UND Hockey

UND HOCKEY: Junior Jones Earning Confidence in New Location

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When forward Nick Jones left the Ohio State University in late October 2015, there was no big fan fare or questions about where he might be going next. Hell, according to SB Nation, there wasn’t even a press release that he had left the school to pursue other options. He just up and left. It wasn’t an easy decision, but as he told Tom Miller of the Grand Forks Herald in September, it was one he needed to make for himself.

“I just didn’t feel like I was developing at a rate I would like to develop,” Jones said. “I felt I was young enough, coming in at 18, that I could get a second opportunity. It didn’t feel like the right fit and wanted to try somewhere else.”

The loss of tOSU is the gain for the University of North Dakota. After spending the better part of two seasons in Penticton of the BCHL, Jones returned to the NCAA with UND and has yielded some pretty solid results thus far. It’s not just the points he has produced so far– two goals and two assists in eight games– but the intangibles that he has brought to the team in his penalty killing prowess and his ability to win face-offs in any zone. In fact, Jones leads the Fighting Hawks in face-off percentage with a 64.8% win rate (70 out of 108), which also puts him at the top of the NCHC for those players who have taken a minimum of 100 face-offs.

However, if you just looked on his stats in the BCHL, you’d think that he would have a bigger scoring role on the Fighting Hawks. Jones left Penticton after 100 games with 46 goals and 125 points, as well as captaining the Vees to the BCHL title last season. The adaptability that has gone on speaks to the character of Jones who will do anything to to make sure his team is on the winning side.

Getting comfortable has been helping, too. Jones has been able to gain confidence as the season has gone on and, it would seem, has earn the trust of the coaching staff to be put in those situations. As such, Jones has returned the favor, especially in the last three games, where he has garnered all four of his points on the season.

“I felt I was playing well in the first five games,” Jones said to the media on UND’s weekly press conference Wednesday, “I got a lot more confidence now. I’ve had chances, but it wasn’t coming. Once that first one came, there’s a lot more confidence and have felt a lot more confident in the last week and a half of practice. I think confidence goes a long way in my game. I’m doing things now that I think I would have done if I had gotten on the board earlier.”

Jones seemed to know what was going to be best of him, especially in choosing a place like Penticton and the BCHL to play. Jones played alongside former UND standout and current Avalanche rookie Tyson Jost, as well as current teammates in Colton Poolman, Gabe Bast, and Dixon Bowen.

“It was good. Going to a program like Penticton, there’s a lot of players who went through there to get to here,” mentioned Jones. “Penticton’s philosophy is a lot like UND’s. Going from Junior-A to Ohio State was a little different, but going from Penticton to here, there isn’t that much of a difference. The coaching staff’s thinking is very similar.”

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.

UND HOCKEY: Bast Earning Trust Early With UND

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Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

First impressions leave lasting ones, especially in the sports world. If that were the case for freshman Gabe Bast, the lasting impression for me is that Bast a speedy defenseman who’s willing to take risks and get involved offensively, while not letting getting too out of position in his own end. After seeing his first action in five months, Bast took every opportunity to show off for his new team after three seasons in Junior A with the Pentiction Vees.

“I felt pretty good for the first time playing a game in five months,” Bast said post-game Friday. “My timing was pretty good and as it went on I got more comfortable.”

While he wasn’t noticeable at first, the Red Deer, Alberta native did get more comfortable and was able to get the trust of the coaches to put him out in more situations. As the game went on, UND put Bast out during power play situations and was out there for the only UND goal on Friday night, as well as putting him out there during the final seconds of a one-goal game. Bast took the last shot, but got blocked off the ankle of Minnesota’s Jack Ramsey to end the game. Despite that, Bast’s impression on the UND fateful was a positive one his first time out.

