UND men's hockey: Sioux inch closer to home ice

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The UND men's hockey team is a little closer to securing a home playoff series.

Brad Malone scored the game-tying goal with 1 minute, 42 seconds left in regulation and Matt Frattin had the game-winner in overtime to lift the Sioux to a dramatic, come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over Colorado College in World Arena on Friday night.

The win moves UND alone into the fifth and final spot for home ice in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, two points ahead of Colorado College and three ahead of Minnesota.

"I think that at the start of the year, we were on the other end of these games," said Malone, who also assisted on Frattin's game-winner. "We kept staying positive. We knew the hockey gods would turn our way and the bounces would start to come. We kept working hard, kept working hard and never questioned anything.

"Now, the bounces are starting to come our way and it's happening at the right time, so we're pretty excited."

UND (17-11-5, 12-10-3 WCHA) is on a season-long, four-game winning streak. The Sioux entered the weekend outscoring its previous three opponents 18-4. But offense didn't come easy in World Arena.

The Tigers kept the pressure on UND throughout the game and Brad Eidsness was outstanding in making 26 saves. His best period was the first.

Eidsness made a flashy glove save on Nate Prosser's attempt from the slot. He slid from left to right and kicked out his pad to stop Tyler Johnson, who received a cross-crease pass and had a lot of net to look at. Eidsness also tracked a tipped shot off the stick of Bill Sweatt to make a glove save and keep the Tigers off the board.

"Brad Eidsness won the game for us," UND alternate captain Darcy Zajac said.

"It was one of those nights," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "It was high-risk hockey throughout the night. There was quite a bit of loose change laying around the critical areas of both ends of the rink. I thought the two goaltenders were probably the first and second stars of the night."

UND took the early lead when Danny Kristo threaded a point shot through traffic for a power-play goal at 5 minutes, 25 seconds of the opening frame.

But Prosser, a defenseman, answered with two goals to give the Tigers (17-13-3, 11-11-3 WCHA) a 2-1 lead. He converted a two-on-one rush at 13:06 of the second and got a point shot through traffic at 2:44 of the third.

The Sioux kept the pressure on until the end, though, finishing with 42 shots.

On the game-tying goal, UND held the puck in at the point and Frattin dished it to Evan Trupp at the bottom of the right circle. Trupp sent it to the net, where it hit traffic and bounced in the air. Malone was able to knock it out of mid-air to tie it.

In overtime, Malone flipped a pass high in the air to Frattin, who was streaking behind the defense. Frattin buried it on the glove side and the entire Sioux team piled on to the ice to celebrate.

"Malone was able to pop it out to me," Frattin said. "From there, I could see that the goalie was giving me glove, so I shot glove. It feels really good to win this one. Eids stood on his head for us and kept us in the game in the first period. We kept chipping away."

UND will go for its first sweep of Colorado College since 2001 and its first sweep in World Arena since 1999 when the teams play the series finale at 8:07 tonight.

"The win is huge, but you have to forget about it," Frattin said. "It's another big game tomorrow. We don't want to split and leave (home ice) up to the last series. We want to take care of business right now. We have it in our hands. Hopefully, we come out flying."

Notes: Forwards David Toews and Mike Cichy made the trip but were healthy scratches. . . Sophomore Brett Hextall, who entered the weekend with eight goals in his last seven games, wore the rotating 'A' as alternate captain. Mario Lamoureux, Jake Marto and Jason Gregoire previously wore it. . . UND entered the series surging, winning three straight against top-10 opponents by a combined score of 18-4

UND 3,

Colorado College 2, OT

First period -- 1. UND, Danny Kristo 11 (Corban Knight 5, Evan Trupp 20) 5:25 (pp). Penalties -- Nate Prosser, CC, high sticking, :18; Kris Fredheim, CC, holding, 3:28; Andrew MacWilliam, UND, interference, 12:51; Brad Malone, UND, tripping, 14:58; Carter Rowney, UND, interference, 17:31

Second period -- 2. CC, Nate Prosser 12 (Matt Overman 5, Bill Sweatt 16) 13:06. Penalties -- Rylan Schwartz, CC, tripping, 4:22; Malone, UND, slashing, 9:28; Prosser, CC, slashing, 9:28; Joe Marciano, CC, tripping, 11:04; Ben Blood, UND, interference, 18:50

Third period -- 3. CC, Prosser 13 (William Rapuzzi 6, Nick Dineen 10) 2:44; 4. UND, Malone 8 (Evan Trupp 20, Joe Gleason 8) 18:18. Penalties -- Rowney, UND, hooking, 4:15; Marciano, CC, holding, 14:26

Goalie saves -- UND: Brad Eidsness 13-5-8 - 26; CC: Joe Howe 8-17-14 - 39

WCHA men

W L T Pts.

Denver 17 4 4 38

St. Cloud State 15 8 3 33

Wisconsin 15 7 3 33

Minnesota-Duluth 14 10 1 29

UND 12 10 3 27

Colorado College 11 10 3 25

Minnesota 11 12 2 24

Alaska-Anchorage 8 16 2 18

MSU-Mankato 8 16 1 17

Michigan Tech 4 21 0 8

Overall records

Denver 22-6-4, Wisconsin 20-8-4, St. Cloud State 20-10-4, Colorado College 17-13-3, Minnesota-Duluth 18-14-1, UND 17-11-5, Minnesota 16-15-2, MSU-Mankato 14-17-2, Alaska-Anchorage 10-18-2, Michigan Tech 5-25-1

Friday's results

UND 3, Colorado College 2

Wisconsin 5, Michigan Tech 2

Minnesota 3, Minnesota-Duluth 2

Denver 3, MSU-Mankato 1

Alaska (Fairbanks) at Alaska-Anchorage (n)

Today's games

UND at Colorado College, 8:07 p.m.

Wisconsin at Michigan Tech

Minnesota at Minnesota-Duluth

Denver at MSU-Mankato

Alaska-Anchorage at Alaska (Fairbanks)

Friday, March 5

Michigan Tech at UND, 7:37 p.m.

Wisconsin at Minnesota

St. Cloud State at MSU-Mankato

Colorado College at Denver

Minnesota-Duluth at Alaska-Anchorage

Saturday, March 6

Michigan Tech at UND, 7:07 p.m.

MSU-Mankato at St. Cloud State

Denver at Colorado College

Minnesota-Duluth at Alaska-Anchorage

Sunday, March 7

Wisconsin at Minnesota, 1:07 p.m.

End of regular season

Friday's other results

EAST

Niagara 4, Ala.-Huntsville 3

Army 8, American International 6

Holy Cross 4, Bentley 1

Quinnipiac 8, Brown 3

Vermont 7, Boston U. 3

Rochester Tech 8, Canisius 1

Dartmouth 3, St. Lawrence 2

Clarkson 2, Harvard 1, OT

Merrimack 6, Maine 3

Boston College 2, Massachusetts 1, OT

Mercyhurst 5, Connecticut 1

New Hampshire 4, Northeastern 4, OT

Mass.-Lowell 4, Providence 0

Colgate 3, RPI 2

Cornell 4, Union, N.Y. 1

Yale 7, Princeton 4

MIDWEST

Michigan St. 5, Bowling Green 2

N. Michigan 2, Lake Superior St. 1, OT

Minnesota 3, Minn. Duluth 2

Miami (Ohio) 6, Ohio St. 2

Ferris St. 2, W. Michigan 2, Ferris St. wins SO 2-0

Wisconsin 5, Michigan Tech 2