OMAHA, Neb.-- Senior Matt Kiersted and freshman Riese Gaber tallied goals while junior Adam Scheel logged a 19-save shutout in North Dakota's 2-0 win over Miami in the season opener for both teams, the first of ten games apiece in the NCHC pod. 

North Dakota (1-0-0, 1-0-0 NCHC) dominated throughout, peppering pucks at the Miami netminder Ben Kraws early and often. In fact, UND recorded 18 shots on goal in the opening period and Miami (0-1-0, 0-1-0 NCHC) really didn't have too many scoring opportunities, thanks to a suffocating UND defense. 

UND was unable to solve Kraws, however, until the latter stages of the second period when the North Dakota power play got things started. Senior captain Jordan Kawaguchi and sophomore Shane Pinto setup Kiersted's blast from the deep slot. His one-timer came after a cross-ice feed from Kawaguchi to Pinto at the far circle, who fed it to Kiersted for a 1-0 UND advantage. 

Early in the third, the freshman Gaber, who led the USHL in goals last season with 34 in just 47 games, ripped a wrister top shelf from close range. Pinto assisted on that goal as well, with the Ottawa Senators' prospect setting up both UND scores.

Pinto gained entry into the zone, and then found a streaking Gaber cutting to the seam. The Gilbert Plains, Man., native collected and ripped one under the crossbar for his first collegiate point. 

Junior Adam Scheel was solid in net, getting the win with 19 stops for his fourth career shutout.  One of his biggest stops came early in the fourth when a UND skater got spun around and lost the puck, leading to a breakaway for Matthew Barbolini. Freshman defenseman Jake Sanderson was able to close ground quickly and Scheel got a pad on the breakaway chance to keep the shutout intact. 

UND, following a 5-0 win to end the regular season last year at Omaha, has now etched back-to-back shutouts in consecutive games at Baxter Arena. 

Friday, North Dakota will face Denver in the NCHC pod, followed by a Sunday date with Western Michigan before the rematch with the Pioneers on Tuesday. 

NOTES: 
*Gaber was named the USHL's Forward of the Year and Player of the Year last season, becoming just the 23rd player in the 73-year history of the USHL to win both awards in the same season. 
*Kiersted's goal was the 18th of his career and seventh on the power play. 
*North Dakota improved to 18-7-4 all-time against Miami. 
*It was Scheel's fourth career shutout, and second straight season with a season-opening blanking. (5-0 over Canisius last year- Oct. 11, 2019)
*UND extended its streak of not allowing a goal to 125:02, dating back to a Mar. 6, 2020 game at Omaha. 
*Wednesday's win was Pinto's first career two-assist game. He has 12 helpers a season ago. 
*It was the NCAA debuts for Riese Gaber, Tyler Kleven, Griffin Ness and Jake Sanderson and the UND debut for Brendan Budy (Denver in 2018-19). 
*Shane Pinto, who is the career leader in faceoff win percentage (61.2 coming into the season) at UND, won 19 of 28 draws Wednesday (67.9%)
*Scheel lowered his school-record career GAA to 2.03.