“Bast comes with a good resume playing in Junior,” said head coach Brad Berry. “He has experience, he’s been through a lot of games, and he’s won. We’re going to lean on him down the stretch”

The one question mark is durability. During his last two seasons in Pentiction, Bast missed 94 of a possible 116 games from 2015 until 2017, though he did come back late in the season for the Vees, helping win the BCHL title in 2017– his second with the team, the first coming in his rookie year in 2015. With the shoulder surgery that took him out of the first four games, coupled with the extremely freak Osteitis pubis (or inflammation of the pelvic muscles); Bast has plenty to make up for in missing his junior career due to it.

His size and skill will lead many to compare him to Boston’s Torey Krug– a small defenseman, who has plenty of offensive upside and not afraid to throw the body every once in a while. However, knowing that he’s the new guy on the block, Bast knows that it’s all about trust with UND.

“Any college game is tough the first time,” Bast mentioned. “I liked getting power play time. The coaches are using me and trusting me right now. I just gotta keep building and earn their trust more.”

UND HOCKEY: Late Rally Comes Up Short As UND Lose to Minnesota

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Photo from @UNDMHockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– It was the first time I personally experienced the rivalry between the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota in hockey. The hype coming this week after a six-year absence from Grand Forks brought about plenty of great reads from the Grand Forks Herald‘s Brad Schlossman and after the Friday game and the atmosphere that came with it, I get what it was all about.

While the outcome wasn’t what the 11,862 wanted, the game brought about all the emotions of the past and brought some into the present. From blocker punches to the head to scraps after whistles to dead gophers being thrown onto the ice after Rhett Gardner’s goal in the third– this had the makings of something great to come for Saturday night.

However, Friday night was a different tone for the home squad. Despite the hype from the home crowd, Minnesota got on the board first when Casey Mittelstadt dished off to Rem Pitlick, who split the North Dakota defense and put it high blocker on Cam Johnson 11 minutes into the first period.

It was a stalemate for most of the game after that, though UND did keep the pace up in the offensive zone, but Eric Schierhorn was equal to the task, especially with the help of the defense clogging the lanes and blocking shots to the tune of 29 for the game to the Gophers’ stats.

“Can’t take credit away from them for blocking shots,” said Christain Wolanin post-game. “They bring not just one, but two and sometimes three layers of blocking. But we gotta work around it and adjust in order to get through it.” 

While the second period yielded no goals, Minnesota took a two-goal lead after Rem Pitlick set up Steve Johnson to go far on the blocker side of Johnson. When a team could have gotten down after a goal like that late, UND kept pushing and finally broke through on their power play after a set face-off play where Gardner got the face-off win to Wolanin with a touch pass to Grant Mismash who ripped it from the point, as Gardner crashed the net and picked up the rebound Schierhorn left to cut the Gophers’ lead in half and got the Ralph Engelstad Arena back into it.

Yet, despite having the energy from the crowd, the Fighting Hawks couldn’t get the equalizer, despite having numerous chances with an extra-skater as coach Brad Berry took out Johnson with two minutes left in the third. It didn’t come without chance after chance by UND, down to the last second when freshman Gabe Bast ripped a one-timer, but it got blocked by Jack Ramsey’s ankle as time expired to give the Gophers the 2-1 victory.

“Our effort was there tonight,” said coach Berry. “We took penalties and gave them momentum. They’re opportunistic, when they got chances they buried them. We were relentless tonight. We pushed the pace and playing in the other team’s zone. I liked the pace of our play and not spending a lot of time in our end of the rink, but we didn’t finish plays.” 

“They’re a team that takes advantage of opportunity,” mentioned Gardner. “We are trying to stay positive. We knew they block in their own zone, we just gotta work on some more things. Loss is a loss and we gotta regroup. If we keep the crowd in it in for the full 60 it will help us.”

“The crowd was awesome,” Wolanin added, “But we did a good job of being even keel. Good energy on the bench. When we got down, guys were saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get it back’ and it got us through a lot.”

