GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– No. 2 North Dakota dropped a 5-1 decision to No. 8 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday night in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals from Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (27-9-1) will now wait for its name to the called in just over a week for the NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Hawks are virtually guaranteed to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament for the first time since 2020-21.
The Fighting Hawks have now lost five straight Frozen Faceoff Semifinals and are 2-9-0 in the game since the league was formed in 2013-14. The defeat was also the first in regulation for UND since Jan. 17 vs. Denver and only the second since the calendar flipped to November.
Minnesota Duluth (23-13-1) built a 2-0 lead after the first period with a pair of goals in the opening eight minutes before striking just 84 seconds into the middle stanza to increase the advantage to 3-0.
Dylan James got the Hawks on the board and trimmed the deficit to 3-1 with his team-leading 19th of the season with a shot through traffic early in the third period, but that was as close as the hosts would get as UMD struck for the game’s final two goals to close out the 5-1 win.
North Dakota will find out its NCAA Tournament seeding and placement on Sunday, March 22.
Postgame Notes
- UND falls to 163-94-11 all-time against Minnesota Duluth and 89-41-3 in Grand Forks
- The loss was the first at home in the postseason since March 2014 vs. Colorado College
- UND snaps an 18-game postseason home winning streak
- The Hawks have lost five straight NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals and are 2-9-0 since 2013-14
- Dylan James scored his 19th goal of the season to take the team lead
- Cole Reschny extended his point streak to eight games with an assist
- EJ Emery also extended his point streak to three with an assist
- UND was 0-for-3 on the power play while Minnesota Duluth was 0-for-1
- Shots were 34-22 in favor of UND
- Jan Špunar finished with 17 saves and fell to 18-4-1 this season
- Faceoffs were 38-22 in favor of UND, with Ellis Rickwood pacing everyone at 16-5
How It Happened
First Period:
02:14 | UMD – Callum Arnott (12) from Joey Pierce (2)
07:16 | UMD – Max Plante (23) from Ty Hanson (23)
Second Period:
01:26 | UMD – Jayson Shaugabay (11) from Arnott (15) and Luke Bibby (1)
Third Period:
01:59 | UND – Dylan James (19) from Cole Reschny (29) and EJ Emery (9)
08:09 | UMD – Harper Bentz (5) from Adam Kleber (8) and Zam Plante (26)
12:49 | UMD – Kyle Gaffney (4) from Bibby (2) and Riley Bodnarchuk (1)
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
Comments