Junior forward scores sixth goal of season; UND to battle St. Cloud on Tuesday
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — University of North Dakota junior wing Gavin Hain couldn’t have picked a better time at Ralph Engelstad Arena late Monday night to score his first goal in his last 11 games.
His sixth goal of the season, a blistering slap shot from the faceoff dot off a feed from Jasper Weatherby, beat Denver goalie Magnus Chrona glove side at 8:37 of overtime to give the Fighting Hawks a 2-1 win over the University of Denver.
The win sent the UND into Tuesday’s National Collegiate Hockey Conference playoff championship game against St. Cloud State, the Hawks looking to add their first playoff title in the eight years of the NCHC to their regular-season championship this season.
It capped a sterling comeback for UND, which trailed the Pioneers 1-0 late in the third period. That’s when UND coach Brad Berry pulled goalie Adam Scheel for a sixth attacker with two minutes, 54 seconds left. UND then scored the extra attacker goal when Weatherby tipped in a slap shot from the circle by Shane Pinto at 18:33 of the third period.
That set up Hain, from Grand Rapids, Minn.,for his heroics.
“We believed, and we knew it was coming our way,” Hain said.
Earlier in the period, Weatherby nearly set up Hain for a similar shot, but the pass didn’t hit Hain in prime shooting position. “It’s kind of funny, Jasper threw me a similar pass,” Hain said. “He came back into the lockerroom (after the third period) and asked me where I like that. The second one, in overtime, he put it right in the wheelhouse.”
Chrona never moved on the sizzling shot that beat him glove side and gave UND (20-5-1) its 20th victory of the season.
Weatherby once again had a strong game for UND, with a goal to tie it, and the pass to set up the winner. Weatherby now has nine goals in his last 10 games, and 12 goals on the season.
Until Berry pulled a Dean Blais-like move and pulled his goalie with plenty of time left on the clock, UND was facing its first shutout loss since falling at Denver exactly two years ago, a playoff loss that ended UND’s season.
Sharing the starring role Monday was junior goalie Adam Scheel. He gave up a power-play goalie to DU’s Carter Savoie at 5:52 of the second period, a shot the deflected off a UND player before scooting past him. He then shut the door, including breakaway saves on Slava Demin and Ryan Barrow two minutes apart in the second period.
That allowed UND to rally from a sluggish second period when DU outshot the Hawks 10-3 and carried the play. But in the the third period and overtime, UND outshot Denver 20-4, as the Pioneers, with just 16 skaters in the lineup because of Covid-19 protocol, seemed to tire as the game flowed deeper into the clock.
“It’s one of those nights where things weren’t going right analytically as far as scoring goals,” Berry said. “We did a lot of good things. We didn’t play in our end a whole lot other than parts of the second period.”
UND outshot Denver 32-18, including 11-3 in the third period and 9-1 in overtime.
“We pulled the goaltender with almost three minutes left and made a play to tie it,” Berry said. “The guys were relentless on that. And we found a way to get it done in overtime. We had some ups and downs, and some adversity in that game, but the guys found a way to band together and bring it home.”
It was the seventh meeting between DU and UND this season, with UND winning five of them.
Tuesday’s title game will be carried live on CBS Sports Network and the Home of Economy Fighting Hawks Radio Network (96.1 FM flagship) with puck drop at 7:37 p.m. It will be UND’s second appearance in the Frozen Faceoff title game, looking to become the first top seed to win the tournament in the league’s history.
Game notes
*Attendance was listed at 2,509, and it was easily the most vocal crowd of the season.
*It was just the second time this season where UND has come back to win (2-5-1) after giving up the first goal of the game. In contrast, UND is 18-0 when scoring first.
*Pinto and Jordan Kawaguchi led UND in shots on goal with 5 apiece, followed by Matt Kiersted and Judd Caulfield with 4 each. Caulfield had a point-blank shot to win the game one minute into overtime, only to be turned back by Chrona.
*Weatherby led UND to a 37-33 edge in faceoffs, winning 11 of the 17 draws he took.
*Denver, 10-13-1, will learn if it will receive an NCAA playoff bid next Sunday, when the 16-team field is announced on ESPN-U TV.
*Hain’s winning goal came six seconds after Denver had successfully killed a boarding penalty on Antti Tuomisto.
Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he’s written about UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 51st season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 3/15/2021 11:15:00 PM | Virg Foss, FightingHawks.com