UND 5 C.C. 3 game highlights

Here are the highlights of UND's win against the C.C. Tigers. It was awesome to see Dan "Jimmer" Senkbeil gets his first goal of his college career as UND gained the split with a 5-3 win. Jim was given the hard hat award for scoring the game winning goal.

It was nice to see Mitch MacMillan get his first goal since Feb. 11, 2011. I find it amusing that the there are some Huskies fans that are trying to down play MacMillan's talent and abilities. Mitch wouldn't be playing on the top line if he didn't deserve to be there.

Walk-on’s goal leads UND to victory over C.C.

UND forward Mitch MacMillan
Eric Classen, UND Sports

Grand Forks, ND – Last night, the University of North Dakota ended their seven game unbeaten streak with a 4-3 loss to the Colorado College Tigers.  The Tigers on the other hand stopped a horrendous seven game winless streak.

Upon arriving at the arena, it appeared that UND head coach Dave Haksol was not pleased with his line up from the previous night.  There were major changes to the lineup from the night before.

One might say, that a message was being sent to the players.

UND senior defenseman Joe Gleason was moved from defense to the fourth line. Freshman goalie Zane Gothberg replaced starting goaltender Clarke Saunders in net. Sophomore forward Connor Gaarder was a healthy scratch.  Freshman Colton St. Clair was also a spectator from the stands as well.

The moves appeared to have worked out for UND.

In the previous game, Tigers had the upper hand on UND for most of the night and the Green and White had trouble generating much in the way of offense. It appeared that UND was just a bit off their game and they were getting beat to the puck by the Tigers most of the night.

This sluggishness would follow UND into the first period of tonight’s game as well.

The Tigers would draw first blood with a goal from senior forward Scott Winkler at the 03:13 mark of the first period.

UND didn’t panic and scored the equalizer at the 05:17 mark of the first period with a goal from Danny Kristo. With that goal, Kristo extended his scoring streak to seven games. Assisting on Kirsto’s goal was Mitch MacMillan and Derek Forbort.

The Tigers would get another goal from Scott Winkler to take their last lead of the game.

UND would tie the game with a goal from senior forward Joe Gleason on the power play at the 08:02 mark of the second period. Assisting on Gleason’s goal was Corban Knight and Dillon Simpson. With the assist tonight, Knight extended his point streak to 17 games. Knight is now starting to enter in to uncharted water. Knight is now tied with former UND forward Brandon Bochenski’s 2002-03 for 10^th all-time longest point streaks. The last player from UND to record an 18 game point streak was Dixon Ward during the 1990-91 season.

Then the momentum started to turn in the second period, in UND’s favor. UND would finally get its first lead of the weekend at the 13:22 mark of the second period with a goal from junior forward Mitch MacMillan. That lead would be short lived, as the Tigers would even the score at the 05:13 mark of the third period with a goal form Rylan Schwartz.

Kristo had this to say on the swing of momentum in the second period.

“Pretty much playing desperate hockey,” Kristo said. “It was an unacceptable first period – four shots on net – losing in our home building – after we lost last night.  Pretty much said guys, you know what we have to step up – this is unacceptable – started getting puck deep. Started getting our grind game going a little bit, getting pucks to the net.”

The game winning goal would come from an unlikely hero. Dan “Jim” Senkbeil a walk-on and a fan favorite, would score the game winning goal at the 07:45 mark of the third period when he banged home a loose puck in the Colorado College crease sending the crowd of 11,915 into a wild frenzy. Assisting on Jim’s goal was Danny Kristo and Nick Mattson.

After the game, Senkbeil was all smiles; the sophomore forward had gone from being a healthy scratch earlier in the year to scoring the game winning goal at a critical time.

“It was a great shot by Dan [Kristo],” Senkbeil said. “A great initial shot by [Jordan] Smaltz and my eyes kind of lit up when the puck was in the crease and I just tried to pound it home.”

At the 18:54 mark of the third period, Danny Kristo would ice the game with an empty netter from center ice.

