Coming into Friday night’s matchup against St. Cloud State, the Green and White were not in top form. The team had lost four games in a row (something that hadn’t happened since 2006), and with the Huskies coming off an 11-1 and 8-0 rout of Miami, the weekend series looked to be a tough matchup.  

Fast starts on Friday nights have been few and far between for UND, but no one would have guessed that was the case after the first period. Ford, Frisch, and Gaber each found the back of the net for a three-goal lead.  

Coach Brad Berry tells his team week after week that they need to play a full game. “This is the time of year that the locker room takes ownership, and the leadership comes out. I thought our leaders did a really good job of having a good week, and then getting into a game tonight and going from start to finish with no lulls.”  

No lulls indeed. To extend their lead, Griffin Ness stepped up and scored his first career goal. Another player got his “first.” Albrecht got on the point sheet for the first time in his college career – notching an assist by finding Ness at the top of the crease. The Huskies swapped starting goalie David Hrenak for back up Jaxon Castor.  

In the second period, goaltender Jakob Hellsten saw some heat from the Huskies. With the team up by four, the Swede was hot and making saves to keep St. Cloud State out of the net. Although Hellsten looked phenomenal, Jami Krannila slipped one into the net for the Huskies’ lone goal of the game.  

Four wasn’t enough for the Fighting Hawks. “Once the floodgates opened, it started happening for us,” said Ethan Frisch. “We knew it would come. We believe in this group; we believe in our systems and the guys on this team.” Frisch and company would go on to score another three goals in the third period.  

To start the third period scoring, Ashton Calder was ripped down in front of the net on a breakaway and drew a penalty shot. In a move dubbed “The Jocelyne” (a reference to former UND hockey player Jocelyne Lamoureux’s penalty shot for Team USA in the 2018 Olympics) – Ashton Calder scored the Green and White’s fifth goal of the night in style.  

Two minutes later, he did it again. Schmaltz and Gaber connected to feed a pass to Calder who took the puck wide, found the angle to put UND up 6-1, and earned his second goal of the night.  

To finish off the scoring frenzy, Hobey Baker nominee Riese Gaber cleaned up a rebound shot from Matteo Costantini. The assist was Costantini’s fourth of the night. As for Gaber, his two goals on the night moved him into first on the team with 26 total points. 

Claire Weltz is a Dakota Student Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].