Sioux Sports Talk

#3 North Dakota (24-8-2 overall, 14-2-1-5 NCHC) travels to face #16 Omaha (18-10-4 overall, 6-8-8-0 NCHC) on the last weekend of the regular season.

UND finds itself near the top of the national rankings (USCHO #3, USA Hockey #3) and in the all-important Pairwise rankings (3rd) this season thanks in large part to its impressive non-conference victories…

North Dakota blanked #5 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #8 Minnesota, at #2 Boston University) with wins the following night.

UND hosted the Mavs for the last two games of the 2022-2023 regular season, sweeping the series 5-4 and 2-1. The following weekend, the Fighting Hawks traveled down I-29 for a first-round playoff series against Mike Gabinet’s crew. North Dakota lost the opener 2-1 before storming back and taking the best-of-three series with 3-1 and 5-2 victories.

That road series was just the second time that UND was on the road for the league quarterfinals since 2002. The Fighting Hawks also found themselves away from home back in 2019, dropping two straight at Denver (0-2, 2-4) despite outshooting the Pios 32-17 in game one and 42-18 in the rematch.

2002 and 2019 are also – not coincidentally – the only two times that North Dakota failed to make it to the WCHA Final Five/NCHC Frozen Faceoff since 1996. UND hosted the first round of the league playoffs 22 times between 1997 and 2022 and advanced all 22 times (there was no NCHC tournament in 2020, and the format was modified for the 2020-2021 season).

In the ten-year history of the league, Omaha has finished 3rd, 3rd, 6th, 6th, 5th, 7th, 6th, 4th, 6th, and 3rd for an average finish of 4.90, sixth among the eight league teams. North Dakota leads the conference with an average finish of 2.70 (2nd, 1st, 1st, 4th, 4th, 5th, 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 6th). The Mavericks have never advanced past the first round of the league playoffs.

Coming into its series against Colorado College three weekends ago, the Fighting Hawks had taken care of business in NCHC action, earning points in its first sixteen league games (10-0-1-5). That streak came to an end in the Springs, as UND dropped two games to the Tigers, bringing their season mark against CC to 0-2-0-2 (two regulation losses; two 3-on-3 overtime losses). Over the past two weekeneds, North Dakota completed home sweeps over Minnesota Duluth (6-0, 4-2) and Western Michigan (5-3, 3-0), to earn the program’s fourth Penrose Cup (NCHC regular season championship trophy) in the past five seasons.

UND has earned the majority of points against every team in the conference not named Colorado College:

vs. Denver: 7-5 win, 2-3 OT loss, 5-2 win, 4-2 win (10 of 12 league points)
vs. Miami: 6-4 win, 5-1 win, 5-4 OT win, 4-1 win (11 of 12 league points)
vs. Minnesota Duluth: 4-2 win, 2-0 win, 6-0 win, 4-2 win (12 of 12 league points)
vs. Omaha: 4-5 OT loss, 3-1 win (4 of 6 league points)
vs. St. Cloud State: 5-3 win, 3-3 tie/shootout loss (4 of 6 league points)
vs. Western Michigan: 5-3 win, 3-0 win (6 of 6 league points)

In the eleven seasons of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, only UND, Denver, and St. Cloud State have won the Penrose Cup.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s sixth-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Mavericks’ schedule weighs in as the 20th-most difficult. Despite its tough slate of games, the Green and White have the third-best winning percentage in the country (.745).

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 483-242-82 (.649) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

And turning our attention to this season…

Back in January, UND took four of six league points in a home series against Omaha, falling 5-4 in overtime on Friday night before rebounding for a 3-1 regulation win in Saturday’s rematch. The disappointing thing about the series opener is that North Dakota led 3-1 after the first period. The Mavericks won the middle frame decisively, however, outscoring the homestanding Hawks 3-1. Both teams scored twice with the man advantage. Omaha scored just 34 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime session to grab the extra league point.

Saturday’s finale was a bit more of a defensive struggle, with Omaha tying the game at one goal apiece just 49 seconds into the third period. UND’s Dylan James scored the game-winner three minutes later, and former Maverick Cameron Berg iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final thirty seconds. North Dakota outshot Omaha 30-23 on Saturday night and 69-47 on the weekend.

Overall, #3-ranked North Dakota has gone 24-8-2 against Army (one game), #5 Wisconsin (one game), #8 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #2 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth (four games), Miami (four games), Bemidji State, #4 Denver (four games), #10 Colorado College (four games), Alaska, #16 Omaha, and #17 St. Cloud State, with a record of 17-4-1 at home and 7-4-1 on the road. Prior to three weeks ago in Colorado Springs (February 16th and 17th), UND had not lost in regulation since November 3rd.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system was identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks return 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Chicago Steel (USHL) teammates Emerson (30) and Perron (24), North Dakota should easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 34 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 118 goals and are on pace for 125 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that twelve North Dakota forwards have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (19), Berg (19), Gaber (16), McLaughlin (12), Perron (10), and Johannes (9 in 25 games). Those first five forwards have combined for 39 goals over the past eight weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes had been out of the lineup for nine games (lower-body injury) prior to his return last weekend against Western Michigan.

This weekend, Cameron Berg will square off against his old teammates.

Berg spent two seasons at Omaha, appearing in 74 games and collecting 18 goals and 29 assists. This year at UND, the center who grew up in West Fargo has 19 goals and 15 assists in 34 games, including 29 points in his last 26 games. Berg scored a goal against his former team back on January 13th.

Prior to UND’s series four weekends ago against Miami, Fighting Hawks defensemen had only scored seven goals all season. And then, Logan Britt happened.

The grad transfer from Sacred Heart scored three goals on the weekend and was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week. Freshman Jake Livanavage added his third goal of the season to bring the d-corps total to eleven. Livanavage was recently named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week (January 29th), the NCHC Rookie of the Month (January), and a candidate for the Tim Taylor Award (National Rookie of the Year).

Three weekends ago at CC, freshman defenseman Abram Wiebe notched his first career collegiate goal, while fellow blueliners Garrett Pyke and Jake Livanavage added assists. Two weeks ago, North Dakota’s d-corps chipped in with seven assists in a weekend sweep of Duluth.

And in last weekend’s sweep of the Western Michigan Broncos, UND defensemen notched four more assists, including three from Wiebe.

The six regular blueliners for North Dakota (Pyke, Livanavage, Britt, Wiebe, Zmolek, and Pehrson) have now collected a total of 77 points (12 goals and 65 assists) in 194 games played (0.40 points/game). As mentioned above, the offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (two goals and eighteen assists in his last 22 games).

Bennett Zmolek was held out of the series finale last Saturday night with a lower body injury; he was seen on the ice for the post-game celebration using crutches. Zmolek leads the team with 83 blocked shots (2.86 blocks per game).

By comparison, the six Omaha defensemen expected in the lineup this weekend have scored 21 goals and added 47 assists for 68 points in 189 games played for an average of 0.36 points/game).

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Mike Gabinet’s squad has just six players who meet that threshold: junior forward Tyler Mueller (9-15-24), junior forward Zach Urdahl (9-8-17 in 26 games), graduate forward Jack Randl (12-10-22), freshman forward Tanner Ludtke (9-15-24), senior forward Matt Miller (5-10-15), and sophomore defenseman Griffin Ludtke (4-15-19).

By that same measure, North Dakota has nine players at a half point or better, including three – sophomore forward Jackson Blake (19-31-50), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (12-22-34), and Cameron Berg (19-15-34) – averaging a point per game or better. Other offensive contributors include senior forward Riese Gaber (16-14-30), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-7-16 in 25 games), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (8-9-17), sophomore forward Dylan James (8-9-17), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-21-24), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (3-20-23).

Jackson Blake is making a strong push for college hockey’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Blake picked up seven points two weekends ago against Minnesota Duluth and added three points last weekend (including a highlight-reel goal) to reach the 50-point plateau in just 34 games. Blake has collected 28 points (eight goals and twenty assists) since the calendar year turned to 2024 (sixteen games).

Offensively, UND outpaces Omaha by a large margin. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 130 goals in 34 games (3.82 goals per game, 7th in the country), while Omaha has managed just 93 in 32 games (2.91, 33rd).

The Fighting Hawks are third in the nation in shooting percentage at 12.6%. Omaha clocks in at 10.1%, good for 27th in the country. UND also gets the puck to the net, averaging 30.3 shots on goal per game (25th). The Mavericks aren’t far behind, with 28.9 shots on goal per contest (38th).

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 895 shots on goal this season in 34 games (26.3/game, 11th), while Omaha has allowed 938 in 32 games (29.3, 31st).

These two teams nearly identical in Corsi, but that is only one of two key puck possession statistics. Fenwick tells the rest of the story:

North Dakota: 21st in Corsi (52.1%) and 15th in Fenwick (53.7%)
Omaha: 23rd in Corsi (51.6%) and 31st in Fenwick (50.5%)

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.

In other words, UND is far better at capitalizing on opportunities and getting puck to the net (and on net).

As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 19th-best team on draws (51.7%), while the Mavericks clock in at 54.5% (8th).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 336 of 593 (56.7%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (203 of 354, 57.3%) has more than held his own, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (174 of 380, 45.8%) has struggled of late.

For the Mavericks, graduate student Nolan Sullivan has been the best option (346 of 571, 60.6%). Head coach Mike Gabinet has also called on junior Ty Mueller (343 of 626, 54.8%) and senior Jimmy Glynn (170 of 327, 52.0%).

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had the better of the specialty teams play. UND has been a combined plus-15, with 30 power play goals scored (30 of 119, 25.2%, 10th in the country) and seventeen power play goals allowed (76 of 93, 81.7%, 24th), with three shorthanded goals scored and one allowed.

The Mavericks have posted a net-ZERO, with 21 power play goals scored (21 of 127, 16.5%, 48th), 21 power play goals allowed (81 of 102, 79.4%, 36th), two shorthanded goals scored, and two allowed.

It is also worth noting that UND has earned 26 more power plays than penalty kill situations (119-93), while Omaha has posted anemic specialty teams numbers despite an almost identical margin (127-102).

Omaha is 33rd in the country in scoring offense (2.91 goals scored/game) and 29th in the country in scoring defense (2.91 goals allowed/game), with an identical number of goals for (93) and against (93).

North Dakota is 7th in the country in scoring offense (3.82 goals scored/game) and a very impressive 14th in the country in scoring defense (2.35 goals allowed/game), with a 130-86 season-long scoring advantage.

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 21-8-2 with a goals-against average of 2.44, a save percentage of .908, and five shutouts.

Persson was ill two months ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Persson returned to practice on a Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud last and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917. Persson wasn’t tested much in UND’s home sweep of Denver; he allowed two goals each night while making 17 saves on Friday night and 22 saves in the rematch. In a road sweep at Miami, Persson stopped 60 of 65 shots (.923). Over the last two weekends, Perrson is 4-0 with a save percentage of .957 and two shutouts.

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 89 goals, a difference of 21 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

Omaha’s top netminder – sophomore Simon Latkoczy boasts similar numbers to Persson. Latkoczy has a record of 15-9-3, a goals-against average of 2.73, a save percentage of .906, and two shutouts.

With dismal specialty teams play and average defensive numbers, how has Omaha managed an overall record of 18-10-4? It boils down to two things:

1. Omaha has had the puck the majority of the time in most games. With stellar faceoff numbers and puck possession stats, the Mavs have been able to overcome their other deficiencies.

2. The Mavericks have won the close games. UNO is 14-1 in one-goal games (for comparison, UND is 4-5). Omaha has only three comfortable wins all season: an 8-1 shellacking of Niagara to open the season, a 5-2 victory at Augustana on November 25th, and a 5-1 win over Duluth on February 2nd. The Mavs also blanked CC 3-0 on February 23rd, but that was a one-goal game with fourteen minutes remaining.

In its ten losses, the Mavs have been outscored 48-17.

North Dakota currently finds itself in third place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 2), Denver (PWR 4), Wisconsin (PWR 6), Minnesota (PWR 7), St. Cloud State (PWR 14), Western Michigan (PWR 15), and Omaha (PWR 16) certainly helping the cause. According to the CHN Pairwise Probability Matrix, UND is guaranteed a spot in the national tournament and will almost certainly be a #1 seed in one of the four regionals. The most likely final Pairwise results are #2-overall (47%) or #3-overall (35%). UND fans should be cheering for Boston University to lose to Vermont on Saturday night.

North Dakota fans hoping for UND tournament games in Sioux Falls, South Dakota should be actively rooting against Omaha (even beyond this weekend); if the Mavericks somehow make the tournament, they would automatically be placed in Sioux Falls, and, as the likely #4-seed at that regional, that placement would bounce UND to a different regional site (the committee avoids first-round matchups between teams from the same conference).

At #16 in the Pairwise, Omaha has some work to do to earn the program’s first NCAA tourney berth since 2021. The same Pairwise Probability Matrix gives the Mavericks a 22% chance of making the tournament. In team history, the Mavericks have made the national tournament four times (2006, 2011, 2015), with a Frozen Four appearance under head coach Dean Blais in 2015.

After suffering three straight losses in mid-January, Omaha is 7-1-2 in its last ten games, including sweeps of Duluth and Miami, a 3-0 victory over Colorado College, and two overtime wins.

Omaha Team Profile

Head Coach: Mike Gabinet (7th season at UNO, 112-111-18, .502)

National Rankings: #16/#17
Pairwise Ranking: 16th
KRACH Rating: 216.8 (16th)

This Season: 18-10-4 overall, 6-8-8-0 NCHC (5th)
Last Season: 19-15-3 overall, 11-7-3-3 NCHC (3rd)

Team Offense: 2.91 goals scored/game – 33rd of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.91 goals allowed/game – 29th of 64 teams

Power Play: 16.5% (21 of 127) – 48th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 79.4% (81 of 102) – 36th of 64 teams

Key Players: Junior F Tyler Mueller (9-15-24), Junior F Zach Urdahl (9-8-17 in 26 games), Graduate F Jack Randl (12-10-22), Freshman F Tanner Ludtke (9-15-24), Senior F Matt Miller (5-10-15), Sophomore D Joaquim Lemay (4-9-13), Sophomore D Griffin Ludtke (4-15-19), Sophomore G Simon Latkoczy (15-9-3, 2.73 GAA, .906 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 204-100-33, .654)

National Rankings: #3/#3
Pairwise Ranking: 3rd
KRACH Rating: 615.7 (3rd)

This Season: 24-8-2 overall, 14-2-1-5 NCHC (1st of 8 teams, Penrose Cup Champions)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.82 goals scored/game – 7th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.35 goals allowed/game – 14th of 64 teams

Power Play: 25.2% (30 of 119) – 10th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.7% (76 of 93) – 24th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (19-31-50), Senior F Riese Gaber (16-14-30), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (12-22-34), Junior F Cameron Berg (19-15-34), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (8-9-17), sophomore F Dylan James (8-9-17), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-21-24), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (3-20-23), Senior G Ludvig Persson (21-8-2, 2.44 GAA, .908 SV%, 5 SO)

By The Numbers:

Last Meeting: January 13, 2024 (Grand Forks, ND). In a tight defensive game, Omaha tied things at one goal apiece just 49 seconds into the third period. UND’s Dylan James scored the game-winner three minutes later, and former Maverick Cameron Berg iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final thirty seconds. One night earlier, North Dakota fans saw a 3-1 first period lead evaporate in a disastrous middle frame that saw the Mavericks outscore the homestanding Hawks 3-1. Omaha scored just 34 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime session to grab the extra league point. North Dakota outshot Omaha 69-47 on the weekend.

