SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — It is pretty safe to say first-year North Dakota coach Dane Jackson has more than lived up to the standards typically expected of a program that recruits well and has won eight national championships.
After rolling through the Sioux Falls Regional with surprising ease, the Fighting Hawks are back in the Frozen Four.
A three-goal first period sent North Dakota on its way, and the Fighting Hawks dominated from start to finish in a 5-0 rout of the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday night at Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, booking their first Frozen Four trip in 10 years and the 23rd in program history.
“It’s just been a year’s work coming to fruition,” said Jackson, who on the one-year anniversary of his hiring has his program back on college hockey’s biggest stage. “The preparation and work these guys have put in and the selflessness our team plays with typifies our culture. Could not be more proud of the way we’ve grown as a team over the course of the season. To see it all come together this weekend is extremely satisfying.”
Jack Kernan scored twice, and Cody Croal, Dylan James and Cole Reschny also scored as North Dakota reached the Frozen Four for the first time since winning the 2016 national title over Quinnipiac in Tampa, Florida.
An announced crowd of 6,209 was mostly green-clad, and defenseman Abram Wiebe, who earned all-regional honors, could feel the presence of North Dakota’s fan base.
“Unreal,” Wiebe said. “Just coming out and seeing all the fans out there, it’s pretty crazy that they travel down four and a half hours and come watch us play. Just shows you how much they care about us. And I know that they’re going to do the same in Vegas.”
After an early exit from the ECAC Hockey playoffs, Quinnipiac had re-established its game in a victory over Providence on Thursday. But the Bobcats never got going on Saturday and spent most of the night chasing North Dakota, unable to generate much pressure on the forecheck or many quality scoring chances.
“They had a lot of passion,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “I think it was a combination of how well they played, and, you know, we just, we struggled. It’s just, it’s perplexing, because we were so good on Thursday.”
“They prepared pretty well,” said Bobcats forward Tyler Borgula. “Obviously, we tried our best out there, but came up short in the end.”
The Fighting Hawks got their offense rolling early. Just 6:02 into the game, Kernan opened the scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that beat Dylan Silverstein on the stick side. Croal continued his strong regional with his third goal of the weekend at 8:14, scoring on a backhander in front to make it 2-0.
North Dakota was not done, and neither was Kernan. He scored again at 12:20 from the right faceoff circle to give the Fighting Hawks a 3-0 lead. That ended the night for Silverstein, who stopped 11 of 14 shots before giving way to Matej Marinov, who made 13 saves in relief.
“They came out hard,” Pecknold said.
North Dakota kept pouring it on in the second period. James scored at 4:08 on a shot from between the faceoff circles, and Reschny added a tap-in at 11:31 after a centering feed from Ben Strinden to make it 5-0.
“I think a big part of our game was just getting the puck in deep and pounding their defensemen,” said Wiebe. “I think you just look up and down our lineup with our, you know, forwards and defensemen, anyone can play against any line in the nation. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Jan Špunar stopped all 22 shots he faced for North Dakota and all 53 shots he saw in the regional, earning most outstanding player honors. He became the first goaltender in program history to post back-to-back shutouts in the NCAA Tournament.
“My team, they did the awesome job in front of me,” Špunar humbly said when asked about what was clicking for him this weekend.
Jackson, however, knew it was more than that, just as it has been all year with his freshman goaltender.
“His reliability and consistency has been outstanding this year,” Jackson said. “You know, I think his kind of demeanor and his kind of low key, kind of casual personality helps him. I don’t think he gets too nervous. He just seems to consistently give us a strong performance.”
“He was locked in,” Pecknold said. “We didn’t do enough to get bodies in front of him.”
North Dakota will face former WCHA rival Wisconsin in the Frozen Four in two weeks. The Badgers advanced out of the Worcester Regional with a 4-3 overtime win over Michigan State after trailing by two goals with less than five minutes left in regulation.