Showing posts with label Brian Idalski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brian Idalski. Show all posts

Friday, December 11, 2015

WHKY: Second period Shelby shuts out Badgers

GRAND FORKS, N.D. --

The University of North Dakota spoiled Wisconsin's 18-game winning streak on Friday with a shut-out win. For the second time this season the Fighting Hawks downed the No. 1 ranked team in the country in an attempt to gain traction on the season.

UND got on the board with a power play goal from Layla Marvin during about a little a little over 12 minutes into the first. Four minutes later Vilma Tanksanen put the Hawks up 2-0 with assist from Rebekah Kolstad and Tanja Eisenschmid.

Shelby Amsley-Benzie faced a flurry of 15 shots during the second period. The Badgers dominated offensively, but weren't able to produce results in the form of goals.

“Shelby was lights out and that’s a big part of [the win]. I thought everyone contributed and played well with a lot of passion,” Head coach Brian Idalski said.

Wisconsin was also able to hold off the Hawks' offense to two shots during the second.

“You know what I told the team?” Idalski said about second period. “That’s the great thing about hockey and having three periods. As soon as it’s over, it’s done, it has no bearing. It doesn’t matter. We were good in the first. Second, we got hemmed in, we turned pucks over too much. I said, 'That’s over, let’s go back to what we were doing in the first; keep things simple, manage the game a little bit.' We did that and grinded it out in the third.”

North Dakota was able to rebound in the third period which included a second assist for Eisenschmid on the third goal of the evening by Becca Kohler.

The Fighting Hawks improved to 11-6-2 overall and 8-5-1 in the WCHA. 

Tonight's game marks Amsley-Benzie's fifth shut-out of the year. The Fighting Hawks will attempt to sweep the Badgers Saturday afternoon at 4:07 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.  

Monday, November 16, 2015

WHKY: North Dakota splits with the Buckeyes

Grand Forks, N.D. -- North Dakota wanted to sweep Ohio State this weekend, however, it skated away with a split Sunday afternoon.

Saturday afternoon UND threw everything and the kitchen sink at OSU's goaltender, Alex Lamere in the first period. By the end of the first, UND had 20 shots on goal, but only one goal to show for it.

The lone first-period goal came at the 12:04 mark from Jordan Hampton with an assist from Samantha Hanson. It was Hampton's first career goal for North Dakota.  There were several opportunities for UND to capitalize during the first, but they were unable to complete.

In the second, OSU picked up the pace and wouldn't trail again after potting their first goal which came after a couple of shifts that had North Dakota on its heels.

Early in the third UND's Amy Menke helped take a 2-1 advantage. Menke tallied three goals on on the weekend. A little over a minute later Kendall Curtis scored for the Buckeyes. Followed by another OSU goal from Maddy Field.

That was enough to seal the game for Ohio State after their 2-7-0 record heading into the Ralph on the weekend.

Sunday afternoon shifted North Dakota where they were able to capitalize on their opportunities in the first scoring twice with goals from Kryzaniak and Menke.

Freshman forward, Vilma Tanskanen scored her second goal of the season at the 6:45 mark of the second period.

The Buckeye's Maddy Field was able to break through in the third period for OSU's singular goal of the game, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit. Before the game ended, Menke potted her second goal.

Over the weekend, Menke had three goals and registered eight shots on goal. North Dakota skated away with a spilt.

This Friday (7:07 p.m.) evening and Saturday afternoon (4:07 p.m.) UND will face WCHA conference opponent, Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are 2-6 in conference. 

Monday, November 02, 2015

WHKY: North Dakota splits with top-ranked Minnesota

Grand Forks, N.D. - Thursday evening's match up against the top-ranked Minnesota Gophers did not produce the kind of results that the University of North Dakota women's hockey hoped for. North Dakota suffered a 5-1 loss to the reigning national champions. UND was never able to surmount the three-goal first period deficit.

