Hobie Hedquist improved his record to 3-0 on the season as he went the distance in goal Saturday night in fourth-ranked North Dakota’s 3-1 win over Omaha in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference game in front of 11,622 in Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.
The Heron Lake native made 22 saves, 10 in the first period, seven in the second and five in the third.
Omaha’s lone goal came 49 seconds into the third period.
“As a goaltender, you just always just try to make the save, but, as a team, we played defensively, we protected the house and went out from there,” Hedquist told the Grand Forks Herald. “I think the third period was one of our better third periods. Once we got that lead back, we shut it down and didn't really give them anything.”
Hedquist is a freshman at UND but has plenty of junior hockey experience. He played in 22 games for Dubuque of the United States Hockey League and 83 for Alberni Valley of the British Columbia Hockey League.
He made two starts vs. Alaska last weekend and got the win in both games as he played due to an illness to starter Ludvig Persson.
Persson was in goal in Friday’s series opener vs. the Mavericks, but Hedquist learned he’d be UND’s starting goaltender for Saturday night’s game late in the morning.
“It's one of those things where you get a feeling in the morning of how somebody is feeling,” said UND coach Brad Berry. “You always want to try to set somebody up for success and your team set up for success. Hobie did a good job against Alaska. (We had) a fresh guy in the net, and Hobie came in and earned the win.”
Hedquist has a goals against average of 2.34 and a save percentage of .899.
The Fighting Hawks are 15-6-1 overall and are in second place in the NCHC with a 6-4 record for 22 points. No. 14 St. Cloud State leads the conference with a 7-1-2 mark for 24 points and is 11-6-3 overall.
UND plays the Huskies twice next weekend at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.