UND forward Mitch MacMillan
Eric Classen, UND Sports

Another player got his first goal of his career at UND.

Mitch MacMillan the transfer student from Saint Cloud State scored a goal and an assist and played on the first line with Danny Kristo and Corban Knight for most of the night. One could say that MacMillan’s college career has come full circle.

At Saint Cloud, MacMillan had a hard time cracking the lineup. MacMillan has now been playing in the top nine forward positions, since he became eligible, after sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer rules.

“They’re really special players and you know you have to take the most of an opportunity to play with them,” MacMillan said.  “I thought we had a good game tonight.”

After a slow start to the game, head coach Dave Hakstol seem pleased with his team’s effort to gut out a win against the Tigers.

“We trying hard in the first period but not a lot was happening or going our direction,” Hakstol said. “We were creating a whole lot and it was really hard to create any energy. I thought in the second period it was nothing major in terms of a major change. It was just one good shift after the next and slowly we built the momentum. So, maybe some of the chemistry was part of that. But I think it was just more the guy’s determination.”

With the win Tonight, UND is 5-3-3 when the opposition scores the first goal.

Tigers take a bite out of UND 4-3.

Grand Forks, ND – There was much anticipation coming into tonight’s game. UND was riding a 6-0-1 mark in the last seven games that they had played in.

The Colorado College Tigers came into this game as a team going the opposite direction of UND. The Tigers were winless in 0-6-1 their last seven games and hadn’t won since the last time the two teams met on November 31, 2012.

Both teams would end their current streaks tonight.

After the game, Colorado College Tigers head coach Scott Owens seemed to down play his team’s rough stretch.

“Ours shoulders aren’t as slumped as you think they’d be,” Owens said.  “Despite our six or seven weeks, because we have played decent, we come to work every day with a smile on our face and work hard. It’s just nice for the kids to get rewarded a little bit. We’ve been bad some games and pretty good some games that we haven’t won either. So will take it as a positive, enjoy it for an hour and square ourselves away.”
On the other side of the ice UND Head coach Dave Hakstol wasn’t all that thrilled with his team’s effort tonight.

“Last time I checked it was a 60 minute hockey game for all of us,” Hakstol said.

Speaking of players enjoying hot steaks; senior forward Corban Knight came into tonight’s game smoking hot riding a 15 game scoring streak.

Despite the loss, Knight was able to extend that streak to 16 games, after he assisted UND’s first goal of the evening at the 09:33 mark of the first period.

Tonight, just wasn’t UND’s night as the Green and White would come out of the gates slow, and the Tigers would capitalize first, as they got on the board first with a wicked shot from Tiger forward Jordan DiGiando.  Digiando would take a pass from Peter Stoykewych and shot the puck past UND goalie Clarke Saunders. It looked as if Saunders never saw Digiando’s shot. Incidentally, speaking of streaks, that was the first goal of the season and the first goal of his career for the sophomore forward from Gahanna, OH.

UND would tie the score at 08:45 mark of the first period with an absolute snipe by Danny Kristo. Assisting on the goal, was Corban Knight and Dillon Simpson.

The Tigers would take the lead yet again at the 09:33 mark of the first period, with a goal from Archie Skalbeck. That would be all of the scoring for the first period. The Tigers outshoot UND 13-11.

Not only did UND lose the game tonight, but they would also suffer a heavy price when Tiger defenseman Mike Boivin would bury UND forward Drake Caggiula into the boards, with a vicious check from behind. For his efforts, Boivin was given a five minute major and a game misconduct. Caggiula would go down the tunnel and not return to the game.

After the game coach Hakstol was asked about the condition of his freshman forward Drake Caggiula.
“I don’t, I haven’t even talked to anyone on it,” Hakstol said. “ I just know that he was out for the night.
The second period saw both team exchange goals.

At the 13:29 mark for the second period, sophomore defenseman Nick Mattson would get his second goal of the year.  Rocco Grimaldi would take a shot from the point that was tipped by Carter Rowney in front of Joe Howe; the puck would trickle through Howe’s legs, where Nick Mattson would bury the puck behind Howe.

