UND opens Omaha series with another overtime loss

Jan. 12—GRAND FORKS — UND coach Brad Berry wasn't interested in dissecting whether Omaha's overtime goal Friday night should have been waved off for goalie interference.

"I'm not going to get into if it should have counted or should not have counted," Berry said. "The game should have ended a long time before overtime. It should have ended in 60 minutes instead of trying to figure out a way to win in overtime."

That's a philosophy UND might have to bank on the rest of the season, because the Fighting Hawks have been cursed in the extra session.

Four of their last six games have gone to overtime. UND lost all of them. It's five-straight if you include an exhibition game that occurred during that stretch, too.

The latest was a 5-4 defeat to Omaha in front of 11,394 in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Jack Randl scored 34 seconds into the extra session, burying a rebound of a Nolan Krenzen shot on a three-on-two rush.

Berry challenged the play for goalie interference because their linemate, Ty Mueller, had run into UND goalie Ludvig Persson, taking him out of the play. But the officials upheld the goal, ruling he was bumped into Persson by UND defenseman Garrett Pyke.

UND led the game 1-0 just 10 seconds in, and also held leads of 3-1 and 4-3.

But Omaha kept answering, in part, due to its power play.

The Mavericks, who entered the weekend ranked No. 59 of 64 NCAA teams in power play percentage, scored on their first two chances.

"I thought we had a good start, 10 seconds in," Louis Jamernik V said. "It was going the right way. Then, they answered back. It's just frustrating because we work so hard to get these leads. We're kind of letting them go right now."

Captain Riese Gaber stayed red hot, tallying a goal and an assist. He has eight points in the last three games. Owen McLaughlin also had a goal and an assist, while Ben Strinden and Jackson Blake scored the other goals. Garrett Pyke and Jamernik each had two assists.

"It's frustrating, obviously," Strinden said. "We shouldn't have even been in an overtime situation if we just put the game away. There's a couple games now where all we've had to do is put the game away. We're going to have to figure out at some point. We have to take it as a learning lesson instead of hanging our heads and pouting about it."

UND (14-6-1) still hasn't lost a regulation game since Nov. 3 at Boston University.

It's three-on-three overtimes that have been the thorn in UND's side.

The Fighting Hawks lost a 3-2 decision at the University of Denver on Dec. 2. The next weekend, they lost back-to-back 3-2 overtime games to Colorado College in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

They came back from Christmas break and dropped a 4-3 overtime decision in an exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 Team.

Then, after sweeping Alaska last weekend in The Ralph, UND lost in overtime to the Mavericks.

"It's so bitter," Jamernik V said. "It's so sour right now, because we've been talking about it lots. We practiced it this week, last week. Obviously, we've lost a handful of games now in OT. We've got to keep working hard, go back to the drawing board. That's all it is — a couple of small bounces here and there. They're going to come our way eventually, so we've just got to keep working hard."

UND is 11-0 this season when leading after two periods and 2-1-1 when trailing after two.

It is 1-5 when the game is tied going into the third and 3-5 in one-goal games.

Omaha (11-6-2) has been the opposite.

The Mavericks are now 5-1 in overtime and 9-1 in one-goal games.

"Did we have enough chances to probably win the game? Yeah," said Berry, whose team outshot Omaha 39-24. "But again, we probably have to have the habits and details to cut down on a couple of chances."

Persson returned to the net for the first time in more than a month.

His last action was Dec. 9 against Colorado College. He missed the exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Dec. 30 due to an injury and he missed last weekend's series against Alaska with an illness.

Persson stopped 19 of 24 shots.

"It's hard to fault him on some," Berry said. "Maybe one or two he wants back. . . the first power-play goal. But he's been good for us all year. He came back from being out a little over a week here. He'll be back to finding his form. He wasn't the reason why we lost in overtime."