ST. CLOUD, Minn. – North Dakota held a 3-0 lead in the second period, but No. 3 St. Cloud State struck for six unanswered goals over the final 37 minutes of the contest to capture a 6-3 victory and the weekend sweep on Saturday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
UND (6-8-3, 2-5-1 NCHC) got out to the start it wanted, jumping out to a 3-0 lead on goals from
Matteo Costantini,
Gavin Hain and
Riese Gaber, but the Huskies (13-3-0, 6-2-0 NCHC) cut the deficit to just 3-2 in the second period before exploding for four tallies in the final 20 minutes to grab their first sweep over North Dakota in St. Cloud since Nov. 2-3, 2001.
Zach Okabe tallied a natural hat trick for the hosts, capping the comeback with his second of the night to tie the contest at 3-3 early in the third before striking on the power play near the midway portion of the stanza to give the Huskies their first lead of the game.
Drew DeRidder, making his first start since Nov. 19, finished with 13 saves on 18 shots to fall to 3-4-1 this season.
North Dakota closes out the first half of the season at Western Michigan next weekend from Lawson Ice Arena. Friday's contest drops at 6:05 p.m. (CT) on NCHC.tv and the Home of Economy Radio Network through the iHeart app.
Postgame Notes
- UND snapped a three-game drought on the power play with Hain's tally in the first period
- Jackson Blake extended his point streak to seven games, the longest of his career
- Drew DeRidder made his first start in net since Nov. 19 vs. Miami
- Chris Jandric registered his first multi-point game since Oct. 22 at Minnesota
- Costantini's goal snapped a 15-game drought and was his first of the season
- Judd Caulfield now has points in six of his last nine games
- UND blew a three-goal lead for the first time since Feb. 23, 2018 at Miami (Hawks led 3-0)
- The sweep is the first over North Dakota in St. Cloud for the Huskies since Nov. 2-3, 2001
- Faceoffs were 34-27 in favor of SCSU, with Louis Jamernik V winning nine to pace UND
- UND is 0-8-2 this season when failing to score four goals in a game
- NoDak falls to 76-5-2 since 2018-19 when leading after two periods
- UND finished with a 26-19 shot advantage
How It Happened
First Period
11:45 | UND –
Matteo Costantini scores his first goal of the year on a rush up the wing, setup by
Judd Caulfield
15:46 | UND –
Gavin Hain strikes on the power play with a rebound goal on a
Jackson Blake one-timer for a 2-0 lead
Second Period
1:41 | UND – After a DeRidder save on a breakaway,
Riese Gaber snipes his 11th of the season to make it 3-0 UND
2:04 | SCSU – Brendan Bushy answers right back on a 4-on-2 rush for the first of the night for SCSU
18:12 | SCSU – Zach Okabe finishes off an odd-man rush to cut the lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes
Third Period
0:55 | SCSU – Okabe scores his second of the game on a loose puck in front to tie the game at 3-3
7:05 | SCSU – Okabe caps off the hat trick with a power play to make it 4-3 SCSU
14:13 | SCSU – Kyler Kupka tips home a shot from the point to extend the lead to 5-3
17:43 | SCSU – Jack Peart scores an empty netter to increase the advantage to 6-3
For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.
