This past weekend, UND was swept on the road by Cornell in Ithaca, New York. The Fighting Hawks dropped to 3-4 on the season and have lost three games in a row.
The team was challenged early on this season. Every team UND has played this season is ranked in the current men’s college hockey rankings.
“When we put this schedule together, we try to pick the best teams out of Hockey East, the Big Ten, ECAC… at the end of the day, we want to play really good teams,” Head Coach Brad Berry stated earlier this season. “That’s not only going to help you in the pairwise, but it’s going to help you play the right way.”
UND opened the season against No. 12 Providence, who is 5-1-1; they clobbered the Friars at the Ralph 5-2.
The Hawks then went on the road to challenge No. 16 Minnesota State, who is 6-4 this season. UND split with the Mavericks picking up a very quality road win against a team that swept Omaha and split with Michigan.
UND returned to the Ralph the following weekend, splitting with No. 5 Boston University. They had a 7-2 statement win in game one, walking the Terriers out of the rink.
This past weekend, the Fighting Hawks squared off with No. 8/9 Cornell. The Big Red have 26 returners and are one of three teams in the country returning over 100 points from last season.
“I think it’s great that we’re playing against these high-level opponents,” UND freshman defenseman E.J. Emery told the Grand Forks Herald. “We’re just learning from each game, and we’re getting better from each game.”
Cornell defeated UND 4-1 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday. They swept UND at the Ralph Engelstad Arena the last time they played in January 2022.
UND caught the injury bug this past weekend. Defenseman Andrew Strathmann and forward Cody Croal suffered injuries Friday and did not play Saturday.
Forward Cameron Berg, defenseman Bennett Zmolek, defenseman Tanner Komzak, and goaltender Kaleb Johnson did not even make the trip.
“It is what it is,” Berry told the Grand Forks Herald. “That’s where we’re at right now. The guys that came in and gave us good minutes. We’re going to work out of this thing by doing it together and sticking together, and doing the things you have to do.”
The Fighting Hawks’ road struggles continued, dropping to 1-3 on the road this season. UND gave up the first goal in all four games.
“It’s a team game,” Berry told the Grand Forks Herald. “When you drop a couple of games like we have, the human nature side is finger-pointing. There’s no finger-pointing in our group here. Everybody plays a game together in our group. If someone has an off night, you pick him up and go from there. We needed to close the game out by playing a little stronger in our end and giving ourselves a chance.”
The schedule does not get any easier for the Fighting Hawks heading into conference play.
UND is going on the road again this weekend to open up NCHC play. They will face 3-4 Minnesota-Duluth at AMSOIL Arena.
Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
