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GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The No. 7 Miami hockey team took a brief lead early in the second period, but No. 2 North Dakota responded with four-unanswered goals to top the RedHawks 4-1 on Saturday night.
The setback snaps Miami’s (8-4, 4-2 National Collegiate) three-game winning streak as MU settles for a weekend split where it won its first-ever game over UND (8-2-1, 3-1 NCHC) at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
“This was a good game, but North Dakota deserved to win tonight,” head coach Enrico Blasi said. “They had more jump and executed better. We need to regroup and continue to get better in preparation for a rivalry series against Western Michigan.”
North Dakota tested Ryan McKay early, with Luke Johnson having a particularly strong look in the slot early, but the junior netminder was there for the save.
UND got the game’s first power play with 5:43 gone by, but the MU penalty kill was sharp again in killing off the penalty. Mark Macmillan got open on a centering feed shortly after the man advantage, but McKay was able to aggressively come out and cut the shot off.
The RedHawks found the ice starting to tilt in North Dakota’s favor over the next few minutes and a Miami penalty with 8:36 remaining in the frame gave UND another power play. Miami’s penalty killing unit was strong yet again and played another scoreless two minutes.
It appeared that Cody Murphy got Miami on the board with 1:02 remaining in the opening frame when his shot trickled behind Zane Mcintyre with commotion in front of the crease knocking the puck into the net. However, the officials took another look at the play and determined that Miami initiated contact with Mcintyre and nullified the score. The teams skated into the locker room deadlocked in a scoreless tie with Miami holding a slight 9-7 edge in shots.
Anthony Louis found twine with a backhander through traffic after shots by Alex Gacek and Ben Paulides were blocked and bounced to Louis in the slot. His second goal of the year came 1:07 into the frame and gave the RedHawks a 1-0 lead.
Offsetting penalties opened the ice up in 4-on-4 play and it was North Dakota that took advantage of the added space. Michael Parks found Mark Macmillan at the doorstep, where he beat McKay to even the score at 1-1 with just 3:47 gone by in the frame. UND took the lead during 5-on-5 play at the 6:06 mark when Drake Caggiula beat a defenseman one-on-one and slipped one past McKay to give North Dakota its first lead of the series at 2-1.
Dogged work by Murphy drew a North Dakota penalty at the 8:36 mark. The first half of the power play showed promise. Louie Belpedio beat Mcintyre with a wrist shot about halfway through, but the attempt clanged off the cross bar and stayed out during a scoreless power play.
Michael Parks fired a one-timer into the top corner with 4:38 remaining during a transition rush that put North Dakota on top by a 3-1 count, UND’s third-straight goal. That capped the second period scoring as Miami found itself trailing after two periods for just the fourth time this season.
The RedHawks got a power play opportunity just 35 seconds into the period with late offsetting penalties at the end of the second creating a brief 4-on-3. That man advantage was unable to connect, however, as the RedHawks remained down by a pair. Another MU power play with 13:14 left was cut short by a minor penalty of its own with 50 seconds left in the man advantage, spoiling another chance to draw within a goal. North Dakota connected on its ensuing power play as Drake Caggiula’s shot went through traffic to make it 4-1 with 10:53 remaining to put the game away.
Miami ended up with a slight 29-27 edge in shots, but went 0-for-3 on the power play for the night while North Dakota clicked on 1-of-3 attempts with the man advantage. McKay made 25 saves while UND’s Mcintyre stopped 28 shots.
The RedHawks resume NCHC play on Friday when they begin a two-game home series with Western Michigan. Opening faceoff at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena is at 7:35 p.m.
