brad elliott schlossman, grand forks herald
·4 min read
Feb. 24—GRAND FORKS — When Dylan James crossed the blue line, there was still a 10-foot gap between him and Minnesota Duluth defenseman Joey Pierce.
James decided to attack him, anyway.
The UND sophom*ore forward flipped on the jets in the right circle, dipped around Pierce, skated across the top of the crease and deposited the go-ahead goal as he was falling to the ice early in the third period.
"He's an effortless skater, an elite skater," UND coach Brad Berry said. "He had a lot of gas left in the tank. I like the fact that he didn't just shoot it into the goaltender. He went above the blue paint to the other side and stuffed the puck. That's an elite move."
James added another one on the breakaway in the final three minutes to seal a 4-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth in front of an announced crowd of 11,693.
Jackson Blake added two assists for a seven-point weekend, while Jackson Kunz and Jayden Perron tallied goals.
"We scratched and clawed and found a way to win tonight," Berry said. "That was a proud Duluth team pushing in the second period. They got a couple of goals to tie it up. I was proud of the way our guys responded in the third to simplify our game and find a way to score two even-strength goals — Dylan James using his speed on both of them."
UND swept the season series against Minnesota Duluth, outscoring the Bulldogs 16-4. The Fighting Hawks are now 8-1 in the last nine against Minnesota Duluth.
UND (22-8-2) remains three points ahead of St. Cloud State at the top of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings with four regular-season games to go.
The Fighting Hawks can clinch home ice for the NCHC quarterfinals with one point next weekend against Western Michigan. There's even an outside chance UND could win its fourth Penrose Cup in five years on Saturday night if it sweeps the Broncos and Denver sweeps St. Cloud State.
"It's exciting," UND defenseman Garrett Pyke said. "This is what everyone signed up for at UND — to play tight games and to be in the race. We're looking to play our best hockey and it's fun to be in the race."
UND continued to play well at home and take advantage of having last line change to get favorable matchups.
The Fighting Hawks put together the line of James, Jake Schmaltz and Louis Jamernik V to combat Minnesota Duluth's Ben Steeves, who entered the weekend No. 4 nationally in goals with 22.
They held Steeves without a point on the weekend. The Bulldogs have now lost 13-straight games when Steeves doesn't score.
"At the end of the day, they did a really good job taking time and space away and just getting pucks deep and possessing pucks against a top line," Berry said. "That's a big deal at home to have last line change to do that."
UND is 15-4-1 in The Ralph. Only one of the losses was in regulation.
"It was a fun weekend," Pyke said. "The Ralph was buzzing all weekend — lots of fans, the student section was going. That fed us on the ice. We played a lot better this weekend. We were moving pucks north and we were playing hard, forechecking and turning pucks over (to us)."
The Fighting Hawks won the special teams battle both nights.
In the series finale, they converted one of four power plays. On the other end, they only gave the Bulldogs one power play and killed it.
"It's just a response to CC," James said, referring to last weekend's pair of losses at Colorado College. "We got swept at CC and we responded with a sweep. It goes to show the character of this team."
UND jumped out to 2-0 lead on a power-play goal by Perron late in the first and a tip-in goal by Kunz early in the second.
But Minnesota Duluth (10-17-4) battled back to tie it on a pair of Aiden Dubinsky point shots. One went in from the right point, ending Ludvig Persson's scoreless streak against the Bulldogs at 152:45.
Just 3:22 later, Jack Smith tipped a Dubinsky point shot to tie it up.
"They got those two goals and it was a 2-2 game," Pyke said. "You want to play tight, but you also want to get your looks and create your offense. We did a great job of protecting Ludvig. He made some huge saves for us like he always does. And the offense took care of itself."
Specifically, it was James and his speed.
"I'm really happy for him," Pyke said. "It came at a crucial moment of the game. He's so fast. He works so hard. It's hard to stop him. I know that from practice. He likes to use his speed. When he does, it's really hard to stop him. For him to get rewarded and do that in a game was awesome."
Notes: UND played a ninth-straight game without forward Hunter Johannes (lower body). . . The Fighting Hawks used the same lineup as Friday's series opener.
