GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- If there's a recipe for disaster in college hockey, the UND Fighting Sioux certainly cooked up meal to forget tonight.
The Sioux allowed five power-play goals and one shorthanded tally to the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks in taking an 8-4 Western Collegiate Hockey Association shellacking at home in front of 11,845 fans.
Omaha senior center and captain Joey Martin had a three-goal hat trick plus an assist and senior defenseman Eric Olimb from Warroad, Minn., had three assists for the Mavericks.
It marked the first time an opponent has scored eight goals against the Sioux in the new Engelstad Arena. The last time UND gave up eight or more goals was in 1992 in a 10-1 loss to Minnesota in old Engelstad Arena.
There were no excuses coming from the Sioux (17-7-2, 12-5 WCHA), who fell out of first place in the WCHA with the loss.
Coupled with Denver's win over Alaska Anchorage, the Pioneers moved one point ahead of the Sioux and into first place with 25 points. The Sioux dropped into a tie for second with Minnesota Duluth with 24.
The Sioux, ranked No. 2 nationally in the polls, fell behind 2-0 after one period, then gave up five goals in the second period, four on power plays, to go down 7-1 after two periods.
"We saw this coming I think,'' UND captain Chay Genoway (Sr., Morden, Manitoba) said. "We pulled off a lot of wins here in the last little while. And I don't know if we've been playing the best hockey.''
The Sioux certainly weren't tonight, in every aspect of the game.
"There wasn't one guy, or one part of our game,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "We weren't good and it starts with me. Bottom line. That's where it starts. That's where it ends.''
The Sioux never did get started against the Mavericks, who came in with an 0-3-1 mark in their last four games and were struggling to find offense.
It was not any personal satisfaction for Dean Blais, former Sioux coach returning for the first time to coach a college team against a school he led to two NCAA titles.
He looked at the win as more what it did for his team, keeping them in fourth place in the league and just three points out of first place.
"We were kind of desperate after we only got one point against Bemidji State last weekend,'' Blais said. "It's getting to be desperate time of the year right now. It's kind of the time of the year where we made the big run last year. To come in here and beat a team like North Dakota who is leading the WCHA gives us some confidence.''
The Sioux, a step behind the Mavericks much of the game, did get a record-tying performance for Sioux defensemen from Genoway. He scored two of UND's goals to stretch his streak of games with at least one point to 12. That ties the mark of 12 games set by Bill Himmelright in the 1977-78 season.
The Sioux were outshot 21-11 in the second period, outscored 5-1 and took five penalties, allowing the Mavericks to score on four of them.
"We took a couple of bad penalties in a row there,'' UND senior forward/defenseman Jake Marto (Grand Forks) said. "We were digging ourselves a hole there and we were having trouble getting out of it. It's going to be tough coming back when you give up five in a row like that in your own building.''
The Sioux did close to within 7-4 at one point in the third period, outshooting the Mavericks 18-6 and outscoring them 3-1. But it was too late.
"I thought we came out pretty hard (in the third period),'' Marto said. "I thought we got some momentum and hopefully that can carry on to the next game tomorrow.''
Starting UND goalie Aaron Dell (So., Airdrie, Alberta) gave up four goals on the 18 shots he faced before being replaced by Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta) midway through the game. Eidsness allowed four goals as well on the 15 shots he faced.
Blais had no ready explanation for the offensive explosion by the Mavericks. "We've been having trouble scoring goals, but in the second period, we kept getting power plays and the puck kept going in the net,'' he said.
UND's problems were more evident. "We weren't ready to go,'' Hakstol said. "We lost a hockey game out of that. There were a lot of bits and pieces and parts that weren't very good. The ultimate result is that it cost us a hockey game.''
It left Hakstol looking forward. "Tomorrow night is a new night,'' he said. "A pretty important night.''
SIOUX NOTES: UND was 1-for-9 on its power play, the Mavericks 5-7 on theirs . . . UND had a 38-31 edge in faceoff wins, led by Brad Malone (Miramichi, New Brunswick) who finished with 17 wins in 24 tries. . . Mario Lamoureux (Jr., Grand Forks) was ejected for fighting in the first period with Omaha's Tony Turgeon, who also is from Grand Forks. Both will miss Saturday's rematch . . . Matt Frattin led the Sioux with six shots on goal . . . Junior defenseman Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.) played in his 100th career game ... Sophomore forward Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) had his eight-game point streak snapped.
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.
