North Dakota’s performance on Jan. 24 could be summed up in a single word: gritty. The Fighting Hawks found themselves trailing after two periods, kept in the game by Andrew Strathmann’s late goal in the second. After the sophomore’s first goal of the season, it was game on. UND had just enough leverage to hold on to their fading hopes of a sweep.
Fantastic Four
To complete the comeback, North Dakota scored three in the third period to push ahead of the home side, eventually winning 5-3. The visitors scored four unanswered; an impressive, but not unexpected feat, according to Head Coach Dane Jackson.
The UND bench boss especially liked the disposition his team had in the win against the Sun Devils. Jackson reflected on a conversation with a program legend to explain the mentality he has tried to bring to the locker room.
“I remember talking to T.J. Oshie this summer,” the North Dakota head coach said. “I was picking his brain, and he mentioned that, with their good teams in Washington, they just kind of had a belief that, if they just kept going the right way, if they were down in a series or a game, if they just continued to play the right way with their personnel they had and their mentality, that things would come their way.
“So, that was something we talked about as a group, kind of having that belief and that confidence to not get frustrated, not go off the rails trying something different, but just believe in what we’re doing,” he said.
Will Zellers (Fr.) scored the tying goal one minute and 12 seconds into the third period, cementing the momentum the Hawks thought they had going into the second intermission.
Dylan James (Sr.) scored the game-winner halfway through the final frame off a superb feed from Ben Strinden (Sr.). Strinden got an insurance goal minutes later, assisted by Cole Reschny (Fr.) and Keaton Verhoeff (Fr.).
Frustration was evident at the Mullett Arena, as seen behind the ASU bench, where Greg Powers, the Sun Devil head coach, took a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Thinking he had been ejected from the game, Powers headed down the tunnel early, according to a social media post by Brad Elliot Schlossman, hockey reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.
Locked Up
The penalty minutes piled up throughout the series, with the totals from Saturday night favoring UND heavily. The Sun Devils were frustrated by their lack of discipline; Arizona State’s Logan Morrell (So.) told an interviewer after the second period.
Special teams became a focus for North Dakota, which spent a considerable amount of time with a man advantage (14 minutes). Matt Smaby’s penalty kill was only called upon three times, though it had a frustrating weekend, allowing 2/3 last night and 2/6 on Friday. To negate the Sun Devil power play, the Hawks scored two power play goals of their own.
Friday Frenzy (Cont.)
A few North Dakota players had multi-point weekends, benefitting from the sizable generation the team had on both nights. UND outpaced Arizona State in shots on Saturday, producing 45 to the home side’s 21.
Arizona State’s Samuel Urban (Fr.) made a season-high 40 saves. The freshman faced 38 shots in the Friday edition of the series in Grand Forks, his previous season-high in the shots stopped column.
Keaton Verhoeff (6-11—17) opened the scoring with his second power-play goal of the weekend. The imposing 17-year-old was a big part of the North Dakota offense this weekend, scoring a goal in both games and tallying up three assists on the road trip.
Will Zellers (13-8—21), who scored the tying goal on Jan. 24, picked up three points the night before, having scored twice and contributed to another goal.
Ben Strinden (14-12—26) raked in assists in both games, having registered six points in eight appearances to start 2026. The Fargo native scored UND’s fifth in the series finale.
Dylan James (15-7—22) was the frontman for the Fighting Hawks on Saturday night, scoring the game-winner and assisting two goals for the visitors. The senior from Calgary scored the goal to go up 5-3 on Jan. 23, adding extra padding to a solid win for the kelly green and white.
Ellis Rickwood (6-18—24) has been on a mission to show why the North Dakota staff picked him up out of the transfer portal. The senior forward had another multi-point game on Saturday, contributing to two goals for the Hawks.
Next Up
Upon its return to frigid Grand Forks, North Dakota goes into a bye week before facing Minnesota Duluth for the second time this season. The matchups at the AMSOIL Arena will take place on Feb. 6-7, promising more blockbuster NCHC action for UND fans.
The Bulldogs (17-9-0, 8-8-0 NCHC) split the series they played in Grand Forks earlier this season and now sit fourth in the conference after back-to-back losses to Western Michigan. UMD sits sixth in the National Collegiate Percentage Index (NPI).
Puck-drop in Duluth will be at 7:07 p.m. on Friday and 6:07 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will feature on Midco Sports, streamed on NCHC.tv, and available for audio listeners on the Fighting Hawks Radio Network via iHeart Radio, the Fighting Hawks website, or on 96.1 FM for local listeners.
Anthony Dillett is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