Friday was another story when North Dakota  snapped the Gopher's 12-game winning streak that dated back to the Western Collegiate Hockey Conference's Final Face-Off tournament.

"There are so many times they've smacked us around and we've been able to respond the next day, play well and shake it off," head coach Brian Idalski said.

North Dakota was able to hold the Gopher's off for a 4-3 win in front of a crowd of 3,361 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The team performed 55 minutes of the game without Tanja Eisenschmid who received a five-minute major and game misconduct early in the first period. UND was able to weather the storm holding the Gophers to only two shots on goal during the advantage.

Minnesota's Captain Hannah Brandt opened up the scoring shortly after North Dakota killed a penalty with 3:20 remaining in the first period.

North Dakota's Amy Menke hit back a little over a minute into the second period on a gritty play with traffic around the Gopher net. After that, UND didn't trail again.

Idalski's adjustment for game two was to put Menke and senior, forward Meghan Dufault on the same line. That change paid off.

“He told us if he’s putting us together, we have to produce multiple points,” Menke said. Before the end of the night, Menke and Dufault each tallied two goals a piece. 

Dufault's goals coming only nine seconds apart with about six minutes remaining in the second.

During the third period, Menke tacked on her second goal of the evening. North Dakota held a two-goal lead with less than four minutes remaining in the frame. When trailing, the Gophers, have almost always found a way to turn the game around in their favor.

North Dakota was able to hold the one-goal lead and as the seconds ticketed down, the Kelly green and white fanbase counted down with it.

UND will have a bye week before hosting Ohio State Nov. 14-15.  OSU is 4-4-0 and will face Bemidji State this weekend.

Note: North Dakota was without Halli Krzyzaniak due to her participation in the Four Nations Cup.

You can watch the recap video from Friday's game at UNDSports.com - including Dufault's back-to-back goals.

UND Sports game-day story
Grand Forks Herald - UND beats No. 1-ranked Minnesota 
Box score

Thursday, October 01, 2015

WHKY: North Dakota opens season against the Rensselaer Engineers

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -

The University of North Dakota women's hockey team will open its regular season on the road in upstate New York. North Dakota will face RPI in an ever-important non-conference game right out of the gate.

When playing in the WCHA, non-conference games can make or break a team's post-season hopes. This weekend is no exception and North Dakota hopes to win its first game in Troy, N.Y. this weekend. Veterans returning to this ice for the green and white understand that importance of this weekend. "We know what it's like to drop games early and, I guess, be punished for it at the end of the season," senior, forward Layla Marvin said.

Head coach Brian Idalski said that the focus is to win hockey games, but that the team needs to be patient with where its at at this stage in the season.

The last time the teams met at the Houston Field House, RPI swept North Dakota. Last season, the Engineers traveled to The Ralph for the season opener where North Dakota took the game 7-1.

Last weekend North Dakota struggled offensively in their exhibition against the University of Manitoba Bisons. The lone goal credited in the second to Anna Kiponen. The puck came off the skate of a Bisons player before entering their net. North Dakota gave all three goaltenders a workout during the exhibition.

Live stats will be available for tomorrow's game (5:00 p.m. CST) and Saturday (1:00 p.m. CST) match-up at RPI Athletics. You can also follow @UNDWHockey on Twitter for updates.

North Dakota will continue its caravan on the road through October 16th. The first home game of the season will be a Saturday afternoon match-up against the gritty, Bemidji State Beavers on October 17th.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

WHKY: North Dakota outlasts Ohio State in triple overtime

Grand Forks, N.D. -- Fans who attended North Dakota's Saturday afternoon game against Ohio State got more than their money's worth in a triple overtime game that ended allowing North Dakota an advancement to the WCHA Final Face-Off.

Saturday's score was more indicative of the play between the two teams more so than North Dakota's 5-2 Friday win.