Last Meeting in Omaha: March 12, 2023. UND erupted for three goals in 102 seconds late in the third period to win the deciding game of the best-of-three playoff series by a score of 5-2. North Dakota freshman Dylan James scored a shorthanded goal with 29 seconds remaining in the middle frame to knot the game at 2-2. The Fighting Hawks held the Mavericks scoreless on six power play opportunities and went 1-for-8 with the man advantage. One night earlier, with their backs against the wall, UND scored once in each period – including an empty-net goal by James – to win 3-1 and even the series at one game apiece.

Most memorable meeting: The game that UND fans will long remember is the outdoor game played at TD Ameritrade Park (Omaha, Nebraska) on February 9th, 2013. One day after winning a tight 2-1 contest indoors, North Dakota throttled UNO 5-2 on a sunny, melty afternoon. Mavericks netminder John Faulkner was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots in just ten minutes of game action. In my opinion, this hockey weekend solidified the notion that for UND hockey, it’s always a home game.

Last ten: North Dakota has won six of the last ten contests between the schools, going 6-3-1 (.650) and outscoring the Mavericks 31-24 over that stretch. Six of the last ten games in this series were played in Omaha.

All-time: UND leads the all-time series 36-19-2 (.649), including an 18-9-1 (.661) record in games played in Omaha. North Dakota owns a record of 31-16-2 (.653) against the Mavericks since both teams joined the NCHC. The teams first met on November 19, 2010.

Game News and Notes

In 2015, both North Dakota and Omaha advanced to the Frozen Four but neither team made the championship game. UND fell to Boston University 5-3, while the Mavericks were upended 4-1 by eventual national champion Providence. Since joining the WCHA in 2011 (and later the NCHC), the Mavs have never reached the Twin Cities for the second weekend of the conference tournament despite having home ice in four of those nine years. North Dakota’s Brad Berry is 27-13-1 (.671) in his head coaching career against Omaha. UND’s Riese Gaber has 17 points against Omaha in his collegiate career (7-10-17 in seventeen games, perfectly matching his jersey number), while netminder Ludvig Persson has squared off against the Mavs nine times, posting a record of 4-5-0, a goals-against average of 2.94, and a save percentage of .911. In 26 of the past 30 contests in this series, the winning team is the one which scores the first goal. This season, North Dakota is 20-5-1 (.788) when scoring first; Omaha, 13-7-0 (.650). UND has outscored opponents 46-24 in the first period of play this season. As a team, North Dakota has blocked 476 shots this season (14.0 blocks/game), led by Bennett Zmolek (83), Garrett Pyke (49), and Abram Wiebe (49).

The Prediction

If Ludvig Persson continues the roll that he has been on, I like North Dakota’s chances. I think that Omaha will keep one game close, but if the Fighting Hawks can roll four lines, they’ve got the scoring depth to outlast the Mavericks. UND 5-3, 3-2.

Broadcast Information

Both games this weekend will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Two and also available via webcast at NCHC.tv. The games will start at 7:07 p.m. Central Time each 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!

#3 North Dakota (22-8-2 overall, 12-2-1-5 NCHC) hosts #12 Western Michigan (18-11-1 overall, 8-6-1-5 NCHC) in the first meeting between the two teams this season. Last year, UND managed to take five of six league points on the road (2-2 tie/shootout win; 3-0 win), but the Broncos swept the Fighting Hawks at Ralph Engelstad Arena (4-0, 7-6) to take the season series.

UND finds itself near the top of the national rankings (USCHO #3, USA Hockey #3) and in the all-important Pairwise rankings (3rd) this season thanks in large part to its impressive non-conference victories…

North Dakota blanked #4 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #8 Minnesota, at #2 Boston University) with wins the following night.

Last season, UND and WMU tangled at Lawson Ice Arena in December 2022 with the Fighting Hawks securing five of six possible league points with a 2-2 overtime tie (shootout win) and a 3-0 victory.

UND found success at Lawson Arena by limiting high-quality chances, winning the special teams battle (2 for 7 on the power play and a perfect eight-for-eight on the penalty kill), and getting excellent goaltending from Drew DeRidder, who made 51 of 53 saves (.962) and added three stops in the five-round shootout.

WMU’s Jamie Rome (from Aiden Fulp and Tim Washe) and Jack Perbix (from Dylan Wendt) were the only two goal scorers that weekend, which means that the Broncos’ Big Three of Jason Polin, Max Sasson, and Ryan McAllister – who combined for 58 goals and 138 points in 116 games played last season – were held off the scoresheet for the entire weekend. The frustration mounted for WMU’s top line, as Sasson and McAllister combined for eight minutes in penalties in the series.

In the rematch series in Grand Forks (January 2023), Western Michigan’s top line picked up six points in Friday’s opener, a 4-0 Broncos victory. In Saturday’s rematch, the same three potent forwards were held off the scoresheet, yet, somehow, WMU still won 7-6.

Thankfully for fans of the Green and White, Pollin, Sasson, and McAllister are not on Western’s roster this season.

Even without those three forwards driving the offense, third-year Broncos head coach Pat Ferschweiler (WMU ’93) has his team playing at an extremely high level, with Western Michigan exhibiting the nation’s 8th-best offense (3.70 goals scored/game) as well as the 7th-best defense (2.33 goals allowed/game).

UND is slightly better on the offensive side of the ledger (3.81 goals scored/game; 7th) but has allowed a few more goals against (2.59, 16th).

Ferschweiler, who had previously been the WMU associate head coach under Andy Murray, also spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

In his rookie campaign two seasons ago, Ferschweiler went 26-12-1 and brought his team within one game of the Frozen Four, falling to Minnesota in the regional final. In September of 2022, the Western Michigan bench boss was extended through the 2025-26 season. Last season, he led the Broncos to a 2nd-place finish in the NCHC, an overall record of 23-15-1, and another NCAA tournament appearance.

Coming into its series against Colorado College two weekends ago, the Fighting Hawks had taken care of business in NCHC action, earning points in its first sixteen league games (10-0-1-5). That streak came to an end in the Springs, as UND dropped two games to the Tigers, bringing their season mark against CC to 0-2-0-2 (two regulation losses; two 3-on-3 overtime losses). Last weekend, North Dakota completed a home sweep against Minnesota Duluth to stay on top of the league standings.

UND has earned the majority of points against every team in the conference not named Colorado College:

vs. Denver: 7-5 win, 2-3 OT loss, 5-2 win, 4-2 win (10 of 12 league points)
vs. Miami: 6-4 win, 5-1 win, 5-4 OT win, 4-1 win (11 of 12 league points)
vs. Minnesota Duluth: 4-2 win, 2-0 win, 6-0 win, 4-2 win (12 of 12 league points)
vs. Omaha: 4-5 OT loss, 3-1 win (4 of 6 league points)
vs. St. Cloud State: 5-3 win, 3-3 tie/shootout loss (4 of 6 league points)

UND leads St. Cloud State by three conference points, Denver by seven points, and Colorado College by nine points with four games remaining for each team. Every regulation victory counts as three points.

Here are the matchups over the final two weekends of the regular season for the top four teams in the conference:

UND: vs. Western Michigan, at Omaha
St. Cloud State: vs. Denver, at Minnesota Duluth
Denver: at St. Cloud State, at/vs. Colorado College
Colorado College: vs. Minnesota Duluth, vs./at Denver

There is an outside chance that North Dakota could clinch the Penrose Cup (NCHC regular season championship) this weekend in Grand Forks.

In the ten completed seasons of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, only UND, Denver, and St. Cloud State have won the Penrose Cup.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s sixth-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Broncos’ schedule weighs in as the 24th-most difficult. Despite its tough slate of games, the Green and White have the third-best winning percentage in the country (.729).

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 475-240-82 (.647) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

And turning our attention to this season…

#3-ranked North Dakota has gone 22-8-2 against Army (one game), #4 Wisconsin (one game), #8 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #2 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth (four games), Miami (four games), Bemidji State, #5 Denver (four games), #11 Colorado College (four games), Alaska, #18 Omaha, and #15 St. Cloud State, with a record of 15-4-1 at home and 7-4-1 on the road. Prior to two weeks ago in Colorado Springs (February 16th and 17th), UND had not lost in regulation since November 3rd.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system is identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks returned 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Perron (24 with the Chicago Steel of the USHL), North Dakota has already surpassed the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 32 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 110 goals and are on pace for 124 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (18), Berg (18), Gaber (16), McLaughlin (10), Perron (10), and Johannes (9 in 23 games). Those first five forwards have combined for 35 goals over the past seven weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes has been out of the lineup for the past nine games (lower-body injury); he is expected to be in the lineup this weekend against the Broncos.

Prior to UND’s series three weekends ago against Miami, Fighting Hawks defensemen had only scored seven goals all season. And then, Logan Britt happened.

The grad transfer from Sacred Heart scored three goals on the weekend and was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week. Freshman Jake Livanavage added his third goal of the season to bring the d-corps total to eleven. Livanavage was recently named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week (January 29th), the NCHC Rookie of the Month (January), and a candidate for the Tim Taylor Award (National Rookie of the Year).

Two weekends ago at CC, freshman defenseman Abram Wiebe notched his first career collegiate goal, while fellow blueliners Garrett Pyke and Jake Livanavage added assists. And last weekend, North Dakota’s d-corps chipped in with seven assists in a weekend sweep of Duluth.

The six regular blueliners for North Dakota (Pyke, Livanavage, Britt, Wiebe, Zmolek, and Pehrson) have now collected a total of 73 points (12 goals and 61 assists) in 183 games played (0.40 points/game). As mentioned above, the offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (two goals and seventeen assists in his last twenty games).

By comparison, the six Broncos defensemen expected in the lineup this weekend have scored twelve goals and added 46 assists for 58 points in 157 games played for an average of 0.37 points/game).

Senior blueliner Jacob Bauer (0-4-4 in 21 games played) will be out of the lineup this weekend with an injury. Fellow senior Daniel Hilsendanger (0-4-4 in 25 games played) – who hasn’t played in a month – will be inserted into the lineup in his place.

In the Division I era (since 1975), the Broncos have had fifteen twenty-win seasons, with nine of those coming between 1984 and 1996 under head coach Bill Wilkinson. WMU has made the national tournament five times since 1996.

Turning our attention to this weekend’s matchup, a half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Pat Ferschweiler’s squad has NINE lineup regulars who meet that threshold, including three players averaging over a point per game: senior forward Luke Grainger (12-30-42), junior forward Dylan Wendt (21-16-37), and graduate forward Sam Colangelo (19-17-36). Other solid offensive contributors include freshman forward Alex Bump (11-16-27), graduate forward Ethan Phillips (9-14-23), senior forward Matteo Costantini (7-17-24), senior forward Chad Hillebrand (5-18-23), graduate defenseman Zak Galambos (7-10-17), and graduate defenseman Carter Berger (3-13-16, no relation).

Matteo Costantini spent his first two seasons at North Dakota (10-14-24 in 60 games played) before transferring to Western Michigan. After amassing 21 points in a brilliant freshman campaign, the fifth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres only managed three points in a disappointing sophomore season. Costantini was not in the UND lineup for the final six games of 2022-2023.

By that same measure, North Dakota has seven players at a half point or better, including three – sophomore forward Jackson Blake (18-29-47), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (10-21-31), and Cameron Berg (18-15-33) – averaging a point per game or better. Other offensive contributors include senior forward Riese Gaber (16-14-30), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15 in 23 games), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-21-24), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (3-19-22).

Jackson Blake is making a strong push for college hockey’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Blake picked up seven points last weekend against Minnesota Duluth and has collected 25 points (seven goals and eighteen assists) since the calendar year turned to 2024 (fourteen games).

As mentioned above, these two teams are very similar on the offensive side. UND scores 3.81 goals per game (7th in the country), while Western Michigan scores 3.70 (8th).

If there is one difference, however, it is the fact that North Dakota has scored its 122 goals on only 986 shots on goal (a shooting percentage of 12.4%, 3rd in the country), while the Broncos have scored 111 goals on 1099 shots on goal (10.1%, 26th).

Clearly, WMU is getting pucks to the net (36.6 shots on goal per game; 2nd in the country) more than North Dakota (30.8; 20th) but isn’t burying as many of its chances.

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 823 shots on goal this season in 32 games (25.7/game, 9th), while Western Michigan has allowed 777 in 30 games (25.9, 10th).

The Broncos are also superior in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 16th in Corsi (53.3%) and 9th in Fenwick (54.7%)
Western Michigan: 2nd in Corsi (60.6%) and Fenwick (60.4%)

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 16th-best team on draws (52.2%), while the Broncos clock in as the 10th-best face-off team in the country (53.6%).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 320 of 554 (57.8%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (192 of 336, 57.1%) has more than held his own, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (169 of 364, 46.4%) has struggled of late.

For Western Michigan, senior Tim Washe (347 of 542, 64.0%) has had the most success, using his large frame (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) to dominate smaller centers. Senior Luke Grainger has taken the most draws (293 of 592, 49.5%), with classmate Matteo Costantini (169 of 375, 49.1%) chipping in as well.

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had the better of the specialty teams play. UND has been a combined plus-15, with 30 power play goals scored (30 of 115, 26.1%, 7th in the country) and seventeen power play goals allowed (71 of 88, 80.7%, 28th), with three shorthanded goals scored and one allowed.

WMU has posted a plus-7, with 24 power play goals scored (24 of 106, 22.6%, 19th), seventeen power play goals allowed (87 of 104, 83.7%, 15th), no shorthanded goals scored, and none allowed.

UND has a better specialty teams scoring margin due to the fact that North Dakota has earned 27 more power plays than penalty kill situations (115-88), while the Broncos have only had two “extra” power plays this season (106-104).

North Dakota is 7th in the country in scoring offense (3.81 goals scored/game) and a solid 16th in the country in scoring defense (2.59 goals allowed/game).

Western Michigan is 8th in the country in scoring offense (3.70 goals scored/game) and even better on the defensive side, allowing just 2.33 goals per game (7th).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 19-8-2 with a goals-against average of 2.50, a save percentage of .903, and four shutouts.

Persson was ill two months ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Persson returned to practice on a Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud last month and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917. Persson wasn’t tested much in UND’s home sweep of Denver; he allowed two goals each night while making 17 saves on Friday night and 22 saves in the rematch. In a road sweep at Miami, Persson stopped 60 of 65 shots (.923).

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 94 goals, a difference of sixteen goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

Senior netminder Cameron Rowe has played every minute between the pipes for the Broncos, posting a record of 18-11-1 with a goals-against average of 2.26, a save percentage of .912, and two shutouts. Rowe played his first two seasons at Wisconsin before transferring to WMU in the fall of 2022.

North Dakota currently finds itself in 3rd place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 2), Wisconsin (PWR 4), Denver (PWR 6), Minnesota (PWR 8), and St. Cloud State (PWR 11) certainly helping the cause. With four games remaining in the regular season, UND is a virtual lock for the national tournament and will likely be a #1-seed at one of the four regional sites. North Dakota fans hoping for UND tournament games in Sioux Falls, South Dakota should be actively rooting against Omaha; if the Mavericks somehow make the tournament, they would automatically be placed in Sioux Falls, and, as the likely #4-seed at that regional, that placement would bounce UND to a different regional site (the committee avoids first-round matchups between teams from the same conference).

