GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Transfers
Ashton Calder,
Connor Ford,
Chris Jandric,
Zach Driscoll and
Brady Ferner came to the University of North Dakota for several reasons this fall, all related to the Fighting Hawks' hockey program.
The transfers from other college programs were lured by a chance to play for a winning program, a chance to win league and national honors and the first chance for most of them to ever play in an NHL rink.
Mission accomplished.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference champion North Dakota (24-12-1) followed a similar pattern, scoring twice in the second period both Friday and Saturday nights to close out the home season Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena with a second straight 2-1 victory over pesky Colorado College (9-24-3).
Goals by freshman wing
Matteo Costantini (his 8th) and from sophomore wing
Riese Gaber (his team-leading 15th) in the second period sandwiched around a Stanley Cooley deflection goal for the Tigers provided all the offense UND needed to sweep the best-of-3 series from the Tigers in two straight games.
But it wasn't without great suspense.
UND sophomore defensemen
Tyler Kleven was given a 5-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind with 138 seconds left in the game. The Tigers pulled goalie Matt Vernon for a 6-on-4 power play with 121 seconds left and managed seven shots on the power play against UND goalie Driscoll. He blocked them all on his way to a 29-save night and his teammates blocked a half a dozen tries with their bodies to preserve the victory.
"When I see those guys selling out and blocking shots,'' Driscoll said, "it just makes me want to compete on pucks that much harder. It goes hand-in-hand like that.''
Said Gaber, "I was biting my nails on the bench for sure. You've got to give our guys credit, blocking shots. Just warriors out there. That's why they're going to be successful in their careers and that's why we're successful as a team.''
The Tigers, who finished in seventh place in the eight-team NCHC, put up a valiant fight both nights, drawing praise from UND coach
Brad Berry.
"There was a lot of urgency, a lot of pride in that locker room (CC's) over there ,'' Berry said. "I want to commend (coach) Kris Mayotte and staff and his team. They played hard. They make you earn everything you get. That program is going in the right direction.''
The Tigers outshot UND 15-3 in the third period and 30-22 for the game, but Driscoll blocked 96.7 percent of the shots at him, and his teammates chipped in with 10 blocked shots for the game.
The wins advance UND to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul next weekend. UND will face Western Michigan in one semifinal on Friday with co-champion Denver University drawing Minnesota-Duluth in the other semifinal.
The major penalty on Kleven put UND in a big jam. "We shouldn't have put ourselves in that situation,'' Berry said. "We already addressed that in the locker room. I love
Tyler Kleven. I was standing at this podium yesterday and saying his game has matured, and it really has. Late in the game, you've got to make sure you're in control. . . .
Tyler Kleven is a big part of our team, but this a teaching moment for our group going forward in the Frozen Faceoff and the national tournament. Discipline is going to be a big thing.''
Because of three major penalties this season, Kleven will not be eligible to play against Western Michigan on Friday, sitting out because of an NCAA rule pertaining to major penalties.
"We've got to take the positives out of this weekend and bring it over to (Frozen Four),'' Costantini said.
He opened the scoring at 1:28 of the second period when a centering pass from
Carson Albrecht hit off a CC defender and kicked to open ice for Costantini to knock it past Vernon.
After Cooley tied it at 3:10 on a deflection of a center point shot from Nicklas Andrew on a power play, all-NCHC first teamer Gaber answered with his power-play goal at 14:57. Gaber used a toe-drag around a defender and a screen from Ford to beat Vernon with his wrist shot stick side for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The primary assist on the play went to standout sophomore defenseman
Jake Sanderson, who is third on the team in assists with 18 despite missing 14 games this season with COVID-19, injuries and a trip to China for the Winter Olympics on the USA team, where he was injured in his first game there.
Now it's time to look ahead to the Frozen Faceoff, and not just for the transfers.
"It's super exciting,'' Costantini said. "Obviously, it's my first time playing in that Frozen Faceoff, so it's going to have a lot of juice for I feel all the boys, and especially the transfers. We'll be looking to get business done over there.''
NOTES: Named three stars of the game were Gaber, Costantini and Driscoll, in that order . . . UND was 1-4 on the power play with 8 shots on net, CC 1-3 with 8 shots as well, but 7 of them coming on Kleven's major . . . Sanderson led UND in shots on goal with 4, followed by Gaber and Calder with 3 each . . . Ford led UND to a slim 37-35 edge in faceoffs, winning 17 of 29, the only player of 5 who took draws for UND over the .500 mark . . . CC was credited with 21 blocked shots, led by defenseman Connor Mayer with 5. . .
Ethan Frisch had 4 blocked shots for UND . . . CC had an early goal disallowed when officials, after a lengthy video review, ruled that Ray Christy had knocked the puck into UND's goal with his hand, at 4:40 of the first period.
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.
