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 claw out 3-2 win against RIT

Seal of the University of North Dakota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Grand Forks, ND – The University of North Dakota women came into the game riding a five-game winning streak with a win over Clarkson and sweeps over conference foes BSU and UMD.

Tonight, the opponent for the North Dakota Women’s team was the RIT Tigers of the CHA. Last season, the Tigers won a NCAA Division III title and after they collected their tourney hardware; the Tigers made the jump to Division I women’s hockey.

The UND women knew they were going to be in for a tough fight as the Tigers are a team that was loaded with juniors and seniors.

UND looked good early as they would jump to a two goal lead with goals from Monique Lamoureux and Michele Karvinen less than seven minutes apart. It looked like UND was going to run away and hide but the Tigers didn't go away quietly.

The Tigers would score a goal at 16:27 mark of the first period with a goal by senior forward Kim Schlattman.

That would be all of the scoring in the first period for both teams. UND would out-shoot RIT 10-9.

With UND freshman forward Becca Kohler in the box for hooking; RIT would even the score with what I would describe as a beautiful power play goal. At the 08:57 mark of the second period, RIT Tiger junior forward Kortney Kunchika would take a pass from senior forward Airanne Yokoyama and pull the UND goalie Jorid Dagfinrud off of the right post with some slick stick handling and deposited the puck behind her.

Tie game.

Michelle Karvinen would miss a glorious opportunity in the waning second of the second period standing at side of the Tiger net but the junior forward shot the puck wide of the net.

UND would out-shoot the Tigers 10-6 in the second period.

After the game, UND junior forward Michele Karvinen was asked about the shot that went wide; while she was in the paint just to the side of the Tiger net.

“I came down, I knew Joss [Jocelyne Lamoureux] would probably pass it to me and I should have been a little stronger on my stick and put it into the net,” Karvinen said. “Yeah, basically I should have been stronger on the stick.”

With Tiger junior defenseman Melissa Bromley in the box for cross checking, UND would take the lead again at the 02:08 mark of the third period with a power play goal from Monique Lamoureux – her second of the game – as she buried the puck at the goal mouth as the RIT goalie Laura Chamberlain wasn’t able to get over the right point.

The Tigers would put up a valiant fight at the end of the game, but were unable to get one more shot past Dagfinrud. UND would survive one final surge as the Tigers would ring a shot off straight of the left post at the .54 second mark of the third period. It was a very lucky break for UND because Dagfinrud was moving to her left and the whole right side of the net was left exposed.

Whew! That was close.

In the end, the Tigers would prove to be a tough formidable opponent as they got in the shooting lanes and made it tough for UND to get any time and space. Tomorrow night’s game will be no cake walk for the green and white and they will have to put up a better effort if they are going to prolong the winning streak.

With the win tonight, the Green and White stretch the winning streak to six games.

After the game, the UND head coach Brian Idalski seemed was definitely less than pleased with the play of his team and had this to say.

“I thought we were a little lethargic,” Idhalski said. I thought we were a little sloppy.  I didn't think we executed well – something for us to learn from and do a little better tomorrow.

Leading UND on the score sheet was Michelle Karvinen (1g-1a—2pts) and Monique Lamoureux (2g-1a—3pts). Junior goalie Laura Chamberlain was stellar in net for the Tigers stopping 25 of 28 shots.

Same two teams play again tomorrow night at 7:07 pm.

[Box score]

Jocelyne Lamoureux WCHA Offensive Player of the Week

MADISON, Wis. – University of North Dakota forward Jocelyne Lamoureux, who amassed seven scoring points and factored in on both game-winning goals to help her club to a two-game conference road sweep at Bemidji State last weekend, has been named the WCHA Women’s Offensive Player of the Week for Nov. 20.

A senior right winger from Grand Forks, N.D., Lamoureux had a seven point weekend at Bemidji State, scoring three goals and setting up four others, firing six shots on goal and earning a +6 plus/minus rating. A finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award last season, she assisted on two goals in North Dakota’s 3-1 win over the Beavers in the series opener last Saturday (Nov. 17) to earn Second Star of the Game honors, setting up teammate Michelle Karvinen’s second period game-winner. Lamoureux then had a five-point outing and earned First Star of the Game accolades on Sunday (Nov. 18), notching a three-goal hat trick that included the game-winner and adding two assists as UND won 7-3. Through 12 games played this season, Lamoureux is tied for fourth in scoring overall among WCHA players with 20 points (14g, 6a) while over her 122 game collegiate career, she has 224 points (104g, 120a).

