During an injury-riddled season, the depth of the Fighting Hawks has stood tall.
UND’s depth has been on display all season with multiple players finding the scoresheet. 22 of the 23 skaters who have played in a game this season have recorded at least one point.
20 different players have scored goals for UND this season. 16 of those players have multiple goals with 12 having at least four.
With lines changing game to game and a revolving door on the injury report, multiple new faces have had to step up.
Senior transfer Carter Wilkie had one goal and two assists during last Friday’s 4-2 win over Minnesota Duluth. He has six goals and a total of 13 points this season.
Multiple freshmen have stepped up this year as well when players have gone down. The all-freshmen line of Sacha Boisvert, Cade Littler, and Cody Croal, scored two goals last Friday.
Head Coach Brad Berry emphasized the role of depth and younger guys stepping up this season.
“I think it [depth] showed tonight. You know some key guys got hurt in the first half of the season with Berg and a lot of these experienced guys out of our lineup, and the young guys have to play more,” Berry said. “We always want the young guys to play but in a position when key guys are out you can get more ice time.”
“You saw that Boisvert line tonight with Croal and Littler; they looked like experienced players out on the ice doing the right things. So yeah, depth has been a big deal in our group here,” Berry continued.
Boisvert is second on the team in points with 12 goals and 11 assists. Littler and Croal both have six points. Littler has four goals and Croal has five assists this season.
“It’s huge; we got a really talented freshman group that came in with a lot of prowess and recognition. They stepped up to the occasion and right now we need everybody playing that way,” Wilkie said “And right now they aren’t necessarily freshman either they’ve basically been through a whole season. They’re playing their part really well and everyone’s kind of chipping away and driving in the right direction right now.”
UND’s had four dangerous forward lines for almost every game this season, injuries or not.
The Fighting Hawks young defensive core has had to step up all season. Their only upperclassman, Bennett Zmolek, went down in the first game of the season.
UND’s defensive core is made up of four sophomores, three freshmen, and a junior forward this season.
Junior forward Dane Montgomery has been a swiss army knife all season playing forward and defense, whatever the team needs he does.
He has five assists for a total of six points along with an alternate captains’ patch because of his efforts and leadership this season.
Graduate transfer T.J. Semptimphelter is heating up in net as he has taken over during the last couple of weeks. He is 4-1 with a .947 save percentage and a 1.60 goals-against average in his last five games.
“Just a guy that’s in the zone,” Berry said. “We always wanted somebody to take the net and he’s taking the net and running with it.”
The Fighting Hawks picked up their first sweep since December after defeating UMD 6-1 last Saturday.
UND is fourth in the NCHC just one point behind Omaha. It is 19th in the Pairwise.
The Fighting Hawks will go on the road this weekend to face Western Michigan. The Broncos are 13-1-1 at home and in first place in the NCHC.
“We’ve got to keep scratching, clawing, and fighting, keep battling to keep up in the standings and also in the Pairwise here,” Berry said.
Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at elijah.andrews@und.edu.
