UND Athletics/Russell Hons
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – No. 10/11 North Dakota cruised to a 6-2 victory over No. 19 St. Thomas on Friday night in front a sellout crowd of 11,627 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (1-0-0) wasted no time opening the Dane Jackson Era in style, scoring the game’s first five goals to notch the first victory for Jackson behind the bench as head coach.
It was the fourth line that paced the way for the Fighting Hawks, with the trio of Josh Zakreski, Cody Croal and Cade Littler combining for three goals and five points in the winning effort. Littler and Zakreski each notched a goal and an assist for multi-point outings, with Zakreski doing so in his first-collegiate game.
Three other Hawks tallied multiple points, with Mac Swanson and Dylan James both tallying a goal and a helper while Ben Strinden dished out a pair of assists in his 100th career game. Freshman Keaton Verhoeff also had a milestone moment by ripping home his first-collegiate goal to become the youngest goal scorer in program history at just age 17.
Goaltender Gibson Homer was strong in his UND debut, finishing with 23 saves on 25 shots against to record his first win in the green and white.
NoDak got off to a strong start thanks to that fourth line, as Littler potted the first goal of the season after winning a battle in front following a Jayden Jubenvill shot to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Late in the stanza, the fourth line struck again on another net-front goal, this time from Croal, to extend the advantage to 2-0 after 20 minutes.
UND kept the momentum rolling the opening moments of the second period, as Verhoeff blasted home his first-career goal off a won faceoff by Ellis Rickwood just 1:08 into the middle frame to quickly make it 3-0. The power play struck just minutes later, as James finished off a slick feed from Strinden to increase the lead to 4-0 and chase St. Thomas (1-1-0) goaltender Carsen Musser from the game.
The fourth line struck again late in the frame, with Zakreski deflecting home an Andrew Strathmann point shot to give UND a 5-0 advantage.
After St. Thomas added a pair of goals to break the shutout bid and trim the lead to 5-2, Swanson finished off the victory with UND’s second power play goal of the night in the closing seconds to secure the 6-2 win.
North Dakota will aim for a series sweep on Sunday afternoon at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn. at 5:07 p.m. The contest will air on CCHA TV and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 1-0-0 all-time against St. Thomas
- Ten Fighting Hawks notched at least one point in the win, with five recording multiple points
- Freshmen Keaton Verhoeff and Josh Zakreski scored their first-collegiate goals for UND
- NoDak is now 18-3-4 over the last two seasons against teams from Minnesota
- UND is also 22-2-1 in home openers since 2001-02
- The Hawks also are 1-0-0 against ranked opponents
- Shots were 31-25 in favor of UND
- NoDak finished 2-for-4 on the power play while St. Thomas was 1-for-5
- Gibson Homer recorded 23 saves in his UND debut
- 10 players made their UND debuts in the win
- Defenseman EJ Emery was sidelined with an injury
- Faceoffs were 29-26 UND, with Ellis Rickwood pacing all skaters at 11-5
How It Happened
First Period
08:22 | UND – Cade Littler (1) from Jayden Jubenvill (1)
18:01 | UND – Cody Croal (1) from Cade Littler (1) and Josh Zakreski (1)
Second Period
01:08 | UND – Keaton Verhoeff (1) from Ellis Rickwood (1)
04:05 | UND – Dylan James (1, PP) from Ben Strinden (1) and Mac Swanson (1)
18:11 | UND – Josh Zakreski (1) from Andrew Strathmann (1)
19:14 | UST – Lucas Wahlin (2) from Lucas Van Vliet (1)
Third Period
07:54 | UST – Alex Gaffney (1, PP) from Nick Williams (2) and Nathan Pilling (1)
19:53 | UND – Mac Swanson (1, PP) from Strinden (2) and James (1)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
Comments