By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D.--On a night where Halloween attire was the dress of choice for many of the 11,684 fans jamming Ralph Engelstad Arena, UND Fighting Sioux rookie Jason Gregoire was an easy winner for most popular costume.
Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba), unveiled himself as the goal-scoring magician he was in junior hockey as the Fighting Sioux made their first home game a memorable one.
Gregoire wristed a shot from the low slot through the legs of Wisconsin goalie Shane Connelly with 5:15 left in regulation play to give UND a 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over the Badgers.
Sophomore Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) won the faceoff in the Badger zone and worked it ahead to Gregoire, who was named the United States Hockey League player of the year last season after scoring 37 goals for the Lincoln Stars.
It was Gregoire's first college goal and sent the Sioux (2-1 WCHA, 2-3 overall) home with a win. Wisconsin (0-4-1 WCHA, 0-6-1 overall) is now off to its worst start in league play since 1975-76.
Gregoire's goal capped a night of comebacks for the Sioux, who trailed 1-0 in the second period and 2-1 in the third.
But a rebound goal by senior Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) at 3:54 of the final period tied it, setting Gregoire up the his heroics.
"I'll take it,'' Gregoire said of his big goal, "especially with family in the stands.''
His shot went exactly where he intended it to. "I was aiming 5-hole,'' Gregoire said. "He opened up the 5-hole, so I found it there.''
The fans in jammed-packed Ralph Engelstad Arena loved it. "It was something else,'' Gregoire said of the atmosphere in the building. "I've never experienced something like that. It was just electric out there.''
The Sioux outshot the Badgers 45-22, but Connelly (42 saves) was good, as was Sioux freshman goalie Brad Eidsness (20 saves).
It made for the best Halloween ever for Gregoire. "I can remember when I was 8 years old and I got a lot of candy,'' he joked. "But I'll take the goal.''
Senior forward Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) scored his second goal of the season at 6:53 of the second period to tie it at 1-1 and answer Derek Stephan's goal for the Badgers five minutes earlier.
Miller, who had six shots on goal (second only to Trupp's seven), sniped his shot high on the glove side of Connelly off right wing.
"I was watching the replay on the scoreboard, and I probably shouldn't have even shot there,'' Miller said. "But I'm not going to complain.''
Brendan Smith put Wisconsin back on top 2-1 with his power-play goal at 2:00 of the third period, but the lead didn't last long.
Kozek pounded his second goal of the season home on a rebound from a Darcy Zajac (Jr., Winnipeg, Manitoba) shot at 3:54 of the final period to tie it at 2-all.
The Sioux, who had at least 12 shots in every period in pressuring the Badgers all night, finally cashed in a key power play. Gregoire power-play goal was UND's only one of the night after they had gone 0-for-6 up to that point with the man advantage.
Being behind twice didn't seen to faze the Sioux. "You always have a chance to battle back when you're playing well,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "And we played well from the drop of the puck today.''
Hakstol felt the Sioux received solid play from all four lines and all six defensemen, along with stout play from Eidsness. "That has to be a common theme of this hockey team for us to be successful,'' Hakstol said.
The Sioux showed no rust from a weekend off. "I was a little concerned that with the bye week last week, we might not have our legs right away,'' Hakstol said. "That didn't seem to really be a problem.''
The Sioux outshot the Badgers 17-11 in the first period, 12-5 in the second and a huge 16-6 margin in the telling third period.
"It was a hard-fought battle for 60 minutes," Hakstol said, "but we were ready to play.''
And on the big stage, Gregoire was ready to deliver on some his his hype.
"It wasn't a great angle,'' Hakstol said of Gregoire's goal, "but that's just a goal-scorer's goal. He's got quick, strong hands. He scores goals like that on a regular basis in practice. You take a look at it and think maybe that wasn't a great goal. But when it happens time after time, I don't think it was an accident. It was a good play by a guy who can score.''
SIOUX NOTES: Wisconsin has led in the final period in four of its seven games so far, but hasn't won any of them . . . Sixteen of the 18 Sioux skaters finished with at least one shot on goal with only defensemen Zach Jones (Sr., Lisle, Ill.) and Ben Blood (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) not registering a shot . . . The Sioux had 11 shots in their seven power plays, the Badgers just two shots on their four power plays.
Foss, who covered Fighting Sioux hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement, reports on Sioux home games for FightingSioux.com.
