Michelle Karvinen’s scoring abilities were highlighted this past weekend as the UND women’s hockey team claimed a sweep over St. Cloud State in its first road series of the season as the senior captain tallied half of North Dakota’s goals.

The Green and White posted a 2-1 victory Friday and continued its momentum Saturday, defeating the Huskies, 6-1.

Karvinen contributed four goals and one assist throughout the two games. She had two goals in each game and scored the winning goal in Friday night’s game.

Just 48 seconds into Friday’s game, Karvinen put the Green and White on the scoreboard first, but the lead dissolved when St. Cloud scored just eleven seconds into the second period.

The game remained tied until 14:35 of the third when Karvinen scored her second goal of the game and sealed the 2-1 win for UND.

Although UND held control of the puck at times, UND coach Brian Idalski said he thinks the team still has to find the right balance.

“We’ve got to find that happy medium, being gritty and tough to play against in some areas, and letting our skill take over within the system,” Idalski said, “Right now we’re trying to win on skill and, in a lot of situations, that won’t work.”

Saturday success

Saturday’s game held a lot more scoring for UND.

The game remained scoreless until late in the first period when Karvinen tallied a goal, which gave North Dakota a 1-0 going into the second period.

St. Cloud’s Abby Ness tied the game at the start of the second period on a power play goal, but that tie was broken just a minute later when junior Josefine Jakobsen scored to give UND the lead.

North Dakota didn’t look back as Karvinen, Meghan Dufault and Kayle Gardner scored to give UND a 5-1 lead. Susanna Tapani scored one more goal to secure the 6-1 win.

Freshman goaltender Lexie Shaw got her first collegiate start in the net Saturday — making 22 total saves.

“Yesterday was a close game, so we knew that they were going to come out hard,” Shaw said. “It was my first start, so I was a little nervous, but I had to put that anxiety into a positive and play hard.”

UND had six total penalties in the game — testing the team’s strength on the penalty kill

“Unfortunately, we’re still taking too many penalties. That needs to be better overall,” Idalski said. “I thought the penalty kill was solid.”

Next weekend, UND will be on the road once again as it will face Bemidji State on Friday and Saturday afternoon in Bemidji, Minn.

Mariah Holland is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].