UND Hockey Approaching Regional As Clean Slate

Enter as no. 2 seed in Albany Regional

GRAND FORKS, N.D — Last time North Dakota hockey was a two seed in the NCAA Tournament it ended lifting up the national championship trophy in 2016. Now, the team sits in the very same position facing off  with Notre Dame Thursday in the Albany regional.

The majority of the roster was new to the postseason single elimination format and now have that experience with a bad taste in their mouth after a loss to Western Michigan in the Frozen Face-off semis.

The only difference in the regional? It’s the only chance to keep the season going. Head coach Brad Berry says the Fighting Irish mirror how his team plays physically and they’re ready based off the ups and downs to get to this point.

“Through COVID, through illness, through injuries, we bounced around lines and D pairs. Guys were in and out of the line-up,” Berry said. “This team is more galvanized with adversity coming at them and having that next man up mentality of fitting in to a spot and not missing a beat here so it’s a situation now where it’s the same thing.”

“You look at a team like St. Cloud State last year. I don’t know what their rank was but it wasn’t very high,” forward Nick Portz said. “They still made it to the finals. It happens a lot where its four games. That’s all you have to win. Doesn’t matter if you’re the one seed or the 1o seed, you just have to win those four games.”

Berry said  key pieces like defenseman Tyler Kleven and forward Reise Gaber will return while D-men Jake Sanderson remains out.