One can only hope the crowd can stay behind UND with better results on Saturday, as UND tries to even the score and come out of the weekend with a split series, though they would have wanted those two wins.

UND HOCKEY: Three in First, Big Penalty Kill Leads UND to Weekend Sweep

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Photo from @UNDMHockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– What the University of North Dakota has been lack in the early part of this season has been scoring. Saturday, however, they turned that around with six goals from six different goal scorers to cruise to a 6-1 victory to conclude the series sweep of St. Lawrence.

After needing 19 minutes to get one goal last night, the Fighting Hawks were able to get three in that time-span in Saturday. Christian Wolanin, Shane Gersich, and Grant Mismash all got their first goals of the season in the first, with Gersich getting his on the power play. Colton Poolman had two assists on the Wolanin and Gersich goals, while Mismash’s goal came off a turnover on a St. Lawrence breakout.

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Shane Gersich/ Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“We were using our strength and our speed and really overwhelming them,” said Gersich. “We were causing turnovers and that’s what creates offense. We were playing great off the puck, too,”

As good as Arthur Brey was on Friday, he didn’t have the stuff on Saturday. Coach Mark Morris swapped out Brey for sophomore Daniel Mannella, who was tested early, but only let in one second period goal by Jordan Kawaguchi, another power play tally.

Things almost took a turn after the Kawaguchi goal, as Mismash got a five minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head of Philip Alftberg. While Ben Finkelstein of St. Lawrence got a penalty, UND got back-to-back calls against them to make it an extended 5-on-3 for St. Lawrence. Cam Johnson and the defense was equal to the task, stopping everything thrown at them as St. Lawrence was held scoreless on the power play.

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Cam Johnson/ Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“It was tiring, but it was nice to get some action there,” said Johnson of the 5-on-3. “Had a couple choice words when it happened, but I thought our penalty kill did unbelievable not giving them too many quality chances. It was a huge momentum builder for us”

“The could have gone either way, but he was our best penalty killer,” Poolman mentioned of his goaltender. “He comes up big in big moments and his rebound control is unbelievable. He’s a steady influence back there.”

Eventually, St. Lawrence was able to break the ice in the third with a goal from Jacob Pritchard almost four minutes into the frame. UND answered back towards the end as Cole Smith and Rhett Gardner got their first goals of the season sending the 11,599 at The Ralph home happy off a successful weekend.

“The biggest thing is I think guys knew we could play better tonight,” commented head coach Brad Berry. “Last night, we were grateful for the win, but we talked about it and knew we could be better.”

One down note was the loss of Johnny Simonson, who got hit awkwardly in the second period, not to return for the game. Coach Berry said he was be evaluated and they’ll see how it goes throughout the week leading into next week’s rival series against Minnesota.

UND HOCKEY: Late PPG Helps UND Squeak By St. Lawrence 2-1

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Photo from @UNDMHockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– For Collin Adams and the University of North Dakota team, it was better late than never on Friday as the Fighting Hawks got a late goal from the freshman to propel them by St. Lawrence University 2-1 in front of 11,221. The goal, on the power play, was Adams’ second of the season and the second power play goal by UND this season in 16 attempts.

“Bottom line, we found a way to win,” said head coach Brad Berry after the game. “It wasn’t pretty, we have a lot of things to work on. I don’t think we didn’t sustain enough offensive zone pressure. We have to play simpler, make quick passes, and get shots on net.”

St. Lawrence, led by the play of junior goalie Arthur Brey, gave UND fits during the game, with the Mark Morris-led team clogged up the middle, forcing UND to the outside and not giving them any good lanes to shoot. When UND did get opportunities to shoot, Brey had a clear vision of it thanks to his defense clearing out the middle.

“Give them credit, St. Lawrence did an excellent job of getting in front of shots,” defenseman Colton Poolman said post-game. “They’re a good and hard heavy team and they battled back. We have to find a way to limit turnovers, but in the end– we found a way to win.”

