UND Hockey Prepares For Weekend Series at BU

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — After spending all of October on their home ice, North Dakota Hockey prepares for their first road trip of the season. The Fighting Hawks come into this weekend’s battle with Boston ranked three and four in the polls with a 4-1-1 record.

The Fighting Hawks defense has been a major part of the team’s early success. The Green Machine has only allowed 1.83 goals per game so far this season. Goalie, Ludvig Persson earned the NCHC’s Goalie of the Month award after winning Goalie of the Week honors for three consecutive weeks. Persson leads the NCHC with a .933 save percentage; Persson credits his teammates; head coach Brad Berry gives the defensive core and their netminder credit for working so well together, something they’ll have to continue to do well this weekend…

“I feel good. I feel comfortable. I am having a lot of fun out there. Obviously I have a great team in front of me that are helping me a lot so it’s been a good couple weeks here,” said Persson.

“There is a reason why in our locker room we have our three goaltenders right next to our eight defensemen. I think just having that consistency, that communication, and that tightness of that group together and buying in; you know the other part of playing good defense is blocking shots. You know, when you look at all of our d-core, how many shots they’ve blocked, and our forwards have done that as well, but willing to eat a puck so it doesn’t get to the net. That’s a huge, huge deal, and I think just having that concept of whatever you have to do to play good defense, to let you go on offense, our team is bought in. We’re playing against a high offensive team in their home rink that plays fast through the neutral zone. We have a challenge and our challenge is to defend hard like we have been and again, it’s not just one line or one guy or a D pair, it’s everybody being on the same page so that’s our challenge and I know we’re up for it,” said head coach, Brad Berry.

The Fighting Hawks will take on the Terriers in Boston who are ranked 8 and 9 in the polls… this Friday night at 6:00 PM. Saturday’s matchup is also slated for a 6:00 PM puck drop.