Kobe Roth scored twice and Hunter Shepard put the clamps down at the other end of the ice, propelling the University of Minnesota Duluth to a 5-0 National Collegiate Hockey Conference triumph over the University of North Dakota Friday night.

A standing room-only AMSOIL Arena crowd of 6,787 saw the host Bulldogs extend their home unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1 going back to last March) and defeat North Dakota for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings with their long-time rivals.  No. 2 UMD, which got a 22-save performance from Shepard, improved to 10-2-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the NCHC. 

Roth, a sophomore from Warroad, Minn., gave the Bulldogs all the scoring they would need when he scored off a scrum in front of the North Dakota net with 5.5 seconds remaining in the first period.  Senior right winger Parker Mackay struck 38 seconds after the first intermission before Roth (9:24 on the power play again), sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson (13:08) and rookie right winger Tanner Laderoute (13:45) each added second-period goals. The Bulldogs outshot North Dakota 25-14 over the first two periods and 30-22 on the night. 

The shutout for Shepard was his second of the season, 10th of his career (a program record) and first against North Dakota.  Shepard's starting counterpart, Peter Thome was  pulled after the final Bulldog goal and after he stopped just 18 of 23 shots.

"We got our legs going as the first period went on," said UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "We knew they were going to come out hard, but getting the goal late in the first gave us a boost. Then we had the big second period and put the game away."

The two teams will meet again Saturday night in the Bulldogs' final home appearance of 2018.