North Dakota Hockey Set to Begin NCHC Play

UND IS 3-4 ON THE SEASON HEADING INTO CONFERENCE PLAY.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) – In a top-10 series on the road this past weekend, North Dakota hockey fell to Cornell both nights, but NoDak does still remain in the top 10 in the most recent USCHO.com poll as they now prepare for their second straight road series. UND will battle NCHC foe Minnesota Duluth to open conference play.

During Saturday’s 5-3 loss to Cornell, North Dakota was down six players due to injury.  Head coach Brad Berry updated their status heading into the weekend saying they will all remain out of the lineup again, except for senior forward Cameron Berg. Berg’s return to the lineup will surely provide an impact with his six points in five games played thus far.

“At the end of the day, experienced guy at center ice position,” said Berry. “A guy that can bring offense, whether it’s five on five or power play. And then finally, probably most importantly, his leadership. When you’re down some guys out of the lineup, having a guy that has really good leadership qualities back in your group that’s wearing a letter.”

The non-conference schedule is now over for North Dakota. Against a slate of teams all ranked in the polls, UND went 3-4, but are on a three-game losing streak.

Though the streak against ranked opponents ends this weekend going up against a 3-4 Minnesota Duluth squad, there is still no thought of the weekend series with the Bulldogs being a given.

“Have we played some really good teams that are ranked, yeah, absolutely,” said Berry. “Is Duluth a really good team? Yeah, 100%. They’re in the NCHC. Anybody in the NCHC is a good, very good team. And we’ve got to know that. It’s a blank slate right now starting forward here. Everybody’s at zeros as far as the conference play.”

Junior forward Dylan James, who leads North Dakota with four goals this season, shared the same sentiment.

“Going into this weekend we just got to carry the momentum we’ve gained from these non-conference or the ranked teams here,” said James. “I mean, like I said, it was super tough. So, I think Duluth’s the first non-ranked team we’re going to be playing here, but that doesn’t change our mindset.”

North Dakota will drop the puck in Duluth at 7:07 P.M. Friday night and at 6:07 P.M. Saturday. UND has won the last four match ups in this series, including when they got the weekend sweep in Duluth last season. They will to look to continue that momentum into this weekend.