#16 North Dakota (9-7-1 overall, 4-2-0-0 NCHC) hosts the #9 Huskies (10-5-0 overall, 3-0-1-2 NCHC) in a key league matchup at Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend.
UND trails SCSU by just one point in the conference standings, with six points up for grabs in this series. The two teams – trailing only Western Michigan in the race for the Penrose Cup – will also tangle on January 31st and February 1st, 2025 in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
After this weekend, UND is off until a January 4th home exhibition against Manitoba. SCSU will resume play with a single non-conference home game against future league opponent St. Thomas on December 29th. The Tommies will join the NCHC on July 1st, 2026.
The Fighting Hawks and Huskies have combined for a record of 19-12-1 against some impressive competition.
St. Cloud State split on the road against both #8 Michigan and #10 Colorado College and suffered a home sweep at the hands of #2 Boston College.
North Dakota has faced #7 Providence (a home win), #12 Minnesota State (road split), #13 Boston University (home split), #14 Cornell (two road losses), and #4 Denver (two home losses).
Overall, SCSU’s strength of schedule ranks 6th in the country out of 64 teams. UND’s schedule strength clocks in at 21st overall, mostly due to the fact that its other opponents to this point in the season have been Bemidji State, Robert Morris, and Miami.
Interestingly, St. Cloud State’s home/road splits are even this season, with a record of 6-3-0 at home and 4-2-0 on the road. As one of the few remaining teams playing on a wider sheet of ice, that has not often been the case for the Huskies.
Two seasons ago, St. Cloud State got the better of the Fighting Hawks, winning four of five games and ending UND’s season in the semifinals of the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul.
During the 2022-23 regular season, SCSU embarrassed North Dakota in St. Cloud, winning both games on the wide sheet by comfortable margins (7-2, 6-3). On Friday night, a disastrous second period saw the Huskies score every which way: at even strength, shorthanded, with the extra attacker on a delayed penalty, and on the ensuing power play. Saturday’s game at the Herb Brooks Center was a different kind of disturbing for fans of the Green and White, as the visitors led 3-0 early in the second period. The Huskies would get on the board just 23 seconds after UND’s third tally, and then it was the Zach Okabe show, as the senior forward scored a natural hat trick in under nine minutes of game action (from the 18:12 mark of the middle frame through the 7:05 mark of the third period). SCSU would add two late goals – including an empty-netter – to make the score look lopsided.
In the rematch in Grand Forks, both games went to overtime, with UND scoring during 3-on-3 play on Friday night before losing in a shootout in Saturday’s finale.
Last season, the two teams tangled only twice, and North Dakota took four of six points on the road, winning Friday’s opener 5-3 before tying the homestanding Huskies 3-3 and losing in a shootout.
The Fighting Hawks have clearly struggled lately against the Huskies, winning just twice in the past eight games (2-3-3).
Turning our attention to this season…
A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Brett Larson’s squad has just four lineup regulars who meet that threshold: freshman forward Austin Burnevik (8-6-14), sophomore forward Barrett Hall (2-11-13), sophomore forward Tyson Gross (6-4-10), and sophomore forward Verner Miettinen (2-7-9).
By that same measure, North Dakota has ten players at a half point or better, although, sadly, at least two of them will be out of the lineup this weekend:
Senior forward Cameron Berg (4-4-8 in seven games played)
Senior defenseman Bennett Zmolek (0-1-1 in one game played)
Graduate forward Louis Jamernik V (4-5-9 in twelve games played) is questionable to return to the lineup after being injured against Robert Morris back on November 22nd.
Berg and Jamernik have combined for six goals and six assists in their twenty career games against St. Cloud State.
Left to pick up the offensive production for Brad Berry’s squad are freshman forward Sacha Boisvert (7-8-15), junior forward Owen McLaughlin (1-10-11), sophomore forward Jayden Perron (5-6-11), freshman forward Mac Swanson (2-8-10), freshman forward Cody Croal (1-3-4 in eight games played), sophomore defenseman Jake Livanavage (1-12-13), and sophomore defenseman Abram Wiebe (3-9-12).
