ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? Junior defenseman and Hobey Baker Award candidate Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) scored 17 seconds into overtime to give the Fighting Sioux a 2-1 victory tonight in front of 3,679 at Sullivan Arena.
Genoway's goal, his third of the season and first in 17 games, gave UND its first victory this season when scoring fewer than three goals in a game. More importantly, it enabled the Sioux to remain tied with Denver atop the WCHA standings with 31 points. Earlier in the night the Pioneers defeated host Wisconsin 4-3 in overtime.
"It's a huge win," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. "Guys went out and made plays and found a way to win a hockey game. It was a greasy road win, but at the end of the day, it's two points."
On the first shift of extra time, UND freshman forwards Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) applied a forecheck deep in the Seawolves' zone. Hextall picked up the puck behind the UAA net and centered a backhand pass to Genoway on top of the crease and Genoway beat goalie Bryce Christianson to the far side for the game-winner.
"Two games in a row now, he's (Genoway) made a great play on a game-winning goal," said UND Hakstol.
UND improved to 18-11-3 overall and 14-6-3 during WCHA play with five games remaining in the regular season, one more game in hand than Denver.
The Sioux led for much of the game thanks largely to the play of freshman goalie Brad Eidsness, who sparkled with 25 saves. However, the Chestermere, Alberta, native lost his bid for his second shutout of the season when UAA's Josh Lunden knotted the game at 1-1 with 8:43 remaining in regulation time. On a UAA 3-on-2, Eidsness stopped a Mat Robinson blast but the puck ricocheted directly to Lunden on the doorstep and the junior winger redirected the puck in the gaping net before Eidsness could recover.
UAA had a chance to go ahead with just under three minutes remaining, but sophomore Sean Wiles failed to convert a perfect 2-on-1 pass from Jade Portwood, missing with his one-timer by inches off the near post.
The Sioux opened the scoring at 12:03 of the first period while on the power-play. Senior defenseman Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) spotted Hextall with a cross-ice pass at the bottom of the left faceoff circle, and Hextall found the center of the net before Christianson was able to slide across the goal mouth.
It was Hextall's ninth goal of the season and first since scoring the overtime winner against Bemidji State on Jan. 3, a span of nine games without a goal.
UND went 1-for-4 on the power-play while killing all three UAA man advantage opportunities.
Christianson made 20 saves for the Seawolves, who fell to 10-14-5 overall and 7-13-5 in league play. Twelve of Christianson's 20 saves came in the third period. But for much of the game, UND's ability to generate scoring chances was held largely in check, particularly during a second period in which the two teams combined for just 10 shots on goal.
"I thought it was a combination of two things," said Hakstol. "We had a little bit of heavy legs and at times, we played a half-step slow.
"It also was a really tough, tight-checking game. There wasn't a lot of time and space out there."
The two teams will do battle again on Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. Central.
Notes: Genoway's goal was the sixth game-winner of his career, tying him with Curtis Murphy (1994-98) for second-most by a Sioux defenseman. Only Nick Fuher (2001-05) ? with eight ? scored more ... UND is now 1-10-2 this season when scoring fewer than three goals in a game and 18-1-1 when reaching the three-goal plateau ... Eidsness made his 30th straight appearance in goal, two shy of Peter Waselovich's UND rookie record set in 1973-74. It was also Eidsness' 24th consecutive start ... Duncan played in his 165th career game, tying him with Jason Notermann (1999-03) for fourth all-time at UND.
