The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team fell behind early Friday night and was unable to overcome the No. 17/18 University of North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, ND.
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The Fighting Hawks book ended the opening period with a goal at 1:41 by Ben Strinden and another at the 18:47 mark from Cade Littler. But the Bulldogs split the deficit a mere 2:31 into the second period on Joe Molenaar's third tally of the year. Molenaar's backdoor score came off a shot from Joey Pierce on the right boards that hit Carter Loney and fell to Molenaar alone on the far post.
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North Dakota retook a two-goal lead at 9:11, but UMD responded a quick 21 seconds later on Blake Bechen's snipe from the right dot, the freshman's fifth goal of the season.
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That 3-2 score would hold until the Bulldogs pulled goaltender Adam Gajan with 1:30 left in the third period. The result was a long empty net goal from Carter Wilkie 24 seconds later for what would end up the final 4-2 score.
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Gajan, making his second start since the freshman was injured before the holiday break, made 30 saves on the night. North Dakota outshot UMD 34-32, and also had 30 stops from goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter. Neither team had success on the power play – UMD went 0-of-3, while the Fighting Hawks were 0-of-2.
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The Bulldogs (11-16-2, 7-11-1) and North Dakota (16-12-2, 11-7-1) will drop the puck on game two of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m.
