Why UND felt Mark Senden's second-period disallowed goal should've counted

Tom Miller, Grand Forks Herald
·2 min read

Oct. 15—GRAND FORKS — In UND's wild 5-5 tie with Quinnipiac on Friday night at Ralph Engelstad, it might have been easy to lose track of a second-period goal that was until it wasn't.

But here's why UND felt Mark Senden's rebound goal that briefly made it 3-2 early in the second period should've counted as a goal during the 5-5 tie.

Just 28 seconds after Dylan James scored his first-career goal to make it 3-1 at 2:52 of the second, UND forward Judd Caulfield brought a puck into the Quinnipiac zone and crashed hard to the net.

Senden smacked a Caulfield rebound past Quinnipiac goalie Yaniv Perets.

Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold challenged the play, claiming Jamernik V was offside.

After the review, officials agreed with Pecknold and disallowed the goal.

UND's coaches, meanwhile, were visibly adamant on the bench the play should've been ruled differently. Fighting Hawks head coach Brad Berry and his assistants wanted the officials to take a second look.

"We were trying to challenge the challenge," Berry said. "We felt confident that if we challenged, it might've granted us that goal. But at the end of the day, we couldn't challenge, so we move forward."

UND's perspective was that Caulfield wasn't possessing the puck as the puck entered the zone. UND felt he chipped the puck in, meaning Jamernik V had time to tag up before Caulfield entered the zone and repossessed the puck.

UND recalled a play from the 2022 NHL playoffs involving Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar during the Western Conference Finals on May 31 against the Edmonton Oilers.

In the first period, Makar scored and Edmonton challenged the play for offside but the goal was upheld.

On the Makar play, officials ruled Valeri Nichushkin was back onside because Makar pushed the puck across the blue line and didn't carry the puck into the zone.

"I think there was a playoff goal in the NHL playoffs last year reminiscent of the same exact incident," Berry said. "At the end of the day, it is what it is and everybody can learn from it."