By Virg Foss

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota hasn't had a sweep of a two-game series at home since Oct. 6-7, 2006, and hasn't swept a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Ralph Engelstad Arena in its last nine tries.

A poor second period by the Sioux and a goal scored from 85 feet away to snap a 2-2 tie in the third period led to a 4-2 defeat of the Sioux tonight by Minnesota Duluth in front of 11,674 fans.

It didn't sit well with UND head coach Dave Hakstol, who showed his unhappiness in the post-game press conference.

"We gave up two bad goals,'' Hakstol said. "Good plays by Duluth, but we didn't make them work for it. We turned the puck over, and in a tight defensive game, that's the difference. That, plus you add our second period in. That's enough to get you beat in this league pretty much 10 out of 10 times.

Duluth's victory, coming on the heels of an 8-3 Sioux win Friday night, was Duluth's first win in Engelstad Arena in the last 11 games (1-9-1). Duluth hadn't won in Grand Forks since March 2, 2003.

Bulldog sophomore center Drew Akins, who came into the game without a goal this season, scored twice to pace the Bulldogs.

His last goal was a killer. His harmless-looking wrist shot from just over the red line at center ice, bounced and skipped past Sioux goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks, N.D.) at 11:37 of the third period. It turned out to be the game-winning goal and was followed by an empty-net goal from Matt McKnight with 50 seconds left in the game with Lamoureux pulled for an extra attacker.

Junior forward Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) had rallied the Sioux to a 2-2 tie with his sixth goal of the season at 4:56 of the third period.

Kozek fished the puck out of the skates of Bulldog center Jordan Fulton and cracked a hard wrist shot past Duluth goalie Alex Stalock.

But whatever momentum the Sioux gained from that vanished on the improbable second goal by Akins.

Hakstol didn't care about the history of UND's inability to sweep at home the past two seasons.

"It's twice,'' he said, referring to an earlier home split this season against Colorado College when the Sioux also lost the back half of the doubleheader.

"I don't care what happened last year,'' Hakstol said. "It's twice in our building, and yeah, that bothers us.''

The game was tied 1-1 after one period when an opening goal by Sioux senior captain Rylan Kaip (Radville, Saskatchewan) at 8:36 on a rebound was answered by a deflection goal by Duluth's MacGregor Sharp at 15:11.

But in the second period, the Sioux mustered just four shots on goal in 20 minutes and fell behind 2-1 when Akins banged in a feed out of the corner by Cody Danberg at 9:21.

"Definitely we kind of fell asleep in the second period,'' Kaip said. "You can't do that against any team in this league. They're going to pounce on that.''

The Sioux have scored 14 goals in their two Friday home WCHA games this season but just three goals in the Saturday rematches.

"We've got to play 60 minutes,'' Kaip said. "We didn't do that. That's why we lost.''

Kaip's goal was his fourth this year, one shy of his career season best of five, established last year.

"I thought we came out with some jump in the third period,'' Kaip said. "Koz scored a big goal for us. That put some wind in our sails. But like I said before, you've got to play 60 minutes.''

The Bulldogs, who drew the wrath of head coach Scott Sandelin Friday night after being blitzed for four third-period goals by UND, turned in a solid all-around performance tonight.

"I was really disappointed in our third period Friday,'' Sandelin said. "I was embarrassed, and I think they (Bulldog players) were embarrassed. Our guys came out and battled, and obviously we got a bounce tonight.''

The second goal by Akins was like an early Christmas present for Duluth.

"You take it, it's like (Brad) Miller's last night,'' Sandelin said. "It's a lucky bounce, and obviously it proved to be the game winner. The bounces went our way tonight.''

Like Hakstol, Sandelin never saw the puck go in on the shot by Akins.

"All I know is I heard people cheering, and some people aahing,'' Sandelin said. "Funny things happen when you put pucks on net. I was sure happy to see it go in, I know that, because I thought they had a lot of momentum after they scored.''

Sandelin said he thought his Bulldogs kind of quit at the end of Friday's loss.

"As you know in this league, you've got to play 60 minutes,'' Sandelin said. "I thought it was a gutsy performance. Saturdays are hard to win. When you get it put to you in the third period (the night before), you don't know what emotions are going through guys. But I'm really proud of our guys.''

The strange goal by Akins isn't what bothered Hakstol the most.

"A bad goal against is something that's out of your control,'' he said. "That's not what I'm concerned with. I look at the first two. We had both of those on our tape (on Sioux sticks) with full possession, not just for half a second. We had full possession for two, three seconds. We didn't make responsible plays with the puck. Those two defensively are the two that I look at.''

Hakstol went back to a lackluster second period by UND. "We played two out of three periods,'' he said. "Until we figure out that's not good enough, especially after you win the night before, we're not going to win a lot of hockey games on night No. 2. And that's the issue.''

Kozek's sixth goal of the season leaves him one shy of his career best at UND, set during his freshman season two years ago when he had seven.

The second period haunted Hakstol.

"There was no urgency to our game in the second period,'' Hakstol said. "We weren't terrible, but that's not what we're shooting for here. If you want to be a team that's going to be a top-five team, a top-three team, you have to play with urgency every single period. I thought Duluth did a real good job tonight. They played hard as we knew they would.

"But you look at ourselves, and that's the bottom line,'' Hakstol said. "Two out of three periods isn't good enough.''

The Sioux outshot Duluth 22-18 with Lamoureux finishing with 14 saves to 20 for Stalock.

The Sioux, who play at Denver University next weekend, slipped to 4-4-0 in the WCHA and 6-4-1 overall. Duluth improved to 5-4-1 in the WCHA and 6-4-2 overall.

SIOUX NOTES: Kozek led the Sioux in shots on goal with four. Junior defenseman Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.) had three shots on net, and no other Sioux player more than two . . . The Sioux played without sophomore forward Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba), who was injured in Friday's game. Hakstol said his injury will be evaluated again on Monday . .. Lamoureux made his 36th consecutive start in goal, four shy of the Sioux record of 40 set by Al Finkelstein in the 1961-52 and 1952-53 seasons.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 years for the Grand Forks Herald before retiring in 2005. Foss can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.