Even though UND clinched control of the NCHC the weekend before, UND players said that the team still had much to play for.
“Every game is so important. It does not matter if we already have a spot in the tournament,” Captain Riese Gaber said. “We do not care about that. We need to play consistent hockey. It is about details. It is about habits. It is such a fine line between winning and losing.”
The team with seemingly more on the line, Omaha, played like it and swept NCHC champion, UND, in the final weekend of regular season play. The Mavericks defeated the Fighting Hawks 3-2 on Friday, March 8, and 4-1 on Saturday, March 9. It was the first time the Mavericks had swept UND in conference history.
“They came out hungrier,” Gaber said. “That was the difference, and it took us too long to match.”
The game started slow until the Mavericks opened scoring ten minutes into the first period. However, Cameron Berg, a former Maverick, tied the game on the man advantage in his first game in Omaha since transferring to UND. Head Coach Brad Berry had high praise for Berg in his return to Baxter Arena.
“That was a huge goal to get us going a little bit there,” Berry said. “He’s a consummate professional; he does not allow distractions to get to his game, and he played a good game tonight. He played a hard, heavy game.”
Jackson Blake, who drew the initial penalty, assisted Berg’s goal, breaking the NCHC conference scoring record formerly held by Brock Boeser and Bobby Brink.
Berry felt that Blake breaking the record was a testament to his prowess beyond just the offensive element of his game.
“When you look at a guy that sets records offensively, you look at, sometimes, a one-dimensional player. I do not see that in him,” Berry said. “He’s a guy that competes hard every game and every practice, and there is a reason why he did it.”
The second period belonged to the Mavericks. Ten minutes into the period, Omaha would score twice to gain a two-goal lead.
UND managed to answer back, with a shot by Logan Britt trickling through Omaha’s goalie’s pads and into the net. UND continued to build off that goal, drawing a penalty, giving the green and white a power play to try and tie the game. UND was unable to convert and went into the intermission down one.
“The first half of the game… I thought we got outworked,” said Gaber. “And that ended up being the deciding factor.”
UND went into the third with the opportunity to tie the game and complete a win over the Mavericks. They came out hot, controlling possession for the first four minutes of play. Even though UND was pushing, with ten minutes played out into the third, both teams remained scoreless. UND continued to push, putting up 14 shots to UNO’s four. But it was not enough, and UND fell in regulation to the Mavericks. Berry said the loss was expected given the effort put up by UND in the game.
“We played a 20-minute game. I thought we did not start on time. I thought that was a desperate team,” Berry said. “In this league, you got to play three periods.”
However, UND had a chance to earn a victory in their final regular-season game of the year.
“There’s a lot on the line for us and I just wanted to make sure our guys know that ‘hey, this game meant a lot for us tonight and tomorrow even more.” Berry said. “I know that it is going to be an added level of intensity tomorrow.”
UND did not get the win on Saturday. UND made a few lineup changes in Saturday’s game. Tanner Komzak, who was the extra defenseman on Friday, was replaced by Griffin Ness as the extra skater. Head Coach Brad Berry started the Jackson Kunz-Owen Mclaughlin-Jackson Blake line, and Jake Livanavage and Garrett Pyke started on the blue line. They also donned their famous “business suits,” which UND last wore when they lost to Colorado College 7-1.
UNO’s starting goalie, Simon Latkoczy, who helped hold a one-goal lead for the win on Friday, was out with an illness, and their backup, Seth Eisele, came in instead.
Three seconds into the game, Pyke drew a penalty, giving UND an early power play. However, UND did not convert and then took a too-many-men penalty. The Mavericks converted on the resulting power play to open the scoring, with Zach Urdahl burying a rebound while the UND penalty killers were puck-watching.
After some sustained D-zone time for the Hawks, UND managed to break out and put continuous offensive pressure on the Mavericks. However, UND could not turn that into a goal.
Then, with only two minutes left in the first period, the Mavericks doubled their lead. Senior Matt Miller potted a rebound, after defensive blunders by Pyke and Kunz left him completely open in the corner.
Going into the second, UND had to overcome a two-goal deficit, but the Mavericks immediately widened their lead to three goals with a point shot by Kirby Proctor, who scored his career-high seventh goal. UND continued to push, maintaining possession, and continuing to put pressure on UNO; it resulted in two drawn penalties and a goal.
Jayden Perron fired a one-timer from the dot during a 5-on-3 advantage to make it a two-goal game going into the third period.
UND had 20 minutes left in the third to overcome a two-goal deficit, but they could not. However, they managed to keep UNO from widening the lead, until Nolan Sullivan buried one in UND’s empty net with a minute left.
It was a disappointing end of the regular season for a team that has been dominant for most of it, but UND still remains third in the Pairwise ranking, a tournament qualifying position, and is set to face off against Miami of Ohio in the first round of the NCHC playoffs. Miami only has one conference win in regulation. According to Gaber, this team will learn from this weekend and will be ready to win in the post-season.
“Come tournament time, it is a one-game showdown, and we have an effort like we did tonight; that is our season,” he said. “You know, consistency and habits and details and work ethic are so important. We just need to do that every night.”
Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
