UND finishes sweep of Minnesota Duluth with 2-0 victory
Nov. 11—DULUTH, Minn. — UND confirmed some suspicions this weekend.
This team is pretty good.
The Fighting Hawks finished off a two-game sweep of Minnesota Duluth with a 2-0 victory Saturday night in AmsOil Arena.
It marked UND's fifth-straight victory in Duluth. It's the first time UND has won five straight in Duluth since the 1960s.
But this wasn't a hang-on-for-your-dear-life sweep like last time the Fighting Hawks were here and won a pair of one-goal games.
It was a thorough and systematic performance for the majority of the 120 minutes by a UND team that didn't bother to break out its lucky black jerseys.
On Saturday, the scoreline was kept close by Minnesota Duluth goaltender Matthew Thiessen and his posts. UND hit four of them and the Vancouver Canucks draft pick made two brilliant desperation saves.
But Louis Jamernik V got one past him in the first, Riese Gaber finished off a brilliant Jackson Blake behind-the-back feed in the second and it was enough to get the job done.
"We're a confident group," Gaber said. "We've got a lot of weapons. We showed that this weekend. We're just going to keep going and doing our thing."
Another suspicion that was confirmed this weekend is that goaltender Ludvig Persson is excellent.
Persson stopped all 30 Bulldog shots in the series finale to earn his second shutout of the season. He was especially sharp in the first period, when the Bulldogs threw 15 shots on net.
"I got action right away there, which was pretty nice," Persson said. "The second period was kind of calm and I didn't have a lot. I just have to stay focused and stay in it. I think we did a good job overall and kept them to the outside. So, it was a pretty comfortable journey for me throughout the game."
Persson now has a .925 save percentage.
"In the third, we were sitting on the bench and there were a few angles where pucks were coming at the net, and it looked like there was a great screen in front of him," UND coach Brad Berry said. "Then, he just pops out his head or blocker or glove or whatever. He made some tough saves look easy. That's always reassuring to know that when the momentum shifts a little bit, you have a goaltender that can make that big save."
UND's defensive corps, which is entirely new this season, has held up well.
They helped limit the Bulldogs to just one even-strength goal on the weekend — and that was courtesy of a shot block that ricocheted backdoor to a wide open Bulldog player on Friday night.
"When you come in here with 14 new players, it's a feeling out process, not knowing how we do things, how we play and what we do," Berry said. "I think playing at home in October was huge, having success. But going on the road and getting three out of four in some tough places to play, you grow exponentially. I think our group grew a little bit. It's tough to win in this building. We've done it a few times, but it doesn't happen often."
UND is now 7-2-1 having gone through a difficult schedule — No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 9 Boston University and No. 18 Minnesota Duluth.
"We have a lot of confidence, obviously," Persson said. "We have some things to work on, but we should definitely bring this with us. It's a huge sweep for us. We grew as a group this weekend, for sure."
The biggest concern coming out of the game was an upper-body injury to Jake Schmaltz in the second period. He left the ice with trainer Mark Poolman and didn't return.
"He's day-to-day," Berry said. "We'll go back and take a look at him and see where he's at."
UND now returns home for four-straight games — two against Miami and two against Bemidji State.
"We have to enjoy it tonight on the bus ride home, but turn the page and get ready for another hard NCHC weekend," Berry said. "We have four weekends left before Christmas break here and we want to make sure we take advantage of each and every weekend."
