#3 North Dakota (23-7-0) hosts a familiar foe this weekend – the unranked Huskies (16-16-0) of St. Cloud State. SCSU has played well at various points this season but has given up far too many goals in conference play (3.45 goals allowed/game; 7th of nine teams in the NCHC) and has shown an inability to come back after trailing (4-14-0 when the opponent scores first).
UND is in the driver’s seat for another league title and could clinch the Penrose Cup with perfect results tonight and tomorrow night.
It has come down to a three-team race for the Penrose Cup ; the Fighting Hawks could secure the program’s seventh NCHC title with a regulation sweep over the Huskies.
NCHC standings:
North Dakota: 14-2-1-3 (47 league points) in 20 games played
Denver: 13-5-3-1 (46 league points) in 22 games played
Western Michigan: 12-5-2-1 (41 league points) in 20 games played
Here are the schedules for the top three NCHC teams over the final two weeks of the regular season:
UND: vs. St. Cloud State, at Western Michigan
Denver: OFF, vs. Arizona State
WMU: at Colorado College, vs. UND
UND can finish no lower than third place in the league standings and will be at home for the first round of the NCHC playoffs, which will be played from March 6th through March 8th.
Before we take a look at what fans can expect from the Huskies and Hawks this weekend, let’s take a trip down memory lane..
Three 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.
In the 2023-24 campaign, 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.
Last season was even better for the Green and White, with North Dakota taking ten of twelve points from the Huskies, beginning with a 2-0 regulation win and a 4-3 overtime win on home ice in mid-December.
In St. Cloud, UND managed a shootout win and a 6-2 regulation win. In the series finale, SCSU probably deserved a better fate but were undone by goaltending, as the Fighting Hawks scored five goals on netminder James Gray, who made just eighteen saves. The Huskies scored an extra attacker goal with over six minutes remaining in the hockey game but gave up an empty netter just 29 seconds later.
In early December 2025, North Dakota pulled off the rare road sweep at the Herb Brooks Center. In Friday’s opener, the teams traded blows, with Will Zellers’ third-period tally standing as the game-winner in a 4-3 Fighting Hawks victory. In Saturday’s rematch, St. Cloud tied the game 2-2 with less than nine minutes remaining and earned a power play shortly thereafter. Less than thirty seconds into the man advantage, UND’s Jake Livanavage potted a brilliant shorthanded goal to put the visitors on top. Exactly seven minutes later – with four seconds remaining – Livanavage scored into the empty net for good measure. SCSU outshot the visitors 37-25; North Dakota freshman netminder Jan Spunar made 35 saves in the victory.
Twelve full seasons have come and gone since the college hockey landscape changed forever. With Minnesota and Wisconsin departing the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the Big Ten after the 2012-13 season, several other conference schools and two members of the former Central Collegiate Hockey Association created the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and left Alaska Anchorage, Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota State behind in a watered-down WCHA.
And now, the WCHA is no more, and Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota State find themselves as three of nine programs in the latest version of the CCHA along with Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan, St. Thomas (fifth season at the Division I level), and Augustana (third season at the Division I level).
Next season, St. Thomas will leave the CCHA to become the tenth member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).
So far this season, the NCHC has won nearly seventy percent of its non-conference games (62-29-2, .677) and has four teams (#3 North Dakota, #4 Western Michigan, #8 Denver, and #9 Minnesota Duluth) positioned in the top ten in the latest rankings.
The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past ten seasons. The nine teams in the league have gone 602-310-81 (.647) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent fifteen teams to the Frozen Four (UND and Omaha in 2015, UND and Denver in 2016, Denver and Duluth in 2017, Duluth in 2018, Denver and Duluth in 2019, Duluth and St. Cloud State in 2021, Denver in 2022 and 2024, and Denver and Western Michigan in 2025 over that nine-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022, 2024), Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019), and Western Michigan (2025) have won seven of the last nine national titles.
