GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota men's hockey team and St. Cloud State skated to a 2-2 tie tonight at Ralph Engelstad Arena. It was the second straight tie between the teams.
UND's extended its unbeaten streak to school-record 17 games (14-0-3) and finished the regular season with a 23-8-4 overall record and 18-7-3 mark in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. St. Cloud State finished the regular season 17-14-5 overall and 12-12-4 in the WCHA.
The Fighting Sioux finished second in the WCHA standings and will play host to ninth-place Michigan Tech next weekend in a best-of-three WCHA first round playoff series. Game times are 7:37 p.m. Friday, 7:07 p.m. Saturday and if a third game is necessary, it will be played at 7:07 p.m. Sunday.
The rest of the league playoffs will feature the following matchups: Colorado College will host Alaska Anchorage, Denver will host Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State will host Minnesota and St. Cloud State will host Wisconsin.
UND opened the scoring on Saturday when Brad Miller (Jr., Alpharetta, Ga.) scored on the power play at 8:23 of the first period. Miller took a pass from Ryan Martens (Jr., Selkirk, Manitoba) and fired a shot from near the end line between St. Cloud State goalie Jase Weslosky's legs. It was Miller's fourth goal of the season. UND defenseman Joe Finley (Jr., Edina, Minn.), who had two assists on the night, also picked up an assist on the goal.
St. Cloud State forward Brent Borgen tied it with his third goal of the season 4:23 into the second period. After Aaron Brocklehurst fired a shot from near the blue line, several Huskies crashed the net, and Borgen banged the loose puck through traffic and past Sioux goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks, N.D.).
UND grabbed a 2-1 lead at 18:52 of the second period when Matt Watkins (Jr., Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) tipped a shot by defenseman Derrick LaPoint (Fr., Eau Claire, Wis.) up high over Weslosky's shoulder and into the net. It was Watkins' eighth goal of the season.
The Sioux then held off the Huskies in the third period until Ryan Lasch banged in a rebound of a Brocklehurst shot at 17:21 while the Huskies were on the power play. It was Lasch's 23rd goal of the season and gave the St. Cloud State sophomore the WCHA scoring title. Lasch finished the season with 17 goals and 17 assists in conference play.
The teams played a scoreless overtime period, with each team recording two shots on goal in the five-minute extra session.
St. Cloud State outshot North Dakota 33-30 in the game, with Lamoureux making 31 saves and Weslosky 28 saves.
Both teams were 1-of-2 on the power play.
NOTES: The attendance was 11,774, a sellout ... UND's streak of winning at least one game on 26 consecutive regular season weekends came to an end, as the Sioux tied both games of the series. The last time UND did not win at least once on a regular season weekend was Dec. 15-16, 2006, when Michigan Tech swept the Sioux in a two-game series at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
