Russell Hons/UND Athletics
GRAND FORKS, N.D. –(UND Athletics) No. 4/6 North Dakota found the back of the net three times in the opening 13:49 and never looked back to notch a 4-1 victory over Omaha on Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (13-4-0, 7-2-0 NCHC) runs its winning streak to five straight and has won nine of the last 10 games dating back to Nov. 1. The Fighting Hawks have also notched five consecutive victories over Omaha (6-9-0, 3-6-0 NCHC) and six of the last seven meetings overall between the two sides.
Senior forward Ben Strinden shrugged off his short-lived scoring drought of just two games, as the Fargo, N.D., native potted a pair of goals for his third two-goal game of the season and second against the Mavericks. With the pair of tallies, Strinden jumped back into the team lead with 11 goals and has seven goals over the last seven games.
Fellow senior forward Ellis Rickwood returned from his five-game injury absence in style with a pair of assists to notch multiple points for the second straight game that he has been in the lineup while freshmen forwards Jack Kernan and David Klee each tallied their second goals of the season in the win.
Rookie netminder Jan Špunar finished with 30 saves on 31 shots against to become the first goaltender in UND history to begin his career with nine straight wins and moves into a fourth all-time at UND for the longest unbeaten streak to begin a career at 9-0-0.
After an injury to starting Omaha netminder Simon Latkoczy caused him to leave the game just over a minute in, UND took advantage of the new goaltender by striking for three goals in the opening 13:49 of the contest to build a 3-0 lead.
For the fifth time in the last seven games, it was Strinden who opened the scoring for the green and white. The senior forced a turnover along the wall and rifled a puck through the legs of new Omaha goalie Dawson Cowan to give NoDak the 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into the game.
The power play took advantage in the middle stages of the stanza, as Kernan finished off a nice feed from Rickwood for his second goal of the season and a 2-0 lead. A few minutes later, Klee found himself on the end of another pretty pass – this time from Sam Laurila – to push the advantage to a trio of goals and give the rookie his second goal in the last three games.
Omaha had a strong push in the second period and eventually pulled back a goal when Trevor Wong snuck a shot through the legs of Špunar to trim the deficit to 3-1, but Strinden restored the three-goal advantage with a rocket off a cross-ice feed from Rickwood on the power play to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.
It was a pretty uneventful third period until the final minute, as Omaha’s Brett Hyland made an unnecessary hit on a UND defender that led to three game misconducts, two game disqualifications and a minor between the two sides in the dying seconds of a 4-1 NoDak win.
North Dakota will aim for a series sweep and close out the 2025 calendar on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 42-23-2 all-time against Omaha and 21-11-1 in Grand Forks
- North Dakota was without Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff due to the Canadian World Junior camp
- Ellis Rickwood, Bennett Zmolek and Jayden Jubenvill all returned from injury
- Defenseman Andrew Strathmann received a game disqualification and will miss Saturday’s game with an automatic suspension
- NoDak has won five straight games overall and nine of the last 10 dating back to Nov. 1
- The Hawks have also claimed five straight wins over Omaha and six of the last seven
- Ben Strinden tallied his third multi-goal game of the season and second against Omaha
- Strinden now has seven goals over the last seven games and leads the team with 11 tallies
- Rickwood dished out a pair of assists in his return
- Jan Špunar won his ninth straight game to set a new school record for the most consecutive wins to begin a career
- Špunar moves into a tie for fourth for the longest unbeaten streak to begin a career at UND (9)
- Jake Livanavage notched an assist to give him five points (2G, 3A) in the last four games
- David Klee and Jack Kernan each scored their second goals of the season and first at the Ralph
- UND improves to 11-0-0 this season when scoring at least four goals
- The Hawks have scored at least one power play goal in each of the last five games
- UND is also 7-for-15 on the man advantage in that stretch
- NoDak has killed off 17 of the last 18 penalties it has taken dating back to Nov. 15
- The Hawks are 10-0-0 this season when leading after two periods
- UND is now 10-2-0 this season when scoring first
- Eight of UND’s 13 wins this season have been by three-or-more goals
- Špunar has at least 30 saves in three of his last four starts – all wins
- The two teams combined for 125 penalty minutes
- Faceoffs were 28-26 UND, with Ollie Josephson leading UND at 9-7
How It Happened
First Period:
06:55 | UND – Ben Strinden (10)
09:28 | UND – Jack Kernan (2, PP) from Ellis Rickwood (8) and Dylan James (4)
13:49 | UND – David Klee (2) from Sam Laurila (3) and Anthony Menghini (2)
Second Period:
05:59 | OMA – Trevor Wong (1) from Maxime Pellerin (4) and Samuel Huo (2)
16:55 | UND – Strinden (11, PP) from Rickwood (9) and Jake Livanavage (11)
Third Period:
No scoring
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