UND Athletics Russell Hons
GRAND FORKS, N.D.(UND Athletics) – Third-ranked North Dakota used a balanced offensive attack enroute to a 6-4 victory and series win over St. Cloud State on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 11,696 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
With the regulation win, UND (24-7-1, 16-5-1 NCHC) moves within just one point of clinching at least a share of the Penrose Cup as well as the No. 1 seed for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and two points from capturing the title outright heading into the final weekend of play.
It was a strong effort up-and-down the entire lineup for the Fighting Hawks, as 11-different players recorded at least and point and six tallied multiple points in the win.
Abram Wiebe (5), Mac Swanson (7), Ollie Josephson (4), Tyler Young (4), Jack Kernan (8) and Ellis Rickwood (8) all found the back of the net to help UND extend its unbeaten streak to a school-record 10 over St. Cloud State (16-17-1, 9-14-1 NCHC).
Graduate student goaltender Gibson Homer finished with 22 saves on 26 shots against to improve to 9-4-0 on the season. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native was clutch over the final 20 minutes, as he turned aside all 10 shots fired his way to preserve the victory.
After grabbing an early lead on Friday night, North Dakota fell behind just over two minutes into the game when Gavyn Thoreson struck first on a breakaway to give the Huskies the 1-0 advantage. The lead did not last for long, however, as Wiebe jumped into the rush and fired one through the legs of the SCSU goaltender to even the score at 1-1 less than two minutes after the SCSU goal.
Twenty seconds after Wiebe’s tally, NoDak struck again to grab a 2-1 lead, as Swanson pounced on a loose puck at the side of the crease for his seventh goal of the season. The offensive onslaught continued for the hosts, as Josephson tipped home a Wiebe shot on the power play to make it 3-1 in favor of the hosts and force a SCSU goaltending change just over eight minutes into the contest.
The Huskies trimmed the deficit to 3-2 late in the opening stanza and then tied the game at 3-3 early in the second on Thoreson’s second tally of the night, but Young gave NoDak the lead back on a partial breakaway off a great outlet pass from Kernan for his fourth of the season and the 4-3 advantage.
After SCSU brought the game level at 4-4 heading into the third period, Kernan broke the tie for the final time when the freshman finished off a 2-on-1 rush after being sprung by a great Rickwood pass to give the hosts a 5-4 lead. The goal was UND’s first shot of the third period with just over six minutes to play in regulation.
Homer stood tall over the final 6:20 of the contest before Rickwood sealed the three points for UND with an empty netter to make it 6-4.
North Dakota will close the regular season and look to capture the Penrose Cup at Western Michigan beginning on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. (CT) on NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 86-49-20 all-time against St. Cloud State and 44-18-10 in Grand Forks
- The Hawks are now unbeaten in 10 straight against SCSU (7-0-3) – the longest stretch in school history
- NoDak is also 9-0-3 in its last 12 games against the Huskies in Grand Forks
- UND is one point from capturing a share of the Penrose Cup and two points from winning it outright
- The Hawks are now plus-37 in the third period this season and 41-9 against NCHC teams
- Eleven players recorded at least a point for UND in the win
- Abram Wiebe notched multiple points for the fourth time in the last five games (1G, 1A)
- Wiebe also has 11 points (2G, 9A) over his last eight games and now leads all UND defensemen in points
- Ellis Rickwood has 13 points (3G, 10A) in his last eight games after tallying two points tonight (1G, 1A)
- Rickwood also becomes UND’s first 30-point scorer this season
- Cole Reschny notched an assist to give him 28 points in 28 games this season
- UND improves to 13-4-1 at home this season
- Mac Swanson scored his seventh goal of the season and has seven points (3G, 4A) over the last eight tilts
- NoDak is 19-0-1 this season when scoring at least four goals
- UND went 1-for-5 on the power play while SCSU was 0-for-2
- The Hawks are 13 for their last 14 on the penalty kill
- Tyler Young scored his fourth goal of the season and second in the last two weeks
- Gibson Homer finished with 22 saves to improve to 9-4-0 this season
- The nine wins for Homer are a new season-high
- Homer has also won his last five appearances
- Ben Strinden notched two assists to give him eight points (1G, 7A) over his last nine games
- Saturday was the 13th time UND has scored at least five goals in a game – improving to 13-0-0
- Jack Kernan scored his eighth goal of the season
- Ollie Josephson notched a multi-point game for the fourth time this season and first since Nov. 28
- EJ Emery dished out a pair of assists for the first time in his career and his second multi-point game
- UND is now 11-5-1 this season in games decided by two-or-fewer goals
- NoDak improves to 12-3-0 this season on Saturday night and 19-1-0 when scoring a power play goal
- Shots were 31-26 in favor of UND
- UND honored its six seniors before and after the game
- Faceoffs were 32-25 in favor of UND, with Rickwood pacing all skaters at 13-7
How It Happened
First Period:
02:06 | SCSU – Gavyn Thoreson (9) from Noah Urness (9)
04:04 | UND – Abram Wiebe (5) from Dylan James (10) and Ollie Josephson (10)
04:24 | UND – Mac Swanson (7) from Ben Strinden (15) and EJ Emery (4)
08:03 | UND – Josephson (4, PP) from Wiebe (20) and Strinden (16)
18:20 | SCSU – Tanner Hendricks (3) from Adam Ingram (10) and Thoreson (8)
Second Period:
01:33 | SCSU – Thoreson (10)
07:37 | UND – Tyler Young (4) from Jack Kernan (6) and Andrew Strathmann (4)
12:48 | SCSU – Ingram (3)
Third Period:
13:40 | UND – Kernan (8) from Rickwood (23) and Emery (5)
18:30 | UND – Rickwood (8) from Cole Reschny (24)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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