Whether you win or lose them, exhibition games never carry as much weight as the real thing will.
North Dakota got a reminder of that earlier this month, when the Fighting Hawks lost a non-counter game for the first time since falling to Alberta at the start of the 1996-97 season.
After UND struggled through a 4-1 exhibition defeat Oct. 5 at home to Augustana, the fifth-ranked Hawks put in a much-improved performance one week later in defeating No. 14 Providence 5-2. A large U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game crowd at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, including many UND legends back for an organized alumni weekend, was on hand Saturday to see the Hawks put in a performance that coach Brad Berry felt was indicative of the host program’s identity.
“We played a fast north game, and I thought it was a situation where, partway through the first period, we got the flow of the game going as far as what we needed to do with advancing pucks and getting on the forecheck, and we did a good job of that,” Berry said. “This was a nonconference game against a very good opponent, and we played our four lines and our six D and got into a rhythm that way. It was a big thing on guys’ familiarity of who they’re playing with and getting reps in a game, and the guys did a good job of managing that the right way.
“Early on, we were positionally in the right places but when we had the puck, our puck management wasn’t consistent coming through the neutral zone, which led to a little momentum for Providence. Once we got more consistent with that and going north, playing in their end of the rink and sustaining offensive-zone time, we got going.”
Dylan James scored twice Saturday, on his 21st birthday. Cameron Berg had a goal and an assist, freshman Sacha Boisvert bagged a goal in his first official collegiate game and sophomore Jayden Perron scored his 12th career goal for UND.
Berry noted that UND’s approach to the Providence game was different to the Hawks’ plan for the exhibition with second-year program Augustana. That time, the Vikings jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and led 4-0 before Berg put UND on the board with a power-play goal midway through the third.
“We played five lines, eight defensemen, all our goaltenders and it was a situation where we got everybody into the game,” Berry said. “When you do that, I don’t think you normally get the reps that you need, but everybody gets experience of playing in that game.
“(Augustana) won the puck races and the puck battles that night, and we didn’t but we worked on a lot of different things over the course of the week before Providence that we needed to get better at, and then honed in on the consistency of who we’re playing with on our lines, and we did a good job of working hard through the week to get to where we needed to go.”
And there’s still some room for growth, but that’s to be expected from a team with nearly a dozen newcomers. UND has a largely new defensive corps, and a new starting goaltender in Arizona State transfer T.J. Semptimphelter, who made 22 saves Saturday.
“We’ve got to remember that our D group from last year, we had eight new guys but four were elder statesmen who had played a lot of college hockey,” Berry said. “There were three transfers that were either seniors or grads coming in, and Bennett Zmolek coming in from (Minnesota State), that’s experience. Our D corps right now, our oldest guy is a junior (in Zmolek), and we’ve got four sophomores and three freshmen.
“Everybody wants to be your very best from the start of the season, and we absolutely do but we know we have to grow this team. Everybody in the country has to grow their team, so it’s not so much what you did in the past, and we won a game against Providence and we’re moving forward. We’re playing Minnesota State this weekend and we have to move forward and make sure that we’re ready and prepared to be at our best.”
UND’s first handful of games this season are particularly tough. After No. 20 MSU hosts the Hawks this weekend, third-ranked Boston University visits Grand Forks for a pair of games Oct. 25-26, before the Hawks head east to play No. 8 Cornell on Nov. 1-2.
You want to play the best, because if you play the best in each conference, that’s going to make you better, and second, if you play the best and you have success against those teams, it’ll help you in the PairWise (Rankings), and won’t hurt nearly as much if you lose against top, top teams. These games make you better as a team and sharper. Iron sharpens iron.”
