North Dakota beats U.S. Under-18 team, 4-1

By Brad Elliott Schlossman
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Updated: January 9, 2016

The U.S. Under-18 team arrived in Ralph Engelstad Arena at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning after a bus trip from Sioux Falls, S.D. Players walked to the bench area and started snapping photos of the rink where they will play the IIHF World Under-18 Tournament in April.

On Saturday night, they got their first look at the arena’s atmosphere for a game day with the full scoreboard and light production.

“Our guys liked it,” U.S. Under-18 team coach Danton Cole said. “Maybe they were still enjoying it the first three minutes of the first period.”

The group that features many of the best 1998-born players in the country found themselves in a 3-0 hole to college hockey’s No. 1-ranked team in just 2 minutes, 50 seconds, and North Dakota rolled to a 4-1 exhibition game victory in front of 10,550 fans.

Paul LaDue fires a shot towards the goal at Saturday night’s game against US Under-18 team in the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Paul LaDue fires a shot towards the goal at Saturday night’s game against US Under-18 team in the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Both sides accomplished many things they wanted to do.

The American team got to check out the venue where they will play their biggest tournament of the season, while being challenged by a North Dakota team that has lost twice in 22 regular-season games this season.

For the Fighting Hawks, they were able to rest stars Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeser, who are coming back from the World Juniors, while giving expanded playing time to many role players.

It paid off.

Luke Johnson and Chris Wilkie both had a pair of assists, while Joel Janatuinen, Paul LaDue, Troy Stecher and Drake Caggiula scored goals in the victory.

“I think it’s a little bit of a confidence booster,” said Wilkie, who had three goals and four points in 22 games during the first half. “I think Luke, Joel and I have been playing well. We maybe haven’t been getting as many bounces, but I’m glad we could contribute today.

“I feel there’s a lot more improvement that can come in my game. As the year goes on, I’d like to help contribute more.”

Up front, Mike Gornall saw extended minutes. He didn’t make his college debut until last weekend against Alabama Huntsville. Defenseman Danys Chartrand saw his first action in a UND uniform as did highly touted freshman goaltender Matej Tomek, who didn’t have to make a save in the final 4:42.

Cam Johnson stopped 10 of 11 shots in the first 31:24, allowing only a power-play goal to Michigan commit James Sanchez. Matt Hrynkiw played the next 23:54, stopping all 13 shots he faced, including a few Grade A looks on a five-on-three power play

Defensively, the U.S. Under-18 team found it difficult to generate offense against UND’s veteran defensive corps. The American squad scored seven goals in beating St. Cloud State last weekend and three goals during a 4-3 loss to Minnesota Duluth a day earlier.

“They did a lot of things right,” Cole said of UND. “They got on us with speed and physicality. We were probably still on the bus for the first three minutes. After that we battled back and worked hard, but North Dakota is a good team. They’ll force you into those mistakes.

“I think North Dakota does a good job shutting things off and not giving us second chances and eliminating turnovers. They made it hard on us.”

UND returns to regular-season action next weekend, hosting Nebraska Omaha. The Fighting Hawks (18-2-2) are now done with exhibition and nonconference games. It will be all National Collegiate Hockey Conference from here on out.

“It’s just one step toward our goal of winning at the end of the year,” Wilkie said. “And we didn’t want to take a step back tonight.”

UND scored a goal on the first shift of the game when Janatuinen buried a rebound of a Wilkie shot. LaDue scored on a point shot at 1:33 and Stecher did the same at 2:50. UND’s fourth goal came at 1:10 of the second period when Austin Poganski set up Caggiula to make it 4-0.

“I thought we were sharp coming out of the chute,” UND coach Brad Berry said. “Obviously, it was a long travel day for them. We jumped on them early. They played hard and they have skill. That’s a real good team. We took advantage of the first three minutes of the game.”