GRAND FORKS, N.D. — There’s a time-worn saying that reads “sometimes the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.”
That might explain why junior forward Brendan Budy, who missed the first five games of the season due to injury, was on the ice five minutes into the third period Saturday night as arch-rivals No. 6 North Dakota and No. 4 Minnesota Duluth were slugging their way through a 1-1 standoff National Collegiate Hockey Conference battle before a sellout of 11,858 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
That’s when Budy, playing in just his fifth game this season, scored the biggest goal of his college career to give the Fighting Hawks a 2-1 victory, giving them a split of the weekend series and keeping them alone in first place in the NCHC.
Budy, who was playing on the fourth line with Griffin Ness and Carson Albrecht, found himself on the second line with Ashton Calder and Connor Ford after an extended shift caught UND scrambling for fresh players.
“Want to know the honest truth?” UND coach Brad Berry replied to a question of the unusual line combination. “Usually, coaches will give you some line. We got extended on a shift…I just tried to take the three freshest guys. Ford and Calder were up, and Budy was coming on the next line. It was a situation where I just wanted a fresh body out there. I’m so happy for Brendan. Things haven’t been coming easy for him.”
In this case, Berry’s scrambled plans worked to perfection.
Calder carried the puck down the right wing, fought off a check by Minnesota Duluth defenseman Hunter Lillig and slid a perfect pass to the front of the net to Budy. Budy, a transfer from Denver a year ago, jammed the pass through the legs of UMD goalie Ryan Fanti (21 saves) for what proved to be the winning goal in a 2-1 final at 5:05 of the third period.
It was just the fifth college goal for Budy in 39 games at Denver and UND, who has been slowed by injuries.
A night after undisciplined play and a string of penalties had Berry upset, UND came back with a strong, disciplined game, taking just three penalties and riding a strong 22-save performance from senior goalie Zach Driscoll to earn the split.
The Fighting Hawks played the second night in a row without star defenseman Jake Sanderson, along with forwards Matteo Costantini and Dane Montgomery, sidelined with an illness, along with the injured Jackson Kunz.
“Everybody’s first reaction when key players are out of your lineup, is like you go ‘oh man, we’re going to miss them.”’
But Berry added, “the biggest thing in our mentality is that next-man-up mentality. Yeah, we’re going to miss them, but there’s other good players around here.”
A case in point would be Budy, whose key goal lifted his team to 5-1-0 mark in the NCHC and 9-4-0 overall while dropping Minnesota Duluth to 3-2-1 in league play and 8-3-1 overall.
North Dakota needed to rally for this win after sophomore wing Blake Biondi beat Driscoll to the stick side on a wrist shot at 14:51 of the second period to give UMD a 1-0 lead.
But after Minnesota Duluth’s Casey Gilling was called for crosschecking at 18:54 of the second period, UND converted on the power play. Junior defenseman Ethan Frisch scored his third goal of the season on a wrist shot at 19:55 of the second period to tie it at 1-all heading into the third.
That’s when Calder and Budy teamed up for the decisive goal for a series split.
Frisch said a team meeting earlier in the day with coaches set the tone for a better effort. “We addressed some things we needed to improve on,” Frisch said. “We battled through adversity with some guys out, and I’m really proud of our group.”
Berry said a key part of the game came early on when Minnesota Duluth’s Carter Loney received a 5-minute major penalty for boarding. North Dakota did not score on the extended power play, but Berry said it was a key time regardless. “We didn’t score on it, but the power play gave us momentum the rest of the period, the rest of the game,” Berry said. “We were killing (penalties) all day (Friday), and that gave that team momentum. A good learning lesson for the guys.”
The better effort by UND was evident to the players as well as the fans. “I thought we played a pretty close, if not a full 60 tonight,” Budy said.
And was his goal his biggest in college? “Probably,” the soft-spoken Budy said. “I’d say so.”
NOTES: UND was 1-for-2 on the power play with 5 shots on goal, Minnesota Duluth 0-2 with 4 shots . . . Named three stars by the media were Budy, Frisch and Driscoll, in that order . . . UND had a 33-22 edge in faceoff wins, led by Ford (15 of 21). For the weekend, Ford won 35 faceoffs and lost just 17 . . . Louis Jamernik and Cooper Moore led UND in shots on goal with 3 each while Gilling paced UMD with 4 . . . Minnesota Duluth was credited with hitting 3 goal posts, while UND had one (Brady Ferner) … Budy’s goal was his first game-winning tally of his career … Saturday was the first time UND won a game when either tied or trailing after two … UND improves to 32-4-0 at home since 2018-19.
*Alec Johnson, UND Athletics
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