GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota closed out an unbeaten weekend with a 4-2 victory over Bemidji State on Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (6-6-3) jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Beavers (5-4-3) struck for a pair of goals in a 1:02 span in the third period to trim the advantage to just 3-2. The Fighting Hawks were stout defensively over the final moments, holding BSU to no shots on goal over the final 6:22 of the contest to preserve the win.
Jakob Hellsten was solid in his sixth start of the season, stopping 18-of-20 shots for his third victory of the season while also notching an assist on UND's third goal of the night. The sophomore has put together a 2-0-1 record over his last three starts dating back to Nov. 18.
NoDak grabbed a 1-0 lead late in the first period when Dylan James cashed in a rebound following a great drive to the net by Tyler Kleven to put the hosts in front by a goal heading into the intermission.
Much like last night, the Hawks dominated the middle period to take control of the game. Riese Gaber scored his 10th goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0 early into the frame before Louis Jamernik V tallied his first of the season just 2:33 later with a wrister through the arm of Gavin Enright to make it 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Bemidji State pressured in the third, striking for two goals in 1:02 span in the middle portion of the stanza, but Judd Caulfield struck for his fifth goal over the last seven games with an empty netter to seal the 4-2 victory.
North Dakota jumps back into NCHC play next weekend against St. Cloud State from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The series begins on Friday night at 7:37 p.m. and can be seen on NCHC.tv or heard on the Home of Economy Radio Network through the iHeart app.
Postgame Notes
- UND failed to score on the power play tonight for the second straight game
- BSU also went scoreless with the man advantage, going 0-for-4
- NoDak finished with a 30-20 shot advantage, led by Gaber and Ryan Sidorski who each had four
- Tyler Kleven recorded the first multi-point game of his career with two assists
- Dylan James now has points in six of his last seven games (1-7-8)
- Judd Caulfield has now scored five goals over the last seven games
- Riese Gaber has points in 13 of 15 games this season, leading the team with 18 points and 10 goals
- Ty Farmer finished the weekend with three assists, his most in a weekend at UND
- UND improves to 35-5-7 all-time against Bemidji State, including 24-3-4 at home
- The Hawks are now 6-0-1 this season when scoring at least four goals in a game (0-6-2 when not)
- Caulfield's empty net goal was the first by UND since Dec. 11, 2021 at Colorado College
- Hellsten has allowed two-or-fewer goals in seven of his 12 career starts
- BSU went 28-22 in the dot, with Jamernik V leading UND with eight wins
How It Happened
First Period
15:03 | UND – Tyler Kleven makes a great drive to the net and Dylan James pots the rebound to open the scoring
Second Period
5:03 | UND – Riese Gaber follows his own shot and buries the rebound to make it 2-0 UND with his 10th goal
7:36 | UND – Louis Jamernik V fires a sneaky wrister past Enright for his first of the season and a 3-0 lead
Third Period
8:35 | BSU – Kaden Pickering gets BSU on the board with a shorthanded goal
9:37 | BSU – Carter Jones makes it 3-2 with his first of the year just 1:02 after the first BSU tally
19:31 | UND – Judd Caulfield ices the game with an empty netter to restore the two-goal lead
For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.
