St. Cloud State (4-7-1, 3-6-1 WCHA) lost a tough 3-2 decision to No. 7 North Dakota (8-5-1, 4-4-0) on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
The Huskies gave up three first period goals, which spelled the difference in the game. Take away the game’s tough start, and the Huskies dominated play in the second two periods outshooting UND by a 31-13 total. In the third period, SCSU applied considerable pressure as it outshot UND 16-3 down the stretch.
UND scored early in the first with an unassisted goal by Erik Fabian at 4:49. Drew Stafford gave UND a 2-0 lead with another unassisted goal on the power play at 7:52. Senior forward Brock Hooton got SCSU back into the thick of things with a power-play goal at 15:31, with assists from Andrew Gordon and Billy Hengen. North Dakota’s Matt Watkins gave the Sioux a two-goal lead once again at 17:33 on what proved to be the game-winning tally.
In the second period, SCSU’s Grant Clafton made it 3-2 with his first goal of the season at 10:00. Assists were notched by Nate Dey and Hooton.
In the nets, SCSU’s Bobby Goepfert had 23 saves and UND’s Jordan Parise had 41 saves and the win. On the power play, UND was 1-of-2 and SCSU was 1-of-4.