UND Men’s Hockey: “Electric” Night, but Back to the Ice Today

Up until last night, the UND Men’s Hockey Team had lost six consecutive games in the Frozen Four semifinals.

But then yesterday, Nick Schmaltz put in the game winner with a minute left in regulation as UND now moves to the championship.

That is the best way to describe it.  It’s electric.

You think back to last year in Boston when we had done the LIVE shot at 9:50pm.

UND was down three, we walked back in and they were down one.

But this year, they were up two and when we walked back in, it was a tie game.

They had to find that energy…they had to find a way to score and they were able to do it, obviously Nick Schmaltz getting the go-ahead goal to put them in front.

But today for UND, it was right back to work and work is what they are going to do because they are going to face a darn good hockey team come tomorrow in Quinnipiac.

These two teams have traded spots at the top all season long, it seems like.

If one has been number one, the other has been number two and vice versa.

We talked about it all week, the potential for that revenge game.

Remember, it was UND who eliminated the Bobcats in last season’s NCAA West Regional so they know what they’re getting this year.

“They have for the most part the same team as we played last year but obviously a little more experienced…a little more older this year and obviously clicking on all cylinders right now with only three losses on the season.  They play hard, they play the right way so it will be a great matchup Saturday night,” said Captain Gage Ausmus.

“I remember they play hard. They play fast and I remember they put a trap in the neutral zone trying to get us off our game. We had to chip a lot of pucks in but I know that’s part of their game and we just got to make sure we are prepared for them as best we can,” said Senior Forward Drake Cagguila.

“Quinnipiac’s a very talented and skilled team.  I know they have the 1-3-1 neutral zone so I think we’re going to have to do a little game film on there and get our guys prepped for that.  Another hard team to play against because they’re really fast and it’s going to be a good battle for us,” said Sophomore Forward Austin Poganski.

Now obviously, that isn’t all that in depth on Quinnipiac specifically but you can find that coverage in the KVRR Sports Extra footage on KVRR.com.

We talk to UND about what it means to finally get past that semifinal hump.

They’ve been ousted in that first Frozen Four game the last two seasons.  This year, that is obviously not the case.