TEMPE, Ariz. – Fourth-ranked North Dakota struck four times in the third period to cruise to a 7-4 win over Arizona State on Friday night from Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
 
The win, coupled with Denver's loss to St. Cloud State, moves UND (19-6-0, 11-4-0 NCHC) eight points clear of the Pioneers for first place in the league standings and keeps the Fighting Hawks at No. 3 in the NPI rankings.
 
It was an emotional, but successful return to Mullett Arena for goaltender Gibson Homer, as the former Sun Devil finished with 30 saves to record the victory. The graduate student was forced to make some big saves over the final 20 minutes, stopping 15 shots right in front of the Sun Devil student body to help preserve the victory.
 
Senior forward Ellis Rickwood continued his scorching offensive play, scoring a goal and dishing out a trio of assists for his second four-point game of the month. Rickwood now has five goals and nine assists for 14 points over his last nine games and crosses the 20-point plateau for the season.
 
Freshman forward Will Zellers also broke his goal scoring drought in a big way, potting a pair of goals and tallying an assist for his third game this season with multiple goals and his first three-point night as a collegiate player. The rookie scored both of his goals in the third period while notching a shorthanded assist on Rickwood's tally in the opening stanza.
 
For the second straight Friday night, all four forward lines found the back of the net, with Rickwood, Zellers, Dylan James, Cody Croal and Anthony Menghini all scoring as well as defenseman Keaton Verhoeff adding a goal and an assist for his second multi-point game of the season.
 
NoDak got off to a strong start in the opening 20 minutes, as Menghini struck for his fifth goal of the season after a great dish from Jake Livanavage to make it 1-0 just over six minutes into the game. The visitors quickly doubled the lead as Rickwood deflected home an Abram Wiebe point shot for a shorthanded tally and a 2-0 lead advantage after the first period.
 
Arizona State (12-12-1, 5-7-1 NCHC) pushed back hard in the second period and eventually drew even with a pair of goals in just 1:56 of playing time; however, Croal and the Hawks answered right back when he sniped home his sixth of the season just 46 seconds after the tying goal to quickly put the visitors back in front, 3-2, after 40 minutes.
 
UND showed why it is one of the nation's top teams in the third period on Friday night, striking four times to eventually pull away and notch the 7-4 victory.
 
It didn't take long to pot the first one in the frame, as Verhoeff and Rickwood combined on a nice give-and-go on the power play and the freshman wired home his first since Nov. 1 just 1:40 into the stanza to make it 4-2 in favor of the visitors.
 
After ASU struck on the power play itself to cut the lead back to one, Sam Laurila made a great pass to James at the side of the net for the senior's 14th goal of the season just 52 seconds after the ASU tally to once again quickly stretch it back to a two-goal game.
 
Zellers put the game out of reach with his first tally since Dec. 5 to snap an eight-game scoring drought and put the Hawks up 6-3 before adding his second via the empty net to close out the 7-4 win.
 
North Dakota will go for the sweep on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. (CT) on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
 
Postgame Notes 

• UND improves to 3-3-0 all-time against Arizona State and 2-1-0 in Tempe
• Anthony Menghini now has 22 of his 25 career goals against NCHC opponents
• Menghini has seven points (4G, 3A) over his last nine games
• Ellis Rickwood has five goals and nine assists over his last nine games
• Rickwood also tallied his second four-point game of the month and tied his career high
• Cody Croal returned from injury and scored his sixth goal of the season
• Croal has eight points (5G, 3A) over his last 13 games
• Keaton Verhoeff had his second multi-point game of the season
• Will Zellers broke an eight-game goal drought and tallied his first three-point game of his career
• Sam Laurila has points in three straight games – all assists
• All four forward lines scored for the second straight Friday night
• The seven goals by UND match a season high (Nov. 7 at Omaha)
• Dylan James tied his season high in goals with 14 and has six tallies in his last six games
• UND improves to a plus-23 in the third period this season and has 38 goals
• The Hawks are also outscoring NCHC teams, 26-8, in the third period this season
• UND is now 9-2-0 this season on the road and 14-4-1 in NCHC road games since Nov. 2024
• Jake Livanavage recorded an assist to give him 13 points in the last 12 games
• Livanavage also passes Nick Mattson for the most career points by a UND defenseman since 2011
• UND has 12 wins this season by at least three goals and has scored at least five goals in 11 games this year
• UND went 1-for-4 on the power play while ASU was 2-for-6
• Gibson Homer finished with 30 saves
• UND notched its fifth shorthanded goal of the season – the most in a season since 2016-17 (6)
• Shots were 34-33 ASU
• Faceoffs were 29-19 in favor of UND, with Cole Reschny leading everyone at 11-4

How It Happened 

First Period:                                                     
06:13 | UND – Anthony Menghini (5) from Jake Livanavage
11:12 | UND – Ellis Rickwood (6, SH) from Abram Wiebe (12) and Will Zellers (8)

Second Period: 
11:38 | ASU – Tucker Ness (2) from Ty Nash (3) and Sam Court (4)
13:32 | ASU – Carmelo Crandell (5, PP) from Cruz Lucius (21) and Bennett Schimek (22)
14:18 | UND – Cody Croal (6) from Ollie Josephson (9) and Jack Kernan (5)

Third Period:
01:40 | UND – Keaton Verhoeff (5, PP) from Rickwood (14) and Ben Strinden (11)
06:00 | ASU – Justin Kipkie (3, PP) from Kyle Smolen (10) and Samuel Alfano (7)
06:52 | UND – Dylan James (14) from Sam Laurila (7)
08:20 | UND – Will Zellers (11) from Rickwood (15) and Verhoeff (9)
16:33 | ASU – Johnny Waldron (1) from Joel Kjellberg (6)
18:14 | UND – Zellers (12, EN) from Rickwood (16) and Mac Swanson (12)

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