UND closing in on all-time college hockey record
· Yahoo Sports
Mar. 31—GRAND FORKS — UND is closing in on a college hockey record.
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The Fighting Hawks have solidified their 24th winning season in a row as they head to the NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas with a 29-9-2 record.
It is the longest active run in the country — by a full decade.
Providence and Minnesota State are tied for second at 14. Cornell is fourth with 10, Quinnipiac is fifth with eight and Michigan is sixth with seven.
Nobody else has more than five in a row.
UND's run is approaching college hockey's all-time record, too.
The record is 25 straight winning seasons set by Michigan from 1987-88 to 2011-12. Red Berenson was the head coach for that entire run.
UND's current run is second.
UND's streak has spanned four different head coaches. It started under Dean Blais. Dave Hakstol (11-year tenure) and Brad Berry (10-year tenure) never had losing seasons as head coaches. Dane Jackson is in his first year at the helm.
"We've got four coaches who care for us so much," UND defenseman Abram Wiebe said. "I think you look back in the summer with Dane and Dillon (Simpson) and Smabes (Matt Smaby) and Phil (Lamoureux), I think they're people who care more about us as human beings. They push us every single day to get better — not only on the ice but off the ice. They've done a tremendous job bringing this group in, bringing us together and leading the way."
UND goaltender Jan Špunar said the coaching staff has another advantage.
"They all played for UND," Špunar said, "so they know how it is to play in The Ralph and the pressure."
Since 1997, UND has only had one full-time assistant coach who did not play at UND. Matt Shaw was an assistant from 2015-19, helping the Fighting Hawks win an NCAA national championship in 2016.
The others — Jeff Bowen, Scott Sandelin, Berry, Hakstol, Cary Eades, Karl Goehring, Simpson, Smaby and Bryn Chyzyk — all played for UND.
UND's last losing season was 2001-02, when it posted a 16-19-2 record in the first year of Ralph Engelstad Arena. That's UND's only losing season in the last 32 years.
Prior to the current run, UND's longest was 13 straight winning seasons from 1978-79 to 1991-92 — the first 13 years of Gino Gasparini's tenure.
The Fighting Hawks will play Wisconsin at 4 p.m. Central on April 9 in the NCAA Frozen Four in T-Mobile Arena. Michigan will play Denver in the other semifinal.