UND struck first with a goal by Ludvig Hoff, who tucked in a rebound after Grant Mismash tried to break SLU’s defense by streaking across the crease for a chance. While SLU’s defense got a stick on Mismash chance, Hoff was able to get Brey out of position for an easy goal late in the first.

The only SLU goal of the night was from Joe Sullivan, who gathered up a deflected shot from Nolan Gluchowski that went of Christian Wolanin and right only Sullivan’s stick. From that point on, it was tight hockey until the end of the game.

UND wasn’t without chances, as they had seven power plays overall in the game, but Adams’ game-winner with 3:49 left was the only one they needed. With a great keep by Colton Poolman who got it over to Christian Wolanin, he passed it down low to Joel Janatuinen, who found a streaking Adams for a tic-tac-toe goal for the eventual winner.

Not without his glory, Cam Johnson stepped up big when he needed with 20 saves on the night, including a 2-on-0 stop after UND squandered a two-man advantage.

“Cam played a great game for us,” Berry said. “He made some tough saves and he held us in there. He’s a reason we got the win tonight.”

Before the game, UND announced that Mike Gornall will be leaving the team to pursue other options. While nothing more has come out from this, speculation is that he was looking for more playing time and thanks to depth of North Dakota, he didn’t feel like he was going to get that opportunity in Grand Forks.

UND HOCKEY: Mid-Week Media Gathering

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After coming back from Alaska 1-0-1, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks were able to take a little bit more than a win and tie away from it. They seemed to learn a bit more about the team they have.

“We learned a lot about our team. One of the words we use is depth and we have it,” head coach Brad Berry said to the media at the mid-week press conference. “Guys coming in and out of the line-up, it was good to see that they were ready. As far as the trip, it’s good to get that out of the way. Our longest trip of the year and the team did a great job in focusing given the circumstances. We didn’t accomplish everything we needed to, winning two games, but we’re getting very close to that.”

“We learned no games are easy,” mentioned senior Johnny Simonson. “It was good for us to have a tough couple games. It’ll help us the next couple weekends ahead. Last year, we had a lot of success really early, then we played tougher competition. It was hard to get up Monday after a really hard Sunday. Tuesday, we really got our feet back underneath us.”

With that adventure out of the way, UND looks forward to more conference action with St. Lawrence coming into town Friday and Saturday. The Saturday game will have a lot of pomp and circumstance, as the 1987 National Championship team– known as the Hrkac Circus– will be in honored pregame.

“It’s great, it’s hard to believe 30 years went that fast,” said Berry. “For our guys, it’ll be great for them to see faces from the past who build the foundation for this school. It’s nice to have that collective group of guys coming through here at the same time.”

However, the Fighting Hawks will need to keep their eye on the prize, especially with St. Lawrence coming off of two losses to Big Ten opponents in Michigan and Penn State.

“I heard they’re a real strong, big, physical team,” Simonson said. “We’re expecting a pretty chippy weekend, so we have to be prepared for that. We’re expecting a hard series.” 

Coach Berry continued, “We’re coming back home and when you have 11,000 fans helping you out, it aids to the success. We’re looking at team from the east, they play fast, and they’re going to bring their A-game. Yeah, we’re at home, but we got to make sure we’re ready.”

UND RECAP: Youth Served in Exhibition Win

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Photo via University of North Dakota’s Twitter

GRAND FORKS, ND– The kids were in full force for the University of North Dakota on Saturday, as the Fighting Hawks won their exhibition match-up against the University of Manitoba for a 14th straight season. The Hawks’ rookies had two goals and five assists from the freshman class, while the other newcomer, junior transfer Nick Jones, added an assist.

The start was a little rocky for UND, as they gave up the first goal after Manitoba’s Remi Laurencelle picked the puck off and went in to beat Cam Johnson five-hole almost five minutes in the first period. Manitoba controlled the game early, which shouldn’t be a surprise with the Bisons playing six games leading up to this match-up.

