GRAND FORKS, N.D. – No. 19 North Dakota broke out of a slump in a big way, rolling to a 7-1 victory over Miami on Friday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
UND (5-5-2, 2-2-1 NCHC) snapped a three-game winless streak with emphatic fashion, striking for a season-high seven goals from six-different players in the victory.
Five players recorded a pair of points, headlined by freshman forward Ben Strinden scoring the first goal of his career to put the Fighting Hawks in front, 2-0, in the opening period before notching an assist on the sixth tally of the night to finish with his first multi-point game at North Dakota.
Jackson Blake extended his point streak to three straight games with his fifth multi-point contest of the season, striking for a pair of goals for the first time in his young career.
Gavin Hain,
Mark Senden, Judd Caulfield and Griffin Ness rounded out the scoring for the hosts, as 14 of the 19 dressed skaters tallied at least one point.
Jakob Hellsten was solid in his first stretch of back-to-back starts since Jan. 28-29, 2022 against St. Cloud State, stopping 18-of-19 thrown his way to record his second victory of the season.
It once again didn't take long for North Dakota to get on the board, scoring just 3:31 into the contest when Hain buried a 3-on-2 rush for his sixth goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead. Strinden extended the advantage to 2-0 late in the first period, as the rookie forced a turnover, bullied his way to the front of the net and slid the puck through the legs of Ludvig Persson to double the lead after 20 minutes.
UND broke it open in the second period, striking for a tetrad of goals to push the advantage to 6-1 at the end of two. Following a major penalty called on Miami (4-7-2, 0-6-1 NCHC), Blake and Ness each potted a goal with the man advantage by banking pucks off a RedHawk defenseman and into the net for a 4-0 lead.
Just 1:26 after the Ness tally, Senden struck shorthanded on a 2-on-1 play from Riese Gaber to make it three goals in under five minutes for the fourth time this season. Miami got on the scoreboard late in the stanza, but Caulfield answered back 18 seconds later to give UND a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Blake finished off the offensive night with another goal on an odd-man rush, this time burying a feed from Jake Schmaltz to polish off the 7-1 victory.
North Dakota and Miami will close out the weekend series on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. from the Ralph.
Postgame Notes
- The seven goals are the most this season for UND and most since a 7-1 win vs. SCSU on Jan. 28, 2022
- UND finished with a 35-19 shot advantage
- 14 Hawks got on the scoresheet, with five finishing with multiple points
- Ben Strinden scored his first-career goal and tallied his first multi-point game
- Dylan James extended his point streak to four games with an assist
- Jackson Blake tallied his first two-goal game at NoDak and his fifth multi-point contest
- Brent Johnson matched his career-high with two assists
- Judd Caulfield now has goals in three of his last four games
- Chris Jandric notched another assist, sitting with 13 to lead all defenseman in the NCAA
- UND improved to 19-3-0 when Mark Senden scores a goal and 43-8-1 when he has a point
- NoDak is now 63-4-3 when scoring at least four goals since 2018-19 and 5-0-1 this season
- UND struck on the power play for the 12th straight game
- The Hawks went 31-27 in the dot, paced by Louis Jamernik V who was 13-1
- Strinden, Senden and Blake were named the game's three stars
- UND has scored three-or-more goals in under a five-minute span four times this season
How It Happened
First Period
3:31 | UND –
Gavin Hain opens the scoring off a 3-on-2 rush to make it 1-0 early in the first
15:08 | UND – Ben Strinden scores his first-career goal on a great power move to the net and finish
Second Period
6:41 | UND – Jackson Blake slips it through the legs of Persson on the power play to make it 3-0 UND
9:31 | UND – Griffin Ness extends it to 4-0 with another power play goal that goes off a Miami defenseman and in
10:57 | UND –
Mark Senden scores NoDak's first shorthanded goal of the year on a 2-on-1 from Gaber to make it 5-0
18:15 | Miami – Blake Mesenburg scores his first-career goal to get the RedHawks on the board
18:33 | UND – Judd Caulfield answers 18 seconds later by batting a puck out of midair to make it 6-1 UND
Third Period
4:43 | UND – Blake scores his second of the night on a 2-on-1 pass from Jake Schmaltz to make it 7-1 UND
For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.
