DULUTH, Minn. – No. 4 North Dakota showed why it earned the most first-place votes in this season's conference preseason poll, finishing off a sweep over No. 18 Minnesota Duluth with a 2-0 win over Saturday night in AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
 
UND (7-2-1, 2-0-0 NCHC) received goals from Louis Jamernik V and Riese Gaber in the opening two periods while goaltender Ludvig Persson stopped all 30 shots fired his way to notch the fifth straight win over the Bulldogs (3-5-3, 0-2-0 NCHC) in Duluth for the first time since a 13-game streak in the 1960's.
 
As expected, Minnesota Duluth came out with a push to begin the game, but Persson and the Fighting Hawks were up to the task in the early going. The visitors started to tilt the ice when Jackson Blake drew a penalty on a great rush to the net to put UND on the game's first power play.
 
NoDak finally broke through with the man advantage after multiple good looks, as Jamernik V pounced on a loose puck in the crease and popped it over Matthew Thiessen and into the net for his second goal of the weekend and a 1-0 UND after 20 minutes of play.
 
The momentum stayed with the Hawks as the second period started, with Gaber striking just over three minutes into the stanza on a great feed from Blake to increase the advantage to 2-0 with the senior's fifth goal of the season. UND finished with an 18-5 shot advantage in the middle stanza but could not build on the two-goal lead.
 
UND was clinical in the final 20 minutes of regulation and closed out the sweep with a 2-0 victory.
 
North Dakota returns home to battle Miami for an NCHC series beginning on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. in Grand Forks, N.D.
 
Postgame Notes 

• UND improves to 155-89-11 all-time against Minnesota Duluth and 67-46-6 in Duluth
• The Hawks have scored first in nine of the 10 games this season and are 7-1-1
• NoDak has won five straight games in Duluth for the first time since Nov. 29, 1968
• UND finished 1-for-5 on the power play while UMD was 0-for-1
• UND has won five straight games at AMSOIL Arena and is 8-3-1 against UMD in the last 12 games
• Owen McLaughin has points in four straight games, a new career high
• Louis Jamernik V has scored in three straight games vs. Minnesota Duluth
• Ludvig Persson recorded his second shutout of the season, finishing with 30 saves
• UND improved to 6-0-0 this season when holding a lead after 40 minutes
• North Dakota finished with a 31-20 faceoff advantage, with Cameron Berg leading UND at 11-7

  
How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
07:38 | UND – Louis Jamernik V pots home a rebound on the power play to open the scoring  
Second Period 
03:05 | UND – Riese Gaber finishes off a great feed from Jackson Blake to increase the lead to 2-0

Third Period 
No scoring

For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.