GRAND FORKS, N.D. — There’s something about big moments in late-season games that brings out the best in Connor Gaarder.
The North Dakota senior forward is probably best-known for a double-overtime game-winning goal in last season’s NCAA Midwest Region championship game against Ferris State. On Saturday, he scored a game-winner that wasn’t quite as big, but did send his team on to the next round of this year’s postseason.
A 3-2 UND victory on Saturday over Colorado College clinched a 2-0 series sweep over the Tigers, and UND largely has Gaarder to thank for that. His backhander from close range past CC goaltender Tyler Marble with 1:22 left in the game sent UND to a NCHC playoff semifinal next Friday in Minneapolis.
Gaarder’s eighth goal of the season was his first point on Saturday, but his line that included Brendan O’Donnell and Austin Poganski was key to UND’s success. Poganski got the second assist on an O’Donnell goal that tied the game in the second period, and Poganski also fed Gaarder on the two-on-one that led to the game-winner.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was anybody (that scored the game-winner) with this group,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said, “and that’s the way it’s been where somebody else has stepped up at different times, but that line was pretty good tonight.
“Other than the goals they scored, they set momentum for us, they had good shifts time and time again, and then they end up making a big play at the end of the game.”
UND was the choice of many to sweep eighth-seeded CC this weekend in Grand Forks. Following UND’s 5-1 win over the Tigers in Friday’s game, it looked as though UND was indeed on its way.
CC wasn’t going to go quietly, however, and the Tigers were good value for the 1-0 lead they took in Saturday’s first period. A defensive trap setup from CC frustrated its hosts, and the Tigers took a 1-0 lead at 15:23 when blueliner Teemu Kivihalme drilled a one-timer high past UND goalie Zane McIntyre.
The Tigers couldn’t make the lead last long. Just 53 seconds after Kivihalme put CC ahead, a high but soft shot from the circle by UND defenseman Jordan Schmaltz landed behind Marble at 16:16.
UND then took its first lead of the night 9:20 into the second period. Latching onto a long centering feed from defenseman Nick Mattson to the far circle, O’Donnell scored with Marble unable to get across his crease in time.
CC may have been behind after that O’Donnell goal, but the Tigers weren’t done. They found themselves tied once more at 2-2 in the third period after Luc Gerdes scored on a wraparound at 6:10.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000cZtLYUlD_b0″ g_name=”20150314-Colorado-College-University-North-Dakota-Bradley-K-Olson” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22FRa2PQLKbFHzYoYRuzdpCGSM1RBrnPpUF54ItQTPIuW7LOwg–” ]Later in the period, though, UND retook the lead, this time for good. A two-on-one deep in the CC zone saw Poganski hit Gaarder in the slot before Gaarder backhanded a shot high past Marble.
Speaking after the game, Gaarder said that the two-on-one play and the execution on it were the kind of things that are created by hard work and line chemistry forged on the practice rink.
“Me, Pogo and O’Donnell have been practicing together last week and for who knows how long,” Gaarder said. “With our timing, we know each other inside and out, and the execution has been there.”
“It’s just puck-luck and hard work, I guess,” he continued. “If you work hard, you’re going to get the bounces, and it just happens to be (happening) at the end of the year.”
CC ended its 2014-15 season with a 6-25-3 record and a last-place finish in the NCHC. That wasn’t due to a lack of effort on the Tigers’ part, however, and both Hakstol and CC coach Mike Haviland know it.
The Tigers were swept 2-1 and 5-3 in a regular-season set in Grand Forks in January. CC made life tough for UND in that series, and the Tigers were miserable to play against again this weekend when trying to keep their season alive.
“Remember this: Colorado College was playing for its season tonight, and they played hard,” Hakstol said. “I go back to when they came in here in January, and they were playing well and playing loose and now you add to the equation tonight that they’re playing to extend their season, and it was a hard game to win.”
Haviland said after Saturday’s game that, although CC didn’t rack up as many wins as it deserved, his team had improved greatly as their season went along. He also indicated, however, that his team was often the one to make the least timely miscues in many games.
“We’ve played so hard and we’ve gotten so much better with where we feel as a staff, and we’ve learned how hard it is to win and how it’s about the team that makes the least mistakes,” Haviland said. “It just seems like we’d get so close this year but we make one mistake and it’s in the back of our net we lose a game by a goal.”
UND’s semifinal opponent in Minneapolis had not been determined on Saturday. Teams will be re-seeded on Sunday following the end of the quarterfinal round.
