GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- It wasn't who was missing from the lineup but the noticeable contributions of replacements that spelled victory for the 12th-ranked University of North Dakota Saturday night in a 4-0 National Collegiate Hockey Conference blanking of Colorado College.
With six regulars out of the line with four injured, one suspended and one playing for USA in the Winter Olympics, UND couldn't even put a full lineup on the ice as it chased its second two-game sweep of the Tigers of the season,
Freshman defenseman
Brent Johnson scored his first collegiate goal in only his 14th game of the season, freshman center
Dane Montgomery got an assist for his first college point in his 10th game and freshman defenseman
Luke Bast got his second assist of the season in his 16th game, all quite noticeable for stepping up well to fill vacancies.
UND modified its game somewhat with
Jake Sanderson,
Mark Senden,
Louis Jamernik,
Gavin Hain,
Cooper Moore and
Brady Ferner all missing from the lineup for different reasons.
"We simplified our game a little bit,'' UND coach
Brad Berry said. "What I mean by that is probably getting pucks deep, having short shifts, not turning the puck over a whole lot. I thought our guys had a hard mentality today.''
Nobody showed that more than senior goalie
Zach Driscoll, who posted a 23-save shutout for his second blanking of the season, highlighted by a diving save on Logan Will 11 minutes into the game. Two minutes later, UND defenseman
Ethan Frisch continued his hot streak, knocking in a power-play rebound at 12:57 for what proved to be the game-winning goal and his eighth goal of the season, fifth in the last six games.
Berry made a special point to single out the guys in the lineup who normally do not play all the time, like Johnson, Bast and Montgomery. "They played the right way and gave us a chance to get a lead, and jump on 'em,'' Berry said.
UND was down to five defensemen after Moore was suspended for a high hit in Friday's game, Ferner is out injured and Sanderson is in China in the Olympics. "I know in youth hockey it's fun,'' Berry said of going with five defensemen rather than the normal six, "but when you're playing high-end college hockey it's tough.''
The Fighting Hawks stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second period on goals by freshman wing
Matteo Costantini (his 6th) on a high wrist shot at 6:00 and Johnson's first goal of his career at 11:44 of the period on a right point blast.
Jackson Kunz finished the scoring when he became the third freshman to score in the game, knocking in a rebound at 5:49 of the third period for the third goal of the season for the Grand Forks winger.
That Johnson, a Washington Capitals draft pick, picked a good time to contribute offensively was noted by Berry. "It's tough to gain confidence if you don't get reps in game,'' Berry said. "You can practice all you want, and practice has been good for him because you're playing against hard, heavy guys who play fast. But until you get in a game environment with 11,000 fans in the stands, nothing can replicate that.''
Johnson was ready for a more impactful role. "It was fun,'' said the Texas native. "I was just waiting for my chance, and we had some injuries unfortunately, it's next man up. I was excited to get in and get some experience. I'm a competitive person, I like to win, and I get motivated by those type of things..''
And his first college goal? "I'll remember that forever,'' Johnson said.
And Driscoll added: "Anytime you come out with two wins and six points in this league, you're doing something right.''
It turned out to be a big win for UND in several ways. It showed the Hawks they can win with a watered-down lineup and win. Better yet, they moved to within two points of league-leading Denver and five points ahead of third-place Western Michigan when both of those teams lost Saturday night. All three of the have six NCHC games remaining.
As for Driscoll, he earned high praise for Berry. "He's sharp in his movements right now, that's what I see in him. He's battling on every puck,'' Berry said. "When there's a puck laying there, he's battling whether he's standing up or sliding across. The other part for me is that guys are battling for him. We blocked a ton of shots (20). I know Frischy blocked a lot tonight (6).''
NOTES: Riese Gaber built on his team scoring lead with two assists, giving him 34 points in 29 games . . .
Connor Ford led UND in shots on goal with 4, followed by Frisch and Johnson with 3 each . . . Ford led UND to a 35-31 edge in faceoffs by winning 20 of 29 . . . Named the three stars of the game by the media were Driscoll, Frisch and Johnson, in that order. . . UND moved to 11th in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimic the rankings the NCAA uses to pick its 16-team tournament field . . . This was the sixth time the Tigers have been shut out this season . . . The announced crowd was 11,180 (tickets sold) . . . UND improved to 12-5-1 in the NCHC and 17-11-1 overall while CC is now 4-13-1 in league play and 7-18-3 overall. . . CC goalie Dominic Basse and Driscoll both finished with 23 saves . . . UND was 1-4 on the power play with 6 shots, CC 0-3 with 3 shots.
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.
