GRAND FORKS β Jake Livanavage and Abram Wiebe played in the
at noon local time Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Since then, it’s been trains, planes and automobiles for the UND junior defensemen.
They took a late-night train from Davos to Zurich on Wednesday night, arriving in their hotel around 2 a.m. They slept for three hours, then left for the Zurich airport.
They flew from Zurich to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Then, their 22-hour travel day ended with a five-hour car ride to Grand Forks.
Livanavage and Wiebe arrived in Grand Forks around 8 p.m. Thursday.
Tonight, they’ll attempt to play in a college hockey game.
It will be their fifth game in eight days, and Saturday will be their sixth game in nine days. . . while traveling halfway around the world in between.
No, it’s not ideal, but UND doesn’t have much of a choice. UND will be without several top players for this weekend’s series against Mercyhurst at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Fighting Hawks are without defenders E.J. Emery and Keaton Verhoeff, who are at the World Junior Championship. With defenseman Ian Engel questionable for the weekend with an undisclosed ailment, UND would be down to four blue liners (Andrew Strathmann, Sam Laurila, Jayden Jubenvill and Bennett Zmolek) without Livanavage and Wiebe.
That’s why UND’s staff worked to get Livanavage and Wiebe back as soon as possible.
Up front, UND is without Cole Reschny and Will Zellers, who are at the World Juniors.
“Obviously, we have some guys out,” Laurila said. “I think we have a ton of guys that can step up and play different roles and make plays. So, everyone will be ready to go for whatever situation they’re put in.”
It could be a huge weekend for Strathmann and Laurila.
They’ll likely be asked to play significant minutes with UND managing Livanavage and Wiebe.
That’s something both are capable of doing.
Last season, Laurila led the United States Hockey League in average time on ice. He played 25:19 per game for the Fargo Force. Nobody in the league was remotely close to that number. Luke Osburn of Youngstown (now at Wisconsin) was second with 22:24 per game.
Strathmann, meanwhile, averaged 19:47 during his last year in Youngstown.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to focus on is our pace of play and our competitiveness,” UND coach Dane Jackson said. “If we have competitive, fast, hard-working guys out there, that’s a good place to start.”
Mercyhurst doesn’t have any players at the World Juniors, but it does have an assistant coach there. Karlis Zirnis is currently in the Twin Cities serving as an assistant coach for Latvia’s World Junior team.
The World Junior quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, and UND will be monitoring the scores.
If the United States or Canada lose in the quarters, those players could return to Grand Forks for the series finale Saturday. There’s also a chance Zirnis could come to Grand Forks for the series finale if Latvia is done.
Mercyhurst has struggled this season, going 0-15-1. The Lakers also have faced a wave of injuries. They were
for their last game against Holy Cross.
Five of those players will be back this weekend, including leading goal-scorer Will Schumacher and defensemen Kaden Muir and Caleb Price.
“We’ve been challenged offensively,” Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin said. “We’re getting looks, we just don’t score enough. We’re trying to play a good team-defensive game, trying to be above pucks, manage pucks. We’re doing a pretty good job of that in our league.”
This is UND’s final nonconference series of the regular season β and it’s an important one. Mercyhurst’s NPI ranking of 63 means anything but a sweep could be damaging to UND’s NPI ranking (currently second).
The Fighting Hawks are 6-2 in nonconference play.
“We know how (nonconference) affects you,” Jackson said. “We try to focus on the process and the day-to-day. But we all know in the back of our minds that having a good nonconference is important. We’ve had a good nonconference so far. We’ve talked about that a little bit with our guys β just really try to finish with two more good, strong efforts to strengthen that part of our schedule.”
UNDMCY14-4Rec0-15-12NPI633.8 (5th)Off1.4 (62nd)2.3 (11th)Def4.6 (63rd)29.9 (4th)PP7.8 (63rd)81.3 (28th)PK63.3 (63rd)51.9 (16th)FO47.6 (52nd).908 (20th)SP.868 (62nd)
Note: National rank in parentheses. Categories are record, NPI ranking, offense (goals per game), defense (goals against per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.
UND β F Josh Zakreski out (lower body), F, Cole Reschny out (World Juniors), F Will Zellers out (World Juniors), D Keaton Verhoeff out (World Juniors), D E.J. Emery out (World Juniors), D Ian Engel questionable (undisclosed), D Abram Wiebe probable (Spengler Cup), D Jake Livanavage probable (Spengler Cup)
Mercyhurst β F Barrett Brooks out (lower), F Riley Fitzgerald out (upper), F, Alexander Dimitriadis out (upper), F Tyler Haskins out (lower), F Joey Serpa out (NCAA), F Spencer Smith out (lower), G Simon Bucheler out (undisclosed), F Will Schumacher probable, F Noah Sedore probable, D Kaden Muir probable, D Caleb Price probable, G Salvatore Evola probable
Mercyhurst player to watch: F Will Schumacher
Hockey fans in this area remember Alex Bump’s five-goal game for Prior Lake at the 2022 Minnesota state hockey tournament before Bump became a star and national champion at Western Michigan. Bump’s linemate at Prior Lake was Schumacher, now a freshman at Mercyhurst. Schumacher has missed nearly half of Mercyhurst’s games this season with an injury, but he’s been their best goal-scorer when he’s in the lineup. Schumacher has five goals in nine games for the Lakers.
Ashley Kaiser / Mercyhurst athletics
UND’s pick to click: F Mac Swanson
While UND’s players have had major success at the World Junior Championship in the last week, there’s another guy who could have been there still in UND’s locker room. That is sophomore winger Mac Swanson. The Alaska native has put together a solid sophomore season β 13 points in 18 games β but will be looked to up the offense without several key players in the lineup this weekend.
