Time to Exhale: Sioux 5 - RedHawks 5 OT

They say a tie in hockey is like kissing your sister. I don’t know about you but I could do without the sister kissing. None- the- less, this is one time that I think a tie is an appropriate ending to a very good hockey game. Last night UND and MU game was like a 15 round title fight between to heavy weights that ended with the ref raising both hand of the combatants.

Watching the Fighting Sioux play this past weekend I can say that there is much to be excited about. Going forward I will save the negatives for another day, because the positives out weight the negatives this weekend. I have also seen a lot of negative energy percolating over on Sioux Sports after this game. I think we need to grab some perspective. Sure Brad probably wants a few of those goals back but there Is no "I" in team and the game tying goal was a defensive break down by the whole team.

After the game I went home and re-watched the game and a few of the goals were a result of Miami capitalizing on the defensive turnover and untimely forced errors. Miami is an aggressive team on the fore check and you have to play flawless hockey if you want to beat them. I would say UND and Miami play similar types of games.

If this season has proven anything College Hockey is wide open this season and I like the Fighting Sioux's chances this season. Championships are won in February, March and April. There is no award for playing good early in the season or before the first of the year. I know it sounds cliché’ but we need to put this in perspective. Currently, UND is sitting right around the 8th spot in the pairwise, so if UND can keep playing consistent it looks like UND is going to have to go on a hellish death march to make the tourney. Defensively UND is ranked third in the nation, that is nothing to sneeze at. UND has awesome specials teams, the Sioux are ranked 10th on the power play and 8th on the penalty kill. [College Hockey Team Rankings]

Kristo arrives

Holy Cow! That is how I would explain Danny Kristo’s play this weekend. After going scoreless in three straight games Kristo has 6 points in the least three games (4g-2a-6). Breaking it down further, Kristo has (3g-2a-5pts) against two teams that were ranked one and two in the rankings. It’s impressive because Kristo isn’t racking up stats against weak sisters of the poor he is scoring the nation’s big boys. Kristo is proving to be a big time player playing on the national stage.

If there is one thing that concerns me about Kristo is that he reminds me of some of the other players that play for a school that I won’t mention. Every goal he scores is like he has won the NCAA title or a Stanley Cup with his excessive celebration. Kristo is an elite player and he should act like he has scored before. I am not saying don't celebrate but raise your stick celebrate with your team mates and skate back to the bench.

Juniors coming up big

Junior forward Brad Malone(3g-8a-11pts) is starting to put together a pretty impressive season and had an awesome highlight shorthanded goal against the Miami. If the video of the goal is posted I will put it up to view.

Junior Forward Evan Trupp (4g-9a-13pts) is starting to impress me more and more every game. Trupper has four points in last three games and this past weekend he has three assists.

[Box Score]
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1st Period (20:00)
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NDK-1 Mario Lamoureux (2-Checking from Behind) MIA 0x1 4:32
MIA 1 - 0 6x6 Reilly Smith (3) (Pat Cannone) 8:17
MIA (+): 18,20,9,26,6,G31 NDK (-): 25,10,9,27,3,G31
MIA-1 Vincent LoVerde (2-Tripping) NDK 0x1 9:54
MIA-2 Will Weber (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 1x2 11:56
NDK 1 - 1 6x5 PP Ben Blood (1) (Danny Kristo, Jason Gregoire) 13:52
NDK: 24,7,17,26,29,G31 MIA: 20,9,26,14,G31

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2nd Period (20:00)
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MIA-3 Alden Hirschfeld (2-Hooking) 2:17
NDK-2 Darcy Zajac (2-High-Sticking) 2:17
MIA 2 - 1 5x5 Carter Camper (7) (unassisted) 3:20
MIA (+): 11,14,6,20,G31 NDK (-): 26,7,25,3,G31
MIA-4 Chris Wideman (2-Hooking) NDK 2x3 6:52
NDK 2 - 2 6x5 PP Danny Kristo (4) (David Toews, Jake Marto) 7:23
NDK: 7,18,25,19,22,G31 MIA: 9,5,11,4,G31
NDK 3 - 2 6x6 Jason Gregoire (6) (Ben Blood, Brett Hextall) 7:59
NDK (+): 17,24,26,29,2,G31 MIA (-): 44,17,23,19,14,G31
MIA 3 - 3 6x6 Tommy Wingels (5) (Reilly Smith, Pat Cannone) 10:07
MIA (+): 9,18,20,4,26,G31 NDK (-): 10,13,27,20,4,G31
MIA-5 Steven Spinell (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 2x4 12:40
NDK-3 Brett Hextall (2-Hooking) MIA 0x2 14:28
NDK 4 - 3 5x6 SH Brad Malone (3) (unassisted) 16:00
NDK (+): 22,19,3,25,G31 MIA (-): 11,9,6,16,20,G31
MIA-6 Cameron Schilling (2-Interference) NDK 3x5 16:43
NDK 5 - 3 6x5 PP Danny Kristo (5) (Evan Trupp, David Toews) 17:46
NDK: 7,19,18,22,25,G31 MIA: 19,4,26,17,G31
MIA-7 Curtis McKenzie (2-Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 20:00
NDK-4 Darcy Zajac (2-Unsportsmanlike Conduct) 20:00

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3rd Period (20:00)
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MIA-8 Will Weber (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 3x6 0:33
NDK-5 Andrew MacWilliam (2-Tripping) MIA 1x3 7:28
MIA 4 - 5 6x5 PP Cameron Schilling (2) (Jarod Palmer, Reilly Smith) 9:27
MIA: 5,19,18,17,13,G31 NDK: 22,24,19,25,G31
NDK-6 Ben Blood (2-High-Sticking) MIA 1x4 11:26
MIA-9 Alden Hirschfeld (2-Cross-Checking) NDK 3x7 14:08
MIA 5 - 5 6x6 GT Reilly Smith (4) (Andy Miele, Chris Wideman) 17:19
MIA (+): 18,17,6,23,44,G31 NDK (-): 29,17,26,2,24,G31

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Overtime (5:00)
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End of Game