Tie game 2-2.

The Tigers would take a 3-2 lead with a power play goal by William Rapuzzi at the 19:22 mark on the power play. Assisting on the play was Rylan Schwartz and Eamonn McDermott.

The Tigers would again out shoot UND 11-8 in the second period.

At the 02:44 mark of the third period, UND would tie the game with a beautiful goal by sophomore forward Mark MacMillian. MacMillan would take a pass form senior defenseman Joe Gleason and race by the Tigers defense and cut out in front of the Tigers net and shoot the behind a sprawling Joe Howe.
The Tigers would again re-take the lead 4-3 with a goal from Jeff Collett at the 12:56 mark of the third period. UND was unable to get the equalizer as C.C. would win the game 4-3

Cross Posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine. 

UND fans don't forget to vote for Corban Knight for Hobey Baker

Reminder to @undmhockey fans that you can vote DAILY for Corban Knight at hobeybakeraward.com Keep him at the top! #hobey #UND
— Katie O'Keefe-Hale (@KOKeefeHale) January 9, 2013

Click on this link to vote for Corban Knight.

Hobeybakeraward.com vote @corbanknight. Numbers speak for itself and one of the best guys you'll ever meet. Don't tell him I said that.
— Brett Hextall (@bhextall) January 8, 2013

UND completes the sweep with late goal from Danny Kristo

Grand Forks, ND – Last night UND had a 2-0 lead before Holy Cross had their first shot on UND’s net. Tonight, the start to the game was very different. UND came out of the gates and didn't have the energy that they had the night before.

Last night, where there was time and space to move around, tonight’s game was more of a grind it out game. Michael Parks agreed. “It was definitely tighter checking tonight,” Parks said. It was pretty evident in the first two periods. I don’t think we were expecting that and we came out a little light. We listened to the coach and changed the game plan a little bit in the second intermission and picked it up.”

You have to also give credit where credit is due – the Crusaders came out in the first period and were on top of the Green and White – they were hard to play against and clogged things up. The Crusaders also were getting in the shooting lanes and taking away UND’s time and space and it looked like Holy Cross was going pull another big upset in the Ralph Engelstad arena.

The Crusaders beat UND at their own game for most of the first period.

That energy carried the Crusaders for the first 14-15 minutes of the period, as they raced to an early 2-0 lead with an power play and and even strength goal from forwards Brandon Nunn and Rob Linsmayer.

During the latter part of the first period, the momentum started to turn in UND’s favor. UND found their legs and they started making plays and generating chances and started to take the game away from Holy Cross.

That’s kind of the way that the head coach Dave Hakstol saw it as well. “We had to work our way into this game," Hakstol said. “Last night, I thought we came out on our toes at the drop of the puck. But tonight we had to work our way into it. That took 10 minutes. The fact that we ended up down 2-0 by that point in time, we had to jolt ourselves into the game.”

Then in the waning minutes of the first period, the energy line of Dan Senkbeil, Steph Pattyn and Colten St. Clair had a great shift and generated a great cycle in the Holy Cross end. That shift set the tone and UND would score at the 19:00 minute mark with a hardworking, ugly goal from sophomore forward Conner Gaaarder.

There was no scoring in the second period, but UND did generate a lot of scoring opportunities down low and spent most of the second period in the Holy Cross end of the rink. However, UND was unable to cash in on numerous grade “A” opportunities. UND outshot the Crusaders 13-2 in the second period.

At the 04:15 mark of the third period, UND would tie the game at 2-2 with a goal by Michael Parks on the power play. Assisting on the Parks power play goal was Corban Knight who extended his point’s streak to 15 games.

Danny Kristo would score the game winning goal for UND on a power play at the 14:37 mark of the third period. 3-2 UND. Assisting on the Kristo goal was Corban Knight and Joe Gleason. UND would outshoot the Crusaders 14-10 in the third period.

