While the Fighting Hawks may have snapped their eight-game win streak in an overtime loss to rival Omaha and fell one spot in the national rankings to No. 2, fans should not be worried about their beloved men’s hockey team.

Last Friday’s game was a hard fought affair between two of the nation’s best schools. In the end though, the Hawks would make too many mistakes and succumb to Omaha’s explosive top line early on in overtime. Omaha would hand UND its first loss since November, which did not sit well with the team.

“They’re hard days,’’ UND coach Brad Berry said. “Today around the rink was a hard day. We demand excellence here at North Dakota. There’s a high bar. After a loss, it doesn’t sit very well. Guys know that. Even if you play well and lose, it hurts. And if you don’t play well, it hurts even more.’’

Losses are never fun for players and fans alike, but ultimately can serve as a positive depending on how the team reacts the next game.

Especially toward the second period in Saturday’s game, it became apparent that the Hawks were not happy about the previous night’s loss and wanted Omaha to know it.

This time around it was UND’s top line that was stealing the show with Brock Boeser and Drake Caggiula netting goals.

The defense also stepped up its game as UND limited Omaha’s attack to one goal all night. Cam Johnson had another fantastic game, stopping 28 out of 29 shots.

“I thought we were much better managing pucks,’’ Berry said. “I thought we played a 200-foot game. I thought a couple of lines did a good job against the Guentzel (first) line and negated a lot of the scoring opportunities they had last night.’’

To be a great hockey team, it is not about the cards the players are dealt, it is how they react to them when things aren’t going their way. The Hawks showed they are capable of bouncing back and shaking off a loss to a quality team.

For their efforts in the battle of top 10 teams, UND’s Boeser and Troy Stecher were recognized by the NCHC. The former won this third Rookie of the Week award while the later won Defensemen of the Week for the second time this season.

Things get a little easier, at least on paper, for the Fighting Hawks this weekend. UND welcomes Colorado College to the Ralph Engelstad Arena for another NCHC series.

While NCHC rivalry games are always entertaining, the Tigers have had a down year when it comes to wins. CC is 5-17 this year and is dead last in the NCHC with a 3-9 conference record.

That being said, UND cannot sleep on this team.

The Tigers went into St. Cloud last weekend and split the series with the then No. 4 team in the nation, beating the Huskies 5-2 in their own building.

The Fighting Hawks will look to continue heating up and adding to its 19-3-4 record against Colorado tonight at 7:37 p.m. and Saturday at 7:07 p.m. at the Ralph.

Alex Stadnik is the sports editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]