Hayden Shaw

UND HOCKEY: Quick Strike in OT Gives Hawks the Weekend Sweep

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Graphic from University of North Dakota Twitter (@UNDMHockey)

GRAND FORKS, ND– It was the ending of an era. Not just because the North Dakota Fighting Hawks won’t be hosting a playoff game for the first time in 17 years, but because they say goodbye to five seniors from the team on this night. Rhett Gardner, Joel Janatuinen, Hayden Shaw, Ryan Anderson, and Nick Jones all skated their last time on the ice at Ralph Engelstad Arena, but make sure to not let that emotion get in the way of the task at hand against Omaha. It took extra time, but Jordan Kawaguchi scored in OT to get the sweep of Omaha and give UND a 5-4 win and a three-game win streak heading into the NCHC playoffs.

The seniors were ready to play, as only 23 seconds into the game, Nick Jones got a lovely pass from Rhett Gardner and put in a backhand past Evan Weninger to make it 1-0 UND within the first minute of the game. UND was firing on all cylinders, putting plenty of good chances on Weninger, but getting nothing out of it. However, a wild sequence of events which saw Peter Thome stop a Nate Knoepke shot, but Dixon Bowen lost the handle of the rebound into Peter Thome, which saw Tyler Weiss crash the net, into Thome, and in the net. After a long official review, the goal stood.

After a penalty to Jordan Kawaguchi for cross-checking, Omaha’s power play struck as Fredrik Olofsson found a wide-open Zach Jordan on the far wing and put it past Thome to make it a 2-1 game. UND got a power play of its own in the middle of the frame and made short work of it, as Jones found Kawaguchi in the slot, putting it past Weninger to tie the game at twos.

While there was some offensive pressure by Omaha, a bad clearing pass found the stick of Cole Smith, who snapped it to the glove of Weninger, where it bounced off the cuff and into the net to make it 3-2. It took to the middle of the frame for Gavin Hain to make it 4-2 on a rebound off a Smith shot to make it 4-2. After a fracas in front of the Omaha net, it went to four-on-four.

While Gardner was dragged down on the play, it resumed and resulted in Knoepke streaking down the slot and putting Omaha within one-goal, with Gardner down in the Omaha zone. UND did get into some penalty trouble, going down two men following a fracas in front and a tripping call seconds after the initial penalties. However, the team sold out on the power play in order to keep the puck out of Thome’s net and preserve the one-goal lead. With only 1:07 remaining in regulation, Tristan Keck tied the game with Weninger pulled after Kawaguchi couldn’t get a handle on a cross-ice pass and it landed on Keck’s stick, who went off the cross-bar and past Thome.

It only took 16 seconds for UND to end the game with Kawaguchi picking up an interception off the stick of an Omaha defenseman with Weninger out of position to end it quick and sweep the weekend for the Hawks. It was a goal that Kawaguchi said was his after giving up the Omaha tying strike.

“You know that turnover was on me,” Kawaguchi said post-game. “I take responsibility for that. I should have gotten the puck out of that area and I didn’t and they score. Obvious feel pretty bad about myself. I got back to the bench and I told the boys, ‘It’s on me, but I can get you back, I got this one’ and just so happened first chance I got was right in the first shift.”

“I think he felt pretty bad,” mentioned coach Brad Berry after the game. “He had the puck on his tape on the tying goal and he came back to the bench and you know, I really commend him because he said, ‘You know, it was my fault guys, I got the next one, I got the one in overtime.’” And you know what, 16 seconds later he got it so it says a lot about him.”

It was also a big deal with the seniors being sent off with a win and a sweep. It was also the last class to be a part of the 2016 National Championship team.

“It was fitting with a win,” mentioned Berry. “They came in their freshman year, they only had six losses in it and they won a lot this year. This team has a lot of pride and the seniors have a lot of pride and they wanted to end their career here at the Ralph with a win. The challenge going forward from here, and our guys are embracing it, is that we’re going on the road and keep continuing this thing.”

“They put so much into this program and we wanted to show them how much they meant to us,” said Smith. “They’ve given everything they’ve had. They got us the start we needed and the finish we needed.”

Now, UND will travel to Denver next weekend to take on the Pioneers in a best-of-three series for the right to play in the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul in two weeks.

UND HOCKEY: Another Night of Free Hockey, Another Two Points for North Dakota

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GRAND FORKS, ND– Following an overtime victory last night, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks looked to add another notch in the win column and complete the weekend sweep of Colorado College. It would be a bit of a different look for UND, as Gabe Bast was out of the line-up due to a suspension from his hit on Alex Berardinelli. The team was also hampered with a sick goalie, as Adam Scheel came to the rink in the morning under the weather and not at 100%. However, he made a quick recovery to help the Fighting Hawks sweep the Tigers with a Saturday night victory in overtime.

Hayden Shaw got the Hawks out to a quick start with Jordan Kawaguchi finding Shaw streaking down the slot and put it bottom right corner on Alex Leclerc just 1:18 into the game. While UND did get some chances on the power play, it wasn’t until they were down a man that they would get their second goal, as Andrew Peski’s clearing attempt was picked up by Dixon Bowen, who streaked in to beat Leclerc under the blocker side to make it 2-0.

