2024-03-02 05:19:17
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at #3 University of North Dakota
3/2/2024 | 7:00 PM
Mar. 02 (Sat) / 7:00 PM
at #3 University of North Dakota
GRAND FORKS, ND – Despite controlling most of the play and outshooting North Dakota 37-17, Western Michigan was defeated by a final score of 5-3 on Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Samuel Sjolund, Daniel Hilsendager and Matteo Costantini tallied the goals for the Broncos. Hilsendager’s tally was his first of the season, and Costantini had two points in his return to Grand Forks.
The Brown and Gold were dominant in nearly every facet of the game, leading in shots on goal and faceoff wins, while allowing North Dakota to generate just one shot on three power plays. UND had just two shots in the final period, with one coming on an empty net goal.
FIRST PERIOD
The Fighting Hawks opened the game with a goal in the first two minutes to take an early 1-0 lead. However, a few minutes following that goal, the Broncos would get the first power play of the night.
Luke Grainger got the best look on the man advantage, but North Dakota would eventually return to full strength. Not too long following getting back to full strength, UND extended its lead to 2-0.
The Brown and Gold would respond, however, with Carter Berger throwing a puck on net that was deflected to the stick of Sjolund. He wristed a shot underneath the crossbar to bring the Broncos back within one.
Down the stretch of the period, WMU would get back-to-back minor penalties. Western Michigan was sent off for holding and a faceoff violation. The Broncos killed off over half of the UND two-man advantage to end the first frame. North Dakota entered the middle period with 51 seconds of power play time remaining.
SECOND PERIOD
UND wouldn’t score on the 5-on-3 to begin the period, but the Fighting Hawks scored just over a minute into the second frame to extend their lead to 3-1.
Following that, WMU got another look on the man advantage with UND getting sent off for elbowing. The Broncos would get four shots on the power play, but North Dakota would eventually get back to full strength.
Just a few minutes later, WMU got another power play. Alex Bump and Tim Washe would get looks for the Brown and Gold, but UND would once more kill off the penalty. North Dakota would tally another goal later in the period and carry a three-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
Western Michigan did well to kill off an early tripping penalty, allowing no shots on goal during the UND man advantage. Following that penalty kill, the Brown and Gold got quality looks from Bump and Ethan Phillips.
As the game moved to the back half of the third period, Western Michigan started to take control. Hilsendager got loose around the net and buried his own miss to bring WMU back within two with just under eight minutes to play.
With under seven minutes to play, Costantini lit the lamp once morest his former team to bring the score to 4-3 in favor of the Fighting Hawks. Costantini used a nice feed from Dylan Wendt to sneak by the North Dakota defense and net the goal.
As the game started to wind down, the Broncos pulled their goalie and attempted to tie the game. However, it would be UND who tallied the final goal of the game on the empty net to secure a 5-3 victory.
UP NEXT
Western Michigan and North Dakota will finish their series tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on NCHC TV and the Bronco Media Network.
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