By Ayden Adair · The Fighting Hawks hosted the Golden Gophers of Minnesota this past weekend to open up conference play. The friday matchup would also mark the home o…
The Fighting Hawks hosted the Golden Gophers of Minnesota this past weekend to open up conference play. The friday matchup would also mark the home opener for the Hawks. The Gophers come into the weekend 0-4 after suffering losses to Lindenwood and St. Thomas. The Hawks enter the weekend undefeated after their sweep over Bemidji State.
Friday night's game would open with an onslaught of shots for the Gophers. Thanks to the great play of goaltender, Andrew Blahy, Minnesota would not get on the board until late in the 1st period. Pavel Rettig would open the scoring with a power play goal at the 13 minute mark and would put the Hawks up by a goal early. Minnesota would answer with 4:51 to go in the 1st period. The 2nd period offered a similar story with a goal a piece for each each team. Matthew Walz would give the Hawks a 1 goal lead with a short handed goal at the 14 minute mark of the 2nd period. The Gophers tied up the game 3 minutes later to send both teams into the locker room tied at 2. The Hawks would waste no time getting the lead back as Cody Domagalski would open the period with a goal 27 seconds into the 3rd. Minnesota would go scoreless the rest of the rest of the evening prompting them to pull their goalie late in the period. Pavel Rettig would pickup two more empty net goals to top off the night and earn himself a hat trick. The Hawks would take game 1 of the series. Andrew Blahy would have an impressive 56 saves and pick up his first win of the year.
With the Hawks looking to repeat their success from Friday night they return for the 2nd game of the weekend in high spirits. Goaltender, Andrew Blahy would get the nod for game two in hopes to complete the sweep. The second game of the weekend would open the opposite way of friday night with a slow start for both teams. The Hawks would be forced to make a goaltender change 6 minutes in after Blahy had an equipment malfunction. Blahy would leave the game with 4 saves. Ayden Adair would enter the game for the Hawks looking continue the great play of Blahy. The Gophers would open the scoring late in the 1st period giving them a 1-0 lead going into the intermission. Cody Domagalski would open the scoring in the second period at the 12 minute mark to tie up the game at 1-1. Minnesota would take the lead back 2 minutes later. They would add to that lead late in the 3rd to send the Gophers back to the locker room up 3-1. The 3rd period would open with another goal for Minnesota. Pavel Rettig would get a power play goal to get the Hawks back within reach. The Gophers would put the dagger into UND's hopes with a late power play goal to finish off the game with a 5-2 win. Minnesota hands the Hawks its first loss of the year. Ayden Adair would the end the game with 37 saves.
A weekend split means the Hawks come away 3-1 on the season while Minnesota advances to 1-5. UND heads on the road next weekend to in a matchup with St. John's. They look to pickup to more wins against an old friend in goaltender Leo Troje.