title game victories in 1967 and 1970. The 1967 championship came after a 1-0 triumph over North Dakota in the semifinals.

The Fighting Hawks will not play a non-conference game over the final four months of the season, with only a January 4th exhibition game against Manitoba on the schedule.

UND opens the NCHC portion of the schedule at Minnesota Duluth next weekend (November 8th and 9th).

Cornell Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Schafer (29th season at Cornell, 542-289-111, .634)

National Rankings: #9/#8

This Season: No games played
Last Season: 22-7-6 overall (NCAA Regional Finalist); 11-4-4-3 ECAC (2nd of 12)

2023-24 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.29 goals scored/game
Team Defense: 1.86 goals allowed/game

Power Play: 18.2% (22 of 121)
Penalty Kill: 79.0% (83 of 105)

Key Players (2023-24 Statistics): Junior F Dalton Bancroft (12-19-31), Senior F Kyle Penney (10-18-28), Sophomore F Jonathan Castagna (11-14-25), Sophomore F Ryan Walsh (12-10-22), Senior F Ondrej Psenicka (9-12-21), Sophomore D Ben Robertson (5-18-23), Senior D Tim Rego (2-8-10), Senior G Ian Shane (22-5-6, 1.69 GAA, .923 SV%, 3 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (10th season at UND, 209-106-33, .648)

National Rankings: #6/#7

This Season: 3-2-0 overall, 0-0-0 NCHC
Last Season: 26-12-2 (NCAA tournament appearance), 14-4-1-5 NCHC (1st)

Team Offense: 3.60 goals scored/game – 14th of 58 teams
Team Defense: 2.60 goals allowed/game – 21st of 58 teams

Power Play: 46.2% (6 of 13) – 1st of 58 teams
Penalty Kill: 75.0% (12 of 16) – 49th of 58 teams

Key Players: Junior F Owen McLaughlin (0-5-5), Junior F Dylan James (2-0-2), Sophomore F Jayden Perron (1-3-4), Graduate F Louis Jamernik V (2-3-5), Freshman F Sacha Boisvert (1-3-4), Freshman F Mac Swanson (1-1-2), Sophomore D Jake Livanavage (1-2-3), Sophomore D Abram Wiebe (1-4-5), Freshman D E.J. Emery (0-1-1), Freshman D Andrew Strathmann (0-1-1), Graduate G T.J. Semptimphelter (3-1-0. 2.53 GAA, .906 SV%)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: January 8, 2022 (Grand Forks, ND). Cornell erased an early Riese Gaber power play goal with two markers of their own and added an insurance goal midway through the final frame for a 3-1 road victory. UND outshot the Big Red 33-20 but could not put a second goal past CU netminder Ian Shane. One night earlier, the Fighting Hawks built a 3-1 lead over the first 46 minutes of the game but allowed THREE third-period goals in a span of under five minutes. Shane – who is a senior on this year’s Cornell squad – stopped 23 of 26 UND shots in the 4-3 victory.

Last Meeting in Ithaca: January 23, 2010. One night after dropping a 1-0 decision despite outshooting Cornell 28-15, North Dakota scored early (Brad Malone at 1:33 of the first period) late (Chris VandeVelde at 11:18 of the third period), and later (Jason Gregoire at 19:58 of the third period) to counteract an extra attacker goal by Cornell with ten seconds remaining. For the weekend, UND outshot the host team 54-31.

Most Important Meeting: The teams have met twice in the NCAA semifinals, with Cornell coming out on top 1-0 in 1967 and North Dakota returning the favor the following season, 3-1.

What Might Have Been: The Fighting Hawks (26-5-4) and Big Red (23-2-4) were poised for an epic showdown in the 2020 NCAA tournament before COVID took that possibility away from all of us. Cornell had outscored opponents 104-45 that season, while UND boasted a 135-68 advantage.

All-Time: The teams have each won five of the ten previous matchups, although UND has outscored Cornell 29-19. The Big Red lay claim to victories in four of the last five contests, outscoring North Dakota 12-8.

Game News and Notes

In his 28 previous seasons as the head coach at Cornell, Mike Schafer has won six regular-season titles and advanced to one Frozen Four (2003). His teams have only had losing records four times, and those teams were barely under .500 (15-16 in 1997-98, 12-15 in 1998-99, 15-16 in 2012-13, and 11-14 in 2014-15). The 2019-2020 version of the Big Red was 23-2-4 before the world shut down due to COVID-19.

The Prediction

I expect a methodical first period on Friday night, with both teams adjusting to the speed, skill, and game plan of the other. Keep an eye on which team works its way more crisply through the neutral zone; that will be a good early indicator of success. The biggest question mark for me is how quickly Mike Schafer can get his squad playing at the level and in the style that brought them so many victories last season. I like North Dakota’s chances in game one, with the Big Red rolling in the finale. UND 3-2, CU 3-1.

Broadcast Information

Both games this weekend will be available on ESPN+. All UND men’s hockey games can be heard on stations across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. Central Time each night.

Social Media

Keep up with the action live during all UND hockey games by following @UNDmhockey and @UNDInsider on Twitter. Fans can also read the action via Brad Schlossman’s live chat on the Grand Forks Herald website.

As always, thank you for reading. I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.

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