No. 6 North Dakota opens the season with a 5-2 win over No. 13/11 Providence

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – No. 6 North Dakota opened its regular season with a 5-2 victory over No. 13/11 Providence on Saturday night in the annual US Hockey Hall of Fame Game at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D

UND (1-0-0) struck three times in the second period to break a 1-1 tie and give the Fighting Hawks their eighth win in 11 tries in the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game and move to 21-2 -1 to improve home openings since 2001-02.

Dylan James scored two goals in the win for the third time in his career Cameron Berg, Sacha Boisvert And Abram Wiebe Everyone scored a goal and an assist, earning multiple points in the win. TJ Semptimphelter stopped 22 shots in his UND debut, improving his season mark to 1-0-0.

NoDak took an early 1-0 lead just before the halfway point of the opening period when Berg fired off a nice shot EJ Emery to give the hosts the early lead before Providence (0-1-0) even decided the contest just 4:10 later with a rebound goal from Braiden Clark, sending the teams into the locker room tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes .

The Hawks took control at midfield and scored a trio of goals in the stanza to build a 4-1 lead after two goals. James scored his first goal of the night after a slap pass from Bennett Zmolek to give the hosts the lead for good at 6:51 of the second minute.

moments later, Cody Croal fired a shot that bounced off the goalkeeper and Jayden Perrons Skating before hitting the net to extend the lead to 3-1, Boisvert scored his first career goal on the power play to build a three-goal lead after 40 minutes.

After Providence cut the lead to 4-2 in the third period, James iced the game in the final minute with his second goal of the night, completing the 5-2 victory.

North Dakota hits the road for the first time next weekend to face Minnesota State starting Friday night at 7:07 p.m

Post-game notes

• UND improves to 8-3-0 all-time in the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game and 6-1-0 at home
• NoDak picks up its first win against a ranked opponent this season and improves to 1-0-0
• North Dakota is 21-2-1 in home openers since 2001-02
• The Hawks improved to 10-5-1 all-time against Providence
• UND now has an eight-game unbeaten streak against PC that dates back to 1984
• Sacha Boisvert scored his first career goal in the win
• Cameron Berg, Dylan James, Abram Wiebe and Boisvert all scored multiple points
• EJ Emery, Andrew Strathman And Cody Croal All scored assists for their first points in a UND uniform
• James recorded his third multi-goal game in his career
• UND finished the game with a 31-24 shots advantage
• TJ Semptimphelter finished his first start with UND with 22 saves on 24 shots against
• Both teams blocked 13 shots
• UND went 1-2 on the power play while Providence went 1-3
• NoDak finished the game with a 32-27 lead Jake Schmaltz keeping everyone on their toes with 10 wins

How it happened

First period
08:34 | AND – Cameron Berg (1) from EJ Emery (1) and Owen McLaughlin (1)
12:44 | PC – Braiden Clark (1) by Ryan O'Reilly (1) and Andrew Centrella (1)

Second period
06:51 | AND – Dylan James (1) from Bennett Zmolek (1) and Andrew Strathman (1)
09:25 | AND – Jayden Perron (1) from Cody Croal (1) and Sacha Bosivert (1)
6:30 p.m. | AND – Boisvert (1) from Abram Wiebe (1) and mountain (1)

Third period
07:32 | PC – Hudson Malinoski (1) by Graham Gamache (1) and Trevor Connelly (1)
19:07 | AND – James (2) von Wiebe (2)

For more information on hockey in North Dakota, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.