Trio of Hawks record multi-point games, UND travels to Miami next weekend
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics) — Two games into the 2021-2022 National Collegiate Hockey Conference season, the University of North Dakota finds itself in the exact same position it ended the previous season.
Saturday’s feisty 4-1 win over the visiting Denver Pioneers, coupled with Friday’s 3-1 victory, gave the Fighting Hawks sole possession of first place in the NCHC with 6 points as they were the only team in the league to gather a pure sweep on opening weekend.
Freshman center Matteo Costantini, sophomore left wing Riese Gaber and junior right wing Ashton Calder all had a goal and an assist and sophomore defenseman Tyler Kleven also scored to support a strong 21-save effort by senior goalie Zach Driscoll.
In a penalty-riddled third period, UND built on its 2-1 lead on a 4-on-4 goal when Gaber sped around Denver rookie defenseman Sean Behrens to score his fourth of the season at 3:05, followed by Calder’s 4-on-5 goal into an empty net after Denver had pulled goalie Magnus Chrona for an extra attacker at 17:41.
“This was a character-builder and for sure a team-builder for our team for the year, the way they battled up,” UND coach Brad Berry said.
It was indeed a battle in a heated rivalry, where UND is 12-2-5 in the last 19 meetings with the Pioneers at Ralph Engelstad Arena. In the closing minutes, Denver’s Carter Savoie and UND’s Kleven were both given 5-minute majors for contact to the head and game misconducts, on separate plays.
Open ice suited UND well. Even though UND did not have a single power-play opportunity in the game, a rarity, goals by Kleven and Gaber were scored on 4-on-4 situations, and Calder’s came when Denver had pulled Chrona for a fifth attacker against UND’s four defenders. Calder, sporting a dapper light purple suit for his post-game interview, scored his 5th goal of the season, tops on the team.
UND bracketed outstanding first and last periods around a shaky second period, when Denver’s Ryan Barrow scored its only goal and a series of early icings on UND forced Berry to call a time out to try to settle down his team.
Kleven scored his second goal of the season on a rebound at 10:59 of the first period to make it 2-0. Forward Judd Caufield made a strong rush to the net out of the corner, and Kleven followed up to knock in the rebound. Costantini had given UND a 1-0 lead at 4:13 of the first period, burying a wrist shot 5-hole on Chrona on a 3-on-1 break. It was the rookie’s third goal of the season, and second of the weekend.
UND’s strong third period was a carryover from a lesson learned the night before. “I think that was learning lesson last night, kind of sit back in the third period with a one-goal lead,” Berry said. “We said you know what, we’re not sitting back, playing not to lose, we’re playing to win.”
And indeed, that’s what they did, to the delight of a crowd of 11,337.
The fireworks came after Denver pulled Chrona for a sixth attacker with 3:49 left in the game. About 30 seconds later, Savoie left his skates to hit UND captain Mark Senden in the head with an elbow, drawing his major penalty and game misconduct. Several scuffles followed, with Kleven also drawing a major for elbow to the head with 90 seconds left.
Senden had to be helped off the ice after his hit from Savoie. But Berry said Senden was fine, came back to the bench after being treated by trainers, and wanted to come back into the game, but Berry not to use him. “He’s a gamer,” Berry said.
The sweep was a roaring start to the league play. “That was huge for us confidence-wise,” Gaber said. “I think not a lot of people expected that. I know we have a lot of belief within our team here. We definitely showed that tonight.”
NOTES: UND (2-0 league, 6-3 overall) outshot Denver (0-2 NCHC, 4-4 overall) 28-22 . . . Denver had a 32-27 edge in faceoffs with Jake Schmaltz and Louis Jamernik best for UND, winning 6 of 11 . . . Gaber led the Hawks in shots on goal with 5 while defensemen Chris Jandric and Cooper Moore led the team in blocked shots with 5 and 4 respectively. . . UND was credited with 20 blocked shots in front of Driscoll compared to 6 blocks for Denver . . . Kleven led UND in plus/minus rating with a plus-3 . . . Savoie, who came into the series with 6 goals and 6 assists in 6 games to pace Denver, was held without a point by UND . . . After Denver pulled goalie Chrona for an extra attacker with 3:49 left in the game, the Pioneers never got a single shot on goal during that closing span.
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 11/6/2021 11:17:00 PM | Virg Foss, FightingHawks.com