North Dakota found itself in another tough spot last night. The Hawks scored early but found themselves buried under a dominant two periods from the Huskies.
The chance to lift the Penrose Cup at home fizzled as Tyson Gross put the puck past Jan Špunar to clinch the shootout win.
Two Apiece
Despite getting an early goal courtesy of Josh Zakreski (Fr.) — who played his first game since October — a red tide rose in the Ralph. Minutes later, UND found itself with only one shot, trailing the visitors’ four.
The story looked the same for North Dakota, two slow periods for the second night in a row.
“We talk quite a bit about trying to get that 60-minute game going again,” Dane Jackson said after the game. “I thought they were just sharper and faster — executing better than we were in the first two periods. We deserved to be down, and that part’s disappointing.”
Seemingly — after its second goal — UND failed to find the spark in the game. The Huskies’ impactful first line held all the answers to blow the game wide open.
Austin Burnevik (So.) scored two unanswered goals to put the visitors ahead, with Tyson Gross (Jr.) tallying the lone assist on each. The SCSU captain and center recorded his twenty-second and twenty-third contributions of the season, taking his running tally above 40 for the campaign.
Fourth-liner Daimon Gardner (Jr.) scored his second goal of the season (24 GP) to give the Huskies a two-goal cushion. Adam Ingram (Sr.), who scored the first goal of the game unassisted, was the third Husky to record a multi-point game — his first of the season — after his primary assist on Gardner’s goal.
Triumphant Third
For the second game in a row, North Dakota was forced to chase the game in the third. The home side needed two; an achievable feat this season.
“I think we just go into the third, and we know there’s no time left,” Ellis Rickwood reflected. “I think it’s just back against the wall, and we come out hot — the last few weekends we’ve gotten really good third periods.”
The home side brought one back early, scoring less than two minutes into the final frame. Cody Croal (So.) set the Ralph Engelstad Arena alight, pumping life back into the building. Ellis Rickwood recorded his third assist of the game on the goal.
“He’s got so much poise, so much hockey sense and vision,” said Dane Jackson, describing Rickwood. “He’s been such a strong player for us. We rely on him for big draws, for penalty killing, and everything else. He’s got that high-end offensive side too, so, really impressive.”
The final goal in regulation came after North Dakota emptied its net to field an extra attacker. As Cole Reschny (Fr.) came sprinting toward the blue line, a crowd gathered behind the net. The puck was sent out toward the former Victoria man, who found Will Zellers (Fr.) after a quick give-and-go with Abram Wiebe (Jr.).
Zellers found the net, blasting the puck past Yan Shostak (Fr.). The goal from the freshman forward was the fifth the Hawks have scored this season with an extra attacker on the ice, forcing overtime.
Post-Regulation Action
North Dakota fought hard in the extra five minutes, but came up short, forcing a shootout. The tie at the end of overtime was the Hawks’ first this season. The last time UND played to a tie was at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in early 2025, winning the shootout 2-1.
Last night, the win was not to be. Barrett Hall (Jr.) and Tyson Gross sent pucks past Jan Špunar to send the Huskies home with two points.
“[It’s] disappointing a little bit when you don’t get the extra point,” reflected the North Dakota head coach. “Especially for us, [when we’re] fighting for a Penrose trophy. But, as a coach, you get to go back.”
“We’ll watch the tape, we’ll try to break it down, take the emotion out of it, and try to find parts of our game that we can tactically do better, and then really try to evaluate if what we saw live is really the story that we see when we watch the tape back.”
Tonight…
The Fighting Hawks will return to action at the Ralph Engelstad Arena tonight at 6:07 p.m. The series finale will be available to stream on NCHC.tv and Midco Sports. Radio listeners can find the game 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] and on X @adillettgf.