MEN’S HOCKEY: UND runs away with playoff opener over Colorado College – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Through the first 9 minutes, 30 seconds, the shot chart got ugly.

UND led shots on goal 10-0.

UND led shot attempts 20-0.

Eventually, the scoreboard turned ugly, too.

UND scored four times in the third period to run away with a 7-1 victory over Colorado College in Game 1 of their National Collegiate Hockey Conference series in Ralph Engelstad Arena, bringing the Fighting Hawks one win away from a 14th consecutive mid-March trip to the Twin Cities.

The winner of the best-of-three series will play in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff next weekend in the Target Center.

Nick Schmaltz scored twice, while Luke Johnson, Joel Janatuinen, Coltyn Sanderson, Hayden Shaw and Shane Gerisch all scored once to help the NCHC’s regular season champs hammer the eighth-place Tigers, who have now lost 10 in a row.

UND will have a chance to close out the Tigers in tonight’s series finale at 7:07 p.m. in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

“It’s obviously huge getting the first game,” said UND coach Brad Berry, whose team improved to 29-5-3 overall. “Knowing our history if playing three games here, you’ve got to make sure you get the first one.”

While UND has won a first-round series the previous 13 years, six of them have gone to a Game 3. In order for the Tigers to push the series to a decisive third game on Sunday, they’ll have to break several trends.

The Tigers are now 0-11-1 in the last 12 games against UND.

They are just 5-46-5 on the road in the last three seasons.

And they haven’t beaten UND in any of the five meetings this season.

“You take nothing for granted,” Berry said. “It’s about coming to work tomorrow and trying to get better again. It’s such a fine line between winning and losing. You have to make sure you do the right things consistently for 60 minutes. If you do that, you have the chance.”

There were several positive developments for UND in Game 1.

Players on all four lines ended up on the scoreboard — Schmaltz from the top line, Johnson from the second line, Janatuinen from the third line and Gersich and Sanderson from the fourth.

“We’ve got four lines that are playing really well,” Schmaltz said. “That’s huge at this time of year. You’ve got to have four lines that can score and contribute to the team. We’ve got four lines rolling and hopefully we can keep that up in future weekends here.”

UND’s power play also started clicking. The Fighting Hawks scored on four of six chances with the extra man. It was the most power-play goals for UND in a game since Oct. 18, 2014, when it went 5-for-9 against the same Tiger team in Colorado Springs.

“They did the right things,” Berry said. “They had good net-front.”

UND also kept Tiger forward Hunter Fejes off the scoresheet. Fejes had four points during a 5-5 tie in January in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Colorado College dropped to 1-19 when Fejes doesn’t tally a point.

Colorado College entered the game with questions in goal.

One goalie, Tyler Marble, is hurt and didn’t make the trip. Colorado College’s other goalie, rookie Jacob Nehama, was hurt and didn’t play last Saturday, giving way to third-stringer Derek Shatzer.

Nehama ended up playing Friday night — and held the Tigers in the game while UND blistered him with the first 10 shots of the game — but the dam eventually broke in the third.

Schmaltz, Shaw (first-career goal) and Gersich tacked on the game’s final three goals in the final 6:25.

“We got off to a good start,” Johnson said. “I thought our first period was really good. I thought we came out flying and playing with pace. I thought in the second period, we got away from that. We were sloppy with the puck. I thought we had poor puck management. We came back and played the right way in the third. Overall, it’s a good start to the playoffs.”

Notes: UND captain Gage Ausmus was held out of the series opener with a lower-body injury that he sustained last Saturday against Western Michigan. He is doubtful for tonight’s game. . . Although home teams wore dark jerseys at home during the second half of the NCHC season, they went back to wearing whites for the playoffs. . . Fifteen of the 24 goals that UND has scored against the Tigers this year have come from freshmen.