UND women finish sweep of SCSU

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota women finished off their first sweep of the weekend as they beat Saint Cloud State University 1-0.

Senior goalie Jorid Dagfinrud (Sarpsborg, Norway) was solid in net for UND as she stopped all 19 shots she faced to record the shutout. Dagfinrud was solid all weekend as she stopped 34 of 35 shots on weekend.

After the game Dagfinrud that this to say about the getting UND first sweep of the season.

"It means a lot, Dagfinrud said. “I mean we can do it, it’s good preparation for next weekend when we play the Gophers. So…We are just going to enjoy tonight, flush it, and then we are back on the ice on Monday, preparing for the Gophers.”

UND head coach Brian Idalski had to say this about his goaltender Jorid Dagfinrud.

“She [Dagfinrud] played well," Idalski said. “She really did – she made a couple of really great saves on the back door and obviously she is very athletic – she was solid for us getting the shutout and I am happy for her.”

In my opinion, this was "one" of UND’s most complete games of the season, as they controlled the play in all three zones of the ice and cycled the puck well and got the puck down low and generated some high quality shots.

Freshman goalie Katie Fitzgerald (Des Plaines, Ill), was equal to the task as she kept the Huskies in the game and stopped 35/36 shots many of the saves that she made were of the difficult variety.

With the win tonight, UND grabbed a share of first place in the WCHA standings, Minnesota is tied with UND – but also has two games in hand on UND.

Senior Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, ND), continued her torrid pace as she scored her third goal on the weekend to give UND a 1-0 lead 09:12 mark of the second period, assisting on Jocelyne’s goal was Becca Kohler (St Thomas, Ontario), picked up two points on the weekend. That was the second point on the weekend for the freshman Kohler who added her first career goal in last night’s game.

With her eighth goal of the season, Jocelyne Lamoureux has scored eight of UND’s 15 goals this season.

UND stays at home next weekend and will play a two game series against the defending NCAA champions on Saturday and Sunday at 2:07 pm.

Related articles

• UND women out last SCSU (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota State Slips Past North Dakota (insidehockey.com)
• UND Women's Hockey the day after (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota State slips past North Dakota 3-2 (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND Women second in the WCHA Coaches' poll (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA 2012-13 Season Preview (insidehockey.com)

UND women outlast SCSU

Grand Forks, ND – UND Women’s head coach Brian Idalski was asked about how he thought his team played so far this season.

“A work in progress,” Idalski said. “We still delegate to a few kids and expect them to bail us out a lot and that shouldn’t happen. I think our focus for us is getting scoring and help from all three lines and that isn’t happening."

If there has been a knock on this year’s University of North Dakota’s Woman’s team it’s been their inability to play a full 60 minutes of hockey and to stay out of the penalty box.

Coming into the game UND was leading the WCHA in penalty minutes with an average of 15.2 per game killing 20 of 23 penalty kills which is good enough for third place in the WCHA.

Tonight, the march to the penalty box continued for UND but they were able to kill five of six SCSU power plays.

The head coach was asked about the penalty kill after the game

“Coach [Eric] Fabian has done a great job,” Idalski said. “Really, it’s [penalty kill] has done well.”
Idalski went on to explain that his team is making strides and his team is almost there.

“Quite honestly in all the games we seem to be winning the attempted shots we’re winning all of the statistical battles… we don’t seem to have that comfort level as far as finishing off plays, it’s going to come, it’s a couple kids out of the line up, it’s some people still learning their way and you kind of hope the monkey you just feel they need a good confident game and some kids are going to explode out.”

Out of the gate, UND out-shot the SCSU Huskies by a lopsided total of 13-7, but Huskies sophomore goalie Julie Friend proved to be no friend to UND as she made many difficult and timely saves that came down low, from the slot.

UND was able to break through at the 08:26 mark of the first period with a goal by senior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux, assisting on the goal was Jordan Slavin and Monique Lamoureux.

SCSU would answer the UND goal with a goal from Molly Mott at the 02:27 mark of the second period, assisting on the goal was Alex Nelson and Haylea Schmid.

