By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- One streak ended and another continued Sunday afternoon for the University of North Dakota's men's hockey team.
Senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux's (Grand Forks, N.D.) nation-longest and school-record string of 55 consecutive starts ended when junior Aaron Walski (Fargo, N.D.) was given his first college start and responded with a 13-save shutout in a 1-0 victory over Bemidji State in front of an announced crowd of 11,043 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Sioux (21-8-2 overall) stretched their nation-best unbeaten streak to 13 games (12-0-1) with their eighth straight home win, an arena record since the new Ralph opened in 2001.
The victory completed a two-game nonconference sweep of the Beavers (14-15-3 overall) by the Sioux, who used four power-play goals to overpower Bemidji State on Saturday.
This time, though, it took the team-leading 14th goal of the season by junior wing Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) at 15:05 of the third period to snap a scoreless tie in a game in which the Sioux outshot the Beavers 31-13. The 13 shots is the fewest allowed by UND this season and fewest allowed by the Sioux since they allowed just 12 to Yale in a 10-0 home win on Nov. 1, 2003.
On the winning play, junior center T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.), used both his brain and his brawn to set up Kozek's wrist shot that beat BSU goalie Orlando Alamano (31 saves).
Oshie, working behind the BSU net, first escaped a BSU player by banking the puck off the back webbing of the net. Then he outmuscled BSU defenseman and captain David Deterding to dive out and shovel the puck out front in the high slot to Kozek for his fifth goal in the last four games.
"Their best player (Oshie) makes a great play, and that's what happens,'' BSU coach Tom Serratore said. "He's a heckuva hockey player. He had people draped all over him. What do you do, it's just a heckuva play.''
What the Sioux did was play stifling defense in front of Walski. Exactly seven years to the day from when he made a state tournament record 73 saves for Fargo North High School in a 2-1 loss to Grand Forks Red River in the state high school championship game in the old Ralph Engelstad Arena, Walski made a half dozen quality saves to earn player of the game honors from text-messaging fans, who vote for that award.
His best save came midway through the third period when he turned back BSU's Brandon Marino on a 2-on-1 Beaver rush.
"It was an real important win for our team and a great win for our team in regards to Aaron Walski starting tonight,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said.
Oshie's dogged determination in setting up the winning goal didn't surprise Hakstol in the least.
"We've seen that pretty consistently over the past couple of months,'' Hakstol said of Oshie, a first-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2005. "His play is at a very high level. That has a tendency to bring the level of play of the team up. And it has the effect of bringing up the confidence level of our team.''
Walski didn't face more than six shots in any periods. "He didn't have a lot of work, but for a guy who hasn't played a lot, that's really tough,'' Hakstol said. "He was sharp when he needed to be. He made three or four big saves and did the job for his teammates. He made at least one big save each period. Excellent job by Aaron.''
Walski became the first Sioux goalie to post a shutout in his first collegiate start since Marc Ranfranz stopped all 10 shots he faced in his first start and second career game in a 6-0 UND home win over Canisius on Dec. 13, 2002.
The win over Bemidji State was UND's first 1-0 win since Lamoureux made 19 saves in a 1-0 win over Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 17 of last season in Grand Forks.
It was also UND's fifth shutout of the season. The others belong to Lamoureux, the last coming on Oct. 27 at Michigan Tech.
Hakstol rewarded Walski with the start not only for his hard work in his three seasons as a backup goalie, but to prepare the Sioux for a run at the NCAA title. He had played in two exhibition games and part of two regular-season games in his first two years with the Sioux.
"We're preparing as we go to the stretch run here,'' Haktol said. "We have to be prepared on all levels and in all positions. For a number of different reasons, Aaron's start and his performance were important.''
It gave Walski a good feeling, too. "It definitely feels good to get in there and feel back up to game speed,'' Walski said. "You try to focus on practice, but until you're actually in that position, you don't get that intensity of that game speed.''
Nerves?
"I was nervous, but I was excited,'' Walski said. "It's been my dream to play here. It feels great to get a start.''
Oshie's heady play made a winner of Walski -- and the Sioux.
"I got by one guy, then another guy was coming to hit me,'' Oshie said. "So I shot it off the back of the net and let him slide by.''
Said Kozek: "T.J., like he always does, battled a couple of guys off. He gave me a couple of passes like that all game. It's about time I finally put one in there. He gave me a couple of wide-open ones; one went off the crossbar, another one the goalie made a great save. Finally one went in for us.''
The Sioux, ranked No. 2 nationally in the polls and No. 4 in the PairWise ratings which mimic the selection process used to choose the 16-team NCAA field, return to Western Collegiate Hockey Association play next Saturday and Sunday at Minnesota Duluth.
SIOUX NOTES: Sophomore defenseman Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) led the Sioux in shot on goal with five, followed by senior forward Rylan Kaip (Radville, Saskatchewan) and junior defenseman Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.) with four each . . . A day after scoring four power-play goals, the Sioux were 0-3 Sunday without a shot on net on the man advantage . . . BSU was 0-2 on the power play with two shots . . . UND allowed just 31 shots in the series (18 Saturday, 13 Sunday) against Bemidji State, the fewest allowed in a series by the Sioux since they allowed 31 shots on goal (14 and 17) in a two-game series sweep over Canisius on Dec. 17-18, 2004 . . . The last time UND won eight home games in a row was in the 1998-99 season, when UND ran off eight consecutive wins from Jan. 22, 1999, through March 6, 1999, at the old Ralph Engelstad Arena . . . The Sioux, with four WCHA games remaining, can finish no worst than third in the league and can finish as high as first.
