DETROIT, Mich.--For the second consecutive day, the Fighting Sioux came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 score at the Great Lakes Invitational.
Michigan Tech forward Jordan Baker scored with 5:58 remaining to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Huskies to a 2-1 win in today's third place game at Joe Louis Arena.
The loss dropped the 18th-ranked Sioux back below .500 at 9-10-1.
Baker's goal came just six minutes after the Sioux had tied the game. During a scramble at the edge of the Sioux crease, Baker wacked away at the puck at the side of the net and managed to tuck it in the far side, past a sprawled Brad Eidsness (Fr., Chestermere, Alberta), for his team-leading eighth goal of the year.
The Sioux pushed for the equalizer, pulling Eidsness for an extra attacker with 51 seconds remaining, but were unable to get a quality scoring chance in the final minute.
It is the first time UND has ever gone winless at the GLI.
“We had a good effort, but our execution level wasn't good enough to produce tonight, offensively,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol.
“Give Michigan Tech credit - they played a good, strong hockey game.”
The two teams skated through a scoreless first period in which the Sioux held the Huskies, the lowest scoring team in Division I, to just three shots on goal. It was the fewest shots allowed by the Sioux in a single period all season.
After nearly another scoreless 20 minutes, MTU's Ryan Angelow opened the scoring with 2:42 left in the second period. Sioux senior defensemen Joe Finley (Edina, Minn.) and Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) both got caught in the Tech zone and Ryan Angelow led a 2-on-1 rush with forward Brett Hextall (Fr., Manhattan Beach, Calif.) the only Sioux back. Angelow initially looked pass as he entered the Sioux zon, but instead fired a wrist shot to the far side for his first goal of the year.
UND eventually tied it 8:14 into the third period. Hextall found Evan Trupp (So., Anchorage, Alaska) stationed at the right faceoff dot and Trupp one-time Hextall's pass past Husky goalie Rob Nolan to tie the game.
Nolan finished with 29 saves in earning his second win of the year. Seven of his saves came during North Dakota power-plays, which came up empty in seven tries.
“I thought our power-play was a little robotic this weekend,” said Hakstol. “I don't think we generated a lot of momentum with our power-play.”
Eidsness finished with 18 saves for the Sioux, who will continue non-conference play next weekend with a home-and-home series with Bemidji State.
Notes: Junior D Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) played in his 100th career game ... Eidsness made his 17th straight appearance in goal, the longest streak by a Sioux freshman since Aaron Schweitzer played in the final 18 games of UND's 1997-98 NCAA championship season. It was also Eidsness' 11th straight start.
