(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee for Violent Turtle Photography)

In front of 11,087 fans at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks came up short last night against the Union College Dutchmen by a 4-1 margin.

Last year,  Union College Head Coach Rick Bennett was upset at the lack of physical play his Dutchmen showed against UND. The Fighting Hawks controlled the pace of that game and won 3-1. On Friday, the roles were reversed, as Union came out gave the Fighting Hawks a completely different game.

The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks fielded a different lineup heading into game one of its two game series against the Union Dutchmen. Josh Rieger moved from defense to play forward on the fourth line as Joel Janatuinen did not play.

In the first period, Union controlled the first ten minutes of play. The Dutchmen were able to control the early part of the game and set the pace.  Tonight, that was not the case. 10:03 into the first period, Ryan Walker fired a strong shot past UND netminder Peter Thome and through traffic into the back of the net.

The Dutchmen continued their strong play as a few minutes later, at the 14:16 mark of the first period, Peter Thome wandered out to play the puck. Sebastian Vidmar used some help from Luc Brown and Brett Supinski to stake Union to a 2-0 lead after the first period.

The Fighting Hawks would build some momentum off a late power play to make the shots on net a bit closer. UND generated a few more chances as the period concluded to end the shots on net battle down only one (9-8 Union) after the first.

The second period featured the most consistent play for UND. The Fighting Hawks generated multiple chances and shored up their own end but could not bury anything.

Christian Wolanin would get UND on the board 3:27 into the third period but 52 seconds later, Vas Kolias capitalized on a UND turnover and scored a breakaway. Brendan Taylor would ice the game for the Dutchmen with an empty net marker.

Thoughts for Tonight 

UND has to do a better job screening the goalie. Josh Rieger did a good job when his line was on the ice, and provided the screen on the initial shot that lead to Wolanin’s tally. I did not see UND get a lot of net-front presence during the game which made Jake Kupsky’s task easier.

The Fighting Hawks need to improve their starts, as the coach Brad Berry noted after last night’s game. In the first period, UND had a mere eight shots on net, and none of them were from high chance areas. Look for the Fighting Hawks to make some adjustments tonight to mitigate Union’s ability to clog the middle lanes, and open up some chances for their shooters. If UND can limit Union’s chances and utilize its speed like it did in the second period, then the result could be a different one for the Fighting Hawks tonight.