Western Michigan Broncos

Head Coach: Pat Ferschweiler (3rd season at WMU, 67-38-3, .634)

National Rankings: #12/#11
Pairwise Ranking: 12th
KRACH Ranking: 272.4 (14th)

This Season: 18-11-1 overall, 8-6-1-5 NCHC (5th)
Last Season: 23-15-1 overall (NCAA Northeast Regional Semifinalist), 13-8-2-1 NCHC (2nd)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.70 goals scored/game – 8th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.33 goals allowed/game – 7th of 64 teams

Power Play: 22.6% (24 of 106) – 19th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 83.7% (87 of 104) – 15th of 64 teams

Key Players: Senior F Luke Grainger (12-30-42), Junior F Dylan Wendt (21-16-37), Graduate F Sam Colangelo (19-17-36). Freshman F Alex Bump (11-16-27), Graduate F Ethan Phillips (9-14-23), Senior F Matteo Costantini (7-17-24), Senior F Chad Hillebrand (5-18-23), Graduate D Zak Galambos (7-10-17), Graduate D Carter Berger (3-13-16), Senior G Cameron Rowe (18-11-1, 2.26 GAA, .912 SV%, 2 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 202-100-33, .652)

National Rankings: #3/#3
Pairwise Ranking: 3rd
KRACH Rating: 541.3 (3rd)

This Season: 22-8-2 overall, 12-2-1-5 NCHC (1st of 8 teams)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.81 goals scored/game – 7th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.59 goals allowed/game – 16th of 64 teams

Power Play: 26.1% (30 of 115) – 7th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 80.7% (71 of 88) – 28th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (18-29-47), Senior F Riese Gaber (16-14-30), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (10-21-31), Junior F Cameron Berg (18-15-33), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (6-9-15), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-21-24), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (3-19-22), Senior G Ludvig Persson (19-8-2, 2.50 GAA, .903 SV%, 4 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: January 14, 2023 (Grand Forks, ND). In a wild back-and-forth game that saw thirteen goals and six lead changes, the visitors prevailed 7-6 by outscoring UND 5-1 over the last 25 minutes of the hockey game. Four of North Dakota’s six goals were scored with the man advantage. One night earlier, WMU blanked the homestanding Hawks 4-0 as UND’s Tyler Kleven was issued a five-minute major for contact to the head and a game misconduct.

Most Important Meeting: March 24, 2012 (St. Paul, MN). North Dakota upended Western Michigan 3-1 in the NCAA West Regional semifinal. Brock Nelson had two points, including an empty net goal with 25 seconds remaining that sent UND to the regional finals against Minnesota. Aaron Dell made 24 saves for the Green and White. The Broncos, who have played at the Division I level since 1975-76, have seven NCAA tournament appearances.

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Saturday, March 22, 2014 (Minneapolis, MN). North Dakota faced a must-win situation in the 3rd place game at the inaugural NCHC Frozen Faceoff, and did not disappoint the partisan crowd. The Green and White rolled to a 5-0 victory behind two first-period goals from Conner Gaarder. UND netminder Zane Gothberg made 25 saves for the shutout, and Dave Hakstol’s crew played the waiting game for several more hours before discovering that they had indeed made the NCAA tournament for the twelfth consecutive season.

All-Time Series: In the short history between the schools, UND has won 28 of the 41 games (28-12-1, .695), including twelve of the eighteen games played in Grand Forks. Before the 2016-17 season in which Western Michigan won three of the four meetings, WMU’s lone victory over North Dakota was a 2-1 road win on March 8th, 2014. The teams first met in 1997.

Last Ten: North Dakota has only won four of the last ten meetings between the two teams (4-5-1, .450), and the Broncos hold a 29-27 edge on the scoreboard in those games. Before the Broncos’ home sweep of North Dakota in January 2022, UND had swept the previous six with a scoring margin of 28-10.

Game News and Notes

Western Michigan moved up to the Division I ranks beginning with the 1975-76 season and has advanced to the NCAA tournament seven times. The Broncos have made the NCAA tourney twice (2017, 2022) in their first nine seasons in the NCHC after advancing to the national tournament twice (2011, 2012) in the last three seasons in the now-defunct CCHA. UND has outscored opponents 43-23 in the first period of play this season. WMU has outscored opponents 47-21 in third periods but has been outscored 5-1 in overtime sessions. As a team, North Dakota has blocked 424 shots this season (13.3 blocks/game), led by Bennett Zmolek (78), Garrett Pyke (46), and Abram Wiebe (43).

The Prediction

It’s always tough to make a prediction when two teams meet each other for the first time in March. Western Michigan has dropped seven of its last eleven games after starting the season 14-4-1, and that in and of itself can be taken one of two ways. Are the Broncos hitting a wall in NCHC action, or will they be scratching and clawing for home ice? I expect two exciting games, with Saturday’s finale a bit tighter checking than the opener. I’ve got the visitors in the opener, with the Fighting Hawks rebounding for a series split. WMU 6-4, UND 4-3.

Broadcast Information

Game times are set for 7:06 p.m. Central Time on Friday and 6:07 p.m. Central Time on Saturday. Friday’s opener will be available exclusively on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s game broadcast live on Midco Sports Network and also available via webcast at NCHC.tv. 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.

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!

#4 North Dakota (20-8-2 overall, 10-2-1-5 NCHC) hosts unranked Minnesota Duluth (10-15-4 overall, 4-8-3-3 NCHC) in a rematch of a November 2023 series played at Amsoil Arena. UND swept the homestanding Bulldogs that weekend (4-2, 2-0) to open league play.

UND finds near the top of the national rankings (USCHO #4, USA Hockey #5) and in the all-important Pairwise rankings (3rd) thanks in large part to its impressive non-conference victories…

North Dakota blanked #6 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #8 Minnesota, at #2 Boston University) with wins the following night.

Coming into last weekend at Colorado College, the Fighting Hawks had also taken care of business in NCHC action, earning points in its first sixteen league games (10-0-1-5). That streak came to an end in the Springs, as UND dropped two games to the Tigers, bringing their season mark against CC to 0-2-0-2 (two regulation losses; two 3-on-3 overtime losses).

UND has earned the majority of points against every team in the conference not named Colorado College:

vs. Denver: 7-5 win, 2-3 OT loss, 5-2 win, 4-2 win (10 of 12 league points)
vs. Miami: 6-4 win, 5-1 win, 5-4 OT win, 4-1 win (11 of 12 league points)
vs. Minnesota Duluth: 4-2 win, 2-0 win (6 of 6 league points)
vs. Omaha: 4-5 OT loss, 3-1 win (4 of 6 league points)
vs. St. Cloud State: 5-3 win, 3-3 tie/shootout loss (4 of 6 league points)

The Fighting Hawks have not yet played Western Michigan; those two teams will tangle at the Ralph next weekend (March 1st and 2nd), the second-to-last weekend of the regular season.

UND leads St. Cloud State by one conference point, Colorado College by four points, and Denver by six points with six games remaining for each team. Every regulation victory counts as three points.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s eighth-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Bulldogs’ schedule weighs in as the 18th-most difficult. Despite its tough slate of games, the Green and White have the sixth-best winning percentage in the country (.711).

During the November series at UMD, UND wore helmet stickers honoring former Duluth forward Adam Johnson, who died on October 28, 2023 when a skate blade cut his neck during a pro hockey game. The stickers featured the initials ‘AJ’ along with the number 47, which he was wearing for the Nottingham Panthers. Former UND forward Westin Michaud was Johnson’s teammate with the Panthers.

Last season, the teams only met two times, a January series in Grand Forks that ended in a split. North Dakota took the opener 4-2 before falling 2-1 in the rematch. In Saturday’s finale, senior Luke Loheit broke a 1-1 tie with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. The goal came just 33 seconds after freshman Ben Steeves departed from the penalty box; Steeves assisted on the game-winning goal. Fast forward one year, and Steeves leads his team in goals (7) and points (11).

Two seasons ago, the two rivals split a November series at Ralph Engelstad Arena, with the Bulldogs winning by a 4-1 margin on Friday night. UND came from behind in Saturday’s rematch, knotting the score at 1-1 with five seconds remaining in the second period before scoring the game-winner five minutes into the third. When the two teams tangled in Duluth in February 2022, the visitors managed a pair of one-goal victories (4-3, 3-2).

And turning back the clock to March 27th, 2021, North Dakota was down 2-0 to Minnesota Duluth with just 101 seconds remaining in the third period of the 2021 NCAA Midwest Regional final at Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota. The Bulldogs had built their lead with two goals just 80 seconds apart early in the final frame on a pair of fluky plays. A partially blocked shot off the stick of Jackson Cates fluttered past Fighting Hawks’ netminder Adam Scheel, and a broken stick at the blue line sent Cole Koepke in alone on a breakaway.

Through the first 25 games of the season, UND had only won one game after allowing the first goal (1-5-1). But after coming back against both Denver and St. Cloud State to claim the program’s first NCHC Frozen Faceoff postseason title, Brad Berry’s squad had to feel like another comeback was possible.

And it was indeed possible. Collin Adams and Jordan Kawaguchi scored extra-attacker goals 44 seconds apart to send the partisan crowd into a frenzy and send the game to overtime. And overtime. And overtime. And overtime.

UMD’s Luke Mylymok scored the game-winner just over two minutes into the FIFTH overtime session; his second goal of the season ended the longest NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament game in history.

One could argue that after over 140 minutes of game action, Duluth had a built-in advantage: the Bulldogs (14-10-2) were scheduled to face Michigan in the regional semifinal, but after the Wolverines withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test in their hockey program, UMD advanced in a “no contest” and therefore had fresher legs than top overall seed North Dakota (22-5-1).

Adams and Kawaguchi were two of six North Dakota players to finish the season with double digit goal totals. Of those six, only Riese Gaber remains at North Dakota.

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 475-240-82 (.647) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

The Bulldogs played ten games at the Division I level in the early 1930s but didn’t really get started until after World War II. Its first 19 seasons after the war were played as an independent before joining the WCHA in 1965. It would take 18 seasons – and a head coach named Mike Sertich – before UMD would make the NCAA tournament, and Sertich would take them there in three consecutive seasons:

1982-1983: National Quarterfinalist
1983-1984: 2nd Place (National Runner-Up)
1984-1985: 3rd Place (Consolation Champion)

In 1984, Duluth was tantalizingly close to winning its first title. The Bulldogs defeated North Dakota 2-1 in overtime (behind a goal by Bill Watson) to advance to the championship game, where they would face Bowling Green in the longest NCAA final in Division I men’s hockey history. Gino Cavallini scored for the Falcons in the fourth overtime session, ending a game that took over 97 minutes of game action to complete.

And, perhaps, fittingly, UMD would find themselves locked in overtime contests in 1985 as well. The Bulldogs took RPI to three overtimes in the national semis before falling 6-5. Back in those days, there was still a third-place game, and so Duluth faced Boston College (which had also played three overtimes in its semifinal) for no reason at all. Of course, that game also went to overtime, with UMD defeating the Eagles 7-6.

After that three-year splash on the national scene, Mike Sertich would manage just one more tournament appearance (1993) over the final fifteen years of his head coaching career before giving way to Scott Sandelin, who has guided the Bulldogs to the NCAAs eleven times in his 23 completed seasons behind the Bulldog bench.

Even though UMD has been a more frequent participant over the past two decades than at any other point in team history, Duluth and North Dakota have only met twice in the national tournament (1984 and 2021). UND had a chance to meet the Bulldogs in the 2011 title game but fell to the Wolverines in the semifinals 2-0 (with an empty-net goal) despite outshooting Michigan 40-20.

Before the Wolverines were forced to withdraw from the 2021 tournament, UMD and Michigan were set to square off in the national tournament for the first time since that overtime thriller in St. Paul.

With three national titles in a nine-year stretch, the Bulldogs could certainly be considered the best team of the 2010s; North Dakota’s eight national titles have been spread out across the decades: 1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000, and 2016.

The Wolverines have won nine NCAA titles but only two since 1964, those coming in 1996 and 1998. For that reason, I consider North Dakota (eight titles) and Denver (nine titles) the two best programs in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey history.

And turning our attention to this season…

#4-ranked North Dakota has gone 20-8-2 against Army (one game), #6 Wisconsin (one game), #8 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #2 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth, Miami (four games), Bemidji State, #3 Denver (four games), #10 Colorado College (four games), Alaska, #19 Omaha, and #15 St. Cloud State, with a record of 13-4-1 at home and 7-4-1 on the road. Prior to last weekend, UND had not lost in regulation since November 3rd.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system is identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks returned 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Perron (24 with the Chicago Steel of the USHL), North Dakota will easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 30 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 100 goals and are on pace for 120 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (17), Berg (16), Gaber (15), McLaughlin (9), Johannes (9), and Perron (8). Those six forwards have combined for 30 goals over the past six weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes has been out of the lineup for the past seven games (lower-body injury); it is possible that Johannes will be in the lineup this weekend against Duluth.

After a down season (16-20-1) a year ago, Scott Sandelin dipped his toe into the transfer portal, bringing in forward Connor McMenamin from Penn State (24-42-66 in 129 games over four seasons with the Nittany Lions) and defenseman Luke Bast from North Dakota (3-6-9 in 39 games over two seasons with the Fighting Hawks). Sandelin’s freshman class numbers just four players: forwards Anthony Menghini (7-2-9 in 29 games this season), Matthew Perkins (5-8-13 in 27), and Braden Fischer (1-2-3 in 14) along with defenseman Aaron Pionk (2-13-15 in 29).

Pionk, whose older brother Neal played for UMD from 2015-2017, is a fifth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild. Perkins is a fourth-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks.

Braden Fischer did not play a game in October or November but has been a lineup regular since the departure of sophomore forward Cole Spicer, who was declared academically ineligible on December 26th.

Prior to UND’s series two weekends ago against Miami, Fighting Hawks defensemen had only scored seven goals all season.

And then, Logan Britt happened. The grad transfer from Sacred Heart scored three goals on the weekend and was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week. Freshman Jake Livanavage added his third goal of the season to bring the d-corps total to eleven. Livanavage was recently named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week (January 29th), the NCHC Rookie of the Month (January), and a candidate for the Tim Taylor Award (National Rookie of the Year).

Last weekend at CC, freshman defenseman Abram Wiebe notched his first career collegiate goal, while fellow blueliners Garrett Pyke and Jake Livanavage added assists.

The six regular blueliners for North Dakota (Pyke, Livanavage, Britt, Wiebe, Zmolek, and Pehrson) have now collected a total of 66 points (12 goals and 54 assists) in 171 games played (0.39 points/game). As mentioned above, the offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (two goals and fourteen assists in his last eighteen games).

Graduate student blueliner Keaton Pehrson (0-5-5 in 25 games this season) is questionable to play this weekend with an upper-body injury. Pehrson,played four seasons at this Michigan (1-27-28 in 127 games as a Wolverine) before transferring to UND.

By comparison, the six Bulldog defensemen expected in the lineup this weekend have scored ten goals and added 57 assists in 172 games played for an identical 0.39 points/game).

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Scott Sandelin’s squad has eight players who meet that threshold: sophomore forward Ben Steeves (22-8-30), senior forward Blake Biondi (8-10-18), graduate forward Quinn Olson (4-14-18), graduate forward Connor McMenamin (4-13-17), graduate forward Luke Loheit (7-8-15), sophomore forward Kyle Bettens (4-10-14), junior defenseman Owen Gallatin (5-20-25), and freshman defenseman Aaron Pionk (2-13-15).

Connor McMenamin is probable to appear in the lineup this weekend (undisclosed injury).

By that same measure, North Dakota has eight players at a half point or better, including three – sophomore forward Jackson Blake (17-23-40), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (9-20-29), and Cameron Berg (16-14-30) – averaging a point per game or better. Other offensive contributors include senior forward Riese Gaber (15-13-28), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15 in 23 games), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (6-9-15), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-20-23), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (3-16-19).

The Minnesota Duluth roster features a face familiar to North Dakota fans. Defenseman Luke Bast (2-6-8 in 29 games played) is a senior for the Bulldogs after playing his first two seasons at UND (3-6-9 in 39 games played).

Offensively, UND far outpaces Minnesota Duluth. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 112 goals (3.73 goals per game, 8th in the country), while the Bulldogs have managed just 86 (2.97, 31st).

The Fighting Hawks are 5th in the nation in shooting percentage at 12.0%. Minnesota Duluth clocks in at 9.7%, good for 39th in the country.

Not only does North Dakota score on a high percentage of its shots on goal, but it also gets the puck to the net. To this point in the season, the Green and White have 936 shots on goal. Minnesota Duluth? 885.

