365 Days Later: North Dakota Returns to the Frozen Four Under Dane Jackson

GRAND FORKS (KVRR) – One year ago, the future of North Dakota hockey officially changed.

The date was March 29, 2025 — exactly one year ago — when Dane Jackson was announced as the 17th head coach in program history for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks men’s ice hockey.

Fast forward to today, and after Saturday’s Sioux Falls Regional Championship sent North Dakota to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2016, it’s clear just how impactful Jackson’s first season behind the bench has been.

When Jackson sat down with KVRR Sports on April 3, 2025 — the day of his introductory press conference — he was asked about the pressure that comes with leading one of college hockey’s most storied programs.

Jackson’s answer reflected a steady, process-driven mindset.

“It’s just the idea of saying, ‘Hey, like if we practice, lift, train, meet in the right way to kind of the highest level, I kind of feel like the wins will take care of themselves. Pressure is always going to be there. That’s what makes our program great because people care about it so much. But you just kind of — your North Star is just saying, hey, like, we’re going to work relentlessly hard. We’re going to give everything we have as a staff and then, if we’ve kind of coached that hard and recruited that hard and done things the right way, kind of let the chips fall where they may. And we kind of believe in our staff that we’re doing things at a high, high level and that we’ll win more games and have a chance to vie for championships.”

And vie for championships they are.

Just under a year after making those comments, Jackson and North Dakota are heading back to the Frozen Four for the first time since winning it all in 2016 — a season that delivered the program’s eighth national championship.

Last April, during his introduction, Jackson also shared the biggest things he wanted to change about the program.

“You know, making sure we have the identity that we want of our players that we’re picking. We want guys that are mentally and physically tough, guys that are competitive, guys that are coachable, guys that want to play for the program.”

Check.

In the Sioux Falls Regional, UND showcased a complete turnaround from a season ago. Last year, the Fighting Hawks missed the NCAA Tournament altogether. This year, domination — with two shutout wins to advance to the Frozen Four.

Junior defenseman Abram Wiebe said the moment means even more considering everything the program went through a year ago.

“It’s so special. A year ago, it was a lot of weird times. With the coaching change and everything like that, and I think it just shows the character of the guys that stayed and stuck it out for Jax. I think Jax is an unbelievable person, and he did an unbelievable job getting this group together, and I’m just so happy for him and for everybody here to kind of look back and now look where we’re going now. It’s pretty special.”

And where they’re going is Las Vegas — as one of the final four teams in college hockey.

Something UND Director of Athletics Bill Chaves said last April is what defines success for the program. A year after hiring Jackson, Chaves’ reasoning for the decision has played out all season long.

“I just thought his passion, his energy, his knowledge, his connectivity with the program set him apart. Coach Jackson had to earn it, and he did. It felt as if he really had a succinct plan for success for UND.”

A year ago, North Dakota also lost several key players to the transfer portal. But Jackson saw it as part of building the culture he envisioned.

“Does it hurt to lose top guys? Yes, but it’s a clear delineation of guys that kind of want to play under me and in a hard kind of competitive style. And if it’s not for you, that’s okay. I just feel it’ll kind of work itself out. We’ll get guys that want to be here and that’s going to be what’s most important.”

That group now includes 27 players, with 15 skating in their first season in Kelly Green. After Saturday’s regional final win, Jackson reflected on just how quickly things came together.

“We had our set of beliefs about what our culture was and what we wanted to do, and we stuck to it. I thought we could become a good team this year. I didn’t think it would come together that quickly in this season. It feels good when you have a belief in your core values of how you want to do things, how you want to build a team, and to see it come together is pretty special.”

Now, the next chapter awaits on college hockey’s biggest stage — the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four.

Top-seeded Michigan will face Denver, while No. 2 overall seed North Dakota meets Wisconsin in the national semifinals.

The semifinal games take place Thursday, April 9, with the championship game set for Saturday, April 11 — all at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

North Dakota’s semifinal is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. local time), while Michigan and Denver will face off at 7:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. local time).