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March 18, 2008

UND Men's Hockey Game Notes

Game 39
Fri. March 21, 2008
#4/5 North Dakota (25-9-4 overall)
vs.
#6 Denver (24-13-1 overall)
2:07 p.m. Central Daylight Time
St. Paul, Minn.
Xcel Energy Center (18,064 NHL capacity)

Game 40
Sat. March 22, 2008
#4/5 North Dakota vs. TBA
2:07 p.m. OR 7:07 p.m. Central Daylight Time
St. Paul, Minn.
Xcel Energy Center (18,064 NHL capacity)

2008 WCHA Final Five Schedule
Thu., March 20, 7:07 p.m. CST ? #4 St. Cloud State vs. #5 Minnesota (TV? Fox Sports Net North)
Fri., March 21, 2:07 p.m. CST ?  #2 North Dakota vs. #3 Denver  (TV? Fox Sports Net North)
Fri., March 21, 7:07 p.m. CST ? Thursday winner  vs. #1 Colorado College (TV? Fox Sports Net North)
Sat., March 22, 2:07 p.m. CST ? Third Place Game (TV? Fox Sports Net North)
Sat., March 22, 7:07 p.m. CST ? Championship Game (TV? Fox Sports Net North)

UND set for Final Five matchup with DU: For the sixth year in a row, 11th time in the past 12 years, and 12th time in the 16-year history of the Final Five in its current format, North Dakota (25-9-4 overall) is headed to St. Paul, Minn., for the WCHA Final Five. The Fighting Sioux qualified for the Final Five by defeating Michigan Tech (4-0 win; 3-2 overtime loss; 2-1 win) in the first round of the WCHA playoffs this past weekend.
 
UND, the No. 2 seed, will play a semifinal game against No. 3 seed Denver (24-13-1 overall) at 2:07 p.m. on Friday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Seeding information:
? The No. 2 seed is UND's highest since the Sioux were seeded No. 1 in 2004.
? This will be the second time the Sioux have been seeded No. 2 in the last 16 years. The Sioux have been the top seed five times, the No. 3 seed twice, the No. 4 seed once and the No. 5 seed twice.
? North Dakota has won the Final Five tournament three times ? in 1997 as a No. 1 seed, in 2000 as the No. 2 seed and in 2006 as the No. 3 seed.
? UND is 13-8 in its previous 11 appearances at the Final Five. Last year UND defeated St. Cloud State 6-2 in the semifinals and then lost to Minnesota 3-2 in overtime in the championship game.

Fighting Sioux in the WCHA playoffs:
? UND's overall WCHA playoff record is 77-57-7 in 141 games for a winning percentage of .571.
? UND has won eight WCHA playoff titles in its history (1967, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1997, 2000 and 2006).
? UND has won 11 consecutive home first round playoff series.

UND vs. DENVER
Series: The Sioux were 3-1 against Denver this season. The teams split a Nov. 30-Dec. 1 series in Denver (1-0 Denver win, 3-1 UND win) and UND swept a Feb. 15-16 series in Grand Forks (5-4 and 4-1 UND wins). UND has won four of its past five games against Denver.
 
This is the first time either team has played on neutral ice this season. The Sioux are 1-6 all-time against the Pioneers on neutral ice.

Michigan Tech takes Sioux to three games in WCHA first round: It took three games for UND to get to the Final Five. The Sioux beat Michigan Tech 4-0 to open the league playoffs, but Tech came back to win 3-2 in overtime on Saturday to force a game three.
 
Sunday's third game was the sixth time  in the 16 years of the Final Five format that UND has gone to a game three in the first round, and for the sixth time, UND came out on top, defeating the Huskies 2-1.   

Two unbeaten streaks end: By falling 3-2 in overtime to Michigan Tech on Saturday, North Dakota's school-record 18-game unbeaten streak (15-0-3) came to an end, as did its 11-game home unbeaten streak (9-0-2).

UND Ice Chips:
? Saturday's overtime loss was UND's first loss in overtime since Minnesota's Blake Wheeler scored on March 17, 2007, to give the Gophers a 3-2 overtime win in the WCHA Final Five championship game.
? The Sioux held the Huskies without a shot on goal in the first period in Friday's 4-0 win. It's the second time this season UND has held an opponent shotless in a period. UND held St. Cloud State without a shot in the second period of a 3-2 loss on Jan. 4 in St. Cloud, Minn.
? T.J. Oshie (Jr., Warroad, Minn.) now has a team-best 17 goals on the season, one more than Kozek's 16 goals.
? Oshie's game winner was the 16th of his career, moving him all alone into second place on the all-time school list, two behind school record holder Mark Taylor (1976-80).
? Oshie recorded his 12th and 13th multipoint games of the season during the Michigan Tech series.
? Ryan Duncan's (Jr., Calgary, Alberta) game-winning goal on Friday against Michigan Tech was his third of the season and the 12th of his career.
? In Friday's contest against Tech, Duncan collected his 10th multipoint game of the season, while Genoway notched his fifth multipoint contest of the season.
? Defenseman Zach Jones (Jr., Lisle, Ill.) was whistled for three minor penalties Friday, snapping a 23-game streak without a penalty for Jones.

Shots hard to come by for opponents:  UND gives up an average of just 24.3 shots per game, and the Sioux have given up fewer than 20 shots on goal in seven of their past 11 games.
 
Against Michigan Tech last weekend, UND allowed just 51 shots in three games,  (14 Friday, 26 Saturday, 11 Sunday). That's an average of 17 shots on goal allowed per game.
 
The 11 shots on goal allowed Sunday to Michigan Tech were the fewest allowed by the Sioux in a game since they allowed just 10 shots on goal in a 6-0 win over Canisius on Dec. 13, 2002.
 
Another Lamoureux shutout: Goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks, N.D.) posted his sixth shutout of the season and 10th of his career last Friday by stopping all 14 Michigan Tech shots.
 
Lamoureux's sixth shutout tied him with Jordan Parise for the second-best single-season shutout total in school history. Parise had six shutouts in 2005-06. The school single-season record is eight shutouts by Karl Goehring in 1999-2000.
 
Lamoureux's 10 career shutouts are tied with Parise for second behind Goehring's 15 career shutouts.
 
Lamoureux posted his 57th career win Sunday, second on UND's all-time win list. Goehring won a UND school-record 80 games.
 
Lamoureux leads the nation with a 1.63 goals against average and is among four players tied for the second nationally in save percentage (.934), just a fraction of a percentage point behind the national leader, Colorado College's Richard Bachman (.935).