No. 2 UND Travels to No. 3 Denver in NCHC Clash
UND FALLS TO NO. 2 IN THE USCHO POLL; LOOKS TO REGAIN NO. 1 SPOT WITH WEEKEND SERIES IN DENVER.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR)– The Ralph Engelstad Arena is the home of the current Number-two-ranked North Dakota hockey program, according to the most recent USCHO poll — Boston College takes the number one slot even though UND is on a seven-game win streak and have had three consecutive sweeps. Their focus is now the No. 3 team in the country, the Denver Pioneers.
North Dakota is one of the hottest teams in the country with their seven consecutive wins, but take on a very tough Denver team. For senior forward Griffin Ness, they are playing good hockey, but they need to sustain it.
“We’re just playing, for the most part, the right way,” said Ness. “Obviously, there’s been a couple of games that weren’t our best and we weren’t playing to our standard. But at the same time, that just shows how great of a team we are that we can find a way to win those games.”
UND sits at 11-2-1 on the season thus far playing tough opponents in the likes of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and so on. According to head coach Brad Berry, Denver is just another opponent on a very tough schedule.
“When you look at the kind of the series that we’ve had… on our schedule…the first half with BU and Minnesota –Those are rivals too,” said Berry. “Those are big series and [Denver is] just another one in a tough schedule and, you know, our guys really looking forward to getting on the road again.”
This weekend’s battle between Denver and UND could shape out to be a high scoring affair. Denver the number-one-ranked team in scoring offense averaging 5.5 goals per game, and UND comes in at number nine at 3.64 goals a game. For UND, they know playing in the altitude in Colorado is going to be tough, and they know they need to play their ‘A’ game.
“Shift management,” said coach Berry on playing in the altitude. “You know, keep it short right away. I think you know, obviously we’re a four line team with six defenseman — that’s the strength of our team. Knowing that, we can’t get extended out. [My job is] making sure that the shifts are short. Let somebody else that has energy go and make sure that we we use everybody on the bench.”
Sophomore forward Jackson Blake saw his squad get swept last time the Hawks were in Denver.
“It’ll be fun,” said Blake. “Obviously last year against Denver, we didn’t get a chance to really win a game there. So, you know, [we want] to get redemption this year. I really like our group going against them this year, so that’ll be super fun.”
Puck drop for the marquee 2 V 3 matchup in Denver, Colorado will be 8 P.M. Friday night for game one, and 7 P.M. Saturday night for game two.
