UND Hockey Wins Ice Breaker Tournament with 2-0 Win Over Rival Wisconsin; A Recap of Saturday’s Game

THE FIGHTING HAWKS SCORED TWICE AND RECORDED A SHUTOUT EN ROUTE TO THEIR FIRST TROPHY OF THE YOUNG SEASON.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) — UND opens the season 2-0 with a 7-2 win over Army on Friday, October 13, and a 2-0 win vs. Wisconsin on Saturday. The 2-0 record won the Fighting Hawks the Icebreaker Tournament and they played well on both sides of the ice.

It was an electric atmosphere in the Ralph Engelstad Arena, just hours after the football team completed its upset over NDSU. More than anything, the defense just showed up. Ludvig Persson had 29 saves and the guys in front of him had 15 blocked shots. Persson talked about how it is sometimes better to be lucky than good (many shots from the Badgers went off the post.)

“You have to be lucky sometimes,” said Perrson, who is a senior transfer from the university of Miami (OH). “It was one of those nights tonight. Have to say thank you to the posts tonight. But, [I am] just happy we won.”

Coach Brad Berry spoke on the big day from the defense.

“I thought he did a good job of being composed and I thought our guys did a good job,” said Berry. “Part of that too is our defenseman blocking shots… forwards and defenseman. Selling out, blocking shots and making sure they get a piece of the puck before it even gets [to the goal].”

Aside from the stellar play from the defense, Hunter Johannes and Riese Gaber led the offense. A short-handed goal from Johannes opened the scoring and then Gaber added the game’s second goal on a back-hander.

Next up, UND will host the University of Minnesota back at the Ralph on both Friday and Saturday. Coach Berry said the celebration was over once the trophy celebration was done, but he said he will let his guys enjoy the wins for at least a day or so.