Preview: Minnesota State at No. 4 UND
Oct. 27—GRAND FORKS — Bennett Zmolek suffered an injury Saturday blocking a shot against the University of Minnesota.
He had to miss the last half of UND's 2-1 victory over his father Doug's alma mater.
Zmolek spent the early part of the week recovering, but eventually rejoined practice.
Will he get a chance to play against his brother Riese's alma mater — and his last school — this weekend? We'll find out at about 5 p.m. Friday when the line charts are released.
Zmolek had a brief career at Minnesota State.
As a freshman in 2021-22, he played 28 games, scoring two goals and tallying seven points. Due to a deep defensive group for the Mavericks, Zmolek played a fair amount at forward that season.
He missed all of 2022-23 due to hip surgery.
At the end of the year, he transferred to UND, where he appears set to play a big role.
Zmolek led UND in ice time in the exhibition game against Manitoba (18:23). He followed that up by playing 19:07 against Army. He led UND in ice time in the 2-0 win over Wisconsin (22:32) and was second behind Garrett Pyke in ice time during the series opener against Minnesota (22:21).
It's unclear what UND's back end will look like against the Mavericks.
Coach Brad Berry indicated Keaton Pehrson is unlikely to play. Rookie Tanner Komzak has been dealing with an injury as well, though he has resumed skating with the team.
Forward Dane Montgomery of Grand Forks has practiced this week at defense.
UND and Minnesota State enter the weekend mirroring each other in a lot of different stat categories.
Both teams will be looking to get the power play going this weekend.
UND is 0-for-15 in the last three games. Minnesota State went 0-for-14 last weekend against UMass.
Berry said UND needs to be sharper on zone entries on the power play.
"It's so critical to win the draw," Berry said. "When you win the draw, you get automatic possession. From there, you can sustain a little momentum in the zone. But if you lose the draw, then you have to go up-and-down the ice, and if you're not clean on entries, it makes it difficult to sustain momentum or score a goal.
"Once we got in the zone, I thought we did get some looks. But I think we probably need to be more direct, get more pucks to the net and have a shooting mentality. Sometimes, when you have some really skilled players, you tend to survey a little bit and try to make seam passes. You have to take what the other team gives you."
Time: 7:07 p.m. Friday, 6:07 p.m. Saturday.
Place: Ralph Engelstad Arena (tickets available on Ticketmaster).
TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD).
Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM).
Stream: NCHChockey.com.
UND Stat MSU
2.8 (30th) Off 2.8 (30th)
1.8 (7th) Def 2.5 (20th)
5.6 (54th) PP 5.3 (55th)
85.7 (25th) PK 80.0 (33rd)
52.9 (14th) FO 53.2 (11th)
.927 (10th) SP .899 (32nd)
National rank in parenthesis. Categories are offense (goals per game), defense (goals allowed per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.
The last time UND and Minnesota State played was October 2019. There's only one player left on either roster from that series — Sowder, a fifth-year senior forward. That was his second weekend of college hockey.
Sowder was stuck on the fourth line. Even so, he tallied points on four of the Mavericks' six goals. He was on the ice for five of them. Sowder moved up to the third line the next week and was up to the second line by the end of the season. He's now Minnesota State's top-line left winger and one of the Mavericks' best scoring threats.
The Fighting Hawks sophomore has not yet tallied a point this season, but it's not for a lack of chances. McLaughlin led all UND players in shots on goal in the two-game series against Minnesota with nine. He set up Cameron Berg for three prime scoring opportunities, too. If he continues to play at that level, the points will soon come.
"I put on some weight, focused on my details more, shot the puck in the offseason and I've just tried to get better every day," said McLaughlin, who added about 15 pounds.
The Fighting Hawks generated plenty of scoring looks against Minnesota, but had trouble finishing. If they keep generating like they did — for all but one period against Minnesota — those looks will eventually start to fall. The Mavericks will play physical against UND and try to wear down the Fighting Hawks, but UND should be able to play that style, too.
UND 4, Minnesota State 3
UND 2, Minnesota State 1
Scoring
17 Riese Gaber, sr, f, 2-2—4
28 Hunter Johannes, 5th, f, 3-0—3
9 Jackson Blake, so, f, 2-1—3
14 Cameron Berg, jr, f, 1-2—3
18 Jayden Perron, fr, f, 2-0—2
8 Jake Schmaltz, jr, f, 0-2—2
7 Garrett Pyke, 5th, d, 0-2—2
4 Jake Livanavage, fr, d, 1-0—1
2 Bennett Zmolek, so, d, 0-1—1
21 Ben Strinden, so, f, 0-1—1
26 Dylan James, so, f, 0-1—1
6 Logan Britt, 5th, d, 0-1—1
27 Louis Jamernik V, sr, f, 0-1—1
29 Jackson Kunz, jr, f, 0-1—1
20 Keaton Pehrson, 5th, d, 0-1—1
25 Abram Wiebe, fr, d, 0-0—0
11 Griffin Ness, sr, f, 0-0—0
13 Carson Albrecht, sr, f, 0-0—0
24 Michael Emerson, fr, f, 0-0—0
15 Nate Benoit, fr, d, 0-0—0
5 Dane Montgomery, so, f, dnp
10 Tanner Komzak, fr, d, dnp
Goaltending
32 Ludvig Persson, sr, 3-1, 1.51, .937
30 Hobie Hedquist, fr, dnp
1 Kaleb Johnson, so, dnp
Scoring
15 Adam Eisele, so, f, 2-2—4
6 Sam Morton, 5th, f, 2-0—2
25 Brenden Olson, jr, f, 2-0—2
28 Brian Carrabes, jr, f, 1-1—2
7 Luc Wilson, so, f, 1-1—2
26 Kaden Bohlsen, sr, f, 1-1—2
27 Tony Malinowski, sr, d, 0-2—2
10 Evan Murr, fr, d, 0-2—2
21 Lucas Sowder, 5th, f, 1-0—1
4 Brett Moravec, fr, f, 1-0—1
5 Mason Wheeler, so, d, 0-1—1
23 Jordan Steinmetz, 5th, f, 0-1—1
13 Jordan Power, sr, d, 0-1—1
3 Brandon Koch, 5th, d, 0-1—1
20 Connor Gregga, sr, f, 0-1—1
18 Jakob Stender, fr, d, 0-1—1
19 Will Hillman, jr, d, 0-0—0
8 Campbell Cichosz, so, d, 0-0—0
22 Steve Bellini, jr, d, 0-0—0
11 Tyler Haskins, so, f, 0-0—0
14 Kade Nielsen, fr, f, 0-0—0
12 Josh Groll, sr, f, 0-0—0
9 Tanner Edwards, jr, f, dnp
24 Zach Krajnik, jr, f, dnp
Goaltending
33 Alex Tracy, so, 2-2, 2.48, .899
35 Keenan Rancier, jr, dnp
32 Andrew Miller, jr, dnp
