By Virg Foss

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- In the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, Samson lost all his strength and power once he cut off his hair.

It's working the opposite way for UND sophomore T.J. Oshie (Warroad,. Minn.), who shaved his flowing locks recently and regained his powerful scoring touch.

Oshie's goal at 13:05 of the third period sealed UND's 3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over St. Cloud State tonight in front of 11,197 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It was the first goal since the opening game of the season for Oshie, a first-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in June, 2005, which he followed up with a sensational 24-goal rookie season a year ago.

The shaved locks and a lucky undershirt dating back to his high schools days did the trick for Oshie.

"I think I just needed a change,'' Oshie said. "The hair I had was probably a little left from the Frozen Four (last season). And my old shirt, I've worn it since the beginning of my sophomore season in high school.''

The shirt is full of holes and tears -- but also full of good luck, it appears. He wore it in leading Warroad High School to a Minnesota state hockey title his senior year, and he wore it on Oct. 6 when he scored his first goal of the season on opening night.

In a goaltending battle between St. Cloud State standout Bobby Goepfert and Sioux rookie Anthony Grieco (Brampton, Ont.,), Grieco came out the winner.

Grieco, who gave up nine goals in two wins over Minnesota State, Mankato last weekend, stopped 27 of 28 St. Cloud shots, 12 of those shots coming on power plays as the Huskies were 0-for-8 with the man advantage.

"I felt a little more confident in there, having two games under my belt,'' said Grieco, who drew starts both nights in Mankato with junior goalie Philippe Lamoureux sidelined with a leg injury.

Grieco was especially sharp when he stopped all 15 St. Cloud State shots in the opening period, when the Huskies outshot the Sioux 15-5 but came away in a 0-0 tie.

"I thought we made him look good,'' St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said. "I'm not taking anything away (from him). He made some saves but we shot right into his belly.''

The Sioux, who were swept by the Huskies in a pair of 2-1 games last season in Grand Forks, never trailed in this one.

They took the lead for the first time at 2:13 of the second period on a power-play blast from the top of the left faceoff circle by sophomore defenseman Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.) His goal, his first of the season and fourth of his career, came just seven seconds after a holding infraction called on St. Cloud State's Chris Anderson.

The Huskies tied it at 14:08 of the second period when they caught the Sioux on a 3-on-1 rush with Ryan Lasch carrying the puck into the zone and banking his shot past Greico for an unassisted goal.

It took the Sioux just 28 seconds of the third period to grab the lead for good.

Sioux captain Chris Porter (Thunder Bay, Ont.) gathered in a bouncing puck near the blue line as he was preparing to go off a line change. He fired a slapshot that bounced once on its way to the net and flipped past Goepfert on the short side to snap the 1-1 tie.

It stood up as the game-winning goal. "They got the leaker there in the third,'' Motzko said. "It bounced off the ground and came out of a little bit of a screen.''

Grieco ran his career record to 3-0 with his most impressive victory to date. Yet there wasn't a big difference in his play from a week ago, UND head coach Dave Hakstol said.

"There was not a lot of difference, to be honest with you,'' Hakstol said. "I thought last weekend there was some strange goals scored on him. Tonight I thought our penalty killing was definitely very good, but he's the anchor of that. I also thought he did a good job in allowing us to get by with a slow start to this game.''

Oshie's goal came on a feed from behind the net from Jonathan Toews. Also drawing an assist on the goal for a 3-1 final score was sophomore linemate Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alta.), who set it up with hustling play along the boards to spring the play into action.

The Sioux, who gave up nine goals last weekend, used Grieco's steady play and great penalty killing to hold the Huskies to the single goal.

Yet there was no designed change in UND's style from last weekend to this one. "We take a lot of pride in playing well defensively,'' Hakstol said. "There was no real concerted effort; we wanted to get back to playing well on both ends of the rink.''

Porter's third goal of the season was a knuckling shot that handcuffed Goepfert. Porter dribbled the puck into the zone, then fired off the left wing. "I couldn't get it (puck) to settle down, and I was at the end of a shift, so I just tried to put it on net,'' Porter said. "I guess good things happen when you put the puck on net.''

The victory improved UND's WCHA record to 4-1, keeping the Sioux alone in first place. The Sioux, ranked 6th and 8th in national polls this week, moved to 6-3 overall with their third straight win. The Huskies, ranked 17th nationally, fell to 2-3 both in the WCHA and overall.

The Sioux meet the Huskies again at 7:05 Saturday night to conclude the two-game series.

### Contact: Jayson Hajdu