With the two assists tonight, Knight now has (10g-19a—29pts). Tonight, Knight also continues his torrid streak in the faceoff circle – where he was an impressive 21-3. Knight was also 31-9 in the faceoff circles for the series. Per UND Sports Information Director Jayson Hajdu, Knight now sits at 60.2% on the season, on pace to break his school record of 59.9%.

UND senior forward Danny Kristo had another strong game and seemed to take the team on his back as the game wore on. Kristo disagreed.

“Personally, I think our line was very below average for the game,” Kristo said. “I thought that all three of us were below average and didn’t play very well. But I guess we scored two big goals in the third period to help us contribute to the win. So that’s a positive you know. Big time players like that got to step up and be better in a 60 minute period so.”

With tonight's win UND completes it's first home sweep of the season. 

With a full line up, UND is going to have some decisions to make with their lineup. There are going to be good players that might not get to play.

“I guess think I know enough not look too far down the road,” Hakstol said. "We’ll worry about practice on Monday and Tuesday and evaluate our lineup and trying to put together what we feel is a lineup that can be successful against Colorado College. We’re not going to look too far down the road and worry about difficult lineup decisions; we will have some, going into Monday and Tuesday’s practices. We will take it one step at a time dealing with those lineup decisions.”

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine. 

Related articles

• Knight's four points leads UND past Holy Cross 5-2 (thehockeywriters.com)
• Knight's Four Points Leads UND Past Holy Cross (insidehockey.com)

Knight’s four points leads UND past Holy Cross 5-2

Grand Forks, ND – The last time the Holy Cross Crusaders came to town, they knocked off the top ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 2006 NCAA West Regional.

Tonight, history did not repeat itself as the Holy Cross Crusaders found the host team to be less than hospitable. UND handily beat the Crusader 5-2, in the opening game, of an important two game, nonconference series.

Coming into the weekend – fresh off being named National College Hockey Player of the Month – Corban Knight was sizzling, in fact he’s smoking hot right now. That hot streak would continue tonight.

How hot is Corban Knight?

The senior forward entered tonight’s game, against the Holy Cross Crusaders, riding a 13 game scoring streak. When the night was over, Knight would leave the building riding a torrid fourteen game scoring streak.  Breaking it down further, Knight has scored 10 points in the last three games (5g-5a—10pts) and has scored four points in two of the last three games that he has played in. Knight also has seven multi point games so far this season.

The Green and White much like the sizzling Knight, came out of the gates like a team possessed. UND would rush to a 3-0 in the first period, led by Knight’s two markers.  UND would out-shoot the Crusaders 18-4 in the first period.

I don’t’ think we can downplay Knight’s accomplishments; 14 game scoring streaks don’t happen very often in college hockey – per the UND Sports Information Director Jayson Hajdu; Corban Knight’s 14-game point streak is the longest in a decade for a UND hockey player.

After the game, Knight attempted to downplay his accomplishments and his current offensive streak.

“I have been on the good end of a lot of nice plays – by my line mates and other teammates,” Knight said. “It’s not just me, I think our whole team is playing well and I have been getting on the good end of some good plays.”

The senior forward Knight also thought that the focus on his hot streak might have been blown a bit out proportion, and it was more of his teammates also playing well. UND head coach Dave Hakstol had this to say about his senior forward’s modesty.

“Corban’s a humble person,” Hakstol said.  “That’s one of the great qualities, that’s what makes him a great leader, such a presence in our looker room.”

Knight on the fast start to the game for UND… “Yeah, I think that’s what our plan was,” Knight said. “Coming out after break, I think it’s important to try and get as much rust off as we could.  I think with the start we had – I think we’re all pretty happy with it – we came out and we were changing quick and getting everyone involved. “

UND head coach Dave Hakstol was also impressed with his team’s start to the game.

“It was the right start for us to get a couple of power play goals,” Hakstol said. “It was probably the ideal start for us. I thought a workman like 60 minutes.”

