Cameron Berg's offense coming alive for UND
Dec. 6—GRAND FORKS — Two young UND fans stood on the glass at Denver's Magness Arena on Saturday night with the sign.
They had a trade offer.
"Skittles for a puck?" it said.
UND forward Cameron Berg jumped on the offer. He skated over to them, tossed them a warmup puck and they gave him a large bag of Skittles.
It's too early to say if we've got a Marshawn Lynch situation developing — the old Seattle Seahawks running back famously used to eat Skittles during NFL games — but it seemed to work.
Berg scored a goal and set up another to conclude a big weekend.
The West Fargo product had three goals and four points as the Fighting Hawks nabbed four of six National Collegiate Hockey Conference points at Magness Arena.
It marked just the second time UND has won a series in Magness Arena in 20 years. The other time was 2019-20, when the Fighting Hawks grabbed five of six NCHC points.
Berg was named NCHC forward of the week for his play.
"He's been big for us," UND defenseman Keaton Pehrson said. "He's huge in the faceoff dot, always. But he's scoring some big goals for us, too. It's awesome when you see one of your guys catch fire a little bit. It's good for him and it gives us a lot of energy."
Berg has been key on UND's power play.
He leads the team with four power-play goals. He's now playing on the right flank, where he's able to connect on one-timers from the middle of the ice. He did that Friday night as UND rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 7-5, finishing a Jayden Perron feed. Berg also scored with the man advantage Saturday.
"Cam getting on a flank and having an opportunity to use his shot, which is very lethal, is a big deal," UND coach Brad Berry said. "We're really happy with that."
Berg's five-on-five line with Perron and Hunter Johannes also has been clicking.
They have 18 points in the last six games and they're a combined plus-22 for the season.
"They've been playing consistently well over the last few weeks," Berry said. "Part of that is not only offensively — putting pucks in the net — but it's defensively as well."
Berg now ranks second on UND's team in scoring with 16 points in 16 games, trailing only Jackson Blake's 22.
The Fighting Hawks are slated to host Colorado College at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday in Ralph Engelstad Arena to close the first half of the season.
The Tigers tied and lost to Arizona State last weekend, despite dominating both games. During Saturday's 2-0 loss, shots on goal were 38-14 Colorado College. Attempted shots were 86-25.
"They play with pace," Berry said. "Watching the Arizona State (series), they controlled the play for most of the two games. We know we have to make sure we match or exceed that level to have success here."
Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte said his team needs to get off to a fast start.
"We have to build off what we did last weekend," Mayotte said. "The unfortunate thing is we gave ASU a two-goal lead. When you give them a two-goal lead, there's potential for something like that to happen."
UND forward Carson Albrecht will be held out of this weekend's series with a lower-body injury which was sustained Nov. 24 against Bemidji State.
This will mark the fourth- and fifth-straight games Albrecht has missed.
"We get a break here for a couple of weeks (after Saturday night)," Berry said. "We're hoping he'll be ready after the break."
After the Colorado College series, UND will be off until a Dec. 30 exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 Team in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Fighting Hawks will get back into regular-season action Jan. 6-7 against Alaska (Fairbanks).
Colorado College will be missing two of its three NHL Draft picks this weekend.
Forward Klavs Veinbergs, a Tampa Bay draft pick who has not yet played this season, and forward Zaccharya Wisdom, a Seattle draft pick, have been ruled out.
Veinbergs is expected to return sometime in January. He's been dealing with an upper-body injury.
Wisdom will miss his third- and fourth-straight games with an illness.
Senior forward Tyler Coffey, who has not played since January because of an upper-body injury, could make his return to the lineup this weekend.
When: 7:07 p.m. Friday, 6:07 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Ralph Engelstad Arena.
TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD).
Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM).
Stream: NCHChockey.com.