This averages out to 31.2 shots on goal per game for UND (17th) and 30.5 shots on goal per game for UMD (26th).

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 778 shots on goal this season in 30 games (25.9/game, 10th), while Minnesota Duluth has allowed 929 in 29 games (32.0, 50th).

The Fighting Hawks are also vastly superior in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 16th in Corsi (53.4%) and 8th in Fenwick (54.9%)
Minnesota Duluth: 43rd in Corsi (48.4%); 48th in Fenwick (47.7%)

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 20th-best team on draws (51.9%), while the Bulldogs clock in as the second-worst face-off team in the country (43.4%, 63rd).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 303 of 524 (57.8%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (187 of 326, 57.4%) has more than held his own, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (161 of 348, 46.3%) has struggled of late.

For Minnesota Duluth, sophomore Jack Smith (168 of 406, 41.4%) and freshman Matthew Perkins (133 of 313, 42.2%) have taken the most draws, while junior Carter Loney (126 of 293, 43.0%) has been the most successful.

Scott Sandelin certainly misses the presence of Grand Forks native Cole Spicer, who went 153 of 322 (47.5%) in the first half of the season before being declared academically ineligible. Spicer now plays for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL.

The expected top center for Duluth -junior Dominic James – suffered a shoulder injury on October 13th vs. Northern Michigan and is not expected to return this season. James had a line of 16-30-46 in his first two seasons (74 games) at UMD.

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had slightly the better of the specialty teams play, even though the Bulldogs boast better numbers. UND has been a combined plus-12, with 27 power play goals scored (27 of 106, 25.5%, 9th in the country) and seventeen power play goals allowed (68 of 85, 80.0%, 35th), with three shorthanded goals scored and one allowed.

UMD has posted a plus-8, with 26 power play goals scored (26 of 92, 28.3%, 4th), nineteen power play goals allowed (101 of 120, 84.2%, 13th), two shorthanded goals scored, and one allowed.

As mentioned above, UND has a better specialty teams scoring margin despite posting inferior success rates to Duluth. This is due to the fact that North Dakota has earned 21 more power plays than penalty kill situations (106-85), while the Bulldogs have been shorthanded 28 more times than they have had the man advantage (92-120).

North Dakota is 8th in the country in scoring offense (3.73 goals scored/game) and a solid 19th in the country in scoring defense (2.70 goals allowed/game).

Minnesota Duluth is 31st in the country in scoring offense (2.97 goals scored/game) and even worse on the defensive side, allowing 3.21 goals per game (46th).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 17-8-2 with a goals-against average of 2.61, a save percentage of .899, and three shutouts.

Persson was ill two months ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Persson returned to practice on a Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud last month and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917. Persson wasn’t tested much in UND’s home sweep of Denver; he allowed two goals each night while making 17 saves on Friday night and 22 saves in the rematch. In a road sweep at Miami, Persson stopped 60 of 65 shots (.923).

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 97 goals, a difference of 13 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

Duluth’s defensive woes this season echo North Dakota’s from a year ago, although UMD’s goaltending has improved as the year has gone on. Senior Zach Stejskal (19 games, 2.83 GAA, .904 SV%) and graduate student Matthew Thiessen (12 games, 3.28 GAA, .906 SV%) have both performed well at times, although the team defense and puck possession struggles have doomed the Bulldogs for long stretches.

North Dakota currently finds itself in 3rd place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 2), Denver (PWR 5), Wisconsin (PWR 6), Denver (PWR 7), Minnesota (PWR 9), and St. Cloud State (PWR 13) certainly helping the cause. With six games remaining in the regular season, UND is virtually a lock for the national tournament.

At 26th in the Pairwise, Minnesota Duluth has some work to do to return to the NCAAs after a one-year absence.

And one final note: Bulldog junior defenseman Will Francis took the fall semester off to undergo cancer treatments, and he has yet to return to the lineup. All of us at SiouxSports.com wish Will all the best in his journey to recovery. No one fights alone.

Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs

Head Coach: Scott Sandelin (23rd season at UMD, 454-383-99, .538)

National Ranking: NR/NR
Pairwise Ranking: 26th
KRACH Rating: 117.4 (24th)

This Season: 10-15-4 overall, 4-8-3-3 NCHC (7th of 8 teams)
Last Season: 16-20-1 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 9-10-1-4 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.97 goals scored/game – 31st of 64 teams
Team Defense: 3.21 goals allowed/game – 46th of 64 teams

Power Play: 28.3% (26 of 92) – 4th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 84.2% (101 of 120) – 13th of 64 teams

Key players: Sophomore F Ben Steeves (22-8-30), Graduate F Quinn Olson (4-14-18), Senior F Blake Biondi (8-10-18),Graduate F Connor McMenamin (4-13-17), Junior D Owen Gallatin (5-20-25), Freshman D Aaron Pionk (2-13-15), Senior G Zach Stejskal (8-8-3, 2.83 GAA, .904 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 200-100-33, .650)

National Rankings: #4/#5
Pairwise Ranking: 3rd
KRACH Rating: 502.3 (4th)

This Season: 20-8-2 overall, 10-2-1-5 NCHC (1st of 8 teams)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.73 goals scored/game – 8th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.70 goals allowed/game – 19th of 64 teams

Power Play: 25.5% (27 of 106) – 9th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 80.0% (68 of 85) – 35th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (17-23-40), Senior F Riese Gaber (15-13-28), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (9-20-29), Junior F Cameron Berg (16-14-30), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (6-9-15), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-20-23), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (3-16-19), Senior G Ludvig Persson (17-8-2, 2.61 GAA, .899 SV%, 3 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: November 11, 2023 (Duluth, MN). North Dakota weathered an early first-period storm and went to the locker room leading 1-0 on Louis Jamernik V’s power play goal. A dominant middle frame saw UND outshoot the Bulldogs 18-5 and extend the lead to 2-0. That would be more than enough, as Ludvig Persson stopped all 30 shots he faced. One night earlier, the Fighting Hawks built a 3-0 lead in the opening twenty minutes but saw a UMD comeback bring the home team within one. North Dakota’s Cameron Berg iced the game with a power play tally with under forty seconds remaining.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: January 21, 2023 (Grand Forks, ND). One night after a 4-2 home victory, North Dakota saw a 1-1 tie turn into a regulation defeat. In Saturday’s finale, UMD senior Luke Loheit broke the 1-1 tie with just over two minutes left on the clock. The goal came just 33 seconds after freshman Ben Steeves departed from the penalty box.

Most Important Meeting: March 27, 2021 (Fargo, ND). Minnesota Duluth outlasted North Dakota 3-2 in five overtimes to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. UND scored two extra-attacker goals in the final two minutes of regulation to send the game long into the night. The three goaltenders involved in the contest combined to make 114 saves.

The Meeting That Never Was: Both teams advanced to the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul, Minnesota). UND could not get past Michigan, falling 2-0 despite outshooting the Wolverines 40-20. In the other national semifinal, Minnesota-Duluth defeated Notre Dame 4-3 and rode that momentum to the title game. The Bulldogs took the Wolverines to overtime before senior forward Kyle Schmidt scored the game winner and earned UMD their first national championship. North Dakota won two of the three games against Duluth that season, outscoring Scott Sandelin’s team 11-5.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 155-89-11 (.629), including a sparkling 84-39-3 (.679) advantage in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1954, with North Dakota winning the first ten games between the schools by a combined score of 72-16. UMD’s first win over the Fighting Sioux (a 3-2 road victory on December 18th, 1959) did not sit well with the defending national champions. UND defeated Duluth 13-2 the following night.

Last Ten: North Dakota is 7-3-0 (.700) in the last ten games between the teams, outscoring the Bulldogs 25-20 over that stretch. Only four of the past ten UND-UMD games were played at Ralph Engelstad Arena (one was played in the Omaha pod, one in Fargo, and four in Duluth).

Game News and Notes

UND has outscored opponents 39-23 in the first period of play this season. Over thirty percent of Duluth’s goals this season (26 of 86) have come with the man advantage. As a team, North Dakota has blocked 391 shots this season (13.0 blocks/game), led by Bennett Zmolek (68), Garrett Pyke (46), and Abram Wiebe (41). Both head coaches this weekend are alumni of the University of North Dakota; Brad Berry (1983-86) and Scott Sandelin (1982-86) both played for UND under John “Gino” Gasparini.

The Prediction

The Fighting Hawks should have the puck the majority of the time, and that may lead to an extra power play or two. If UND can find success with the man advantage AND stay out of the penalty box, a sweep is the most likely result. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hobie Hedquist get one start in net for North Dakota this weekend. UND 4-2, 5-2.

Broadcast Information

Game times are set for 7:07 p.m. Central Time on Friday and 6:07 p.m. Central Time on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network and also available via webcast at NCHC.tv. 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.

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!

#2 North Dakota (20-6-2, 10-0-1-5 NCHC) travels to face #15 Colorado College (16-9-1, 5-4-5-2 NCHC) this weekend in a rematch of a pivotal league series played back in early December at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

CC earned two overtime victories in Grand Forks that weekend (3-2, 3-2) and has followed that up by going 7-3-0 against Minnesota (road), Minnesota Duluth (road), Miami (home), Western Michigan (road), and St. Cloud State (home). Eight of the Tigers’ last fourteen games have gone to overtime, and the Tigers hold a 5-2-1 record in those extra sessions

Coming into this weekend, UND is on top of the league standings despite playing two fewer games than its closest competition:

North Dakota: 10-0-1-5 (37 league points) in 16 games
St. Cloud State: 9-3-3-3 (36 league points) in 18 games
Western Michigan: 8-5-0-5 (29 league points) in 18 games

Colorado College has earned 27 league points (5-4-5-2) in 16 games played.

UND finds near the top of the national rankings (#2 in both polls) and in the all-important Pairwise rankings (2nd) thanks in large part to its impressive non-conference victories…

North Dakota blanked #4 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #8 Minnesota, at #3 Boston University) with wins the following night.

The Fighting Hawks have also taken care of business in NCHC action, earning points in every league game this season. UND has earned the majority of points against every team in the conference not named Colorado College:

vs. Denver: 7-5 win, 2-3 OT loss, 5-2 win, 4-2 win (10 of 12 league points)
vs. Miami: 6-4 win, 5-1 win, 5-4 OT win, 4-1 win (11 of 12 league points)
vs. Minnesota Duluth: 4-2 win, 2-0 win (6 of 6 league points)
vs. Omaha: 4-5 OT loss, 3-1 win (4 of 6 league points)
vs. St. Cloud State: 5-3 win, 3-3 tie/shootout loss (4 of 6 league points)

The Fighting Hawks have not yet played Western Michigan; those two teams will tangle at the Ralph on March 1st and 2nd, the second-to-last weekend of the regular season.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s sixth-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Tigers’ schedule weighs in as the 14th-most difficult. Despite its tough slate of games, the Green and White have the second-best winning percentage in the country (.762), trailing only Boston College (.772).

Before we dig into this weekend’s matchup between the Hawks and Tigers, let’s take a quick look back at the past few games between the two teams…

Back in December, unranked Colorado College shocked the college hockey world by not only taking then-#1 North Dakota to overtime in back-to-back games but also finishing the job each night during the five-minute 3-on-3 session.

On Friday night, UND outshot the Tigers 34-23 but were undone by sloppy specialty teams play. The Fighting Hawks went 0-for-1 on the power play and gave up a late second-period power play goal that tied the game at two goals apiece. North Dakota led 2-0 midway through the middle frame but could not extend or hold that lead.

Saturday night was a more even affair, with the teams trading chances and putting an identical 24 shots on goal apiece. CC shined in the faceoff circle, however, winning 42 of 64 draws (65.6%).

Last season, the teams only played two games, and, in a strange February series in the Springs, North Dakota earned a 2-1 overtime victory on Friday before the two teams skated to a 0-0 tie in the rematch, just the third scoreless game in UND hockey history.

North Dakota went 6-0 against CC two seasons ago, outscoring the Tigers 20-7. The two first-round playoff games in Grand Forks were tight affairs, with UND advancing to St. Paul by virtue of a pair of 2-1 victories. In that series, all six goals were scored in the second period.

When the teams squared off at brand-new Robson Arena for a December 2021 series in Colorado Springs, the Fighting Hawks secured the road sweep with 5-2 and 4-1 victories. Those games dropped the Tigers to 3-10-3 on the season.

UND held the advantage in all phases, outshooting the Tigers 62-54 and winning 72 of 119 faceoffs (60.5%). North Dakota scored three power play goals on nine attempts and held Colorado College to just a single power play goal in ten man-advantage opportunities.

After that weekend, the Tigers went 4-4-0 against Arizona State, Miami, Denver, and Omaha to close out January, much more respectable results for first-year head coach Kris Mayotte. Mayotte replaced Mike Haviland, who went just 74-177-28 (.315) in his seven seasons behind the Tiger bench, with no regular season or postseason titles and zero NCAA tournament appearances. Haviland had something brewing from 2017-2019, with his teams going 32-37-9 (.468). Things fell off over his last two seasons, however (15-37-5, .307), and it was time for a change.

February and March of 2022 were not kind to Mayotte’s squad, however, as the Tigers won just twice in their last twelve games. Both of those victories came in overtime against Miami (4-3, 3-2). In the other eight, CC was outscored 30-11.

Two of those losses came on February 11th and 12th at UND. Colorado College put up a good showing in Friday night’s 3-2 defeat, nearly overcoming a 3-0 first-period deficit and outshooting North Dakota 26-21 for the game. The Fighting Hawks turned the tables in Saturday’s 4-0 triumph, sweeping the regular season series between the two teams by a combined score of 16-5.

Prior to the last series in Grand Forks, North Dakota had only trailed for a total of eleven minutes and fifty seconds over the previous eight games.

Colorado College also traveled to Grand Forks to face UND in the first round of the playoffs in 2014, 2015, and 2016. As I’ve written about before, it is difficult to end a team’s season, and tight Saturday night elimination games are to be expected, even after relatively comfortable Friday night victories. In fact, UND’s 2016 sweep (7-1, 5-1) is one of only two playoff series in recent memory that did not feature at least one close contest.

Here are the results from the past four first-round playoff series between North Dakota and Colorado College:

2014: UND 4-2, CC 3-2 (OT), UND 4-3
2015: UND 5-1, UND 3-2
2016: UND 7-1, UND 5-1
2022: UND 2-1, UND 2-1

CC was also scheduled to face the Fighting Hawks in 2020 before the college hockey season was canceled due to COVID-19. And two seasons ago, the Tigers dressed just eleven forwards, five defensemen, and one goalie for their opening-round game against St. Cloud State at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Despite losing a blueliner to a major penalty in the second period, Colorado College took SCSU to the wire, surrendering the game-winning goal with less than four minutes remaining in the contest.

Ten 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 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 the CCHA reformed beginning with the 2021-2022 campaign.

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 475-240-82 (.647) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

And turning our attention to this season…

#2-ranked North Dakota has gone 20-6-2 against Army (one game), #4 Wisconsin (one game), #8 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #3 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth, Miami (four games), Bemidji State, #5 Denver (four games), #15 Colorado College, Alaska, #18 Omaha, and #16 St. Cloud State, with a record of 13-4-1 at home and 7-2-1 on the road. UND has not lost in regulation since November 3rd and has not lost a conference game in regulation all season.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system is identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks return 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Perron (24 with the Chicago Steel of the USHL), North Dakota should easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 28 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 98 goals and are on pace for 126 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (17), Berg (15), Gaber (14), McLaughlin (9), Johannes (9), and Perron (8). Those six forwards have combined for 28 goals over the past five weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes has been out of the lineup for the past five games (lower-body injury) and will also miss this weekend’s action; it is possible that Johannes will be in the lineup next weekend against Duluth.

