For the fifth straight postseason, Miami was bounced without winning a playoff game.
No. 5 North Dakota pounded the RedHawks, 7-1 at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Saturday, earning a two-game sweep in the best-of-3, opening round NCHC quarterfinal series.
MU (7-26-3) lost its 10th straight postseason game and has not won a playoff series since 2015.
RECAP: North Dakota (26-10-2) took the lead with 6:43 left in the first period when Riese Gaber stole a drop pass, curled into the slot and whipped a wrister just under the crossbar on the stick side.
In the first minute of the second period, the Fighting Hawks’ Jackson Blake sent a shot in from the blue line that handcuffed Miami goalie Logan Neaton, and Jackson Kunz’s one-handed the rebound home on a 4-on-3 to make it 2-0.
Blake tapped home a feed through the slot by Owen McLaughlin 98 seconds into the final stanza to extend North Dakota’s lead to three.
Then Logan Britt drove the net off a feed from Kunz and pitchforked a backhander past Neaton from the top of the crease to push the lead to four just over two minutes later. Dylan James made it 5-0 midway through the final 20 minutes.
Miami finally got on the board with 8:38 left in regulation, as Artur Turansky took a stretch pass from Axel Kumlin, skated in and fired a shot from the left faceoff dot that was denied by goalie Hobie Hedquist, seized the rebound and roofed it from a bad angle, cutting the deficit to four.
UND’s Ben Strinden and Hunter Johannes put the game out of reach with 4-on-4 markers in the final two minutes.
STATS: Turansky found the net for the fourth time this season, notching his second goal in five games.
Kumlin recorded his third point in six games, and D Rihards Simanovics was credited with the other assist, as he finished his freshman season with six points in his last 12 contests.
— Fifth-year senior defenseman and captain Jack Clement played in his 166th career game, tying Pat Cannone for second place on Miami’s all-time leaderboard.
ANALYSIS: North Dakota showed exactly why it won the Penrose Cup this season.
After appearing a bit nervous early on Friday, the Fighting Hawks exceled a practically every aspect of the game in Game 2.
Passing, team speed, puck possession, faceoffs, shot accuracy, defending, goaltending…you name it, UND dominated.
The RedHawks played better than the score indicated but could not harness the herculean effort it would’ve taken to upset the fifth-ranked team in Division I.
Overall, Miami deserves credit for playing hard until the final horn, especially Thomas Daskas, Blake Mesenburg, Tanyon Bajzer and Turansky up front and unsung hero Dylan Moulton on the back end, who managed six shots on goal and wasn’t mentioned nearly enough here this season because he did all of the unsexy things to keep pucks out of Miami’s net.
Neaton’s career didn’t end the way he would’ve liked, but he deserves a ton of credit for taking on the starting job and holding his own all season.
LINEUP CHANGES: Coach Chris Bergeron went with 11 forwards and eight defensemen.
Up front, Brayden Morrison returned to the lineup, and Zane Demsey dressed on defense.
Fs Teddy Lagerback and Albin Nilsson were both scratched. Nilsson took a high hit late on Friday and did not return.
FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s been a difficult season, and we’ll be writing about that more in the coming weeks, but thanks and congratulations to all the seniors that are moving onto the pros or turning pro in another field.
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