North Dakota
No. 6/7 North Dakota vaults into first place with 5-3 win over No. 13 SCSU
UND Athletics/SCSU Athletics Jason Soria
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (UND Athletics)– Senior goaltender Ludvig Persson stopped 34 shots to help No. 6/7 North Dakota defeat No. 13 St. Cloud State, 5-3, on Friday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
The goaltender was stellar in his return to the net, stopping a season-best 34-of-37 fired his way to help the Fighting Hawks (16-6-1, 7-4-0 NCHC) vault into first place in the conference standings with 25 points and give the visitors only their second win in the last nine games in St. Cloud.
Sophomore forward Jackson Blake exploded for a pair of goals and an assist for his sixth game of the season with three points while extending his point streak to five straight. Forwards Cameron Berg (1G, 1A) and Owen McLaughlin (2A) also notched multi-point outings while defenseman Jake Livanavage dished out a pair of helpers for his second-career game with two assists.
North Dakota once again got out to the start it wanted, taking the 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into the contest when McLaughlin feathered a perfect pass to a cutting Blake and the sophomore roofed it over the goaltender for his team-leading 13th of the season and a 1-0 advantage.
The green and white kept its strong opening 20 minutes of play rolling throughout the stanza before finally extending the lead to 2-0 in the dying moments. McLaughlin and Blake combined again on a faceoff win, working the puck back to defenseman Garrett Pyke to wire home his third goal of the season to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage after one.
After SCSU (11-7-3, 7-2-2 NCHC) cut the lead to 2-1 just 24 seconds into the second period, Blake restored the two-goal advantage with a power play snipe for his second tally of the night and third multi-goal game of the season to send UND to the locker room with a 3-1 lead.
Persson sparkled in the middle stanza, finishing with 14 saves on 15 shots, including a dazzling glove stop on a 2-on-1 rush late in the second period to keep the advantage at a pair of goals heading into the third.
The Huskies again struck early in the period, cutting the lead to 3-2 on a Zach Okabe rebound, but the UND power play responded again when Berg finished off sweet dish from Jackson Kunz on the zone entry to give the junior his 11th tally of the season and a 4-2 advantage near the midway point of the third.
SCSU climbed within a goal for the third time in the game with a power play strike of its own, but Louis Jamernik V sealed the 5-3 victory for the Hawks with an empty netter for his sixth goal of the campaign.
North Dakota will go for the series and season sweep over St. Cloud State on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. from the HBNHC. Fans can catch the contest on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Home of Economy Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- Ludvig Persson finished with a season-high 34 saves to improve to 13-6-1 this season
- Jackson Blake tallied his sixth three-point game of the season with two goals and an assist
- The pair of goals are the third multi-goal outing of the year for Blake
- Owen McLaughlin extended his point streak to five straight games with two helpers
- Cameron Berg has points in 12 of his last 15 games, including 10 goals
- Berg also set a new single-season high with 11 goals on the season
- UND finished 2-for-3 on the power play, improving to 4-1-0 when scoring multiple PPG
- The Hawks have 12 power play goals in the last 10 games, including seven in the last five games
- UND improves to 6-3-0 against ranked opponents this season
- NoDak is also 13-0-0 this season when leading after two periods and 14-4-1 when scoring first
- Jake Livanavage recorded his second multi-point game of his career, notching two assists
- Logan Britt tallied his first point since Nov. 25 vs. Bemidji State
- Blake, Berg and Persson were named the game’s three stars, in that order
- SCSU finished with a 27-24 faceoff advantage, with Louis Jamernik V pacing UND at 7-5
How It Happened
First Period 06:59 | UND – Jackson Blake roofs one over Dominic Basse to give UND a 1-0 lead19:54 | UND – Garrett Pyke blasts home his third of the season to extend the advantage to 2-0
Second Period 00:24 | SCSU – Mason Salquist gets the Huskies on the board early in the second13:58 | UND – Blake scores his second of the night with a snipe on the power play to make it 3-1 UND
Third Period 04:22 | SCSU – Zach Okabe pounces on the rebound to trim the deficit to 3-2 early in the third08:46 | UND – Cameron Berg rockets home a slick feed from Jackson Kunz on the power play16:29 | SCSU – Veeti Miettinen scores a power play goal to cut the lead to 4-318:28 | UND – Louis Jamernik V seals the 5-3 victory with an empty netter
Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 1/19/2024 11:09:00 PM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com
Kalamazoo — There’ll be a new champion in the NCHC.
Will Zellers scored the game-winning goal in the third period as No. 3 North Dakota downed No. 4 Western Michigan, 5-3, Friday night at Lawson Arena. The Broncos never led and trailed all of the third period, though a late push nearly tied the game with the net empty.
