ST. CLOUD, Minn. - When junior forward Carter Rowney scored the game's first goal late in the first period, it enabled North Dakota to take a lead into the first intermission for just the fifth time this season. It also appeared that UND was able to shake off a sloppy and inconsistent first period.
However, St. Cloud State rallied to score the game's final three goals - two of them coming in the third period and an empty-netter in the game's final minute - to nab a 3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) win at the National Hockey Center.
The loss dropped 18th-ranked North Dakota (12-10-2, 8-9-0 WCHA) into eighth place in the league standings, one point behind SCSU (10-11-4, 7-7-3 WCHA) and Michigan Tech. It also marked the first time since being swept at Minnesota Nov. 4-5 that UND had suffered consecutive losses.
Rowney's goal, at 16:58 of the first period, was the only goal in an uneven opening frame. The junior from Sexsmith, Alberta, drove the SCSU net and re-directed a perfect feed from freshman Michael Parks (St. Louis, Mo.) for his eighth goal of the year.
UND would not crack SCSU goaltender Ryan Faragher the rest of the night. The freshman, who shut out UND back in October in Grand Forks, stopped 41 of 42 shots to earn the game's No. 1 star.
"We need to score. We need to generate more offense. One goal's not going to win you a lot of games on the road," said UND Head Coach Dave Hakstol. "We needed to generate more in the first half of this hockey game. I think we have to push a little harder in the first 20 to 30 minutes of games to put us in a little better position."
Faragher's counterpart, UND senior Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta), was equally steady in a 27-save effort. The only pucks to beat Eidsness came off of a deflection in front, and a shot through traffic that he did not see.
"I thought he was real solid and did a good job for us," Hakstol said. "He's done a good job every time he's gone in for us over the past month. He's practiced very well and he was ready to go tonight."
The Huskies knotted the game at 3:55 of the second period when Cory Thorson deflected Andrew Prochno's point shot. Six minutes later, Jarrod Rabey fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle through traffic that beat a screened Eidsness high to the glove side.
UND pressed furiously in the final 20 minutes for the equalizer, firing 18 shots at Faragher. The attempted comeback was thwarted when SCSU's Jared Festler scored an empty net goal with 56 seconds remaining in regulation.
Both teams were scoreless on three power-play tries, combing for just seven shots with the man advantage.
"We had two power plays early and kind of just threw them away and didn't get any chances," said junior forward Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.). "We definitely have to pop one or two power-play goals tomorrow to help our team win."
The series concludes Saturday night at 7:07 p.m.
Notes: Eidsness made his first start since a 5-2 win at Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 10. It was his 96th career appearance, which ranks fifth all-time at UND ... North Dakota is 4-1-0 when leading after the first period ... Rowney's goal marked just the eighth time in 24 games UND was able to score the game's first goal. UND is 6-2-0 when scoring first ... Parks' assist gave him a point in three straight games, his longest streak of the season. He has four points (2g, 2a) in his last five games ... Kristo will play in his 100th career game on Saturday.
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