The University of Denver hockey team took on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks this past weekend. Denver came into the series with a 131-155-16 all-time record against North Dakota and a 2-8 record in the last 10 games. DU got their first win in Grand Forks since December of 2018 and first win anywhere since 2021 on both nights for the first sweep in Grand Forks since 2010.
Friday’s game started strong with an early goal by Denver’s sophomore forward Carter King (Calgary, Alberta). North Dakota fought back to find the back of the net with less than three minutes to play in the first period to tie up the first period.
Early in the second period, freshman forward Aidan Thompson (Fort Collins, Colo.) scored his first career goal early to bring Denver up by one going into period three.
Within minutes of the beginning of the third period, North Dakota’s Chris Jandric scored off a DU power play to tie things up at 2 a piece. That didn’t last for long as DU freshman forward Jared Wright (Burnsville, Minn.) scored 8 minutes into the third period for his first goal in his college career and ended up scoring the game-winner to push DU to a 3-2 win.
DU had 19 shots on goal while North Dakota had 23. The Fighting Hawks had 14 penalty minutes in the box while DU had 12. DU won just 36% of the faceoffs Friday night.
North Dakota started Saturday night’s game off strong and Judd Caulfield scored just 7 seconds into the game for an NCHC record of the fastest goal scored in a game. This is the only goal during the first period to put DU down for the first time of the weekend.
That slow start didn’t last however with four goals scored during the second period. Senior defenseman Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills, Calif. ) found the back of the net early but then got overturned after a challenge for goalie interference. Soon after, senior forward Casey Dornbach (Edina, Minn.) and sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo (??Burnaby, B.C.) assist sophomore forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) to score early in 2 off of a North Dakota power play. Benning and Mayhew get penalties back to back to set North Dakota up with a 5-3 that the Fighting Hawks capitalized off of to tie it back up with 5 minutes left in the second period. Thompson scored late in the period for his second goal of the series and pulled up DU by one after two periods of play.
Wright scored halfway through the third period to bring Denver up by two. Mazur scored his second goal of the night with seven minutes left in period three to become the leader in goals in the nation this season. North Dakota scored with under six minutes to go in the third to bring the game back to a two-score game. Wright scored again on an open net for his second goal of the night with less than two minutes left in play to secure the 6-3 win for Denver.
DU had 33 shots on goal and eight penalty minutes while North Dakota had 24 and 6 penalty minutes. DU won 43 percent of faceoffs on the night.
DU has a bye week this weekend but returns to Magness Arena the weekend of Nov. 25 to play Omaha.
