The novel coronavirus which perhaps took a National Championship away from the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks hockey team earlier this year, may impact the team this coming season as well.  UND was #1 in the Pairwise rankings for most of the 2019-2020 season and were set to roll into the NCAA playoffs.  Then, the NCAA of course called off all sports in March and North Dakota fans could only think about what might of been.  After all, UND steam rolled through much of the season.  They had the best record in the nation against teams with a winning record last season.

UND has made over over 30 appearances in the NCAA tournament, appeared in the Frozen Four 22 times, and have won 8 NCAA Division 1 championships.  In addition UND has also won 15 WCHA regular season championships, 3 NCHC regular season championships and 11 WCHA tournament championships.  Pretty impressive resume for UND hockey and most college hockey experts agree a 9th NCAA championship was likely last year.

Fast forward to 2020-2021 and COVID-19 has messed with this team again.  The Ivy league announced yesterday they're cancelling all sports until at least January 2021.  That wipes out the premiere match-up between the Fighting Hawks and Cornell University who were highly ranked last season.  The two teams were set to play Oct. 30-31 in Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y.  The Fighting Hawks could see other adjustments to their schedule as well.  Their exhibition game with Manitoba could be cancelled according to an article the Grand Forks Herald.  Also, UND's Hall of Fame game with Penn State scheduled for October 17th in Nashville could be in question.  This game is expected to be a "home" game for UND as thousands of people all over North Dakota have already booked flights and bought tickets.  However, Nashville may limit the number of fans who can attend this game.  If that's the case, UND says they will try to move the game to Grand Forks according to the Grand Forks Herald. 


 

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Famous Folks From North Dakota

 

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