GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Senior Night in UND hockey history is an emotional, gut-twisting experience, in this case for seniors Bryn Chyzyk, Drake Caggiula, Coltyn Sanderson and Colten St. Clair, playing their last regular-season game at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
But with No. 2-ranked North Dakota trailing unranked Western Michigan 3-1 after one period tonight, the message changed in the UND dressing room after the period ended.
"Everyone was saying, (blank) Senior Night, we need a win,'' Chyzyk said. "We can be as emotional as we want, we need to win this game. The boys listened to that, and got it done.''
Fittingly enough, it was seniors Chyzyk and Caggiula who started and finished the rally in a 5-4 UND victory that propelled the Fighting Hawks to their nation-best 28th win (28-5-3). It also moved them into the No. 1 spot nationally in the Pairwise rankings, passing previous No. 1 Quinnipiac.
A sellout crowd of 11,903 watched in frustration as UND fell into a 3-1 hole after one period with some sloppy, uninspiring play. But despite a power play that converted just 1 of 8 chances and generated not many good scoring opportunities, it was the power-play goal by Caggiula, his 18th goal this season, that won it.
Chyzyk's short-handed goal at 3:16 of the second period trimmed the deficit to 3-2 and Caggiula's power-play goal at 5:44 of the third period turned out to be the game-winning goal to complete the sweep of the Broncos, UND's 11th series sweep.
UND sophomore goalie Cam Johnson, who ranks second in the nation in goals-against average (1.63) and save percentage (.937), was beaten on three of the first four shots he faced and was lifted for junior Matt Hrynkiw at 12:50 of the first period after Griffin Molino's score made it 3-1.
Hrynkiw, who started the season as the No. 3 goalie but won nine games when Johnson and freshman Matej Tomek were injured, provided a giant boost again. He took over for Johnson, stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced, and improved his season record to 10-2-2.
"That's exactly my job, to just be ready for that opportunity,'' Hrynkiw said.
UND coach Brad Berry pointed out that Johnson has been a "rock all year, winning games left and right. The goals weren't his fault. We weren't playing the right way,'' Berry said.
Caggiula said Senior Night was "extremely emotional'' for him. Earlier in the season, the Whitby, Ontario, native said he wished he'd never have to leave UND.
"Seeing my Mom crying before the game doesn't help, either,'' Caggiula said.
The night started on a dark note when No. 1 center Nick Schmaltz was unable to play after an injury suffered in Friday's 8-1 win left him feeling not well enough to play. He skated in warmups, but left the ice in obvious distress. That resulted in some line shuffling and freshman Joel Janatuinen being called out of his dorm room to rush to the rink to fill out the roster. He wasn't even fully dressed by the time the game started.
"It's on me,'' Berry said, of not having an extra skater dressed for warmups while Schmaltz tested his injury. "Like our players learned tonight, I'll learn from that.''
Colt Conrad, Michael Rebry and Molina scored the early goals for the Broncos, sandwiched around the 25th goal of the season for UND rookie Brock Boeser. Boeser finished as National Collegiate Hockey Conference scoring champion wilth 35 points, becoming the first UND rookie ever to lead a league in scoring. He also led the league in goals with 20 in conference play in his brilliant freshman season.
Defenseman Troy Stecher followed the goal by Chyzyk with his seventh of the year at 8:14 of the second period to tie it at 3-3. UND freshman Shane Gersich (his seventh) and WMU's Nolan LaPorte swapped goals to finish the second period at 4-all before Caggiula's goal to the stick side of Bronco goalie Lukas Hafner decided it.
Berry recognizes the emotions and distractions that come with Senior Night.
"It's a lesson learned tonight,'' he said. "We're going to get a lot of adversity, a lot of distractions here in the next few weeks. We've got to make sure we handle it in the right way. The leadership group took over in the locker room tonight. The game could have gone either way. They dug in and they had belief.''
Game notes: UND will host Colorado College next weekend in a best-of-3 first-round NCHC playoff series. It will be the third straight year the two have met in Grand Forks in the first round. UND won the series against the Tigers 3-0-1 ... UND outshot WMU 27-21 but converted just 1 of 8 on the power play to 1 of 3 for the Broncos ... Boeser was named the game's No. 1 star, followed by Caggiula and Stecher ... Defenseman Paul LaDue led UND in shots on goal with 4, followed by Chyzk and Stecher with 3.
Virg Foss reported on UND hockey for 35 years, including 5 national championships, for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement. He now covers games exclusively for UNDsports.com. He can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.