Offensively, UND outpaces SCSU by a large margin. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 55 goals in seventeen games (3.24 goals per game, 14th in the country), while St. Cloud State has managed just 37 in fifteen games (2.47, 44th).
The Fighting Hawks are 13th in the nation in shooting percentage at 10.9%. SCSU clocks in at 9.0%, good for 40th in the country. UND also gets the puck to the net, averaging 29.6 shots on goal per game (26th). The Huskies aren’t far behind, with 27.3 shots on goal per contest (42nd).
On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 443 shots on goal this season in seventeen games (26.1/game, 15th), while St. Cloud State has allowed 416 in fifteen games (27.7, 26th).
Despite being outshot to this point in the season, SCSU is only allowing 2.0 goals per game, a mark good for 8th in the country. UND? Nearly a full goal per game more, at 2.82 (32nd).
How have the Huskies held opponents to just two goals per game? Two words: Isak Posch. The sophomore netminder boasts some eye-popping stats over the first half of the season, including a record of 9-4-0, a goals-against average of 1.68 (7th in the country), a save percentage of .938 (8th), and two shutouts (5th). Posch’s nine goaltending victories are the seventh-most in the nation, and he ranks first in the country in College Hockey News’ CHIP rating, which factors in strength of schedule and quality of shots faced.
The problem? Posch will be sidelined for at least the next ten weeks with an injury he suffered sometime prior to warmups last Friday night; the team is calling it a lower-body injury and has not shared any more details.
Prior to his injury, Posch had played every minute in net for the Huskies. Each of SCSU’s other goalies started a game against Omaha last weekend, with freshman James Gray losing in overtime on Friday night and graduate transfer Gavin Enright winning Saturday’s rematch.
UND has also lost the services of one if its goaltenders for the foreseeable future: junior Kaleb Johnson looks to be sidelined for an extended period of time; the team brought in Aleksi Huson to be the third goaltender on the roster. Huson backstopped Shakopee High School last season, serving as team captain while posting a record of 20-5-1 with a goals-against average of 2.13 and a save percentage of .934.
On the team side of things, I’m looking at a few important areas in this matchup…
UND far outpaces St. Cloud State in two key puck possession statistics:
North Dakota: 12th in Corsi (53.6%) and 19th in Fenwick (53.0%)
St. Cloud State: 32nd in both Corsi (49.9%) and Fenwick (49.2%)
Corsi measures the share of shot attempts for each team at even strength, while Fenwick measure the share of unblocked shot attempts for each team at even strength.
As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s fifth-best team on draws (54.8%), while the Huskies clock in at 54.3% (7th).
For UND, senior Jake Schmaltz has been the go-to guy in all key situations, winning 192 of 314 (61.1%). Graduate transfer Carter Wilkie (53.1%, 128 of 241) has been a solid second option.
North Dakota’s Cameron Berg won 60 percent of his draws when he was in the lineup.
For SCSU, three centers have split the majority of the duties. Senior Mason Salquist (148 of 262, 56.5%) has won the most draws, while sophmore Verner Miettinen has had the most success (137 of 229, 59.8 percent) and sophomore Tyson Gross (130 of 227, 57.3%) has shown remarkable improvement.
To this point in the season, the two teams are identical in terms of overall specialty teams production, although they have chosen vastly different paths to get there.
North Dakota continues to live and die by the power play, with fifteen man-advantage goals scored in its first seventeen games (15 of 51, 29.4%). That efficiency ranks 4th-best in the country. On the other side of the coin, UND has allowed thirteen power play goals to opponents (44 of 57, 77.2%, 47th in the country). Add in two shorthanded goals scored and one allowed, and the Fighting Hawks are sitting at plus-3.
