Sioux skate past Purple Eagles 3-1.

There were a couple of themes to this game. It was the first time the Sioux had played a meaningful game in 21 days and the boys might have been a little rusty. It was also the first game Matt Frattin had played since Northeast Regional Semifinal game against UNH on March 28th 2009.

Frattin has rejoined the Fighting Sioux this week after satisfying Coach Hakstol’s expectations and changing his off ice behavior(those are my words that I inferred from listening to everyone involved talk this week). Frattin had been suspended indefinitely or basically expelled from the team pending further review at a later after being arrested last summer for two alcohol related incidents in very short period of time. That review at a later date ended up being this week, so Frattin had been given a life line by the Fighting Sioux coaching staff. It's up to him to make the best of it and to keep his nose clean and out of trouble. I am hoping Frattin can chip in 5-10 goals in the second half of the season.

Not burying the shots?

I read on line were some people are worried about the Sioux getting more goals after putting 40 shots on the opposition net. Sometimes an opposition goalie gets hot and it’s impossible to get a few more shots past him, as we know from the past UND has a target on it’s back every time they play. Everyone wants to take a piece of the Fighting Sioux. That’s the way it is, look how many times the Wild’s goaltender Niklas Backstrom has held the Wild in a game when they should have lost or had no business winning.

As I write this blog post, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have made easy work of EZAC opponent Colgate smoking them 5-2 in the other semi final game so the Fighting Sioux will play the Fighting Irish tomorrow night in the championship game of the Shillelagh Tournament.

[Box Score]
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1st Period (20:00)
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NIA-1 Jason Beattie (2-CTH ELBOWING) NDK 1x1 7:48
NDK 1 - 0 6x5 PP LL Brett Hextall (7) (Evan Trupp, Jake Marto) 8:05
NDK: 26,19,20,22,25,G31 NIA: 5,7,9,22,G33
NDK-1 Ben Blood (2-Interference) NIA 0x1 8:53
NDK 2 - 0 6x6 GW Carter Rowney (1) (Brett Bruneteau, Mario Lamoureux) 13:50
NDK (+): 13,9,4,20,27,G31 NIA (-): 3,19,24,27,28,G33

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2nd Period (20:00)
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NDK-2 Corey Fienhage (2-CTH ROUGHING) NIA 0x2 3:12
NDK-3 Brett Hextall (2-Slashing) NIA 0x3 9:29
NDK-4 Michael Cichy (2-Boarding) NIA 0x4 14:02
NIA-2 Marc Zanette (2-O-HOLDING) NDK 1x2 17:06
NDK-5 David Toews (2-Hooking) NIA 0x5 18:16

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3rd Period (20:00)
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NIA-3 Egor Mironov (2-Charging) NDK 1x3 8:31
NIA 1 - 2 6x6 Ryan Olidis (10) (Chris Moran, C.J. Chartrain) 11:04
NIA (+): 11,21,12,4,10,G33 NDK (-): 2,4,9,13,27,G31
NDK 3 - 1 6x6 Evan Trupp (5) (Brett Hextall) 16:49
NDK (+): 19,26,2,22,24,G31 NIA (-): 4,7,19,23,24,G33

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End of Game

Their press release said what?

Check out the title to this game summary. Please! The Sioux bombed your goalie for 40 shots and you were lucky it wasn’t 6-1 or 8-1. Maybe the Niagara goalie should sue his defense for non support, because they left him out to dry all week. The game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate and I didn't think that the Purple Eagles would get back into the game or win it.

No. 6 North Dakota Squeaks By Men's Hockey, 3-1
HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL. - A third period rally by the Niagara men's hockey team (3-11-2, 1-3-1 CHA) fell a tad short, dropping a close 3-1 decision to the No. 6 North Dakota Fighting Sioux (10-6-3, 6-6-2 WCHA) in the opening round of the 2010 Shillelagh Tournament.

With Niagara down 2-0 halfway through the period, the Purps would dent the scoreboard to come within one. Senior Ryan Olidis (Uxbridge, Ont.) picked up a bouncing puck due to a Chris Moran (Buffalo, N.Y.) shot, spun around and fired it low past Fighting Sioux netminder Brad Eidsness to come within one. The goal extended the point-scoring streaks of both Olidis and Moran to 10 games, but it wasn't enough as the Fighting Sioux would net another insurence marker with four minutes left to round out scoring.

The Purple Eagles are back in action against either No. 20 Notre Dame or Colgate on Sunday,