The goals that drove the teams into overtime play happened in second period. North Dakota's Samantha Hanson broke the scoreless stalemate around halfway through the second. The Buckeyes were able to rally the tying goal with 38 seconds remaining in the period

After OSU's tying goal at the end of the second period. It would take another 63 minutes for North Dakota to complete the sweep and punch their ticket to play, at least, one more game at home. "It was a super grind; start to finish," head coach Brian Idalski said.

The game ended 3:17 seconds into triple overtime when Becca Kohler made a transition play that sent Megan Dufault up ice. Dufault passed the puck cutting through two OSU defense to Amy Menke who put it top shelf on UND's 41st shot on goal.

North Dakota will take a couple days off before they start preparing for the WCHA Final Face-Off that is being hosted at The Ralph on Saturday and Sunday. "The one thing we knew for sure we didn't want was to do was watch other teams play in our rink," Amy Menke said.

Taking a page out of the UND men's hockey program's playbook, the women's team is 22-2-2 sine mid-January.

North Dakota plans to take the next couple days off before preparing for face-off against the Wisconsin Badgers at 5:00 on Saturday, March 7. Tickets are available for the WCHA Final Face-Off at The Ralph box office and online.

Thursday, February 05, 2015

UND WHKY: Border battle

Grand Forks, N.D. -- Rewind to Nov. 21 of last year and the North Dakota women's hockey was on a eight-game winless skid. The team was swept by the Minnesota Gopher powerhouse and the newly revitalized Bemidji State program. They had a loss and a tie against Wisconsin.

Nothing seemed to be going right at that point in the season. But since Dec. 12, the team has gone 8-1-1. Most recently tallying back-to-back sweeps of Ohio State and BSU. Last weekend North Dakota was able to pull off a in and tie against the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

The games that North Dakota has won as of late haven't been high scoring or glamorous, but the program has done enough of the right things to claw themselves back from sixth place in the WCHA to fourth.

The keys to UND's success have been the defense and being backstopped by junior goaltender Shelby Amsley-Benzie. Amsley-Benzie has allowed only four goals in the last six games and has three shutouts against nationally ranked opponents. She has also been named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week twice since the beginning of 2015.

Currently North Dakota trails Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA standings by three points and is ranked 10th in the Pairwise with only six games remaining in the regular season.

This weekend North Dakota will face rival Minnesota on Friday at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday at 4:07 p.m.. The Gophers are 17-1-4 with the lone loss to Bemidji in Nov. of last year. If UND plans to be successful this weekend against the Gophers they will need carry momentum from the past three weeks and have exceptional goaltending and defense.

UND is hoping to pack The Ralph and break last year's attendance record. Attendees will receive one of these ridiculously fun(ny) foam stick hats. Tickets are available for $1 at The Ralph box office.

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Shelby Amsley-Benzie, WCHA Defensive Player of the Week


Congrats to UND junior goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie for being named the WCHA defensive player of the week.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Week
Shelby Amsley-Benzie, Jr., G, North Dakota (Warroad, Minn.)
Amsley-Benzie continued her run of stellar play, backstopping North Dakota to a five-point weekend at No. 6 Minnesota Duluth. The junior from Warroad, Minn. recorded her fourth shutout of the season – third against a nationally-ranked opponent – when she stopped all 30 shots faced Friday in a 1-0 victory. She then followed up her shutout performance with a 25-save effort Saturday, helping UND to a 2-2 tie and shootout victory. North Dakota’s netminder helped her team’s penalty kill go a perfect 6-for-6 on the weekend, stopping 10 shots while short-handed. Amsley-Benzie currently leads the nation with a .949 save percentage. Since Jan. 1, she tops the country with both a .971 save percentage and 0.71 goals against average.

Also nominated: Ann-Renée Desbiens, So., G, Wisconsin


Monday, January 12, 2015

WHKY: North Dakota splits with Syracuse

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- North Dakota came out of winter break in non-convference action against Syracuse University. By the final buzzer on Sunday afternoon UND earned a split on the weekend.

