GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Top seed North Dakota defeated No. 8 seed Omaha, 5-1, in Game 2 of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Quarterfinals on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 11,569 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (27-8-1) will advance to the Frozen Faceoff Semifinal and host No. 4 seed Minnesota Duluth next Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. from the Ralph. The Fighting Hawks extended their dominance in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, improving to 21-4-0 and a perfect 11-0-0 as the top seed since the NCHC began in 2013-14. UND has advanced to the Frozen Faceoff Semifinal in all but one season (2018-19) of the league.
Freshman forward Will Zellers returned to the lineup after missing Friday’s game with an illness in style, as he scored a goal and dished out two assists for his third three-point game of the season. Sophomore forward Mac Swanson kept up his hot play with his first two-goal game of his career while Ollie Joesphson and Ellis Rickwood each dished out a pair of helpers to tally multiple points.
Seniors Tyler Young (5) and Dylan James (18) were the other Fighting Hawks to find the back of the net in the win while rookie netminder Jan Špunar finished with 14 saves on 15 shots against to improve to 18-3-1 this season.
It was Omaha (12-24-0) who jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when a point shot found its way though traffic and into the back of the net to give the Mavericks the advantage just over four minutes into the contest. UND battled back as the frame wore on and eventually leveled the contest on a nice combination between Cole Reschny and Swanson to tie the game at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
The second period was kind to the hosts for the second straight night, as UND took its first lead of the contest on a snipe from Young just under five minutes into the frame before Zellers extended the advantage to 3-1 in the final seconds of the stanza.
UND put the finishing touches on the win with a pair of goals in the final minutes on an empty netter from James and a second tally from Swanson to secure the 5-1 victory and advance to the Frozen Faceoff Semifinal.
The Hawks and Bulldogs will square off at 6:07 p.m. next Saturday night from the Ralph on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.