Dixon Bowen/Photo by Jen Conway

“Finally nice to get that monkey off my back,” Bowen said. “It’s funny because in practice when I try to deke, I never score and the boys make fun of me in practice and say I’m a shooter. So I was like okay, I’m gonna just shoot this one and it went in.”

Colorado College would open up the scoring the second with a shorthanded goal of their own as Adam Scheel kicked out a rebound off a Grand Cruikshank shot to the stick of Westin Michaud and cutting the lead to one. Colorado College could have had two more goals, but both were called off– first for goalie interference and then as the puck when in just hundredths of a second after time had expired.

The Tigers did even it up, as Cole McCaskill made a fantastic stretch pass to Trey Bradley, who broke in behind the defense and beat Scheel far-glove side to even it up at two. North Dakota kept the pressure on, sustaining pressure on Leclerc and playing with patience– though you could argue too much patience. With no goals to be scored after Bradley’s equalizer, we got another night of free hockey.

The free hockey didn’t last long, as just 50 seconds into the free frame, Nick Jones’s forecheck proved to be as deadly as usual, gaining possession behind the goal-line, trying to wrap it around, but getting blocked. Luckily, Jordan Kawaguchi was streaking in to put home the game-winner for UND in order to sweep the weekend.

“Honestly, I just blacked out the whole play,” said Kawaguchi post-game. “I remember seeing the puck and trying to get it towards the open net. Jonesy made a helluva play.”

A few years back, it was a different scene as the BCHL alums were jawing at each other on different sides of the puck in the playoffs. However, the combination of them both at UND has proved to be a solid match for the Fighting Hawks.

“It’s kind of ironic they’re playing together right now,” mentioned head coach Brad Berry. “They both came from very good, storied programs and they were very dominant players for each of them. There’s not a lot of love loss between them. But that’s the beauty of North Dakota. I remember years back, players coming in from different leagues and there was real animosity. But when you get together, you’re a teammate and your goal is to win a National Championship.”

The Fighting Hawks will take this sweep in stride as they prepare to travel to Omaha to face the Mavericks next week in yet another NCHC battle.

UND HOCKEY: Do-Or-Die Playoff Weekend for Fighting Hawks

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GRAND FORKS, ND– More than just a spot in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff is at stake this weekend between the University of North Dakota and the University of Nebraska-Omaha, as both are fighting for a spot in the National Tournament. With the Pairwise Ranking being the determining factor for a tournament spot– both UND and UNO are on the bubble at 15th and 14th respectively. With both teams facing off against each other in a best-of-three NCHC Quarterfinal match-up; it’s almost a win-and-in scenario for both sides.

“We need this one,” said defenseman Colton Poolman during media availability on Wednesday. “If we lose this one we probably don’t have much of a shot. From here on out it’s a must win situation.”

“You know, they’re a hard team, they’ve got some big bodies,” said defenseman Hayden Shaw of Omaha. “We really used this week to focus on ourselves and how we’re gonna play them. We’ve used the video in the past to see what we need to work on. It all comes from translating from practice into games.”

“They have four lines that play extremely hard,” said head coach Brad Berry. “We know their power play with David Pope is really good there, but they score by committee. We know Tyler Vesel and Pope and Steven Spinner are a very good unit, but they have a lot of good units there.”

This past weekend, UND split a series with the #1 team in the nation in St. Cloud State, losing on Friday, winning on Saturday with both games going to overtime. Those games are something that UND will try to carry over into the weekend.

“We got to bring the same mentality,” mentioned Poolman. “We were fighting for our lives this last weekend and we needed good results. We got it on Saturday. It’s live or die– we got to bring that attitude all weekend.”

“It’s good to look at, especially with last weekend against the #1 team,” said Shaw. “It’s used as a confidence boost into this weekend. Our starts were great and we stayed level-headed most of the game. We’re going to take that weekend and translated it into the playoffs.”

With Omaha, UND will be hoping to get a more consistent result than the previous meetings this year, splitting the season series with both the Fighting Hawks wins coming via shutout. UND has outscored Omaha 14-10 in their four games this season.

“They’re a team that’s grown a lot this year,” Berry said about Omaha. “We feel very familiar with them because we just played them. They have added a lot to their offense. These are going to be hard heavy series.”

“All this boils down to is us and them,” continued Berry. “We need to build on the outcome of the game (Saturday night against St. Cloud). There’s a lot going into this. Two teams neck and neck in the Pairwise and trying to making to the Frozen Faceoff.”

The best-of-three starts Friday with Saturday being Game 2 and if necessary, Sunday hosting Game 3.

 

UND HOCKEY: Quick Start, Sloppy Second, Tense Third Have UND Salvage Tie Versus Denver

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Photo from @UNDmhockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– Coming off of getting swept last weekend, the University of North Dakota came back to Grand Forks in front of 11,845 at the Ralph to take on long-time rival Denver University for a weekend set. Friday, North Dakota would have to do without their top two centers in Rhett Gardner and Nick Jones, both out with injuries. After a quick start, but then sloppy second and half of the third, UND was able to salvage a 3-3 tie.