Turning our attention to this weekend’s matchup…
A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Brett Larson’s squad has six lineup regulars who have achieved that level of success, including two – junior forward Tyler Gross (18-21-39) and sophomore forward Austin Burnevik (17-18-35) – averaging over a point per game. Other solid offensive contributors include junior forward Barrett Hall (10-18-28), senior defenseman Max Smolinski (6-12-18), sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus (4-12-16), and freshman defenseman Tanner Hendricks (2-3-5 in ten games).
North Dakota is certain to have nine players in the lineup this weekend who have met that same offensive threshold: senior forward Ellis Rickwood (7-19-26), senior forward Ben Strinden (14-14-28), freshman forward Will Zellers (14-9-23), sophomore forward Mac Swanson (6-15-21), freshman forward Cole Reschny (4-22-26), senior forward Dylan James (17-9-26), junior defenseman Jake Livanavage (5-19-24), junior defenseman Abram Wiebe (4-17-21), and freshman defenseman Keaton Verhoeff (6-12-18).
UND freshman forward Josh Zakreski (1-2-3 in six games played) is close to returning to the lineup.
St. Cloud State’s Tyson Gross and North Dakota’s Jake Livanavage are both strong contenders for the 2026 Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
Offensively, UND outpaces SCSU by a substantial margin. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 113 goals in 30 games (3.77 goals per game, 4th in the country), while St. Cloud State has managed 100 in 32 games (3.13, 24th).
The Fighting Hawks are fifth in the nation in shooting percentage at 11.5%. SCSU clocks in at 10.0%, good for 29th in the country. Both teams do an adequate job of getting the puck to the net, with UND averaging 32.8 shots on goal per game (12th) and the Huskies just behind at 31.2 shots on goal per contest (23rd).
There is an even greater difference on the defensive side.
Through thirty games, the Green and White have blocked 333 shots (11.1 per game), led by Bennett Zmolek with 42 and Jake Livanavage with 38. Zmolek has been in and out of the lineup over the past two weekends; his 42 blocks have come in just 24 games.
St. Cloud State has blocked 323 shots in its 32 games (10.1/game), with seniors Mason Reiners (39) and Max Smolinski (38) leading the way.
North Dakota’s defensive corps has provided plenty of production from the back end, already notching twenty goals and adding 66 assists in 208 combined games (0.41 points per game).
The nine St. Cloud State State blueliners to play this season have scored twenty goals and added 55 assists in 220 combined games (0.34 points/game). Aside from seniors Max Smolinski (6-12-18) and Cooper Wylie (3-10-13) and sophomore Finn Loftus (4-12-16), no SCSU defenseman has collected more than eight points.
For the Fighting Hawks, it’s been two juniors – Jake Livanavage (5-19-24) and Abram Wiebe (4-17-21) – and a freshman (Keaton Verhoeff (6-12-18).
Verhoeff is widely expected to go in the top three of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, while Livanavage (4-24-28) and Wiebe (4-20-24) were two of UND’s top four point-getters a season ago.
Sophomore defenseman EJ Emery – a first round pick of the New York Rangers in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft – notched the first two goals of his collegiate career in a 5-2 win against Minnesota back in October and scored UND’s first goal last Saturday night against Miami.
Not only have North Dakota’s defensemen been producing offensively, first-year head coach Dane Jackson has also put together an impressive mix of defenders he can trust in any situation. As a unit, UND’s defensemen have allowed a total of just 693 shots on goal this season (23.1/game, 3rd-best in the country), while St. Cloud State has allowed 954 (29.8, 32nd).
St. Cloud State is allowing 3.00 goals per game this season (34th in the nation), while North Dakota is allowing just 2.13 (4th).
Normally I would say that the Fighting Hawks would be ill-advised to get into a specialty teams battle with the Huskies; this year, however, UND has slightly better overall numbers than St. Cloud State.
SCSU is a +14, with thirty power play goals scored (30 of 118, 25.4%, 9th in the country), 21 power play goals allowed (67 of 88, 76.1%, 49th), six shorthanded goals scored, and one shorthanded goal allowed.
UND is a +15, with 31 power play goals scored (31 of 111, 27.9%, 6th), eighteen power play goals allowed (79 of 97, 81.4%, 26th), six shorthanded goals scored, and four shorthanded goals allowed.
