A house divided — in the name of fun

UND alum parents from Kansas City area rendezvous with Cornell-crazy kids in The Ralph for family feud on ice

Regardless of the outcomes of last weekend’s UND-Cornell hockey games in The Ralph, someone in the Unrath household was bound to come away happy.

And when the final horn sounded, it was the Unrath kids — Megan and Tyler — who held bragging rights.

Their alma mater hockey squad, the Cornell University Big Red from Ithaca, N.Y., skated into Grand Forks and snatched a rare sweep of the UND Fighting Hawks by a nonconference opponent. On the losing side of the family cheering section were mom Melissa and dad Craig, both 1990 grads of UND.

The Unrath parents, big UND fans who live in Parkville, Mo., near Kansas City, made the 10-hour, 700-mile trek north for the weekend series, and also met up with their Cornell alumni children. Their daughter, Megan, is a 2021 graduate of Cornell, while son, Tyler, is a sophomore at Cornell, slated to graduate in 2024.

“Bottom line — it’s a ‘family divided’ and a pretty unique story, having grown up in North Dakota and graduated from UND and then having two kids [at] Cornell,” Craig said.

Craig said he and Melissa both were born and raised in North Dakota. He grew up in Mandan, N.D., while Melissa was a “farm girl” from just south of St. Anthony, N.D. They both graduated from Mandan High School in 1986, before eventually heading off to UND.

All of the Unraths were able to find time to put their rival team pride aside and come together for a family photo, but not without proudly representing their school affinities.

“We had a wonderful time at the hockey games,” Craig said, “although it didn’t work out so well for UND.”