GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– No. 2/4 North Dakota struck four times in the first period before adding a final tally in the third to polish off a sweep over Miami with a 5-1 victory on Saturday night in front of another sellout crowd at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

UND (9-2-1, 4-0-0 NCHC) rolled to its second straight sweep and fifth consecutive win overall, matching the longest winning streak for the team since a stretch of seven straight victories from Feb. 11 – Mar. 4, 2022.

Despite forward Owen McLaughlin out of the lineup due to an illness, the top line of Riese Gaber, Jackson Blake and Louis Jamernik V did not miss a beat. The trio combined for three goals and an assist, with Gaber striking for a pair of goals to notch his 11th and 12th career goals against Miami in his career.

For the 11th time this season, North Dakota jumped out to a 1-0 lead. On only its second shot of the game, Gaber collected a loose puck in the crease following a Garrett Pyke chance and potted it home to give the Fighting Hawks the early advantage just 8:27 into the opening period.

Miami (4-7-1, 0-6-0 NCHC) was able to pull even just past the halfway point of the evening on a strike from PJ Fletcher, but it was the home team who seemed to take control of the momentum following the goal.

Griffin Ness restored the advantage for the Hawks with his first goal of the season, sending a puck into the net off a Miami defender’s stick to give the green and white a 2-1 lead with just over five minutes to play in the opening stanza. That looked to be the score after 20 minutes, but Gaber and Blake each notched nearly identical highlight goals with great moves on a breakaway to make it 4-1 at the end of the first.

Following a scoreless second, Jayden Perron struck just 1:49 into the third period on a great feed from Hunter Johannes from behind the net to increase the lead to 5-1 with his seventh goal of the season.

Ludvig Persson finished with 21 saves on 22 shots to close out his fifth straight victory and polish off the sweep against his former team and improve to 9-2-1 overall.

North Dakota jumps back into nonconference play for the penultimate time next weekend for a showdown with Bemidji State beginning on Friday at 7:07 p.m. from the Ralph.

Postgame Notes 

  • UND improves to 27-8-1 all-time against Miami and 13-3-2 in Grand Forks
  • The Hawks have scored at least five goals in seven of the last 10 meetings with MU
  • Riese Gaber now has 19 points in 11 career games against Miami
  • Jackson Blake also has 12 points in six games vs. MU
  • Blake has scored a goal in every game that he has played against Miami
  • Shots were even at 22-22
  • UND has won five straight games for the first time since Feb. 2022
  • NoDak scored first for the 11th time this season, improving to 9-1-1 when doing so
  • Bennett Zmolek blocked seven shots to lead all skaters
  • UND finished with 12 blocked shots as a team
  • UND is 78-5-3 when scoring at least four goals since 2018-19 and 6-0-0 this season
  • NoDak improved to 91-6-3 when leading after two periods since 2018-19 and 8-0-0 in 2023-24
  • Miami went 0-for-5 on the power play while UND was 0-for-3
  • Gaber, Persson and Blake were named the game’s three stars, in that order
  • North Dakota finished with a 25-13 faceoff advantage, with Cameron Berg leading UND at 11-6

How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
08:27 | UND – Riese Gaber pots home a loose puck in the crease to give UND a 1-0 lead
10:56 | MU – PJ Fletcher ties the game at 1-1 with a rebound goal of his own
14:53 | UND – Griffin Ness restores the lead with a shot that deflects off a defender and in
18:34 | UND – Gaber scores his second of the night with a sweet move on a breakaway
19:56 | UND – Jackson Blake strikes on nearly an identical move as Gaber to make it 4-1

Second Period 
No scoring

Third Period 
01:49 | UND – Jayden Perron snipes home a pass from Hunter Johannes to make it 5-1 UND