It took the first 20 minutes of Saturdays's game for North Dakota to work out the rust from break. With tired 'Cuse players on the ice, Gracen Hirshy scored the first goal of the game.

During the second period UND was able to hold the Orange to four shots on goal. North Dakota maintained the lead and dictate the majority of play for the remainder of the game.

Former Warroad Warriors teammates Layla Marvin and Kayla Gardner both found the scoresheet. This included a two-goal game for Marvin who potted an empty net goal with under a minute remaining in the game.

North Dakota got off to a strong start on Sunday, but ended the first period with a one-goal deficit when The Orange scored on the power play at the 6:42 mark. There were no shortage of chances in the form of odd-player rushes and open nets, but UND was never able to capitalize.

The lone goal for North Dakota came after they were able to tire Syracuse after a power play in the second. As time dwindled on the clock during the third period the pressure mounted. "Kids started gripping their sticks and it was brutal," head coach Brian Idalski said.

North Dakota will resume WCHA conference play when they meet with the WCHA third-ranked, Ohio State Buckeyes this coming weekend. OSU left the weekend with a sweep over the St. Cloud State Huskies.

Friday, January 09, 2015

WHKY Weekend Preview: Green & White meets Orange

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- UND women's hockey returns to play against Syracuse this weekend at the Ralph Engelstad Arena for an afternoon Saturday-Sunday series. The non-conference series will be the first time the teams have met in program history.

UND heads into second-half action after a road sweep of RIT.  "We finished stronger than we started. Hopefully we can carry that and be stronger when the play-offs come around," Andrea Dalen said.

This weekend they will focus on containing Syracuse Orange's leading scorers Stephanie Grossi and, fellow freshman, Alysha Burriss. Prior to Saturday's series opener, the Orange are coming off of a 2-0 loss to Colgate.

Look for North Dakota to attempt to carry some momentum and building blocks from the first half of the season. "We want to see a lot more wins, obviously," head coach Brian Idalski said. "I think structurally we're much better. Talent wise, development of some of our younger kids being comfortable within their role."

North Dakota gets underway tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.. Live audio can be heard (free) at UND Sports Tickets are available at the REA box office: adults $7, youth $5 and UND students free with student ID.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

WHKY: UND sweeps the Huskies under the rug and heads to Madison

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota women's hockey team picked up their first home sweep of the season over St. Cloud on Sunday.

The sweep didn't come easy. Although UND held the lead for the entire game, the Huskies outperformed themselves from their Saturday afternoon showing. UND was able to hold onto a 3-1 lead to cap off the weekend before heading to Madison, Wisconsin .

North Dakota goes into their Friday and Sunday series against WCHA top-ranked Wisconsin with a three-game unbeaten streak. In their first meeting this season UND settled for a tie and a loss.

The team hopes to ride their recent momentum into this weekend. "I think we have to score early and keep the lead, and play smart like we have been," jr., forward Becca Kohler said. "Now that we have a few games under our belt we're feeling more confident."

Head coach Brian Idalski said that he anticipates a high pace, high intensity series against the Badgers. North Dakota hopes to snap Wisconsin's 10 game unbeaten streak and five game shutout streak.

North Dakota will play Wisconsin Friday at 3:07 p.m. and Sunday at 2:07 p.m.. Web audio streaming can be heard here. For more information and game day notes visit UNDSports.com.



Sunday, November 30, 2014

WHKY: North Dakota takes advantage of St. Cloud's woes

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- St. Cloud State University's Lexi Slattery scored late in the third ending the longest scoreless streak in program history. It was too late. North Dakota put up five goals before the shutout ended and tacked on another 21 seconds after Slattery's goal.

Gracen Hirschy, who had two goals on the night, started the scoring around six minutes into the first on an even strength goal. "[We] wanted to play with a lead. That's been very important to us; to get a bit of a cushion and have teams have to open up," head coach Brian Idalski said.

