By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS -- The University of North Dakota gave a group of high school-age guys a lesson in puck control and geography tonight.
The Fighting Sioux outshot the U.S. Under-18 team 42-21 in skating to a 5-2 exhibition victory in front of a paid attendance of 10,649 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Sioux welcomed senior defenseman Joe Finley (Edina, Minn.) and sophomore forward Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) back in the lineup after Finley missed the last 10 weeks and Trupp the last four games with injuries.
Trupp led the Sioux with a goal and two assists and Finley shook the rust off his game more each shift and delivered a few of his usual big hits in a strong performance by UND against a team that had a 4-5-1 record so far against NCAA Division I teams.
The geography lessons came in two forms.
UND's first goal was scored by Trupp at 6:10 of the opening period off the body of U.S. goalie Adam Murray, who like Trupp, is from Anchorage.
UND's second goal for a 2-1 lead at was a National Geographic goal. It was scored by Sioux sophomore center Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick) with assists to Trupp (Alaska) and freshman forward Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
Senior wing Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) scored the game-winning goal, converting a great feed from Trupp on a 2-on-1 rush, a shorthanded tally at 14:38 of the second period for a 3-2 Sioux lead.
Freshman Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) knocked in a wide-open rebound off a shot by sophomore Matt Frattin (Edmonton, Alberta) at 5:57 of the third period. Senior wing Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) sealed it with his empty-net goal at 19:10.
Freshman Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta) played in goal the first two periods for UND and finished with 10 saves, allowing both Under-18 goals. Senior Aaron Walski (Fargo, N.D.) finished in net, stopping all nine shots he faced in the final period.
Much of the attention was centered on the return of Trupp and Finley to the lineup to bolster UND's bid for a fifth straight trip to the NCAA Frozen Four.
"It's kind of like at trading deadline, having a couple of new players show up in the lockerroom,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "A couple of real good players.''
Trupp was named the star of the game with his three-point performance. "He's only out three weeks, so he jumped in and had a great impact on this game tonight,'' Hakstol said. "He was all over the place, making plays, making things happen.''
And Finley? "It's been a long time, and you consider that the majority of those weeks, not only wasn't he on the ice, he wasn't even coming to the rink,'' Hakstol said. "I'm pretty happy for him. I thought all things considered, he did a pretty good job.''
Said Finley: "Slow start, but I probably expected that, playing with different guys every shift. As the game progressed, I felt more and more comfortable. I felt fine. It's going to take a few games, I think, but the coaches aren't working me in there too fast.''
Trupp said he wasn't even aware for a while that the starting goalie for the Under-18 team was from his home town. "I know him a little bit from back home,'' Trupp said. "It seems to be the trend -- I scored on the Anchorage goalie from UAA (Alaska Anchorage), too. So it's kind of nice to get a little leverage with them back home.''
The Sioux took the lead for good in a dominating second period. UND outshot the Under-18 team 18-2 in the second stanza, but scored just the one goal, the shorthander by Watkins.
Murray, a Denver University recruit, was very good in goal for the U.S. team, finishing with 37 saves.
UND resumes regular-season action on Dec. 27 in the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit, facing Michigan State in the first game.
SIOUX NOTES: UND captain Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta) led the Sioux in shots on net with five, followed by Trupp and Gregoire with four each . . . UND was 0-for-6 on the power play, the U.S. team 0-for-7 . . . UND had a 31-23 edge in faceoffs, led by a 10-6 margin for junior forward Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba) . . . It's just the third time UND has played the Under-18 team and the Sioux have won all three meetings . . . The Sioux dressed 20 skaters for the exhibition and 12 of them had at least one point.
Foss covered Sioux hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 seasons until his retirement. He reports on UND home games exclusively for FightingSioux.com.
