By Virg Foss

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali gained fame for his rope-a-dope tactic whereby he allowed his opponent to punch himself out in the early rounds before taking charge and winning at the end.

That unplanned strategy worked perfectly for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's hockey team tonight in a 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Gophers outshot the Sioux 15-3 in the first period and 28-12 through two scoreless periods, but the Sioux outshot the Gophers 18-13 in the third period and outscored them 4-2 to the delight of a sellout crowd of 11,834 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

In a game where Sioux senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) finished with a personal season-high 37 saves in outplaying Gopher junior goalie Jeff Frazee, who finished with 26 saves, the Sioux never trailed despite the huge shot advantage for the Gophers through 40 minutes.

Sioux sophomore defenseman Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba), who missed the last three games with a lower body injury, broke the scoring drought with a high slap shot over Frazee's left shoulder at 1:37 of the third period.

Minnesota answered on a power-play goal by Blake Wheeler at 7:10.

Sioux senior captain Rylan Kaip (Radville, Saskatchewan) then went glove side off his forehand to beat Frazee at 11:37 for a 2-1 Sioux lead.

But Minnesota answered with a power-play goal on a deflection by Ryan Flynn at 14:58, tying the game at 2-all.

UND junior left wing Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) scored the game-winning goal at 16:23, wheeling through traffic to flick a wrist shot over Frazee's left shoulder just inside the post for the third goal of the season for Watkins and the third game-winning goal of his career.

With the arena rocking with noise, UND freshman wing Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick) scored his first college goal 32 seconds later to clinch it. He mopped up a failed wrap-around effort by rookie Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) with his low wrist shot at 16:55 to close out the scoring.

"That goal was huge,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "It was an insurance marker in a game that went back and forth, back and forth. It was very important for the team, very important for Brad.''

It was UND's first win over the Gophers in their last four meetings in Grand Forks, but the Sioux have now won five of the last six meetings between the two teams overall.

The 39 shots by Minnesota is the most allowed by the Sioux this season and the 15 given up to the Gophers in the first period tied an opening-period high against UND this season.

That aside, Lamoureux was the difference as he made his 39th consecutive start, one shy of the school record, a memorable one.

Lamoureux, named the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week last week after giving up just two goals in a weekend split at Denver University, seemed to thrive on all the work.

"We knew they are a very good first-period team and would throw a lot of shots on net,'' Lamoureux said of Minnesota. "I was able to get into the game early. But the defensemen did a great job of boxing out again, allowing me to see pucks.''

Hakstol saw the game-winning goal by Watkins this way: "On Watty's winning goal, it was just turn and firing, and that's a good play. It's tough to get pucks to the net in this league,'' Hakstol said. "You get a puck to the net when you can. Good things happen when you put pucks on net.''

The Sioux were on their heels for much of their two periods as the Gophers controlled play and shots.

But the Sioux came out blazing in the third period, getting six more shots on goal in the final 20 minutes than they managed in the first two periods combined.

"We survived the first period where we didn't have a lot of energy, a lot of jump,'' Hakstol said. "But we survived and it got a little bit better through Phil Lamoureux giving us that chance. Then the third period went our way.''

Breaks didn't go UND's way early. Junior T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.) rang a shot off the crossbar late in the first period and Kaip hit the goal post three minutes into the third period with UND leading 1-0. Call that one a Kaip pipe.

UND showed plenty by answering both of Minnesota's goals that tied the game in the third period.

"This team responds, there's no question about that,'' Hakstol said. "That's one thing we've done all year. We have good leadership and the guys showed good composure. Maybe better composure than their coach did. They found a way to go out and get the job done.''

Weathering Minnesota's pressure early on was a key, Malone said. "I wouldn't say surprised. We got set back on our heels a little bit,'' he said. '"We came together a little more (in the third period) and beared down on the little things to make a difference.''

Malone tipped his hat to Lamoureux. "He's been great all year, and he's one of the backbones of the team,'' Malone said. "He's a great player.''

Said Minnesota's Flynn of UND's third-period uprising. "Bounces just started going their way,'' he said. "We came back, and they'd pop another one. We did some good things tonight, and we're proud of that. He's a solid goaltender. Coming in here, we knew he'd be a tough goalie to beat.''

And tonight, the Gophers couldn't beat him -- or the Sioux.

UND, ranked 7/8 in two national polls, improves to 8-5-1 overall and 6-5-0 in the WCHA. Minnesota, ranked No. 15 nationally, falls to 8-8-1 overall and 4-7-0 in the WCHA.

The rematch is at 7:07 p.m. tonight with the Sioux shooting for their first series sweep of the season after splitting their first five WCHA series.

SIOUX NOTES: In a bubble hockey game before the actual game, former UND coach Dean Blais shut out former Gopher coach Doug Woog 4-0 ... The 39 consecutive starts for Lamoureux is the longest active streak in the nation. If he starts Saturday, as expected, he would tie the school record of 40 consecutive starts set by Al Finkelstein in 1951-52 and 1952-53 ... The 11,834 attendance was the largest crowd of the season and fourth-largest in school history ... It was the sixth consecutive home sellout for UND this season.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 36 years for the Grand Forks Herald before retiring in 2005. He can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.