MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- UND spoiled Minnesota’s NCAA-record 62-game winning streak a couple of years ago.
It spoiled the Gophers’ national No. 1 ranking earlier this season.
But it was unable to play spoiler on Friday night to Minnesota’s home winning streak or Amanda Kessel’s return to the Gopher lineup.
The Gophers extended their home unbeaten streak to 30 games with a 3-0 win over North Dakota on Friday night in Ridder Arena.
Minnesota’s streak dates back to Nov. 1, 2014, when it lost to Bemidji State while missing some of its star players at the Four Nations Cup.
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Kessel, playing in her first college game in nearly three years, registered two assists. Kessel missed one season with the U.S. Olympic team and missed the last year-and-a-half while dealing with a concussion.
Hannah Brandt had a goal and an assist, while Sydney Baldwin and Sophie Skarzynski each scored on point shots for the Gophers, who improved to 25-3 overall and 20-3 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
North Dakota dropped to 14-9-4 overall and 11-8-4 in WCHA play. It was the sixth time that UND has been shutout this season.
The Fighting Hawks had a strong first period and a couple of chances to open up an early lead, but Layla Marvin hit the post on a Grade A chance and leading scorer Amy Menke missed high on a clean breakaway.
Soon after that, the Gophers went on the power play and cashed in. Brandt stuffed home a loose puck from the side of the net.
Early in the second period, Baldwin scored on a point shot with traffic in front of UND goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie (29 saves).
Minnesota made it a three-goal game when Skarzynski’s point shot hit the stick of a UND forward, changed direction and got over Amsley-Benzie in the third period.
Gopher goalie Amanda Leveille stopped all 29 UND shots for her sixth shutout of the year.
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UND closes the series at 4:07 p.m. Saturday in Ridder Arena.
