OMAHA, Neb. – The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team finished its 19-day stint in Omaha, Neb. this afternoon with a top-five match-up against No. 4 North Dakota. The Bulldogs fell to the Fighting Hawks, 2-1, in a hard fought battle until the end.
 
"I thought we started the game well," said head coach Scott Sandelin. "We had two big penalty kills in the first period against a dangerous power play. I thought we had a pretty good third period to get the game even, but they made a play at the end to win."
 
It was a goalie battle, with sophomore goalie Ryan Fanti making 17 saves in the contest, with a few stellar reaching pad stops. UND's Adam Scheel made 23 saves in the game, some with some flair as well.
 
The first period was a stalemate as both teams battled back and forth to see who would give way first. UMD was able to keep the Fighting Hawks off the board despite two penalties committed in the period. The Bulldogs held the shot lead after the first, 9-4.
 
The Fighting Hawks scored the first goal of the game on the power play with 6:45 remaining in the second period. UND defenseman Matt Kiersted passed the puck down from the point to the half wall where forward Jordan Kawaguchi was planted. Kawaguchi dished it down low to forward Collin Adams on the goal line right by the net. Adams whipped the puck by an unsuspecting Fanti for a 1-0 lead.
 
UMD struck back 7:12 into the third period. Junior forward Noah Cates scored his first even strength goal of the season when senior defenseman Louie Roehl dropped down to pinch off a puck. He chipped the puck to the blue line where freshman forward Luke Mylymok took his place. Mylymok took a shot at the net, where a rebound popped out to a camped out N. Cates who slammed it home. UND struck again with just 48 seconds to go in the game. The Fighting Hawks chipped the puck low into the Bulldogs zone, but Adams was able corral it and get it back to the point to defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. Bernard-Docker shot it towards the net, where forward Grant Mismash was able to tip it past Fanti.
 
N. Cates scored his third goal of the season, while Mylymok picked up his second point and Roehl picked up his first point. Senior defenseman Matt Anderson, junior forward Cole Koepke and freshman defenseman Wyatt Kaiser and Connor Kelley each had a block.

The Bulldogs are now done in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Pod with a 5-2-2 record. UMD will go on a 13-day break, returning on Jan. 1, 2021 to play a home and home series against St. Cloud State University.