North Dakota got back on the winning track, scoring three times in the third period to down visiting Ohio State 4-1 in the second game of the Subway Holiday Classic at Ralph Engelstad Arena. <\/p>\n
The Fighting Sioux came into the tournament having lost three straight and were swept in Denver by the Pioneers the previous weekend. Home ice and a friendly crowd seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was fun getting back home,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said junior forward Evan Trupp, who set up Brad Malone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game-winning goal with a sensational pass from behind the net. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think a lot of guys had a little more energy. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little more on the line when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the rut we were in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
UND coach Dave Hakstol said that overall, he felt the team gave a good effort through 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It feels good to play a good, solid hockey game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done that over that last couple of weekends. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a little too sporadic.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
After a scoreless first period, UND got on the board at 4:30 of the second on a goal by senior center Darcy Zajac. Sophomore defenseman Cory Fienhage blocked an OSU clearing attempt at the blue line and then dished the puck to Zajac at the dot in the left circle. He fired a wrister that beat junior goalie Dustin Carlson short side.<\/p>\n
Told that the Sioux are 15-1-2 when Zajac scores a goal, Hakstol said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The most important thing about Darcy is the consistency of his play. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been pretty much like clockwork this year. We know what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get out of him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
Having lost three straight games by a goal, the Sioux were far from comfortable heading into the final stanza.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Going into a third period in a 1-0 game, you kind of go \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHere we go again,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eidsness said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I think we really pulled through and maybe broke through that mental block when we were able to generate some offense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The shift after UND\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Brad Malone was denied by Carlson when he split the Buckeyes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 defense, the junior center received a feed from Trupp that put the Sioux up 2-0 at the 4:24 mark.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I went to the net with my stick on the ice, and he made an unreal pass,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Malone said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was an empty net for me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I heard him call for the puck, so I knew he was there, and I was just waiting for the goalie to turn his head the other way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Trupp said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Once he did, I just dished it and he (Malone) made a good play burying it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
OSU made it a one-goal game at 8:18 when sophomore center Zac Dalpe was credited for a goal that appeared to deflect in off UND defenseman Jake Marto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skate. After a review, the goal stood.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The puck kind of rolled and handcuffed me a little bit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eidsness said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way it goes sometimes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
After being victimized by reviewed goals in their last three losses, Hakstol said the Sioux weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dismayed by an unlucky bounce that might have changed the momentum.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come easily for us the past three weekends, but there was none of that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it was evident in the kinds of shifts we had after that goal went in the net. We went back to work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
At 11:25, Sioux freshman forward Danny Kristo notched his third goal of the season and restored UND\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two-goal lead. From the right circle, Kristo one-timed a feed from center Chris VandeVelde to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n
UND closed out the scoring at 13:49 with a power play tally by sophomore forward Brett Hextall, who one-timed a pass from Marto. Carlson juggled the puck, which fell out of his glove and over the goal line.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had opportunities,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said OSU coach John Markell. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought when we made it 2-1, we had a chance. It comes down to guys having to make plays at that time, and we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make enough plays to score goals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
After being swept the previous weekend by CCHA opponent Ferris State, Markell felt his team gave a better effort.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought we played better, but obviously it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not good enough,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I still have some players not playing up to their potential. Right now, we have one line that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scoring and nobody else.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Fourth ranked UND improves to 8-4-1 (5-4-1 WCHA) and will take on the top-ranked Miami RedHawks at 7:35 p.m. Saturday at Engelstad Arena in the final game of the tournament. OSU falls to 5-9-1 (4-5-1 CCHA) and will play Bemidji State in Engelstad Arena at 4:05 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Dakota got back on the winning track, scoring three times in the third period to down visiting Ohio State 4-1 in the second game of the Subway Holiday Classic at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Fighting Sioux came into the tournament having lost three straight and were swept in Denver by the Pioneers the previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9899"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}