UND’s 3-1 redux
A two-goal lead is only what the leading team makes of it.
North Dakota entered Friday’s home series opener against Miami riding an 82-game unbeaten streak when leading after two periods. The seventh-ranked Fighting Hawks looked poised to keep that going, too, leading Miami 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The last 20 flipped the script. A streak that began on Nov. 1, 2013, was snapped Friday when Miami scored five unanswered third-period goals to beat UND 6-3. Anthony Louis, Carson Meyer, Karch Bachman, Ryan Siroky and Louie Belpedio did the honors in the final period.
With Friday’s win, Miami extended an unbeaten streak of its own to six games. UND starting goaltender Cam Johnson was pulled in the third period in favor of Matej Tomek, who conceded the game’s final two goals.
UND went back to the well Saturday with Johnson, who recorded 14 saves in the Hawks’ 3-1 split-salvaging win. Three different UND skaters (Dixon Bowen, Austin Poganski and Rhett Gardner) netted goals in the rematch.
Miami (8-9-5 overall, 4-5-3-1 NCHC) visits Omaha (13-8-3, 6-6) next weekend, while UND (13-7-3, 6-5-1-1) welcomes No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth (13-5-4, 9-4-1-1) to Grand Forks, N.D.
Sandelin reaches 300 wins
Minnesota-Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin reached a significant career milestone Saturday when the Bulldogs downed in-state rival St. Cloud State 4-3 in overtime in Duluth.
Kyle Osterberg’s game-winning goal 2:33 into the extra period allowed UMD to earn a series split against the Huskies. SCSU won Friday’s opener 2-1 on the back of two Jack Ahcan goals and 41 saves from goaltender Jeff Smith.
Duluth led 3-0 five minutes into Saturday’s second period before St. Cloud scored three consecutive goals later in the same period to tie the game. After a scoreless third period, Osterberg deflected a shot from defenseman Dan Molenaar past backup SCSU goaltender Zach Driscoll to give the Bulldogs the win.
Sandelin, now in his 17th season at UMD, is 300-282-79 all-time. He was in charge during the Bulldogs’ first-ever national championship-winning season in 2010-11.
SCSU (10-11-1, 5-8-1) returns home to prepare for a visit next weekend from Denver (15-5-4, 7-2-3-2), which could lose its national No. 1 standing Monday following a road split this weekend against No. 14 Western Michigan (11-6-3, 5-6-1-1).
Omaha bounces back
After getting lit up for 16 goals last week in two home losses to UND, Omaha needed a boost this weekend when the Mavericks visited Colorado College.
UNO’s first-ever road sweep against CC turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. A 5-2 win Friday night at Colorado Springs’ World Arena was the Mavericks’ first ever road series-opening win against CC, and a 30-save performance from goaltender Evan Weninger powered UNO to a 4-2 victory on Saturday.
CC had come into the series with plenty of reasons to feel confident, having gone 3-0-1 since the holiday break. After this weekend’s sweep at the hand of UNO, however, the Tigers are now 0-9 at home so far this season.
Omaha now sits two points in the NCHC standings behind the same third-place UND team that outscored the Mavericks 16-4 last week.
The Tigers (6-14-2, 2-8-2) hits the road next weekend to take on Western Michigan.
