Sioux expect more penalties

The UND men's hockey team spent extra time in practice this week working on special teams, and that's not just because the power play missed on its first 12 chances of the season.

UND Coach Dave Hakstol said he's expecting this weekend's series against Minnesota State-Mankato to be called tighter than the Ice Breaker Invitational was last weekend.

At the season-opening Ice Breaker, refereed by Hockey East officials, there was an average of 11 power plays per game. Mankato, which played Bemidji State last weekend with WCHA refs, saw an average of 19 power plays per game.

"We put the proper amount of work in this week," said Hakstol, whose team opens WCHA play at 7:37 tonight. "We're going into the weekend with three different combinations on the power play. All three are going to get a chance to work and we'll see how that goes."

Under Hakstol, UND has typically only used two power-play units. But since the Sioux are expecting extra special teams time, they are trying to keep players fresh.

"(Ice time) will be dictated by two things," Hakstol said. "Performance -- guys earning it and getting the job done are going to get back out there -- and the amount of special teams play. That will dictate the amount of people we use. We're going to try to find the right combinations of people and give ice time to those people who help us win games."

UND's power play was at its best in the third period of last Saturday's loss to Massachusetts. Chris VandeVelde scored on UND's 13th chance of the weekend and the Sioux threatened on several other occasions.

"Right now, we've got to keep it simple," Sioux junior Darcy Zajac said. "We've got to focus on getting shots to the net and bodies to the net so we can get some rebounds and put them in."

Another reason you can expect more penalty minutes this weekend is simply because it's the Sioux and Mavericks.

Three times in the last three seasons, these teams have combined for more than 100 penalty minutes in a game -- and that doesn't include last year's contest where UND's Rylan Kaip squared off with Mankato's Trevor Bruess.

"We've had some spirited series between these two teams and I expect nothing different this week," Hakstol said.

Getting tougher

In watching video of UND's season-opening losses to Boston University and UMass, Hakstol and his players said they believe the biggest issue facing the team is playing stronger defensively.

"Yeah, we only allowed 16 shots against UMass, but there were too many good opportunities in those 16 shots," defenseman Chay Genoway said. "We're not tough enough to play against. We need to be tougher in the D-zone."

Hakstol agreed.

"I think we have quite a ways to go defensively," he said. "But I think that can be expected at this time of year."

Great debut for Lamoureux

Jacques Lamoureux played his first game for Air Force last weekend, two years after he thought he'd make his debut. The long-awaited weekend probably went better than he could have imagined.

The former Grand Forks Central standout had a goal and an assist in both games of Air Force's sweep of Sacred Heart.

Originally denied by Air Force's medical board, Lamoureux played at Northern Michigan for a season before finally getting into the Academy. He sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.

Now, he is playing on a line with a pair of Minnesota area athletes -- Moorhead's Josh Frider and Baudette's Brent Olson, who had five points on the weekend and was named Atlantic Hockey's player of the week.

Around the rinks

UND rookie David Toews (minor injury) returned to practice this week. He is questionable for the weekend series. Toews has not played yet for the Sioux. . . It's early, but UND recruit Mike Cichy is currently tied for the lead in scoring in the United States Hockey League with seven points in five games. A pair of UND recruits rank 1-2 in shots on goal. Danny Kristo is first, Cichy is second. . . UND defenseman recruit Derek Forbort was selected by Omaha in the first round of the USHL futures draft on Tuesday. Fellow Sioux defenseman recruit Nick Mattson went in the sixth round to Des Moines. . . UND recruit Andrew MacWilliam has been selected to play for Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge, which will be held Nov. 2-9 in Camrose, Alta. MacWilliam plays in Camrose. . . Former Thief River Falls and UND forward Michael Forney set a USHL record last weekend by scoring the fastest three goals in league history. Forney got his hat trick in 2 minutes, 17 seconds. Forney is playing with Green Bay and is undecided where he play college hockey next season.

Reach Schlossman at (701) 780-1129; (800) 477-6572, ext. 129; or send e-mail to bschlossman@gfherald.com .