By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Fourteen games into the 2008-09 college hockey season, a weekend series sweep continues evade the University of North Dakota's men's team.
Cornell University of Ithaca, N.Y., snapped a 1-1 tie at 16:37 of the third period tonight to beat the Sioux 2-1, salvage a split of the nonconference series and ratchet up the level of frustration for the Sioux.
A blast from the right face-off circle by Cornell senior wing Evan Barlow went into the net off Big Red captain Colin Greening to give the Big Red, 7-3 losers on Friday, a series split in front of 11,450 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Barlow was originally credited with the goal, but the shot appeared to go in off the back of a Cornell player. Fifteen minutes after the game ended, who scored the goal was unclear until video replay showed the puck ricocheted off the arm of Greening.
"I just saw it hit the net and I was jumping,'' Barlow said.
The goal came exactly two minutes after Sioux freshman Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) buried a loose puck at the side of the net with Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens down on the ice and out of position.
The goal, coming at 14:37 of the third period on a power play, was the fifth of the season for Hextall, tying him for the team lead in goals. Defensemen Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) assisted on the goal.
It also marked the seventh straight game in which the Sioux have scored at least one power-play goal, but the tie disappeared in a hurry.
UND senior defenseman Zach Jones (Lisle, Ill.) was penalized for interference 28 seconds after the goal by Hextall. Cornell's winner came off that penalty.
Earlier, Cornell had taken a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal by senior captain Michael Kennedy. He buried a high shot short side just inside the pipe past Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta) on a 2-on-1 rush at 15:07 of the second period.
It was the fifth shorthanded goal given up by UND this season.
While UND got some bounces leading to goals in Friday's victory, breaks didn't go its way tonight.
A goal by Sioux captain Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta) on a power play at 16:41 of the first period was disallowed after officials looked at the goal on video replay. UND coach Dave Hakstol said the officials told him the goal was disallowed because of goalie interference.
A minute later, Sioux sophomore forward Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) hit the crossbar with a high blast on a short 5-on-3 Sioux power play. Trupp later suffered an upper body injury at 2:30 of the third period and didn't return to the game.
UND never had a chance to build momentum after Hextall's tying goal.
"I think we were all feeling pretty confident after that goal,'' Hextall said. "Everyone believed we were going to do it after that and finally get our first sweep. Unfortunately, that's how hockey is. You get called for penalties, bad timing, and they got a bounce. I think it went off their guy and in.''
Duncan said the winning goal went in off either the chest or shoulder of a Cornell player. "That was just bounce they needed,'' Duncan said. "That's the type of team they are. They wanted to keep the game close and rely on that sort of bounce. It's not that we didn't have our chances to respond. We had a couple of pucks sitting in the crease there.''
Good bounces for the Sioux one night, bad breaks the next.
"It's kind of the way our season has gone so far,'' Duncan said. "Last night bounces went our way, so we were excited this morning. We felt our season could be turning around. This is just a slight step back.''
The loss dropped the Sioux to 5-8-1 overall while Cornell improved to 5-1-2 with just its second win over UND in six meetings.
Hakstol credited Cornell for making it tougher on the Sioux, who had just 23 shots on goal to 30 for the Big Red.
"I think they did a good job playing a little tighter,'' Hakstol said. "They were tighter in their own end, and a little tougher to get to their net. But I didn't think we had the same jump throughout our lineup (as on Friday).''
Hakstol knows how bounces can determine a game, one way or another.
"Those are the bounces of the game,'' Hakstol said. "Tonight we have a disallowed goal that goes against us, and tonight we have a game-winner I think going in off one of their forwards' back.''
Hakstol called the disallowed goal a major part of the game. "It's a big difference playing one-goal up against a team that is as good defensively as they are,'' Hakstol said. "There's a big difference in the energy level you get from scoring a great power-play goal.''
Hakstol was asked if Cornell is as good of a team as the Sioux have played this season. "We say that week after week. There's a lot of good hockey teams. Absolutely, they're a good hockey team. They're solid in all areas, from goaltending on out.''
The Sioux did show improvement in faceoffs, winning 40 of 66, led by a 20-8 edge for junior center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.).
Eidsness finished with 28 saves while Scrivens stopped 22.
The Sioux continue non-conference play next weekend with a two-game series at Harvard.
SIOUX NOTES: In Friday's 7-3 Sioux victory, Chay Genoway's 5-point game (1 goal, 4 assists) was a career high as were the 4-point games for Matt Frattin (3 goals, 1 assist) and Evan Trupp (1 goal, 3 assists) . . . Genoway's 5 points were the most by a Sioux player since Brandon Bochenski's 5 against Minnesota in 2004 and the most by a Sioux defenseman since Travis Roche had 5 points in a game against Minnesota in 2000.
Virg Foss, who covered Sioux hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement, reports on UND home games exclusively for fightingsioux.com.
