GRAND FORKS, N.D.?UND's Brandon Bochenski (So., Blaine, Minn.) scored two goals and Zach Parise (Fr., Faribault, Minn.) scored one goal and added two assists to lead the North Dakota men's hockey team to a 5-4 win over St. Cloud State at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Saturday.
With the win, North Dakota raised its record to 14-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Sioux extended their unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1) this season and their home unbeaten streak to 11 games (10-0-1) dating back to last season.
In addition, UND stayed one point behind Colorado College in the WCHA race. The Tigers defeated Denver, 6-2, on Saturday and are leading the WCHA with an 8-0-2 mark.
St. Cloud State fell to 6-7-1 overall and 4-5-1 in the WCHA.
The Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Joe Motzko at 5:36 and T.J. McElroy at 7:45.
Less than 30 seconds after McElroy's goal, Bochenski made it 2-1 when he scored his 15th goal of the season at 8:09 of the first period.
Sioux forward Kevin Spiewak (Sr., Schaumburg, Ill.) tied it at 10:55 of the first. On the play, Spiewak took a pass from James Massen (So., Bismarck, N.D.), skated around St. Cloud State defenseman Garrett Larson to the left of the goal, waited for Huskies' goalie Jake Moreland to go down and then pulled the puck back and slid it past a sprawling Moreland on Moreland's right side.
St. Cloud State's Jon Cullen broke the 2-2 tie with a power play goal at 2:29 of the second period, but Bochenski batted in his own rebound at 17:45 of the second to tie it again, 3-3.
Parise broke the tie at 5:51 of the third period when he one-timed a backhand shot past Moreland off a richochet pass from Andy Schneider (So., Grand Forks, N.D.). Schneider fired a pass off the boards to Moreland's right that caromed back out to Parise on the other side of the net, and Parise beat Moreland up high.
It was Parise's 12th goal of the season, and his two assists give him a team-high 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists) in 16 games on the year.
Moreland left the game at 6:12 of the third period with an injury that occurred when he collided with UND's Ryan Connelly (So., White Bear Lake, Minn.), who slid into Moreland as a result of being tripped by St. Cloud State's Colin Peters.
Peters was called for obstruction tripping, and UND capitalized on the power play when Nick Fuher (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) scored is fifth goal of the season at 7:58.
The Huskies cut the margin to 5-4 on a power play goal by Jonathan Lehun at 11:19 of the third, but UND held the Huskies scoreless after that.
Sioux goalie Josh Siembida (So., Porcupine, Ontario) made 22 saves and got the win for North Dakota to raise his record to 8-1 on the season.
NOTES: The win was the eighth in a row by North Dakota over St. Cloud State in games the teams have played in Grand Forks. The Huskies' last win over UND in Grand Forks was on Dec. 13, 1997, when they beat the Sioux, 5-2, in the second game of a weekend series.
UND retired the late Ralph Engelstad's No. 23 jersey during the second intermission on Saturday. Engelstad, a former Sioux goalie and major university benefactor, died Nov. 26 at the age of 72.
