(Photo Credit: Kelsey Lee-Violet Turtle Photography)

Well that was quite a different game from last night’s 1-0 defensive showcase. The Fighting Hawks took the sweep and the win with an 8-1 drubbing of the Colorado College Tigers. The action started fast and furious for UND as Cole Smith managed to put home a power play marker early on racing in and scoring the pictured goal against Matt Vernon who had a night he would like to forget. He allowed six goals on the evening and his backup, John Flakne allowed the other two. After the Smith marker, Collin Adams raced in less than two minutes late and fired home the game winner.

On the night, Andrew Peski (three assists), Jordan Kawaguchi (Two goals and one assist), Jasper Weatherby (One goal and one assist, Grant Mismash (One goal and one assist) and Collin Adams (One goal and one assist), all chipped in multi point nights to key a diverse scoring attack from the Fighting Hawks. On defense, Thome played well in net despite going long periods without seeing a single shot. Goalies have to manage their game to stay involved even when the puck is not finding them. Peter Thome did that quite well, only allowing a goal on a deflection from his own teammate, Harrison Blaisdell, who played fast all weekend and had, quietly a pretty good series in a depth role.

Now what?

Well, this was arguably the best performance we have seen from UND all year. Given their ability to bounce back and put away a team that hung with them for the entire game last night, that was a strong sign going forward. It showed that if this team faces a challenging opponent in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, that it has the ability to make adjustments and make the next night go a bit smoother. In addition, the start of the Fighting Hawks tonight was their best in the second half, and the benchmark for what they need to do going forward. This team finished a game well without Gavin Hain and Gabe Bast, both players who left with injuries. Both are being evaluated to determine the extent of their injuries further. Up front, this weekend is the benchmark for Fighting Hawks Men’s Hockey going forward.

In net, arguably was just as important. Peter Thome has progressed so much as a goalie in three years here it is a bit impressive to look back and think how he was viewed by folks here when Cam Johnson was the number one, then when Adam Scheel came in after that. An encouraging thing for the Fighting Hawks is that because of Thome’s play, Head Coach Brad Berry may give some consideration to a kind of rotation system for Scheel and Thome, he mentioned after the game that he sees that both goalies are capable. While Berry knows that to be true, it is rare to see him discuss both goalies after one let in one goal on 40 shots this weekend, and the other had gotten pulled two times in the past two Friday games before this weekend. Thome and Scheel now have a body of work that posits for playing each of them down the stretch. Both deserve some starts down the stretch and both bring different strengths to the game. They are complimentary netminders who work to get better daily. The biggest area Thome has improved is arguably the mental part of his game. Assistant Coach Karl Goehring has worked with him on and off the ice and kept him ready to play during a trying first half for him. Now Thome has shown he is ready. UND has two starting goalies on its most complete team it has had since the National Championship side, and arguably both goalies (Thome and Scheel) will have chances to earn a spot in the NHL one day. Goehring won a national championship as part of a platoon system, and maybe Thome and Scheel would benefit from being a part of the same down the stretch.

Thome Post Game 

Check out Thome’s thoughts on a lot of things relating to the weekend and more in the video below.

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