Sioux 4, Pioneers 2 and SCS-EWWWWWW

Yet again the Sioux come out and take care of business, and this time they do it against a team that completely and totally owned them all season long until this point.

How much can be taken for this game? If there was ANY value to this game, most of it would lie in UND's side. DU was in the tourney. I can't find a way for them to drop lower than #3 (to be safe) in the PWR. There is no reason to really try outside of trying for the trifecta (McNaughton, Broadmoor, and National Title). UND is still in the tourney regardless and really only has two things to play for: The Broadmoor Trophy and a #1 seed in the tourney.

Nevertheless, the Sioux never trailed in this game. They went up 1-0 on Chris Vandevelde's rebound shot (initial shot made by Corbin Knight). They then went up 2-0 when Redwing77 Player of the Game Evan Trupp made a wicked one timer past Cheverie (thanks to an even more wicked pass by Frattin).

DU got within 1 when DU Dman Donovan basically skates a marathon, tiring out the UND players and buried a shot past Eidsness.

Trupp then scored the game winner on another one timer on the powerplay. UND would add another goal by Brad Malone (a thing of beauty) shorthanded thanks to again, RW77 POG Evan Trupp stealing the puck from Wiercioch and passing it back to Malone. And Knowlton of DU got a meaningless goal with 37 seconds left in the game to make it look good.

UND has now scored five short handed goals in the past 11 games. Impressive.

My three stars:

First Star (and Player of the Game): Evan Trupp
Second Star: Brad Malone (1g 1a)
Third Star: Matt Frattin (2a)

Honorable Mentions: Corbin Knight, Chris Vandevelde, Brad Eidsness

The officiating was, for the most part, meh. This is a big improvement over the whole deal as of late, but it still featured one bogus call. The haters loved it though, as it is one their favorite guy (they love him when he has a good game but they hate him if he makes a single mistake) Ben Blood.

What's Up Next

We're off to try for the Broadmoor against SCSU. The questions I have are:

1. How will UND approach Aaron Marvin in this game?
2. SCSU will be playing to win. If they do, there's a very good chance they'll leapfrog UND in the PWR rankings and become a #1 seed.
3. Who will start in net for the Huskies?
4. Will anyone be able to stop Evan Trupp or will they only hope to contain him?
5. Will the officials let UND play physical?
6. Will newly inaugurated Men's Freestyle Diving - Frozen Water Division Champion (screw this, I'm calling it the Robbie Earl Memorial Trophy from now on!) Garrett Roe put UND on the perpetual penalty kill?

I hope we play smart and let Marvin lie (hit him as hard as we can get away with provided it is legal would be best for me). We can't go on the powerplay.

We need to rest up because Roe WILL dive and we WILL go to the box for it. Oh, and Ben Blood, stay away from Roe because it is obvious the WCHA would see Roe diving with you near him as a double whammy!