Things settled down once Ludvig Hoff fired a rocket of a wrist-shot from the top of the circle to beat Byron Striggs and tie the game up. It was the first of two goals Hoff would score in the game, as he was bumped to “top line” center for UND between captain Austin Poganski and Shane Gersich.

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09/30/17 Ludvig Hoff (photo by Jen Conway)

“I felt very comfortable playing between those two,” Hoff said post-game of his two linemates. “They’re two really talented players and made it a lot more fun for me out there.”

After that, the rookies took center stage, with Grant Mismash potting his first goal of his UND career after a fantastic pass from fellow freshman Collin Adams, a play all started by spare freshman defenseman Matt Kiersted.

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09/30/17 Grant Mismash (photo by Jen Conway)

“It was pretty surreal, though I kind of whiffed on it,” said Mismash, a Nashville Predators prospect. “Obviously, first period there were nerves, but once we settled down it was just like playing a good ol’ game of hockey.”

Aside from a goal by Manitoba three minutes in, the second period belonged to UND. Started by another great passing display by Adams, who found a streaking Christian Wolanin to put the third goal on the board for UND, while Hoff put up the fourth, freshman Jordan Kawaguchi scored UND’s fifth, and senior Johnny Simonson put up the sixth and final goal for the Hawks in a 6-2 final.

“We learned we’re not a one-line team,” mentioned head coach Brad Berry post-game. “Lot of good effort out there, but a lot we need to work on. We weren’t as sharp as we could have been. We need to have a good week of practice leading up to Alaska next week.”

The Ralph tonight had 10,682 to watch the game, which is something both rookies Mismash and Adams hadn’t seen in their junior playing days.

“You’re only getting, what, 3,000 or so people out in the USHL,” mentioned Adams. “To have this here for just an exhibition game was pretty fun.”

While this team has been a lot about the play of Cam Johnson, he didn’t have his best game, letting up two goals on 12 shots, one of which was a fluky, bouncing puck in the second that was credited to Calvin Spencer. Freshman Peter Thome took over for the third and stopped all five shots he faced.

“(Defensive zone) is one of the big things we need to clean up,” Coach Berry stressed. “We have to make sure we address the chemistry of the lines and know the importance of cleaning up in front of our house. It doesn’t come overnight, it’s something we have to instill on a constant basis.”

UND takes a long road trip to start the season, as they’ll travel to Anchorage to take on the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves next weekend in their first series, which is a non-conference tilt.

UND HOCKEY: Wolanin Ready to Step Into Experienced Role

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After winning a National Championship with UND in his first season, Christian Wolanin, along with the other Fighting Hawks, had to learn their way around a season without the veteran core they had to lead them to the National Championship. However, Wolanin took away the experience of both seasons with a solid vision for the future.

“We just learn what it takes,” said Wolanin during UND’s Hockey Media Day. “We were lucky in the National Championship season to have Troy Stetcher and Paul LaDue on defense and Drake Caggulia, Nick Schmlatz up front. It was a blessing to learn from them. Last year, we figured it out as it went along. We had a rough start, had some ups and downs. But we figured it out what it takes to win on a day-to-day basis. I think we deserved a better fate, but that’s behind us and we’re ready for this year.”

However, this year, Wolanin will be the senior most player on the blueline. With Gage Ausmus graduating and Tucker Poolman going pro, Wolanin will be looked at to be the leader on and off the ice for the younger defenseman, but it’s a role he’s more than willing to take up.

“I’m excited. I had great leaders and great people around me to help me in my first two years,” Wolanin mentioned. “At some point you expect the role to be dropped on you. I hope to exceed everyone’s expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I know the pressure is there but that’s what you play for.”

Wolanin sees this team a little different than the past two years and providing a line-up that may see this UND team have a higher internal competition between teammates than what has happened in year’s past.

