GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- How good was Darcy Zajac tonight for the UND Fighting Sioux men's hockey team?
He was sparkling enough that the stat crew of UND mistakenly listed him as the first AND third star of the game.
Zajac (Winnipeg, Man.), a senior center, matched his career best in goals with two and added an assist for the first three-point game of his career.
His effort roused UND from a lethargic first period which saw them trailing Michigan Tech 1-0 before the Sioux struck for three goals in 79 seconds in the second period on their way to a 5-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win.
The victory, the sixth in a row for the Sioux (14-10-3 WCHA, 19-11-5 overall), kept alive UND's hopes of finishing as high as third in the league with the right combination of results in Saturday's games.
Zajac might have had his first career hat trick, but his second goal of the night was disallowed when officials said the whistle had blown stopping play before he shoved the puck past Tech goalie Kevin Genoe.
"I thought I put it in before the whistle, but apparently I didn't,'' Zajac said.
Did he hear a whistle? "After it went in,'' he said.
Freshman Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) ignited the Sioux rally with his 13th goal of the season at 10:22 of the second period, his shot just barely edging over the goal line and standing up after a video review.
Zajac banked a shot in off Genoe at 10:49 and sophomore defenseman Ben Blood cranked a right point shot home at 11:41 to make it 3-1 and and compete the blitz of three goals in 79 seconds.
Zajac's second goal of the game and eighth of the season at 7:34 of the third period and a power-play goal by sophomore Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba) at 18:59 completed the scoring.
It appeared Gregoire's shot may have hit Zajac and gone into the net, which would have given him a hat trick. But a post-game review of the tape showed that didn't happen.
Even so, it was Zajac's first two-goal game since his freshman season and came at a big time for the Sioux.
A big time for him, too, as he his career at UND nears an end.
"You want to soak in every moment,'' Zajac said. "I've got limited games left in this place. It's one of a kind, so you want to soak in every moment you can and give it everything you got.''
Kristo's goal energized the Sioux. "Sometimes when you play a team like that you get one and they come like a bunch of bananas'' is how Kristo put it.
Tech's goal came at 17:02 of the first period when a misplay in front of his net by Sioux freshman defenseman Joe Gleason (Edina, Minn.) set up Tech's Malcolm Gwilliam for a quick goal.
"I think everyone played poor in the first period on our part,'' Kristo said. "It was no time to panic there. We went into the lockerroom and regouped and everyone said a couple of words. We just had to go out, compete hard and win a couple of battles.''
The Sioux dominated the final two periods, outshooting Tech 38-6 over the final 40 minutes. Junior Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska) had more shots on net (three) with the Sioux skating shorthanded in the second period than the entire Tech team did (two) in the whole period.
Trupp, who had one assist, led the Sioux in shots on goal for the game with eight.
"Pretty good end,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "Not a great start the first 20 minutes. I thought Darcy and Vandy (senior Chris VandeVelde, Moorhead, Minn.) not only changed the tone in the lockeroom after the first period, but they definitely changed the tone on the ice for us. They both went out and kind of took the team on their back.''
VandeVelde, one of seven forwards with at least one point, finished with two assists with helpers on the goals by Blood and Gregoire.
UND sent Zajac out on the power play in the third period to try to get him his hat trick. "He's played a lot of good hockey here,'' Hakstol said, "and if he could do that, we'd be real happy for him. I thought he might have tipped the last one. But in typical Darcy fashion, he said that whatever the call is, that's what it is. He's a good team guy.''
The victory, in front of a sellout of 11,743 at Ralph Engelstad Arena, boosted the Sioux into a tie for fifth place with Boston College in the pairwise rankings which mimic the process the NCAA uses to select its 16-team tournament field.
SIOUX NOTES: Hakstol moved into a tie for third place with Rube Bjorkman (1968-78) on UND's all-time wins list with 149 ... UND outshot the Huskies 48-14 for the game and had a 45-20 edge in faceoff wins led by Zajc with 15 wins in 20 tries and Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick) winninng nine of 10 . . . Kristo finished second to Trupp with shots on goal with six, followed by Zajac with five ... Zajac now has 18 points on the seson, one better than the career-high 17 he scored last year.
Virg Foss, who covered Fighting Sioux hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement, reports on UND home games exclusively for FightingSioux.com. Contact him at virgfoss@yahoo.com or (701) 772-9272.
