1 week Ago By Brad Elliott Schlossman
MANKATO, Minn. — Minnesota State goaltender Alex Tracy stopped all 27 UND shots he saw Saturday night. And he might not have even been the Fighting Hawks' biggest obstacle to score a goal.
The guys in front of Tracy blocked even more shots than he did — 34 in all — en route to a 3-0 victory over UND in the series finale, helping the Mavericks grab a series split. For context, only one team last season blocked more than 25 shots against UND. That was Miami, which had 28 blocks one night in Oxford, Ohio.
"I thought we played close to a 60-minute game," UND coach Brad Berry said. "I thought we came out hard, dictated play for most of the first period and I thought it carried over. The problem was we didn't get our first goal.
I thought if we could have gotten that first goal to give us a little momentum, we'd be on our way. But it was a lot different than (Friday) night as far as how we played. I think if you play that way for a 60-minute game, normally, we'll get the result.
Tonight, we didn't." UND (2-1) had a 77-47 edge in attempted shots, but only 35 percent of those attempts got to Tracy. "Honestly, I thought we played a better game than we did (Friday) night," alternate captain Jake Schmaltz said.
"We couldn't get that first one to fall, which ultimately we needed to get some momentum. It wasn't going our way tonight. It's frustrating.
It sucks to lose. It's our first loss of the regular season, but I think if we keep playing like that, we're going to get a lot of good bounces down the road." Minnesota State defenseman Mason Wheeler led the Mavericks with seven shot blocks.
Four other Mavericks had three blocks each. "They did a good job blocking shots and getting in lanes," UND defenseman Jake Livanavage said. "I think, sometimes, we just have to be a little more deceptive and know they're going down for shots.
Maybe fake-push or something like that, but they did a good job tonight. Credit to them." Minnesota State forward Adam Eisele was ejected from Friday's game for a contact to the head major in the second period.
UND scored twice during the ensuing power play and went on to win the series opener 3-2. On Saturday, Eisele got his redemption. The first-line center had a goal and an assist for a four-point weekend.
Eisele scored on a wrist shot in the first period to open the score. His linemate, Josh Groll, stuffed one in from the side of the net on a scramble in the second period. Defenseman Ralfs Bergmanis iced it with an empty-netter.
"I thought we played a lot harder," Schmaltz said. "I thought we won a lot more battles than we did last night. I thought our intensity was there from the get-go, but we just weren't rewarded with the goals.
" For the second-straight night, Berry juggled his forward lines in the third period to try to generate offense. "I think you have to explore and try to see if you can generate a goal," Berry said. "We scored one five-on-five goal this weekend.
It's one of those things where if you don't score a goal in the first 20 minutes or 40 minutes, you try to see if you can generate by another line combination early in the season like this. We've kept tandems together and just moved wingers around a little bit, just trying to find ways to score a goal." UND sophomore goaltender Hobie Hedquist made his first start of the season and his first road start of his career.
He stopped 24 of 26 shots. UND played without two of its regular defensemen in front of him. Junior Bennett Zmolek missed his second-straight game with an undisclosed injury.
Zmolek transferred from Minnesota State to UND last offseason and missed all four games against his old squad due to injury. Sophomore Caleb MacDonald also missed the game after blocking a shot with his head late in the third period Friday. Sophomore Tanner Komzak came in for MacDonald, while Grand Forks native Dane Montgomery spotted in shifts on the back end.
"Caleb was out for precautionary reasons tonight," Berry said. "Obviously, he got hit in the head with a blocked shot. I would say that's pretty short-term.
With Bennett, we're getting more evaluations done right now. I think we'll get more information next week to see how long that is." UND hosts Boston University next week in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
"Tonight, (Berry) challenged us to play our game," Livanavage said. "I thought we did that for the most part. There were a couple of breakdowns we have to fix, but we have to move past this and focus on next weekend.
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