No. 7/8 North Dakota rolls to 10-0 exhibition win over Manitoba

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND ATHLETICS)– No. 7/8 North Dakota blitzed Manitoba for a 10-0 victory in exhibition action on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.  

UND, who enters the season with 14 newcomers, had it all on display offensively in the contest, striking for seven goals in the second period before adding a trio of tallies in the third to finish with its largest margin of victory over an opponent since Nov. 1, 2003 vs. Yale (10-0). 

Freshman Jayden Perron dazzled in his unofficial collegiate debut, potting three goals and firing a game-high seven shots to record the hat trick. The rookie struck a trio of times in the middle stanza, including a highlight-reel, coast-to-coast goal to cement his hat trick.  

Reigning NCHC Rookie of the Year Jackson Blake was also all over the scoresheet with two goals and a pair of assists while fellow sophomore Owen McLaughlin matched Blake’s output of four points with a goal and three helpers to both pace the squad with four points.

Defenseman Logan Britt notched a trio of assists while Jackson Kunz (2g) and Hunter Johannes (2a) rounded out the group of six Fighting Hawks who recorded multiple points. Overall, 15 skaters notched at least a point for the hosts.  

The goaltenders weren’t super busy for the green and white, with Ludvig Persson and Hobie Hedquist each finishing with three saves while Kaleb Johnson closed out the final 4:41 of the contest and did not see any shots on goal.  

NoDak came out flying to begin the game, registering the contest’s first 17 shots in the opening 10 minutes of play, but it was Manitoba netminder Kolby Thornton who put on a show in the first period with 25 saves to keep the game scoreless at the end of one.  

Opening up the second stanza on a power play, it took UND only 14 seconds to finally break the scoreless deadlock with Blake rocketing home a one-time pass from Riese Gaber to put the Hawks up, 1-0. McLaughlin quickly made it 2-0 just over a minute later, this time on a feed from Blake, to start the seven-goal onslaught in the middle period.  

Three goals from Perron plus two tallies from Kunz and another by Blake over the final 15:11 of the second gave North Dakota a 7-0 lead and sent the 11,692 fans in attendance into a frenzy.  

Jake Schmaltz added the eighth goal for UND in the middle of the third period before Kunz and Dylan James rounded out the scoring with a pair in the final five minutes to close out the 10-0 victory.  

North Dakota opens the regular season next Friday night with a showdown against Army at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena in the opening contest of the 2023 Ice Breaker Tournament. Fans can catch all the action on Midco Sports or NCHC.tv as well as tune in on the Home of Economy Radio Network.  

Postgame Notes 

• UND hit double digits in goals for the first time since an 11-2 win over Michigan Tech on Mar. 5, 2011 
• The 10-0 victory was the largest in exhibition history for North Dakota  
• Jayden Perron finished with a hat trick, the first by a UND player in an exhibition game since 2015-16 
• UND dressed 25 players on Saturday, with Michael Emerson missing the contest due to an illness  
• Ludvig Persson stopped three shots in 29:27 of action, while Hobie Hedquist made three saves in 25:52 
• NoDak finished with a 59-6 shot advantage 
• The Fighting Hawks finished 3-for-6 on the power play while Manitoba was 0-for-3 
• UND finished with a 37-36 advantage in the dot, with Louis Jamernik V going 11-6

How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
No scoring 

Second Period 
00:14 | UND – Jackson Blake strikes on the power play off a one-timer to give UND a 1-0 lead
01:37 | UND – Owen McLaughlin increases the lead to 2-0 on a nice feed from Blake
04:49 | UND – Jayden Perron scores his first with a chip over the goaltender to make it 3-0
09:48 | UND – Blake scores his second of the night on a deflection in front for a 4-0 advantage
10:01 | UND – Jackson Kunz makes it 5-0 just 13 seconds later with an end-to-end rush
11:30 | UND – Perron snipes home a power play tally from the high slot to make it 6-0
18:34 | UND – Perron completes the hat trick with the seventh goal of the period for the Hawks

Third Period 

10:18 | UND – Jake Schmaltz finishes off a nice pass from Blake to make it 8-0 UND
15:18 | UND – Kunz pounces on a rebound for another power play goal
18:30 | UND – Dylan James makes it double digits with his first tally of the night

For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.