Kayden Kircher / SCSU athletics
Lineups could be interesting this weekend on both sides. UND has some of its best players at the World Juniors. Mercyhurst is dealing with injuries up front. Depth will play a major role in this series and that’s an area where UND has excelled this season.
Friday: 3-0 UND
Saturday: 4-1 UND
Russell Hons / UND athletics
Friday
TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD). Alex Heinert play-by-play, Jim Scanlan analyst, Taylor Budge and Brett Hextall at the desk.
Stream: NCHChockey.com/tv. Midco broadcast.
Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM). Tim Hennessy play-by-play, Mike LaMoine analyst.
Saturday
TV: Midco Sports (GF Ch. 27/622 HD). Nick Maxson play-by-play, Jim Scanlan analyst. Taylor Budge and Brett Hextall at the desk.
Stream: NCHChockey.com/tv. Midco broadcast.
Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM). Tim Hennessy play-by-play, Mike LaMoine analyst.
GFH:
College hockey’s longest-tenured coach makes first trip to GF
GFH:
What could UND’s lineup look like this weekend?
GFH:
Brock Nelson, Jake Sanderson make U.S. Olympic hockey team
GFH:
Dane Jackson, Eric Schmidt named Herald’s Sportspersons of the year
GFH:
Collegiate players a huge hit with fans in Switzerland
GFH:
HC Davos sinks U.S. Collegiate Selects in Spengler final
GFH:
Keaton Verhoeff becomes sixth-youngest defenseman to play for Canada
GFH:
UND players thriving at World Juniors
DFO:
Will Zellers having an incredible World Juniors with Team USA
Scoring
21 Ben Strinden (NSH), sr, f, 11-8β21
17 Cole Reschny (CGY), fr, f, 2-16β18
9 Will Zellers (BOS), fr, f, 10-5β15
4 Jake Livanavage, jr, f, 3-12β15
7 Mac Swanson (PIT), so, f, 4-9β13
26 Dylan James (DET), sr, f, 8-4β12
18 Keaton Verhoeff (2026), fr, d, 4-7β11
25 Abram Wiebe (VGK) jr, d, 2-9β11
29 Ellis Rickwood, sr, f, 2-9β11
8 Ollie Josephson (SEA), fr, f, 3-7β10
19 Cody Croal, so, f, 5-3β8
20 Cade Littler (CGY), so, f, 4-4β8
15 Jack Kernan, fr, f, 2-3β5
6 E.J. Emery (NYR), so, d, 2-2β4
22 David Klee (SJS), fr, f, 2-2β4
27 Anthony Menghini, jr, f, 2-2β4
14 Tyler Young, sr, f, 1-2β3
24 Josh Zakreski, fr, f, 1-2β3
13 Sam Laurila (NYI), fr, d, 0-3β3
2 Bennett Zmolek, sr, d, 0-2β2
16 Andrew Strathmann (CBJ), so, d, 0-1β1
3 Jayden Jubenvill, so, d, 0-1β1
28 Dalton Andrew, so, f, 0-0β0
11 Ian Engel, fr, d, 0-0β0
31 Gibson Homer, sr, g, 0-0β0
35 Jan Ε punar, fr, g, 0-0β0
1 Zach Sandy, sr, g, dnp
Goaltending
31 Gibson Homer, sr, 5-4, 2.58, .894
35 Jan Ε punar, fr, 9-0, 1.67, .934
1 Zach Sandy, dnp
Scoring
16 Jacob LeBlanc, fr, d, 0-6β6
21 Will Schumacher, fr, f, 5-0β5
15 Dominik Bartecko, so, f, 2-3β5
23 Christian Kocsis, so, f, 2-2β4
7 Tyler DesRochers, jr, f, 2-2β4
14 Andrew LeBlanc, fr, f, 0-4β4
3 John Larkin, sr, d, 1-2β3
24 Matteo Disipio, so, f, 1-2β3
26 Spencer Smith, jr, f, 1-2β3
6 Trent Sambrook, jr, d, 0-3β3
8 Brendan Lamb, so, f, 1-1β2
10 Francesco Iasenza, fr, d, 1-1β2
16 Ryan Coughlin, sr, f, 0-2β2
22 Noah Sedore, jr, f, 0-2β2
11 Barrett Brooks, sr, f, 1-0β1
37 Connor Pelc, jr, f, 1-0β1
27 Alexander Dimitriadis, fr, f, 1-0β1
9 Sean James, jr, f, 1-0β1
28 Tyler Nasca, sr, d, 1-0β1
19 Riley Fitzgerald, so, f, 1-0β1
2 Peter Klemm, fr, d, 0-1β1
5 Caleb Price, sr, d, 0-0β0
4 Jaryd Sych, jr, d, 0-0β0
20 Kaden Muir, so, d, 0-0β0
29 Charles-Edward Gravel, fr, g, 0-0β0
99 Michael Chambre, so, g, 0-0β0*
33 Salvatore Evola, 5th, g, 0-0β0
43 Tyler Haskins, sr, f, dnp
34 Joey Serpa, jr, f, dnp
44 Simon Bucheler, jr, g, dnp
1 Henry Hunt, fr, g, dnp
Goaltending
29 Charles-Edward Gravel, fr, 0-12-1, 3.89, .884
99 Michael Chambre, so, 0-3, 6.08, .858*
33 Salvatore Evola, 5th, 0-0, 3.69, .862
44 Simon Bucheler, jr, g, dnp
1 Henry Hunt, fr, g, dnp
*Chambre left the team for Waterloo (USHL)