The No. 8 North Dakota Fighting Hawks beat the St. Lawrence men’s hockey team 6-1 on Saturday night in Grand Forks, North Dakota to sweep the non-conference series with the Saints at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Jacob Pritchard scored the lone goal for the Saints, his first of the season, in the third period. Mike Marnell and first-year Bo Hanson assisted on the play, with Hanson picking up his first collegiate point.
North Dakota scored three in the first period against St. Lawrence starting goaltender Arthur Brey. Brey played 20 minutes and finished with 10 saves.
Christian Wolanin notched the first when he snuck a shot under Brey’s right arm on the near side that rang off the post and trickled into the net. Shane Gersich extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:51 with the first of two power play goals for North Dakota on Saturday, and Grant Mishmash made it 3-0 with exactly one minute to play in the opening frame with an unassisted tally.
The Fighting Hawks scored twice on the power play on Saturday, as special teams were once again a huge factor in the game. Both team’s had a five-on-three advantage at one point and the Saints had a five-minute power play late in the second period after North Dakota’s Grant Mishmash was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for a high hit on first-year Philip Alftberg on the half wall.
St. Lawrence started the third with a two-man advantage, trailing 4-1, but broke up Cam Johnson’s shutout bid shortly after the Fighting Hawks returned to full strength.
Hanson hit Marnell on the breakout and Marnell carried the puck through the neutral zone and down the left wing side, drawing defenders to him before hitting Pritchard in the right circle for a one-time finish along the ice at 3:44 of the final frame.
North Dakota added two more against the Saints’ Daniel Mannella midway through the third to push to the final 6-1 margin.
Mannella, who had previously played just 13 minutes in goal for the Scarlet and Brown, played just under 40 minutes and finished with 12 saves.
With the loss, the Saints are now 0-4 on the season, while North Dakota improves to 3-0-1.
St. Lawrence will return to Appleton Arena next weekend for a non-conference weekend against a pair of Hockey East opponents in Providence and UMass Lowell.
