No. 6 North Dakota Prepares for No. 13 St. Cloud State; First Road Series in Seven Weeks

UND HOCKEY PREPARES FOR FIRST ROAD TRIP OF 2024.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR)– The North Dakota Fighting Hawks come in ranked number six in Monday’s USCHO.com poll. UND is heading into a very tough part of their schedule: At No. 13 St. Cloud State and then hosting No. 5 Denver.

The Hawks are coming off a weekend split with the Omaha Mavericks. Heading into the series at St. Cloud State, head coach Brad Berry and the team understand the importance of these next few weekends and believe their entire season up to this point has prepared them for the consistent high powered teams they share the ice with.

“Keeps you sharp,” said Berry. “Iron sharpens iron. You saw our schedule in the non-conference in the first half of the year and everyone goes ‘well how you going to get through that’ and we found a way to do it. We came out with a really good non-conference record against really good teams. It’s the same thing right now. It makes your team better and especially when you want to go on a long run in the NCAA tournament… Well, first you have to get there and make the field. But then it helps you to get in those high pressure games.”

This weekend’s series with the 13th-ranked Huskies, who lead the Hawks by 2 points in the NCHC standings, will be the first time UND has played on the road in 7 weeks.

“Sometimes when you go on the road you simplify your game,” said Berry. “You’re not under the bright lights of the Ralph, which we love to play here with our fans, but hey… you kind of have that road warrior approach. Us against the world mentality. Pressure is on them, you know, let’s go play.”

UND sits at 6-4 in the NCHC with none of those losses coming in regulation. They’ll look to pick up as many of the 6 possible points at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center this weekend with Friday’s puck drop at 7:30 P.M. and Saturday at 6 P.M.