The Grand Forks girls hockey team had nothing on the scoreboard for almost two and a half periods Thursday.
Nobody was worried. Nobody panicked.
The KnightRiders scored three unanswered goals in the final eight minutes en route to a 3-1 win against Bismarck during the first round of the North Dakota state tournament at Ralph Engelstad Arena's Olympic ice sheet.
"It was one of those games where we weren't really going well until we scored a goal," Grand Forks coach Darin Schumacher said. "Then we were flying."
The teams traded a handful of offensive chances in the first two periods.
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Bismarck, which features state scoring leader Maddy Gendreau, finally got on the board on a power-play goal by defender Taylor Erhardt at 13:40 of the second period.
The Blizzard (15-8-1) had a few chances with top scoring line Gendreau, Brianna Flynn and Haleigh Springan, but the KnightRiders defense quickly put an end to almost every opportunity to limit the damage entering the third period. Gendreau, who was held to a single assist, now has 32 goals and 49 assists in 23 regular-season games.
"It's a tough thing. Hockey is a game of a bounce or two here or there," Bismarck coach Matt Strinden said. "Sometimes you get the fortune and sometimes you don't."
Grand Forks (15-7-2) started its run on a short-handed goal by Jaiden Hansen at 9:36 of the final period.
Nicole Novak picked off a pass in the neutral zone and shuffled it to Hansen for the goal.
Grand Forks freshman Brooke Berry followed with the game-winner a little more than a minute later. Hansen added an empty-net goal at 15:19 to make the score 3-1.
Grand Forks, which defeated the Blizzard in the quarterfinals for the second-consecutive season, will take on West Fargo at 10 a.m. today at Ralph Engelstad Arena for a berth in the final. The KnightRiders haven't been to the state championship game since back-to-back appearances in 2004 and 2005. Grand Forks finished runner-up in both of those seasons.
"When Jaiden (Hansen) got one I think we were all excited for it and pumped up," said Berry, a freshman forward. "That gave us the momentum to get another one. Then it kept on going."
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Grand Forks senior goalie Ali Sondreal, a fifth-year player, made 15 saves, while Bismarck netminder Kasandra Cariveau had 17 stops.