Also nominated: Amanda Kessel, F, UM; Jenna McParland, F, UMD; Taylor Kuehl, F, OSU; Alev Kelter, F, UW.

Wednesday UND Women’s Hockey press conference

This week the UND Woman’s hockey team plays against the top ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena. Game times for Saturday and Sunday is 2:07 PM CT. On Saturday it's "Fill the Bowl and tickets to the game are $1.00 and if you have  a UND Champions Card you can get a free ticket to get into the game.

UND Women's Hockey head coach Brian Idalski on playing the top rated Minnesota Gophers.  

“They’re [Minnesota] averaging just under seven goals per game,” Idalski said. “Their power play has scored 17 goals and clicking at 40 percent, so I would say that things are going really well for them. Defensively they’re just as solid if not better. [Noora] Ratty has four shutout in seven starts and her save percentage is close to 98%, so there is no weakness, their d-corps is really strong they have given up three goals all season long. It will be fun.”

UND Women’s head coach Brian Idalski on the status of his star forward Michelle Karvinen who has missed all six games that UND has played in this season with an injury.

“She looks good, Idalski said. "She skated well and she is progressing well and she will be a game time decision.”

Senior forward Captain Jocelyn Lamoureux was asked about playing the Minnesota Gophers and if there is a little extra incentive playing against the Gophers. 

“It’s exciting to always play them especially with my history, but you have to approach it like any other series, Lamoureux said. “We have to stay even keel and not let our emotions get the best of us the last series and we get to play them here and we’re excited.” 

The past few seasons the amount of penalties that UND takes has been a something that UND has been concerned about. Senior Jocelyn Lamoureux was also asked about her if her team is focused on eliminating penalties this week.

“I don’t know if it’s the topic this week in the practice, Lamoureux said. “But we know we need to that we need to stay out of the penalty box more and we can’t take as many penalties as we have been and that seem to be a common theme the last couple of years the amount of penalties our team takes its starts with Monique [Lamoureux]  and I and the seniors down... “

Senior defenseman Jordan Slavin was injured last season and only was able to play in 14 games. Last season, Slavin missed both series against the Minnesota Gophers. 

“It’s been fun; it’s been a lot of fun just being back out there with the girls and being able to play,” Slavin said. “Once you like... don’t have something and then you get it back it’s been an unbelievable experience.” 

Slavin was asked if she feels like is back to full strength. 

Yeah I do, I feel really good, my edges feel great and my knees aren’t giving men any problems this time around.

Slavin also had this to say about getting a chance to play against the top ranked Minnesota Gophers after not playing in any of the series last year against the Gophers because of injury. 

"I didn’t get to play them at all last year, Slavin said. "It’s more fun than any series that I think we play during the year. Just the intensity is up, the speed is up, everything is sharp, the atmosphere is fun, I am excited."  

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.

UND Women’s Hockey the day after

From Sioux Sports this morning on the UND Women’s Hockey team losing a two goal lead and the game against the MSUM Mavericks… @pucknut9 on last night’s loss, “looks like the women have been reading too many headlines as they lose 3-2 to MSU.” Mea Culpa.  

Also, another good point from @pucknut9 “hell of a comeback for sure, I mean give credit where credit is due instead of some of these posters blaming the refs.”

Good words of advice from a guy that I have a lot of respect for – winners will look answers and not excuses… In this case the UND women will regroup and make the proper adjustments and you didn't hear any excuses last night for their performance.

I am not going to kid anyone – I have to admit that I thought the officiating was questionable at times myself, someone from my twitter account might have tweeted something along those lines as well last night.

But I digress.

I don’t think the officiating is the reason the UND women lost the game last night… I blame a plethora of things… I saw young players try to force pucks in instances where later in the season they wouldn’t make that pass. There also many opportunities in the blue paint and in the slot that weren’t capitalized on.