Prior to UND’s last series against Miami, Fighting Hawks defensemen had only scored seven goals all season.

And then, Logan Britt happened. The grad transfer from Sacred Heart scored three goals on the weekend and was named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week. Freshman Jake Livanavage added his third goal of the season to bring the d-corps total to eleven. Livanavage was recently named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week (January 29th), the NCHC Rookie of the Month (January), and a candidate for the Tim Taylor Award (National Rookie of the Year).

The six regular blueliners for North Dakota (Pyke, Livanavage, Britt, Wiebe, Zmolek, and Pehrson) have now collected a total of 63 points (11 goals and 52 assists) in 159 games played (0.40 points/game). As mentioned above, the offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (two goals and thirteen assists in his last sixteen games).

By comparison, the six Tiger defensemen expected in the lineup this weekend have scored eleven goals and added 40 assists in 151 games played (0.34 points/game).

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Kris Mayotte’s squad has just four players who meet that threshold: sophomore forward Noah Laba (15-9-24), sophomore forward Gleb Veremyev (9-9-18), senior forward Logan Will (6-11-17), and sophomore forward Ryan Beck (3-12-15).

By that same measure, North Dakota has eight players at a half point or better, including three – sophomore forward Jackson Blake (17-22-39), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (9-20-29), and Cameron Berg (15-14-29) – averaging a point per game or better. Other offensive contributors include senior forward Riese Gaber (14-12-26), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15 in 23 games), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (6-9-15), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-19-22), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (3-15-18).

On the injury front, North Dakota graduate forward Hunter Johannes will miss this weekend’s series.

The Colorado College and North Dakota team rosters feature a family connection. Drew Montgomery (3-3-6 in 25 games) is a freshman forward for the Tigers, and he has played a number of different roles for CC this season. His brother Dane Montgomery is a junior forward for UND, and he has slowly worked his way into the lineup, appearing in nine of the past fourteen games while scoring a goal and adding an assist.

Offensively, UND far outpaces Colorado College. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 109 goals (3.89 goals per game, 7th in the country), while CC has managed just 78 (3.00, 28th).

The Fighting Hawks are 4th in the nation in shooting percentage at 12.6%. Colorado College clocks in at 10.1%, good for 31st in the country.

Even though both teams are scoring on a high percentage of their shots on goal, why is UND so much better offensively? Because North Dakota puts the puck on net. To this point in the season, the Green and White have 867 shots on goal. Colorado College? 776.

This averages out to nearly 31 shots on goal per game for UND (17th) and 29.8 shots on goal per game for CC (30th).

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 715 shots on goal this season in 28 games (25.5/game, 9th), while Colorado College has allowed 770 in 26 games (29.6, 31st).

These two teams are both in the top half of all teams in the nation in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 15th in Corsi (53.5%) and 9th in Fenwick (54.9%)
Colorado College: 23rd in Corsi (51.4%); 26th in Fenwick (51.0%)

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.

As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 16th-best team on draws (52.4%), while the Tigers clock in at #1 (55.2%).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 281 of 483 (58.2%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (177 of 307, 57.7%) has more than held his own, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (153 of 321, 47.7%) has struggled of late.

For the Tigers, senior Logan Will has been the best option (279 of 470, 59.4%). Kris Mayotte has also called on sophomore Noah Laba (244 of 422, 57.4%) and junior Stanley Cooley (214 of 413, 51.8%).

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had far the better of the specialty teams play. UND has been a combined plus-14, with 25 power play goals scored (25 of 97, 25.8%, 7th in the country) and thirteen power play goals allowed (63 of 76, 82.9%, 20th), with three shorthanded goals scored and one allowed.

The Tigers have posted a minus-9, with just twelve power play goals scored (12 of 104, 11.5%, 62nd), nineteen power play goals allowed (76 of 95, 80.0%, 38th), two shorthanded goals scored, and four allowed.

It is also worth noting that UND has earned 21 more power plays than penalty kill situations (97-76), while CC has had the advantage nine more times (104-95).

North Dakota is 7th in the country in scoring offense (3.89 goals scored/game) and an equally impressive 8th in the country in scoring defense (2.43 goals allowed/game).

Colorado College is 28th in the country in scoring offense (3.00 goals scored/game) but much better on the defensive side, allowing only 2.62 goals per game (15th).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 17-6-2 with a goals-against average of 2.38, a save percentage of .907, and three shutouts.

Persson was ill two months ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Persson returned to practice on a Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud last month and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917. Persson wasn’t tested much in UND’s home sweep of Denver; he allowed two goals each night while making 17 saves on Friday night and 22 saves in the rematch. In a road sweep at Miami, Persson stopped 60 of 65 shots (.923).

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 89 goals, a difference of 21 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

If Persson has solidified things on the back end for UND, Kaiden Mbereko has certainly done that for the Tigers. The sophomore netminder from West Bloomfield, Michigan has played 26 games for CC this season, posting a record of 16-9-1 with a goals-against average of 2.51 and a save percentage of .914. Mbereko is the lone Mike Richter Award finalist (the nation’s best men’s Division I goaltender) in the NCHC.

North Dakota currently finds itself in second place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 3), Wisconsin (PWR 4), Denver (PWR 7), and Minnesota (PWR 8) certainly helping the cause. With eight games remaining in the regular season, UND is already a lock for the national tournament.

At 17th in the Pairwise, Colorado College has some work to do to earn the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2011.

In the NCHC, Colorado College has finished 7th, 8th, 8th, 8th, 7th, 6th, 8th, 7th, 7th, and 7th for the worst average finish (7.3) among all eight league teams. North Dakota leads the conference with an average finish of 2.6 (2nd, 1st, 1st, 4th, 4th, 5th, 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 5th).

Colorado College Tigers

Head Coach: Kris Mayotte (3rd season at CC, 38-55-6, .414)

National Rankings: #15/#16
Pairwise Ranking: 17th
KRACH Rating: 254.2 (#16)

This Season: 16-9-1 overall, 5-4-5-2 NCHC (3rd)
Last Season: 13-22-3 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 6-13-2-3 NCHC (7th)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.00 goals scored/game – 28th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.62 goals allowed/game – 15th of 64 teams

Power Play: 11.5% (12 of 104) – 62nd of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 80.0% (76 of 95) – 38th of 64 teams

Key players: Sophomore F Gleb Veremyev (9-9-18), Sophomore F Noah Laba (15-9-24), Senior F Logan Will (6-11-17), Sophomore F Ryan Beck (3-12-15), Junior F Stanley Cooley (4-8-12), Senior D Jack Millar (3-7-10), Freshman D Max Burkholder (4-7-11), Senior D Nicklas Andrews (3-9-12), Sophomore G Kaidan Mbereko (16-9-1, 2.51 GAA, .914 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 200-98-33, .654)

National Rankings: #2/#2
Pairwise Ranking: 2nd
KRACH Rating: 669.0 (2nd)

This Season: 20-6-2 overall, 10-0-1-5 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.89 goals scored/game – 7th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.43 goals allowed/game – 8th of 64 teams

Power Play: 25.8% (25 of 97) – 7th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.9% (63 of 76) – 20th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (17-22-39), Senior F Riese Gaber (14-12-26), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (9-20-29), Junior F Cameron Berg (15-14-29), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (6-9-15), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-19-22), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (3-15-18), Senior G Ludvig Persson (17-6-2, 2.38 GAA, .907 SV%, 3 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: December 9, 2023 (Grand Forks, ND). For the second night in a row, the teams skated to a 2-2 regulation tie. And for the second night in a row, it was the Tigers scoring in the 3-on-3 session for the extra league point. On Friday night, UND outshot the Tigers 34-23 but were undone by sloppy specialty teams play. The Fighting Hawks went 0-for-1 on the power play and gave up a late second-period power play goal that tied the game at two goals apiece. North Dakota led 2-0 midway through the middle frame but could not extend or hold that lead. Saturday night was a more even affair, with the teams trading chances and putting an identical 24 shots on goal apiece. CC shined in the faceoff circle, however, winning 42 of 64 draws (65.6%).

Last Meeting in Colorado Springs: February 25, 2023. The two league rivals skated to a 0-0 tie, just the third scoreless game in UND hockey history. One night earlier, North Dakota freshman Jackson Blake netted both goals – including the overtime winner 29 seconds into the extra session – in a 2-1 Fighting Hawks victory. UND outshot CC 34-18 in Friday’s opener; Riese Gaber had two assists.

Most Important Meeting: March 27, 1997. UND defeated Colorado College, 6-2, in the Frozen Four Semifinals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Two nights later, North Dakota downed Boston University, 6-4, to claim its sixth NCAA Championship. North Dakota and Colorado College also met in the 2001 East Regional (Worcester, Mass.), with UND prevailing, 4-1.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 173-86-12 (.661), although the teams have played to an absolute draw in games played in the Springs (59-59-5). The teams first met in 1948; North Dakota’s 173 wins over the Tigers are the most against any single opponent in program history.

Last Ten: North Dakota has seven victories and a scoreless tie in the last ten meetings between the teams, outscoring CC 26-14 over that span. In those ten tilts, the Tigers have been shut out twice, scored a single goal four times, and managed two goals twice. Colorado College is 2-0-1 in the last three games, scoring three goals in each of the last two.

Game News and Notes

North Dakota head coach Brad Berry is 24-6-2 (.781) in his head coaching career against Colorado College. CC has won two national titles (1950, 1957). Since 1957, the Tigers have appeared in the NCAA tournament thirteen times (most recently in 2011) and advanced to three Frozen Fours (1996, 1997, 2005). Head coaches Scott Owens (1999-2014) and Don Lucia (1993-1999) combined to lead CC to six regular-season titles, twelve NCAA tournament appearances, three Frozen Fours, and one national championship game appearance (1996). As a team, North Dakota has blocked 367 shots this season (13.1 blocks/game), led by Bennett Zmolek (61), Garrett Pyke (42), and Abram Wiebe (40). Only seven UND players expected to be in the lineup this weekend have scored goals in their careers against Colorado College. North Dakota netminder Ludvig Perrson has never beaten the Tigers (0-4-2 with Miami and 0-2-0 with UND). Colorado College is 7-3-1 when leading or tied after one period of play but 0-3-0 when trailing. The Tigers have scored a total of three goals in their last four games combined (0-3-1). UND’s 173 wins over CC are the most over a single opponent in the history of the program.

The Prediction

Everything points to two close, low-scoring games, although I have a feeling that UND could break one open with some power play success. CC netminder Kaidan Mbereko has given up more than two goals just once in his last seven starts, but North Dakota has scored three or more goals in all ten games in 2024, averaging 4.5 goals per game in the new year. I’ve got the Fighting Hawks in the opener, with an overtime tilt on Saturday night. UND 4-2, CC 2-1 (OT).

Broadcast Information

Game times are set for 8:07 p.m. Central Time on Friday and 7:07 p.m. Central Time on Saturday.

Friday’s opener will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network. Both games will be available via webcast at NCHC.tv. 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!

#2 North Dakota (18-6-2, 9-0-0-5 NCHC) travels to Oxford, Ohio this weekend to face Miami (7-15-2, 1-11-0-2 NCHC) in league action at Goggin Ice Center.

Several impressive non-conference victories and last weekend’s home sweep over #5 Denver (5-2, 4-2) have vaulted UND near the top of the national rankings…

North Dakota blanked #4 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #9 Minnesota, at #3 Boston University) with wins the following night.

Remarkably, when North Dakota traveled to face to RedHawks back in January of 2023, the two teams were both at the bottom of the league standings. This time around, the Fighting Hawks have their sights set squarely on another Penrose Cup. UND leads St. Cloud State by four points and Denver by nine points with ten league games remaining. After this weekend, Brad Berry’s squad will play the following schedule down the stretch:

February 9th and 10th: No games scheduled
February 16th and 17th: at #14 Colorado College
February 23rd and 24th: vs. Minnesota Duluth
March 1st and 2nd: vs. #15 Western Michigan
March 8th and 9th: at #20 Omaha

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s fifth-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the RedHawks’ schedule weighs in as the 29th-most difficult.

Before we dig into this weekend’s matchup, let’s take a quick look back at the past few games between the two teams…

Back in November, UND hosted Miami and throttled the visitors by scores of 6-4 and 5-1. On Friday night, the Fighting Hawks outshot their red counterparts 42-13 and allowed two late goals to make the final result appear closer than it actually was. MU played a better overall game on Saturday and matched North Dakota in the shot department (22 apiece), but four first-period goals were too much for Miami to overcome.

Last season’s trip to Oxford (January 2023) saw North Dakota blitz the homestanding RedHawks 4-1 and 8-0. UND went 4-for-8 with the man advantage on Saturday night and also scored a shorthanded goal.

Back in November of 2022, the Fighting Hawks won Friday’s home opener vs. Miami in runaway fashion, boatracing the RedHawks by building a 5-0 lead over the first 31 minutes of the hockey game. In Saturdays’ rematch, UND spotted the visitors a 3-0 lead before making a late push, outshooting MU 27-6 over the final two periods but falling just short in a 4-3 loss. That RedHawks victory was the only blemish in North Dakota’s 9-1 head-to-head mark over the past ten games.

The Fighting Hawks traveled to Oxford, Ohio in November 2021 and earned a road sweep with 4-1 and 5-4 victories. UND outshot Miami 68-31 in the two-game series.

Almost one year earlier (December 2nd, 2020), the two teams met in Omaha in the first pod game for either side. North Dakota blanked Miami 2-0 and put 39 shots on goal.

And in the rematch on December 20th – the final game of the Omaha pod – the RedHawks managed to score twice but allowed six North Dakota goals on 39 shots.

Miami put a total of 42 shots on frame over the course of those six periods of hockey.

After those two December tilts, the teams were not scheduled to face each other in the second half of the 2021-2022 season. As fate would have it, however, top-seeded UND (18-5-1) drew last-place Miami (5-17-2) in the first round of the modified NCHC Frozen Faceoff. There was little drama in the contest, as the Fighting Hawks scored three goals in the first six minutes of the hockey game and cruised to a 6-2 victory, outshooting MU 46-28.

In the past eleven games, North Dakota has outscored Miami 56-20 (5.1 – 1.8 per contest) while holding a 385-222 advantage in shots on goal (35.0 – 20.2).

Over the past three seasons, the RedHawks relied on goaltender Ludvig Persson to keep games close, as Miami only averaged 2.22 goals per game. Unfortunately, MU allowed 3.91 goals per game over those three campaigns and only won twenty total games (20-69-8, .247).

And now Ludvig Persson is wearing the green and white of North Dakota (more on that below).

Ten 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 Central Collegiate Hockey Association (Miami and Western Michigan) 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 the CCHA reformed beginning with the 2021-2022 campaign.

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 434-223-72 (.645) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that seven-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

Over the first ten seasons of the NCHC, Miami has averaged slightly better than a seventh-place finish among the eight conference teams (8th, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 7th, 8th, 8th, and 8th), with a combined league record of 62-149-29 (.319).

By comparison, North Dakota has finished 2nd, 1st, 1st, 4th, 4th, 5th, 1st, 1st, 1st, and 5th for an average finish just under second place and a combined league record of 140-77-23 (.631). No other league member has collected as many conference wins as UND.

When the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was formed, Miami appeared positioned to be a dominant program. Prior to the 2013-14 season (their inaugural campaign in the NCHC), the RedHawks had made eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, with consecutive Frozen Four bids in 2009 (2nd) and 2010 (3rd). Since joining the NCHC, Miami has just one NCAA tournament appearance (2015), and that ended quickly with a first-round loss to eventual national champion Providence.

Long-tenured head coach Enrico Blasi was fired after posting a fourth consecutive losing season in 2018-2019. Over that stretch of time, the RedHawks were 47-81-19 (.384). There is reason for optimism in Oxford, however, with new bench boss Chris Bergeron taking over the program after leading Bowling Green to six consecutive winning seasons, five consecutive years with twenty or more victories, and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018-2019.

