ITHACA, N.Y. - For virtually the entire night, the Fighting Sioux men's hockey team did everything possible to win.
Except score a goal.
Cornell junior defenseman Mike Devin broke a scoreless tie at 1:55 of the third period and the ninth-ranked Big Red withstood a third-period barrage to hold on for a 1-0 non-conference victory over No. 9 North Dakota tonight at Lynah Rink.
Devin took advantage of a UND line change and jumped into a rush to create a 2-on-1. Cornell forward Patrick Kennedy patiently outwaited the Sioux defenseman until he was nearly at the goal line before threading a perfect cross-crease pass to Devin, who tapped the puck into a gaping net for his second goal of the season.
The Sioux threw 10 shots at Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens in the final period but could not crack the senior netminder.
With starting goaltender Aaron Dell (Fr., Airdrie, Alberta) on the bench for an extra attacker in the final minute, the Sioux poured on the pressure and maintained offensive-zone possession for the entire 60 seconds. Forwards Danny Kristo (Fr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Jason Gregoire (So., Winnipeg, Manitoba) each had shots blocked from the high slot in the final 30 seconds, then Matt Frattin (Jr., Edmonton, Alberta) was robbed in the final moments. Stationed in the right faceoff circle, Frattin snuck a shot through heavy traffic that Scrivens somehow managed to get a toe on a split second before the buzzer sounded.
"Through the 60 minutes we couldn't get one to go," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol.
Scrivens finished with 28 saves to earn his second shutout of the season and 14th of his career.
Dell, making his first start for UND since Nov. 14, was strong in defeat, stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced.
"He was solid and I was happy with his play," said Hakstol.
"He didn't have a ton of work, but it doesn't matter if you have 40 shots or 15 shots, your job is to give your team a chance to win games. He gave us a chance."
The frustrating third period summed up the entire night for the Sioux, who were particularly dominant in the scoreless opening frame when they outshot the Big Red 9-2.
"We were on our toes. We were ready to play," said Hakstol.
UND also had an opportunity to break though early in the second period when Cornell's Joe Devin received a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct only 29 seconds into the frame. However, the Sioux were able to muster only a single shot during the extended power-play, a Brad Malone (Jr., Miramichi, New Brunswick) chance from the slot as the penalty expired.
"That's the one area where we didn't execute well enough," said Hakstol. "We'll try to do a better job tomorrow.
Later in the period, it was the Big Red which was unable to light the scoreboard on a five-minute power-play after Sioux freshman Carter Rowney (Sexsmith, Alberta) was whistled for checking from behind. Cornell only registered two shots during the major.
The Sioux killed all four Cornell power-play chances while themselves going 0-for-3.
The loss was the first in non-conference play this season for UND, which drops to 4-1-2 playing out of the WCHA and 12-8-5 overall this season. It was also the seventh one-goal loss for the Sioux this season.
"We're playing good hockey," said Hakstol. "We just have to continue pushing forward. It's not an issue, but we have to continue believing in ourselves and I know the guys will."
The two teams will do battle again tomorrow night at 6:06 p.m. Central.
Notes: Malone played in his 100th collegiate game ... UND's power-play is 0-for-13 over the last three games ... Junior forward Evan Trupp had a game-high (and season-high) seven shots on goal, three more than any other player on either team ... Dell has stopped 30 of 31 shots in his two road starts this season, a .968 save percentage.
- Go Sioux -