In the December series in St. Cloud, it was a mixed bag of results for North Dakota. On Friday night, UND went 1-for-3 with the man advantage and held the Huskies scoreless on their two power play opportunities but did surrender a shorthanded goal. In the rematch, North Dakota went 1-for-1 on the power play, held St. Cloud State to one power play goal on six attempts (including a major penalty), and scored a key shorthanded goal late in the third period.
On the goaltending side of things, St. Cloud State has seen two goaltenders split time roughly evenly, with sophomore Patriks Berzins playing much better than freshman Yan Shostak to this point in the season:
Berzins: 10-6-0, 2.83 goals-against average, .910 save percentage
Shostak: 6-10-0, 2.90 goals-against average, .899 save percentage
Shostak does have the only two shutouts for the Huskies this season, a 21-save performance against Vermont back on October 18th and a 42-save performance against Minnesota-Duluth on January 16th. In a rare back-to-back for the first-year netminder, Shostak gave up four goals on 28 shots the following night.
Berzins played for the Maine Black Bears last season, appearing in two games and earning one victory before transferring to St. Cloud.
For North Dakota, it’s been the younger netminder with the better of the results. Freshman Jan Spunar was splitting time with graduate transfer Gibson Homer to start this season, but Spunar began to earn more starts as the season went along.
Here’s how the two stack up:
Spunar: 15-3-0, 1.76 goals-against average, .922 save percentage, four shutouts
Homer: 8-4-0, 2.49 goals-against average, .894 save percentage
On the team side of things, I’m looking at two other important areas in this matchup…
UND far outpaces St. Cloud State in two key puck possession statistics:
North Dakota: 2nd in Corsi (58.3%) and 3rd in Fenwick (58.1%)
St. Cloud State: 33rd in Corsi (50.7%) and 35th in Fenwick (50.0%)
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.
The other key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s sixth-best team on draws (54.2%), while the Huskies clock in at 53.3% (9th).
For UND, senior transfer Ellis Rickwood has been the go-to guy in all key situations, winning 275 of 450 (61.1%). Aside from Rickwood, it’s been two freshmen – Cole Reschny (225 of 405, 55.6%) and Ollie Josephson (209 of 378, 55.3%) – handling the majority of draws.
For SCSU, junior Tyson Gross (439 of 741, 59.2%) has been an absolute workhorse, while freshman Nolan Roed (231 of 427, 54.1%) has done an admirable job and junior Verner Miettinen (180 of 353) has been a steady third option.
After this weekend, North Dakota (3rd in the NPI used to seed the NCAA tournament) will travel to Kalamazoo to face the Western Michigan Broncos (4th) for the final two games of the regular season. SCSU will be idle.
St. Cloud State Team Profile
Head Coach: Brett Larson (7th season at SCSU, 153-113-22, .569)
National Rankings: NR/NR
NPI Ranking: 22nd
KRACH Rating: 164.8 (16th)
This Season: 16-16-0 overall, 8-11-1-2 NCHC (5th of 9 teams)
Last Season: 14-21-1 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 5-13-2-4 overall NCHC (8th)
2025-26 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.13 goals scored/game – 24th of 63 teams
Team Defense: 3.00 goals allowed/game – 34th of 63 teams
Power Play: 25.4% (30 of 118) – 29th of 63 teams
Penalty Kill: 76.1% (67 of 88) – 49th of 63 teams
Key players: Junior F Tyler Gross (18-21-39), Sophomore F Austin Burnevik (17-18-35), Junior F Barrett Hall (10-18-28), Freshman F Nolan Roed (3-12-15), Freshman F Noah Urness (7-8-15), Sophomore F Gavin Thoreson (8-7-15), Senior D Max Smolinski (6-12-18), Senior D Cooper Wylie (3-10-13), Sophomore D Finn Loftus (4-12-16), Sophomore G Patrik Berzins (10-6-0, 2.83 GAA, .910 SV%)
North Dakota Team Profile
Head Coach: Dane Jackson (1st season at North Dakota, 23-7-0, .767)
National Rankings: #3/#3
NPI Ranking: 3rd
KRACH Rating: 474.0 (3rd)
This Season: 23-7-0 overall, 14-2-1-3 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 21-15-2 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 11-8-4-1 NCHC (5th)
2025-26 Season Statistics:
Team Offense: 3.77 goals scored/game – 4th of 63 teams
Team Defense: 2.13 goals allowed/game – 4th of 63 teams
