Hedquist shines, No. 16/17 UND rolls in 6-2 rout over St. Cloud State
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (UND ATHLETICS) – Sophomore goaltender Hobie Hedquist turned aside a career-high 33 saves to help No. 16/17 North Dakota defeat St. Cloud State, 6-2, on Saturday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
UND (13-10-2, 8-5-1 NCHC) earns a big five points on the weekend to remain in the final hosting position for the NCHC Quarterfinals with 25 points and vaulted up five spots to No. 22 in the Pairwise Rankings, which is used to selected the NCAA Tournament field.
Hedquist got better as the game wore on, stopping 25-of-26 over the final 40 minutes of the game to help the Fighting Hawks turn a 1-1 tie into the 6-2 victory. The Heron Lake, Minn., also notched his second straight road victory to improve to 3-3-0 on the season.
The offensive attack was spread out once again, with 11 different players finding the scoresheet for the visitors, including four different goal scorers. Forward Owen McLaughlin struck for a pair of goals while defensemen Caleb MacDonald (1G, 1A) and Abram Wiebe (2A) also notched multiple points in the win.
The start mirrored last night for North Dakota, applying early pressure and generating chances, but it was once again St. Cloud State who broke the ice with a power play goal just prior to the midway point of the opening stanza.
UND kept up its strong play and eventually pulled the score even when Ben Strinden found a cutting MacDonald in the middle of the ice and the defenseman dangled around the goaltender and tucked home his third of the season to tie the contest at 1-1 after 20 minutes of play.
It was the second period that flipped the tide towards the Fighting Hawks, as the visitors struck for a trio of goals in the final 8:01 of the frame to turn the 1-1 stalemate into a 4-1 lead. After a diving penalty put NoDak on the power play, Jayden Perron wired home his eighth of the season and third point of the weekend to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
UND doubled down late in the frame when McLaughlin buried a scramble in the crease for his first goal since Nov. 30 against Bemidji State to make it 3-1 before Dylan James was sprung for a breakaway and buried his eighth of the season just 29 seconds later to quickly increase the advantage to 4-1 after two.
The penalty kill came up huge in the opening minutes of the third, as Hedquist and the rest of his penalty killers were able to thwart a 5-on-3 attempt from SCSU for the first 1:37 of the period before Cade Littler added some insurance with a snipe into the top corner to make it 5-1 NoDak.
SCSU pulled within three with the goaltender pulled, but McLaughlin potted his second of the night into the empty net to seal the 6-2 win.
North Dakota will return home to battle Colorado College in a series beginning on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Postgame Notes
- North Dakota is now 84-49-19 all-time against SCSU and 32-26-10 in St. Cloud
- UND wore its black jerseys for the fourth time this season and is 2-1-1 this season
- The Hawks are on a six-game unbeaten streak against SCSU – the longest since 2010-11
- UND improves to 6-1-1 this season in road NCHC games – matching last season’s total
- NoDak also goes unbeaten in a four game regular season against SCSU for the first time since 2006-07
- The Hawks improve to 9-1-1 this season when leading after two periods
- UND won a game by more than two goals for the first time since Nov. 9 at Minnesota Duluth
- Hobie Hedquist finished with a career-high 33 saves and improved to 3-3-0 this season
- Caleb McDonald recorded his first multi-point game as a Fighting Hawk
- Owen McLaughlin scored two goals for the second time in his career (Jan. 5, 2024 vs. Alaska)
- Abram Wiebe dished out two assists for his sixth multi-point game of the season
- Dylan James now has seven points (3G, 4A) over his last seven games
- Jayden Perron has eight points (5G, 3A) over his last 10 games
- UND went 1-for-2 on the power play while SCSU was 1-for-5
- NoDak is now 5-1-1 this season when blocking at least 15 shots (18 tonight)
- The Hawks are 10-0-0 this season when scoring at least four goals
- Jayden Jubenvill finished with a plus-3 rating to go plus-6 on the weekend
- Faceoffs were 41-22 SCSU, with Jake Schmaltz going 6-9 to pace UND
How It Happened
First Period
09:27 | SCSU – Austin Burnevik (11, PP) from Tyson Gross (9) and Gavyn Thoreson (3)
15:59 | UND – Caleb MacDonald (3) from Ben Strinden (4) and Jake Livanavage (16)
Second Period
11:59 | UND – Jayden Perron (8, PP) from Abram Wiebe (14) and Mac Swanson (12)
16:31 | UND – Owen McLaughlin (2) from Jackson Kunz (3) and MacDonald (4)
17:03 | UND – Dylan James (8) from Wiebe (15)
11:59 | UND – Jayden Perron (8, PP) from Abram Wiebe (14) and Mac Swanson (12)
16:31 | UND – Owen McLaughlin (2) from Jackson Kunz (3) and MacDonald (4)
17:03 | UND – Dylan James (8) from Wiebe (15)
Third Period
10:48 | UND – Cade Littler (3)
13:57 | SCSU – Josh Zinger (3, EA) from Thor Byfuglien (1) and Verner Miettinen (10)
14:26 | UND – McLaughlin (3, EN) from Carter Wilkie (3)
