GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KNFL/KFGO/UND Athletics) – Freshman goaltender Caleb Heil turned aside all 14 shots he faced to record a shutout in his collegiate debut as North Dakota rolled to a 5-0 victory over Bentley on Friday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The victory came in the first meeting between the two programs and improved the Fighting Hawks to 3-0-0 on the young season.
Connor Davis highlighted a night filled with milestones for North Dakota, scoring his first collegiate goal and adding an assist for his first career multi-point performance. Carson Carels also recorded the first point of his collegiate career with an assist, while Cody Croal and EJ Emery each scored their first goals of the season.
Jack Kernan (1G, 1A), Cole Reschny (1G, 1A), Croal (1G, 1A) and Gavin Lindberg (2A) each joined Davis with a multi-point night, as nine-different Hawks found their way onto the scoresheet.
Heil was strong in his first start, stopping four shots in the opening period, three in the second and seven in the third to earn both his first collegiate victory and first shutout. It marks the second straight year that a UND goalie has notched a shutout in their debut, joining Jan Špunar’s blanking of Clarkson in Oct. 2025.
Special teams also provided a spark for the Fighting Hawks, who finished 2-for-4 on the power play while holding the Falcons scoreless on their lone opportunity. North Dakota surrendered three shots on Bentley’s only power play.
After a little bit of a bumpy start, UND broke the scoreless deadlock near the midway point of the first period when Davis pounced on a loose puck in the slot following a forced turnover by Lindberg to give the hosts a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The Fighting Hawks broke the game open with a pair of goals just 71 seconds apart early in the middle frame. Kernan doubled the advantage at 1:24 with a power-play tally off helpers from Reschny and Carels, giving Carels his first collegiate point.
NoDak extended the lead in the third period with another tally on the special teams. Reschny wired home his third of the season on the power play to make it 4-0 before Emery added the finishing touches on the victory with his first of the year to close out the 5-0 win.
North Dakota goes for the weekend sweep on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 1-0-0 all-time against Bentley
- Freshman forward Ashton Schultz and rookie goaltender Caleb Heil made their collegiate debuts
- Heil notched a 14-save shutout in his debut – joining Jan Špunar as the only goalies to record shutouts in their debuts since 2009
- Connor Davis scored his first-collegiate goal and added an assist for a multi-point game
- Carson Carels dished out an assist for his first-collegiate point
- Gavin Lindberg had his first multi-point game in a UND uniform with two assists
- Cole Reschny, Jack Kernan and Cody Croal also had multi-point outings
- EJ Emery scored his fourth-career goal – all coming at home
- Sam Laurila notched an assist to give him points in three straight games to begin the season
- UND went 2-for-4 on the power play while Bentley was 0-for-1
- Shots were 44-14 in favor of UND
- UND improves to 39-2-0 and 32-0-0 all-time against teams from Atlantic Hockey America
- The Hawks have scored at least one power play goal in all three games this season
- A win tomorrow would give UND its first 4-0-0 start since 2016-17
- Faceoffs were 38-22 UND, with Hudson Malinoski leading everyone at 11-5
How It Happened
First Period:
09:47 | UND – Connor Davis (1) from Gavin Lindberg (2) and Cody Croal (1)
Second Period:
01:24 | UND – Jack Kernan (2, PP) from Cole Reschny (2) and Carson Carels (1)
02:35 | UND – Croal (1) from Davis (1) and Sam Laurila (3)
01:24 | UND – Jack Kernan (2, PP) from Cole Reschny (2) and Carson Carels (1)
02:35 | UND – Croal (1) from Davis (1) and Sam Laurila (3)
Third Period:
09:43 | UND – Reschny (3, PP) from Kernan (1) and Hudson Malinoski (2)
13:00 | UND – EJ Emery (1) from Lindberg (3)
09:43 | UND – Reschny (3, PP) from Kernan (1) and Hudson Malinoski (2)
13:00 | UND – EJ Emery (1) from Lindberg (3)
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