GRAND FORKS, N.D. – In a reversal of tradition, University of North Dakota senior goalie Zach Driscoll gave his teammates a wonderful present on his 25th birthday, a 34-save gem of goaltending as the No. 7 Fighting Hawks took another step toward their third straight National Collegiate Hockey Conference title with a 2-1 victory over sixth-ranked Western Michigan Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The victory, coupled with Denver's 5-1 loss to Omaha, moved the first-place Fighting Hawks four points ahead of the Pioneers with three NCHC games remaining for both teams. If Denver loses Saturday and UND wins, the Fighting Hawks could clinch the Penrose Cup as NCHC champions Saturday for the third straight year and fifth time in nine tries.
Goals by junior wing
Ashton Calder (his 11th) in the first period and a tie-breaking tally by freshman wing
Matteo Costantini (his 7th) at 13:53 of the second period were all the offense that UND needed this night, thanks to the stout play of Driscoll, who stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced over the last two periods.
"He's in the zone,'' UND coach
Brad Berry said of Driscoll. "He's tracking pucks, he's finding pucks, he's battling on loose pucks in front of the net. It's experience. He's got a lot of experience behind him (he previously played at St. Cloud State and Bemidji State) and he's hungry to compete. It's his 25th birthday today. What a birthday present that was.''
Driscoll was at his best in the second period when the Broncos fired 17 shots at him but scored only on the first goal of the season by WMU rookie defenseman Jacob Bauer from directly in front at 7:28 to knot it at 1-1.
But junior
Judd Caulfield centered a pass off right wing at 13:53 of the second period for the streaking Costantani to shoot through the pads of WMU goalie Brandon Bussi (17 saves) for what turned out to be the game-winning goal, his second goal in the last 14 games.
"I thought it was a hard-fought win from start to finish,'' Costantini said "The older guys stepped up there at the end, the last few minutes, and that's what we're going to need the rest of the year.''
The Broncos, who outshot UND 35-19 for the game, outgunned UND 17-5 in the second period, but Driscoll was beaten only by Bauer on his shot to the glove side of Driscoll from in close.
"He's a stud right now,'' Costantini said of Driscoll. "He's keeping it positive in the room, and the guys are believing in him. He keeps playing like that, it's going to be tough for teams to put pucks in the back of the net.''
Since being swept by Western Michigan on the road in mid-January, UND has regrouped to win 24 of a possible 27 points to pull ahead of Denver and into the NCHC lead.
For UND, ranked sixth in the NCAA Pairwise Rankings to determine the 16-team NCAA tournament field in March, it hasn't been an easy march to the top. UND now has beaten teams ranked 3-4-5-7-8- and 11 in this week's Pairwise rankings.
"I thought we did a good job of staying with the game,'' Berry said. "Our (penalty) kill did an outstanding job.''
WMU managed 10 shots on goal on its four power-play chances but was blanked. In a 4-1 Western Michigan win over UND on Jan. 21 in Kalamazoo, Mich., the Broncos scored three times on the power play.
"At the end of the day, guys played up to their level and found a way to get it done,'' Berry said.
And Driscoll found a way. "When's he's hot, he's hot, so watch out,'' said Calder, who played against Driscoll when Driscoll was at Bemidji State and Calder at Lake Superior State.
Driscoll had a later birthday party planned. The Apple Valley, Minn., native said his parents, grandparents, sister, girlfriend and other close to him were in attendance among the 11,510 fans at REA.
NOTES: The goal by Calder was his first in the last 8 games and just his second point in the last 8 . . Costantini, Driscoll and Calder were voted the three stars of the game, in that order . . . UND was 0-2 on the power play with 2 shots on goal, WMU 0-4 with 10 shots . . .
Brendan Budy led UND in shots on goal with 3, while defenseman Ronnie Attard had 5 to pace the Broncos . . . UND won the faceoffs 38-30, led by
Connor Ford (18 of 33) and
Jake Schmaltz (10 of 16) . . . Seniors Ford, Driscoll,
Mark Senden and
Gavin Hain will be honored after Saturday's Senior Night finale . . . Costantini, with a goal and as assist, was the only player with multi-points.
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.
