ST. PAUL, Minn. -- There are a number of reasons the University of North Dakota men's hockey team has made a charge in the postseason the past few seasons, but the discussion might want to start with an Aaron Dell statistic.
The junior goaltender is now 13-0 in the month of March.
Dell, who finished with 24 saves, was outstanding again Saturday afternoon in UND's 3-1 win over Western Michigan in the first round of the NCAA West Regional tournament at the Xcel Energy Center.
Sioux junior forward Corban Knight is willing to connect the dots between his team's hot streak and the play of Dell.
"You can associate most of our wins lately with the way he's played," Knight said. "He's the backbone of our team lately. He made outstanding saves. Look at our last couple of wins, he's been so solid for us back there."
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Dell improved his playoff numbers this season to 5-0-0 with a 1.20 goals-against average and a 95.4 save percentage.
For his career, Dell is now 11-1 in the postseason with a 1.13 goals-against average and a 95.3 save percentage. His lone loss came in last year's defeat against Michigan in the Frozen Four, a game in which Dell stopped 18 of 19 shots.
Dell is UND's career leader in goals-against average and is already the eighth-winningest goalie in school history. On the all-time list, Dell (49 career wins) can next pass Jon Casey and Toby Kvalevog (52 wins each).
The goal Dell surrendered against Western Michigan snapped his shutout streak of 122 minutes, 56 seconds -- a span that included a shutout of Denver in the WCHA Final Five championship game.
"We wouldn't be where we are without him," UND captain Mario Lamoureux said. "He gives us a chance to win every single night. He's been so steady. He sucks rebounds in, and he bails us out every once in a while."
Some of those bail-out moments came in Western Michigan's pesky second period in which the Broncos put 13 shots on net.
"It was pretty intense and hard on the heart sometimes," Dell said, "but I have the confidence in the guys in front of me."
Dell was beat at 12:57 of the second period when Broncos forward Kyle O'Kane got behind UND defender Ben Blood and sniped Dell's glove side. O'Kane's goal cut UND's lead to 2-1.
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The goal sparked momentum for the Broncos, who had a chance to tie it later in the second on a play that needed to be reviewed. A Broncos' goal was waved off after it was determined the puck was played by the hand of Western Michigan's Ian Slater.
"I was pretty sure he got it with his hand, but I wasn't 100 percent sure," Dell said.
The Broncos weren't able to muster many quality scoring chances after the disallowed goal. Western Michigan had five shots on net in the third period, despite playing the final minute without a goalie and an extra attacker.
"Anytime you can't find the back of the net it's frustrating," O'Kane said. "Some of it was a lack of execution in front of the net. We had a lot of chances, but hats off to their goaltender."
O'Kane wasn't the only one tipping his hat to Dell.
"I know he can keep it up," Knight said. "It's nice to have confidence in your goaltender like that."
Miller is a sports reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