Through two periods of hockey, UND did everything but out score SCSU as the UND women out-shot the Huskies 19-13 but the score would remain tied 1-1.

UND would go ahead for good, breaking the tie at the 0:46 mark of the third period with Jocelyne Lamoureux’s second goal of the game on power play, assisting on the goal was Sam LaShomb and Monique Lamoureux.

UND would add to that lead with a beautiful by freshman Becca Kohler down low as she scored her first goal of her career with a goal at 15:44 mark of the third period. Assisting on the goal was Layla Marvin Ashley Furia.

After the game an excited Becca Kohler seemed relieved to get her first career goal.

“It was like a monkey off the back,” Kohler said. “Those expressions come to mind, like you practice all week for it in the morning and you get up early for that, to get the reward for the first goal is a good feeling, it feels good.

SCSU would pull their goalie in the later with about a minute to go but the Huskies were unable to get any more goals past senior goalie Jorid Dagfinrud who was solid in goal on the nigh stopping 12 of 13 shots.

After the name Coach Idalski was asked about the status of his injured forward Michelle Karvinen.
“Like I eluded to in the press conference this past week, Michelle is probably going to be re-evaluated next week and we would like to get her back for Minnesota obviously.

Minnesota State slips past North Dakota 3-2

Grand Forks, ND – “I thought we were a little sloppy and I thought we were way too cute and down the stretch we made some poor decision defensively that ending up costing us pretty big,” UND head coach Brian Idalski on tonight’s game.

Coming into this season, there is a lot of positive energy surrounding the UND women’s hockey team based on the personnel they have coming back and some of the new recruits they have coming in.on’s post season run that included their first ever bid to the NCAA tourney. UND would go on to lose their quarterfinal game to Minnesota Gophers who would end up being the national champion.

UND has aspirations of hanging a banner of their own this season – “the ultimate goal is to put a national championship banner up in our rink,” Monique Lamoureux said during an interview on UND hockey media day.

While it’s probably too early to be about thinking about hanging banners and there is a lot of hockey to be played – the future for UND looks bright – UND will have to play more disciplined hockey if they’re going to be successful this season.

Tonight, UND came out of the gates with a lot of energy and definitely had the upper hand in play against the Mavericks during the first period taking a 1-0 lead in to the locker room after one period with a highlight reel goal by Jocelyn Lamoureux.

UND also led in the shots after one period of hockey outshooting the Mavericks 8-3 and could have had more goals but Mavericks Junior goalie Danielle Butters shut UND down.

UND took a 2-0 lead during the second period with a goal by Andrea Dalen at the 2:48 mark – that was all of the scoring that UND would get as Butters shut the door the rest of the way.

“Butters played well,” Idalski said. I thought for most of the night especially that second [period] we made her job real easy and she saw a lot of things and if she can see it she can save.”

One thing UND wanted to limit this season is the amount of penalties that they take as a team – unfortunately they started a parade to the penalty box during the second period when they took four minor for eight minutes in penalties.

That march to the penalty box continued during the third period as UND continued to take more undisciplined penalties and ended up squandering a 2 goal lead giving up three unanswered goals in about a 10 minute time period.  Minnesota State senior Lauren Smith paced the Mavericks with two goals during the third period scoring on the power play and even strength.

While Butters paced the Mavericks with 16 saves – on the other end of the ice a rookie goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was making her first career start UND but wasn’t able to get the win for despite making 20 saves, many  of them difficult and during the latter half of the game when the Mavericks were pressing.

When asked about his rookie goalie's effort the head coach had this to say, “quite honestly I thought Shelby was going to get the shutout,” Idalski said.

"She was playing really well and she kind of held us in there through the second, unfortunately I thought she deserved a little fate than what we gave her down the stretch.”

UND captain Jocelyne Lamoureux agreed with the head coaches’ comments, “she played good and she made some big saves when it was 1-0.”

Mankato would score three unanswered goals in the third period to ice the game, spoiling UND’s home opener.

