By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- It took Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore just 12 minutes, 32 seconds into today's nonconference hockey game against the University of North Dakota to know his Beavers were gnawing themselves into deep trouble.
When freshman Matt Read drew a major penalty for checking UND's Ryan Duncan from behind just 20 seconds after the Beavers' Matt Pope was called for slashing, the resulting 5-on-3 Sioux power wasn't a good sign for Bemidji State.
The Sioux scored three power-play goals in a span of one minute, 31 seconds to take command of the game on their way to a 5-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 11,842 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The victory stretched UND's nation-best unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1) and was their seventh straight win at home, tying the school mark for most consecutive wins in the new Ralph.
Sophomore center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) knocked in his own rebound at 12:59 of the opening period on a 5-on-3 power play for his 12th goal of the season.
Duncan knocked in a centering pass from VandeVelde on a 5-on-4 power play at 13:36 for his 12th of the season and junior wing Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) one-timed a Brad Miller (Jr., Alpharetta, Ga.) feed by BSU goalie Matt Climie (36 saves) on a 5-on-4 at 14:30 for his career-best seventh of the season.
It was all the offense the Sioux would need as they outshot BSU 41-18 in running their season record to 20-8-2, the sixth straight season of 20 or more wins for UND.
Duncan added another power-play goal at 19:25 of the second period to make it 4-1, and Miller scored his third goal of the season into an empty net with 68 seconds left.
Overall, UND was 4-for-10 on the power play, the most power-play goals by the Sioux since they scored five against Michigan in the NCAA regional last season. The last time UND had 10 power-play opportunities was Jan. 20, 2007, in a 6-3 home win over Bemidji State. Coincidentally, the Sioux were 4-for-10 that night, also.
Said Serratore on the three UND power-play goals in the first period: "Against a team like this (UND) in this building, and going down 5-on-3--and of course, it's not only the 5-on-3 you give up--then you've got to sit there and kill off four more minutes. After that, it really deflates you, demoralizes you. There's no question.''
It didn't help BSU that Read drew the major and game misconduct, either. "The kid who gets kicked out happens to be our best player,'' Serratore said. "So it's a double whammy.''
UND limited Bemidji State to nine shots on goal for the first 41 minutes. One minute into the third period, Sioux defenseman Taylor Chorney (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) had as many shots on net (9) as the entire BSU team.
It was a dominating performance by the Sioux, who came into the game ranked No. 2 nationally in both polls. Bemidji State, in first place in College Hockey America, was simply overpowered by a team fighting for the championship in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
"Obviously the power-play goals were the difference,'' UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Our power play was very sharp all night.''
UND's 41 shots on goal is three shy of the season most in a game by the Sioux and Bemidji's 18 shots were just three over the fewest allowed by UND this season.
UND had 21 of its 41 shots on the power play while limiting BSU (14-14-3 overall) to five shots on net on its five power plays (1- of-5).
"Along with that, I thought through the first two periods we did a good job 5-on-5, against a good team,'' Hakstol said. "With their transition, they push you with speed, get up ice quickly. So we knew we had to do a good job 5-on-5 and I thought we did a good solid job the first 40 minutes.''
The Sioux were very crisp on the power play. "The key is not to waste power-play time, and we didn't,'' Hakstol said.
VandeVelde had a three-point game (1 goal, 2 assists) as did Sioux junior center T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.), who had three assists. Duncan's two goals ties him for the team lead with linemate Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) with 13.
Senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Grand Forks)., making his nation-longest 55th straight start, finished with 17 saves, nine of them coming in the third period. All he gave up was a power-play goal by BSU defenseman Riley Weselowski from the faceoff circle at 14:28 of the second period.
Duncan pointed to UND''s success on the major penalty on Read as a key factor in the game.
"Definitely a major penalty like that can sway the momentum either way,'' Duncan said. "We were fortunate to capitalize on some of our opportunities early on that power play.''
Duncan's first power-play goal to make it 2-0 proved to be the game-winning goal. It was officially the second game-winning goal of the season for Duncan, last year's Hobey Baker Award winner.
"We got three power-play goals right off the bat, and that kind of got us rolling,'' Duncan said. "We were fortunate, because we didn't score a 5-on-5 goal the rest of the game, so that kind of propelled us to victory.''
UND improved to 14-1-1 all-time against the Beavers. This is the fourth season the two schools have met.
SIOUX NOTES: Duncan followed Chorney's 9 shots on goal with 6 of his own, second-best for the Sioux . . . The Sioux had 13 minutes, 40 seconds of power-play time compared to 6:53 for the Beavers . . . Duncan had his fourth two-goal game of the season.
