Ludvig Persson turns aside his old team as UND sweeps Miami – Grand Forks Herald

OXFORD, Ohio — The Miami student section booed Ludvig Persson whenever he handled the puck.

They chanted, “traitor, traitor, traitor!” at him throughout Friday and Saturday night.

The new UND goaltender did not get the warmest reception in his return to Goggin Ice Center, where he spent the last three seasons as Miami’s starting goaltender.

“It was harder than I expected, actually,” said Persson, who transferred to UND in the summer. “It’s been home for three years and it’s weird to come back and hear that. But you’ve just got to focus on the game and play our game. I think we did a great job both games.”

Persson turned in an outstanding performance against his old team Saturday night, stopping 33 of 34 shots and helping UND beat Miami 4-1 to finish a series sweep.

Defenseman Logan Britt scored twice, burying feeds from Abram Wiebe and Owen McLaughlin. Forward Cameron Berg scored for the sixth time in seven games and Dylan James iced it with an empty-netter.

UND opened up a commanding seven-point atop the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings as they seek their fourth Penrose Cup in five years.

Persson said this type of success is what he envisioned when he transferred to UND.

“I came here to win games and it’s been a lot of winning so far,” Persson said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We have a great group of guys, a great group of coaches and we’re doing a lot of hard work. We just have to get to our last push here.”

UND (20-6-2) tied a school record Saturday by extending its run without a regulation loss to 21 games. The only other team to do that was 2006-07. The Fighting Hawks can break that mark in two weeks when they next play at Colorado College.

UND has now collected at least one point in all 16 league games. The previous NCHC record for longest point streak to start a season was nine.

Brad Berry won his 200th game as UND’s head coach. He was presented with the game puck in the locker room.

“I told them, ‘I’ll hand in this puck right now, I’d trade it in for championships and banners,'” Berry said.

No. 2-ranked UND took more strides toward that Saturday night.

Miami honored its first coach, Steve Cady, before the game, helping to draw the program’s largest announced home crowd (3,101) since Nov. 12, 2021. That game also was against UND.

The Fighting Hawks, wearing their black jerseys for just the third time this season, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Britt and Berg.

Miami’s Albin Nilsson scored a power-play goal in the second to draw within 2-1. Then, Persson made an excellent pad save on a P.J. Fletcher breakaway to keep UND ahead. Shortly after that, Britt made it 3-1.

“Tonight, man, he single-handedly won the game,” Berry said of Persson. “I know everybody in this locker room has a piece of it, but he stood tall in all three periods. I think the game-changer was in the second when they had a breakaway. He was all over that breakaway. He made a great save. That might be the difference of momentum in the game.”

Fans continued to chant at Persson through the third. Persson said he tried to remain focused on the game.

“You’ve got to kind of talk to yourself a little bit and just stay focused,” Persson said. “It’s a very, very new situation for me. I haven’t been through that before. You’ve just got to handle it the best way possible.”

Jackson Blake continued to surge into Hobey Baker Award contention. He had two assists to extend his point streak to 10 games. He has 13 points in the last six games and now ranks No. 3 nationally with 39 points.

“We knew this was going to be a grinder here tonight,” Berry said. “They played hard again. We had to earn everything we got. I was proud of our guys coming in here and getting five of six (points). I think when you come into Miami, a lot of people think that’s a guaranteed two wins. No. This is the NCHC. I told you guys at the Wednesday press conference these are hard games. I’m proud of the way our guys battled.”

The team’s performance didn’t surprise Persson.

“Right from the start, I could tell the guys on the team are the guys I want to be on the ice with and go to war with,” Persson said. “It’s been awesome to do that so far.”

Notes: UND played its fifth-straight game without injured forward Hunter Johannes and fourth-straight without Carson Albrecht. Both players are expected to be re-evaluated before UND’s next series at Colorado College. . . Miami played without six regulars due to injury — forward Raimonds Vitolins, forward Matthew Barbolini, forward William Hallen, forward Frankie Carogioiello, defenseman Michael Feenstra and goaltender Logan Neaton.

Schlossman has covered college hockey for the Grand Forks Herald since 2005. He has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top beat writer for the Herald’s circulation division four times and the North Dakota sportswriter of the year once. He resides in Grand Forks. Reach him at [email protected].