GRAND FORKS, N.D. ? North Dakota received goals from forward Jason Gregoire and defensemen Joe Finley and Jake Marto as the 17th-ranked Fighting Sioux skated to a 3-3 overtime tie with host Michigan Tech tonight in front of 2,234 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
UND, now 13-10-2 overall and 8-5-2 in league play, was able to extend its unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1).
The Sioux twice enjoyed leads ? building a 2-0 lead after the first period and a 3-2 lead early in the third period ? but were unable to put the finishing touches on a fifth straight win.
MTU's Peter Rohn scored a power-play 4:07 into the final frame to knot the game at 3-3 and the Sioux could not find the game-winner despite 18 third-period shots and two more in the five-minute overtime. MTU goalie Rob Nolan finished the night with 38 saves, stopping 13 of 15 shots in the first period and all 18 in the third.
"You could look at this game two ways," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. "Either we got a point on the road, or we gave away a two-goal lead."
Rohn's goal, his second of the year, came with UND killing a bench minor for too many men on the ice. The freshman center grabbed a rebound during a wild scrum in the faceoff circle to the left of Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness (Fr., Chestermere, Alberta), spun and slid the puck along the ice into a gaping UND net.
UND had taken a 3-2 lead just 93 seconds earlier on Finley's first goal of the season. Freshman forward Mario Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) fed a cross ice pass to Finley, who was wide open at the far point. The Edina, Minn., native took a few strides to the top of the circle and unleashed a booming slap shot that beat Nolan to the far side just 2:34 into the third period.
Finley's goal appeared as if it might spoil a second-period by the Huskies, who trailed 2-0 after the opening period. Gregoire and Marto built the two-goal cushion with power-play tallies in the opening period. Gregoire struck first, taking a Ryan Martens (Sr., Selkirk, Manitoba) feed at the top of the crease and banging the puck past Nolan just 4:03 into the game.
It was Gregoire's ninth goal of the season and fifth in his last four games.
Marto, a sophomore, extended the lead to 2-0 with just 59 seconds left in the period. The Grand Forks native pounced on a loose puck at the inside of the faceoff circle to the right of Nolan and found the top corner to Nolan's glove side for his second goal of the season.
Marto's goal capped a dominant period for the Sioux in which UND outshot the Huskies 15-4.
But the Huskies battled back with a pair of even-strength tallies in a four minute span early in the second period, both coming on odd-man rushes. First, Alex Gagne eluded a Finley check just inside the Sioux blueline and beat Eidsness with a wrist shot at 4:52. Then MTU's Brett Olson tied the game at 8:37, streaking down the right side and taking a Bennett Royer pass on a 3-on-2 and ripping a slap shot past Eidsness.
"We played a little slow in the second period and Michigan Tech did a good job of taking advantage," added Hakstol.
The Sioux were outshot 10-6 during the second period but held a 41-22 advantage for the game. Eidsness, making his 22nd straight appearance and 16th straight start, made 19 saves to run his personal unbeaten streak to five games.
UND went 2-for-8 on the power-play while the Huskies went 1-for-4.
"We got one point on the road," said Hakstol, "and that makes tomorrow night's game awfully important."
The two teams will square off again Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. Central.
Notes: Gregoire ran his point-scoring streak to five games and his goal-scoring streak to five games ... Freshman F Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and junior F Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) each had their point streaks snapped at five games ... Junior D and Hobey Baker candidate Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) assisted on Gregoire's first-period goal for his team-leading 24th point and career-high 22nd assist.