When the refs are calling the game tight last night – what’s new?  It’s the player’s responsibility to make adjustments to how the game is called – that didn’t happened last night.

Also, the MSUM defenders were relentless and this was actually the first time that I have ever seen the “trap” played at a women’s game – the Mavericks were miserable team to play against.

Let’s give credit where credit is due the Mavericks got into the shooting zones – pressured the defenseman and their goaltender Danielle Butters was very good and made the big saves and stopping 18 out of 20 shots and she was big late in the game when she had to be… Luck was also on her side and one of the twins had her beat glove side late in the game only to see it puck clank off of the iron.

I can tell you based on the head coaches’ body language and by his comments last night during the postgame conference that Brian Idalski was “less” than pleased about his team’s play during their game.

“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,”

I don’t think that any of us are worried though because Brian Idalski is a good hockey coach and he will make adjustments and I expect the team to be much better this afternoon against the Mavericks.

There were some positive points to take out of last night’s game.

Freshman forward Becca Kohler from St. Thomas Ontario is going to be a big time forward and she showed glimpses of greatness.

Freshman goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was very good in her debut and I predict that we will see her again between the pipes very soon.

Freshman Leah Jensen didn’t look out of place and seemed to do well in the pressure position playing on the wing with Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux.

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)

UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally

United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a game against the ECAC All-Stars on January 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, I attended the UND Hockey media luncheon and press event that followed and I was able to interview a few of the UND Women’s hockey players today.  

Here is what the Lamoureux twins Monique and Jocelyne had to say about the upcoming season.

I did learn a valuable lesson today, if you don’t turn your recorder on you end up interviewing the same player twice. I am also grateful, that Monique Lamoureux is a patient person.  

I asked UND Senior forward/defenseman Monique Lamoureux about her expectations for the upcoming season. 

“The ultimate goal is to put a national championship banner up in our rink,” Monique said. 

“Jocelyne [Lamoureux] and I were looking it up earlier and I think today is the first official day of practice… the tradition here goes really deep with our family and I think that our brothers and our dad have been a part of 10 championships, whether it’s a McNaughton cup, a WCHA Final Five, or a national championship. For us it’s something that we really want to add to our family. We want to start a tradition on the woman’s side.”

On being the last of the Lamoureux’s to go through the UND hockey program.

“It’s bitter sweet being the last ones not having a brother here after having one playing on the team for the last eight years,” Monique said.  “It’s little weird not seeing your brothers around the rink as much but we’re excited for this year and we’re hoping to accomplish some great things.”

I asked UND Senior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux about her expectations for the upcoming season.

“Just want to make history for this program and the ultimate goal is obviously to win a national championship as is with every other team in the NCAA but that’s the goal this year more than any other year since I’ve been here,” Jocelyne said. 

“I think we have the potential to do it; it’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Jocelyne was asked about being the last two of Lamoureux’s to go through the UND Hockey program. 

“Yeah it’s bitter sweet and we have some emotional moments,” Jocelyne said. 

“Our brother took off last week for the east coast just knowing we’re the last ones here we’re the last ones to try and add to the tradition for our program and for our family and to have the opportunity this year again and we’re excited and we want to make the most of it. Just keep adding and staring a new tradition with the woman’s program.”

UND Women second in the WCHA Coaches' poll

2012-13 WCHA Head Coaches’ Pre-Season Poll
Rk Team (1st place votes) Points
1 Minnesota (6) 48
2 North Dakota (1) 40
Wisconsin (1) 40
4 Minnesota Duluth 32
5 Ohio State 24
6 Bemidji State 19
7 Minnesota State 12
8 St. Cloud State 9
(Note: coaches could not vote for their own teams in the poll and points were awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system)

WCHA Pre-Season Player of the Year (votes)Brianna Decker, Sr., F, Wisconsin (4); Amanda Kessel, Jr., F, Minnesota (2) and Jocelyne Lamoureux, Sr., F, North Dakota (2).

WCHA Pre-Season Rookie of the Year (votes)Hannah Brandt, Fr., D, Minnesota (8).

