UND Athletics Russell Hons
SAINT PAUL, Minn. (UND Athletics)– Top-seeded Western Michigan defeated No. 5 seed North Dakota, 4-2, in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinal on Friday night from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The loss ends North Dakota’s season at 21-15-2, marking the first time since 1990 that the program eclipsed the 20-win mark and will not reach the NCAA Tournament.
Sacha Boisvert closed out his freshman campaign in style, potting another pair of goals to finish with 18 on the season. The 18 tallies are the most by a UND freshman since Brock Boeser in 2015-16 and also finished as the first UND rookie to lead the team in both goals and points (32).
Junior forward Owen McLaughlin also recorded a multi-point outing with a pair of assists to close his season with 30 points to finish second on the team while also pacing the squad with 25 helpers.
Graduate student goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter played one of his best games of the season in the loss, matching his season high with 37 saves to close his final collegiate season with a .910 save percentage and an 18-11-2 record.
Western Michigan (29-7-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead just beyond the midway point of the opening period when Alex Bump forced a turnover and wired home his 21st goal of the season to give the Broncos a 1-0 advantage before Boisvert answered back with a rocket on the power play late in the first to even the contest at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Both teams traded chances in the middle stanza, with the teams combining for 28 shots on goals but the goaltenders stood tall and kept the game deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the final period.
In the third, WMU took the lead at the 7:23 mark on a goal from Grant Slukynsky that snuck through the wickets of Semptimphelter to make it 2-1 in favor of the Broncos. NoDak pushed for the equalizer as the period wore on, including a post from Abram Wiebe and a golden chance in front from Carter Wilkie, but WMU added an empty netter to make it 3-1 with 1:54 to play.
Boisvert brought the Hawks right back within a goal with his second of the night in the final minute, potting the team’s ninth goal of the season with the extra attacker, but WMU added its second extra attacker to close out the 4-2 victory.
Postgame Notes
- Defenseman EJ Emery returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 22 vs. Minnesota Duluth
- North Dakota ends its season at 21-15-2 record
- Sacha Boisvert scored two goals to finish with 18 goals
- Blocked shots were 15-6 UND
- UND went 1-for-2 on the power play while WMU was 0-for-2
- T.J. Semptimphelter finished with 37 saves, matching his season high
- Faceoffs were 38-34 WMU, with Jake Schmaltz leading the way for UND at 10-6
How It Happened
First Period
12:33 | WMU – Alex Bump (21)
18:17 | UND – Sacha Boisvert (17, PP) from Owen McLaughlin (24) and Cameron Berg (10)
Second Period
No scoring
Third Period
07:23 | WMU – Grant Slukynsky (9) from Liam Valente (17)
18:06 | WMU – Iiro Hakkarainen (12, EN) from Zach Nehring (15) and Tim Washe (19)
19:10 | UND – Boisvert (18, EA) from McLaughlin (25)
19:36 | WMU – Samuel Sjolund (4, EN)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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