A late power play goal by No. 8 North Dakota in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Fighting Hawks a 2-1 win over the St. Lawrence University men’s hockey team on Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The Saints also scored with the man advantage on Friday night, as Joe Sullivan buried his first for what, at the time, was the equalizer to pull St. Lawrence even at 1-1.
St. Lawrence was plagued with penalty troubles, as the Saints were called for seven minor infractions against the Fighting Hawks in the contest. North Dakota scored on its seventh power-play opportunity to seal the win.
The Fighting Hawks also got on the board first with time winding down in the opening period. After hitting a post just minutes before, North Dakota’s Ludvig Hoff gave the Fighting Hawks a 1-0 lead when he put a loose puck behind Saints’ netminder Arthur Brey at 19:49.
Brey made a tremendous poke check to knock the puck off Grant Mishmash’s stick on an odd-man rush but with Brey already down, Hoff was able to collect it for an easy finish and the 1-0 lead.
Midway through the second period North Dakota got into some penalty trouble of its own with back-to-back calls, including one just seven seconds after the first had expired, to give the Saints some momentum.
Just over a minute into the Saints’ second power play of the period, Jacob Pritchard sent a circle-to-circle pass to Nolan Gluchowski who ripped a shot into traffic in front. After hitting a couple bodies, the puck landed behind North Dakota’s Cam Johnson in the blue paint and Sullivan outworked a pair of Fighting Hawks to win the battle and push it into the open net to tie the game.
St. Lawrence started the third period shorthanded and was assessed another minor just over a minute in to give North Dakota 44 seconds of 5-on-3. Not only did the Saints kill off the 5-on-3, they also generated one of their best scoring opportunities while shorthanded in the final frame.
Mike Marnell created a breakaway opportunity for himself after he caused a turnover in the neutral zone, but put the puck into Johnson’s chest.
However, North Dakota needed just 37 seconds on their final power-play of the game to net the winner. Collin Adams was on the receiving end of a tic-tac-toe passing sequence in the right circle from Joel Janatuinen and Christian Wolanin for one-timer and a 2-1 lead for the Fighting Hawks.
North Dakota outshot St. Lawrence 28-21 in the game as Brey finished with 26 saves for the Saints and Johnson stopped 21 for home team.
With the loss, St. Lawrence is now 0-3 on the season but will look to get into the win column with a non-conference rematch against North Dakota (2-0-1) at 7:07 p.m. (CT).
