Huskies coach Bob Motzko said he laughed out loud when someone from the media asked him before the game if the Fighting Hawks might be extra motivated against the Huskies because they needed a win or two in this tournament to advance to the NCAA playoffs.

“Do you ever not get an intense game from North Dakota?” Motzko said.

Motzko nailed it: St. Cloud required a goal from former Lakeville South High School standout Nick Poehling just 1:47 into overtime to slip past the team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux in the matinee semifinal game Friday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.

“The puck came right to me,” Poehling said. “I just shot it, and I guess I got a little bit lucky.”

Easton Brodzinski celebrates after scoring a goal to give his team a 2-1 lead over North Dakota at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff (MHM / Jeff Wedge).

The game-winning goal came after a North Dakota turnover allowed St. Cloud State to turn aside a fierce comeback that enabled the Hawks to tie the score 2-2 midway through the third period.

That, too, was no surprise even though the Huskies appeared to be in control  with a 2-1 lead through two periods after getting goals from Patrick Newell and Easton Brodzinski while outshooting North Dakota 21-14.

Didn’t matter.

The Fighting Hawks, staying afloat thanks to a tremendous game by goaltender Cam Johnson, came out for the third period according to junior center Nick Jones with a plan to apply strong pressure on St. Cloud and keep at it.

For awhile, they had the Huskies on their heels.

“Relentless effort,” Jones said.

Motzko wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t surprised, either.

“As well as we were playing, we were on the verge of getting knocked out,” he said.

But he knew advice was uneccessary after St. Cloud State, which had the benefit of winning and losing in its two overtime games against Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the tournament a week earlier, traipsed into its locker room after the third period.

His players knew the score.

“There was no coaching going into overtime,” he said.

Just a costly turnover and it was over in a hurry.

North Dakota coach Brad Berry, whose team is a longshot at best for the NCAA tournament going into Saturday’s third-place game, said turnovers cost the Hawks all afternoon.

“They have a really talented group that can kill you if you don’t take care of pucks,” Berry said.

St. Cloud finished the day with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal and could have put the game away early if not for 31 saves by Johnson. In the end, even though they had already locked up a berth in the NCAA tourney, the victory has SCSU in the conference tournament final.

The post SCSU finishes UND in OT appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Call it a four-game point streak with an asterisk.

Shane Gersich has found the back of the net seven times in in the last four games, the most creative of the seven doesn’t exactly count and on Saturday, the North Dakota sophomore left wing drew “Hobey Baker” chants after his fourth goal of the weekend ensured a sweep at St. Cloud State.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in a breakout season for Gersich, a native of Chaska who played high school hockey at Holy Family Catholic. He has 10 goals and eight assists through 13 games, making him 11^th in the nation for points per game at 1.38.

“I think things are just clicking right now,” said Gersich, who racked up 58 goals and 64 assists in his last two seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) at Holy Family.

“I’m playing with some great players, whether it’s Tyson Jost, Austin Poganski or Brock Boeser, whoever it is. I’m playing with confidence right now and things are working.”

Gersich wasn’t on the scoresheet until the third period of the Nov. 19 game at SCSU until early in the third period when his one-timer gave the Fighting Hawks a nice three-goal cushion. The night before, Gersich recorded his first collegiate hat trick.

The three-goal performance was Gersich’s sixth multi-point game of the season.

“We have the mentality of never being satisfied,” Gersich said. “If you get one, you want one more and you want to get better as the game goes on.”

Russell Hons Photography/UND Athletics

When UND’s winless streak reached its height at six games on Nov. 12 after a 3-2 loss to Denver, it was Gersich providing the offense with both goals for the Fighting Hawks.

The “asterisk” finds itself attached to the Nov. 11 game against Denver when the teams remained tied after the five-minute overtime period in a game on Nov. 11 in Grand Forks, but the play of the game came after the game had finished on the official box score.

Teams play an extra sudden death 3-on-3 session (for one extra point in the standings) if a game is still tied in NCHC play, and that’s when Gersich unleashed a spin-o-rama plus a backhanded lacrosse-style shot that hit the back of the net.

“I just kind of pulled that one off out of nowhere,” Gersich said. “We work on our edges and a lot of that skill stuff with Coach (Dane) Jackson and Coach (Matt) Shaw.”

It didn’t count as an official goal and the result doesn’t go down in the books as a win for the Fighting Hawks, but Gersich caught the attention of social media and was a top highlight on national TV networks.

The flashy highlight-reel goals and individual point streaks were not part Gersich’s first season at UND, as he played a small role on the team that skated to the national championship.

Gersich had nine goals with two assists in 37 games as a freshman in 2015-16.

“Last year I wasn’t in much of a position to be putting up big numbers,” Gersich said. “This year, I wanted to be more of an impact player and I have an opportunity and I’m trying to make the most of it.”

Added UND coach Brad Berry: “His ability to be a consistent player (is the area in which Gersich has grown the most). It all starts with him investing in his game. He comes to the rink every morning and works on his skills.”

Berry shuffled his team’s top lines, hoping different forward combinations could cure UND’s three-week cold streak.

Poganski, a junior from St. Cloud, joined Gersich and freshman center Jost (replacing Boeser) as the right wing on what became UND’s No. 1 line against SCSU. Poganski’s and Gersich’s bond goes back many years.

“We played together on ‘Select’ teams and kind of toured different schools together and North Dakota worked out,” Poganski said. “He’s having a fantastic year.”

The post Hawk On Fire appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.