Ludvig Persson puts his stamp on UND's Penrose Cup evening
Mar. 5—GRAND FORKS — Ludvig Persson didn't experience much winning in his first three years of college hockey.
Persson's Miami University teams went 5-18-2, 7-27-2 and 8-24-4.
The RedHawks finished last place in the National Collegiate Hockey Coneference all three years. Persson's longest winning streak was two games. He earned one victory in his final 14 appearances as a RedHawk. He had to stop 50 of 51 shots that night.
After three years of struggles, Persson reached the top of the NCHC on Saturday night with UND.
UND clinched the Penrose Cup thanks to Persson's 35-save shutout in a 3-0 victory over Western Michigan in Ralph Engelstad Arena. After the Penrose Cup presentation, UND's seniors skated a lap with it in front of a sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena crowd.
"It's a long journey to get here," Persson said. "I'm just going to take it all in. That's what I try to do — just enjoy the moment. But it's a really good feeling."
Persson was a major factor in UND clinching the Penrose.
Western Michigan's expected goal total — based on the location and type of each shot — was 4.6 each night, 9.2 for the weekend series. Persson held the Broncos to three.
"Ludvig Persson was dialed in the whole weekend," UND coach Brad Berry said. "You can tell he sees the light at the end of the tunnel as far as how exciting it could be to possibly do something special. He was rock solid."
Captain Riese Gaber added: "You could just see this weekend, he was so dialed and locked in. It's exciting. It just makes me want to get out there and play in front of him."
Persson transferred to UND, despite knowing that the Fighting Hawks had to replace all eight of their defensemen from last season's team.
It didn't deter the 6-foot, 181-pound goalie from Hindas, Sweden.
He said upon arriving in Grand Forks, he could tell the Fighting Hawks had potential to be good.
"Right from the start, you can kind of tell what kind of guys you're around," Persson said.
In mid-February, Persson allowed 13 goals in a pair of losses at Colorado College. Since then, he's 4-0 with a .957 save percentage and two shutouts.
"Just a bump on the road," Persson said of the Colorado College series. "We got back on the horse, started working again, and now we're here. We've just got to keep riding this wave. I'm really excited for what's coming up."
UND defenseman Bennett Zmolek was held out of Saturday's series finale against Western Michigan due to an injury he sustained blocking a shot in the series opener.
Berry indicated he didn't believe Zmolek's injury to be serious.
Zmolek joined the team for the Penrose Cup celebration on the ice in crutches.
Even without Zmolek, the NCHC's leader in blocked shots, the Fighting Hawks put on a shot blocking clinic in the series finale. UND blocked 26 Western Michigan attempts for the second-straight night.
Defensemen Abram Wiebe and Keaton Pehrson led the way with five each.
Prior to this weekend, the last time UND blocked more than 25 shots in a 60-minute game was in the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals against the University of Denver. Then, UND did it on back-to-back nights against the Broncos.
Jackson Blake recorded his 35th conference point on a highlight-reel goal in the third period against Western Michigan.
He is now tied with UND's Brock Boeser (2015-16) and Denver's Bobby Brink (2021-22) for the NCHC record for the most league points in a season.
Blake will have a chance to break that record at 7:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Omaha, where the Fighting Hawks close the regular season.
Blake has 24 points in his last 12 games and ranks No. 3 nationally with 50 points in all games.
Berry won his fifth conference championship in nine years as head coach Saturday night, tying Dean Blais for the most league titles in program history.
Berry and Blais are at five, Gino Gasparini has four and Dave Hakstol three.
Berry has now won four conference titles in the last five years.
UND put together the line of Dylan James, Jake Schmaltz and Louis Jamernik V to go against Western Michigan's big line of Luke Grainger, Dylan Wendt and Alex Bump.
As he often does at home, Berry used last line change to get the matchups he wanted.
Once again, the shutdown line came through.
For the first time all season, Grainger was held without a point on a weekend.
It has been a theme for that group in the second half of the season.
Two weeks ago, the shutdown line kept Minnesota Duluth's leading goal-scorer Ben Steeves from scoring. In its home series before that, UND became the first team all season to keep Denver's Massimo Rizzo off the scoresheet.
UND won all six games.
The Fighting Hawks are 17-4-1 at home. Only one of the four losses came in regulation (Oct. 20 vs. Minnesota).
The shutdown line even chipped in offensively. Jamernik scored goals each night.
* UND's Pehrson played a season-high 25:54 on Saturday night.
* UND will play Miami in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Fighting Hawks went 4-0 against the RedHawks in the regular season. One of the wins came in overtime. It is the only NCHC quarterfinal matchup set so far.
* UND has 49 points in the NCHC standings right now with two games to go. Its other Penrose Cup-winning teams had 53 (2021-22), 54 (2020-21), 56 (2019-20), 59 (2015-16) and 50 (2014-15).