UND would continue the trashing in the second period, as they put two more goals behind the Holy Cross goaltender Matt Ginn to make the score 5-0.  UND outshot Holy Cross 10-6 in the second period.

The Crusaders would get two goals from Mike MaNamara and Castan Sommer in the third period to make the final score 5-2, but the game wasn't as close at the score would indicate. UND absolutely dominated the Crusaders through two and a half periods of hockey and might have let up a bit at the end of the game.

Tonight marked the return of sophomore forward Michael Parks. Parks had missed all but one period of hockey this season, due to a lower body injury.  Parks seemed relieved to play his first complete game, 19 games into the season.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to me to finally be back,” Parks said. “The first 15 to 20 minutes felt kind of slow and rusty. As I thought I would. I think I got back into by the second period.”

Parks played on a line with Danny Kristo and Knight and he enjoyed playing on that line.

“It’s a privilege to play with those two guys,” Parks said.  “I mean they’re pretty special players. With my first game back it made my job a lot easier, playing with guys like that. So definitely, I like playing with those guys.”

Tonight, was also the debut of junior forward Mitch MacMillan, who had to sit out for a year after transferring from Saint Cloud State. MacMillan played on a line with his brother Mark and Brendan O’Donnell. While Mitch didn't figure in on the score sheet, his speed and offensive prowess was noticeable.

Cross posted at The Hockey Writers - Combine...

Kristo's almost goal

This was one of the most incredible moves I have ever seen, unfortunately Kristo hit the pipe and didn't score. Can you imagine if Kristo scores this goal? You're looking at a possible ESPY or goal of the year here.

Kristo just missed what would have been one of the prettiest goals I have ever seen. If it had gone in.
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) December 9, 2012

UND skates past DU 6-3

Grand Forks, ND – Last night after the game freshman forward Rocco Grimaldi took the blame for not scoring the game winning goal when he missed a wide open net in the waning minutes of the third period.

While hockey is a team game, the talented forward Grimaldi has high expectations for himself as he stepped forward to shoulder the blame for the rest of teammates.

“For me I have to put that in that in the empty net,” Grimaldi said. “I don’t know how I missed the net – I hit the post whatever… so I have to bear down, so I basically lost the game. He [Juho Olkinuora] won it and I lost it for our team so.”

Tonight, it appeared that Grimaldi had an extra gear, but also a little extra pep in his step – as did the rest of his line mates. UND’s forward line of Grimaldi (1g-3a—4pts), Carter Rowney (2g-2a—4pts) and Drake Caggiula (0a-2g—2pts) slashed through the Denver defense like a hot knife through butter and burned the Pioneers back end for an eye popping 10 points.

After the game, a relieved Rocco Grimaldi had this to say 24 hours later after UND’s disappointing finish on Friday night.

“I was pretty upset with myself yesterday,” Grimaldi said.  “I thought if I would have put that in obviously we would have had the win. A couple of chances; I just didn’t bury it. Then first period I get a break away – I don’t know what I was thinking – it was a terrible move. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a terrible move. Then I am thinking; you know what - I starting thinking about myself… ah it’s not going to happen. Whenever I rely on myself I can never get it done. I have to trust in the Lord to do that. I started leaning on him today and great things happen and it was a big win for our hockey club today and hopefully I am going to continue to do that.”

Carter Rowney who had been on a bit of a scoring slump as of late was also relieved about his performance to night. Seems as if scoring goals makes everything alright.

“The last couple of weekends I was having my chances but they were going into the back of the net,” Rowney said.  On Friday night I did get that one, it was a greasy one – but you know I will take it. I kind of felt like I got the monkey off of my back, then today they started rolling in bunches.”

UND is 2-2-3 when having the first goal scored against them. Make that 3-2-3 after tonight’s 6-3 win over the first place Denver Pioneers.

Tonight, Denver again scored the first goal of the game when DU forward Grant Arnold took a UND turnover in the defensive zone and blasted the puck past UND goalie Clarke Saunders to give the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead at the 01:25 mark of the first period.

