GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Who could have seen this coming?
The University of North Dakota hockey team, which had scored just five goals in its last four regular-season games, exploded for a season-best seven goals Friday night in handing No. 6 St. Cloud State its worst defeat of the season, a 7-1 win for the 13th-ranked Fighting Hawks at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
UND's top line of center
Connor Ford (goal, assist) and wings
Matteo Costantini (4 assists) and
Riese Gaber (2 goals, 2 assists) combined for a 10-point game and freshman goalie
Jakob Hellsten was stout with 19 saves on 20 shots as UND won the opening-game of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series.
Ashton Calder added two goals,
Ethan Frisch and
Griffin Ness one apiece as the Fighting Hawks snapped out of an offensive funk, much to the delight of an announced crowd of 11,417.
To highlight how contributions from everyone chipped into the unleashing of the offensive game for UND, it was the first goal in 40 games for the sophomore Ness, while linemate
Carson Albrecht assisted on the goal, his first point in 28 career games for the junior wing.
"The lines that were together tonight had some consistency,'' UND coach
Brad Berry said. "We got a couple of early goals, and that's a big difference when you can get a couple of goals in the first period.''
The goals came in a variety of ways. The Hawks scored once on a power play (Frisch) in the three-goal first period for UND and even once on a penalty shot by Calder in the third period. His shake-and-bake move against replacement goalie Jaxson Castor, who took over for starter David Hrenak midway through the second period, was one of three scored on Castor on 19 shots.
Berry credited the offensive burst to the inner workings of the team. "This is the time of the year the locker room takes ownership of it, and the leadership comes out,'' Berry said.
It came out early. Behind three assists from Costantini on UND's first four goals, the Hawks built a 3-0 lead after one period on goals by Ford on a deflection at 2:53, a one-timer from the left point on a power play by Frisch at 15:45 and Gaber's finish on a 2-on-1 rush with Costantini at 19:06 for the electric start. Gaber and Calder lead UND in goals this season with 10 apiece.
"Everyone took the right approach during the week," Costantini said. "We kept a positive attitude, and we got the result we wanted.''
The win boosted UND from 13th to 12th nationally in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimic the seeding for the 16-team NCAA tournament field, while dropping the Huskies from No. 5 to 6. It also moved UND (9-4-0-0-0-0 NCHC, 14-10-0 overall) to second place in the NCHC, two points behind Denver. St. Cloud State fell to 6-5-0-1-1-0 in the NCHC, 14-7-0 overall.
St. Cloud State's only goal came on a power-play rocket from the faceoff circle by Jami Krannila high to the far side on Hellsten. He had no chance to make a play on the shot.
UND snapped a 4-game losing streak with the resounding win. "The older guys on our team kept a positive vibe in the locker-room,'' Costantini said. "It starts with the guys who are leaders.''
St. Cloud State came into the game averaging 4.6 goals per game in league play, best in the league, while allowing just 2.4.
Hellsten's strong play and a dominating offensive night for the Ford line turned all that around. St. Cloud State came into the game averaging a nation-best 38 percent success rate on the power play, but UND allowed just three chances and 7 shots on goal with the man advantage and one goal in playing a disciplined brand of hockey.
It was a challenge for Hellsten, starting a series opening for the first time, but he did not put added importance on it. "I'm just going to keep playing my game,'' Hellsten said. "It's no different than playing other teams. Same focus every game.''
He stopped 7 of the 8 shots the Huskies had on power plays, controlled the rebounds, and was aggressive in moving the puck out on breakouts from the defensive zone with his prowess in handling the puck with his stick.
Hellsten said he enjoyed seeing his teammate find their offensive touch. "I'm a part of the team, too, so obviously I get real happy when we score goals.''
NOTES: Gaber and Ford led UND in shots on goal with 6 each as UND outshot St. Cloud State 37-20 . . . UND won the faceoffs 35-27 led by Ford (16 of 26) and
Jake Schmaltz (11 of 16) . . . Costantini had one previous multi-point game this season (goal, assist vs Denver) before erupting for his 4-assist game. . . A challenge awaits UND in the Saturday rematch. Earlier this season, the Huskies beat UND 8-1 in the first game of a series in St. Cloud, but UND won the rematch 5-3. Avoiding that scenario in reverse is the challenge for UND . . . St. Cloud scored 19 goals in a sweep of Miami last weekend before mustering just one goal against UND . . . UND is now just 6-6 in Friday night games this season . . . UND's
Jake Sanderson and St. Cloud's Sam Hentges and Nick Perbix will leave their teams after Saturday's game to play for the U.S. Men's Ice Hockey Team in the Winter Olympic Games in China ... Sanderson could miss up to 6 UND games.
Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's written about UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 52nd season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.