The same two teams play tomorrow at 2:07 PM

Related articles

• UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Idalski lands 2-year contract extension

Good news for UND Women’s hockey, head women's hockey coach Brian Idalski has been re-upped for another two years. Since taking over the Women’s hockey program from former UND women’s head coach Shantel Rivard, Brian Idalski has taken a program from the ashes and turned UND into a national power. Apparently, Idalaski’s base salary is $116,777. Goon’s World would like to congratulate Idalski on his new deal.

[Official Press Release]

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of North Dakota Athletics Director Brian Faison announced today that head women's hockey coach Brian Idalski has received a two-year contract extension that will keep him at the helm of his program through the 2016-17 season.

Idalski guided his team to the most successful season in program history in 2011-12, his fifth year behind the UND bench. UND went 22-13-3 to set a program record for victories while securing its first NCAA postseason berth. Junior forwards Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux became UND's first women's hockey All-Americans, while Jocelyne Lamoureux became the school's first top-3 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey.

"Coach Idalski has a great understanding of the game of hockey and what it takes to be successful," said Faison. "That success is evident in all facets of his program, from assembling a top-notch staff to recruiting to community service to a strong emphasis upon academics to on-ice results. Coach Idalski has positioned our program to be amongst college women's ice hockey elite."

Idalski, who inherited a program that had gone 0-27-1 in 2006-07, has led UND to 20-win seasons in each of the last two years. UND finished the 2011-12 season ranked sixth in the final USCHO.com poll and was named the 2011-12 North Dakota women's college team of the year by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscaster and Sportswriters Association (NDAPSSA).

Jocelyne Lamoureux, who set a program record for points (82), goals (34) and assists (48), was named the NDAPSSA Female College Athlete of the Year, the WCHA Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year, and a Capital One Academic All-American.

Both Lamoureuxs were named to the All-USCHO First Team, while freshman forward Michelle Karvinen was named to USCHO's All-Rookie Team.

UND's milestone season was also reflected in the stands at Ralph Engelstad Arena, as the program ranked second nationally in average (1,485) and total (28,218) home attendance.

UND Athletic Coaches Discuss N.D. Measure 4 With KFGO's Joel Heitkamp

The video is 9:00 minutes long, I didn't know that Joel Heitkamp was a UND Fighting Sioux fan.

Who are you going to believe?

University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux athletic logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Listen to the clip on the Fan 740AM. [click to listen]

The question is who are you going to believe - the coaches Dave Hakstol, Brian Idalski or Chris Mussman that are already dealing with the NCAA sanctions on a day-to-day basis or some political blogger that is just trying to stir up the masses so he can hits on his blog and or some lawyer who doesn't even know what college former athletic director Terry Wanless is currently at.

 Just for clarification purposes - former UND athletic director Terry Wanless is at is Sacramento State not SDSU... Swing and a miss, you're wrong again Reed.

Reed Soderstrom

"The Athletic Director, Faison, was telling everybody that the Big Sky Conference is really worried about the Fighting Sioux thing," said Soderstrom. "We found out later through a former UND athletic director, who is now at San Diego State, that that`s not true. It wasn`t even brought up."

More Reed Soderstrom

Soderstrom suggested Hakstol’s stance in particular was related to his contract, which was renewed a few months after Hakstol first came out in favor of retiring the nickname. Hakstol has denied a connection. 

Herald - UND coaches will tour state to talk nickname

University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux athletic logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UND athletic Director Brian Faison and Five UND Fighting Sioux coaches Dave Hakstol, Brian Idalski, Chris Mussman, Travis Brewster and Kevin Gilbraith will be traveling to Fargo, Bismarck and Fargo to inform alumni and fans about ballot measure four and the Fighting Sioux nickname.

Tom Miller, Grand Forks Herald --- UND athletic director Brian Faison and five of his head coaches will hit the road this morning to attend press conferences in Fargo, Bismarck and Minot in hopes of spreading the word about the consequences of retaining the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

The trip comes one week before a statewide vote on Measure 4, which would allow the university to retire the nickname and logo.

