Rink Report: UND Hopeful to End Duluth’s Reign
Four of the fighting hawks' next six opponents rank in the top 15 in the USCHO polls
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — UND Hockey has a tall task ahead of it. Four of the Fighting Hawks’ next six opponents rank in the top 15 in the USCHO poll, starting with No. 14 Minnesota Duluth this coming weekend.
The Bulldogs topped the Hawks in all five matchups last season, including the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship. UND says it’s not holding anything back when they hit the road this weekend.
“They can’t beat us three games in a row. They can’t beat us four games in a row. There’s no way they beat us five games in a row and they just kept beating us,” UND Goalie Cam Johnson said of last season. “They were a pesky team last year. We couldn’t figure them out. They got the bounces there, especially that last game in the playoffs. It kind of left a sour taste in our mouths. They had our number last year but we’re going to change that this year.”
UND Head Coach Brad Berry anticipates this weekend being a very competitive series.
“They’re playing probably very good hockey or the best hockey at this time,” Berry said. “I feel we’re playing good hockey here too. I feel we’ve grown up as a team and it’s going to be a new weekend here.”
And after last year, Berry also says his team will come fully ready to accept the challenge ahead.
“I’ll know one thing, our guys know in the back of their minds we’re going to be ready for this weekend knowing last year wasn’t the results we wanted from our group,” he said. “It’s going to be a good weekend knowing it’s the only weekend we play them until post season.”
“My sophomore year we won pretty much every time against them and then last year they beat us five times,” UND Forward Trevor Olson added. “Obviously we have a little pit in our stomach. They’re a pretty young team but they’re skilled, they’re fast. They’re going to be awfully similar to last year’s team, so just looking forward we just got to play hard, play our game. It’s going to be a good series.”
The bulldogs enter the series with a 5 game unbeaten streak, including a series sweep over Colorado College last weekend.
