GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- When UND senior captain Chay Genoway was knocked down and out of the game on an illegal check late in the second period, his teammates didn't let him down.
Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) left the ice for good with 2:33 left in the second period on a 5-minute major checking from behind hit from St. Cloud State's Aaron Marvin.
St. Cloud had just rallied from a 3-0 deficit to trim the Sioux lead to 3-2 on Tony Mosey's rebound goal just 45 seconds before Genoway's injury and the loss of their captain could have derailed the Sioux.
It did not. Sophomore right wing David Toews (Winnipeg, Manitoba) scored his second goal of the game on a power play at 5:13 of the third period, cementing UND's 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory in front of a sellout of 11,792 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Toews, attempting to center the puck from the right of St. Cloud goalie Mike Lee, instead banked it off of Lee's pads and into the net for his first career multi-goal game.
"It's never a good sign when your captain goes down,'' Toews said. "But I think it gave us a little extra jump and little extra boost to go out there and win the game for him. It definitely gave us a little extra motivation. I'm not sure if they got a little hesitant because of it.''
Toews was named No. 1 star of the game by the print media.
"David Toews, we're just seeing a continuation of the early part of the year of what he's been able to build here,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "He looks like a very confident player, he looks like a strong player. We're starting to see him do things naturally out there.''
The victory kept the Sioux, ranked No. 2 nationally, in a tie for first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with Colorado College, both with 5-1-1 league records.
It also stretched UND's home unbeaten streak to 17 games (14-0-3), two shy of the school record set from during the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons.
Sophomore defenseman Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.), voted No. 2 star of the game, had a career-best two assists after coming in with one assist total in his first 39 games.
He assisted on the first goal of the game by senior center Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba) at 6:23 of the first and made a strong rush down left wing to center the puck to sophomore wing Mario Lamoureux (Grand Forks) at 13:16 for a 2-0 margin.
Blood went coast-to-coast on his setup for Lamoureux, using his right arm to hold off St. Cloud captain Garrett Raboin, then dishing the puck one-handed with his left hand.
"I can't even believe I burned him wide,'' Blood said of his play against Raboin.
Toews took a drop pass from freshman Carter Rowney (Sexsmith, Alberta) and buried a wrist shot from left wing on the short side of Lee for a 3-0 lead at 7:50 of the second period.
But the Huskies rallied with goals from Ryan Lasch and Mosey to make it 3-2 before the injury to Genoway aroused the Sioux once again.
The Sioux, who held just a 25-23 shot advantage on the Huskies, overcame a shaky second period to win.
"I thought we had to grind it out all game,'' Hakstol said. "I didn't think we had a good energy level really from the drop of the puck. We had spurts where we had a little bit of jump. It came down to finding a way to win. I thought we did a good job of that.''
Right after the game, Hakstol said he knew little of the extent of Genoway's injury. The Sioux captain had to be helped off the ice and immediately went underneath with Sioux trainer Mark Poolman, and didn't return.
"All I know is that he wasn't able to go in the third (period), and I know absolutely nothing beyond that,'' Hakstol said. "I haven't had a chance to speak with anybody.''
SIOUX NOTES: Zajac led the Sioux in shots on goal with 4, followed by Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick), Derrick LaPoint (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) with three each . . . Lasch led St. Cloud with six shots on goal . . . The Huskies played without leading scorer Garrett Roe, who sat out a one-game suspension for violating unnamed team rules . . . Each team was 1-for-3 on the power play . . . The Sioux had a 30-23 edge in faceoff wins with Malone and Zajac (8-4) and Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) winning 12 of 21 ... The game was UND's 22nd consecutive WCHA sellout.
Virg Foss covered Fighting Sioux hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement. He now reports exclusively on UND home games for FightingSioux.com.
