Fighting Hawks Shut out UMD

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

No visiting club has experienced more success at AMSOIL Arena than the University of North Dakota and that run of good fortune continued Friday night — thanks in great part to a goaltender who had never been in that down Duluth facility before.

The No. 4 Fighting Hawks, buoyed by a 40-save performance from sophomore Cam Johnson, shut down the University of Minnesota Duluth 3-0 to open up the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series before a sellout crowd of 6,836. With the win, North Dakota improved to 5-1-0 all-time at AMSOIL Arena, which it christened with a 5-0 triumph on Dec. 30, 2011.

The No. 17 Bulldogs, who held a substantial shot advantage on the night (40-22), saw their five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) come to a close while falling to 7-6-3 overall and 4-4-1-1 in the NCHC. UMD’s last loss came at home to the University of Denver (3-0) on Nov. 13, and in the five outings since it averaged 5.0 goals per night.

North Dakota (15-2-2; 8-1-1) got a first-period goals from Brock Boeser and Shane Gersich) and added some insurance with Joel Junatuinen’s even-strength score midway through the second.  It also blanked the Bulldogs on all six of their power play opportunities, but did fare any better with the man advantage itself (also 0-for-5).

Sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo, who the spent the better part of the closing three minutes of the game on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, finished with 19 saves in his 28th consecutive starting assignment. Rookie right winger Adam Johnson paced the Bulldogs with seven shots while junior center Dominic Toninato had six. UMD unleashed 81 total shots attempts (three shy of its 2015-16 single-game high), 22 of which were blocked.

“I think we definitely played well enough to win tonight,” said junior center Dominic Toninato “But they capitalized on their opportunities and we didn’t and that was the difference.”

The two long-time rivals will close out the 2015 calendar year Saturday night in Duluth.

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