GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– No. 4 North Dakota potted five goals in the second period en route to a 6-4 victory over Alaska on Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
Trailing by a 1-0 score after 20 minutes, UND (13-5-1) exploded for five goals in the middle frame, including a trio over a 2:02 span, to flip the script and snap a three-game losing skid in its first regular season game back from the holiday break.
Forwards Riese Gaber and Owen McLaughlin each struck for two goals and added an assist for a three-point night while defenseman Garrett Pyke torched his old team for a pair of helpers to help the Fighting Hawks stretch their unbeaten streak in regulation to 12 games.
Freshman goaltender Hobie Hedquist made his first career start between the pipes, as Ludvig Persson was sidelined with an illness, and notched his first win with 23 saves on 27 shots. The Heron Lake, Minn., native becomes the first rookie netminder to get a victory in his debut since Peter Thome against Wisconsin on Nov. 3, 2017.
After the Nanooks (10-8-1) jumped out to the early advantage after the first period, NoDak quickly evened the game at 1-1 on a McLaughlin power play tally before Gaber gave the hosts the 2-1 lead with a great individual effort on the first two shots of the second for the green and white.
The floodgates opened in the second half of the middle stanza, with Louis Jamernik V deflecting home a great feed from Jayden Perron at the 14:58 mark and Cameron Berg sniping home a wrister from the slot just 47 seconds later to quickly increase the lead to 4-1. McLaughlin capped off the five-goal outburst with his second of the night to send the Hawks to the locker room with a 5-2 advantage after 40 minutes.
Gaber snapped his 10th tally of the year and second of the game just over seven minutes into the third to push the lead to 6-2 before Hedquist and the defense held off a late charge from the visitors to close out the 6-4 victory.
North Dakota goes for the weekend sweep on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. from the Ralph. Fans can catch all the action on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv or the Home of Economy Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- Ludvig Persson missed tonight’s game with an illness, his first missed game of the season
- Freshman Hobie Hedquist made his first start of the season and first of his career in net for UND
- UND struck for five goals in the second period, the most in a single period since Oct. 12, 2019 vs. Canisius
- Owen McLaughlin notched his fourth game with three points this season
- The sophomore also tallied his first-collegiate game with multiple goals
- Gaber scored two goals for the first time since Nov. 18 vs. Miami and snapped a three-game pointless streak
- Garrett Pyke extended his point streak to six straight games and notched his third multi-point contest
- NoDak has gone 12 straight games without a regulation loss dating back to Nov. 3 at Boston University
- The Hawks went 2-for-6 on the power play, improving to 3-0-0 when scoring multiple PPG
- UAF was 1-for-3 with the man advantage
- UND improved to 2-2-0 this season when allowing the first goal and 3-1-1 when trailing after 20 minutes
- The Nanooks blocked 15 shots while UND finished with six blocks
- Cameron Berg has 13 points (7g, 6a) over his last 11 games
- Jake Livanavage has at least one point in six of his last seven games
- UND is now 10-0-0 this season when leading after two and 9-0-0 when scoring at least four goals
- A win tomorrow night would be the first sweep over Alaska since Nov. 1-2, 1991 in Fairbanks
- UND held a 31-21 faceoff advantage, with Jake Schmaltz going 7-1 and Owen McLaughlin going 11-6
How It Happened
First Period
15:58 | UAF – Caleb MacDonald finishes off an odd-man rush to give Alaska the 1-0 lead
Second Period
02:50 | UND – Owen McLaughlin snaps home a power play marker to even the game at 1-1
06:29 | UND – Riese Gaber collects the puck and dances around the goaltender to give UND a 2-1 lead
14:58 | UND – Louis Jamernik V tips home a centering pass from Jayden Perron to double the advantage
15:45 | UND – Cameron Berg snipes a shot from the top of the slot to make it 4-1 UND
17:00 | UND – McLaughlin notches his second of the night to make it a five-goal second period
18:29 | UAF – Payton Matsui tips a shot from the point past Hedquist to cut the lead to 5-2
Third Period
07:08 | UND – Gaber records his second of the game with a power play tally to make it 6-2 NoDak
11:00 | UAF – Chase Dafoe scores his second of the year on a deflection to cut it back to a three-goal deficit
19:35 | UAF – MacDonald tallies his second of the game in the final minute
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
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