And turning our attention to this season…

#2-ranked North Dakota has gone 18-6-2 against Army (one game), #4 Wisconsin (one game), #9 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #3 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth, Miami, Bemidji State, #5 Denver (four games), #14 Colorado College, Alaska, Omaha, and #16 St. Cloud State, with a record of 13-4-1 at home and 5-2-1 on the road. UND has not lost in regulation since November 3rd and has not lost a conference game in regulation all season.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system is identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks returned 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Chicago Steel (USHL) teammates Emerson (30) and Perron (24), North Dakota should easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 26 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 93 goals and are on pace for 129 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (16), Berg (14), Gaber (13), McLaughlin (9), Johannes (9), and Perron (8). Those six forwards combined for 25 goals over the past four weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes has been out of the lineup for the past three games (lower-body injury) and will also miss this weekend’s action.

Perhaps alarmingly, Fighting Hawks defensemen have only scored seven goals this season (Pyke 3, Britt 2, Livanavage 2) to go along with their 51 combined assists in 161 games played (0.36 points/game). The offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (one goal and thirteen assists in his last fourteen games). Livanavage was recently named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week, the NCHC Rookie of the Month, and a candidate for the Tim Taylor Award (National Rookie of the Year).

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Chris Bergeron’s squad has just four lineup regulars who meet that threshold: senior forward Matthew Barbolini (9-12-21), sophomore forward John Waldron (6-9-15), senior forward PJ Fletcher (11-10-21), and junior forward Raimonds Vitolins (4-8-12 in 18 games).

Barbolini is expected to be out of the lineup on Friday night, while Vitolins is questionable.

By that same measure, North Dakota has eight players at a half point or better, including three – sophomore forward Jackson Blake (16-18-34), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (9-19-28), and Cameron Berg (14-12-26) – averaging a point per game or better. Other offensive contributors include senior forward Riese Gaber (13-10-23), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (6-8-14), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-19-22), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (2-15-17).

On the injury front, North Dakota graduate forwards Hunter Johannes and Carson Albrecht will miss this weekend’s series.

UND is 4th in the nation in shooting percentage at 12.5% (100 goals on 801 shots); by comparison, Miami sits in 52nd place at 8.5% (57 goals on 668 shots). To this point in the season, UND clearly has an advantage in shots on goal (30.8 to 27.8), and the Fighting Hawks only allow 25.0 shots on goal per game (MU allows 30.7).

UND also leads Miami in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 14th in Corsi (53.4%) and 9th in Fenwick (55.0%)
Miami: 42nd in Corsi (48.7%) and 46th in Fenwick (48.0%)

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.

As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 15th-best team on draws (52.7%), while the RedHawks clock in at just 46.0% (55th).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 264 of 449 (58.8%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (165 of 289, 57.1%) has been improving, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (143 of 295, 48.5) has struggled of late.

For Miami, there hasn’t really been a good option, although sophomore Blake Mesenburg has stepped in admirably, winning 50.0% (146 of 292). Junior Raimonds Vitolins (149 of 318, 46.9%) has done a fair job when he’s been in the lineup, and sophomore William Hallen (142 of 306, 46.4%) has been coming on lately.

To be fair, Miami lost their projected top center, Albin Nilsson, to a longterm injury before the season even started. Nilsson scored 18 goals and added 27 assists over the past two seasons (72 games) with Niagara.

Vitolins, who had slotted in on the top line, has also missed games due to injury this season; he is questionable for Friday’s opener.

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had far the better of the specialty teams play. UND has been a combined plus-15, with 24 power play goals scored (24 of 89, 27.0%, 5th in the country) and only twelve power play goals allowed (57 of 69, 82.6%, 22nd), with three shorthanded goals scored and none allowed.

Miami has posted a minus-6, with only ELEVEN power play goals scored (11 of 88, 12.5%, 60th), sixteen power play goals allowed (67 of 83, 80.7%, 34th), one shorthanded goals scored, and two allowed.

It is also worth noting that UND has earned twenty more power plays than penalty kill situations (89-69), while Miami has had five extra power plays this season (88-83).

North Dakota’s power play has been on fire since Christmas, scoring eleven times on 23 man-advantage opportunities (47.8%).

North Dakota is 6th in the country in scoring offense (3.85 goals scored/game) and 10th in the country in scoring defense (2.42 goals allowed/game). Miami is 55th in the country in scoring offense (2.38 goals scored/game) and slightly better on the defensive side, allowing 3.33 goals/game (49th).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 15-6-2 with a goals-against average of 2.37, a save percentage of .905, and three shutouts.

Persson was ill a month ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Three weeks ago, Persson returned to practice on Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud two weeks, and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917. Persson wasn’t tested much last weekend in UND’s home sweep of Denver; he allowed two goals each night while making 17 saves on Friday night and 22 saves in the rematch.

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 91 goals, a difference of 19 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

Miami had been relying on graduate goaltender Logan Neaton (6-10-2, 3.06 GAA, .901 SV%, 1 SO) this season, but he has been out of the lineup since January 13th due to injury and isn’t expected to start this weekend. Neaton is the lone NHL draft pick on the RedHawks roster (Winnipeg Jets Round 5 #144 overall in 2019). Neaton transferred from UMass-Lowell in the fall of 2021 and appeared in sixteen games over the past two seasons with Miami.

In his place, Chris Bergeron will turn to freshman netminder Bruno Bruveris (stats), who has started the last four games in net, going 0-4-0 at Colorado College and Minnesota Duluth while allowing 15 goals (3.86 GAA) and stopping 97 of 112 shots (.866 SV%).

North Dakota currently finds itself in 2nd place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 3), Wisconsin (PWR 4), Denver (PWR 6), and Minnesota (PWR 9) certainly helping the cause. After this weekend, UND will face Minnesota Duluth (PWR 26) and Western Michigan (PWR 14) at home and travel to Colorado College (PWR 18) and Omaha (PWR 19) to close out the regular season. With a top-four finish in the NCHC, UND should be a lock for the national tournament.

At #43 in the Pairwise, Miami will need to get on a run quickly or win the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff to earn the program’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2015.

Miami Team Profile

Head Coach: Chris Bergeron (5th season at Miami, 35-105-15, .274)

National Rankings: NR/NR
Pairwise Ranking: 43rd
KRACH Rating: 61.1 (42nd)

This Season: 7-15-2 overall, 1-11-0-2 NCHC (8th)
Last Season: 8-24-4 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 3-16-0-5 NCHC (8th)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 2.38 goals scored/game – 55th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 3.33 goals allowed/game – 49th of 64 teams

Power Play: 12.5% (11 of 88) – 60th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 80.7% (67 of 83) – 34th of 64 teams

Key players: Senior F PJ Fletcher (11-10-21), Sophomore F John Waldron (6-9-15), F William Hallen (3-7-10), Junior F Raimonds Vitolins (3-3-6 in 7 games), Graduate D Jack Clement (1-7-8), Senior D Hampus Rydqvist (1-7-8), Freshman G Bruno Bruveris (1-5-0, 3.48 GAA, .877 SV%, 1 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 198-98-33, .652)

National Rankings: #2/#2
Pairwise Ranking: 2nd
KRACH Rating: 679.1 (2nd)

This Season: 18-6-2 overall, 9-0-0-5 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th of 8 teams)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.85 goals scored/game – 6th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.42 goals allowed/game – 10th of 64 teams

Power Play: 27.0% (24 of 89) – 5th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.6% (57 of 69) – 22nd of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (16-18-34), Senior F Riese Gaber (13-10-23), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (9-19-28), Junior F Cameron Berg (14-12-26), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (6-8-14), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-19-22), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (2-15-17), Senior G Ludvig Persson (15-6-2, 2.37 GAA, .905 SV%, 3 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: November 18, 2023 (Grand Forks, ND). Miami matched North Dakota in the shot department (22 apiece), but four first-period goals were too much for Miami to overcome in a 5-1 victory for UND. One night earlier, the Fighting Hawks outshot their red counterparts 42-13 in a 6-4 win. Two late MU goals made the final result appear closer than it actually was.

Last Meeting in Oxford: January 28, 2023. One night after notching four goals in a 4-1 road victory, UND doubled down, blanking the homestanding RedHawks 8-0 behind a hat trick from Riese Gaber, who also had two assists in the series. North Dakota netminder Drew DeRidder had his finest weekend of the season, stopping 50 of 51 shots in the two-game sweep.

Most Important Meeting: March 6, 2015 (Oxford, OH). North Dakota claimed the Penrose Cup with a 2-1 road victory over Miami. UND fell flat the following night, losing 6-3 in the final game of the regular season.

Last Ten: UND has picked up nine wins (9-1–0, .900) in the past ten contests between the teams, outscoring Miami 54-20 over that stretch of games.

All-time Series: North Dakota leads the all-time series 27-8-4 (.744), including a sparkling 10-4-2 (.688) record in games played in Oxford. Brad Berry is 20-4-3 (.796) in his coaching career against Miami. The teams first played in 1999 (Badger Showdown, Milwaukee, WI).

Game News and Notes

In eleven career games against Miami, junior forward Riese Gaber has scored twelve goals and added seven assists. MU has not made the national tournament since 2015, their second season in the NCHC. As a team, North Dakota has blocked 344 shots this season, led by Bennett Zmolek (55), Garrett Pyke (38), and Abram Wiebe (37). Miami head coach Chris Bergeron has lost more games in his five seasons at Miami (35-105-15, .274) than North Dakota bench boss Brad Berry has in his nine seasons at UND (198-98-33, .652). With two more victories, Berry would reach the 200-win plateau, a mark achieved by fewer than 100 coaches in NCAA Division I men’s college hockey history. North Dakota boasts three Hobey Baker nominees – Jackson Blake, Riese Gaber, and Ludvig Persson; Miami has one – Matthew Barbolini. MU has been outscored 29-12 in second periods this season. Green Hawks are preferable to RedHawks.

The Prediction

Miami is playing at home (and that will help somewhat), but the Fighting Hawks are deeper, more talented, and have better goaltending. The only worry is a letdown after so many high-intensity games in a row (Omaha, St. Cloud State, and Denver). If North Dakota can play to its identity from the drop of the puck each night, it won’t be pretty for the RedHawks. I expect a closer contest on Saturday night, but this one is a sweep. UND 4-2, 5-1.

Broadcast Information

Both games will be available via webcastat NCHC.tv. Puck drop is set for 6:07 p.m. Central Time each 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.

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!

#5 North Dakota (16-6-2, 7-0-0-5 NCHC) hosts the #4-ranked Denver Pioneers (17-5-2, 6-3-2-1 NCHC) this weekend in a pivotal battle of perennial powers.

Both teams have impressive non-conference victories that have vaulted them to the top of the national rankings…

North Dakota blanked #3 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

One week later, Denver won 4-3 at #2 Boston College.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #9 Minnesota, at #1 Boston University) with wins the following night.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s third-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Pioneers’ schedule weighs in as the seventh-most difficult.

Before we dig into this weekend’s matchup, let’s take a quick look back at the past few games between the two teams…

On December 1st and 2nd, 2023, North Dakota traveled to Denver for a pair of NCHC contests. In Friday’s opener, UND’s Dylan James got the visitors on the board less than two minutes into the action. The Pioneers would storm back with four first-period goals of their own, and it looked like the rout was on. The Fighting Hawks pulled within one in the middle frame, but a late DU goal from Tristan Broz had the Pios up by two with just twenty minutes remaining. The third period was all Green and White, as Jackson Blake, Louis Jamernik V, Riese Gaber, and Cameron Berg all potted goals en route to a 7-5 North Dakota victory.

In Saturday’s finale, UND never trailed in regulation but also never extended a lead past a single goal. DU tied things up at two goals apiece with nine minutes remaining and scored the game-winner during 3-on-3 action to take the extra league point.

Given how things started out on Friday night, grabbing four out of six points in the conference standings was a good result for the Fighting Hawks.

UND looked overmatched against the visiting Pios back in November 2022, as David Carle’s squad managed a 3-2, 6-3 road sweep over a Fighting Hawks team that had taken five of six points at Omaha the week before. Friday’s opener ended up as a one-goal DU victory, but that was only because North Dakota held the Pioneers scoreless on six man-advantage opportunities.

And in the rematch at altitude in February 2023, it was more of the same. Denver scored five goals each night and held the Fighting Hawks to five total goals on the weekend in securing the rare four-game season sweep. In Friday’s opener, UND played well enough to win but were undone by poor goaltending, as Drew DeRidder allowed four goals on the eleven shots he faced before giving way to Jacob Hellsten just five minutes into the second period. The last two goals that DeRidder allowed came just fourteen seconds apart.

In the 2021 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals (held at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks), North Dakota needed overtime to outlast a gutsy performance by a Pios squad that had been decimated by COVID-19. DU dressed only nine forwards for the contest but led 1-0 with under 90 seconds remaining. With the goalie pulled, the Fighting Hawks’ Shane Pinto blasted a shot on net that hit Jasper Weatherby on the way in to send the game to overtime. It took over eight minutes of extra time before Gavin Hain sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a blast of his own that advanced the Green and White into the championship game; Denver had just killed Antti Tuomisto’s boarding minor but could not clear the zone. UND outshot the weary Pioneers 20-4 in the third period and overtime.

With the playoff victory, North Dakota moved to 20-5-1 on the season; David Carle’s squad saw its season end at 10-13-1, the first time DU failed to advance to the NCAA tournament since 2007. The 2020-2021 season was the first losing campaign for DU since the 1999-2000 team went 16-23-2. UND won five of the seven meetings between the teams three years ago, outscoring the Pios 22-14. North Dakota allowed ten goals in the first three meetings with a record of 1-2; since their loss in game one at Denver on January 17th, the Fighting Hawks notched four consecutive victories over DU (15 goals for, 4 goals against). That mid-January defeat was definitely a wakeup call for Brady Berry’s squad; from that point until the end of the season, the Green and White went 13-3, outscoring opponents 69-28.

Denver definitely rebounded two seasons ago, going 31-9-1 and defeating Minnesota State 5-1 for the program’s ninth national title. That championship game was tied 1-1 until the 7:33 mark of the third period. The Pios would add two empty-net goals for the misleading final score.

Since Denver ended North Dakota’s season in 2019, UND has gone 11-7-1 against the Pios.

In the NCHC, it is clear that Denver/North Dakota is at the top of the league rivalries, with the two programs combining for eight NCHC regular season titles and averaging a top-three finish in the league standings each year (UND 2.5, DU 2.9).

The teams have played 47 times during the first ten seasons of the new conference (with the series deadlocked at 20-20-7), but the feud goes all the way back to Geoff Paukovitch’ illegal check on Sioux forward Robbie Bina during the 2005 WCHA Final Five.

Since that 2005 Final Five contest (a Denver victory), the two teams have met thirteen times in tournament play. Denver won the 2005 NCAA title with a victory over North Dakota and claimed a 2008 WCHA Final Five win as well. UND has earned six victories and a tie in the last ten playoff games between the schools, including three consecutive victories in the WCHA Final Five (2010-2012), the 2011 NCAA Midwest Regional final which sent the Fighting Sioux to the Frozen Four, 2016’s thrilling Frozen Four semifinal (a 4-2 UND victory) in Tampa, Florida, and the 2017 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Denver turned the tables by dispatching North Dakota in the first round of the league playoffs at Magness Arena to end the Fighting Hawks’ 2018-2019 campaign.

(It is impossible to bring up the Paukovitch/Bina incident without also writing that Brad Malone‘s check on Denver’s Jesse Martin during an October 2010 contest at Ralph Engelstad Arena fractured three of Martin’s vertebrae and ended the hockey career of the Atlanta Thrashers’ draft pick.)

