#32 Ludvig Persson (Bella Sagaresse, Miami Athletics)
OXFORD, Ohio (UND Athletics)– No. 2 North Dakota polished off a weekend sweep over Miami with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night from Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.
With the victory, UND (20-6-2, 11-4-1 NCHC) extends its regulation unbeaten streak to 21 games to match the program’s record set back in 2006-07 and will remain in first place in the NCHC standings heading into the scheduled off weekend.
Head Coach Brad Berry also recorded his 200th win behind the bench at North Dakota, becoming the fourth coach in program history to achieve the mark.
Defenseman Logan Britt carried the load offensively from the backend, scoring a pair of goals for the first time in his career in the victory and finished the weekend with a trio of tallies.
Forwards Cameron Berg and Dylan James also added goals, with Berg notching the go-ahead tally in the first period to give the Fighting Hawks the lead for good and James sealing the victory with an empty netter in the late moments of the third.
Senior goaltender Ludvig Persson shined in the finale, stopping 33-of-34 in the victory to finish 4-0-0 against his former team during the regular season. The Swede was at his best in the middle period with 16 stops, including a save on a breakaway to keep UND in front.
UND got off to a better start in the series finale, striking just over four minutes into the contest when Britt potted his second of the weekend off a great passing play from Abram Wiebe and Jackson Blake to give the visitors the early 1-0 lead.
After killing off a Miami power play opportunity, NoDak extended the advantage to 2-0 on a great individual effort from Berg. The junior won a battle along the wall and muscled his way through the defenders before rifling a puck past the goaltender for his 15th tally of the season and a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Officiating took over in the early portions of the second period, with four straight penalties called on North Dakota in the opening few minutes to give the RedHawks two chances at a 5-on-3 power play. The hosts finally got on the scoreboard late in the final penalty call, as Albin Nilsson put home a rebound to cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the middle stanza.
UND was able to answer the Miami push in the middle frame, as Britt scored his second of the night on a slick feed from Owen McLaughlin to restore the two-goal advantage at 3-1 with just under five minutes remaining in the second.
Persson was at his sharpest in the middle period, stopping 16-of-17 shots fired his way in the frame to help the visitors carry the 3-1 lead into the final 20 minutes.
UND put on a defensive clinic in the third, with Persson and the skaters stopping everything thrown their way before James hit the empty to net seal the 4-1 victory and the sweep for the green and white.
North Dakota will enjoy an open weekend in the schedule before heading back on the road to Colorado College for a series beginning on Friday, Feb. 16 at 8:00 p.m. (CT) from Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 29-8-1 all-time against Miami and 12-4-2 in Oxford
- NoDak broke out the black uniforms for only the third time this season and first since Nov. 4 at BU
- The Hawks are now 3-0-0 when wearing the business suits
- Logan Britt now has goals in back-to-back games
- The graduate student also scored a pair of goals for the first time in his career
- Jackson Blake extended his point streak to 10 straight games
- Jackson Kunz also extended his point streak to three straight games, a new career best
- Cameron Berg pushed his career-long point streak to seven
- Brad Berry notched his 200th victory of his career, becoming the fourth coach in UND history to reach 200
- UND ties the program record for the longest regulation unbeaten streak, reaching 21 games
- Berg now has eight goals in the last 10 games
- UND finished 0-for-4 on the power play while Miami was 1-for-6
- The Hawks improved to 15-1-0 this season when scoring at least four goals
- NoDak is also a perfect 15-0-0 when leading after two and 11-1-0 when taking a 2-0 lead
- UND finished with 15 blocked shots, led by Bennett Zmolek with five
- The Hawks are 7-1-2 this season when blocking at least 15 shots in a game
- UND held a 31-24 advantage in faceoffs, with Cameron Berg going 10-7
How It Happened
First Period
04:22 | UND – Logan Britt opens the scoring on a nice feed from Abram Wiebe
13:49 | UND – Cameron Berg extends the lead to 2-0 with a shot through traffic from the slot
Second Period
04:04 | MU – Albin Nilsson puts home a rebound on the power play to cut the lead to 2-1
14:12 | UND – Britt scores his second of the night on a slick pass from Owen McLaughlin to make it 3-1
Third Period
17:40 | UND – Dylan James hits the empty net to seal the victory for North Dakota
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
Comments