BY SAM GAZZOLA | The Statesman THE GAME
A goal with just over a minute left in the game was all the offense the Bulldogs could muster in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Fighting Hawks.
The third meeting of the season between the Bulldogs and North Dakota began as a back-and-forth contest. After trading chances for most of the first period, the Fighting Hawks found the back of the net with 2:02 left in the opening period, when Samantha Hanson tucked in a rebound home after the initial shot was stopped by Grapp.
The Hawks carried the momentum through the intermission and outshot the Bulldogs 10-4 in second period—a period mostly played in UMD’s defensive zone. Midway into the period, UND’s Amy Menke broke down the right wing and beat Grapp high on the short side to double their lead.
UND continued to control most of the play throughout the majority of the third until the Bulldogs pulled Grapp with 1:48 remaining. With the extra attacker, UMD had a barrage of scoring chances. It was then that defenseman Sidney Morin got UMD on the board after slipping down from the point and shelving a backdoor feed from Brykaliuk.
THE TAKEAWAY
The loss moves the Bulldogs down in the standings to a point where home-ice in the opening round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs would be difficult to achieve, as only the top four teams will get home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. UMD is now No. 6 in the conference, 12 points behind the Fighting Hawks, who are tied for third in the WCHA. A split tomorrow would keep the Bulldogs in the home-ice race.
THE NUMBERS
12.2- After going 0-2 tonight on the man advantage, the Bulldogs’ power play dropped to 12.2 percent.
58:45- It took the Bulldogs 58 minutes and 45 seconds to find the scoreboard. UMD has managed just one goal in each of their last three games.
1- Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Lara Stalder each tallied an assist on Morin’s goal. Brykaliuk leads the team in points and assists, and raised her season totals to 18 assists and 27 points. Stalder is second on the team in both categories and has now totaled 12 assists and 22 points for the year.
SHE SAID IT “We just didn’t show enough urgency until the last five minutes of the game and it cost us,” Laura Bellamy said.