During the second Jakobsen ended her own 11-game scoreless streak by scoring a pair of goals before the game ended. "That's someone that we needed to produce and we're looking for to carry us a little bit," Idalski said. "Getting her to shoot the puck and have her playing with confidence is huge for us going forward."

UND finished yesterday with a dominating 6-1 win, holding St. Cloud to three shots on goal during the first and five in the second. UND carried most of the play throughout the entire game keeping the Huskies in defensive territory.

"I think winning gives you confidence and a lot of things are clicking for us. Systems wise and execution wise we're really doing what we need to do," sophomore defense Halli Krzyaniak said.

North Dakota hopes to carry that momentum into today's game while looking for its first home sweep of the season. UND will host the Huskies in the series finale today at 2:00 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

UND Women's Hockey: UND will host the 2015 WCHA Final Faceoff.

Some good news for the UND Women's Hockey team and the Ralph Engelstad Arena. They will get to host the 2015 Final Faceoff. Under coach Brian Idalski, the UND women have advanced to the Final Faceoff four consecutive years in a row.

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Monday, November 18, 2013

UND Women end Minnesota's 62 game win streak



Ironically, the UND women were the last team to beat the Gopher women 62 games ago. Hats off to them.








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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday Morning: A couple of Links












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Saturday, March 02, 2013

Why isn't Monique Lamoureux a Top-10 Finalists for Patty Kazmaier Award



I think this tweet speaks for it's self.
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UND Women’s Hockey; Lamoureux twins leave UND program in good hands

Eric Classen / UND Athletics

On February 27, 2011, with about just over four minutes left in the first overtime,  taking the puck from goaltender Fighting Sioux goalie Stephanie Ney,  sophomore forward Monique Lamouruex calmly starts the rush up ice, literally skating through the Beaver defenders like they were standing still. It was like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. There was a faked shot at the blue line; then the patented toe drag around two Bemidji State defenders, before Monique deposited the puck behind the Beaver’s all-world goalieZuzana Tomcikova.

Game over!!! The UND womens hockey team flew off of the bench and mobbed Monique.
With the 3-2 win in overtime, the UND women were heading to the Final Face-Off for the first time in their program’s short history.

Even though their season would end the next weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Ridder Arena with a 3-0 loss to Wisconsin Badgers, the UND women had made great progress that season.

Actually, the Women set seasons records in wins in each of the last three seasons; winning 20, 22 and 23 respectively.

Eric Classen / UND Athletics
It’s no mystery that during the last three seasons, Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux have been the corner stones of the UND women’s hockey team, and this year’s senior class.

Both players have also been the face of UND head coach Brian Idahlski’s (91-102-21 UND, 198-122-32 career) team and where they’re trying to move the UND’s woman’s program.

The Lamoureux twins are world class players and 2010 Olympians Jocelyne Lamoureux (123g-154a—277pts) and Monique Lamoureux (108g-152a—260pts). Both players rank one and two and UND’s all-time scoring list. With each game, Jocelyne extends the all-time record at UND.

For the second year in a row, Jocelyne Lamoureux was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kaz award.

After a game earlier this season, UND woman’s head coach Brian Idalski said, “We talked about what our vision is here and being the pinnacle of woman’s hockey and making this our woman’s NHL.”

I do think coach Idalski is onto something. College hockey for women is basically their NHL outside of playing in international competition; there aren’t a lot of options for them. Women’s college hockey is stacked with world class athletes and Olympians.

Eric Classen / UND Athletics
That’s what’s been happening at UND, the Lamoureux twins have set a very high bar for future UND woman’s players that are starting to emerge at UND. Michelle Karvinen is an example of the type of player you will probably see in the future, world class talent that plays for their country during the winter Olympics and international competitions.

Freshman forward Meghan Dufault is one of the new up and coming stars for UND and this is what she had to say about playing for with the Lamouruex twins.

