Gersich Leads North Dakota Past St. Cloud St. 4-0

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Sophomore Shane Gersich scored three goals as North Dakota ended a lengthy winless streak with a 4-0 win over St. Cloud State on Friday.

Gersich scored two of UND's three goals in the second period as the eighth-ranked Fighting Hawks (6-4-2, 1-3-1-1) won for the first time in seven games. UND's 0-4-2 mark over the previous six games was its longest winless streak since 2003.

Ludvig Hoff also scored for UND, which came into the game 51st in the nation in power-play scoring and 41st in the penalty kill. The Hawks were 1-for-3 on the power play and stopped all four power plays by the Huskies (6-6-0, 2-3-0).

"In the faceoffs we just got slaughtered," SCSU coach Bob Motzko said. "Any possessions of the puck we got slaughtered. We had a handful of guys playing pretty well. We had a handful of guys that were awful."

Gersich got things started with a goal at 16:46 of the first period on a rebound. It was UND's third power-play goal in its last 26 chances.

"One thing (Gersich) does so well, he can track and find pucks once the puck is laying around," UND coach Brad Berry said. "He has a knack for finding the puck and getting it off his stick."

UND scored again at 8:34 of the second when Hoff skated down the right side with two other Hawks toward the center. Hoff wristed a shot past Zach Driscoll for a 2-0 lead. Driscoll made 28 saves.

Gersich scored again on a rebound at 17:23, then got the hat trick with a wrister from the slot at 18:42.

Gersich leads the Fighting Hawks in goals (9) and scoring (17). He had 11 points in 37 games last season as North Dakota won the NCAA national championship.

"That was probably our most consistent 60-minute game of the year," Berry said. "This one was strong start to finish. There were no gaps in our game tonight."

North Dakota won 41 of 65 faceoffs and outshot SCSU 40-26.

UND goalie Cam Johnson made 26 saves to notch the shutout.

North Dakota will go for the sweep on Saturday. It hasn't swept the Huskies in St. Cloud since 1998.

"It's been a long, long time since we've won two games in here," Berry said.

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