The Huskies are also a plus-3, but they’ve done it by allowing just FOUR power play goals all season (39 of 43, 90.7%, 4th-best in the country). And you guessed it, dear reader: SCSU is scoring less than twenty percent of the time with the man advantage (8 of 41, 19.5%, 28th). St. Cloud State has scored one shorthanded goal and allowed two this season.
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 eleven goals and eighteen assists in 49 games played this season, while Emery and Strathmann have totaled a goal and three assists while playing heavy minutes for the Hawks (Emery 20:43, Strathmann 12:18).
According to College Hockey News, North Dakota’s freshman class ranks #4 in the country.
By contrast, St. Cloud State boasts three drafted skaters among its eight-member freshman class, and they all bring quite a bit of size to the lineup:
6-3 200-pound defenseman Colin Ralph: 2024 Round 2 #48 overall to the St. Louis Blues
6-5 205-pound forward Daimon Gardner: 2022 Round 4 #112 overall to the Vancouver Canucks
6-4 200-pound forward Austin Burnevik: 2024 Round 6 #182 overall to the Anaheim Ducks
Burnevik leads the Huskies in scoring with a line of 8-6-14 in fifteen games played. Gardner has scored two goals and added two assists in his first thirteen collegiate games, while Ralph leads all SCSU blueliners with three assists.
Gardner is expected to miss this series with an upper-body injury.
St. Cloud State Team Profile
Head Coach: Brett Larson (7th season at SCSU, 133-81-21, .611)
National Rankings: #9/#9
Pairwise Ranking: 7th
KRACH Rating: 433.2 (9th)
This Season: 10-5-0 overall, 3-0-1-2 NCHC (2nd of 9 teams)
Last Season: 17-16-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 10-6-3-5 NCHC (tied for 3rd)
2024-25 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 2.47 goals scored/game – 44th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.00 goals allowed/game – 8th of 64 teams
Power Play: 19.5% (8 of 41) – 28th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 90.7% (39 of 43) – 4th of 64 teams
Key players: Freshman F Austin Burnevik (8-6-14), Sophomore F Barrett Hall (2-11-13), Sophomore F Tyson Gross (6-4-10), Sophomore F Verner Miettinen (2-7-9), Junior F Grant Ahcan (3-2-5), Freshman D Colin Ralph 1-3-4), Senior D Josh Luedtke (2-2-4), Junior D Cooper Wylie (0-2-2), Graduate G Gavin Enright (1-0-0, .2.00 GAA, 931 SV%)
North Dakota Team Profile
Head Coach: Brad Berry (10th season at UND, 215-111-34, .644)
National Rankings: #16/#18
Pairwise Ranking: 27th
KRACH: 164.8 (20th)
This Season: 9-7-1 overall, 4-2-0-0 NCHC (3rd of 9 teams)
Last Season: 26-12-2 (NCAA tournament appearance), 14-4-1-5 NCHC (1st)
Team Offense: 3.24 goals scored/game – 14th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.82 goals allowed/game – 32nd of 64 teams
Power Play: 29.4% (15 of 51) – 3rd of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 77.2% (44 of 57) – 47th of 64 teams
Key Players: Freshman F Sacha Boisvert (7-8-15), Junior F Owen McLaughlin (1-10-11), Junior F Dylan James (5-2-7), Sophomore F Jayden Perron (5-6-11), Freshman F Mac Swanson (2-8-10), Senior F Jake Schmaltz (2-6-8), Sophomore D Jake Livanavage (1-12-13), Sophomore D Abram Wiebe (3-9-12), Junior D Caleb MacDonald (2-2-4), Graduate G T.J. Semptimphelter (8-5-1, 2.74 GAA, .898 SV%)
By The Numbers
Last Meeting: Saturday, January 20, 2024 (St. Cloud, MN). One night after Jackson Blake’s three-point night propelled the visitors to a 5-3 victory, it was Cameron Berg who saved the day for the Green and White, potting his twelfth of the season with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation to knot the game at three. After a scoreless five-minute three-on-three session, two of three SCSU shooters scored in the skills competition to give the Huskies a second league point. For the weekend, SCSU outshot UND 72-48 and had to feel like they left some points on the table. Had St. Cloud State swept the visitors, the two teams would have tied for the regular-season league title.
