{"id":150338,"date":"2024-12-19T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=150338"},"modified":"2024-12-18T23:06:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T05:06:02","slug":"this-week-in-nchc-hockey-north-dakota-did-a-good-job-of-getting-through-the-first-half-with-some-adversity-looking-for-second-half-surge-to-make-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/12\/19\/this-week-in-nchc-hockey-north-dakota-did-a-good-job-of-getting-through-the-first-half-with-some-adversity-looking-for-second-half-surge-to-make-ncaa-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in NCHC Hockey: North Dakota ‘did a good job of getting through the first half with some adversity,’ looking for second-half surge to make NCAA tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Jake Livanavage has been a force at both ends of the ice this season for North Dakota (photo: Russell Hons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s no secret that North Dakota has some work to do if the Fighting Hawks are to make their fourth NCAA tournament appearance in five years.<\/p>\n

Sitting 22nd in the PairWise Rankings after an 11-7-1 start, more things will have to start going the right way.<\/p>\n

Kind of like they have in the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

A North Dakota team dealing with injuries to some of its key players is entering the holiday break on a four-game winning streak. After eking out a tight pair of games Dec. 6-7 at Miami, the Hawks won twice again last weekend at home to St. Cloud State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our guys did a good job of getting through the first half with some adversity, gaining some momentum in December here and heading into Christmas break with being in a good spot here, and trying to keep building for the second half,\u201d North Dakota coach Brad Berry said during his weekly press conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Among UND\u2019s high-profile players that didn\u2019t factor into any of those four games are a pair of upperclassmen in senior forward Cameron Berg and junior defenseman Bennett Zmolek. Berg has been out since early November, and it was announced Wednesday that Zmolek will miss the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury. Zmolek hasn\u2019t played since UND\u2019s season opener against Providence.<\/p>\n

But for as big as those lineup omissions are, UND has seen many of its younger players blossom. For example, the Hawks\u2019 three top point-producers are all underclassmen in freshman Sacha Boisvert (8-9-17) and sophomore defensemen Abram Wiebe (4-10-14) and Jake Livanavage (2-12-14). Sophomore forward Jayden Perron (6-6-12) and freshman Mac Swanson (2-9-11) aren\u2019t far behind, sitting fifth and sixth on the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that comes from, A, seeing what college hockey is all about,\u201d Berry said of the contributions of UND\u2019s youth this season. \u201cWhen you jump from junior hockey or wherever you came from, it\u2019s a huge step in the pace of the game, it\u2019s a lot faster and it\u2019s a lot more physical, and there\u2019s a lot more physical maturity of playing against older guys. I think the combination of that, they get immersed into that, they get to see what the level is and then they play to that level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing, I think, is confidence and knowing that they belong. Once you go through all of our practices playing against really good players, and then you get into the nonconference schedule, which was really tough, and then the NCHC, then you become confident in what you can do, and I think they\u2019re playing with some swagger and confidence to make a difference, and they had to. With the guys that were out of our lineup, they had to make a difference, and we want to see that progression keep going, trending north, as far as their development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youngsters have played key roles in UND\u2019s success over the past couple of weeks. Boisvert scored the game-winning goal with less than a minute left in the Hawks\u2019 5-4 victory Dec. 6 at Miami, then three underclassmen scored the following night in a 4-2 win in Oxford, Ohio. Livanavage bagged an insurance goal in UND\u2019s 2-0 win last Friday against St. Cloud State, then underclassmen scored the Hawks\u2019 first three goals in a 4-3 overtime victory Saturday against the Huskies.<\/p>\n

UND is off until it hosts Manitoba in an exhibition game Jan. 4, and then it\u2019s all NCHC play after that. It won\u2019t be too long before the Hawks are back at it, with an eye toward making up some ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about the reasons why you\u2019re winning games or losing games, there\u2019s really no excuses built in,\u201d Berry said. \u201cWe know where we\u2019re at. At the end of the day, it\u2019s, what are we going to do\u2026the finger doesn\u2019t go (outward), it goes (inward) whether it\u2019s coaches or players, and what we have to do individually and better as a team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that Friday game at Miami was kind of a defining moment for us. It was kind of like that Denver game on Friday in Denver last year where we had to come all the way back and win that game (7-5, last December), and I think that showed (for UND\u2019s young players) that, \u2018Hey, we belong. We made an impact in this game that we won at Miami and we can continue to do that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing I said to the guys after the game on Saturday is, \u2018You\u2019ve done a good job of leading the right way here, but now, us as coaches give you game plans and situations where we\u2019re going to keep moving forward and give you a chance for success, but the success is going to align this locker room in the second half of this season because that\u2019s where the leadership really takes over,\u201d Berry continued. \u201cThat\u2019s where the ownership of the dressing room takes charge right away in the second half, and I firmly believe that our guys believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that North Dakota has some work to do if the Fighting Hawks are to make their fourth NCAA tournament appearance in five years. Sitting 22nd in the PairWise Rankings after an 11-7-1 start, more things will have to start going the right way. Kind of like they have in the last couple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":150339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in NCHC Hockey: North Dakota 'did a good job of getting through the first half with some adversity,' looking for second-half surge to make NCAA tournament - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s no secret that North Dakota has some work to do if the Fighting Hawks are to make their fourth NCAA tournament appearance in five years. 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