GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– Top-seeded North Dakota left no doubt in its march to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on Saturday night, exploding for five goals in the third period to defeat No. 8 seed Miami, 7-1, in front of a sellout crowd at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
With the victory, UND (26-10-2) advances to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff next weekend at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. for the fourth straight season and ninth time in the 11-year history of the league. The Fighting Hawks will find out their opponent for next Friday’s semifinals after tomorrow’s decisive third games in Colorado Springs and St. Cloud.
NoDak once again had a balanced attack in the victory, with seven different players potting a goal and 13 skaters recording at least a point. Jackson Blake tallied his ninth game this season with at least three points with a goal and two assists while Jackson Kunz matched his linemate’s stat line for his first-career game with three points.
Blake now moves alone into second place nationally for points with 57 and sits once behind Boston College’s Will Smith for the nation’s lead. The sophomore also now has 99 points in his career, looking to become only the second player in the last 30 years at UND to hit the 100-point mark in just two seasons.
Hobie Hedquist once again was stout between the pipes in his second straight start, turning aside a career-best 28 saves on 29 attempts to improve to 5-0-0 in his career.
It was a back-and-forth opening period, with a combined 28 shots fired on goal over the first 20 minutes; however, only one found the twine as Riese Gaber intercepted an errant pass and sniped home his 18th of the season to give UND a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Much like Friday night, the goal in the first period seemed to spark the play of the hosts, taking control of the game over the final 40 minutes. UND exploded for 10 shots on goal while holding Miami (7-26-3) to just three in the middle stanza, with Kunz extending the advantage to 2-0 just 37 seconds into the frame. Blake danced his way to the slot before firing a shot that deflected off of Kunz and into the net for the junior’s seventh of the season and second on the power play to give the Hawks a two-goal lead heading into the third.
Sticking with the similarities of Friday’s opener, NoDak put the game away in the opening five minutes of the third period with a quick pair of goals. Kunz won a battle along the way to chip the puck to Owen McLaughlin, who feathered a perfect pass to Blake to finish off the tic-tac-toe passing play just 1:38 into the third to extend the advantage to 3-0.
Kunz and Blake teamed up again just minutes later connecting on a nice play through the neutral zone before feeding a driving Logan Britt, who danced around the goaltender and buried his seventh of the season to push the lead to 4-0 less than five minutes into the third.
Dylan James made it three goals for UND less than halfway through the final period with a snipe off the rush for his ninth tally of the season before Miami answered back to ruin the shutout bid for Hedquist and trim the deficit to 5-1.
That was as close as the RedHawks would get, however, as Ben Strinden and Hunter Johannes polished off the victory and the sweep with a pair of goals in 28 seconds to close out the 7-1 win.
Postgame Notes
- UND advances to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the fourth straight season and ninth time overall
- Jackson Blake recorded his ninth game this season with at least three points
- Blake moves into second in the nation with 57 points
- The sophomore sits at 99 career points, set to become the second UND player in the last 30 years to hit 100-career points in just two seasons
- Jackson Kunz recorded his first-career game with three points, recording a goal and two assists
- Riese Gaber scored a goal to move into a tie for 43rd all-time at UND in career points
- Jayden Perron matched his career high with two assists, last coming Jan. 20, 2024 at SCSU
- Jake Schmaltz recorded his 11th-career game and third this season with multiple points
- UND improves to 31-8-1 all-time and 15-3-2 at home against Miami
- NoDak improves to 17-4-0 in the NCHC Quarterfinals and 9-0-0 as the No. 1 seed
- Jake Livanavage moves to fifth all-time for points by a rookie defenseman at UND with 28
- His 28 points are the most by a rookie d-man at UND since Travis Roche in 1999-00
- UND finished with 15 blocked shots, with Louis Jamernik V and Hunter Johannes each blocking three
- The Hawks improve to 13-2-2 when blocking at least 15 shots
- Hobie Hedquist is the first UND freshman goalie to start 5-0-0 in his career since Jordan Parise in 2003-04
- UND went 1-for-4 on the power play while Miami was 0-for-2
- Hunter Johannes scored his first goal since Jan. 6, 2024 vs. Alaska when he had two
- UND finished with a 33-31 advantage in the faceoff circle, with Jamernik V going 6-1
How It Happened
First Period
13:17 | UND – Riese Gaber intercepts a pass and roofs one to give UND a 1-0 lead
Second Period
00:37 | UND – Jackson Kunz has a puck deflect off of him and in for a power play goal and a 2-0 advantage
Third Period
01:38 | UND – Jackson Blake finishes off a tic-tac-toe passing play to increase the lead to 3-0
04:09 | UND – Logan Britt dances through the defense and tucks home a goal to make it 4-0 UND
09:32 | UND – Dylan James snipes it home on a breakaway for a 5-0 lead
11:22 | MU – Artur Turansky collects his own rebound and scores to get Miami on the board
18:24 | UND – Ben Strinden buries his sixth of the season to make it 6-1 UND
18:52 | UND – Hunter Johannes finishes off the scoring to close out the 7-1 win
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 3/16/2024 11:03:00 PM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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