Last Meeting in Grand Forks: February 18, 2023. This series was as tight as they come, with Riese Gaber scoring the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory on Friday night and the two teams battling to a 2-2 tie in the rematch. Gaber scored the extra attacker goal with less than 100 seconds remaining on the opener to make his game-winning goal possible in the extra frame. UND probably deserved a better fate on Saturday night, as they outshot the visiting Huskies 30-13, including 12-2 in the second period. Somehow, St. Cloud State scored the only goal in the middle frame.
A Recent Memory: March 16, 2021 (Grand Forks, ND). One night before St. Patrick’s Day, North Dakota enjoyed playing for the NCHC playoff title in front of a whole bunch of green. St. Cloud State led 2-1 after two periods, but the Fighting Hawks stormed back with four third-period goals – including three in the span of 122 seconds early in the final frame and an empty-netter to seal the 5-3 victory and the program’s first Frozen Faceoff championship. UND senior Jordan Kawaguchi and freshman Riese Gaber each had two goals and an assist.
Most Important Meeting: NCAA West Regional Final in Fargo, ND (March 28, 2015). North Dakota scored three unassisted goals over the final two periods of the hockey game to defeat St. Cloud State 4-1 in the West Regional Final and advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. Jimmy Murray got the Huskies on the board less than 90 seconds in to the hockey game, but that did nothing to quiet the partisan crowd of 5,307 at SCHEELS Arena. Four different players scored for UND, while Zane McIntyre made 19 stops to earn his 29th and final victory of the season.
All-Time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series, 81-49-18 (.608), including a sparkling record of 41-19-0 (.683) in games played in Grand Forks. The teams have been squaring off regularly since the 1989-90 season but have only met once in the NCAA tournament (2015).
Last Ten: UND holds a slight 4-3-3 (.550) edge in the last ten games between the schools, with a scoring advantage of 36-34 in those contests.
Game News and Notes
Since SCSU began competing in the WCHA in 1990, the Huskies have made the national tournament sixteen times, with Frozen Four appearances in 2013 and 2021 (zero titles). Over that same stretch, North Dakota has appeared in the NCAA tourney 24 times, with eleven Frozen Fours and three national championships (1997, 2000, 2016). UND head coach Brad Berry is 15-12-6 (.545) in his head coaching career against the Huskies. North Dakota (2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024) and St. Cloud State (2014, 2018, and 2019) have combined to win the regular season title in nine of the eleven seasons of the NCHC. The Huskies also won the last WCHA conference title in 2013.
The Prediction
There is no question that this season has been up and down for the Fighting Hawks so far, and Brad Berry’s squad has a tremendous opportunity this weekend to go into the break on a high note. On the other hand, disappointing results in front of the home fans right before the holidays could leave lots of question marks for the second half. I think that North Dakota is catching the Huskies at the right time, with some question marks in the St. Cloud crease. Unlike past iterations, this year’s version of the Cardinal and Black will not want to run and gun with the Hawks, and I expect both games to be close. My gut tells me that the home squad will manage better than three league points, but things have been so unpredictable thus far. I might regret it, but I’ll call a split. UND 4-2., SCSU 3-2
Broadcast Information
Both games this weekend will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network and also available via webcast at NCHC.tv. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Central Time on Friday, with a 6:07 p.m. start time on Saturday night. All UND men’s hockey games can be heard on stations across the UND Sports Home of Economy Radio Network as well as through the iHeart Radio app.
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 questions, comments, and suggestions. Follow me on Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!