Fighting Hawks drop first game when leading after two periods since Jan. 2019
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — University of North Dakota head hockey coach Brad Berry used some hindsight to put a slightly brighter note on a dark finish for his Fighting Hawks Friday night, a 4-3 non-conference loss to No. 14 Cornell.
“When you keep them to single-digit shots (8) going into the third period,” Berry said, “you’re doing the right thing.”
But then came the ugly third period when the Big Red scored three times to snap fifth-ranked UND’s streak of 47 games won when leading after two periods.
UND senior goalie Zach Driscoll misread a puck played off the back wall, looking over his left shoulder when the puck bounced out front on his right side at 9:26 of the third period for an easy tap-in for Cornell’s Jack O’Leary. It was his first college goal, ignited the Cornell rally and chopped UND’s lead to 3-2.
On that play, UND senior forward Gavin Hain was injured on the other end of the ice and was unable to regain his feet and help defensively. He later had to be helped down the stairs to the training room, and his status is unclear, Berry said after the game.
Goals by Russian Max Andreev at 12:49 and a rebound goal by freshman wing Kyler Kovich at 14:11 completed the improbable Cornell rally to stun an announced crowd of 10,128 on a bitterly-cold night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
UND outshot the Big Red 26-17, but Driscoll finished with 13 saves on 17 shots to 23 saves for Cornell freshman goalie Ian Shane. Shane, a Manhattan Beach, Calif., native who played for the NAHL’s Bismarck Bobcats, made his first college start. He had stopped 23 of 23 shots he faced in a relief appearance at Arizona State last weekend.
But Cornell’s burst of three goals in 4 minutes, 45 seconds made a winner of Shane and sent UND, tied for second nationally in the PairWise rankings, down to a troubling loss. The series matches two teams who sit in first place in their respective conference standings.
“It’s like that situation where they score a goal, that mental toughness has to kick in to have a response,” Berry said. “And I thought we didn’t have that for that 5-minute interval. And it’s a situation where we’ve got to learn from it.”
And as UND seeks to win its third straight NCHC title in the last half of the season, that response will be needed, Berry said. “When we play tomorrow, there has to be a response…and there will. And then you get back into the NCHC and it’s the same thing. It’s grind. You have to have that (a response.)”
UND built a 3-1 lead on a goal from captain Mark Senden (his 4th) on a 4-on-4 in the first period and goals from junior wing Ashton Calder (his 8th) on a power play at 14:38 of the second period and by freshman center Jake Schmaltz (his 6th) at 5:59 of the third period.
But that all came unraveled on the mis-read by Driscoll, the goal on the play where Hain was hurt, and then a rebound goal as Cornell (10-3-1) snapped back from losing twice at Arizona State to stun UND (13-7-0).
UND’s chance of rallying took a hit when Louis Jamernik was called for a 5-minute major penalty for boarding at 16:02 of the third period, putting the Fighting Hawks down a man. UND pulled Driscoll for an extra attacker to balance the sides with 1:17 left, and Cornell’s Andreev was handed a major for kneeing with 16.9 seconds left in the game. But UND was unable to generate a scoring chance before time ran out.
Berry will look for more from team in the rematch. “Right away from the get-go, having that urgency,” he said. “I thought we had some good jump tonight. They’re a good defensive team. They block a lot of shots. They make it frustrating trying to get pucks to the front of the net because they do a good job boxing out. We need to have some patience in our game here. It can’t be all or nothing.”
Said Jandric: “I think we’ll play a full 60 tomorrow, it should be good.”
Still, the ending was hard to swallow, for fans and players alike. “A two-goal lead with a little over 10 minutes in a game, and we lose the game,” Berry said, “that’s not what we do. For the most part, I thought we played a pretty good game.”
NOTES: Calder had 6 shots on goal and Tyler Kleven and Senden had 5 for North Dakota , but nobody else had more than 2 . . . Named the three stars by the media were Kovich (game-winning goal), Senden (goal, 5 shots) a Cornell defenseman Sam Malinski (goal, assist). . . UND won the faceoffs 26-19, led by Connor Ford (14 of 19) . . . Both teams were 1-for-2 on the power play … The loss snaps a 48-game winning streak for the Fighting Hawks when leading after two .. The last defeat for UND when up after 40 minutes was Jan. 19, 2019 at Omaha … UND drops to 15-3-0 when Mark Senden scores a goal and snapped a seven-game winning streak … The Hawks are now 5-5-0 on Friday nights … Jake Sanderson, Riese Gaber, Louis Jamernik all extended their point streaks to four games while Mark Senden saw his stretch to three … The Hawks are now 1-2-0 all-time at home vs. Cornell … Sanderson notched his seventh multi-point game of the season.
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 1/7/2022 11:40:00 PM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com