This weekend’s hockey series was one for the record books. Each game was different from the last and ended with a season sweep of one of Denver’s longest rivals for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
Friday night’s game took off quickly with constant excitement. DU got on a man advantage within 18 seconds of the opening puck drop.
Soon after the power play ended, freshman forward Aidan Thomspon (Fort Collins, Colo.) found the back of the net almost three minutes into play.
North Dakota forward Carson Albrecht found the twine after being left alone in front of the DU goal seven minutes into play to tie the game up.
The tie lasted for about 10 minutes before sophomore forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) from the right circle found the net with a shot from sophomore defenseman Sean Behrens (Barrington, Illi.) to bring DU up by one to close out the period.
Three of the second period’s s four goals came within the first six minutes of play. Senior defenseman Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills, Cali.) was sent to the box for interference which set North Dakota defenseman Ethan Frisch up for a power-play goal to get the game back to a tie.
This lasted all of 16 seconds, however, as Behrens and sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo (Burnaby, B.C.) combined to score three goals within a minute.
After sophomore forward Tristan Broz (Bloomington, Minn.) got a major penalty for hitting from behind, UND found their third goal on the board from forward Judd Caulfield, which put the score at 4-3 going into the second intermission.
Mazur found twine for the second time of the night with a shot that had so much momentum it propelled him forward onto his stomach and slid him into the boards. This shot later landed him at fifth on SportsCenter’s Top10. With that goal, Mazur recorded his fifth multi-goal game of the season, tying for the third spot for the most goals in the NCAA.
DU sealed the 5-3 win, both teams spending more than a period and a half with someone inside the penalty box between the two of them.
In the second match of the series, Junior defensemen Mike Benning (St. Albert, Alberta) was the first to go into the box Saturday night 10 minutes into the first period, but the advantage was halted by the DU penalty kill.
Things really started to pick up when a missed call turned into a fight 14 minutes into the period, ending with Connor Caponi (Milwaukee, Wisc.) receiving a double minor and UND’s Gavin Hain hit with a major and game misconduct for kneeing. UND’s Louis Jamernik and Ryan Sidorksi both got minors, leaving DU up on a major power play.
DU was quick to take advantage and sophomore forward Carter King (Calgary, Alberta) and Berhens combined put DU on the board first in the game.
Sophomore forward Jack Devine (Glencoe, Illinois) went into the box for slashing to make four-on-four hockey for two minutes, but the imbalance was once again killed off by both sides. UND’s Frisch went into the box for interference to end the period.
Sophomore defenseman Shai Buium (San Diego, Cali.) and senior forward Brett Edwards (Grande Prairie, Alberta) were sent to the box during the second period but were killed off once again by Denver’s special teams.
North Dakota defenseman Tyler Kleven was sent to the box for a behind hit to the head to senior defenseman Justin Lee (Waskada, Manitoba) and was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for the second UND ejection of the night, adding an auto-suspension onto his lengthy penalty resume.
Thompson got his second goal of the weekend after firing a shot into a wide-open net with help from Mazur.
Buium added another goal off of the major penalty following a rebound from Behrens to end the period up 3-0.
The Fighting Hawks came out of the second intermission strong, and within two minutes of play forward, Mark Senden ended Denver’s shutout hopes for the first North Dakota goal of the game.
Seconds after play resumed, Broz with help from Rizzo found the net to extend DU’s lead. However, UND’s Blake came out strong from his stint in the box to decrease DU’s lead once again.
Junior forward McKade Webster (St. Louis, Missouri) and Sidorksi were both sent to the box for roughing and 4-4 hockey resumed, which Rizzo capitalized off of after a UND turnover to extend the DU’s lead even further. If the time in the penalty box was not already enough, DU’s Lee and Broz and UND’s Blake ended the game in the box. Denver still secured the 5-2 victory, weekend sweep and season sweep.
For UND being the best power-play scoring offense in the country they were 0/6 on Saturday night.
“We work hard on our penalty kill and we always want the other team to not score. We did a really good job of that today. Guys were willing to block shots and we did what we were supposed to so we got the job done,” said Buium post-game Saturday night.
Denver has their last home series next weekend vs. Minnesota Duluth where they continue both conference championship and playoff hopes.