“It’s definitely an honor to play with them,” Dufault said. “You learn so much from them every day, just their mentality and their skills you can take everything from what they do in practice and try make yourself more like them and learn of them. It’s a really good experience playing with them.”

So as the Lamoureux twins’ time at UND comes to an end, a few of the younger players will take on bigger roles for UND in the future. One them is all-world junior forward Michelle Karvinen, who helped team Finland win the bronze medal at the 2011 IIHF World Championship. This is what Megan Dufauflt has this to say on playing with the crafty junior forward.

“I think Karvinen is awesome to play with,” Dufauflt said. “She’s such a dynamic player and obviously she was in the Olympics too, so she highly skilled and you learn so much from her as well, she’s just like playing with the twins [Lamoureux’s]. I think they’re all great players that bring so much to the team that everyone can build off.

North Dakota isn’t ready to send this year’s senior class off just yet. There is still work to be done. With the win against the Minnesota State Mavericks (24-11-0, 18-10-0 WCHA), UND will try for the sweep tomorrow night at 2:07 pm against the Mavericks at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

I don’t really know if people will fully appreciate what Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux have brought to the UND woman’s team until after they’re gone, they have set the bar very high and have given young women role models that they can be proud of.

Players of this caliber don’t come along every day and it’s hard to quantify or put into words what they did for the UND women’s team. Maybe we can just appreciate the memories they left us with and be thankful that we had an opportunity to watch them play.

- See more at: http://insidehockey.com 
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Sunday, February 17, 2013

UND women complete sweep of OSU Buckeyes

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo
Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grand Forks, ND – Tonight, the University of North Dakota woman’s team played their final home game of the regular season.
For eight seniors, tonight’s game marked the last time they would ever play a “regular season” game in the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
In two weeks, the UND women will play one more WCHA playoff series at the Ralph, as they clinched home ice for the WCHA playoffs with last night’s win.
With the win tonight, UND also extended its current win streak to eight games, and also tied the single-season wins record.
One could say that this night was historic for the UND women’s hockey program.
So on this night for the record books, the UND women (22-10-0, 17-9-0 WCHA) donned their black third jerseys and sent the fans home with something to cheer about, as they beat the Ohio State Buckeyes (16-14-2, 11-13-2-2 WCHA) 3-2 to complete the sweep.
This season’s senior class includes two world class players and 2010 Olympians Jocelyne Lamoureux (121g-150a—271) and Monique Lamoureux (106g-149a—255). Both players rank one and two and UND’s all-time scoring list.
Today was a special day for a special for the UND women’s hockey team, and the day wasn’t lacking in emotions. UND head coach Brian Idalski reminisced about his seniors.
“It was an emotional day, it always is,” Idalski said. “It’s a tough day to coach, quite honestly. It’s a special group and they’ve worked hard. We talked about what our vision is here and being the pinnacle of woman’s hockey and making this our woman’s NHL. So these are special kids that are a big part of getting us where we are today. Again, a special group and you know, the emotions kind of sprang out there a little bit good stuff.”
While the night belonged to the eight UND seniors, freshman Meghan Deufault led the way for UND on the score sheet with a couple of goals, including the game winning goal at the 14:11 mark of the second period.
“Were glad to get the two wins out because we needed that,” freshman forward Megan Dufault said. “Tonight was really emotional for our seniors, so I think everyone did a good job keeping their emotion in check and coming out with the win.”
It wasn’t a pretty win, but the Green and White came out on top. “We did what he needed to do to win the Hockey game,” Idalski said.
The work is not done for the UND women’s hockey team; next weekend they travel to Duluth for another crucial test against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Jocelyne Lamoureux laid out the weekend ahead.
“Going into the post-season you want to be peaking at the right time,” Jocelyne Lamoureux said. “It’s good, but these are teams that we feel like we should be beating teams and we would be disappointed if we weren’t. Next weekend is going to be huge for us, it’s going to be big for points, Pairwise (rankings) and league so we have to be ready to go and take care of business.”