Power Play: 27.9% (31 of 111) – 6th of 63 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.4% (79 of 97) – 26th of 63 teams
Key Players: Freshman F Cole Reschny (4-22-26), Senior F Ben Strinden (14-14-28), Freshman F Will Zellers (14-9-23), Senior F Dylan James (17-9-26), Sophomore F Mac Swanson (6-15-21), Senior F Ellis Rickwood (7-19-26), Junior D Jake Livanavage (5-19-24), Junior D Abram Wiebe (4-17-21), Freshman D Keaton Verhoeff (6-12-18), Freshman G Jan Spunar (15-3-0, 1.76 GAA, .922 SV%, 4 SO)
By The Numbers
Last Meeting: December 6, 2025 (St. Cloud, Minnesota). St. Cloud tied the game 2-2 with less than nine minutes remaining and earned a power play shortly thereafter. Less than thirty seconds into the man advantage, UND’s Jake Livanavage potted a brilliant shorthanded goal to put the visitors on top. Exactly seven minutes later – with four seconds remaining – Livanavage scored into the empty net for good measure. SCSU outshot the visitors 37-25; North Dakota freshman netminder Jan Spunar made 35 saves. One night earlier, the teams traded blows, with Will Zellers’ third-period tally standing as the game-winner in a 4-3 Fighting Hawks victory.
Last Meeting in Grand Forks: December 14, 2024. North Dakota’s Jake Schmaltz was the overtime hero for the Green and White, potting the game-winner just over two minutes into the 3-on-3 portion of the contest. UND never led in regulation and needed a third-period tally by Sacha Boisvert knot the game at three and send the game to an extra session. One night earlier, UND won 2-0 behind a 24-save shutout from T.J. Semptimphelter.
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, 85-49-19 (.618), including a stellar record of 43-18-9 (.679) 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 6-1-3 (.750) edge in the last ten games between the schools, with a scoring advantage of 35-24 in those contests. North Dakota has only lost once in the last eleven games in this series, a 3-2 overtime defeat in the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff (St. Paul, Minnesota). St. Cloud State’s last victory over UND in Grand Forks was on January 25th, 2019.
Game News and Notes
St. Cloud State is a perfect 10-0 this season when leading after twenty minutes and 11-2 when leading after the middle frame. North Dakota has outscored opponents 49-16 in third periods this season, including a scoring margin of 37-9 against conference foes. On nine occasions this season, UND has scored at least three goals in the final twenty minutes of regulation. SCSU’s early-February sweep at Arizona State (4-1, 4-3) was its first over a league foe this season. North Dakota has already swept Omaha (twice), SCSU, ASU, and Miami. Following the conclusion of the 2025-26 campaign, the National Hockey Center will undergo extensive renovations, with the width of the ice surface reduced from 100 feet (Olympic ice) to just 94 feet (hybrid ice). Nearly all NCAA Division I teams – including North Dakota – now compete on NHL ice surfaces (85 feet wide). 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). 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 twelve seasons of the NCHC. The Huskies also won the last WCHA conference title in 2013.
The Prediction
Both teams have plenty to play for this weekend. North Dakota could clinch the Penrose Cup, while St. Cloud State could move up in the NPI rankings with good results. In recent history between these two teams, the first ten minutes of each game have been critically important, but this year’s version of the Fighting Hawks has shown tremendous will, incredible depth, and an ability to mount a comeback, no matter the opponent or situation. The Huskies are older and heavier than the home team; it will be interesting to see how physical these games become as the series progresses. I expect at least one of these games to go to overtime, with Dane Jackson’s crew possessing too many advantages to let either game slip away. UND 3-2 (OT), 4-2.
Broadcast Information
Both games this weekend will be broadcast live on Midco Sports/TSN2 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 Fighting Hawks 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 X-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 X-Twitter (@DBergerHockey) for more information and insight. Here’s to hockey!