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The University of North Dakota Hockey team felt their Penrose clinching win was like something out of a movie.
“I couldn’t draw up a better senior night,” Senior Captain Riese Gaber said. “This was like a championship game.”
UND shut out Western Michigan 3-0 after beating them 5-3 the night before to clinch first place in the conference and win the Penrose Cup on Senior Night Saturday, March 2.
It was not an easy win for the Fighting Hawks; Senior Goaltender, Ludvig Persson, made 35 saves, and the team blocked 26 shots without Bennett Zmolek, who leads the team in blocks. UND also had to defend a one-goal lead for two periods after Louis Jamernik V opened scoring in the first period. This UND team did just that.
“We played to our standards tonight,” Head Coach Brad Berry said. “That was championship hockey from the drop of the puck to the end of the game.”
The turning point came from a dominant third-period performance. Jackson Blake and Owen McLaughlin each scored to give UND a three-goal lead with only five minutes left in the game. That goal tied Blake for the NCHC record for most points scored in a season by a player. McLaughlin’s goal was the result of Abram Wiebe blocking a shot in the defensive zone, which allowed McLaughlin to get a breakaway. Wiebe was one of two players to have five blocked shots in Saturday’s game.
The deciding third period effort came after a pep talk; according to Gaber, they went out after the first 40 minutes determined to win the Penrose.
“I was saying to the guys in the locker room, after the second period, ‘let’s just dig deep and go win the third,” Gaber said. “Outstanding period from us.”
Gaber said that UND’s “outstanding” third period “started with Luddy [Ludvig Persson].” In the two-game sweep of the Broncos, Persson made 69 saves on 72 shots. He is a goalie who, according to Gaber, motivates his teammates to play their best.
“He’s just outstanding. He gives us a chance to win every night, and I cannot say enough good things about him. You could just see this weekend he is just so dialed and locked in,” Gaber said. “It is exciting. It just makes me want to get out there and play in front of him.”
It is Persson’s first time winning the Penrose, despite spending his entire college career in the NCHC, playing three previous seasons at the University of Miami, Ohio.
“It’s been a long journey to get here,” Persson said. “You have got to take it all in, and that is what I try to do, just enjoy the moment. But it is a really good feeling.”
Even though Persson had an incredible weekend, he credited the team for blocking shots and playing well defensively in front of him. It is that level of unselfish play that Persson says defines this team and has led to its success.
“That’s what kind of team we are selling out for each other, and we all love each other in there,” Persson said. “And that’s what a good team needs to have to win games.”
Beyond Persson, this game was also special for Graduate Student, Hunter Johannes, who always dreamed of playing for UND and said that getting to touch the Penrose was something he never thought he would be able to do.
“The first time I went in [the transfer portal], I was hoping to come here. It did not work out. I had tried to come here in high school; it did not work out,” Johannes said. “I said, ‘I am going to give it one more shot,’ and the third time was the charm and it worked out.”
Now that UND has secured home ice, the first seed for the NCHC playoffs and a top ten position in the Pairwise, the team starts looking forward to the playoffs and a chance to win not only the NCHC tournament but the National tournament. Johannes thinks this team can make that push.
“Once we beat Denver in their barn and that comeback that we had I was like, ‘yeah, we got it in us.” Johannes said. “All the guys in there love each other… it’s super special and that’s why we can do anything.”
Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
