Rink Report: UND Riding Momentum into Miami-Ohio Series

Miami will be UND's first conference contest of the season

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — UND Hockey has a ton of momentum on their side after winning four straight games against ranked opponents.

That momentum comes at a great time as the Hawks gear up to face another ranked opponent, on the road at No. 19 Miami. The team says that momentum is especially important as they open up NCHC play.

“We call it the grind now, the NCHC grind and it truly is when you have eight top-caliber teams playing against each other and realizing that the first half of the year is important for setting up your season in the NCHC as far as points within your standings,” head coach Brad Berry said.

Berry and his squad recognize how much this series can affect them down the road.

“We have goals,” Berry said. “We want to win the league and we want to win the Penrose. The other goal is to get home-ice advantage being a top four, so we do have goals in place but you have to make sure you don’t look too far ahead on those. You have to make sure you take care of each and every game and each and every weekend and we’re playing against a Miami RedHawk team that’s playing very well right now.”

“Very excited, especially with Miami,” forward Jordan Kawaguchi added. “Miami is a pretty good team, they’re pretty skilled, quick. They were a good team last year and even better this year with all the guys they have returning, so it’ll be a fun weekend for us. I think especially we won four straight now and hopefully we can carry that momentum into this weekend.”

These two teams met four times last year, three of those games went into overtime. The Hawks will look to change that this time around.

Puck drop on Friday in Oxford, Ohio is set for 7:35 p.m.