GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches must have know what they're talking about when they voted Jason Gregoire of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux as the preseason co-rookie of the year in the WCHA.
The rookie left wing from Winnipeg delivered his 11th goal of the season and arguably his biggest tonight in a 4-3 victory over Minnesota State University, Mankato.
The win gave the Sioux (13-6-3 WCHA, 18-11-3 overall) a weekend sweep of the series and vaulted them into a tie for first place with Denver University, both with 29 points, one point ahead of third-place Wisconsin.
The Sioux have a game in hand on Denver as well with six WCHA games remaining in the regular season to five for the Pioneers.
Gregoire's third game-winning goal of the season came at 17:08 of the final period and capped a Sioux rally from a 3-2 deficit with seven minutes left.
Junior defenseman Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) set up the winning goal on a dash down left wing, capped by a hard wrist shot off the left leg pad of Maverick goalie Mike Zacharias.
Zacharias (36 saves) left a juicy rebound for Gregoire to pound into an open net to an ovation from a sellout crowd of 11,842 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The victory moved UND's record in its last 12 WCHA games to 9-1-2, enabling the Sioux to climb from ninth place in the league on Dec. 12 to a tie for first two months, two days later.
Junior center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) made the victory possible when he knocked in a centering pass from senior Ryan Martens (Selkirk, Manitoba) at 13:40 of the third period on a power play, tying the game at 3-3.
VandeVelde's 10th goal of the season came three minutes after Trevor Breuss scored shorthanded for the Mavericks on a 2-on-1 rush. It was the nation-best 10th shorthanded goal for Mankato, and five of them have come against the Sioux.
As sweet as the sweep was for the Sioux on Valentine's Day capped by a share of the league lead, it was a bittersweet win.
Sophomore defenseman Derrick LaPoint (Eau Claire, Wis.), was taken off the ice at 10:31 of the first period on a stretcher, attended to by eight medical personnel. He was injured when he was checked by Breuss and skidded awkwardly into the end boards.
UND coach Dave Hakstol said after the game that it appears that LaPoint has two broken bones in his leg.
Sioux captain Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta), whose power-play goal at 1:53 of the second period gave the Sioux their first lead, spoke to the team after LaPoint's injury.
"I just tried to tell everyone to keep it on an even keel,'' Duncan said. "Obviously when you see one of your teammates go down like that and you know the injury is pretty serious, the human reaction is to go out there and get some redemption, get some revenge.''
The final redemption for UND came on the scoreboard, though, as the Sioux did a good job of staying out of the penalty box. UND had 10 power plays (converting two) to just four for the Mavericks, who scored on one of them, a 5-on-3 chance in the first period on the first of two goals by Geoff Irwin.
"We had to do our best to keep our emotions in check,'' Duncan said. "I think Watty's goal was huge for us. If that goal doesn't go in with two seconds left in the first period, it's a different game.''
Senior Matt Watkins (Ayelsbury, Saskatchewan) took a feed from senior Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) and cranked a shot as the first period was ending. HIs shot bounced off the body of Zacharias and tricked just a couple of feet past the goal line for a 1-1 standoff after one period.
Duncan's goal was the only marker for either tam in the second period before Mankato struck back in the third period on a rebound goal by Irwin off a Sioux turnover at the blue line 53 seconds into the period and the shorty by Breuss at 10:47 to give the Mavericks a 3-2 lead.
Duncan said a calming talk by head coach Dave Hakstol after the first period helped settle the team, too.
"He said emotions were running high, and now was the time to refocus,'' Duncan said. "Obviously injuries are part of the game, but you never want to see a teammate go down like that. We wanted to go out there and play our best for Derrick and get a win.''
Once VandeVelde tied the game at 3-all, UND's chances of victory improved markedly. The Sioux are now 18-1-1 this season when scoring three or more goals.
"There were a lot of momentum swings in this game,'' Duncan said. "Hopefully it's a sign of things to come. We have a lot of character and we answered back. We did what we had to do to win the game.''
Hakstol lauded Genoway for his rush down ice on tired legs to set up Gregoire's winning goal. "What can you say, it's a a big-time player making a big-time play,'' Hakstol said. "Great play, very determined play.''
The Sioux didn't seem to get down mentally after coughing up the shorthanded goal by Breuss to give the Mavericks the lead.
"I would use the word determined,'' Hakstol said. "I thought our team was very determined tonight. Physically, I don't know if it was one of our best efforts, but I thought mentally this was as good as any game we've had this year.
"I thought our guys did a good job of sorting things out mentally, getting the job done.''
Hakstol said he would be guessing if he said LaPoint's injury was season-ending. "I don't expect him back soon,'' Hakstol said. "Just from what I saw, I'm assuming both bones in his leg.''
Hakstol and Duncan brought the focus of the team back to the game after LaPoint's injury.
"There's a time and a place for everything, and tonight was a time to battle up,'' Hakstol said.
SIOUX NOTES: UND had a 42-24 edge in shots on goal, led by VandeVelde's five shots. Kozek, Watkins, Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Darcy Zajac (Winnnipeg, Manitoba) had four each . . . Sioux sophomore wing Matt Frattin (Edmonton, Alberta) hit two goal posts flush, one in the first period, one in the second . . . Mankato's Irwin was given a 5-minute slashing penalty at the end of the game as he roughed it up with Zajac. It's possible Irwin could get a game suspension from that, much as Denver's Patrick Mullen did after a 5-minute slash at the end of last Saturday's game against Minnesota-Duluth . . . UND had a 38-26 edge in faceoff wins, led by Duncan's 7-1 mark.
Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement. He now reports on UND home games exclusively for fightingsioux.com. Contact him at virgfoss@yahoo.com.
