UND Hockey Ready for Sioux Falls Regional Showdown with Merrimack
GRAND FORKS (KVRR) – The postseason journey continues for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks as they prepare for the Sioux Falls Regional of the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota will open the regional Thursday night against the Merrimack Warriors, a team riding plenty of momentum into the matchup.
For head coach Dane Jackson, the location of the regional was the first bit of good news when the bracket was revealed.
“I guess our first thing that we were excited about was the fact that we’re close to home,” Jackson said. “It’s a bus ride and we’re hoping that some UND fans could come cheer us on from North Dakota. Maybe Minneapolis. That was the first thing that was of utmost importance to us.”
The Fighting Hawks, who earned the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament with a 27-9-1 record, will face a Merrimack squad that has surged at the right time. The Warriors enter the regional at 21-15-2 and riding a seven-game winning streak after capturing the Hockey East Championship as the No. 8 seed, making them one of the hottest teams in the field.
Jackson said the scouting report shows a team that competes hard in all areas of the ice.
“When we’re watching video on them, they’re competing. Their young forwards are really good. Their power play is really good,” Jackson said. “I just think they play a competitive brand. They haven’t given up many goals. They’ve been giving up probably just over two goals a game in this stretch. They’ve got an outstanding goaltending.”
Because of that, Jackson expects a tight, physical game similar to many conference battles North Dakota faced throughout the season in the NCHC.
“So all those things just kind of lead to kind of make me think of it’s going to be like some of our NCHC games where it’s just you’ve got to fight for every inch,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to manage the puck well. You’ve got to be highly competitive on puck battles and puck races. And you do all those things and hopefully try to tilt the ice and gain some zone time. And hopefully, your special teams and goaltending are good.”
North Dakota has also had extra time to prepare after falling in the NCHC semifinal on March 14. By the time the puck drops Thursday, the Fighting Hawks will have gone 11 days between games.
Jackson said the time off has been productive for the team.
“Yeah, surprisingly, they’ve gone pretty quick,” Jackson said. “You know, we took a couple days off at the start, kind of wanted to reset and refocus on what we’re doing. We’ve had a lot of really good practices. We’ve worked on special teams and done some scrimmaging.”
He added that the team has made the most of the preparation period heading into the win-or-go-home stage of the tournament.
“And the guys have been really attentive, really sharp, really dialed in,” Jackson said. “So our staff’s been really excited about how we’ve kind of responded to it and try to use it as a positive to get healthy and get rested, but still be dialed and sharp for that big one-game shot on the 26th.”
Puck drop between North Dakota and Merrimack is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 26, at Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in the Sioux Falls Regional, which also features Providence and Quinnipiac (4 P.M.), with the game airing on ESPN2.