The rivalry intensified three seasons ago, with the teams combining for 187 penalty minutes in six regular season games (the NCHC semifinal game featured just four minor penalties). The last contest between the squads in Denver saw a DU goaltender run over with nine minutes remaining, which ignited tempers further. That spilled over to the series in Grand Forks in February, with the Pioneers “winning” the penalty minute battle 54-29. North Dakota won the specialty teams battle, scoring two goals on ten man-advantage opportunities and blanking DU on its ten power play chances.

In Saturday’s series finale, North Dakota led on the scoreboard 5-2 thanks to two goals by Jasper Weatherby and 18 saves from Peter Thome, who started in place of injured netminder Adam Scheel. And how was Scheel injured, you might ask? Denver’s Kohen Olischefski ran Scheel from behind late in Friday’s 3-0 UND victory. Olischefski was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for goaltender interference and was issued an additional one-game suspension by the league office.

And in the only series played between the teams two years ago, the two sides combined for 78 penalty minutes and ten power play opportunities. UND swept the series 3-1 and 4-1, thanks in no small part to a 1-for-5 effort on the power play and a perfect penalty kill.

Ten 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 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 the CCHA reformed beginning with the 2021-2022 campaign.

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 473-239-81 (.648) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

#5-ranked North Dakota has gone 16-6-2 against Army, #3 Wisconsin, #9 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #1 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth, Miami, Bemidji State, #4 Denver, #16 Colorado College, Alaska, Omaha, and #15 St. Cloud State, with a record of 11-4-1 at home and 5-2-1 on the road.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system is identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks returned 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Chicago Steel (USHL) teammates Emerson (30) and Perron (24), North Dakota should easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 24 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 84 goals and are on pace for 126 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (15), Gaber (12), Berg (12), Johannes (9), McLaughlin (8), and Perron (8). Those six forwards combined for twenty goals over the past three weekends of game action.

Hunter Johannes will miss this weekend’s games with a lower-body injury.

Perhaps alarmingly, Fighting Hawks defensemen have only scored seven goals this season (Pyke 3, Britt 2, Livanavage 2) to go along with their 44 combined assists in 148 games played (0.30 points/game). The offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (one goal and ten assists in his last twelve games).

By comparison, Pioneer blueliners have a combined line of 21-88-109 in 159 games played (0.69 points/game), led by two freshman – Zeev Buium (6-26-32) and Boston Buckberger (4-13-17) – and two juniors – Sean Behrens (2-18-20) and Shai Buium (5-15-20).

That production from the back end has helped Denver score more goals than any other team in the country (126). North Dakota is fifth nationally in goal-scoring with 91.

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and David Carle’s squad has an astounding TWELVE players who meet that threshold. Incredibly, four of those are averaging over a point per game. The offensive leaders for Denver include junior forward Massimo Rizzo (10-32-42), junior forward Jack Devine (21-18-39), junior forward Carter King (14-17-31), senior forward McKade Webster (8-15-23), junior forward Tristan Broz (9-12-21), sophomore forward Rieger Lorenz (8-8-16), sophomore forward Aidan Thompson (6-12-18), freshman forward Miko Matikka (14-6-20), freshman defenseman Zeev Buium (6-26-32), junior defenseman Sean Behrens (2-18-20), freshman defenseman Boston Buckberger (4-13-17), and junior defenseman Shai Buium (5-15-20).

By that same measure, North Dakota has nine lineup regulars at a half point or better: sophomore forward Jackson Blake (15-15-30), senior forward Riese Gaber (12-10-22), sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (8-17-25), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15), junior forward Cameron Berg (12-11-23), freshman forward Jayden Perron (8-4-12), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (6-7-13), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (3-18-21), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (2-12-14).

On the injury front, North Dakota graduate forward Hunter Johannes will miss this weekend’s series with a lower-body injury. Denver freshman defenseman Garrett Brown had surgery back in November to repair a lower-body injury and will miss the rest of the season.

DU has not had an issue scoring goals, but they have had some trouble keeping the puck out of their own net. Junior Matt Davis (8-1-2, 2.63 GAA, .897 SV%) and freshman Freddie Halyk (8-4-0, 2.91 GAA, .883 SV%, 3 SO) have seen the most time between the pipes with Halyk starting twelve games over the first three months of the season while Davis was recovering from injury. Matt Carle did choose to add goalie Paxton Geisel from the Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) during the first half of the season in order to bolster their netminding crew.

Denver leads the nation in shooting percentage at 16.1%. Put another way, goaltenders opposing the Pioneers have a combined save percentage of just .839. North Dakota clocks in at 12.3%, good for fifth in the country.

DU slightly outpaces UND in shots on goal, with a 784-739 (32.7/game – 30.8/game) advantage through 24 games. Denver’s shot output ranks 14th; UND’s is 24th.

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 607 shots on goal this season (25.3/game, 8th), while Denver has allowed 620 (25.8, 10th).

These two teams are both in the top quarter of all teams in the nation in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 15th in Corsi (53.3%) and 11th in Fenwick (54.8%)
Denver: 8th in Corsi (55.1%); 12th in Fenwick (54.7%)

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. It makes sense that UND has a stronger showing in Fenwick, as more of their shot attempts and offense come from their forwards, and those shots are less likely to be blocked.

As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 18th-best team on draws (51.9%), while the Pioneers clock in at just 50.6% (30th).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 242 of 414 (58.5%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (153 of 272, 56.3%) has been improving, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (130 of 273, 47.6) has struggled of late.

For Denver, it’s been junior Carter King (235 of 448, 52.5%) taking the majority of draws, with sophomore Aidan Thompson (189 of 371, 50.9%), freshman Kieran Cebrian (132 of 224, 58.9%), and junior Massimo Rizzo (161 of 361, 44.6%) contributing as well.

To this point in the season, Denver has had the better of the specialty teams play. DU has been a combined plus-18, with thirty power play goals scored (30 of 115, 26.1%, 7th in the country) and nineteen power play goals allowed (70 of 89, 78.7%, 42nd), with SEVEN shorthanded goals scored and none allowed.

The Fighting Hawks have posted a plus-11, with twenty power play goals scored (20 of 83, 24.1%, 14th), just twelve power play goals allowed (53 of 65, 81.5%, 29th), three shorthanded goals scored, and none allowed.

It is also worth noting that UND has earned 18 more power plays than penalty kill situations (83-65), while DU has had the advantage 26 more times (115-89).

In the December series in Denver, UND went 3-for-9 (33.3%) with the man advantage and held DU scoreless on five power play chances. Since that series, North Dakota has gone 8-for-19 (42.1%) on the power play.

Denver is 1st in the country in scoring offense (5.25 goals scored/game) but just 31st in the country in scoring defense (2.96 goals allowed/game).

North Dakota is 9th in the country in scoring offense (3.79 goals scored/game) and an equally impressive 12th in the country in scoring defense (2.46 goals allowed/game).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. The transfer from Miami has played all but three games between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 13-6-2 with a goals-against average of 2.40, a save percentage of .905, and three shutouts.

Persson was ill three weekends ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Two weeks ago, Persson returned to practice on Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. Persson started both games in St. Cloud last weekend, and he shined, stopping 66 of 72 shots which came his way for a combined save percentage of .917.

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 91 goals, a difference of 19 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

North Dakota currently finds itself in 3rd place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 1), Wisconsin (PWR 4), Denver (PWR 6), and Minnesota (PWR 9) certainly helping the cause. After this weekend, UND will face Minnesota Duluth (PWR 25) and Western Michigan (PWR 10) at home and travel to Miami (PWR 44), Colorado College (PWR 18), and Omaha (PWR 20) to close out the regular season. With a top-four finish in the NCHC, UND should be a lock for the national tournament.

At #6 in the Pairwise, Denver also appears to be headed toward another NCAA tournament berth.

Denver Team Profile

Head Coach: David Carle (6th season at DU, 133-58-15, .682)

National Rankings: #4/#4
Pairwise Ranking: 6th
KRACH Rating: 523.1 (7th)

This Season: 17-5-2 overall, 6-3-2-1 NCHC (3rd)
Last Season: 30-10-0 overall (NCAA East Regional Semifinalist), 17-4-2-1 NCHC (1st)

2023-2024 Team Statistics:

Team Offense: 5.25 goals scored/game – 1st of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.96 goals allowed/game – 31st of 64 teams

Power Play: 26.1% (30 of 115) – 7th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 78.7% (70 of 89) – 42nd of 64 teams

Key players: Junior F Massimo Rizzo (10-32-42), Junior F Jack Devine (21-18-39), Junior F Carter King (14-17-31), Senior F McKade Webster (8-15-23), Junior F Tristan Broz (9-12-21), Sophomore F Rieger Lorenz (8-8-16), Freshman D Zeev Buium (6-26-32), Junior D Sean Behrens (2-18-20), Freshman D Boston Buckberger (4-13-17), Junior G Matt Davis (8-1-2, 2.63 GAA, .897 SV%)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 196-98-33, .650)

National Rankings: #5/#5
Pairwise Ranking: 3rd
KRACH Rating: 586.7 (4th)

This Season: 16-6-2 overall, 7-0-0-5 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.79 goals scored/game – 9th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.46 goals allowed/game – 12th of 64 teams

Power Play: 24.1% (20 of 83) – 14th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 81.5% (53 of 65) – 29th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (15-15-30), Senior F Riese Gaber (12-10-22), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (8-17-25), Junior F Cameron Berg (12-11-23), Freshman F Jayden Perron (8-4-12), Senior F Louis Jamernik V (6-7-13), Senior D Garrett Pyke (3-18-21), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (2-12-14), Graduate D Logan Britt (2-5-7), Senior G Ludvig Persson (13-6-2, 2.40 GAA, .905 SV%, 3 SO)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: December 2, 2023 (Denver, Colorado). UND never trailed in regulation but also never extended a lead past a single goal. DU tied things up at two goals apiece with nine minutes remaining and scored the game-winner during 3-on-3 action to take the extra league point. One night earlier, UND’s Dylan James got the visitors on the board less than two minutes into the action. The Pioneers would storm back with four first-period goals of their own, and it looked like the rout was on. The Fighting Hawks pulled within one in the middle frame, but a late DU goal from Tristan Broz had the Pios up by two with just twenty minutes remaining. The third period was all Green and White, as Jackson Blake, Louis Jamernik V, Riese Gaber, and Cameron Berg all potted goals en route to a 7-5 North Dakota victory.

Last Meeting in Grand Forks: November 12, 2022. The visiting Pioneers outshot UND 33-24 and went 2-for-3 with the man advantage in a 6-3 victory, completing the rare road sweep. One night earlier, North Dakota lost 3-2 despite enjoying a 23-19 shot advantage and holding DU scoreless on six power play opportunities. Later on in the season, Denver would sweep the Fighting Hawks on home ice, securing the rare four-game series sweep between these two storied programs.

A Recent Memory: April 7, 2016 (Tampa, Florida). In the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four, the two league rivals squared off in a tightly-contested matchup. Senior forward Drake Caggiula scored twice early in the middle frame to stake UND to a 2-0 lead, but the Pioneers battled back with a pair of third-period goals. The CBS line came through when it mattered most, with Nick Schmaltz scoring the game winner off of a faceoff win with 57 seconds remaining in the hockey game. North Dakota blocked 27 Denver shot attempts and goaltender Cam Johnson made 21 saves for the Fighting Hawks, who won the program’s eighth national title on the same sheet of ice two nights later.

Most Important Meeting: It’s hard to pick just one game, as the two teams have played four times for the national title. Denver defeated UND for the national championship in 1958, 1968, and 2005, while the Sioux downed the Pioneers in 1963. But the game that stands out in recent memory as “the one that got away” was DU’s 1-0 victory over the Fighting Sioux in the 2004 NCAA West Regional final (Colorado Springs, CO). That North Dakota team went 30-8-4 on the season (Dean Blais’ last behind the UND bench) and featured one of the deepest rosters in the past twenty years: Brandon Bochenski, Zach Parise, Brady Murray, Colby Genoway, Drew Stafford and David Lundbohm up front; Nick Fuher, Matt Jones, Matt Greene, and Ryan Hale on defense; and a couple of goaltending stalwarts in Jordan Parise and Jake Brandt.

Last Ten Games: The two teams have each won five of the last ten games, with UND holding a 33-32 edge in goals scored over that stretch. The four most recent games in this series were played in Denver. The Pioneers have won five of the past six contests.

All-time Series: UND leads the all-time series, 157-135-16 (.536), including a strong 92-46-10 (.655) record in games played in Grand Forks. The teams first met in 1950, with North Dakota prevailing 18-3 in Denver. The 308 games played between the schools is the most among all of UND’s opponents.

Game News and Notes

Since Denver ended North Dakota’s season in 2019, UND has gone 11-7-1 against the Pios. UND netminder Ludvig Persson faced DU twelve times as a member of the Miami RedHawks, with dreadful numbers (1-11-0, 4.69 GAA, .879 SV%). Twelve of Denver head coach David Carle’s 58 head coaching losses have come against UND. As a team, North Dakota has blocked an astounding 317 shots this season (13.2 per game), led by Bennett Zmolek (50), Abram Wiebe (36), and Garrett Pyke (35). Two seasons ago, the Fighting Hawks won the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular season champions for the fifth time in the ten-year history of the league; the Pioneers have captured the Penrose only three times (2016-2017 and back-to-back in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023). Since seven of Michigan’s nine titles were earned by 1964, I consider Denver (nine titles) and North Dakota (eight titles) to be the top two men’s college hockey programs of all time.

The Prediction

For the first time in forever, Magnus Chrona is not between the pipes for the Pios, and that bodes well for the home team. DU’s defensemen are active and offensive-minded, so the recipe for success is to make them work in their own end by getting pucks in and forcing them to defend and work hard to break out pucks. The Pioneers have not lost since December 8th, while the Fighting Hawks have not lost in regulation since November 3rd. The North Dakota fans and the Denver fan should enjoy two entertaining contests this weekend. DU 5-3, UND 4-3.

Broadcast Information

Friday’s opener (7:36 p.m. Central Time) will be broadcast exclusively on CBS Sports Network, with Saturday’s rematch (6:07 p.m. Central Time) available on Midco Sports Network and also available via webcast at NCHC.tv. 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!

#6 North Dakota (15-6-1 overall, 6-0-0-4 NCHC) travels to St. Cloud this weekend to face the #13 Huskies (11-6-3 overall, 7-1-1-1 NCHC) in a battle for first place in the NCHC.

UND trails SCSU by just two points in the league standings, with six conference points up for grabs in this series, the only two games scheduled between the programs this season.

Last year, 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.

The Fighting Hawks have clearly struggled lately against the Huskies, winning just once in the past six games.

This season, both teams are in great shape for home ice in the first round of the playoffs, although St. Cloud State – currently sitting in 12th place in the Pairwise rankings – is in a much more precarious position in the national picture.

North Dakota is currently 7th in the Pairwise, finding itself in such good shape after compiling a record of 9-2-1 in non-conference play, including some impressive victories…

North Dakota blanked #4 Wisconsin 2-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena back on October 14th.

UND was also able to avenge its only two non-conference losses of the season (vs. #10 Minnesota, at #1 Boston University) with wins the following night. That Friday night loss at BU on November 3rd was the last game the Fighting Hawks lost in regulation, a span of fifteen games and well over two months.

According to KRACH, North Dakota has faced the nation’s seventh-toughest schedule to this point of the season, while the Huskies’ schedule weighs in as the 19th-most difficult. Despite its tough slate of games, the Green and White claim the sixth-best best winning percentage in college hockey (.735).

The NCHC has been the premier hockey conference since its inception, and particularly over the past nine seasons. The eight teams in the league have gone 483-242-82 (.649) in non-conference action since the start of the 2014-15 season and sent twelve 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, and Denver in 2022) over that eight-year stretch (there was no national tournament in 2020). Conference members North Dakota (2016), Denver (2017, 2022), and Minnesota Duluth (2018, 2019) have won five of the last seven national titles.

