By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The night for UND freshman wing Mario Lamoureux (Grand Forks) certainly ended on a better night than it started.
The first college goal by Lamoureux at 12:35 of the third period staked the Fighting Sioux to a 3-1 lead over visiting St. Cloud State and proved to be the winning goal in a 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory.
His night started with pure embarrassment.
As he was leaving the ice after warmups, he caught an edge and did a pratfall right in front of the Sioux bench, with UND coaches looking on.
"I'm glad I got it out of the way before I started the game,'' Lamoureux said. "Absolutely I was embarrassed. I had a good laugh about it, so no harm there.''
Lamoureux was stationed all alone in front of St. Cloud goalie Jase Weslosky when fellow rookie Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) fed him from behind the net. Lamoureux took his time and his wrist shot banked off the left arm of Weslosky and barely trickled into the net.
It was more than enough to offset a goal by St. Cloud State's Sam Zabkowicz at 19:59.9 of the final period.
For the second Friday in a row, Sioux senior wing Ryan Martens (Selkirk, Manitoba) had a big night. Martens scored the opening goal of the game at 5:04 of the first period and snapped a 1-1 tie with his second goal at 5:25 of the third period, giving the Sioux a 2-1 lead.
Last Friday, Martens had two goals and three assists for a career night in a 10-1 win at Harvard.
The victory extended UND's winning streak to three games, longest of the season, and moved the Sioux to 5-5-1 in the WCHA and 8-8-1 overall. St. Cloud, ranked 17th nationally, dropped to 5-6 in the WCHA and 10-7 overall.
The wide-open affair featured 81 shots on goal, 46 of them by the Sioux.
"I'm sure it was an entertaining game to watch,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "Especially through the first two periods, there was racehorse hockey going on.''
Martens made sure the Sioux had the winning horse at the finish line with his sixth and seventh goals of the season. He had four goals combined in his first three seasons with the Sioux.
Martens played on a line with senior Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba), who had two assists, and senior Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Saskatchewan). They proved to be an effective unit with nine shots on net between them, led by Watkins with five.
"We had a good effort,'' Hakstol said. "St. Cloud State is a very good team. They push you in a lot of ways with speed and very good playmaking ability. But I like the job our guys did in the third period.''
Martens caught the Husky defensemen in a line change, took a feed from Zajac and snapped a wrist shot under the right arm of Weslosky to give the Sioux the lead for good in the third period.
"It's not surprising,'' Hakstol said of the scoring surge by Martens of late. "He's been a good player for us through the stretch of the last 10 games. He's one of the guys who has been contributing night after night.''
He -- and Sioux rookie goalie Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta) -- had some help early on. Defenseman Derrick LaPoint (So., Eau Claire, Wis.) batted away a puck headed for an open net in the first period and defenseman Brad Miller (Sr., Alpharetta, Ga.) did the identical trick in the second period.
Eidsness was stout as well, finishing with 33 saves. Besides the consolation goal by Zabkowicz, all Eidsness allowed was a bad-angle goal to Jared Festler that tied the score at 1-1 at 12:40 of the first period.
Of the two stops by LaPoint and Miller, Hakstol said: "They're skill plays, but also good fortune as well.''
The line of Zajac, Martens and Watkins came in for special praise. "I thought they were the line that set the tone for us,'' Hakstol said.
SIOUX NOTES: UND is now 6-1-4 in its last 11 games against the Huskies, who meet the Sioux at 7:07 Saturday night to close out the series . . . Junior Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) led the Sioux in shots on goal with 6 . . . Watkins, captain Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta) and freshman Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) followed with 5 each . . . The Sioux were 0-3 on the power play, the Huskies 0-4. UND had nine shots on the power play, the Huskies just three. . . Tonight was the first time in the last 10 games the Sioux didn't score on the power play ... Eidsness made his 14th straight appearance in goal, the longest streak by a Sioux freshman since Aaron Schweitzer played in the final 18 games of UND's 1996-97 national championship season.
Foss covered UND hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 years until his retirement. He reports on Sioux home games exclusively for FightingSioux.com.
