Mark Senden's overtime goal lifts UND past Minnesota in wild series finale

Oct. 23—MINNEAPOLIS — UND coach Brad Berry was conducting his postgame press conference Saturday night when Minnesota coach Bob Motzko walked by.

Motzko stopped, walked up to Berry and gave him a quick fist bump.

The coaches both gave a slight smile to each other and nodded. Nothing else needed to be said.

Their teams played another epic in their long-and-storied rivalry. There was a seven-goal second period that also featured five-minute major penalties on each team. UND rallied from down two goals. Then, Minnesota rallied from down two goals.

In the end, Twin Cities native Mark Senden, a fifth-year senior, scripted the dramatic ending.

Senden, UND's captain, scored an overtime goal from the top of the crease to give No. 8 UND a 5-4 win over No. 1 Minnesota in 3M Arena at Mariucci.

After scoring the goal, Senden sprinted from the top of the crease to the neutral zone, let out the biggest fist pump possible and was mobbed by his teammates.

"It's really special," said Senden, who scored two goals. "It's definitely something I'll remember for a really long time. I'm just incredibly proud of our group with how we responded today and how we played."

The overtime winner gave UND a series split. Minnesota won the opener Friday on an overtime winner by Matthew Knies.

The Fighting Hawks also received goals from Riese Gaber, Jackson Blake and Jackson Kunz. Gaber, Blake, Chris Jandric and Cooper Moore had two-point nights.

UND will head to Las Vegas next week for its destination game against Arizona State with a 3-2-1 record.

For as raucous as the destination games have been, it may be hard to top college hockey's fiercest rivals going back-and-forth in front of 10,193 fans split between those wearing maroon and gold, and others wearing green and white.

"You could feel it go both ways," UND coach Brad Berry said. "When they got a little momentum, their fans were yelling and screaming. Then, there were the chants you hear constantly not only at The Ralph, but you heard it here when we got the momentum. It was great to hear."

The victory marked UND's first over a top-ranked team since it beat Denver in Magness Arena in November 2019.

"I kind of looked up at the crowd after Mark put that one in," Gaber said of the game-winning goal. "Pretty special feeling."

It looked bleak for UND early in the second period.

Defenseman Tyler Kleven was ejected late in the first for a contact to the head major, shots on goal were 26-6 Gophers and Minnesota took a 2-0 lead behind a goal from forward Rhett Pitlick on the rush at 8:48 of the middle frame.

But Pitlick celebrated his goal by tossing his stick into the crowd and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Although UND didn't get a power play from the misconduct, the Fighting Hawks scored four times with Pitlick in the box.

UND took advantage of other Gopher penalties.

Cal Thomas was called for boarding at 10:18. Blake scored 39 seconds later, snapping a shot from the left circle, drawing UND within a goal.

Gopher defenseman Ryan Chesley followed with a hooking penalty and UND converted again when Gaber scored his fourth goal in four games — a shot from the right circle off of Minnesota defenseman Ryan Johnson.

On the next shift, Moore sent a puck to the crease. It was tipped by Gavin Hain and Senden batted the rebound out of midair to give UND the lead.

The three goals came in 72 seconds.

"The guy's a winner, on and off the ice," Berry said of Senden. "He's a leader. There's a lot of stuff that goes unrecognized. What he does on the ice gets recognized. What he does off the ice doesn't to a lot of people who don't see what's going on."

UND tacked on a fourth goal after Minnesota star freshman Logan Cooley was called for a facemasking major. Kunz scored that one — his first of the season — on a deflection of a Moore shot at 14:51.

But Minnesota rallied on a Connor Kurth goal late in the second and a Jimmy Snuggerud goal early in the third to tie it.

Minnesota pushed for the go-ahead goal, but UND got the game to overtime thanks to another excellent performance by goaltender Drew DeRidder, who finished with 37 saves.

"After yesterday, we were devastated," DeRidder said. "To come back around and do the same exact thing to them, it's a great feeling."

On the winning play, Gaber carried the puck up the left wing and shoveled a puck to the top of crease, where Senden was crashing. Senden outmaneuvered Minnesota forward Bryce Brodzinski for position and tucked it underneath goalie Justen Close, who replaced starter Owen Bartoszkiewicz in the second period.

It was Senden's fourth goal in the last three games against Minnesota.

"It's a great feeling," Senden said. "They're a great opponent. You've got to respect them, the skill they have over there. But this series has a lot of history to it with moments like these. There's nothing like it in college hockey."

Notes: UND forward Judd Caulfield and Matteo Costantini, Carson Albrecht and Brent Johnson were taken out of the lineup. Dylan James, Nick Portz and Jackson Kunz rejoined the lineup. Minnesota made one major among its forwards. John Mittelstadt replaced Garrett Pinoniemi at center on the fourth line. . . UND wore its black jerseys for the first time this season.