UND didn’t let the early goal rattle them as the Green and White quickly rebounded and took the play to the Denver Pioneers. UND would finally even the score at the 17:10 mark of the first period with a goal from Rocco Grimaldi. Assisting on Grimaldi’s goal was Drake Caggiula and Carter Rowney.

In the second period, UND would race to a 4-1 lead with goals by Derek Forbort and Carter Rowney.

Then things changed quickly, UND forward Dan Senkbeil was assessed a five minute major for checking from behind and given a game misconduct.

Denver would score two quick goals on the power play by Ty Loney and Joey LaLeggia to bring the score to 4-3.

That was all of the scoring that DU would get the rest of the way.

After giving up two quick goals on the five minute major penalty – UND didn't panic – they recovered and in the third period would again gain the upper hand on the Denver Pioneers. UND would ice the game with two more goals by senior forwards Danny Kristo and Corban Knight.

After last night’s game, UND head coach Dave Hakstol seem less than pleased with the effort of his squad. Again what a difference 24 hours made. Even with giving up two goals on the five minute power play, the head coaches seemed pleased with his team’s effort tonight.

“Well we put ourselves in a good position in that point and time,” Hakstol said. We haven’t given up that much. We found a way to gain the momentum but we gave that back pretty quickly with an unfortunately play.”

While the UND versus Denver Pioneer series traditionally can be a blood bath, this weekend’s series was relatively tame.

Originally post at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

Related articles

• Drake Caggiula turning heads at North Dakota (thehockeywriters.com)
• UND and DU skate to a 2-2 tie. (thehockeywriters.com)

UND and DU skate to a 2-2 tie.

Grand Forks, ND – It's no mystery that the Denver Pioneers and the University of North Dakota don't like each other very much.

I would compare the historic rivalry to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud. There are hours and hours of video on YouTube that back this up.

Tonight's game, didn't quite go to script as both teams for the most part played a disciplined game and took a combined 14 minor penalties, tame in comparison to previous games .

The series has had many twist and turns. The two teams have played four times in the playoffs since the 2009-10 season with UND winning all four games.

Denver would come into tonight’s game with a 0-3-1 record over the last four games after going 9-1-0 to start the season – so you had to know that DU would be in a foul mood, coming into tonight’s game.

In the last eight games, the two teams have played; UND has held a 6-2 edge in the series.

When the two teams play, records go out the window, tonight was no different. On the ice tonight, the two teams each scored one goal even strength and one goal on the power play as the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie.

Chris Knowlton and Scott Mayfield scored goals for the Denver Pioneers. Senior forwards Carter Rowney and Corban Knight had goals for the Green and White.

Coming into the season, UND had not won a game in overtime since the 2009 season. With the tie tonight, UND has a 2-0-3 record in overtime so far this season.

UND outshot the Pioneers 33-20, this was the third game in a row that UND has outshot their opponents but they weren't able to get the third goal late in the third period when UND was pressing.

According to UND SID Jayson Hajdu, "UND has outshot No. 6 Denver and No. 18 Colorado College 121-66 over the last three games." No small feat for the Green and White.

In the third period, Rocco Grimaldi missed a glorious opportunity to bury a goal that would have given UND the lead and possibly the win. After the game, Rocco Grimaldi was pretty hard on himself for not burying the potential game winning goal.

“For me I have to put that in that in the empty net,” Grimaldi said. “I don’t know how I missed the net – I hit the post whatever… so I have to bear down, so I basically lost the game. He [Juho Olkinuora] won it and I lost it for our team so.”

After the game head coach Dave Hakstol thought his team came out a little flat to start the game.

“I like the last 45 minutes,” Hakstol said. “I thought we finally got on track and played our game. I didn’t think we were what we wanted to be coming out of the gates at the drop of the puck.”

Denver came into tonight’s game with only 10 forwards due to an illness to Zac Larraza and a suspension to Larkin Jacobson.

Coach Hakstol’s team was able to roll four lines during most of the game and it appeared to play into UND’s favor as the game wore on. However, when the head coach was asked about this he wasn’t ready to say that his team benefited from playing the extra line.

