Strikers Shane Pinto and Jordan Kawaguchi did not travel to Omaha for the UND individual game against the Mavericks at 7:07 pm tonight.
Striker Grant Mismash, who has lost the last three games due to an undisclosed injury, has also stayed home, as expected, while continuing his recovery.
Fighting Hawks is also without senior defender Gabe Bast, who is serving a one-game suspension for his disqualification from the game last Saturday against Omaha.
With the Penrose Cup as champion of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference already in hand and a spot firmly won in the NCAA tournament, UND coach Brad Berry indicated earlier this week that he would consider players at rest who are not 100% healthy.
“At the end of the day, they would be available at this time of the year in the playoffs,” said Berry. “It is one of those things that we will look at for our group and what is best for our group and what is best for the individual.
“I want to preface everything here by saying that we are here to win games and we will do what we want as a group here to put the team on the ice to perform at a high level, but still in mind, be aware of a sequence of deep playoffs that we potentially have here. “
A veteran Kawaguchi did not play in the third period of UND’s Penrose victory on Saturday against Omaha, although he did not appear to have suffered any significant injury during the game.
In his last move in the second period, he created a cross-pass scoring chance and almost scored seconds later. He remained on the bench in a good mood and accepted the Penrose Cup from NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton on behalf of the team.
Pinto played the entire game and scored a single goal in the third period, although he slowly returned to the bench at one point in the game.
Pinto is the NCHC’s top scorer with 28 points from 22 games. Kawaguchi is the league’s second highest scorer with 26 points from 22 games. Pinto leads the league in goals (15), while Kawaguchi leads the NCHC in assists (20).
Mismash has nine goals and 18 points from 18 games for Fighting Hawks.
UND will play their last regular season game next Friday at home against Omaha before shifting their focus to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, which will be held March 12-16 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
NCAA regionals are scheduled for March 26-27 at Fargo’s Scheels Arena.