ST. CLOUD, Minnesota (KNFL/KFGO/UND Athletics) – No. 5/6 North Dakota struck twice in the third period en route to a 4-2 victory and series sweep over St. Cloud State on Saturday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
The wins continue to pile up for North Dakota (12-4-0, 6-2-0 NCHC), as the Fighting Hawks has claimed eight of their last nine games overall and extend their winning streak to six straight on the road.
With the game tied at 2-2 and UND killing its sixth penalty of the night, junior defenseman Jake Livanavage jumped into a shorthanded rush and buried a perfect pass from Mac Swanson for his first-career shorthanded goal and the eventual game winner with just over seven minutes to play in the third period.
Livanavage sealed the win and the program’s eighth straight game without a loss against St. Cloud State (7-9-0, 2-6-0 NCHC) in the dying seconds with an empty netter for the first two-goal game of his collegiate career.
Sophomore forward Cade Littler also shined offensively in the win, potting a pair of goals for his second two-goal game of his career and gives him four points (3G, 1A) over the last four games.
Forward Cole Reschny was the third Fighting Hawk with multiple points, as the rookie dished out a pair of assists in the third period. The Macklin, Saskatchewan, native started the rush on the first Livanavage goal before winning a defensive zone draw back to Livanavage on the game’s first tally to give Reschny seven helpers over the last four games.
Freshman netminder Jan Špunar put together another sparkling performance to win his eighth straight start, as the rookie finished with a career-high 35 saves on 37 shots against to improve to 8-0-0.
Special teams were the difference in the opening 20 minutes, with North Dakota taking advantage on the power play and killing a pair of penalties. Littler jumped on a loose puck in front of the net and used his long reach to tuck it around the SCSU netminder to give NoDak a 1-0 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the opening period.
NoDak extended its lead to 2-0 on another strike from Littler, as the sophomore finished off a pretty passing play from David Klee and Keaton Verhoeff to double the advantage just before the midway point of the contest.
The momentum turned towards the Huskies in the dying minutes of the middle stanza, with Verhoeff earning a major penalty and game misconduct for butt-ending to put one of the nation’s top power plays to work for five minutes. SCSU buried one in the first half of the man advantage, but UND shut down the remainder of the major to carry a 2-1 lead early in the third.
St. Cloud State eventually knotted the game at 2-2 just past the midway point of the third, but Livanavage struck twice over the game’s final 7:04 to secure the 4-2 victory and series sweep.
North Dakota will close out the 2025 calendar year with a home series against Omaha beginning on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 85-49-19 all-time against St. Cloud State and 34-26-10 in St. Cloud
- Cade Littler scored his third and fourth goals of the season and has goals in back-to-back weekends
- Jake Livanavage scored a pair of goals for the first time in his career
- The shorthanded goal by Livanavage was the first by a UND defenseman since Ethan Frisch on Dec. 20, 2020 vs. Miami
- Livanavage now has nine points (4-5-9) in eight games against St. Cloud State
- Cole Reschny notched a pair of assists to give him seven helpers in the last four games
- The Hawks extended their unbeaten streak to eight (6-0-2) against St. Cloud State and six (4-0-2) at SCSU
- The eight-game unbeaten streak against SCSU ties for the longest in school history against the Huskies
- The six-game road unbeaten streak is the longest in school history against SCSU
- Jan Špunar improved to 8-0-0 to begin his career to match Jordan Parise for the longest stretch since 2003-04
- Špunar finished with a career-high 35 saves on 37 shots against
- UND improves to 7-1-0 on the road this season and has won six straight for the first time since 2016-17
- NoDak has swept St. Cloud State in St. Cloud for the first time since Nov. 18-19, 2016
- David Klee dished out an assist to give him points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career
- Will Zellers extended his point streak to four with an assist in the first period
- UND is 10-0-0 this season when scoring at least four goals in a game
- NoDak is 26-5-4 against Minnesota schools since 2023-24
- UND is now plus-13 this season in the third period and has 24 goals in the final 20 minutes
- The Hawks went 1-for-1 on the power play while SCSU was 1-for-6
- Faceoffs were 37-23 SCSU, with Jack Kernan pacing UND at 7-7
How It Happened
First Period:
13:49 | UND – Cade Littler (3, PP) from Abram Wiebe (9) and Will Zellers (5)
Second Period:
08:15 | UND – Littler (4) from Keaton Verhoeff (7) and David Klee (2)
18:15 | SCSU – Finn Loftus (2, PP) from Max Smolinski (5) and Tyson Gross (13)
08:15 | UND – Littler (4) from Keaton Verhoeff (7) and David Klee (2)
18:15 | SCSU – Finn Loftus (2, PP) from Max Smolinski (5) and Tyson Gross (13)
Third Period:
11:10 | SCSU – Ryan Rosborough (1) from Jack Reimann (4) and Grant Achan (2)
12:56 | UND – Jake Livanavage (2, SH) from Mac Swanson (9) and Cole Reschny (15)
19:56 | UND – Livanavage (3, EN) from Reschny (16)
Comments