GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- It took a pair of rookies delivering under pressure like veterans tonight for the University of North Dakota to rally for a 3-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association overtime tie with the visiting Wisconsin Badgers.
Freshman wing Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored the tying goal on a power play midway through the third period on a wrist shot through traffic and a perfect screen set by Brad Malone (Jr., Miramichi, New Brunswick).
Freshman goalie Aaron Dell (Airdrie, Alberta) replaced starting goalie Brad Eidsness (So., Chestermere, Alberta) at 3:40 of the second period after Eidsness gave up a soft goal on an Andy Bombach shot off left wing.
Dell stopped all nine shots he faced, including eight in the third period, giving his teammates a chance to rally.
And rally they did. Sophomore defenseman Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.) blasted a slapshot past UW goalie Scott Gudmandson on a power play at 9:35 of the second period, the third of the season for the rugged Blood.
The Sioux got a break when Wisconsin scored at 2:28 of the third period, but officials immediately waved off the goal, ruling Michael Davies had hit the puck with a high stick. After a video review, the call stood.
Eight minutes later, Kristo scored on a 4-on-4 play, circling in from the left wall toward the middle of the ice and wristing a shot to the glove side of Gudmandson that the Badger goalie never saw.
Wisconsin rolled to a 2-0 lead after one period on goals by Craig Smith and Blake Geoffrion. The Badgers outshot the Sioux 12-6 in the first period in dominating play. Yet after that, the Sioux outshot Wisconsin 24-10 the rest of the game to move to 6-5-2 in the WCHA and 9-5-2 overall.
What turned the game around for UND?
"I think it was between periods,'' Kristo said. "Some of our leaders in the dressing room stepped up. It was unacceptable the way we started out in the first period. We got together as a team after the first period and I think we really took it to them after that.''
Even so, Wisconsin has been UND's opponent at Ralph Engelstad Arena since the new Ralph opened in 2001. The Badgers are now 6-5-2 against UND in Grand Forks in the new Ralph, the only opponent with a winning record in Grand Forks against UND in the new rink.
The Sioux rallied around the strong play of Dell, who wasn't tested a lot, but was perfect nevertheless. It was the first time in his career that Eidsness has been lifted from a game.
"Everyone has off nights, you can't really blame him,'' Kristo said of Eidsness. "The third one was just a bad bounce. Dell went in there and did a great job for us.''
On his tying goal, Kristo listened to defenseman Jake Marto (Jr., Grand Forks), who was manning the point positions with Kristo on the power play and assisted on the goal.
"I took the puck on the wall, and Marto was yelling at me, 'walk, walk and shoot.'
"So I walked the middle and Malone had a great screen like he always does, I just picked a spot and it went in.''
UND came back from a lethargic first period with a dominating second, outshooting the Badgers 12-2 and outscoring them 2-1. Malone opened the scoring on a great three-way passing play with Kristo and Evan Trupp (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska). Kristo found Malone alone to the right of Gudmandson for an easy tap-in to start the rally.
Dell admitted to some nerves. "I was a little nervous at first,'' he said, "but I warmed up after I got in there. I got used to it. It's tough to come in like that, but that's what I was there for tonight. I was confident in myself to hold my own.''
UND coach Dave Hakstol had a ready answer for the turnaround for the Sioux after one period. "We started playing. We started skating. We didn't do that in the first period. You don't give yourself much of an opportunity against Wisconlsin when you play a step slow.''
Special teams played a major role. UND killed all three Badger power plays, allowing just one total shot on goal in three chances. Included in that was a 5-minute major and game misconduct on UND sophomore Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) for checking from behind in the second period with the Sioux down by a goal.
On the flip side, the Sioux converted 2-of-8 on their power play, mustering nine shots on net on the eight power plays.
"The power-play goal that Ben Blood scored certainly wasn't pretty,'' Hakstol said. "That was a big goal for us. From that point on, it was a real good hockey game, an entertaining game.''
The Sioux had two power plays in the first period, but had nothing to show for it. "The power play in the first period was much like the rest of our game,'' Hakstol said. "It was sleepy. It was slow.''
But all that changed on the goals by Blood and Kristo in the last two periods of regulation to keep a sellout crowd of 11,564 entertained.
SIOUX NOTES: Senior center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.), back from missing one game with an injury, won 14 of his 22 faceoffs and assisted on Blood's goal . . . Sophomore forward Jason Gregoire extended his point streak to six games, setting a new career best ... Kristo led the Sioux in shots on goal with seven, followed by Trupp with four . . . Ben Street led UW with 5 shots on goal . . . Wisconsin is 7-4-2 in the WCHA and 10-5-2 overall.
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.