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Friday, February 15, 2013

UND Women run OSU out of the building

United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a ...
United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a game against the ECAC All-Stars on January 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota women’s hockey team has been on a bit of a role as of late, winning six in a row and seven of the last eight games that they played in.
Senior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux came into tonight’s game on a hot streak of her own. This past week, Lamoureux broke the existing league record for career points of 262 held by Wisconsin’s Hilary Knight (2007-12). The Record fell, when Lamoureux recorded seven points during last weekend series (0g-7a—7pts) against the Bemidji State Beaver, giving her a collegiate career total of 266 points (120g -146a—266pts) in 140 games played.
Tonight, a couple of hot streaks continued as the Green and White extended their winning streak to seven straight games, beating the Ohio State University Buckeyes 5-2.
With the win tonight, UND also clinched home ice for the WCHA playoffs, but the head coach didn’t seemed satisfied with that fact.
“For a long time, it was one of our goals [home ice] every year,” Head Coach Brian Idalski said. “That hasn’t changed, but I think it’s a smaller goal, and there’s still a lot of work to be done and I think we understand that. We got a big game tomorrow we got to turn around and be ready, that club has a lot of pride, their well coached and you have to show up and be ready to go.”
Senior forward Jocelyn Lamoureux remained smoking hot, as she added two more points to her already impressive career point’s total. Tonight, she chipped in (1g-1a—2pts). Not to be out done, Jocelyn’s twin sister Monique had an impressive night of her own, as she added three helpers (0g-3a—3pts).
Junior forward Michelle Karvinen who missed the first 12 games of the season with an undisclosed injury, continue her torrid pace as she chipped in two more markers. Karvinen now has (14g-26a—40pts). Tonight, Karvinen also recorded her 100 career point in just her 55th game and this is what she had to say on getting her 100th career point.
“It’s very special,” Karvinen said. “I am happy it’s not just like a rebound or something and it was a little nicer, it was great.”
The Ohio State Buckeyes actually took a 2-1 lead with a couple of goals from Captain Hokey Langan (Chatham, Ontario). That was all the closer the game would get as UND would blow the game open with three goals five minutes apart.
After the game, head coach Brian Idalski was asked about the explosion in the second period.
“I just thought we executed a little better,” Idalski said. “I thought we were a little hungry as far as getting pucks to the net and being the first to jump on rebounds. You have to out work them – they’re so good at playing with energy and competing and they’re very strong on pucks. You had to turn it up a notch to match that.”
Same two teams tomorrow night at 07:07 pm.
With the win tonight, UND currently sits in 8th of the Pairwise Rankings, UND would need to 8th or above to make the NCAA tourney.

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Saturday, December 01, 2012

UND women torches RIT Tigers 8-2.


Grand Forks, ND – After last night’s win, University of North Dakota women’s head coach Brian Idalski wasn’t happy with his teams play. Words like lethargic and sloppy were uttered by the head coach. You would have thought he was the head coach of the team that had lost 3-2 to the RIT Tigers.

What a difference 22 hours make.

UND game out of the gates like a team possessed. From the drop of the first puck UND came out and put a lot of pressure on the Tiger goal.  During the opening period, the Green and White managed to put 26 shots on the Tigers net. Four of the 26 shots found the back of twine to give UND a 4-1 lead after one period of play. UND would win the game 8-2. 

After not being very pleased with his team play the night before, UND head coach Brian Idalski was much more complimentary of his team tonight.

“I thought we played with a lot more energy – we did a good job getting pucks to the net – a lot more traffic in front of the net, screens, tips, over-all a lot better performance,” Idalski said.

UND’s 26 shots was the most shots that RIT has faced in a period since November 15, 2008 when RIT tied Potsdam 3-3.

The RIT Tigers sophomore goalie Ali Binnington was under siege during the first period and if it wasn’t for her stellar play the score would have been way worse.

The Tigers would pulled Binnington after the first period and replaced her with Laura Chamberlain who stopped 28 of 32 shots.