Related articles

• Results of the 94X WCHA PRESEASON MEDIA POLL (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Pre-Season Predictions (by Sioux 7) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA 2012-13 Season Preview (insidehockey.com)
• "O Captain! My Captain!" - UND picks Mac to be captain (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND's Andrew MacWilliam and Nate Ewell on the Pipeline show (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
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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.

2012 U.S. Women’s National Team – IIHF Women’s World Championship Roster

United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a game against the ECAC All-Stars on January 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Congrats to UND Fighting Sioux forwards Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls of North Dakota for making the U.S. Women’s National Team for the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship, which will be held on April 7-14 in Burlington, Vermont.

GOALTENDERS (3)              

29   Brianne McLaughlin   6/20/87   L Sheffield Village, Ohio            

 1    Molly Schaus   7/29/88  L  Natick, Mass.  Boston Blades (CWHL)

31   Jessie Vetter   12/19/85   L  Cottage Grove, Wisconsin

DEFENSEMEN (7)

22   Kacey Bellamy    4/22/87   L       Westfield, Mass.  Boston Blades (CWHL)

25   Megan Bozek    3/27/91     R      Buffalo Grove, Ill.   University of Minnesota (WCHA)

11   Lisa Chesson  8/18/86     L       Plainfield, Ill.

19   Gigi Marvin    3/7/87      R      Warroad, Minn.    Boston Blades (CWHL)

23   Michelle Picard   5/27/93   L       Taunton, Mass.    Harvard University (ECACH)

24   Josephine Pucci 12/27/90    R      Pearl River, N.Y.   Harvard University (ECACH)

15   Anne Schleper   1/30/90  L   St. Cloud, Minn.   University of Minnesota (WCHA)      

                        

FORWARDS (13)

20   Hannah Brandt    11/27/93    R      Vadnais Heights, Minn.    Hill-Murray School (Minn.)

13   Julie Chu    3/13/82      R      Fairfield, Conn.   Montreal Stars (CWHL)

26   Kendall Coyne  5/25/92    L    Palos Heights, Ill.   Northeastern University (HEA)

14   Brianna Decker   5/13/91  R    Dousman, Wis.   University of Wisconsin (WCHA)

6    Jillian Dempsey  1/19/91   L    Winthrop, Mass.  Harvard University (ECACH)                                 

28   Amanda Kessel    8/28/91  R   Verona, Wis.  University of Minnesota (WCHA)                                                     

21   Hilary Knight  7/12/89  R  Sun Valley, Id.  University of Wisconsin (WCHA)                                   

17   Jocelyne Lamoureux   7/3/89   R   Grand Forks, N.D.  University of North Dakota (WCHA)

 7    Monique Lamoureux-Kolls   7/3/89   R   Grand Forks, N.D.  University of North Dakota (WCHA)

 2    Erika Lawler   2/5/87   R    Fitchburg, Mass.     Boston Blades (CWHL)

12   Jenny Potter 1/12/79  L   Edina, Minn.    Minnesota Whitecaps (WWHL)                                  

16   Kelli Stack 1/13/88  R   Brooklyn Heights, Ohio  Boston Blades (CWHL)       

3    Taylor Wasylk   2/21/92  L Port Huron, Mich.  Boston College (HEA)  

Team Staff                                                                                                            

Director, Women’s Hockey: Reagan Carey, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Head Coach: Katey Stone, Arlington, Mass.
Assistant Coaches: Laura Halldorson, Minneapolis, Minn.; Bobby Jay, Burlington, Mass.

Goaltending Coach: Robb Stauber, Medina, Minn.

Head Strength & Conditioning Coach: Michael Boyle, Reading, Mass.

Strength & Conditioning Coach: Kevin Neeld, Philadelphia, Pa.

Team Doctor: Liz Matzkin, Boston, Mass.

Athletic Trainer: Jill Radzinski, Davis, Calif.

Video Coordinator: Sean Andrake, Glen Rock, N.J.

Massage Therapist: Jennifer Chee, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Equipment Manager: Brent Proulx, St. Paul, Minn.

Communications: Courtney Welch, Colorado Springs, Colo.