#6-ranked North Dakota has gone 15-6-1 against Army, #4 Wisconsin, #10 Minnesota, Minnesota State, #1 Boston University, Minnesota Duluth, Miami, Bemidji State, #5 Denver, #18 Colorado College, Alaska, and #19 Omaha, with a record of 11-4-1 at home and 4-2-0 on the road. Four of UND’s six losses this season have come in overtime.

How has North Dakota made such a dramatic turnaround in just one season?

After missing the national tournament last year, head coach Brad Berry and his staff brought in fourteen fresh faces, tied for the second-most in team history. More strikingly, all eight defensemen are new to the UND men’s hockey program, including four freshmen.

Coincidentally, the breakdown of first-year players and transfers into the North Dakota system was identical:

Freshmen:

Four defensemen (Nate Benoit, Tanner Komzak, Jake Livanavage, Abram Wiebe)

Two forwards (Michael Emerson, Jayden Perron)

One goaltender (Hobie Hedquist)

Transfers:

Four defensemen (Logan Britt, Keaton Pehrson, Garrett Pyke, Bennett Zmolek)

Two forwards (Cameron Berg, Hunter Johannes)

One goaltender (Ludvig Perrson)

Update: freshman forward Michael Emerson left the UND program at semester break; Emerson appeared in six games during the first half of the season.

These thirteen newcomers join eleven returning forwards and second-year netminder Kaleb Johnson to form UND’s 25-player roster. The Fighting Hawks return 70 goals up front, led by senior Riese Gaber (20 goals last season) and sophomore Jackson Blake (16). With the addition of Berg (10 goals last season at Omaha), Johannes (13 at Lindenwood), and Chicago Steel (USHL) teammates Emerson (30) and Perron (24), North Dakota should easily surpass the 102 goals scored all of last season by its forward group.

Over the first 22 games of the 2023-2024 season, UND forwards have scored 78 goals and are on pace for 128 goals in the regular season alone. It is also encouraging that eleven North Dakota forwards already have multiple goals this season, led by Blake (12), Gaber (12), Berg (10), Johannes (9), McLaughlin (9), and Perron (8). Those six forwards combined for fifteen goals over the past two weekends of game action.

Perhaps alarmingly, Fighting Hawks defensemen have only scored five goals this season (Britt 2, Pyke 2, Livanavage 1) to go along with their 40 combined assists in 136 games played (0.29 points/game). The offensive output from the blue line has been increasing lately, with Livanavage in particular chipping in more regularly (eight assists in his last ten games).

By comparison, SCSU’s top six defensemen (Dylan Anhorn, Jack Peart, Cooper Wylie, Josh Luedtke, Warren Clark, and Karl Falk) have combined for eight goals and 30 assists in 115 games played (0.33 points/game).

A half-point per game or better is my benchmark for solid offensive production, and Brett Larson’s squad has just six lineup regulars who meet that threshold: graduate forward Kyler Kupka (8-10-18), senior forward Veeti Miettinen (11-5-16), sophomore forward Adam Ingram (5-11-16), graduate forward Zach Okabe, senior forward Joe Molenaar (7-3-10), and graduate defenseman Dylan Anhorn (3-15-18).

By that same measure, North Dakota has nine players at a half point or better, including THREE averaging over a point per game: sophomore forward Jackson Blake (12-14-26), senior forward Riese Gaber (12-10-22), and sophomore forward Owen McLaughlin (8-15-23). Other offensive contributors include junior forward Cameron Berg (10-10-20), graduate forward Hunter Johannes (9-6-15), sophomore forward Dylan James (4-7-11), senior forward Louis Jamernik V (5-6-11), senior defenseman Garrett Pyke (2-17-19), and freshman defenseman Jake Livanavage (1-10-11).

Offensively, UND outpaces SCSU by a large margin. To this point of the season, North Dakota has scored 83 goals in 22 games (3.80 goals per game, 8th in the country), while St. Cloud State has managed just 63 in twenty games (3.15, 21st).

The Fighting Hawks are fifth in the nation in shooting percentage at 12.0%. SCSU clocks in at 10.3%, good for 26th in the country. UND also gets the puck to the net, averaging 31.4 shots on goal per game (27th). The Huskies aren’t far behind, with 30.7 shots on goal per contest (24th).

On the defensive side, UND has only allowed 535 shots on goal this season in 22 games (24.3/game, 6th), while St. Cloud State has allowed 540 in 20 games (27.0, 13th).

These two teams are both in the top third of all teams in the nation in two key puck possession statistics:

North Dakota: 11th in Corsi (54.5%) and 8th in Fenwick (56.1%)
St. Cloud State: 19th in Corsi (52.8%); 16th in Fenwick (53.0%)

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.

As always, a key area to watch this weekend is the face-off circle. The Fighting Hawks are the nation’s 17th-best team on draws (52.2%), while the Huskies clock in at 51.7% (20th).

For UND, junior Cameron Berg has been making a living on draws, winning 224 of 379 (59.1%). Senior Louis Jamernik V (142 of 252, 56.3%) has been improving, while sophomore Owen McLaughlin (121 of 253, 47.8) has struggled of late.

For SCSU, junior Mason Salquist has been the best option (200 of 343, 58.3%); Salquist is a native of Grand Forks. Head coach Brett Larson has also called on two freshmen to do some heavy lifting in the dot: Verner Miettinen (137 of 262, 52.3%) and Tyson Gross (133 of 261, 51.0%); they have both performed admirably.

To this point in the season, North Dakota has had the better of the specialty teams play. UND has been a combined plus-10, with eighteen power play goals scored (18 of 80, 22.5%, 15th in the country) and eleven power play goals allowed (50 of 61, 82.0%, 27th), with three shorthanded goals scored and none allowed.

The Huskies have posted a meager plus-1, with fifteen power play goals scored (15 of 80, 18.8%, 34th), thirteen power play goals allowed (63 of 76, 82.9%, 22nd), one shorthanded goal scored, and two allowed.

It is also worth noting that UND has earned nineteen more power plays than penalty kill situations (80-61), while St. Cloud State has only earned four more man-advantage situations than shorthanded situations (80-76).

North Dakota is 8th in the country in scoring offense (3.80 goals scored/game) and an equally impressive 10th in the country in scoring defense (2.41 goals allowed/game).

St. Cloud State is 21st in the country in scoring offense (3.15 goals scored/game) and 8th in the country in scoring defense (2.40 goals allowed/game).

A huge key to UND’s defensive turnaround this season has been the play of senior netminder Ludvig Persson. Up until two weeks ago, the transfer from Miami had played every minute between the pipes for the Fighting Hawks, posting a record of 12-5-1 with a goals-against average of 2.21, a save percentage of .909, and three shutouts. Persson was ill two weekends ago, and freshman Hobie Hedquist stepped in for him, winning both games while posting a goals-against average of 3.01 and a save percentage of .870).

Last week, Persson returned to practice on Wednesday and got the start on Friday, but he struggled, allowing five goals on 24 shots. Hedquist stepped in on Saturday, making 22 of 23 saves and earning his third victory of the season. The team has not announced a starter for Friday night’s opener in St. Cloud.

Last year, UND’s team save percentage was .886, the fifth-worst mark among 62 teams. To put the difference in perspective, North Dakota allowed 110 goals on 962 shots last season. If we apply Persson’s save percentage from this year to that shot total, the Fighting Hawks would have allowed a total of only 93 goals, a difference of 17 goals over the 39-game season.

And what difference does one goal make? UND found itself in a Pairwise predicament last season due to three tough losses:

Arizona State 3, North Dakota 2 (October 29th, 2022)

Miami 4, North Dakota 3 (November 19th, 2022)

Minnesota Duluth 2, North Dakota 1 (January 21st, 2023)

All three of those games were tied in the third period.

St. Cloud State’s top netminder – senior Dominic Basse – is also a transfer. Basse spent his first two seasons at Colorado College before switching jerseys prior to last season, and the change of scenery has done him well:

2020-2021 (CC): 4-11-1, 3.18 goals-against average, .895 save percentage
2021-2022 (CC): 6-15-2, 3.23 goals-against average, .888 save percentage, one shutout

2022-2023 (SCSU): 11-5-2, 2.30 goals-against average, .911 save percentage, three shutouts
2023-2024 (SCSU): 10-6-1, 2.31 goals-against average, .911 save percentage, three shutouts

The two most glaring differences between this year’s version of the Cardinal and Black and the teams UND fans might be used to facing are SCSU’s power play and the Huskies’ home record.

St. Cloud State is notorious for being tough to play against on home ice, as the Huskies are one of just two teams remaining in all of Division I college hockey to play on a full 100-foot-wide sheet of ice (Alaska being the other). In 2021-22 and 2022-23, SCSU went a combined 25-9-5 (.705) at the Herb Brooks Center.

This year, St. Cloud is just 6-3-1 (.650) at home, with losses to Michigan (understandable), Alaska (puzzling), and St. Thomas (baffling).

SCSU finished up the 2021-22 campaign with the nation’s best power play (45 of 145, 31.0%) and followed that up with the fifth-best clip in the country last season (40 of 157, 25.5%).

This year, as mentioned above, the Huskies have gone just 15 of 80 (18.8%), a mark that has St. Cloud State in the bottom half nationally in that category (34th).

In a strange way, those two stuggles may benefit SCSU in the long run. In the past, the Huskies have performed extremely well on the wide sheet of ice and gotten by during the regular season by dominating teams with their power play. That has not translated into much postseason success, however, as all games in the national tournament must be played on NHL ice surfaces (85 feet wide) and power play opportunities are harder to come by in the playoffs.

Perhaps this year’s version of the Cardinal and Red has a formula that will lead to a deep NCAA tourney run.

North Dakota currently finds itself in seventh place in the all-important Pairwise rankings, with victories over Boston University (PWR 1), Wisconsin (PWR 5), Denver (PWR 8), and Minnesota (PWR 11) certainly helping the cause. With a non-conference mark of 9-2-1, a top-four finish in the NCHC should lock up a spot in the national tournament for UND.

After this weekend, UND’s other conference series in the second half are vs. Denver (PWR 8), at Miami (PWR 41), at Colorado College (PWR 18), vs. Minnesota Duluth (PWR 32), vs. Western Michigan (PWR 10), and at Omaha (PWR 19).

It is also important to point out that the Fighting Hawks currently have a winning record against the B1G Ten (2-1-0), the CCHA (3-0-1), and the AHA (1-0-0), with a .500 mark against Hockey East (1-1-0).

At #12 in the Pairwise, St. Cloud State has some work to do to solidify a sixth-straight NCAA tourney bid (with a record of 13-15-6 in 2019-2020, SCSU would have missed the field of sixteen, but there was no national tournament).

North Dakota (2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, and 2022) and St. Cloud State (2014, 2018, and 2019) have combined to win the regular season title in eight of the ten seasons of the NCHC. The Huskies also won the last WCHA conference title in 2013.

St. Cloud State Team Profile

Head Coach: Brett Larson (6th season at SCSU, 117-66-19, .626)

National Rankings: #13/#12
Pairwise Ranking: 12th
KRACH Rating: 281.0 (13th)

This Season: 11-6-3 overall, 7-1-1-1 NCHC (1st)
Last Season: 25-13-3 overall (NCAA West Regional Finalist), 10-8-5-1 NCHC (4th)

2023-24 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.15 goals scored/game – 21st of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.40 goals allowed/game – 8th of 64 teams

Power Play: 18.8% (15 of 80) – 34th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.9% (63 of 76) – 22nd of 64 teams

Key players: Graduate F Kyler Kupka (8-10-18), Senior F Veeti Miettinen (11-5-16), Sophomore F Adam Ingram (5-11-16), Graduate F Zach Okabe, Senior F Joe Molenaar (7-3-10), Graduate D Dylan Anhorn (3-15-18), Junior D Jack Peart (2-5-7), Senior G Dominic Basse (10-6-1, 2.31 GAA, .911 SV%, 3 SO)

North Dakota Team Profile

Head Coach: Brad Berry (9th season at UND, 195-98-32, .649)

National Rankings: #6/#7
Pairwise Ranking: 7th
KRACH Rating: 534.0 (7th)

This Season: 15-6-1 overall, 6-0-0-4 NCHC (2nd)
Last Season: 18-15-5 overall (missed NCAA tournament), 7-10-5-2 NCHC (t-5th)

2023-2024 Season Statistics:

Team Offense: 3.80 goals scored/game – 8th of 64 teams
Team Defense: 2.41 goals allowed/game – 10th of 64 teams

Power Play: 22.5% (18 of 80) – 15th of 64 teams
Penalty Kill: 82.0% (50 of 61) – 27th of 64 teams

Key Players: Sophomore F Jackson Blake (12-14-26), Senior F Riese Gaber (12-10-22), Sophomore F Owen McLaughlin (8-15-23), Junior F Cameron Berg (10-10-20), Graduate F Hunter Johannes (9-6-15), Freshman F Jayden Perron (8-2-10), Senior D Garrett Pyke (2-17-19), Freshman D Jake Livanavage (1-10-11), Graduate D Logan Britt (2-4-6), Senior G Ludvig Persson (12-6-1, 2.35 GAA, .903 SV%, 3 SO), Freshman G Hobie Hedquist (3-0-0, 2.34 GAA, .899 SV%)

By The Numbers

Last Meeting: March 17, 2023 (St. Paul, MN). With its season on the line, North Dakota could not find the luck of the Irish, falling 3-2 in overtime in the semifinal of the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff. UND built one-goal leads in each of the first two periods, only to find the Huskies pull even each time. Not quite six minutes into the extra session, St. Cloud State’s Zach Okabe ended the Fighting Hawks’ season. SCSU would go on to win the league’s playoff championship with a 3-0 victory over Colorado College, denying the Tigers a tourney bid as well.

Last Meeting in St. Cloud: December 3, 2022. Saturday’s series finale at the Herb Brooks Center was disappointing for fans of the Green and White, as the visitors let a 3-0 second-period lead dissolve into thin air on the wide sheet. 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 – for the 6-3 final score. In Friday’s opener, 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 – on their way to a 7-2 victory.

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, 80-49-17 (.606), including a record of 30-26-0 (.536) in games played in St. Cloud. The teams have been squaring off regularly since the 1989-90 season but have only met once in the NCAA tournament (2015).

Last Ten: In the last ten tilts between the teams, each team has won four times, with the other two games ending in a tie. St. Cloud State has lit the lamp 39 times over that stretch; UND, just 34. SCSU has definitely had the better of it in the past six games, with a 3-1-2 record and a scoring margin of 24-16.

Game News and Notes

UND’s Riese Gaber has nine goals and fourteen points in twelve career games against the Huskies; Gaber was held off of the scoresheet at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. 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 23 times, with eleven Frozen Fours and three national championships (1997, 2000, 2016). UND head coach Brad Berry is 14-12-5 (.532) in his head coaching career against the Huskies. Fighting Hawks’ senior netminder Ludvig Persson has faced the Huskies nine times in his collegiate career (all with Miami), with a record of 2-5-2, a goals-against average of 4.62, and a save percentage of .872. St. Cloud State has not won an overtime game this season (0-2-3). By announcing plans for a “Whiteout” on Friday night, the SCSU Athletic Department has unwittingly helped turn the Herb Brooks Center into a wonderful combination of Green and White.

The Prediction

North Dakota has a chance to do some damage this weekend, although strange things always seem to happen on the wide sheet in St. Cloud. The first ten minutes on Friday night are the most important stretch of the season to this point, and if UND can come out of that without trailing by more than a goal, I like this team’s chances to have some success. The Fighting Hawks could earn more than a split this weekend if everything breaks their way, but the more likely result is a split. UND 4-2., SCSU 4-3

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 7:37 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!