ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- UND goalie Philippe Lamoureux (Jr., Grand Forks, N.D.) made 32 saves to lead the Fighting Sioux men's hockey team to a 3-3 tie with second-ranked St. Cloud State on Friday, allowing the Sioux to clinch a home ice berth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
The Sioux assured themselves of home ice after Michigan Tech lost 3-1 to Minnesota on Friday. Tech can no longer surpass UND and neither can Wisconsin, which defeated Minnesota Duluth 3-1. UND's opponent won't be decided until Saturday night, the last night of the regular season.
The tie allowed North Dakota to move into a third-place tie with Denver, which lost 3-0 to Colorado College on Friday.
UND's record is now 18-12-5 overall and 12-10-5 in the WCHA. St. Cloud State is 20-6-7 overall and 14-6-7 in the WCHA.
The Sioux can still finish as high as third in the final regular season standings. A win or tie Saturday will ensure the Sioux at least fourth.
North Dakota opened the scoring 5:46 into the game when Sioux captain Chris Porter (Sr., Thunder Bay, Ontario) deflected in a blast from the right point by Robbie Bina (Jr., Grand Forks, N.D.). It was Porter's seventh goal of the season. Sioux forward Brad Miller (So., Alpharetta, Ga.) also picked up an assist on the goal.
The Huskies tied it at 7:34 when defenseman Casey Borer fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle past Lamoureux.
The tie only lasted 15 seconds, though, as VandeVelde picked up a loose puck in front of St. Cloud State goalie Bobby Goepfert and lifted it over Goepfert for his first career goal. Miller and Porter assisted on the tally.
Porter finished with a two-point night (goal, assist) on a night that he also played in his 167th career game, tying a UND school record also shared by former Sioux Quinn Fylling and Lee Davidson.
UND took a 3-1 lead at 12:40 of the first period when Jonathan Toews (So., Winnipeg, Manitoba) scored on a rebound of a shot by Ryan Duncan (So., Calgary, Alberta).
The assist extended Duncan's point-scoring streak to 10 games.
The Fighting Sioux killed off three St. Cloud State power play opportunities in the first period. The Huskies outshot the Sioux, 15-10, in the period.
St. Cloud State cut the lead to 3-2 at 4:09 of the second period when Andrew Gordon's slap shot from the right side trickled through Lamoureux's legs after it appeared Lamoureux stopped Gordon's shot.
The Huskies tied it 3-3 at 9:12 of the second on a power play goal by Dan Kronick, who scored on a rebound of a John Swanson shot. The power play goal snapped a string of 21 consecutive opponent power plays that UND had killed.
There was no further scoring in the second period, during which UND outshot St. Cloud State, 12-11.
The third period was scoreless, with each team getting one power play opportunity and UND outshooting SCSU, 9-7. UND outshot St. Cloud State 6-2 in overtime and 37-35 in the game.
Saturday's series finale will start at 7:07 p.m. at the National Hockey Center.
NOTES: Attendance at Friday's game was a standing-room only crowd of 6,178.