One of the story lines coming into tonight’s game was UND sophomore forward Josefine Jakobsen. The sophomore forward has been on a torrid streak and with two goals in the first period, she has scored (5g-4a—9 pts) in the last five games. Jakobsen missed a few opportunities in the third period to bury a third goal but couldn’t get another marker.

The second period lacked the drama of the first period and there was no scoring as UND outshot RIT 12-3.  UND did have to kill of a five minute major when Samantha Hanson was given a five and game for checking from behind. UND stood tall on the penalty kill and RIT wasn't able to dent the twine on the power play.

After the game UND, head coach Brian Idalski thought the penalty on Hanson was a little harsh.

“That call has been two minutes for the last couple of weeks,” Idalski said. “There was no intent on her part.”
The third period saw a goal from all world Michelle Karvinen and two power play goals for UND from Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux as both scored on the man advantage. UND freshman forward Shannon Kaiser would end the scoring for the Green and White by burying her first career goal.

Having big night for UND were Michelle Karvinen (1a-4a—5pts), Monique Lamoureux (1g-3a—4pts) and Jocelyn Lamoureux (2g-2a—4pts) would end the night with four points each.  Monique Lamoureux with her four points tonight moved into the top 10 in scoring all time in the NCAA.

Michelle Karvinen who missed the first 10 games with an undisclosed injury has scored (4g-13a—17pts) in six games.

UND played with an edge tonight that they didn’t have last night and Jocelyne Lamoureux talked about that after the game.

“Yeah I don’t think that anyone was too happy with their performance yesterday,” Lamoureux said.  “Kept it a little too close and just we were too lackadaisical. Not taking care of the puck. We have to be better to be good down the stretch we just flat out have to better. I think there was some meeting today. Things got laid out pretty bluntly and I think people were ready to go today.”

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Tale of two worlds



Last night, after the game, UND women’s head hockey coach head Brian Idalski looked less than pleased and even a bit agitated – his team won on the right side of a 3-2 victory against Division I newcomer RIT.

Words like lethargic and sloppy were uttered by the UND coach during the postgame press conference.

I made the comment to the women’s SID after the media scrum that it would be fun to see today’s pregame skate. I am sure it wasn’t all fun and games and there probably wasn’t any of coaching staffs vehicles parked at center ice today at the REA before the pre-game skate.

But I digress.

Idalski’s hockey team in also on an impressive six game winning streak including sweeps against conference foe’s UMD and BSU.

Yet there are grounds for concern. There are still minor things that need to be fixed going forward. I have seen some of the mistakes that the team was making earlier in the season not happen as much on the ice the past two games.

Sitting in the press box I was entertained by an exciting game of hockey that went down to the wire – with the home team coming out with the win. In the closing seconds of the game the Tigers came very close to tying the game as a shot hit flush off of the right post of the UND goal with the goaltenders moving to her left.

Listening to UND men’s head coach Dave last night during the postgame with Radio personality Tim Hennessey, I didn’t’ have to watch a video or be there in person to know that he was less than pleased with the results of last night’s game. Hakstol’s team did everything they had to do to win; except score enough goals to win.That’s not going to comfort anyone including the head coach – but it’s not time to call for the head coaches head either.

Personally, based on this team’s history, I am not all that concerned about their results so far to date. Especially with the teams that they’ve played to date – UND has played four out five series against teams that are nationally ranked and that have winning records. So far in 13 games, UND has only played against two teams that don’t have a winning record UAA and UMD and both of those teams aren’t easy draws as well.

These guys are winners and take their job very seriously – both coaches’ teams are very close to turning the corner and putting an 8-1 or 9-2 whooping on someone.

There are some things to remember going forward. No team has ever won a national title in November, December, January and February. Seasons are a body of work and national rankings and the pairwise rankings mean nothing right now. The season is a body of work and the head coach will have this team ready to play.
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