GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- On a roster laden with NHL draft picks including first-rounders Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeser, former walk-on and undrafted senior Coltyn Sanderson was a shining star tonight for North Dakota.
In a 5-1 victory over Omaha in a battle of two nationally-ranked top 10 teams in front of a sellout of 11,888 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena, Sanderson stole the show as much with his words as for his first collegiate goal.
The Moose Jaw, Sask., native bagged what turned into the game-winning goal with his rebound tally at 3:33 of the second period, giving his team a 2-1 lead.
It was his first goal in 26 career games for Sanderson, 16 of them coming so far in his final college season.
"Just relief and excitement,'' Sanderson said of his goal, dug out of the net by teammate Troy Stecher and presented to Sanderson on the bench. "It was a big monkey off my back, especially this year with more playing time.''
He realizes his playing time is hard to come by, and said that his goal hardly guarantees he'll be back in the lineup next weekend.
Then he delivered the quote of night.
"I remember being 20 years old and deciding whether I wanted to be on a team where I might be a first-liner, or win a national championship. I obviously chose the latter and being part of this culture is the best thing that has happened to me in my hockey career.''
A night after losing a 4-3 overtime game to the Mavericks in which UND struggled in many areas, it was very good in all facets tonight.
UND received goals from top line players Boeser (15th) and Drake Caggiula (15), as well as from Sanderson, defenseman Stecher and wing Luke Johnson, the last two bagging their fifth each.
Sophomore goalie Cam Johnson stopped 28 of 29 Omaha shots in a strong performance to push his career record to 10-1-1.
Boeser's goal, coming at 6:08 of the second period for a 3-1 lead, came on a rocket of a wrister. It was also the seventh consecutive game in which he has scored a goal, one game short of the school freshman record of eight set by Kevin Maxwell in the 1978-79 season.
Boeser's goal spelled the end of starting Omaha goalie Kirk Thompson, who was lifted by Maverick coach Dean Blais after allowing three goals on nine shots and was replaced by freshman Alex Blankenburg, who stopped 12 of 14.
The victory also moved UND (19-3-2) back into No. 3 in the pariwise rankings which determine the 16 teams in the NCAA tournament in March. UND had dropped to fifth after Friday's loss.
"I thought we were much better managing pucks,'' said Berry, who had cited that as an area of weakness in the Friday loss. "I thought we played a 200-foot game. I thought a couple of lines did a good job against the (Jake) Guentzel line and negated a lot of the scoring opportunities they had last night.''
The big Omaha line of Guentzel centering Jake Randolph and Austin Oretga had three goals and six assists in Friday's win, but was held to one assist (by Guentzel, on a power play) in the rematch. Berry used the line of Johnny Simonson, Austin Poganski and Joel Janatuinen as the primary checking line with Rhett Gardner, Bryn Chyzyk and Johnson also drawing duty.
"I thought overall, it was a 60-minute game we played tonight,'' Berry said.
Stecher noted the last time UND had been swept at home was in his freshman season (2013-14) by St. Cloud State.
"They're hard days,'' Berry said after a UND loss at home. "Today around the rink was a hard day. We demand excellence here at North Dakota. There's a high bar. After a loss, it doesn't sit very well. Guys know that. Even if you play well and lose . . . it hurts. And if you don't play well, it hurts even more.''
UND captain Gage Ausmus put it this way, about the rebound performance: "Coming to the rink with urgency,'' he said. "That's the biggest difference there.''
The hurt was on Omaha in the rematch to move the second-place Fighting Hawks to within two points of league-leading St. Cloud State in the NCHC standings with UND having two games in hand on the Huskies.
Sanderson atoned for an earlier mistake with his goal. Just six minutes into the game, he was penalized for interference for knocking the stick out of the hands of an Omaha player well behind the play.
"Coach Berry wasn't too happy with that,'' Sanderson said.
UND did kill the penalty, but then gave up a power-play goal to Tyler Vessel on a goal-mouth setup pass from Guenzel to give Omaha its only lead at 17:55 of the first period. That goal ended a string of 30 straight power play chances killed by UND dating back to Nov. 29 vs. Michigan State.
But with 6.3 seconds left in the openering period, Caggiula tied it for UND with a highlight-reel goal (again). He got the puck near the crease while facing backward to the net, spun around quickly to drag the puck to his forehand to beat Thompson and the buzzer to tie it at 1-1.
Caggiula, though, was injured early in the second period after making a big hit on Omaha's Steven Spinner in the neutral zone. Berry said it is unknown at this point whether Caggiula will play next weekend against Colorado College. Berry said Caggiula got "dinged'' on the collision.
Game notes: Named the three stars by the media were Boeser, Caggiula and Sanderson. Boeser, who had an assist as well, has now scored points in 12 straight games ... Schmaltz was held scoreless, ending his 12-game point streak ... Boeser, Johnson, Chyzyk, Ausmus and Stecher all had 2-point games ... Boeser, Johnson, Sanderson and Shane Gersich all had 3 shots on goal to lead UND ... UND was 2-3 on the power play, Omaha 1-6 ... UND won the faceoff battle 30-23, led by Simsonson (10 of 17) and Gardner (8 of 12) ... Berry made switches to three of his four lines after Friday's loss and three of the four lines had at least one goal.
Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald before his retirement. He's now in his 11th season of reporting on UND games exclusively for UNDsports.com. He can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.
