HOUGHTON, Mich. ? Drew Stafford (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) scored three goals and Andrew Kozek (Fr., Sicamous, B.C.) scored twice on Saturday to lead the UND men's hockey team to an 8-2 win over Michigan Tech.
It was Stafford's second hat trick of the season, and the eight goals were a season high for the Sioux.
The win was the fifth in six games for UND, which raised its record to 10-5-1 and 6-4 in the WCHA, while Michigan Tech fell to 2-13-1 overall and 1-8-1 in the WCHA.
Tech outshot North Dakota 17-9 in the first period, but the Sioux led 1-0 after one on a shorthanded goal by Stafford midway through the period.
On the play, Stafford stole the puck near the right boards, eluded a Huskies' defenseman and beat Tech goalie Rob Nolan with a backhanded shot from in close. It was Stafford's ninth goal of the season and third shorthanded goal of the year.
UND goalie Jordan Parise (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) made 17 save in the first period to equal his season high for a period. Michigan Tech had 31 shot attempts in the first.
Tech continued its offensive pressure early in the second, and it paid off when Huskies defenseman John Scott tied the score, 1-1, just over two minutes into the second with a shot from the right point.
After Scott's goal, UND scored four consecutive goals in the second period to take control of the game.
Stafford's second goal of the game regained the lead for the Sioux at 4:53. After Nolan stopped a hard shot by T.J. Oshie (Fr., Warroad, Minn.) from inside the blue line, Stafford grabbed the puck out of the crease and slid a shot past Nolan before he could cover it.
UND made it 3-1 at 10:28 of the second on a hard wrist shot by Kozek from the right circle that beat Nolan up high. It was Kozek's second goal in as many nights.
Kozek tipped in a Taylor Chorney (Fr., Hastings, Minn.) shot at 14:07 for his second of the game to make it 4-1.
With both teams a man short two minutes later, UND's Jonathan Toews (Fr., Winnipeg, Manitoba) stickhandled through the Huskies' defense and scored on a backhander at 16:35 to make it 5-1.
Michigan Tech scored a power play goal late in the second period to make it 5-2 after two periods.
UND scored its second 4-on-4 goal of the night 55 seconds into the third period on a blast from the right point by Matt Smaby (Minneapolis, Minn.) that made the score 6-2.
The Sioux wrapped up the scoring on goals by Matt Watkins (Fr., Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) and Stafford.
Parise tied a career high with 42 saves on the night and raised his season record to 9-2-1. The win was the 40th of Parise's career.
UND will return home next weekend to face Minnesota at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Game times are 7:37 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday.