“I think you can be if you have everyone playing from the start of the game,” Hakstol said. “Maybe that wasn’t the case tonight.”

Same two teams tomorrow night at 07:07 pm.

Cross posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

Shore removes the doubt...

Although I appreciate the inquiry, I am excited to be with the pioneers and getting ready for North Dakota this weekend, hear arena is sick!
— Quentin Shore (@QShore27) December 5, 2012

Yesterday, Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News started quite a buzz on twitter as he tweeted, "Quentin Shore may be leaving NCAA Pioneers for #WHL Portland." Apparently, that rumor isn't true and Shore is staying with the Pioneers and will be in Grand Forks, ND for this weekends series against UND.

Quentin Shore not leaving Denver just yet - controversy surrounding Portland a factor
— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) December 5, 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.”

Related articles

• UND Women Battle to Beat RIT (insidehockey.com)
• Michelle Karvinen Returning to UND Lineup (insidehockey.com)
• Minnesota State Slips Past North Dakota (insidehockey.com)
• North Dakota Women Outlast St. Cloud (insidehockey.com)

UND Women vs. RIT Tigers game one

UND Forward lines

3 Michelle Karvinen – 63 Josefine Jakobsen – 17 Jocelyne Lamoureux (C)

19 Meghan Dufault – 51 Becca Kohler – 15 Megan Gilbert

10 Andrea Dalen – 2 Mary Loken – 6 Allison Parizek

No Player – 25 Leah Jensen – 13 Layla Marvin

UND Defensive parings

22 Tanja Eisenschmid – 18 Monique Lamoureux (A)

7 Jordan Slavin – 8 Samantha Hanson

16 Tori Willaims – 9 Kayla Berg

4 Sam Lashomb

UND goalies

30 Jorid Dagfinrud

1 Shelby Amsley-Benzie

33 Michelle Bonapace-Potvin

RIT Tigers Forward lines

6 Tenecia Hiller (A) – 10 Kim Schlattman (C) – 23 Lindsay Grigg

8 Ariane Yokoyama (A) – 26 Kortney Kunichika 24 Chelste Brown

17 Carly Payerl – 20 Erin Zach – 22 Katire Hubert

27 Jess Paton – 18 Julie Hall – 19 Marissa Maugeri

RIT Tiger Defensive Parings

4 Kristina Moss – 2 Danielle Read

3 Morgan Scoyne – 21 Emilee Bulleid

11 Ellesha Fortuna 28 Melissa Bromley

Tiger Goalies

35 Laura Chamberlain

39 Ali Binnington

Officials:

Referees: Robert Ludwig, Shawn Thiele

Linesmen: Aaron Story, Josh Brown 

Game Time Keeper Erik Martinson (StatsonCrack)

Monique Lamoureux WCHA Defensive player of the week.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

Monique Lamoureux • Senior, Defenseman, University of North Dakota

MADISON, Wis. – For the second straight time, the University of North Dakota’s Monique Lamoureux has been named the WCHA Women’s Defensive Player of the Week, this time for her two-way contributions in a two-game league sweep over visiting Minnesota Duluth over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Lamoureux was named WCHA co-Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 20.

A senior from Grand Forks, N.D., Lamoureux was a force at both ends of the ice against the visiting Bulldogs, contributing five goals – including both game-winners – and helping lead a strong defensive effort that held UMD to just one power-play goal in 10 series opportunities and saw her block six shots. In North Dakota’s 4-3 (ot) win last Friday (Nov. 23), Lamoureux scored a pair of goals, including the winner at 3:08 of the extra session, had eight shots on goal and earned the First Star of the Game award. She followed up that effort on Saturday (Nov. 24) with a three-goal hat trick in a 5-2 UND triumph, again notching the game-winner, putting six more shots on goal and again being named the First Star.

Through 14 games this season for No. 8-ranked UND (9-5-0), Lamoureux has contributed 19 points (9g, 10a) to up her collegiate career totals to 219 points on 96 goals and 123 assists in 124 games.

