GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- One could say the UND Fighting Sioux hockey team was Dunn in by goaltending tonight.

Sioux freshman goalie Aaron Dell (Airdrie, Alberta) stopped just four of the seven shots he faced in just over a period of play in his second college start in a 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association loss by the Sioux to St. Cloud State.

On the other end, St. Cloud goalie Dan Dunn stopped 47 shots as the Huskies ended UND's home unbeaten streak at 17 games (14-0-3), two shy of the school record.

The Huskies used a shorthanded goal by Travis Novak and a rebound goal by Ryan Lasch to build a 2-0 lead after one period despite being outshot 20-6.

When Dell gave up a goal to Greg Gaudet on the first shot of the second period, UND coach Dave Hakstol replaced him with sophomore Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta), who stopped all 20 shots he faced.

The Sioux did rally on the first goal of the season by junior center Brad Malone at 1:23 of the second period and on senior center Chris VandeVelde's (Moorhead, Minn.) third of the season at 18:16 of the third period with Eidsness pulled for a sixth attacker.

The loss dropped the Sioux (5-2-1 WCHA, 7-2-1) out of a tie for first in the league, one game behind Colorado College. St. Cloud State improved to 3-2-1 in the WCHA, 4-4-2 overall.

A goal jammed in on a goal-mouth scramble by Sioux sophomore forward Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) that was disallowed after a video review loomed large at the end.

The official explained to Hakstol that he intended to blow his whistle stopping play before the puck went in, though he never did. "The puck was covered, he intended to blow his whistle, I don't know. I don't care,'' Hakstol said. "I disagree with it. I like consistency from night-to-night. That's all I'll say and I'll leave it at that.''

What Hakstol did like was a performance as a team that was better than the one the Sioux had in Friday's 3-2 win.

"We played 60 minutes,'' Hakstol said. "We were prepared and ready to play tonight. Things in the first period didn't go our way. We played hard for 60 minutes.''

Hakstol didn't put the focus on goaltending. "We got ourselves in a whole -- WE did, not one guy, not two guys. We got ourselves in a whole. We just came up a little short in the end, even though we had some opportunities.''

St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko did point to the difference in goaltending. "No question,'' he said. "We were able to sneak a couple by the young guy. That's what happened to us last night. It's a tough league, a learning experience for all these guys. Last night we fell down 2-0 and it's hard to come back in this league. Tonight we got up 2-0 and we played a solid game to hold it off. He (Dunn) was outstanding tonight, there's no question.''

UND senior center Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba), who assisted on VandeVelde's goal, gave a tip of the hat to Dunn.

"He played well,'' Zajac said. "We threw everything at him we could and he held them in it.''

Zajac noted the difference in play by the Sioux from Friday night to tonight, yet a different result.

"Look at last night, it wasn't our best performance and we came out with a win,'' Zajac said. "Tonight we played well. Tables turned. It just happens like that sometimes. We were sharper (tonight), making plays. You can tell by the number of shots we were playing together.''

The Sioux played without senior captain and defenseman Chay Genoway, who was injured in Friday's game on a play in which St. Cloud's Aaron Marvin drew a 5-minute major for checking from behind and after the game, the addition of a game disqualification penalty handed down by the WCHA.

He was replaced by sophomore defenseman Corey Fienhage (Apple Valley, Minn.), playing in first game of the season and his 10th in two seasons.

"I thought he did a good job,'' Hakstol said. "I think it's evident he's practiced extremely hard over the past few weeks to be prepared. This was not a slow hockey game tonight. He had to jump at probably the highest pace of the season so far and I thought he did a good, solid job.''

Hakstol doesn't know how long Genoway will be sidelined. "I think we're going to have to take things as they come,'' Hakstol said. "I don't want to say much more other than that he's out indefinitely.''

SIOUX NOTES: The game drew a sellout of 11,782 to Ralph Engelstad Arena . . . Freshman forward Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led the Sioux in shots on goal with eight, followed by VandeVelde, David Toews (Winnipeg) and Jake Marto (Grand Forks, N.D.) with five each . . . The Sioux were 0-for-7 on the power play with 13 shots on net with the man advantage, the Huskies 0-6 with 10 shots, including a pair of 5-on-3 power plays . . . The Sioux had a 42-35 edge in faceoffs, led by VandeVelde, who won 19 of 26 . . . The Sioux travel to preseason league favorite Denver University next weekend.

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