Preview: UND is on a rare playoff road trip

Mar. 14—OMAHA, Neb. — Jayden Perron and Dalton Andrew brought out their baseball gloves and walked to a park nearby the team hotel.

Andrew threw some ground balls. Perron fielded them and wired throws back.

E.J. Emery sat nearby on a park bench.

It was sunny and 72 in Omaha on Thursday afternoon and the Fighting Hawks enjoyed the weather before getting to business with a 4 p.m. practice in Baxter Arena.

The first player on the ice for practice was Emery.

He is questionable to return to play after suffering a lower-body injury against Minnesota Duluth three weeks ago.

At this time of year, practices are short and to the point. Players need to conserve energy.

That's especially the case for UND's top defensemen, who have played big minutes in recent weeks due to injuries. They have to prepare for the possibility of playing three games in three days.

This is the third time UND has been on the road for a quarterfinal series in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference era.

In 2023, the Fighting Hawks won a three-game series over Omaha in Baxter Arena.

In 2019, they got swept at Denver in a series where UND outshot the Pioneers 32-17 and 42-18, but struggled to finish on goalie Filip Larsson.

"Your best players have to be your best players in order to consistently win games," UND coach Brad Berry said. "But the other thing, too, is the seniors. They know each and every game we play now it's keep winning and move on or lose and you're done with your college career."

UND OMA

19-14-2 Rec 18-15-1

3.20 (18th) Off 2.97 (25th)

2.94 (37th) Def 2.74 (28th)

25.5 (7th) PP 21.6 (25th)

76.1 (50th) PK 76.5 (49th)

51.7 (20st) FO 48.8 (38th)

.895 (45th) SP .923 (7th)

Note: National rank in parenthesis. Categories are record, offense (goals per game), defense (goals against per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.

UND — D Caleb MacDonald probable (upper), D E.J. Emery questionable (lower), D Bennett Zmolek out (lower), G Kaleb Johnson out (lower)

Omaha — None known

The biggest difference-maker for the Mavericks this season has been junior goaltender Simon Latkoczy. The Slovakian has won a stunning 10 games this season when his team has allowed 34 or more shots on net. He's won five games when the Mavericks have allowed 40 or more and two when they've allowed 50-plus. He gives Omaha a chance every night — no matter the shot count.

UND's seniors are playing to extend their college hockey careers and sometimes that can bring out the best. Jamernik is due for a goal — his last one was Nov. 8 at Minnesota Duluth — and these are the types of games he can thrive playing in.

UND and Omaha have had similar seasons. They finished adjacent in the NCHC standings. They split a series last weekend. UND has been better on the road this season. Omaha has been better at home. Signs point to this one going three games. Maybe UND finally wins an overtime game with its season on the line. The 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons all ended in overtime. Only 2019 and 2024 didn't in that stretch (2020 ended with the pandemic).

Friday: Omaha 4, UND 3

Saturday: UND 4, Omaha 1

Sunday: UND 4, Omaha 3, OT

GFH:

A two-generation run of Schmaltz family members at UND will soon come to an end

GFH:

Q&A with Sacha Boisvert

GFH:

Power plays and penalties are at an all-time low in college hockey

GFH:

The season is on the line for UND at Omaha

GFH:

Jake Livanavage, Sacha Boisvert earn all-NCHC honors

GFH:

Midco to carry UND-Omaha playoff series

Scoring

9 Sacha Boisvert (CHI), fr, f, 16-12—28

4 Jake Livanavage, so, d, 4-24—28

22 Owen McLaughlin (PHI), jr, f, 5-22—27

25 Abram Wiebe (VGK), so, d, 4-19—23

26 Dylan James (DET), jr, f, 14-8—22

14 Cameron Berg (NYI), sr, f, 12-9—21

18 Jayden Perron (CAR), so, f, 9-9—18

15 Carter Wilkie, sr, f, 8-9—17

7 Mac Swanson (PIT), fr, f, 2-15—17

21 Ben Strinden (NSH), jr, f, 8-8—16

8 Jake Schmaltz (BOS), sr, f, 6-9—15

29 Jackson Kunz (VAN), sr, f, 7-5—12

27 Louis Jamernik V, sr, f, 4-6—10

13 Caleb MacDonald, so, d, 3-4—7

5 Dane Montgomery, jr, f-d, 1-6—7

20 Cade Littler (CGY), fr, f, 4-2—6

19 Cody Croal, fr, f, 1-5—6

3 Jayden Jubenvill, fr, d, 1-4—5

16 Andrew Strathmann (CBJ), fr, d, 2-2—4

28 Dalton Andrew, fr, f, 1-0—1

6 E.J. Emery (NYR), fr, d, 0-1—1

2 Bennett Zmolek, jr, d, 0-1—1

10 Tanner Komzak, so, d, 0-0—0

35 T.J. Semptimphelter, sr, g, 0-0—0

30 Hobie Hedquist, so, g, 0-0—0

1 Kaleb Johnson, jr, g, dnp

33 Aleksi Huson, fr, g, dnp

Goaltending

35 T.J. Semptimphelter, sr, 16-10-2, 2.71, .905

30 Hobie Hedquist, so, 3-4, 2.80, .894

1 Kaleb Johnson, jr, dnp

33 Aleksi Huson, fr, dnp

Scoring

3 Sam Stange (DET), 5th, f, 15-17—32

9 Brady Risk, 5th, f, 13-11—24

6 Zach Urdahl, sr, f, 12-10—22

23 Harrison Israels, 5th, f, 9-13—22

25 Cam Mitchell, jr, f, 8-12—20

10 Jacob Guevin, jr, d, 6-13—19

21 Tyler Rollwagen, jr, f, 3-12—15

22 Jimmy Glynn, 5th, f, 8-6—14

46 Dylan Gratton, jr, d, 2-12—14

7 Griffin Ludtke, jr, f, 2-11—13

26 Brock Bremer, 5th, f, 4-8—12

18 Myles Hilman, fr, f, 5-6—11

24 Charlie Lurie, so, f, 4-6—10

12 Nolan Krenzen, 5th, d, 0-9—9

8 Marcus Broberg, fr, d, 1-7—8

29 Chase LaPinta, fr, f, 3-1—4

27 Liam Watkins, fr, f, 2-2—4

15 Noah Ellis (VGK), jr, d, 1-3—4

13 Jacob Slipec, jr, f, 1-3—4

5 Joe Gramer, fr, d, 0-4—4

19 Garrett Pinoniemi, jr, f, 1-2—3

71 Tanner Ludtke (UTA), so, f, 1-1—2

64 Isaiah Norlin, fr, d, 0-1—1

2 Aiden Gallacher, 5th, d, 0-1—1

17 Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero, fr, f, 0-0—0

30 Simon Latkoczy, jr, g, 0-0—0

35 Kevin Reidler (OTT), fr, g, 0-0—0

1 Will Craig, so, g, 0-0—0

Goaltending

30 Simon Latkoczy, jr, 14-14-1, 2.68, .925

35 Kevin Reidler (OTT), fr, 4-1, 3.20, .920

1 Will Craig, so, 0-0, 0.00, 1.000

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