“This is an opportunity for us to have our coaches available to answer questions about Measure 4 and how it affects their programs,” Faison said. “The most important thing is these individuals are the ones who have to deal with the consequences on a day-to-day basis. This is a good opportunity to communicate about the facts.”

Next Tuesday June 12th voters will go to the polls to decide four ballot measures as well as primary candidates for Senate, Congress and Governor. 

Related articles

• NDSU won't play UND until nickname situation is resolved

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• UND alumni groups plan campaign for nickname retirement

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• A chance to weigh in... What does UND need going forward?

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Karvinen leads UND past BSU

Grand Forks, ND – If you haven’t followed the University of North Dakota Women’s hockey team recently you have missed out on quite a bit.

This season, under UND head coach Brian Idalski, University of North Dakota has become a high scoring hockey team. Currently, UND has the third best scoring offense in the country.

Part of that potent UND offense is the highly talented, world class tandem of Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls. The Lamoureux’s twins are second and third in the nation in points respectively and log a ton of ice time. The twins play even strength, on the power play and also kill penalties.

It’s not an understatement to say that they usually play about half the game and most times are double shifted.

UND also has the nation’s top scoring rookie in Michelle Karvinen from Rodovre, Denmark who leads the nation with (21g-27a—48pts) in points.

Tonight, Karvinen would add three goals and an assist to her already impressive point total. Karvinen would draw an assist on UND’s game tying goal in the first period and then lead UND with a natural hat trick during the second period of tonight’s game, to help UND run past BSU.

Unfortunately, Karvinen’s night would be cut short by a questionable checking from behind penalty at the 05:22 mark of the third period, her night would be over and she would watch the rest of the game from the showers.

None the less, Karvinen’s four points would help lead UND to a 5-2 victory of their WCHA rival the Bemidji State Beavers.

Fortunately for UND, they were able to kill the Karvinen major. In fact, UND’s penalty kill was spotless on the night as they killed all nine Beaver power plays.
After the game, UND Coach Brian Idalski had this to say about his freshman forward Karvinen and her four point night.

“She was terrific! Obviously that is the kind of impact player we expected when she came in,” Idalski said. “She is feeling comfortable and she has chemistry with a lot of players, and she definitely played at a high level for us this evening.”
After the game the freshman forward Karvinen was asked about the five minute checking from behind penalty.

“I was a bit surprised. It wasn’t my intention to hit her in the back but we were skating back at the same time,” Karvinen said.

“When I tried to call her off, she turned around and I accidently hit her in the back. It wasn’t my intention to hit her from behind. Stuff like that happens, but I don’t think it was a five minute penalty. Maybe two minutes. It was an accident and it wasn’t my intention to hit her in the back.”

In the third period, while killing a Bemidji State power play, UND would add a beautiful spin-o-rama goal by Jocelyne Lamoureux; that is bound to be an instant YouTube sensation.

Jocelyne Lamoureux would also have a strong night in all three zones on the ice and would finished the game with three points (1g-2a—3pts) as well.

UND came into the game as the countries most penalized team in the country in Division I Women’s hockey, that statistic would not change after tonight as UND had to kill nine Beaver power plays.

After the game UND head coach Brian Idalski was asked about the amount of penalties and if it threw off his team’s rhythm.

“I am going to take the high road with that. Yeah, I mean it’s hard to get into a flow when they keep calling some of the stuff they were calling down the stretch.” Idalsk said. “I am not sure it was overly necessary. I didn’t see a lot of them, especially the Karvinen penalty. So, it is what it is, we have to be more disciplined coming down the stretch, because we did need to do that in the third period with all of the penalties both ways.”

The same two teams play game two of the series tomorrow night at 07:07pm at Ralph Englestad Arena.

Box Score

Related articles

• Women's Weekly: February 2nd, 2012 (insidehockey.com)
• WCHA Offensive Player of the Week Jocelyne Lamoureux (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND sweeps out UW (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• No UND Mens Hockey, time to head to the Ralph for UND Women's hockey (ndgoon.blogspot.com)