Going into the two-game series against the University of Miami Red Hawks, The University of North Dakota wanted to sweep the weekend not just for the standings, but for their goalie Ludvig Persson.  

“It means a little more to him [Persson],” Owen McLaughlin said. “He won’t say it or anything, but I think inside it means a little bit more to him, but for all of us, we just got to play hard.” 

The University of North Dakota swept a two-game series against their second NCHC opponent of the season and the former team of Persson, the University of Miami, Ohio in the Ralph Engelstad Arena. UND beat the Red Hawks 6-4 Friday, Nov 17 and 5-1 Saturday, Nov 18 

On Friday, Nov 17, the first period got off to a slow start. Miami was immediately physical and able to prevent UND from getting high danger chances. They disrupted shooting lanes and forced UND into the neutral zone. However, despite their valiant keep away efforts, Miami could not maintain sustained zone time, possession, or high danger scoring chances.  

The physical style of play came back to bite the Red Hawks when Miami’s Matthew Barbolini  took a tripping penalty on Jackson Blake of UND. Hunter Johannes opened the scoring on the powerplay, getting his sixth goal of the season and extending the power play’s scoring streak to four games.  

Coach Brad Berry had more high praise for Johannes.  

“That was a big goal that he scored for us,” Berry said. “He plays with confidence; he plays with an edge, and he wants a puck on his tape; he tries so hard and is it great to see him have success.” 

The scoring did not stop with Johannes, Jayden Perron, while dodging Miami defensemen, collected his own rebound to score tight to the net. The first period ended 2-0 with a 16-2 shot count in favor of UND. 

There was a similar slow start to the second period, before 13 minutes in, Owen McLaughlin scored UND’s third of the night off a pass by Blake. 

“I was just going to the net and he [Blake] just put it on my tape,” McLaughlin said. “I just put my stick on the ice.” 

However, Miami fought back, PJ Fletcher and Barbolini scored to cut UND’s lead to one. While Miami tried to channel the positive momentum gained by those two goals, Blake would restore UND’s multi-goal lead, with an unassisted goal.   

“That was crazy,” Blake said. “The puck was just kind of lying there… I just tried to get a stick on it, fortunately it went in.” 

Any comeback Miami might have been mounting in the second seemed to be killed; they got hemmed in their own zone while UND generated multiple high danger chances. Then Carson Albrecht scored his first of the season off a smart passing play by McLaughlin.     

“I just saw him going to the net and then he went down,” McLaughlin said. “I was just looking for Bobby [Albrecht] on the back door and it worked out.” 

The score at the end of the second was 5-2 with a shot count of 18-7 in favor of UND.   

Dylan James scored his first goal of the season only seven seconds into the third period off an assist from Albrecht.  

“He’s a skater; he’s a guy that can make it hard on players if they’re trying to be too cute or fancy,” Berry said of James “He capitalized because he kept it simple, and we’re hoping to see a little bit more of that from him.”  

Then Miami’s Teddy Laggerback and Bennett Zmolek took coincidental minor penalties resulting in 4-on-4 hockey. During a 4-on-4 play, Riese Gaber took a tripping penalty with 37 seconds to go, giving Miami their first power play. Miami was able to convert, cutting UND’s lead in half with two minutes left in the third. The Red Hawks would score again, off another deflection, with less than three seconds left in the third. Still, the late push by Miami was not enough, and UND won 6-4. The shots in the third period were 9-4 in favor of UND for a final shot count of 42-13 in favor of UND. 

While UND walked away with the win, Coach Brad Berry was not satisfied. He said UND played “a little inconsistent” during the game, especially in the defensive zone  

“There’s a little somber feeling there… when you know you probably haven’t played your best, especially defensively, that’s good,” Berry said. “You don’t gloss over things and that’s what pushes the bar up high… we’ll take the win. But at the end of the day, we know we can probably be a little bit better.” 

Going into Saturday’s game, there was a sizable lineup change, forward Owen Mclaughlin, who had two points in Friday night’s win, was out of the line up with an illness, which was something Coach Brad Berry said is going around the locker room. With the young top center out, Michael Emerson and Dane Montgomery came into the lineup.  

UND had a hot first period, scoring four goals in just that period. Riese Gaber would open the scoring off a rebound from Garrett Pyke. Miami’s PJ Fletcher would answer back taking advantage of an odd-man situation when Louis Jamernik V went down after a hit in the offensive zone. The joy for the Red Hawks would not last long; John Waldron put the puck in his own net to give UND the 2-1 lead. The goal was credited to Griffen Ness for his first goal of the season. Gaber would score again on the break away and Jackson Blake followed shortly after with an unassisted goal of his own.  

Defensemen Bennett Zmolek said that Gaber’s two goal first period was not surprising, rather something to be expected of the captain 

“He’s a special player so it doesn’t surprise me one bit he shows it day in and day out in practice and everything like that when no one sees it,” Zmolek said. “So yeah, just happy for him and just an unbelievable player.” 

On his unassisted goal, Blake also drew a penalty, putting UND on the power play to start the second period. The shot count was 9-8 in favor of UND after the first period of play.  

UND started the second period with 1:56 on the power play but failed to record a shot. After killing the first kill, Miami was able to gain some momentum and make a push, getting a shot on and a few close chances. Then Hampus Rydqvist took a tripping penalty on Gaber, giving UND another chance on the manned advantage. Miami once again killed the penalty, resulting in a momentum surge for the Red Hawks again. Carson Albrecht gave the Red Hawks their first power play in the second, which UND successfully killed. However, this did not deter the Red Hawks as they peppered their former goaltender Persson with shots. They finished with 8 shots to UND’s 3.  

Zmolek says the team and himself were not pleased with the way the second period went and were determined to get back on their game in the third. 

“In the second period I think we got complacent, which was bad,” he said. “But I thought we came back out in the third to show who we were again.”  

Jayden Perron started the third by scoring UND’s fifth goal of the night off an assist from Hunter Johannes. However, UND got into penalty trouble with Johannes taking two back-to-back penalties and Albrecht taking a tripping penalty. UND’s penalty kill and Persson held strong, and Miami failed to convert on any of their power plays. UND would also get a power play in the third but did not score on it. The shot count for the third period was 10-6 in favor of UND for a final shot count of 22-22.  

Berry credited the penalty kill and a strong defensive game by the whole team to their success in the third period in addition to the performance of goaltender Persson. Overall, Berry was pleased with Saturday night’s performance.  

“It was a tough weekend and we had to battle a little adversity,” he said. “Proud of the way our guys responded tonight.”  

Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].