GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) is so hot of a goal scorer for the UND Fighting Sioux men's hockey team that he collected his fourth of the weekend after tonight's game ended.
The first goal of the game originally credited to linemate Matt Frattin (Edmonton, Alberta) was changed to Gregoire after replays showed Frattin's shot hit Gregoire in the leg and bounced into the net in UND's 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Minnesota State University, Mankato.
The four-goal weekend by Gregoire not only figured big in UND's 4-1, 3-2 sweep of the Mavericks, but gave him 12 for the season, tops on the team.
"That's a huge weekend for our team,'' Gregoire said. "First couple games back in the new year in our rink is huge for us, huge for the fans and huge for the team.''
As in Friday's win, the Sioux got a fast start with an early goal from a rookie.
Freshman Corban Knight (High River, Alberta) scored UND's first goal Friday night 2:08 into the game and rookie Mike Cichy (New Hartford, Conn.) scored at 4:38 of the opening period tonight to give the Sioux a 2-0 lead.
Cichy, who was a healthy scratch from the lineup Friday, moved into the lineup when Knight was injured late in Friday's game. Knight, who had two goals Friday, will be sidelined at least 4-6 weeks with an undisclosed injury, the team said.
The sweep lifted the Sioux to 8-6-2 in the WCHA and 12-6-4 overall. The Sioux came into the series ranked fifth nationally in two polls.
The Sioux, who had suffered six losses by one goal this season, finally found a way to win one of those.
"It's kind of in the back of the mind, too, that a lot of our losses are one-goal games,'' Gregoire said. "Bottom line is that we battled through a lot today. To come up with four points this weekend is absolutely huge.''
Frattin, who rejoined the team after Christmas after being suspended the first half of the season, assisted on two of UND's three goals and fit in nicely on the top line with Gregoire and senior center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.)
"We have a great team, and even without me in the first half they were playing awesome,'' Frattin said. "They just couldn't find a way to win those one-goal games, which we're starting to do the second half here. Hopefully we can keep it going.''
Frattin's wrist shot two minutes into the game hit the shin pad of Gregoire and skipped through the legs of Minnesota State goalie Austin Lee.
"I got a little puck-luck right now,'' Gregoire said. "The harder I work, the luckier I got.''
Gregoire's second goal of the game came at 9:42 of the third period on a Sioux power play. VandeVelde drew the offensive zone faceoff back to the left point to defenseman Jake Marto (Jr., Grand Forks).
Marto's shot hit Frattin in front of the net and fell to the ice for Gregoire to knock in for a 3-1 Sioux lead.
Minnesota State picked up goals from Geoff Irwin in the closing minute of the first period and from Channing Boe at 14:36 of the third period.
A capacity crowd of 11,733 gave the vocal support that seemed to ignite the Sioux early on both nights.
"The guys are excited to play here, that's part of it,'' UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We're on our toes and ready to play. A little bit of momentum of the crowd, you get a bounce or two and that just helps build a little more momentum. I just think it comes back to how our guys feel about playing at home. They love playing here.''
Back-to-back nights with two goals each is a career first for Gregoire.
"He hasn't been doing anything different in the second half (of the season) than what he does in the first half,'' Hakstol said.
"He shows up, he works, he's an absolute pro in his approach to the game in practice and games, but he does somehow find a way to elevate his game. There's a little bit more than coincidence to it,'' Hakstol said. "Because it's something that throughout his career has continually happened. He's a guy who wants to be on the hot seat and be a guy who's a difference-maker.''
Gregoire has been all of that of late with his torrid scoring. He now has seven goals in his last nine games.
Brad Eidsness (So., Chestermere, Alberta) stopped 20 of 22 Mankato shots in running his season record to 11-5-3. Lee had 31 saves for the Mavericks, who were outshot 34-22 by the Sioux.
SIOUX NOTES: Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba), who had missed the previous series with an injury, led the Sioux with eight shots on goal, followed by Cichy with five and Gregoire with four . . . UND was 1-4 on the power play, the Mavericks 1-3 . . . Mankato pulled Lee for an extra attacker with 1:04 left in the game but never mounted a serious challenge against Eidsness . . . Junior defenseman Derrick LaPoint (Eau Claire, Wis.) had an assist to extend his career-best point streak to five games, the longest current streak on the team. LaPoint has six assists during that time ... UND had a 30-22 edge in faceoff wins, led by VandeVelde's 14-7 edge. . . The Sioux play a two-game series at Minnesota next weekend. The Sioux beat the Gophers 4-0 and tied them 3-3 earlier in Grand Forks.
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.
~Go Sioux~
