UND's top defenseman Garrett Pyke will miss regional game with injury
Mar. 29—MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — For the third time in the last four NCAA regionals, UND will be forced to play without its No. 1 defenseman because of an injury sustained in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament.
UND fifth-year senior Garrett Pyke is a scratch for UND's NCAA regional opener against Michigan in Centene Community Ice Center due to an upper-body injury.
Pyke sustained the injury last Friday in a loss to Omaha in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals.
Pyke did practice this week, including Thursday in Maryland Heights.
The transfer from Alaska played an average of 20 minutes, 55 seconds per game for UND this season, leading the Fighting Hawks in time on ice.
The 6-foot, 190-pound blue liner from Ontario played on both the power play and penalty kill for UND.
Pyke tallied three goals and 25 points in 39 games and was named an NCHC all-conference honorable mention.
It will be the first game Pyke has missed in more than four years.
He last missed a game March 7, 2020, when he was a rookie at Alaska. Since then, he's played in 107 consecutive games.
Missing top defensemen for the NCAA regionals has become a theme for UND since it won the 2016 NCAA national championship.
In 2017, Tucker Poolman suffered an injury in the NCHC title game against Minnesota Duluth and missed the NCAA regional semifinal against Boston University in Fargo's Scheels Arena. UND lost that game in double overtime.
In 2022, Jake Sanderson suffered an injury in the NCHC quarterfinals against Colorado College and missed the NCAA regional semifinal game against Notre Dame in Albany. UND lost that game in overtime.
Without Pyke, UND will use rookie defenseman Nate Benoit, who last played March 9 at Omaha.
UND will debut a few new lines for the regional game.
The Fighting Hawks are keeping one unit together — Owen McLaughlin, Jackson Blake and Jackson Kunz.
They're moving captain Riese Gaber to the checking line alongside Dylan James and Louis Jamernik V.
Cameron Berg is centering Hunter Johannes and Jayden Perron. Berg has spent time centering both this season, but not at the same time.
Jake Schmaltz is moving to the fourth line, where he will center Carson Albrecht and Ben Strinden.
Griffin Ness is the extra skater.
As UND coach Brad Berry promised Thursday, Ludvig Persson is returning to his spot as starting goaltender after battling an undisclosed ailment late in the season.
Persson missed all three games of the NCHC playoffs.
He was a scratch for the quarterfinal series against Miami and listed as the backup goaltender for the NCHC semifinal game against Omaha.
Backup goaltender Hobie Hedquist started all three of those games, going 2-1.
Persson last played March 9 at Omaha.
Persson has been UND's go-to netminder since Day 1 this season after the Fighting Hawks grabbed him out of the NCAA transfer portal from Miami.
He enters the NCAA tournament with a 21-10-2 record, a 2.48 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.
