1 week Ago By Brad Elliott Schlossman
MANKATO, Minn. — It looked bleak for UND. Minnesota State's Zach Krajnik scored a goal from the top of the crease to make it 3-0 late in the second period.
The fans in Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center sang and danced to the 'Ole' song — the Mavericks' catchy goal tune — as the game appeared out of reach. ADVERTISEMENT But up in the press box, UND player personnel coordinator Ryan LaDouceur was about to make a game-changing call. LaDouceur radioed down to assistant coach Karl Goehring on the bench and said he thinks Mavericks forward Adam Eisele made direct contact to the head with UND's Sacha Boisvert a minute earlier.
If LaDouceur needed any clarification on the rule, deputy athletic director Erik Martinson, the former chair of the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, was sitting next to him. "Karl came over to me and said, 'Hey, Deuce and Marty think that's a five-minute major. .
. a guy elevated,'" UND coach Brad Berry said. "We challenged.
Why not? It negates a goal." UND was right. It was a major penalty.
Krajnik's goal came off the board. Minnesota State's first-line center, Eisele, was ejected. And UND went on a five-minute power play that changed the game.
ADVERTISEMENT Cameron Berg and Louis Jamernik V scored on the advantage in the opening minute of the third period, then Carter Wilkie delivered the winner midway through the frame as UND pulled off a third-period rally to beat Minnesota State 3-2 in the series opener "Luckily, we came out (in the third) and our power play stepped up a little bit," Wilkie said. UND moved to 2-0. Minnesota State dropped to 2-3.
The Fighting Hawks had 3:29 of power-play time to end the second period, but did little with it. They turned the game early in the third. Berg scored at the :40 mark, hammering home a long rebound off the end wall from a Boisvert shot.
Just 18 seconds later, Boisvert centered a pass from behind the net to Jamernik, who was alone at the side of the crease. Jamernik directed the pass with his skate. The puck deflected into the air and Jamernik batted it in.
ADVERTISEMENT "I don't remember very much of it," Jamernik said. "There was a lot of emotion. I lost my voice a little bit.
" UND got the winner at 9:09 of the third, catching Minnesota State in a line change. UND defenseman Jake Livanavage made an outlet pass to Wilkie on the left wing. A Mavericks defender had just hopped onto the bench, not realizing the play was coming his way.
Wilkie skated in and fired a shot five-hole on Minnesota State goaltender Alex Tracy (19 saves) from the left faceoff dot. "I just looked at the net and shot as hard as I could," Wilkie said. "Luckily, it went in the net.
It was definitely a surreal feeling. I'm just excited to get that under my belt here and lose that nerve a little bit and help any way I can." Wilkie skated to the corner and jumped into the boards in front of UND fans to celebrate.
"They travel insanely well," said Wilkie, who transferred from RIT in the offseason. "I definitely peeked my head up and saw a lot of black and green. I went right for them.
It was exciting. Those fans are amazing." ADVERTISEMENT UND closed out the game thanks to key stops by goaltender T.
J. Semptimphelter, who finished with 23 saves. The Fighting Hawks played a defensive corps entirely made up of underclassmen.
Their lone upperclassman on the roster, junior Bennett Zmolek, was unable to play because of an injury. Zmolek, who spent two seasons at Minnesota State, missed out on playing his old team for a second-straight season. The game wasn't always pretty.
Berry said the Fighting Hawks got into trouble when they tried to be too fancy. "We show a lot of video on how the other team plays," Berry said. "They flood, they swarm, they get around pucks on forechecks and D-zone coverage.
They really make it hard on you, taking time and space away. In that situation, you really have to simplify your game. You have to flip pucks, chip pucks out.
It's not a pretty way of playing, but at the end of the day, it's effective." Minnesota State's Josh Groll scored at 14:39 of the first and again just 2:20 into the second period to stake the Mavericks to a lead. Eisele assisted on both goals.
"We didn't have our best start," Jamernik said. "We have to figure out our start. I loved our battle level.
We stuck together. There was a little bit of frustration. We had that turning point.
It was the same as the last game against Providence when they shot that puck on us. But we have that turning point, we get pissed off and play really well after it. ADVERTISEMENT "We have to find a way to start like that — to start pissed off.
".
