No. 10/11 NoDak secures series sweep with 5-2 win over No. 19 Tommies

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (UND ATHLETICS)– No. 10/11 North Dakota captured a 5-2 victory over No. 19 St. Thomas on Sunday evening from Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

UND improves to 2-0-0 to begin the season and captures its first home-and-home sweep since Jan. 2-3, 2009 against Bemidji State while also recording the program’s first win inside Grand Casino Arena, formerly Xcel Energy Center, since March 17, 2018 vs. Minnesota Duluth.

It was another spread out attack up-and-down the lineup for the Fighting Hawks, with nine different players notching at least a point. Five players also recorded multi-point outings, with junior defenseman Jake Livanavage leading the way with a goal and two assists for his fourth three-point night of his career.

Two rookies also found the scoresheet for the first time in their collegiate careers, with forwards Cole Reschny and Will Zellers each scoring their first-collegiate goal and adding an assist for multi-point games.

Senior forward Ellis Rickwood also had a pair of points for the first time in a green and white sweater, scoring the eventual game-winning goal and tallying an assist while junior defenseman Abram Wiebe also scored and dished out a helper.

Graduate student goaltender Gibson Homer was dominant between the pipes once again, finishing with 25 saves on 27 shots against to improve to 2-0-0 in his UND career. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native was rock solid in the middle 20, stopping 10-of-11 to help NoDak weather an 11-5 shot barrage from the Tommies in the period (1-2-0).

North Dakota got off to a good start once again, with Reschny striking for the first goal of his collegiate career. The freshman blasted home a perfect pass from Livanavage just over six minutes into the frame to give the Fighting Hawks a 1-0 lead.

UND had a few chances to build on its lead, including a breakaway chance from Cade Littler, but the visitors had to settle with the one-goal advantage after 20 minutes.

Penalties caught up to NoDak in the early part of the second period, as St. Thomas was able to capitalize just as a 5-on-3 man advantage expired to knot the contest at 1-1 early in the middle frame.

North Dakota answered right back, however, as the fourth line helped team up for another goal again. Littler won a battle along the wall and eventually helped get the puck to Wiebe, who fired a shot through traffic and into the net for his first of the season and a 2-1 lead for the visitors after 40 minutes.

The Fighting Hawks capitalized on their first power play chance of the night early in the third period when Rickwood pounced on a rebound in front of the night to extend the lead to 3-1 just over four minutes into the final stanza, but St. Thomas answered back just over two minutes later to cut the advantage to 3-2.

As the Tommie goal was being announced, Rickwood slipped a perfect pass to Zellers who rocketed a shot into the yawning cage for his first-collegiate goal just 21 seconds after the UST tally to quickly restore the advantage to 4-2.

The power play struck again to put the finishing touches on the sweep, as Livanavage fired a shot from the point that found the back of the cage to make it 5-2 UND.

North Dakota will return home to battle Minnesota in a series beginning on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena.

How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
06:49 | UND – Cole Reschny (1) from Jake Livanavage (1) and Josh Zakreski (2)

Second Period 
04:30 | UST – Lucas Wahlin (3) from Lucas Van Vliet (2) and Alex Gaffney (3)
07:17 | UND – Abram Wiebe (1) from Bennett Zmolek (1) and Cade Littler (2)

Third Period
04:12 | UND – Ellis Rickwood (1, PP) from Will Zellers (1) and Livanavage (2)
06:29 | UST – Ryan O’Neill (1) from Jake Braccini (1)
06:50 | UND – Zellers (1) from Rickwood (2) and Wiebe (1)
12:36 | UND – Livanavage (1, PP) from Reschny (1) and Keaton Verhoeff (1)