UND topples No. 1 Minnesota on goals by freshmen

Oct. 21—GRAND FORKS — The introduction to the North Dakota-Minnesota rivalry Friday may not have gone as planned for freshmen Jayden Perron and Jake Livanavage.

"(Friday) night was a big game under the bright lights, packed house, exciting environment," UND coach Brad Berry said. "Those two guys, and others as well, probably didn't play as well as they wanted to play. They came into the rink today and had a couple of meetings. At the end of the day, they care. They're freshmen, but they made a couple of key plays tonight."

Perron and Livanavage had a memorable Round 2 on Saturday.

Perron scored on a deflection in the second period, Livanavage scored his first-career goal in the third and No. 5 UND beat No. 1 Minnesota 2-1 in front of 11,636 fans in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

"The fans were ecstatic," senior forward Carson Albrecht said. "It was so loud in there. It's definitely something I'll remember forever."

The win gave UND (3-1) a series split against its biggest rival and handed the Gophers (3-1) their first defeat of the season. It was UND's eighth win over a No. 1-ranked team since 2014.

The series followed a familiar pattern.

Since 2017, Minnesota is 4-1 on Fridays. UND is 5-0 on Saturdays.

"Really good team over on the other side," UND coach Brad Berry said. "We were more consistent with our puck management and having everybody on the same page for what we do. It's a huge win, getting a split, turning the page and playing our last few games at home next weekend before we go on the road."

UND was strong from the start, outshooting the Gophers 24-12 through two periods and building a lead on Perron's deflection at 5:48 of the second.

But the Fighting Hawks needed Livanavage's goal early in the third.

The defenseman from Phoenix picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated up the right wing and flicked a backhand on net from near the end line. It was a bad-angle shot but it snuck five-hole on Gopher goalie Justen Close.

"I didn't really see much," Livanavage said. "I just decided to put it on the net. I skated behind the net and saw it behind the goalie. . . and I don't really remember much after that."

The crowd erupted and Livanavage celebrated with a fist pump along the half wall.

"You could feel the fans behind you and how much it means to them," Livanavage said. "Everything in general, leading up to this weekend, was pretty amazing."

Minnesota got one back on a Jaxon Nelson deflection of a Ryan Chesley point shot with 11:56 to go, but UND held on for the win — something that may not have happened a year ago when the Fighting Hawks repeatedly blew third-period leads.

In net, senior Ludvig Persson continued to be outstanding.

He has a .937 save percentage through four games and stopped 21 of 22 on Saturday against a Gopher team that had scored at least two goals in 41 of the last 43 games.

"Ludvig Persson is just calm in the net, giving yourself a chance to win," Berry said. "I thought both ends of the rink this weekend was outstanding by both goaltenders."

Defensively, UND's blue liners have helped him out at key times. Freshman Abram Wiebe and senior Garrett Pyke tied up Gophers on the backdoor to prevent Grade-A chances Saturday night.

"We had a chip on our shoulder and something to prove," Albrecht said. "We supported the puck carrier a lot more. We hunted pucks a lot better and we played better system-wise."

The Fighting Hawks may have been able to put the game away earlier if they could have capitalized on the power play, but they went 0-for-6 on the night, 0-for-10 on the weekend and they've been blanked on their last 15 chances.

It's a slow start for a unit that ranked No. 2 in the nation last season.

"I thought we did a better job trying to get pucks to the paint," Berry said. "I thought (Friday) night we were a little too perimeter, too slow. They've got a good kill. (We need to) put pucks to areas where you have a chance to outnumber them in front of the net and get secondary and third opportunities. Close made some unreal saves tonight."

Close made two terrific leg saves on Cameron Berg on re-directs from the top of the crease. He also stopped Owen McLaughlin on a third-period chance set up by a Jackson Blake pass. UND had 12 shots on goal during its six power plays.

"I think we're getting looks," Berry said. "We've just got to stay with it and not have any frustration. We'll break the seal and we'll get back on track scoring goals."

UND ended the game without two key defensemen.

Fifth-year senior Keaton Pehrson didn't play because of a lower-body injury sustained in the series opener. Pehrson missed the last 7:43 of Friday's game. Berry said he's day-to-day.

Bennett Zmolek, UND's time on ice leader through the first three games, was injured blocking a shot and didn't come back.

"It was a hard shot," Berry said. "If anybody knows Bennett Zmolek, he tried to come back, and if you don't come back in the game, he must have been really hurting. He's played through that a little bit this year."