GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Sometimes it doesn't take the greatest shot to win a tight hockey game.

That held true Saturday night as junior forward Jordan Kawaguchi's soft wrist shot with just over 7 minutes left in the game snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the University of North Dakota to a 3-1 victory over Michigan Tech in the USA Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

"I was trying to go blocker, but I think it went through his (goalie Robbie Beydoun) armpit, maybe'' Kawaguchi said of his game-winner, his second goal of the season.

Kawaguchi said he partially fanned on his shot on the 4x4 play, with each team having a man in the penalty box when the goal came at 12:29 of the final period. 

"It worked out for us, so I was pretty happy about it,'' Kawaguchi said.

The victory, coming in front of 10,899 fans, boosted UND to 5-1-1 overall in non-conference play while dropping the Huskies from Houghton, Mich., to 3-4-0.

Once again it was a stout defensive effort and solid goaltending from sophomore Adam Scheel that fueled the win. UND, coming in averaging 17.7 shots against this season, limited the Huskies to 15 shots, 14 of them stopped by Scheel.

Tech struck first, junior wing Justin Misiak scoring his first of the season on a backhander at 5:50 of the opening period that appeared to deflect into the net off a UND defenseman.

But in a dominating second period, the Fighting Hawks outshot the Huskies 8-1 and tied the game on junior defenseman Matt Kiersted's seeing-eye wrist shot from the left point, his first goal of the season, at 12:29 of the first period.

Then came Kawaguchi's wrist shot on a feed from Collin Adams and a clinching goal from sophomore forward Gavin Hain into an empty net with Beydoun pulled for an extra attacker at 19:33 of the last period.

"I thought we had a little trouble in the first period moving pucks, and got hemmed in our own end a couple of times,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "I don't think we played as a 5-man unit, up and down the ice.''

That all changed in the middle stanza when UND limited the Huskies to a single shot and came back to tie the game on Kiersted's shot through traffic.

"I thought we kind of took over in the second, playing the right way,'' Berry said.

The defensive effort was even more impressive in that UND played without two standout defensemen, Colton Poolman and Gabe Bast, both out with injuries.

"Bubs (Berry) just got done saying it, the next-man-up mentality,'' Kiersted said of junior Josh Rieger and frosh Ethan Frisch, who stepped in defensively and played a strong role in shutting down Tech's chances. "I think we have a really deep D-corps. A guy goes out, the next guy comes in, and he performs. I think that's more than defense, that's forwards coming back on the backcheck. The harder they backcheck, the easier it is for us to stay up in our gaps.''

It was an encouraging sign as the Fighting Hawks prepare to open National Collegiate Hockey Conference play next weekend at home against Miami of Ohio.

Kiersted's 12th career goal came with some luck to it. "I just tried to get it on net,'' he said. "There was a lot of traffic there. It found a way through.''

UND struggled on the power play, going 0-for-5, mustering just five shots on goal. "I think we were a little methodical,'' Berry said. "We were pretty predictable, as far as moving the puck around and getting shots blocked.''

But Kawaguchi found an opening to score the winner and Hain bagged his empty-net goal from 110 feet away in the closing seconds to wrap it up.

Game notes: Shane Pinto, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Smith all had 3 shots on goal to lead UND . . . Michigan Tech went more than 15 minutes in the second period before getting its only shot on goal in the period . . . UND edged Tech 32-27 in faceoffs, led by Adams, who won 8 of 11 . . . Named the three stars of the game by the media were Kiersted, Kawaguchi and Scheel, in that order. . . .Scheel has given up 1 goal or less in 5 of his seven starts . . . UND went into the game allowing the fewest shot on goal in the nation . . . The goals by Kiersted and Hain give UND 16 different goal scorers through 7 games . . . UND has killed 20 of 21 opponent power plays so far after blanking Michigan Tech on its three chances.












Virg Foss is in his 15th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for UNDsports.com. He covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement from newspapers. This is his 50th season of covering UND hockey.