GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- St. Cloud State is quite used to a Malone scoring big goals in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game.
Ryan Malone did that very well for the Huskies before taking his game to the National Hockey League.
Ryan Malone's cousin, UND senior center Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick), known as "Pony" to his teammates, carved out a memorable game for himself tonight as the Fighting Sioux topped the Huskies 3-1 in front of a sellout of 11,644 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Malone, without a goal in his previous 10 games, collected his first career two-goal game and added one assist for just the second 3-point game of his career.
"It gets me going a little more,'' Malone said of playing against the school for which his cousin starred. "He called me yesterday and had a little chat about it, so it's a little extra incentive. I always send Sioux gear down to his kids. So it's a little jab at him to get the win tonight.''
The Sioux did it without two key forwards, sidelined with injuries. UND lost Brett Hextall (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) last week with an injury and saw Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg) sidelined with an injury in practice this week.
That forced the Sioux to use two defensemen, Jake Marto (Grand Forks) and Joe Gleason (Edina, Minn.), at forward, and both acquitted themselves well.
Malone used his good size (6-foot-2, 212) to good advantage on both his goals.
He bulled his way to the net from behind the end line to bank his shot off St. Cloud's Nic Dowd at 6:23 of the third period to snap a 1-1 tie. The net was knocked off its moorings just as the puck went into the net, but the goal survived a video review by the officials.
Malone than scored his fourth of the season on a bull rush down the right wing at 15:04 of the third period. He bought the puck to his forehand to tuck his shot through the legs of St. Cloud goalie Mike Lee. That goal came just three seconds after UND had killed off its lone penalty of the game.
Malone also figured big in the game's first goal. He won an offensive draw cleanly back to linemate Matt Frattin (Edmonton, Alberta), who sniped his team-leading 14th goal of the season on a wrist shot to the far side against Lee just 18 seconds into the third period.
That goal came one second after a Sioux power play expired.
The two-goal game gives Malone 20 in his career, these coming in his 134th game.
"I don't score many goals,'' Malone said. "It was nice to get a couple tonight.''
Malone's line, with Frattin and Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska), accounted for all three Sioux goals. "I don't think our line individually put any more pressure on ourselves with those guys (Gregoire, Hextall) out,'' Malone said. "It was a little more incentive with those guys missing.''
The Sioux outshot the Huskies 34-22, but came up empty on five power plays despite generating 11 power-play shots.
Sophomore Aaron Dell (Airdrie, Alberta) was sharp in goal again. He finished with 21 saves, including a breakaway stop on St. Cloud's Tony Mosey four minutes into the final period with the score tied 1-1.
"We got a couple real key saves at the right time,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said.
The power moves by Malone didn't surprise Hakstol. "We've seen it from him. If he gets a step and is able to get that leg out there, he's a big body with some pretty good hands. I thought it was a heckuva play. Both of them (Malone's goals) were.''
Frattin finished with a goal and one assist while left wing Trupp made it a six-point night for the all-senior line with his assist on Malone's first goal.
"We were missing two warriors in Hexy and Gregoire, and we knew going in that a lot of people were going to have to pick up the slack,'' Frattin said. "Our line played real well today. Same with all four lines. We were rolling pretty good.''
SIOUX NOTES: The win was Dave Hakstol's 100th career WCHA victory ... It was the first time Marto has played forward since he played four games up front as a freshman . . . Frattin led the Sioux in shots on goal with seven . . . UND improved to 8-3-0 in the WCHA, 10-5-2 overall. The Huskies are 3-5-1 in league play, 5-8-2 overall . . . Marto played the last 10 minutes of the game taking shifts on defense. . .UND has sold out each of its last six home games. The only non-sellout was the home opener against Denver, which fell 18 shy of capacity in the 11,634-seat Engelstad Arena...In UND's last seven games, Dell is 5-1-1 with a 1.56 goals against average and a .931 save percentage...Frattin has 24 goals in his last 29 games dating back to Feb. 13 at St. Cloud State.
Virg Foss, who covered Fighting Sioux hockey for 35 years for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement, now reports on UND home games exclusively for FightingSioux.com. Contact him at virgfoss@yahoo.com or at (701) 772-9272.
