UND heads to Vegas with different approach

Oct. 27—GRAND FORKS — Jake Schmaltz has never been to Las Vegas.

"I heard it's a pretty fun spot," the UND sophomore forward said.

That may be true.

But the UND hockey team will leave that to the fans to explore.

The Fighting Hawks are headed to Vegas for Saturday night's U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game against Arizona State with a more limited itinerary than last year, when they lost to Penn State 6-4 in Nashville.

That was UND's first loss in a destination game.

UND previously beat Clarkson in Winnipeg (2012), blew out Omaha at T.D. Ameritrade Park (2014), topped Boston College in New York City's Madison Square Garden (2016) and rallied past Minnesota in Vegas (2018).

A year ago in Nashville, the Fighting Hawks had a full schedule of off-ice activities. They walked Broadway. They visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. The night before the game, they showed up at the Wild Horse Saloon — the official fan pregame party — and were introduced, player-by-player, on a stage in front of a thousand roaring fans.

"It was a moment where our guys got caught there a little, I think," Berry said. "What we want to do is try to experience it, but minimize those experiences where it might take away your focus a little bit. We have a really detailed and focused itinerary or agenda going down there, knowing it's a business trip. You want to have a little of that experience, but at the end of the day, we're going to try to win a game."

UND is expected to arrive in Las Vegas early Thursday evening.

The team will hold a practice Friday morning, but it will not be showing up at the official fan pregame party Friday night on Fremont Street.

"That will be a fan experience," Berry said, "not a student-athlete experience."

The players say they are excited about the Vegas trip — even if it will be a little different than Nashville.

"Nashville was super fun last year," Schmaltz said. "But we know it's a business trip this year. We want to go down there and get a win. Obviously, it's really cool with all the fans making the trip and everything. But we're going down there to get a win."

Fans are expected to travel from at least 43 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces, Germany, Sweden and Ukraine to attend the game.

"We left something on the table in Nashville last year," Berry said. "Whether it was being a little wide-eyed in that destination game experience or what have you, we didn't play our best. That's motivation enough. We have a lot of fans who spent a lot of time and money going down to Minneapolis last weekend, and guess what, they're turning around and they're going to Vegas. There's an obligation on our part to make sure we're ready to play against a very good team."

While UND is cutting back on activities, it will at least dabble in some — just as it did during destination game victories in New York City in 2016 and Las Vegas in 2018.

In New York City, the Fighting Hawks visited the World Trade Center Memorial and 9-11 Museum. During the last trip to Vegas, they went to a Golden Knights game.

"I think a lot of us were in Nashville last year," UND defenseman Cooper Moore said. "We know it's a fun trip. We get to go down there early and spend a lot of time with the guys. But I think we know last year we got a little too starstruck in the moment."

This will be one last crack at a destination game for the Fighting Hawks before there's a hiatus.

UND will not play a destination game for at least the next two years, and there's no guarantee when — or where — the next one will come. So, the Fighting Hawks want to make the most of it in front of roughly 17,000 fans who are making the trip from around the globe.

"That's what makes North Dakota so special; everyone makes the trip down there," Schmaltz said. "We have such a great fan base. We want to get down there and play really hard for everyone that's making the trip."

Who: No. 6 UND vs. Arizona State.

When: 9:07 p.m. Central on Saturday.

Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.

Records: UND 3-2-1, Arizona State 4-4.

TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD).

Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM).

Stream: NCHChockey.com.