(UND Athletics) GRAND FORKS, N.D. – For the second straight night, fourth-ranked North Dakota notched a 5-0 victory over Bentley to secure a series sweep on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 11,652 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
The night once again belonged to freshman netminder Caleb Heil, who finished with a perfect 15-for-15 night to record his second straight shutout. He is believed to be the first freshman goaltender in North Dakota history to record back-to-back shutouts to begin his career.
Senior forward Anthony Menghini returned to the lineup in a big way, scoring a pair of goals for his fifth multi-goal game of his career. Junior defenseman Brasen Boser and senior forward Hudson Malinoski both tallied their first goals in a NoDak sweater while Cody Croal made it back-to-back nights with a goal to help the Fighting Hawks jump out to a 4-0-0 start for the first time since 2016-17.
Two rookies made their debut and found their way on the scoresheet, with freshman defenseman Bauer Dumanski dishing out a pair of helpers and freshman forward Brock Schultz tallying an assist to give the duo their first points as collegiate players.
It was a similar start as last night for NoDak, needing just over the halfway point of the first period to grab the opening goal. Dumanski ripped a shot from the point that was deflected in the high slot by Menghini for the senior’s first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The power play took advantage early in the second period when Malinoski wired home a shot from the slot to double the advantage, 2-0, just over three minutes into the stanza. Just over a minute later, Croal finished off a pretty passing play from Connor Davis and Gavin Lindberg to quickly boost the lead to 3-0.
Just like Friday night, the Hawks added two more in the third on a blast from Boser and a second tally from Menghini to close out the 5-0 win and a series sweep.
North Dakota will hit the road to battle Minnesota beginning on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. (CT) from Minneapolis.
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