The last time the UND women's hockey team went on the road, coach Brian Idalski said it went "poor at best."
Off the ice, the Sioux didn't handle the trip well and weren't prepared to play. And on the ice, the results were plain to see - 3-1 and 6-1 losses to a Rensselaer team that UND swept a year earlier.
For the first time in a month, the Sioux are going on the road and Idalski said he hopes the team will handle the trip to St. Cloud, Minn., better than they handled the trip to Troy, N.Y.
"It will be interesting to see how we handle being on the road because good teams need to win on the road," Idalski said. "We need to simplify our game, do what needs to be done and handle adversity. We're still young, and we haven't proven we can do that yet."
While this trip will be shorter than the last one, the challenge on the ice figures to be greater. St. Cloud State already has taken down some of the giants in women's hockey this season. The Huskies handed two-time defending national champion Wisconsin its second loss in its last 59 games in mid-October. They also beat perennial power Minnesota last month.
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The Huskies are a team that Idalski knows well. He came to UND last spring from St. Cloud State, where he served as an assistant for a season.
"If I didn't work with them, I recruited them," Idalski said of the St. Cloud players.
Idalski said he doesn't think it will be weird to return to St. Cloud because he wasn't there for long.
"It will be nice to see some of the kids," he said. "I had a pretty good bond with a lot of their younger players."
One of those players is former Warroad (Minn.) High School star Holly Roberts. The sophomore forward is one of the most explosive players for the Huskies, and Idalski said the Sioux will have to be aware of her on the ice.
"Holly is by far one of the smoothest skaters and just naturally God-gifted kids I've ever worked with," Idalski said. "She's amazing. She can fly, she picks things up so fast. . . . It was fun to work with her. She's definitely one of their top kids."
Before worrying about St. Cloud State's personnel, though, Idalski said the Sioux need to do a better job of executing their game plan. . . . and that includes being prepared to play on the road.
"We need to make sure we're ready for that challenge," he said.
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Briefly
-- Defenseman Alyssa Johnson will be out for the second straight weekend with an injury. Johnson didn't play against Minnesota-Duluth last weekend.
Reach Schlossman at 780-1129, (800) 477-6572 ext. 129 or bschlossman@gfherald.com .
