Former North Dakota goaltender and 2011 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Ed Belfour got a chance last week to strap on the pads and don the colors of one of his old teams.
And not for the first time.
In 2017, Belfour participated in a “One Last Shift” pregame ceremony with the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL team he spent nearly a decade backstopping. Then, ahead of his college team’s 7-1 win Friday against Miami, he took a couple laps on the Ralph Engelstad Arena ice before joining the Fighting Hawks at their blue line for the national anthem.
Belfour spent just one season at UND, 1986-87, but the Fighting Sioux earned a school-record 40 wins and captured the program’s fifth NCAA title.
North Dakota has held “One Last Shift” ceremonies since 2018, when former UND great Jim Archibald took part. Brandon Bochenski and 1980 Olympic gold medalist Dave Christian have also been spotlighted.
Belfour’s turn would’ve happened last year, but the Manitoba native asked to have it moved back amid pandemic-related border issues.
“One Last Shift” is a recurring celebration that UND fans get a kick out of, but local officials aren’t shy about the fact that it’s something they borrowed from the Blackhawks.
“We saw that they were doing it, and we liked the idea so much that we started doing it ourselves here at UND,” Ralph Engelstad Arena general manager Jody Hodgson said. “It was not an original idea on our part, but rather, something that we saw work in the NHL, so we copied it.”
UND aims to hold two “One More Shift” promotions each season, one on each side of the holiday break. Matt Greene, a three-year player with UND who went on to win the Stanley Cup twice with the Los Angeles Kings, is set to return to the Ralph on Jan. 21, when UND hosts Minnesota Duluth.
Each offseason, UND hockey officials mull over potential candidates for the promotion, then ask targeted former players if they’re interested in taking part. Often, potential targets are limited in their availability on account of that they’re still either playing or coaching professionally.
“No real criteria for who is asked to participate,” Hodgson said, “but we do probably lean towards some of our most popular players from years gone by from a fan perspective.”
Belfour’s “One Last Shift” game in Grand Forks was UND’s better one from the weekend.
Two Jackson Blake goals, one apiece from five teammates and Jakob Hellsten’s 18 saves lifted the Fighting Hawks to a win that snapped UND’s recent three-game winless skid. They had another tough result Saturday, though, as three consecutive goals from Blake, Gavin Hain and Riese Gaber were effectively wiped out when Miami’s Jack Clement scored with 5:26 left to give the RedHawks a 4-3 road victory.
It wasn’t quite the weekend UND fans would’ve hoped for from a Hawks team struggling to find consistency on the ice. However, welcoming back another of the program’s greats provided what it always does: a palpable lift.
“We certainly think that the “One More Shift” promotions do enhance or help attendance, but we also think the promotions really add to the fan experience and really add value for all of our season ticket holders, students, suite owners, and club seat owners who are here every night – and give us a great way to honor and recognize our alums that we are so proud of in a unique and creative way,” Hodgson said.
“It is awesome to see our alums dressed in our current team’s gear interacting with our student-athletes as they prepare to take the ice. Pretty special way for our alums to interact with our current team and even neater opportunity for our current team to interact with our alums.”
UND faces Bemidji State this weekend in a home-and-home series, hosting the Beavers on Saturday.
