The 2022–23 North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey season was the 82nd season of play for the program and 10th in the NCHC. The Fighting Hawks represented the University of North Dakota in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season were coached by Brad Berry in his 8th season and played their home games at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Though the team lost its top prospect to the professional ranks, an impressive recruiting class and the return of most of last season's players had many believing that North Dakota would compete for a national championship in 2023. The Hawks began the year at #4 in both polls and started the year in good standings, easily handling Holy Cross. The following week would be an early test for UND as they played host to another prospective championship contender in Quinnipiac. A problem cropped up that would stick with the team for most of the season: poor goaltending. Drew DeRidder allowed 3 goals on just 7 shots in the first and, after North Dakota took a lead in the third, Jakob Hellsten surrendered a tying goal to only earn a tie. Playing the entire game the following night, Hellsten let 5 get past him on 21 shots. Suddenly, coach Berry had a quandary on his hands as Hellsten's performance was bad enough to end their attempted goaltending rotation but DeRidder was only marginally better.
The inconsistency in goal caused the team to slowly slide down the polls until falling off entirely by Thanksgiving. The Hawks were able to score, averaging over 3 goals per game, but the offense was concentrated with three players: Jackson Blake, Riese Gaber and Chris Jandric. Collectively they accounted for nearly a third of the team's goals and points. North Dakota's offense did produce more than they had the year before, however, the subpar play in goal cancelled out any offense improvement and the lack of depth scoring also proved to be problematic.
The defense held their own, allowing and average of less than 25 against per game but neither goaltender was able to take advantage. The team tried twice more to use Hellsten as the starter but he couldn't hold the job and the Hawks had to stick with DeRidder. Near the end of the season, however, DeRidder seemed to finally find his groove and began producing good efforts night after night. By going 4–0–2 over the final three weeks, including taking a weekend from St. Cloud State, the Fighting Hawks found themselves just outside the playoff picture.
Entering the postseason, it was just possible, if unlikely, for North Dakota to earn an at-large bid without a conference championship. Those faint hopes were nearly extinguished when the UND offense could only muster a single goal against Omaha despite getting 41 shots on goal. The team rallied in the rematch to set up a deciding third game to keep their season alive. The Hawks got down twice in the game but scored the final 4 goals to run away with a win and advance to the semifinal.[1]
Entering championship weekend, North Dakota had risen up to 18 in the PairWise rankings. While it was an impressive feat after a rocky season, it meant that it was mathematically impossible for UND to earn an at-large bid. Any bonus they got from making the final would be lost by losing the championship game. With the Hawks knowing that they had to win it all to make the tournament, they fought hard against St. Cloud State, who had already punched their ticket. The defense did its job by stifling the Huskies' attack, allowing just 15 shots against in regulation. Their offense gave the Hawks two separate 1-goal leads but they were unable to hold onto either and the two teams finished the first 60 minutes tied at 2-all. St. Cloud cranked up the pressure in overtime, trying to get the winning goal straight away. DeRidder stopped 6 shots in the first 5 minutes but he was unable to prevent the 6th and Zach Okabe's marker ended the Hawks' season.[2]
| Brendan Budy | Forward | Transferred to Rensselaer | ||
| Ashton Calder | Forward | Graduate transfer to Penn State | ||
| Zach Driscoll | Goaltender | Graduation (signed with Toledo Walleye) | ||
| Harrison Feeney | Goaltender | Graduation (signed with Bollnäs IS) | ||
| Brady Ferner | Forward | Graduation (retired) | ||
| Connor Ford | Forward | Graduation (signed with Henderson Silver Knights) | ||
| Defenseman | Signed professional contract (Ottawa Senators) |
| Jackson Blake | Forward | 19 | Fargo, ND
| ||
| Drew DeRidder | Goaltender | 22 | Fenton, MI
| ||
| Ty Farmer | Defenseman | 24 | O'Fallon, MO
| ||
| Dylan James | Forward | 18 | Calgary, AB
| ||
| Owen McLaughlin | Forward | 19 | Spring City, PA
| ||
| Ryan Sidorski | Defenseman | 22 | Williamsville, NY
| ||
| Ben Strinden | Forward | 20 | Fargo, ND
|
As of August 24, 2022.[3]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 39 | 16 | 26 | 42 | 16 | |||
| 39 | 20 | 17 | 37 | 31 | |||
| 39 | 4 | 29 | 33 | 30 | |||
| 39 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 12 | |||
| 36 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 45 | |||
| 35 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 84 | |||
| 36 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 14 | |||
| 39 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 22 | |||
| 36 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 6 | |||
| 37 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 10 | |||
| 39 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 22 | |||
| 31 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 34 | |||
| 34 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 2 | |||
| 37 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 27 | |||
| 22 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 14 | |||
| 27 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 4 | |||
| 36 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 16 | |||
| 27 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 12 | |||
| 26 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | |||
| 13 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | |||
| 24 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | |||
| 25 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | |||
| 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 127 | 213 | 340 | 421 |
|---|
| 30 | 1615:35 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 68 | 607 | 4 | .899 | 2.53 | ||
| 13 | 684:05 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 217 | 0 | .875 | 2.72 | ||
| 1 | 58:39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 28 | 0 | .800 | 7.16 | ||
| Empty Net | - | 23:09 | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 39 | 2381:28 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 110 | 852 | 4 | .887 | 2.77 |
|---|
See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.
| Poll | Week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 (Final) | ||||
| USCHO.com | 4 | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | 3 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | NR | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 17 | 17 | bgcolor=FFFFFF | - | 17 |
| USA Today | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | |||
| Jackson Blake | NCHC Rookie of the Year | [6] | |
| Ethan Frisch | NCHC Scholar-Athlete of the Year | ||
| Chris Jandric | NCHC First Team | [7] | |
| Jackson Blake | NCHC Second Team | [8] | |
| Riese Gaber | |||
| Jackson Blake | NCHC Rookie Team | [9] |
| 3 | 94 | Jayden Perron † | Carolina Hurricanes | |
| 4 | 98 | Andrew Strathmann † | Columbus Blue Jackets | |
| 6 | 190 | Michael Emerson † | Carolina Hurricanes | |
| 6 | 196 | David Klee † | San Jose Sharks |