It’s that time of year in Minnesota: high school state tournaments are underway, the NHL is gearing up for the postseason, and college hockey is entering the best part of its season. The conference tournaments are also underway, and this Friday, March 22, was the semifinals of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff tournament held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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The first matchup was the number five seed, University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks, vs the number one seed, University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. With a predominantly green crowd in the building for the Fighting Hawks, it didn’t take long for the Fighting Hawks to get on the board, but the Mavericks fought hard through the period and scored late to tie it.
Things went back and forth all game, but the Mavericks found ways to score, while the Fighting Hawks had energy early but struggled as the game went on. It was the Mavericks’ first Frozen Faceoff Appearance, and with the 6-3 win, it was also their first Frozen Faceoff win. We’ll start this piece by discussing how they maintained a don’t-give-up attitude and their stand-out player, Zach Urdahl.
Mavericks Don’t Give Up
While the Fighting Hawks pushed to an early lead that normally would put the other team on their heels, the Mavericks dug deep and kept pushing. They were rewarded late in the first when they scored to tie things up, and it was almost all Mavericks after that. The Mavericks refused to let up even when the Fighting Hawks scored to get themselves back within a goal or two.
The shots were pretty even, and despite the Fighting Hawks getting several chances, the Mavericks stood tall from their goaltending to their defense. The one area that could’ve hurt the Mavericks was their high number of penalties, but their penalty kill was strong, and they let in just one goal while shorthanded.
During the postgame press conference, their head coach, Mike Gabinet, talked about how impressed he was with their effort, “Yeah, obviously they got one right off the bat there, which is never fun to do, but I really liked our first period, I liked the second period, maybe six, seven minutes throughout the game I thought they had us in a couple of times but I thought our forecheck was really good all game long, and protected that middle ice pretty good.”
Mavericks & Fighting Hawks Put on Goaltending Show
Regardless of the score, both goaltenders kept their respective teams going at different points of the game. On the other hand, the Mavericks goaltender did everything he could to keep them in the game and then protected their lead when they got one. He stopped 36 of the 39 shots he faced for a .923 save percentage and earned his team their first win in their first Frozen Faceoff appearance.
Even the Fighting Hawks goaltender, who let in five goals, with the sixth being an empty net, was strong throughout the game. The goals scored on him were a lack of defense in front of him, which their head coach Brad Berry elaborated on in their postgame press conference, “I think Keaton (Pehrson) hits the nail on the head about five guys playing together; I think when one guy was going back for a puck, he didn’t have enough support sometimes and then obviously if there is a turnover you have to have a second man quick in there to make sure there’s another layer and that’s a big thing.”
Berry went on to talk about goaltending and said, “At North Dakota here, there’s a lot of things that go on whether you’re a grad, or whether you’re a senior, whether you’re a freshman, you get an opportunity if you earn it, and Hobie (Hedquist) earned it, and I thought he played well early in the game and he made some huge saves for us here. So Hobie wasn’t a problem tonight; it was us not playing well in front of him.”
Mavericks Show Offensive Power
With six goals, the Mavericks had four different goal scorers, and one of those players, Urdahl, proved his ability to score by scoring not just one but three in this huge game for his team. He spoke about it in the press conference: “Yeah, obviously it feels pretty great. It’s our first win for us, and being here in the Frozen Faceoff, we got our first win, especially against North Dakota, is pretty awesome.”
Urdahl wasn’t the only game-changer for his team; his teammates Matt Miller, Jimmy Glynn, and Brock Bremer all scored to give their team the advantage. Two of Urdahl’s goals and Bremer’s goal came at big times, right after the Fighting Hawks scored, and could’ve gained momentum had the Mavericks not answered back.
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The Mavericks’ Urdahl discussed their efforts in the postgame press conference: “I think a big thing with our group is you don’t back down from anyone. It doesn’t matter what team you are or what you’re ranked. We have a belief in the locker room that we’re going to win every night, and when we play that standard, it’s tough to beat us.”
Mavericks Move to Championship
While the Fighting Hawks will head back to North Dakota to prepare for their NCAA tournament games, which will start soon, the Mavericks will stay in town to play for the Frozen Faceoff Championship on Saturday night, March 23, against the Denver Pioneers. It’s the Mavericks’ first-ever Frozen Faceoff, and they made the Championship game, so it’s safe to say they’ll be playing the best they can.
The winner of the Frozen Faceoff gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It’ll be interesting to see if the Mavericks can string together another strong game and get the automatic bid. They’ll need their offense to be as strong as it was against the Fighting Hawks and their goaltending to do the same. They’ll have a strong chance to win if they can do that.
