GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - One night after its nation-best winning streak ended, North Dakota beat Bemidji State 4-2 Saturday in men’s college hockey to extend its unbeaten streak to nine games.
UND goalie Zane Gothberg extended his personal unbeaten streak to nine games. He was in net in Friday’s 1-1 tie.
Connor Gaarder and Andrew Panzarella scored 55 seconds apart early in the first period to stake UND (12-7-3) to the early lead. Derek Rodwell and Derek Parks extended the lead to 4-2 in the second period and the teams skated to a scoreless tie in the third.
Bemidji State (7-12-7) got goals from Cory Ward and Markus Gerbrandt.
UND picked up where it left off Friday, piling up a 15-4 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period. It finished with a 33-17 advantage. UND’s first two goals were similar in that Gaarder and Panzarella deflected centering passes past Bemidji State goalie Andrew Walsh.
Panzarella scored his first career goal in his 60th game at 7:22. “It’s awesome to finally get it off my back. It was a long time coming,” Panzarella said.
UND coach Dave Hakstol said it was just what the team needed.
“It was critical coming off last night,” Hakstol said. “You want to get on the board early on and break down that armor that (Walsh) had going (Friday) night.”
Walsh was the key to Friday’s tie, stopping 42 shots. He had 29 saves on Saturday.
“After a great night for their goaltender last night, we knew we had to go to the net and get a couple of greasy ones,” Hakstol said. “We had some good fortune.”
UND’s cushion disappeared at 12:37 of the second period when Ward scored his second goal of the series on a blistering wrist shot following a turnover.
“We started off slow in the first period,” Ward said. “We knew getting out of the first period would be good.”
But it wasn’t good for long and the Beavers lost ground in the second period.
Rodwell made it 3-1 just 1:13 into the period when he skated hard to the net to Walsh’s right and slid the puck in. Parks scored on a wraparound at 6:58 before Gerbrandt scored for Bemidji State to make it 4-2.
The third period was scoreless.
“We did a good job in the third period,” Hakstol said. “It’s a balance between keeping your foot on the gas and doing things a little more conservatively.”
UND gave up on three shots in the first and third periods.
North Dakota improved to 26-2-3 all-time against Bemidji State.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.