In a game of sacrifices and an opportunity to move one step closer to its next goal, North Dakota defeated St. Cloud State 3-1 on Saturday night in front of 12,004 at Ralph Engelstad Arena to capture at least a share of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Penrose Cup.
For two minutes in the opening frame, North Dakota had to kill a five-on-three advantage for St. Cloud State, but a top-ranked power play unit that scored on two chances on Friday couldn’t break through a determined North Dakota team willing to leave it all on the line.
UND managed to kill the penalty with multiple players blocking shots. For Mark MacMillan, though, the shot he blocked left him out of for the remainder of the game with a lower body injury.
“That’s a huge part of the game with those guys laying it on the line and everybody that was on the ice during that,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s an awful big part of the game, and those guys, probably in that two-minute span, showed what heart and character are all about.”
The two penalties on Gage Ausmus for high sticking and Michael Parks for slashing at 8:27 followed a North Dakota goal from Austin Poganski at 7:53 that went in past Charlie Lindgren (20 saves) to award North Dakota the 1-0 lead.
On Senior Night, North Dakota seniors Connor Gaarder and Nick Mattson each tallied a goal in the second period. Ethan Prow managed to get St. Cloud State on the board in the third period, but the Huskies were sent home winless during the weekend.
“Kind of the same story,” St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko said. “In the three wins they have against us, their fourth line has five goals and hard-grit goals. You’ve got to compliment North Dakota this weekend. I thought they did a lot of the little things necessary to win games to take us down. We got to give them a lot of credit. Everything has to go on their side.”
For the players on the ice during the first period penalty kill, the little things they did were what elevated the tone of the game.
“Those guys are just warriors,” Mattson said. “It takes a lot of courage to do that. We don’t take that for granted. Those guys, that’s huge. That’s what it’s all about at the end. You could hear the crowd appreciate it, and I think that’s really what set the stage for the win tonight.”
St. Cloud State may have stepped up its energy level from the start of Friday’s performance, but UND continued putting shots in the net in the second period.
Troy Stecher tried to bank in a puck in front of Lindgren, and Gaarder picked up the rebound and brought it around the net to score on the wrap-around at 6:58.
With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Mattson added another at 19:19 with a blast from the point.
The Huskies did use another one of their power-play opportunities in the third period when they won the draw and got the puck to Ethan Prow, who fired a shot from the top of the zone and past Zane McIntyre (26 saves) to erase the deficit.
It wasn’t enough, but it was a stepping stone to prepare for Denver next weekend.
“Hopefully we learned from this and how hard you have to play to win,” Motzco said. “It was a reminder of a team that’s going for a championship tonight, how you have to play, and we’ll get going again next week.”
North Dakota, now unbeaten in its past seven games, will face off against Miami on the road next weekend in a battle of two teams aiming to clinch the NCHC championship.
“We’re excited,” Stephane Pattyn said. “Our first goal was obviously to get home ice, which we did last night. That big win tonight has helped us to keep a position of strength going to Miami and hopefully clinching that Penrose Cup.”