With the intensity level up, Cole Smith got UND out to the lead just 1:02 into the game, as he banked it off Denver’s Tariq Hammond’s torso to get the big start that the Fighting Hawks have been wanting so badly this entire season. After a Jake Durflinger hooking call, UND went on the power play, something they worked on all week. It seemed to pay off as Shane Gersich took a Grant Mismash rebound and buried it to make it 2-0. UND did get into some penalty trouble late, but were able to kill them both off– something coach Brad Berry had been working on all week, as well.

It was pretty even up for the first part of the second, but Dylan Gambrell got Denver on the board after he rifled a lovely set-up pass from Henrik Borgstrom over the blocker shoulder of Cam Johnson to cut UND’s lead to 2-1. Denver had possession for a good part of the second frame, mostly due to UND’s sloppy play in their own end with bad breakout passes and inability to clear the zone, thus allowing the Pioneers to get some chances. However, Johnson was equal to the task each time outside of that Gambrell goal.

Denver didn’t waste much time, as Tariq Hammond’s shot got redirected by Rudy Junda to tie the game up for the Pioneers 2:11 into the third frame. The tide turned away from UND further, with Cole Smith getting a five-minute major and a game misconduct after an elbow to the head of Denver’s Adam Plant, which saw Plant on the ice for several minutes before skating off with the aide of Denver’s trainer. It looked like Denver may have gotten a goal from Gambrell again, but due to goaltender interference, the goal was waved off. However, Denver didn’t let that faze them, as Troy Terry got a pass from Gambrell, made a little curl at the top of the circle and put it high glove on Johnson to give Denver their first lead of the game, which was their only PP goal of the extended time. While Denver held possession for the majority of the third, UND kept pressing. With 1:32 left, Hayden Shaw floated a shot towards Tanner Jaillet that had eyes and went over Jaillet’s shoulder to tie the game and force overtime.

The five-minute overtime yielded nothing, so it all ended in a tie in the record books, but there was still the need to see who was gets the NCHC extra point. Denver got the extra NCHC point with a Troy Terry goal on the three-on-three goal, giving Denver the extra conference point.

(Due to a late game and real work happening, I didn’t get quotes post-game, so please to be reading Brad Schlossman and Tom Miller of the Grand Forks Herald for quotes and more analysis of the game.)

UND HOCKEY: Johnson’s Shutout, Wolanin’s Pair Help Hawks Over Gophers

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Photo by @UNDMHockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– For the first time since 2012, the UND Fighting Hawks defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, this time by the score of 4-0. After having a little momentum from last night’s game, the Hawks were able to get on the board early and keep things going from there.

The first five minutes are usually the most crucial to a game and UND wanted to make sure they had the racuous crowd of 11,890 behind them for all 60 minutes. Nick Jones got things rolling with his first as a Fighting Hawks off a one-timer set-up by Grant Mismash. Jones had a lot of chances in the first five games of the season, but said he was feeling frustrated not having buried one.

The game went back and forth before Jack Glover of Minnesota checked Collin Adams from behind, which resulted in a five minute major and game misconduct. In those five minutes, UND got three more goals– two from Christian Wolanin and one from Colton Poolman in that five minute span.

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Christian Wolanin/Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“We finally shot,” quipped Wolanin post game about the power play. “We know he (Eric Schierhorn) is a good goalie and we wanted to get one in quick to break him down bit by bit.”

One of the big things that broke the spirit of the Minnesota team was the suffocating penalty kill, which held the Gophers off the scoresheet for seven chances, bumping up UND’s PK percentage to 96.3% on the season so far.

“Our penalty kill is all coach (Dane) Jackson,” said Wolanin. “Not just on the PK, but the tenacity and passion in which he coaches, we’d run through a brick wall for him. We just go out and work. It comes down to heart and…..you know……don’t know if I can say that on camera.”

Despite only have 22 shots thrown at him, Cam Johnson stopped them all and became the first goalie to shutout Minnesota in 48 games.

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Cam Johnson/Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“That one feels better than any other one I’ve had,” Johnson said post-game. “My job wasn’t too hard for me tonight. Good all around effort. We got the best fans on earth and I got goosebumps every time we walked on the ice. I was more engaged because I got more work, which is what I like.” 

On the final stats, Mismash had two assists on the night, as did sophomore defenseman Hayden Shaw. Collin Adams had a lone assist, along with Nick Jones, Ludvig Hoff, and Gabe Bast.

Head coach Brad Berry lauded his team after the game in dealing with the rivalry.

“I thought they did a good job and there’s a lot of things that go into it. For a group that doesn’t know a lot about the tradition and history, they did a good job. I’m sure both sides would admit we have to keep doing it. It’s good for the schools, it’s good for college hockey.”

North Dakota heads on the road for two straight weekends, heading to Colorado College next weekend and then onto Wisconsin to start off November.