DULUTH, Minn. - A matter of inches.
For North Dakota, that was the narrow, but agonizing, difference between a potential hat trick goal for the ages or a 5-4 loss tonight.
A last-second scoring chance by UND's Carter Rowney (Sexsmith, Alberta) trickled just wide as Minnesota Duluth withstood a furious Fighting Sioux rally to win 5-4 and earn a WCHA series split. The loss snapped UND's four-game winning streak.
Rowney, who had already scored two goals on the night and four in the series, made a terrific play to deke a UMD defender in the slot with six seconds left and appeared to have beaten Bulldogs' goalie Kevin Reiter on his forehand. But as Rowney attempted to finish the play by tucking the puck around Reiter's outstretched left skate, it rolled off the toe of his stick and slid just wide of the right post.
"I just got in tight and kind of fanned on it," said Rowney of his late scoring chance. "All I had to do was get it up and we might have been in OT, but I fanned on it and the puck went off my stick the wrong way."
"He made a great play to have the opportunity to tie the game up, but a bounce of the puck kept us from doing that," said UND Head Coach Dave Hakstol.
In the end, UND was unable to overcome a slew of first-period penalties that enabled the Bulldogs to build a 5-2 lead before the game was 22 minutes old. The Sioux were whistled for seven penalties in the first period alone, none more crippling than a 5-minute checking-from-behind major and game misconduct to workhorse defenseman Ben Blood (Plymouth, Minn.).
Battling penalty trouble and without their ice time leader on the blueline, the Sioux saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit in the final 3:42 of the first period. Then, just 1:46 into the second period, UMD senior scoring leader Jack Connolly made it 5-2 with his second power-play goal and fifth point of the night.
"We didn't come out and play our game right at the start," said Rowney. "We can't be playing short against a team like that. We didn't come out ready to play."
UND rallied over the final two periods on the strength of Rowney's two goals, outshooting the Bulldogs 16-5 in a frantic third period, but it was too little, too late.
"We were undisciplined in that first 20 minutes and dug ourselves a hole," said Sioux senior Mario Lamoureux. "We played a pretty good game once we settled things down, but that's a pretty big hole. We almost got out of it."
Hakstol concurred with his captain's assessment.
"We dug ourselves a hole in the first half of the game. We can't do that, so we have to learn from that. It's February but it's not too late to keep learning," said Hakstol. "I don't think we could scratch and claw any more than that to knot the game up. This group isn't ever going to go away, they're not going to quit on anything. They fight for one another regardless of the situation. I don't think anybody in our locker room is taking solace that we almost tied it up."
Brock Nelson (So., Warroad, Minn.) scored his 20th for the Sioux. Stephane Pattyn (Fr., Ste. Anne, Minn.) added his second of the year. Junior Joe Gleason (Edina, Minn.) assisted on three of UND's four goals.
Junior Aaron Dell (Airdrie, Alberta) started in goal and stopped 12 shots before being pulled after the fifth UMD goal. Senior Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta) was perfect in relief, stopping all 14 shots he faced.
UMD went 4 for 8 on the power play while the Sioux went 1 for 4.
UND (16-11-2, 12-10-0 WCHA) returns home next weekend to host Michigan Tech. The sixth-place Sioux hold a one-point lead over the Huskies in the battle for the final home ice spot in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