“Overall in the game, I thought it was a pretty tightly contested effort. I thought they just scored too easy,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You know, for us, we had a couple breakdowns, and they’re so talented, so good, they took advantage when we broke down.”
The teams finish the regular season Saturday night. Western Michigan came into Friday’s game tied with Denver in standings points and five points behind North Dakota, needing that many to get a share of the Penrose Cup it won last season en route to an NCAA championship, too.
As far as regular season results go, the Broncos will play for second seed in the NCHC Tournament, needing to outpace Denver, which plays Arizona State this weekend.
Western Michigan (23-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while North Dakota’s Jan Spunar stopped 22 of 25 shots. It was a battle of two of the NCHC’s top netminders, and each made key stops in a tight-checking, physical game.
Zellers put North Dakota (25-7-1, 17-5-1) up 4-2 4:42 into the third period off an assist from Detroit Red Wings draft choice Dylan James.
“He kind of made a play out of nothing there,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who is in his first season as head coach after being on the coaching staff since 2006. “And that was a really nice kind of moment where you go OK, we got a little got a little leeway here, and we can just kind of play a little bit more free.”
North Dakota took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from defenseman Sam Laurila alongside forwards Ollie Josephson and Josh Zakreski. Defenseman Zach Bookman and forward Liam Valente scored for Western Michigan.
One too many times in the second frame, Western Michigan’s blue line let a North Dakota forward in all alone to face Slukynsky, who stopped a couple of rushes in the opening minutes of the period.
With four minutes until the intermission, the Broncos finally got burned. On a feed from linemate Anthony Menghini, Lakreski cut to the glove side of a sprawling Slukynsky and beat him with the backhand. The goal gave North Dakota the 3-2 lead, after a seeing-eye shot from Bookman along the right wall had tied it up two apiece 8:10 into the period.
“I actually thought the second period was our best period,” Ferschweiler said. “… We started to take over. We got the goal, tied 2-2, and are kind of just humming along. Four minutes left, we just hand them a goal. Blown coverage. That was inexcusable, honestly, with some of our better players on the ice.”
The opening period played out as a back and forth track meet through the neutral zone as each side settled in. Laurila put North Dakota up 1-0 with his first career goal. After Slukynsky denied him on a trio of tries earlier in the shift, he fired a shot to beat the Western Michigan netminder 4:40 into the game.
It took just a minute and 34 seconds after Laurila’s opener for Western Michigan’s top line to get it right back. A blue-collar shift from captain Owen Michaels fed linemate Will Whitelaw along the left boards, and he sprung Valente for a breakaway goal that evened up the score.
“I thought we gave it to them too easy a couple times tonight,” Whitelaw said. “And I think when you’re playing a team like that, obviously they’re gonna put it in your net. But I think it’ll be a big lesson for our group going forward.”
For the better part of the first period, the Lawson Lunatics peppered North Dakota defenseman Jake Livanavage with jeers, but he got his own licks in with 7:48 left in the first period as he fed Josephson right at the net for the 2-1 goal. That score held through the first period.
With 2:02 remaining and Slukynsky pulled, forward Zaccharya Wisdom pulled Western Michigan within one. He nearly had the equalizer with 40 seconds on the clock on a backdoor try, but he mistimed the shot. Mac Swanson scored an empty-netter with 20.7 seconds on the clock to clinch the win, and with it the Penrose Cup, presented to North Dakota in the locker room and then paraded around the ice.
“It’s the hardest regular season championship to win, in my opinion,” North Dakota forward Ben Strinden said. “So it’s awesome. Obviously, it’s not our end goal, but we’re going to enjoy it for sure.”
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
North Dakota
Morton County did not violate North Dakota’s open records law when the County Auditor, within a reasonable time, informed the requester that the requested records were not in the County’s possession.. – North Dakota Attorney General
27 Feb Morton County did not violate North Dakota’s open records law when the County Auditor, within a reasonable time, informed the requester that the requested records were not in the County’s possession..
in Opinions
February 27, 2026
Media Contact: Suzie Weigel, 701.328.2210
BISMARCK, ND – Karen Jordan requested an opinion from this office under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1 asking whether Morton County violated N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18 by failing or refusing to provide records.
Conclusion: It is my opinion that Morton County’s response was in compliance with N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18.
Link to opinion 2026-O-06
###
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The North Dakota Court System threw a reception for a retiring member of the state Supreme Court.
Justice Daniel Cothers is leaving after serving for more than 20 years.
He plans to step down on Feb. 28.
Before Crothers became a judge, he served as a lawyer and as president of the State Bar Association of North Dakota.
Mark Friese is set to replace Crothers starting March 9.
“He knows what is important and what to keep focused on. Justice Friese will be an exceptional replacement to me on the bench,” said Crothers.
Crothers plans to keep up on teaching gigs and spend time at his family’s farm as he steps into retirement.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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