UND Athleticcs (Bonnie Ryan Omaha Athletics)
OMAHA, Neb. (UND Athletics)– It wasn’t pretty, but it was playoff hockey for fifth-seeded North Dakota, as the Fighting Hawks skated to a 3-2 win over No. 4 seed Omaha in the opening game of the NCHC Quarterfinals from Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb.
UND (20-14-2) battled to the final second, building a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes before being outshot by a 17-0 margin in the third period to hold off a charge from Omaha (18-16-1) and grab the program’s first win on the road in an opening game of a conference quarterfinal since March 10, 1995 at St. Cloud State.
Graduate student goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter looked back in his late-season form after a tough regular season finale last season, finishing with 31 saves on 33 shots against to earn his first postseason victory in his career. The Marlton, N.J., native was under siege in the final 20 minutes but stopped all 17 shots fired his way to close out the win.
It was the depth leading the way once again for the Hawks, as the visitors got two goals and six points from its bottom-six forwards in the win. Freshman forward Cade Littler made his presence known in his return to the lineup by scoring a pair of tallies in just 23 seconds during the middle frame for the first two-goal game of his career while senior forward Jackson Kunz and sophomore defenseman Caleb MacDonald each notched a pair of helpers.
The start of the contest was about as bad as it could get for UND, with a penalty call in the opening 25 seconds putting the Mavericks on an early power play. It took the hosts just five seconds with the man advantage to break the deadlock, as a shot from the point was deflected home to give Omaha a 1-0 lead just 30 seconds into the contest.
UND was able to respond with a power play goal of its own near the midway point of the first when Jake Schmaltz made a great feed to Jayden Perron for the sophomore’s 10th tally of the season to knot the game at 1-1; however, Omaha restored its advantage on a Jacob Guevin shot through traffic to send the Mavs to the locker room with a 2-1 lead after one.
The opening minutes of the middle frame saw NoDak come out with a big push led by the fourth line, with Littler notching his first of the night on a scramble in front of the net to bring the contest level at 2-2 before the East Wenatchee, Wash., native struck again just 23 seconds later by getting his stick on a MacDonald shot from the point to flip the script and give UND a 3-2 lead.
Holding that same advantage heading into the third, UND had to weather a 20-minute storm by the Mavericks, as the hosts fired 17 shots on goal compared to none for the Hawks, but Semptimphelter and his defense held strong to close out the 3-2 win and grab a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
North Dakota will look to advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff with a win on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. from Baxter Arena. The contest will air on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND grabs a 1-0 series lead on the road the first time since Mar. 10, 1995 at St. Cloud State
- T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 31 saves on 33 shots against in the win
- The Hawks improve to 3-1 at Baxter Arena in the NCHC Quarterfinals
- NoDak was held without a shot in the final 20 minutes of regulation
- Jayden Perron scored his 10th goal of the season to give him double-digits for the second straight year
- Cade Littler notched a pair of tallies for the first time in his career
- Jackson Kunz dished out two helpers for the third time in his career
- Caleb MacDonald also had a pair of helpers for the first time in a UND sweater
- Sacha Boisvert and Carter Wilkie both had their point streaks come to an end at six games
- The team that scored second won the game for only the sixth time in the last 36 matchups in the series
- UND improves to 10-7-1 this season on the road, the most road wins for UND since 2021-22
- NoDak is 7-4-2 this season following a loss, including a 5-1-1 mark since 2025 began
- The Hawks are 5-2-1 in the black jerseys this season
- UND went 1-for-2 on the power play while Omaha was 1-for-4
- The Hawks are now 8 for their last 19 (42.1%) power play opportunities
- UND blocked only eight shots to improve to 2-5-0 this season when blocking fewer than 10 shots
- The Hawks have won back-to-back games on Friday night for the first time since December
- UND is 9-8-1 this season on Friday night and 3-6-1 since 2025 began
- NoDak won its 20th game of the year on Friday, marking the 25th time doing so since 1996
- Faceoffs were 41-21 Omaha, with Jake Schmaltz leading the way for UND at 6-8
How It Happened
First Period
00:30 | OMA – Harrison Israels (10, PP) from Sam Stange (18) and Jimmy Glynn (7)
07:09 | UND – Jayden Perron (10, PP) from Jake Schmaltz (10) and Mac Swanson (16)
14:03 | OMA – Jacob Guevin (7) from Israels (14) and Brady Risk (12)
Second Period
02:40 | UND – Cade Littler (5) from Jackson Kunz (6) and Caleb MacDonald (5)
03:03 | UND – Littler (6) from MacDonald (6) and Kunz (7)
Third Period
No scoring
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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