“We’re deep, we have four lines we know can go,” said Wolanin. “Unfortunately, with how North Dakota is, we’ll have some great players will be out of the line-up; but that will create some better competition in practice. And that goes for every player from senior to freshman. New guys are great. They haven’t played a game yet, but their work ethic is there and they’re learning to buy into the tradition and culture of the team.”

During the summer, Wolanain went back to Ottawa Senators developmental camp, as the 2015 Fourth Round choice of Ottawa said he had gained the weight that Ottawa, as well as UND, wanted him to gain. While he keeps his eyes on the UND season, Wolanin knows that if he can play his game– both the Senators and Fighting Hawks staff will be more than pleased with his performance.

That performance could lead him to the NHL, which is something that is in his lineage, as Christian is a second generation player, with his father Craig playing almost 700 games in the NHL and was a member of the 1995-96 Stanley Cup winning Colorado Avalanche.

“My dad is the reason I’m here,” said Wolanin “He’s been so influential in my whole life, whether it’s turning hockey into life lesson or life into a hockey situation. I’m very thankful for him.”

While Christian has carved out his own path, having a father that has experience does help. That said, with more on his plate this season and his hunger to help get UND back into the National Championship picture, expect Wolanin to be better than he has been and make those around him up their games in order to keep up.

UND HOCKEY: Peski Ready For Bigger Role in Second Season

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Life is tough for a freshman in college. Not just getting adjusted to living away from home, but learning to do your own laundry, Greek life becoming a thing, learning that ice cream is a good breakfast option and so on. But for a freshman college athlete, it’s all about earning your spot and being able to keep it. Just ask UND defenseman Andrew Peski about his freshman season last year.

“Coming to the NCAA is a big jump,” Peski told me during the UND Media Day. “You’re playing against full grown men and it took a little time to get used to the speed and strength that comes with it. But my teammates were there for me a lot. They told me to keep working and keep getting better, which helped a whole lot.

It showed in Peski’s performance. In and out of the line-up for the first half of the season, Peski became a regular in the line-up after the calendar turned to 2017. It also helped Peski as he was paired up with captain Gage Ausmus in that time to help him learn more about the college game.

Peski also played a big role in UND’s regional game last year, the two overtime thriller in Fargo that saw Boston University beat UND after many controversial calls on both sides of the puck, including an almost 15-minute offsides review that nullified the possible UND game-winning goal.

“That game is always in the back of our head,” said Peski. “I’ve watched the game a few times, but it’s a new year and a new us– we’re moving on. We want to get back to get back to that tournament and have a better outcome, especially since it’s in Sioux Falls (South Dakota) this year and we’ll have plenty of support.”

This year, UND will be without Ausmus, who graduated and is playing in the ECHL, while other top-defenseman statistically in Tucker Poolman left school early to sign his NHL contract. Peski is going to be given a bigger role on this team and knows that he’ll have to compete with the depth on this year’s team.

“I’m really excited to take on any roles I earn,” mentioned Peski. “And that’s it, right?? You get what you deserve. Our freshman class is very talented and we all want them to step in and get antiquated with the team.”

This summer also provided Peski the experience of an NHL developmental camp, as the Ottawa Senators brought Peski in as a free agent prospect to get a look at what he could do. The Orleans, Ontario (a suburb of Ottawa) native looked back at the experience with a new look on the pro game.

“Ottawa camp was an eye-opener for sure,” Peski said of his first camp. “It was an interesting kind of the atmosphere. There were a lot of similarities to what we get here at North Dakota, so I was very prepared for it. It was a great time and I learned a lot. It definitely helped with Christain Wolanin being there, as well as some Ottawa guys that I interacted with when I was younger.”

Peski also stated that the line for everyone across the board was to jump on things early and often.

“We don’t wait and get comfortable. We’re telling everyone, especially the new guys to do your best and make the right plays and it’ll come to you.”