UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA — With both Keaton Pehrson and Bennet Zmolek injured and Garrett Pyke leaving Friday night’s game early, the University of North Dakota blue line was depleted. Logan Britt, a Graduate Student and transfer, was one of the five defensemen asked to step up in the first game of the Mankato series.
“It’s a little different,” Britt said. “Usually, you have your set pair but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who’s playing the game. So, you don’t really think about it too much when you’re out there, you just kind of move pucks.”
Britt scored the first goal of the night in UND’s 6-2 victory over Minnesota State Mankato on Friday, Oct. 27 in the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
UND dominated the first period, Britt, Jayden Perron, Owen McLaughlin, and Jackson Blake all found the back of the net scoring four unanswered goals. That onslaught of scoring by UND caused Mankato to pull goaltender Alex Tracy 12 minutes into the first.
Two of those four goals were on the power play, a place where the UND hockey team had struggled recently.
Blake, who scored one of those power play goals, credited his teammates for the power play finding its stride.
“I just think Bergy’s [Cameron Berg} net front was unbelievable,” Blake said. “Berg and Riese [Riese Gaber] whenever we have a puck go past the net or something, they’re just retrieving it and Pyker [Garrett Pyke] was just dragging the top guy over. So, it gave me more space.”
By the beginning of the second the shots were 15-12 in favor of UND. In the second, UND took their foot off the gas a bit. In the words of head coach Brad Berry, the team “got a little bit loose” in the second. While Hunter Johannes would score UND’s fifth goal of the night, streaking in for a breakaway chance, Mankato would get on the board twice, with Sam Morton and Luc Wilson potting goals for the Mavericks.
“We got killed in the face offs in the second period. When you start with the puck and you get free looks, then you get hemmed in your zone a little bit, but winning draws are a big, big deal,” Berry said. “We got to be a little bit sharper. We got a little loose but I’m glad our third period was strong.”
UND held Mankato to two shots on goals in third and Blake scored the sixth and final goal of the night to seal off the victory. It was his second goal and third point of the night. The final shot count was 32-30 in favor of UND.
It was a complete win for the Fighting Hawks, accomplished with an incomplete blue line.
Blake had high praise for the way the remaining defenseman, especially after Pyke, who had three points in Friday’s game, went down.
“I thought all of them were great,” he said. “Pyker [Garrett Pyke] was down late in the game there and we don’t have Keato [Keaton Pehrson] in the lineup right now. So Komer [Komzak] came into the game and played really well tonight and even Daner [Dane Montgomery] was back there for a little bit. I thought they were great tonight.”
Berry was also pleased with the resilience and competition the blue line showed in Friday night’s game.
“A lot of guys came in and I thought they did a good job because that’s a tough team to play against,” Berry said. “We needed our young guys and our guys that didn’t get a lot of ice time tonight to step up.”
According to Blake, the team is preparing to sweep another weekend but knows that Mankato won’t go down without a fight.
“Obviously, they’re going to have a push,” Blake said. “They got swept last weekend. So, they don’t want to lose four games in a row and you know, we want to sweep so we’ll definitely get a big push from them, but we’ll be ready.”
Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
