The mood outside of the locker room in Ralph Engelstad Arena following a 2-2 tie with Providence College on Saturday was upbeat.
The team earned a series win with the No. 5 team in the country after the win and tie on the weekend.
UND moved to 4-1-1 overall, continuing a strong October.
There was one lingering downer, however, out of the series with the Friars.
The team announced Saturday morning that senior forward Mark MacMillan, the team’s leading scorer, is out indefinitely after suffering a laceration to the wrist during Friday night’s 6-1 win over Providence.
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MacMillan was injured late in the second period when he became tangled with a Friars player whose skate cut MacMillan.
He immediately threw his glove off and teammates and training staff applied towels to his wrist.
MacMillan, UND’s active leader in career points and assists, had surgery Saturday morning.
“It’s not great seeing one of our captains go down,” UND goalie Zane McIntyre said. “I think it’s both good and bad news. I know he thought it could have been a lot worse.
“One of our strengths is depth. There’s obviously a void to fill, but we have numerous guys who can step up.”
MacMillan was off to a strong start this year, racking up seven points during a sweep of Colorado College last weekend.
He became the first UND player to register seven points in a weekend since 2002, when Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski did it.
Even more than his scoring, UND coach Dave Hakstol pointed to MacMillan’s abilities on faceoffs and the penalty kill.
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“We need to address the faceoff dot and replace Mark on the kill,” Hakstol said. “Those are two areas Mark is really good. We did okay with that tonight, but maybe we can do better there next weekend.”