Also nominated: Ivana Bilic, D, BSU; Amanda Leveille, G, UM; Audrey Hanmer, D, SCSU; Saige Pacholok, D, UW.

UND and UMD dust up...

Oh no, they have done it again... I am sure we will hear from the fans to the south about the mean goon's from North Dakota and how they like to goon it up and get rough with their guests.

UND beats UMD in Overtime 4-3

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team through nine games of the 2012-13 season. UND has a 4-0-1 record on Friday Nights and a less than impressive record of 0-3-1 record on Saturday Night’s.

Tonight, UND improved that record on Saturdays to 1-3-1 with a 4-3 overtime win.

This was the first win for UND in overtime since March 1, 2009 when Darcy Zajac scored in overtime to beat Colorado College 4-3.

If last night’s game wasn’t wild enough for you; tonight’s game didn’t disappoint either.

Tonight’s game was like a 10 round heavy weight title fight where neither fighter was able to put the other away until the end of the fight.

During the opening five minutes of the first period, it looked like the game was going to be a track meet where strong goalie and defensive play was optional.

UMD senior forward Jake Hendrickson scored his first goal of the year and before the public address announcer could announce UMD’s he first goal – UND senior forward Danny Kristo was burying the puck in the Duluth goal for his 5^th goal of the year and his third goal on the weekend.

Kristo would finish the weekend with three goals and two assist for five points.

But we weren’t done yet; UMD would score again 32 seconds later with a goal from UMD senior forward Mike Seidel. If you’re bad at math – like I am – that’s 3 goals in forty five seconds.

UND would go into the first intermission down 3-1 and the easy choice would have been to pull the freshman goalie Zane Gothberg  and go with the veteran junior goalie Clarke Saunders but head coach Dave Hakstol stuck with his freshman goalie Gothberg and it proved to be the right move, as Gothberg would settle down and stop 28 of 31 shots to improve his record to 2-1-0.

Hakstol was asked if he had considered pulling the young goaltender after the first period.

“You know… the goals that were scored on if you really evaluate it – it’s hard to fault our goaltender,” Hakstol said. "I know the second one kind of took the wind out of the building a little bit but it was a tip play in front – yeah maybe you would like to see a goaltender down and big and have that – but it was tipped directly in front of him down between his legs. So, there were three tough plays for him – he battled through that the remainder of that period – he made some good saves through the remainder of the period and obviously settled in the rest of the game.”

Tonight, UND head coach Dave Hakstol moved sophomore forward Mark MacMilan up to the top line with Danny Kristo and Corbin Knight.

That move would pay off as MacMilan would score the equalizer 05:53 mark of the third period and then would get the game winning goal 04:26 mark of overtime to ice the win for UND.

“They made some plays,” Hakstol said. “Chemistry is hard to explain. They showed that they had a little bit tonight. The plays that they made – the goals that they scored – they were good solid hockey plays, Hakstol said. They didn’t cheat for any of their offense tonight; they made a lot of good plays that resulted in some good positive results. I thought that they’re the ones that are on the score sheet the most, but I thought we had a good four line effort tonight. Were everybody grabbed hold of the rope and did a little bit and resulted in a good win for our team.”

After the game the sophomore forward looked exhausted but seemed to savored moment as he described the game winning goal.

“I don’t really know what happened, MacMilan said. Dan got the puck right around at the top of the circle and it kind of opened up. Dan made a great play to me and I just tried to get it off as quick as I could and it just happened to go in.

Danny Kristo described what he saw on the game winning goal.

“Just a chip in,” Kristo said.  “Just kind of read the play to the Duluth d – rimmed it – beat the guy to the puck and luckily beat the guy off of the wall. Originally, looked shot then I saw Mark out of the corner of my eye and he was opened up for a one-timer so just tried to make a good pass and it went through and he buried it.

Next weekend, North Dakota travels to South Bend, Indiana to play the Notre Dame FIghting Irish in a two game series.

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine

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